Physical and Microbiological Qualities of Kampong-Broiler Crossbred Chickens Meat Raised in Different Stocking Densities

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C. A. Patria

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The crossbreeding between broiler and kampong chickens has been performed to develop a kampong-broiler strain chicken. The chicken stocking condition needs more attention as a part of animal welfare. This study was performed to identify the relationship between the stocking density and the stress based on Temperature Humidity Index (THI and the effect of stocking density on meat quality, i.e., physical, microbiological, and organoleptic. Ninety DOCs of Kampong-Broiler (KB were assigned into a completely randomized design with 3 treatments of stocking density  i.e., 8, 10, and 12 birds m-2. Each treatment was replicated 3 times. The experimental chickens were housed in 9 blocks of housing each with 1 x 1 m2 size. Data on physical and microbiology of meat qualities were analyzed with analysis of variance and continued with Duncan’s multiple range test. The organoleptic data were analyzed by using Kruskal-Wallis test. The result showed that the stocking density did not significantly affect the physical and hedonic quality of KB chicken’s breast. The stocking densities significantly affected (P<0.05 the microbiological variables of breast meat. The average value of THI during maintenance reached 28.98±1.25–29.33±1.32oC. The higher the animal density the higher the THI value that correlated to the stress condition. However, high stocking density did not affect the physical and hedonic quality of breast meat,  thus it can be accepted by the consumers. The higher the stocking density the higher the total plate count, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, without the presence of Salmonella sp. The meat quality of KB chickens raised in the stocking density of 10 birds m-2 meets the requirement of SNI 01-3924-2009.

Microbiological, chemical and physical quality of drinking water for commercial turkeys: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Martino, G; Piccirillo, A; Giacomelli, M; Comin, D; Gallina, A; Capello, K; Buniolo, F; Montesissa, C; Bonfanti, L

2018-04-17

Drinking water for poultry is not subject to particular microbiological, chemical and physical requirements, thereby representing a potential transmission route for pathogenic microorganisms and contaminants and/or becoming unsuitable for water-administered medications. This study assessed the microbiological, chemical and physical drinking water quality of 28 turkey farms in North-Eastern Italy: 14 supplied with tap water (TW) and 14 with well water (WW). Water salinity, hardness, pH, ammonia, sulphate, phosphate, nitrate, chromium, copper and iron levels were also assessed. Moreover, total bacterial count at 22°C, presence and enumeration of Enterococcus spp. and E. coli, presence of Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. were quantified. A water sample was collected in winter and in summer at 3 sampling sites: the water source (A), the beginning (B) and the end (C) of the nipple line (168 samples in total). Chemical and physical quality of both TW and WW sources was mostly within the limits of TW for humans. However, high levels of hardness and iron were evidenced in both sources. In WW vs. TW, sulphate and salinity levels were significantly higher, whilst pH and nitrate levels were significantly lower. At site A, microbiological quality of WW and TW was mostly within the limit of TW for humans. However, both sources had a significantly lower microbiological quality at sites B and C. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Kentucky was isolated only twice from WW. Campylobacter spp. were rarely isolated (3.6% of farms); however, Campylobacter spp. farm-level prevalence by real-time PCR was up to 43% for both water sources. Winter posed at higher risk than summer for Campylobacter spp. presence in water, whereas no significant associations were found with water source, site, recirculation system, and turkey age. Low salinity and high hardness were significant risk factors for C. coli and C. jejuni presence, respectively. These results show the need of

SCAR marker specific to detect Magnaporthe grisea infecting finger millets (Eleusine coracana).

Science.gov (United States)

Gnanasing Jesumaharaja, L; Manikandan, R; Raguchander, T

2016-09-01

To determine the molecular variability and develop specific Sequence Characterized Amplified Region (SCAR) marker for the detection of Magnaporthe grisea causing blast disease in finger millet. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was performed with 14 isolates of M. grisea using 20 random primers. SCAR marker was developed for accurate and specific detection of M. grisea infecting only finger millets. The genetic similarity coefficient within each group and variation between the groups was observed. Among the primers, OPF-08 generated a RAPD polymorphic profile that showed common fragment of 478 bp in all the isolates. This fragment was cloned and sequenced. SCAR primers, Mg-SCAR-FP and Mg-SCAR-RP, were designed using sequence of the cloned product. The specificity of the SCAR primers was evaluated using purified DNA from M. grisea isolates from finger millets and other pathogens viz., Pyricularia oryzae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Colletotrichum falcatum and Colletotrichum capcisi infecting different crops. The SCAR primers amplified only specific 460 bp fragment from DNA of M. grisea isolates and this fragment was not amplified in other pathogens tested. SCAR primers distinguish blast disease of finger millet from rice as there is no amplification in the rice blast pathogen. PCR-based SCAR marker is a convenient tool for specific and rapid detection of M. grisea in finger millets. Genetic diversity in fungal population helps in developing a suitable SCAR marker to identify the blast pathogen at the early stage of infection. © 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling

KAUST Repository

Gardiner, Bennett P. J.

2015-02-23

© 2015 American Physical Society. The mathematical model of a steadily propagating Saffman-Taylor finger in a Hele-Shaw channel has applications to two-dimensional interacting streamer discharges which are aligned in a periodic array. In the streamer context, the relevant regularization on the interface is not provided by surface tension but instead has been postulated to involve a mechanism equivalent to kinetic undercooling, which acts to penalize high velocities and prevent blow-up of the unregularized solution. Previous asymptotic results for the Hele-Shaw finger problem with kinetic undercooling suggest that for a given value of the kinetic undercooling parameter, there is a discrete set of possible finger shapes, each analytic at the nose and occupying a different fraction of the channel width. In the limit in which the kinetic undercooling parameter vanishes, the fraction for each family approaches 1/2, suggesting that this "selection" of 1/2 by kinetic undercooling is qualitatively similar to the well-known analog with surface tension. We treat the numerical problem of computing these Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling, which turns out to be more subtle than the analog with surface tension, since kinetic undercooling permits finger shapes which are corner-free but not analytic. We provide numerical evidence for the selection mechanism by setting up a problem with both kinetic undercooling and surface tension and numerically taking the limit that the surface tension vanishes.

Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling

KAUST Repository

Gardiner, Bennett P. J.; McCue, Scott W.; Dallaston, Michael C.; Moroney, Timothy J.

2015-01-01

© 2015 American Physical Society. The mathematical model of a steadily propagating Saffman-Taylor finger in a Hele-Shaw channel has applications to two-dimensional interacting streamer discharges which are aligned in a periodic array. In the streamer context, the relevant regularization on the interface is not provided by surface tension but instead has been postulated to involve a mechanism equivalent to kinetic undercooling, which acts to penalize high velocities and prevent blow-up of the unregularized solution. Previous asymptotic results for the Hele-Shaw finger problem with kinetic undercooling suggest that for a given value of the kinetic undercooling parameter, there is a discrete set of possible finger shapes, each analytic at the nose and occupying a different fraction of the channel width. In the limit in which the kinetic undercooling parameter vanishes, the fraction for each family approaches 1/2, suggesting that this "selection" of 1/2 by kinetic undercooling is qualitatively similar to the well-known analog with surface tension. We treat the numerical problem of computing these Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling, which turns out to be more subtle than the analog with surface tension, since kinetic undercooling permits finger shapes which are corner-free but not analytic. We provide numerical evidence for the selection mechanism by setting up a problem with both kinetic undercooling and surface tension and numerically taking the limit that the surface tension vanishes.

Admittance Control of a Multi-Finger Arm Based on Manipulability of Fingers

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Jian Huang

2011-09-01

Full Text Available In the previous studies, admittance control and impedance control for a finger-arm robot using the manipulability of the finger were studied and methods of realizing the controls have been proposed. In this study, two 3-DOF fingers are attached to the end-effector of a 6-DOF arm to configure a multi-finger arm robot. Based on the previous methods, the authors have proposed an admittance control for a multi-finger arm robot using the manipulability of the fingers in this study. Algorithms of the averaging method and the mini-max method were introduced to establish a manipulability criterion of the two fingers in order to generate a cooperative movement of the arm. Comparison of the admittance controls combined with the top search method and local optimization method for the multi-finger arm robot was made and features of the control methods were also discussed. The stiffness control and damping control were experimentally evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Robotic finger perturbation training improves finger postural steadiness and hand dexterity.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshitake, Yasuhide; Ikeda, Atsutoshi; Shinohara, Minoru

2018-02-01

The purpose of the study was to understand the effect of robotic finger perturbation training on steadiness in finger posture and hand dexterity in healthy young adults. A mobile robotic finger training system was designed to have the functions of high-speed mechanical response, two degrees of freedom, and adjustable loading amplitude and direction. Healthy young adults were assigned to one of the three groups: random perturbation training (RPT), constant force training (CFT), and control. Subjects in RPT and CFT performed steady posture training with their index finger using the robot in different modes: random force in RPT and constant force in CFT. After the 2-week intervention period, fluctuations of the index finger posture decreased only in RPT during steady position-matching tasks with an inertial load. Purdue pegboard test score improved also in RPT only. The relative change in finger postural fluctuations was negatively correlated with the relative change in the number of completed pegs in the pegboard test in RPT. The results indicate that finger posture training with random mechanical perturbations of varying amplitudes and directions of force is effective in improving finger postural steadiness and hand dexterity in healthy young adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robotic hand and fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Salisbury, Curt Michael; Dullea, Kevin J.

2017-06-06

Technologies pertaining to a robotic hand are described herein. The robotic hand includes one or more fingers releasably attached to a robotic hand frame. The fingers can abduct and adduct as well as flex and tense. The fingers are releasably attached to the frame by magnets that allow for the fingers to detach from the frame when excess force is applied to the fingers.

Differing Dynamics of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Coordination: Two-finger and Four-Finger Tapping Experiments.

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Kentaro Kodama

Full Text Available Finger-tapping experiments were conducted to examine whether the dynamics of intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems can be described equally by the Haken-Kelso-Bunz model, which describes inter-limb coordination dynamics. This article reports the results of finger-tapping experiments conducted in both systems. Two within-subject factors were investigated: the phase mode and the number of fingers. In the intrapersonal experiment (Experiment 1, the participants were asked to tap, paced by a gradually hastening auditory metronome, looking at their fingers moving, using the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. In the interpersonal experiment (Experiment 2, pairs of participants performed the task while each participant used the outside hand, tapping with the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. Some results did not agree with the HKB model predictions. First, from Experiment 1, no significant difference was observed in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase modes in the two finger condition. Second, from Experiment 2, no significant difference was found in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase mode in the four-finger condition. From these findings, different coordination dynamics were inferred between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems against prediction from the previous studies. Results were discussed according to differences between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems in the availability of perceptual information and the complexity in the interaction between limbs derived from a nested structure.

Multi-fingered robotic hand

Science.gov (United States)

Ruoff, Carl F. (Inventor); Salisbury, Kenneth, Jr. (Inventor)

1990-01-01

A robotic hand is presented having a plurality of fingers, each having a plurality of joints pivotally connected one to the other. Actuators are connected at one end to an actuating and control mechanism mounted remotely from the hand and at the other end to the joints of the fingers for manipulating the fingers and passing externally of the robot manipulating arm in between the hand and the actuating and control mechanism. The fingers include pulleys to route the actuators within the fingers. Cable tension sensing structure mounted on a portion of the hand are disclosed, as is covering of the tip of each finger with a resilient and pliable friction enhancing surface.

Differences in finger localisation performance of patients with finger agnosia.

Science.gov (United States)

Anema, Helen A; Kessels, Roy P C; de Haan, Edward H F; Kappelle, L Jaap; Leijten, Frans S; van Zandvoort, Martine J E; Dijkerman, H Chris

2008-09-17

Several neuropsychological studies have suggested parallel processing of somatosensory input when localising a tactile stimulus on one's own by pointing towards it (body schema) and when localising this touched location by pointing to it on a map of a hand (body image). Usually these reports describe patients with impaired detection, but intact sensorimotor localisation. This study examined three patients with a lesion of the angular gyrus with intact somatosensory processing, but with selectively disturbed finger identification (finger agnosia). These patients performed normally when pointing towards the touched finger on their own hand but failed to indicate this finger on a drawing of a hand or to name it. Similar defects in the perception of other body parts were not observed. The findings provide converging evidence for the dissociation between body image and body schema and, more importantly, reveal for the first time that this distinction is also present in higher-order cognitive processes selectively for the fingers.

Admittance Control of a Multi-Finger Arm Based on Manipulability of Fingers

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Takayuki Hori

2011-09-01

Full Text Available In the previous studies, admittance control and impedance control for a finger‐arm robot using the manipulability of the finger were studied and methods of realizing the controls have been proposed. In this study, two 3‐DOF fingers are attached to the end‐effector of a 6‐DOF arm to configure a multi‐finger arm robot. Based on the previous methods, the authors have proposed an admittance control for a multi‐finger arm robot using the manipulability of the fingers in this study. Algorithms of the averaging method and the mini‐max method were introduced to establish a manipulability criterion of the two fingers in order to generate a cooperative movement of the arm. Comparison of the admittance controls combined with the top search method and local optimization method for the multi‐finger arm robot was made and features of the control methods were also discussed. The stiffness control and damping control were experimentally evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Microbiological and physico-chemical assessment of the quality of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The domestic raw water sources in Nkonkobe and Gogogo were characterised by using both microbiological and standard physical methods to investigate the quality of the water at the sampling sites. For microbiological analysis, indicator bacteria namely, heterotrophic bacteria, total and faecal coliforms and for physical ...

Physical-chemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation of spicy soybean paste

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Daniela Cristina Faria Vieira

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to develop a spicy soybean paste. Three formulations of spicy soybean paste were prepared, and then submitted to prior microbiological and sensory acceptance test with 50 untrained tasters. The most accepted formulation was evaluated on the microbiological quality during its shelf life. Significant differences were found (p <0.05 for the attributes flavor, aroma, texture and overall impression for the formulation B of spicy soybean paste, the most accepted of the two. It was found that the microbiological analyzes are within the established by the Technical Regulation on microbiological standards for food nº 12 of January 2nd, 2001. The mean values found for the physicochemical analyzes were 38.93% for moisture, 11.00% for lipids, proteins and 11.12% to 6.85% for ash content. The spicy soybean paste is a good food option, presenting good sensory acceptance.

A Method for Recognizing State of Finger Flexure and Extension

Science.gov (United States)

Terado, Toshihiko; Fujiwara, Osamu

In our country, the handicapped and the elderly people in bed increase rapidly. In the bedridden person’s daily life, there may be limitations in the physical movement and the means of mutual communication. For the support of their comfortable daily lives, therefore, the development of human interface equipment becomes an important task. The equipment of this kind is being already developed by means of laser beam, eye-tracking, breathing motion and myo-electric signals, while the attachment and handling are normally not so easy. In this study, paying attention to finger motion, we have developed human interface equipment easily attached to the body, which enables one to measure the finger flexure and extension for mutual communication. The state of finger flexure and extension is identified by a threshold level analysis from the 3D-locus data for the finger movement, which can be measured through the infrared rays from the LED markers attached to a glove with the previously developed prototype system. We then have confirmed from an experiment that nearly 100% recognition for the finger movement can be achieved.

Fermentation of maize (Zea mays L.) meal or mawe production in Benin : physical, chemical and microbiological aspects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hounhouigan, D.J.

1994-01-01

Mawè is a sour dough made from partially dehulled maize meal, which has undergone natural fermentation for 1 to 3 days.

In this thesis, the processing methods, the characteristics of the products and the physical, chemical and microbiological changes during natural fermentation of

Quantifying Parkinson's disease finger-tapping severity by extracting and synthesizing finger motion properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Sano, Yuko; Kandori, Akihiko; Shima, Keisuke; Yamaguchi, Yuki; Tsuji, Toshio; Noda, Masafumi; Higashikawa, Fumiko; Yokoe, Masaru; Sakoda, Saburo

2016-06-01

We propose a novel index of Parkinson's disease (PD) finger-tapping severity, called "PDFTsi," for quantifying the severity of symptoms related to the finger tapping of PD patients with high accuracy. To validate the efficacy of PDFTsi, the finger-tapping movements of normal controls and PD patients were measured by using magnetic sensors, and 21 characteristics were extracted from the finger-tapping waveforms. To distinguish motor deterioration due to PD from that due to aging, the aging effect on finger tapping was removed from these characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the age-normalized characteristics, and principal components that represented the motion properties of finger tapping were calculated. Multiple linear regression (MLR) with stepwise variable selection was applied to the principal components, and PDFTsi was calculated. The calculated PDFTsi indicates that PDFTsi has a high estimation ability, namely a mean square error of 0.45. The estimation ability of PDFTsi is higher than that of the alternative method, MLR with stepwise regression selection without PCA, namely a mean square error of 1.30. This result suggests that PDFTsi can quantify PD finger-tapping severity accurately. Furthermore, the result of interpreting a model for calculating PDFTsi indicated that motion wideness and rhythm disorder are important for estimating PD finger-tapping severity.

Fingering instabilities in bacterial community phototaxis

Science.gov (United States)

Vps, Ritwika; Man Wah Chau, Rosanna; Casey Huang, Kerwyn; Gopinathan, Ajay

Synechocystis sp PCC 6803 is a phototactic cyanobacterium that moves directionally in response to a light source. During phototaxis, these bacterial communities show emergent spatial organisation resulting in the formation of finger-like projections at the propagating front. In this study, we propose an analytical model that elucidates the underlying physical mechanisms which give rise to these spatial patterns. We describe the migrating front during phototaxis as a one-dimensional curve by considering the effects of phototactic bias, diffusion and surface tension. By considering the propagating front as composed of perturbations to a flat solution and using linear stability analysis, we predict a critical bias above which the finger-like projections appear as instabilities. We also predict the wavelengths of the fastest growing mode and the critical mode above which the instabilities disappear. We validate our predictions through comparisons to experimental data obtained by analysing images of phototaxis in Synechocystis communities. Our model also predicts the observed loss of instabilities in taxd1 mutants (cells with inactive TaxD1, an important photoreceptor in finger formation), by considering diffusion in mutually perpendicular directions and a lower, negative bias.

Left hand finger force in violin playing: tempo, loudness, and finger differences.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoshita, Hiroshi; Obata, Satoshi

2009-07-01

A three-dimensional force transducer was installed in the neck of a violin under the A string at the D5 position in order to study the force with which the violinist clamps the string against the fingerboard under normal playing conditions. Violinists performed repetitive sequences of open A- and fingered D-tones using the ring finger at tempi of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 notes/s at mezzo-forte. At selected tempi, the effects of dynamic level and the use of different fingers were investigated as well. The force profiles were clearly dependent on tempo and dynamic level. At slow tempi, the force profiles were characterized by an initial pulse followed by a level force to the end of the finger contact period. At tempi higher than 2 Hz, only pulsed profiles were observed. The peak force exceeded 4.5 N at 1 and 2 Hz and decreased to 1.7 N at 16 Hz. All force and impulse values were lower at softer dynamic levels, and when using the ring or little finger compared to the index finger.

On the relationship between finger width, velocity, and fluxes in thermohaline convection

Science.gov (United States)

Sreenivas, K. R.; Singh, O. P.; Srinivasan, J.

2009-02-01

Double-diffusive finger convection occurs in many natural processes. The theories for double-diffusive phenomena that exist at present consider systems with linear stratification in temperature and salinity. The double-diffusive systems with step change in salinity and temperature are, however, not amenable to simple stability analysis. Hence factors that control the width of the finger, velocity, and fluxes in systems that have step change in temperature and salinity have not been understood so far. In this paper we provide new physical insight regarding factors that influence finger convection in two-layer double-diffusive system through two-dimensional numerical simulations. Simulations have been carried out for density stability ratios (Rρ) from 1.5 to 10. For each density stability ratio, the thermal Rayleigh number (RaT) has been systematically varied from 7×103 to 7×108. Results from these simulations show how finger width, velocity, and flux ratios in finger convection are interrelated and the influence of governing parameters such as density stability ratio and the thermal Rayleigh number. The width of the incipient fingers at the time of onset of instability has been shown to vary as RaT-1/3. Velocity in the finger varies as RaT1/3/Rρ. Results from simulation agree with the scale analysis presented in the paper. Our results demonstrate that wide fingers have lower velocities and flux ratios compared to those in narrow fingers. This result contradicts present notions about the relation between finger width and flux ratio. A counterflow heat-exchanger analogy is used in understanding the dependence of flux ratio on finger width and velocity.

Multiple Fingers - One Gestalt.

Science.gov (United States)

Lezkan, Alexandra; Manuel, Steven G; Colgate, J Edward; Klatzky, Roberta L; Peshkin, Michael A; Drewing, Knut

2016-01-01

The Gestalt theory of perception offered principles by which distributed visual sensations are combined into a structured experience ("Gestalt"). We demonstrate conditions whereby haptic sensations at two fingertips are integrated in the perception of a single object. When virtual bumps were presented simultaneously to the right hand's thumb and index finger during lateral arm movements, participants reported perceiving a single bump. A discrimination task measured the bump's perceived location and perceptual reliability (assessed by differential thresholds) for four finger configurations, which varied in their adherence to the Gestalt principles of proximity (small versus large finger separation) and synchrony (virtual spring to link movements of the two fingers versus no spring). According to models of integration, reliability should increase with the degree to which multi-finger cues integrate into a unified percept. Differential thresholds were smaller in the virtual-spring condition (synchrony) than when fingers were unlinked. Additionally, in the condition with reduced synchrony, greater proximity led to lower differential thresholds. Thus, with greater adherence to Gestalt principles, thresholds approached values predicted for optimal integration. We conclude that the Gestalt principles of synchrony and proximity apply to haptic perception of surface properties and that these principles can interact to promote multi-finger integration.

The Zinc Finger of Prolyl Hydroxylase Domain Protein 2 Is Essential for Efficient Hydroxylation of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor α.

Science.gov (United States)

Arsenault, Patrick R; Song, Daisheng; Chung, Yu Jin; Khurana, Tejvir S; Lee, Frank S

2016-09-15

Prolyl hydroxylase domain protein 2 (PHD2) (also known as EGLN1) is a key oxygen sensor in mammals that posttranslationally modifies hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIF-α) and targets it for degradation. In addition to its catalytic domain, PHD2 contains an evolutionarily conserved zinc finger domain, which we have previously proposed recruits PHD2 to the HSP90 pathway to promote HIF-α hydroxylation. Here, we provide evidence that this recruitment is critical both in vitro and in vivo We show that in vitro, the zinc finger can function as an autonomous recruitment domain to facilitate interaction with HIF-α. In vivo, ablation of zinc finger function by a C36S/C42S Egln1 knock-in mutation results in upregulation of the erythropoietin gene, erythrocytosis, and augmented hypoxic ventilatory response, all hallmarks of Egln1 loss of function and HIF stabilization. Hence, the zinc finger ordinarily performs a critical positive regulatory function. Intriguingly, the function of this zinc finger is impaired in high-altitude-adapted Tibetans, suggesting that their adaptation to high altitude may, in part, be due to a loss-of-function EGLN1 allele. Thus, these findings have important implications for understanding both the molecular mechanism of the hypoxic response and human adaptation to high altitude. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Finger-like voids induced by viscous fingering during phase inversion of alumina/PES/NMP suspensions

KAUST Repository

Wang, Bo

2012-07-01

The formation mechanism of phase-inversion ceramic hollow fibre membranes has not been well understood. In this paper, we report on the formation of finger-like macrovoids during non-solvent-induced phase inversion of alumina/PES/NMP suspensions. A membrane structure without such finger-like macrovoids was observed when the suspension was slowly immersed into pure ethanol or a mixture of 70. wt% NMP and 30. wt% water, whereas finger-like macrovoids occurred when the suspension was slid into the non-solvents at higher speeds. We found that the formation process of finger-like macrovoids could be fully or partially reversed when nascent membranes were taken out from water shortly after immersion, depending on the duration of the immersion. Splitting of the fingers during the formation of the macrovoids was also observed during the phase inversion of two alumina/PES/NMP suspensions. These experimental observations were not predicted by current theories of finger-like macrovoid formation in polymer membranes, but appear to mimic the well-known viscous fingering phenomenon. We therefore propose that in the phase inversion of ceramic suspensions, the viscous fingering phenomenon is an important mechanism in the formation of finger-like voids. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Covering the Dorsal Finger Defect with Reverse Cross Finger Flap

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Kaan Gurbuz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Reconstruction of finger extensor zone defects with or without tendon gaps still remains a challenge for surgeons. Although surgical treatments may differ, and range from the use of local, regional, to free flaps, the outcomes for all cases are not satisfactory. In this case report, we present a case of a 3rd finger extensor side crush injury including a defect of Dd (Digit Dorsal 1, Dd2 and Dd3 defects of extensor zones with tendon gap. Tendon gap was reconstructed using m. palmaris longus tendon graft and the defect was covered with reversed cross-finger flap (random pattern with good cosmetic and excellent functional results.

Finger Forces in Clarinet Playing

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Alex Hofmann

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Clarinettists close and open multiple tone holes to alter the pitch of the tones. Their fingering technique must be fast, precise, and coordinated with the tongue articulation. In this empirical study, finger force profiles and tongue techniques of clarinet students (N = 17 and professional clarinettists (N = 6 were investigated under controlled performance conditions. First, in an expressive-performance task, eight selected excerpts from the first Weber Concerto were performed. These excerpts were chosen to fit in a 2 x 2 x 2 design (register: low--high; tempo: slow--fast, dynamics: soft--loud. There was an additional condition controlled by the experimenter, which determined the expression levels (low--high of the performers. Second, a technical-exercise task, an isochronous 23-tone melody was designed that required different effectors to produce the sequence (finger-only, tongue-only, combined tongue-finger actions. The melody was performed in three tempo conditions (slow, medium, fast in a synchronization-continuation paradigm. Participants played on a sensor-equipped Viennese clarinet, which tracked finger forces and reed oscillations simultaneously. From the data, average finger force (Fmean and peak force (Fmax were calculated. The overall finger forces were low (Fmean = 1.17 N, Fmax = 3.05 N compared to those on other musical instruments (e.g. guitar. Participants applied the largest finger forces during the high expression level performance conditions (Fmean = 1.21 N.For the technical exercise task, timing and articulation information were extracted from the reed signal. Here, the timing precision of the fingers deteriorated the timing precision of the tongue for combined tongue-finger actions, especially for faster tempi. Although individual finger force profiles were overlapping, the group of professional players applied less finger force overall (Fmean = 0.54 N. Such sensor instruments provide useful insights into player

Perceiving fingers in single-digit arithmetic problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Berteletti, Ilaria; Booth, James R

2015-01-01

In this study, we investigate in children the neural underpinnings of finger representation and finger movement involved in single-digit arithmetic problems. Evidence suggests that finger representation and finger-based strategies play an important role in learning and understanding arithmetic. Because different operations rely on different networks, we compared activation for subtraction and multiplication problems in independently localized finger somatosensory and motor areas and tested whether activation was related to skill. Brain activations from children between 8 and 13 years of age revealed that only subtraction problems significantly activated finger motor areas, suggesting reliance on finger-based strategies. In addition, larger subtraction problems yielded greater somatosensory activation than smaller problems, suggesting a greater reliance on finger representation for larger numerical values. Interestingly, better performance in subtraction problems was associated with lower activation in the finger somatosensory area. Our results support the importance of fine-grained finger representation in arithmetical skill and are the first neurological evidence for a functional role of the somatosensory finger area in proficient arithmetical problem solving, in particular for those problems requiring quantity manipulation. From an educational perspective, these results encourage investigating whether different finger-based strategies facilitate arithmetical understanding and encourage educational practices aiming at integrating finger representation and finger-based strategies as a tool for instilling stronger numerical sense.

Mesofluidic controlled robotic or prosthetic finger

Science.gov (United States)

Lind, Randall F; Jansen, John F; Love, Lonnie J

2013-11-19

A mesofluidic powered robotic and/or prosthetic finger joint includes a first finger section having at least one mesofluidic actuator in fluid communication with a first actuator, a second mesofluidic actuator in fluid communication with a second actuator and a second prosthetic finger section pivotally connected to the first finger section by a joint pivot, wherein the first actuator pivotally cooperates with the second finger to provide a first mechanical advantage relative to the joint point and wherein the second actuator pivotally cooperates with the second finger section to provide a second mechanical advantage relative to the joint point.

Perceiving fingers in single-digit arithmetic problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilaria eBerteletti

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, we investigate in children the neural underpinnings of finger representation and finger movement involved in single-digit arithmetic problems. Evidence suggests that finger representation and finger-based strategies play an important role in learning and understanding arithmetic. Because different operations rely on different networks, we compared activation for subtraction and multiplication problems in independently localized finger somatosensory and motor areas and tested whether activation was related to skill. Brain activations from children between 8 and 13 years of age revealed that only subtraction problems significantly activated finger motor areas, suggesting reliance on finger-based strategies. In addition, larger subtraction problems yielded greater somatosensory activation than smaller problems, suggesting a greater reliance on finger representation for larger numerical values. Interestingly, better performance in subtraction problems was associated with lower activation in the finger somatosensory area. Our results support the importance of fine-grained finger representation in arithmetical skill and are the first neurological evidence for a functional role of the somatosensory finger area in proficient arithmetical problem solving, in particular for those problems requiring quantity manipulation. From an educational perspective, these results encourage investigating whether different finger-based strategies facilitate arithmetical understanding and encourage educational practices aiming at integrating finger representation and finger-based strategies as a tool for instilling stronger numerical sense.

Impact of Finger Type in Fingerprint Authentication

Science.gov (United States)

Gafurov, Davrondzhon; Bours, Patrick; Yang, Bian; Busch, Christoph

Nowadays fingerprint verification system is the most widespread and accepted biometric technology that explores various features of the human fingers for this purpose. In general, every normal person has 10 fingers with different size. Although it is claimed that recognition performance with little fingers can be less accurate compared to other finger types, to our best knowledge, this has not been investigated yet. This paper presents our study on the topic of influence of the finger type into fingerprint recognition performance. For analysis we employ two fingerprint verification software packages (one public and one commercial). We conduct test on GUC100 multi sensor fingerprint database which contains fingerprint images of all 10 fingers from 100 subjects. Our analysis indeed confirms that performance with small fingers is less accurate than performance with the others fingers of the hand. It also appears that best performance is being obtained with thumb or index fingers. For example, performance deterioration from the best finger (i.e. index or thumb) to the worst fingers (i.e. small ones) can be in the range of 184%-1352%.

Design and preliminary evaluation of the FINGER rehabilitation robot: controlling challenge and quantifying finger individuation during musical computer game play.

Science.gov (United States)

Taheri, Hossein; Rowe, Justin B; Gardner, David; Chan, Vicki; Gray, Kyle; Bower, Curtis; Reinkensmeyer, David J; Wolbrecht, Eric T

2014-02-04

This paper describes the design and preliminary testing of FINGER (Finger Individuating Grasp Exercise Robot), a device for assisting in finger rehabilitation after neurologic injury. We developed FINGER to assist stroke patients in moving their fingers individually in a naturalistic curling motion while playing a game similar to Guitar Hero. The goal was to make FINGER capable of assisting with motions where precise timing is important. FINGER consists of a pair of stacked single degree-of-freedom 8-bar mechanisms, one for the index and one for the middle finger. Each 8-bar mechanism was designed to control the angle and position of the proximal phalanx and the position of the middle phalanx. Target positions for the mechanism optimization were determined from trajectory data collected from 7 healthy subjects using color-based motion capture. The resulting robotic device was built to accommodate multiple finger sizes and finger-to-finger widths. For initial evaluation, we asked individuals with a stroke (n = 16) and without impairment (n = 4) to play a game similar to Guitar Hero while connected to FINGER. Precision design, low friction bearings, and separate high speed linear actuators allowed FINGER to individually actuate the fingers with a high bandwidth of control (-3 dB at approximately 8 Hz). During the tests, we were able to modulate the subject's success rate at the game by automatically adjusting the controller gains of FINGER. We also used FINGER to measure subjects' effort and finger individuation while playing the game. Test results demonstrate the ability of FINGER to motivate subjects with an engaging game environment that challenges individuated control of the fingers, automatically control assistance levels, and quantify finger individuation after stroke.

Microbiological and physical-chemical characteristics of honeys from the bee Melipona fasciculata produced in two regions of Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel Torquato Fernandes

2018-05-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The honey from Tiúba bees (Melipona fasciculata is commercially important in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. However, the absence of any specific legislation for this kind of honey is an obstacle to its increased production and commercialization. Determining the microbiological and physical-chemical characteristics of different Tiúba honey can inform the elaboration of specific legislation. Thus, honey samples from two Water Catchment Areas in Maranhão (Munim and Pericumã, sample size 20 for each were collected and submitted for microbiological analysis (total coliforms, thermotolerant coliforms, molds and yeasts, Clostridium sulfite reducers and Salmonella sp. and physical-chemical analysis (moisture content, reducing and non-reducing sugars, insoluble and soluble solids, ash content, acidity and pH. Most of honeys sampled were suitable for human consumption, except for one sample from Pericumã. Honeys from the two water catchment areas presented differences in some physicochemical characteristics, which can be attributed to the botanic, soil and climatic diversity of the two areas. Still, these Tiúba honey samples did not fall within the Brazilian legislation for Apis mellifera honey for some of the physical-chemical characteristics, and so is not properly regulated, thus reinforcing the need for specific legislation for this type of honey.

Effect of Chemical Treatment on Physical, Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Ladies Finger Natural Fiber

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. I. Hossain

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In present research, natural fiber obtained from ladies finger plant was chemically treated separately using alkali (2% NaOH, chromium sulfate (4% , and chromium sulfate and sodium bicarbonate (4% . Both raw and chemically treated fibers were subsequently characterized using mechanical (tensile, structural (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and thermal (thermogravimetric analysis. Fourier analysis showed the presence of (−OH group in the ladies plant fiber. Scanning electron micrographs revealed rougher surface in case of alkali treated fiber, while thin coating layer was formed on the fiber surface during other two treatments. Tensile test on ladies finger single fiber was carried out by varying span length. The tensile strength and Young's modulus values were found to be increased after chemical treatment. For both raw and chemically treated fibers, Young's modulus increased and tensile strength decreased with increase in span length. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated the same level of thermal stability for both raw and treated ladies finger fibers.

Immiscible three-dimensional fingering in porous media: A weakly nonlinear analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Brandão, Rodolfo; Dias, Eduardo O.; Miranda, José A.

2018-03-01

We present a weakly nonlinear theory for the development of fingering instabilities that arise at the interface between two immiscible viscous fluids flowing radially outward in a uniform three-dimensional (3D) porous medium. By employing a perturbative second-order mode-coupling scheme, we investigate the linear stability of the system as well as the emergence of intrinsically nonlinear finger branching events in this 3D environment. At the linear stage, we find several differences between the 3D radial fingering and its 2D counterpart (usual Saffman-Taylor flow in radial Hele-Shaw cells). These include the algebraic growth of disturbances and the existence of regions of absolute stability for finite values of viscosity contrast and capillary number in the 3D system. On the nonlinear level, our main focus is to get analytical insight into the physical mechanism resulting in the occurrence of finger tip-splitting phenomena. In this context, we show that the underlying mechanism leading to 3D tip splitting relies on the coupling between the fundamental interface modes and their first harmonics. However, we find that in three dimensions, in contrast to the usual 2D fingering structures normally encountered in radial Hele-Shaw flows, tip splitting into three branches can also be observed.

Fingers that change color

Science.gov (United States)

... gov/ency/article/003249.htm Fingers that change color To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. Fingers or toes may change color when they are exposed to cold temperatures or ...

Neural control of finger movement via intracortical brain-machine interface

Science.gov (United States)

Irwin, Z. T.; Schroeder, K. E.; Vu, P. P.; Bullard, A. J.; Tat, D. M.; Nu, C. S.; Vaskov, A.; Nason, S. R.; Thompson, D. E.; Bentley, J. N.; Patil, P. G.; Chestek, C. A.

2017-12-01

Objective. Intracortical brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are a promising source of prosthesis control signals for individuals with severe motor disabilities. Previous BMI studies have primarily focused on predicting and controlling whole-arm movements; precise control of hand kinematics, however, has not been fully demonstrated. Here, we investigate the continuous decoding of precise finger movements in rhesus macaques. Approach. In order to elicit precise and repeatable finger movements, we have developed a novel behavioral task paradigm which requires the subject to acquire virtual fingertip position targets. In the physical control condition, four rhesus macaques performed this task by moving all four fingers together in order to acquire a single target. This movement was equivalent to controlling the aperture of a power grasp. During this task performance, we recorded neural spikes from intracortical electrode arrays in primary motor cortex. Main results. Using a standard Kalman filter, we could reconstruct continuous finger movement offline with an average correlation of ρ  =  0.78 between actual and predicted position across four rhesus macaques. For two of the monkeys, this movement prediction was performed in real-time to enable direct brain control of the virtual hand. Compared to physical control, neural control performance was slightly degraded; however, the monkeys were still able to successfully perform the task with an average target acquisition rate of 83.1%. The monkeys’ ability to arbitrarily specify fingertip position was also quantified using an information throughput metric. During brain control task performance, the monkeys achieved an average 1.01 bits s-1 throughput, similar to that achieved in previous studies which decoded upper-arm movements to control computer cursors using a standard Kalman filter. Significance. This is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of brain control of finger-level fine motor skills. We believe

Characterization samples of Tigris river water treated with nano colloidal silver (physically, chemically, microbiologically)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumboos, H. I.; Beden, S. J.; Zouari, K.; Chkir, N.; Ahmed, H. A.

2012-12-01

Many researches of using nano silver in purification of drinking water from bacteria and its effect on stan dared properties as drinking water were established. Two stages accomplished in these projects. First stage include preparation of colloidal silver with characterization process and prepare water samples through sedimentation, filtration process, PH and turbidity measure then treated with colloidal silver in volume ratio (0.1-Λ) ml/100ml. The second stage represent select the better results from stage one and take samples to determine the standard characterization values with chemical, physical and microbiological taste. Results will be compared with Iraq standard certification. (Author)

Finger multibiometric cryptosystems: fusion strategy and template security

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Jialiang; Li, Qiong; Abd El-Latif, Ahmed A.; Niu, Xiamu

2014-03-01

We address two critical issues in the design of a finger multibiometric system, i.e., fusion strategy and template security. First, three fusion strategies (feature-level, score-level, and decision-level fusions) with the corresponding template protection technique are proposed as the finger multibiometric cryptosystems to protect multiple finger biometric templates of fingerprint, finger vein, finger knuckle print, and finger shape modalities. Second, we theoretically analyze different fusion strategies for finger multibiometric cryptosystems with respect to their impact on security and recognition accuracy. Finally, the performance of finger multibiometric cryptosystems at different fusion levels is investigated on a merged finger multimodal biometric database. The comparative results suggest that the proposed finger multibiometric cryptosystem at feature-level fusion outperforms other approaches in terms of verification performance and template security.

Optimization for Guitar Fingering on Single Notes

Science.gov (United States)

Itoh, Masaru; Hayashida, Takumi

This paper presents an optimization method for guitar fingering. The fingering is to determine a unique combination of string, fret and finger corresponding to the note. The method aims to generate the best fingering pattern for guitar robots rather than beginners. Furthermore, it can be applied to any musical score on single notes. A fingering action can be decomposed into three motions, that is, a motion of press string, release string and move fretting hand. The cost for moving the hand is estimated on the basis of Manhattan distance which is the sum of distances along fret and string directions. The objective is to minimize the total fingering costs, subject to fret, string and finger constraints. As a sequence of notes on the score forms a line on time series, the optimization for guitar fingering can be resolved into a multistage decision problem. Dynamic programming is exceedingly effective to solve such a problem. A level concept is introduced into rendering states so as to make multiple DP solutions lead a unique one among the DP backward processes. For example, if two fingerings have the same value of cost at different states on a stage, then the low position would be taken precedence over the high position, and the index finger would be over the middle finger.

Emotional Communication in Finger Braille

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuhiro Matsuda

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We describe analyses of the features of emotions (neutral, joy, sadness, and anger expressed by Finger Braille interpreters and subsequently examine the effectiveness of emotional expression and emotional communication between people unskilled in Finger Braille. The goal is to develop a Finger Braille system to teach emotional expression and a system to recognize emotion. The results indicate the following features of emotional expression by interpreters. The durations of the code of joy were significantly shorter than the durations of the other emotions, the durations of the code of sadness were significantly longer, and the finger loads of anger were significantly larger. The features of emotional expression by unskilled subjects were very similar to those of the interpreters, and the coincidence ratio of emotional communication was 75.1%. Therefore, it was confirmed that people unskilled in Finger Braille can express and communicate emotions using this communication medium.

[Treatment of trigger finger with located needle knife].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qi-Feng; Yang, Jiang; Xi, Sheng-Hua

2016-07-25

To investigate the clinical effects of located needle knife in the treatment of trigger finger. The clinical data of 133 patients(145 fingers) with trigger finger underwent treatment with located needle knife from September 2010 to March 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 37 males(40 fingers) and 96 females (105 fingers), aged from 18 to 71 years old with a mean of 51.8 years. Course of disease was from 1 to 19 months with an average of 8.2 months. Affected fingers included 82 thumbs, 12 index fingers, 11 middle fingers, 36 ring fingers, and 4 little fingers. According to the standard of Quinnell grade, 42 fingers were grade III, 92 fingers were grade IV, and 11 fingers were grade V. Firstly the double pipe gab was put into the distal edge of hypertrophic tendon sheath, then small knife needle was used to release the sheath proximally along the tendon line direction. The informations of wound healing and nerve injury, postoperative finger function, finger pain at 6 months were observed. The operation time was from 8 to 25 min with an average of 9.8 min. All the patients were followed up from 6 to 26 months with an average of 12.5 months. No complications such as the wound inflammation and seepage, vascular or nerve injuries were found. According to the standard of Quinnell grade, 123 fingers got excellent results, 15 good, 7 poor. It's a good choice to treat trigger finger with located needle knife in advantage of minimal invasion, simple safe operation, and it should be promoted in clinic.

The creation of the artificial RING finger from the cross-brace zinc finger by α-helical region substitution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyamoto, Kazuhide; Togiya, Kayo

2010-01-01

The creation of the artificial RING finger as ubiquitin-ligating enzyme (E3) has been demonstrated. In this study, by the α-helical region substitution between the EL5 RING finger and the Williams-Beuren syndrome transcription factor (WSTF) PHD finger, the artificial E3 (WSTF PHD R ING finger) was newly created. The experiments of the chemical modification of residues Cys and the circular dichroism spectra revealed that the WSTF PHD R ING finger binds two zinc atoms and adopts the zinc-dependent ordered-structure. In the substrate-independent ubiquitination assay, the WSTF PHD R ING finger functions as E3 and was poly- or mono-ubiquitinated. The present strategy is very simple and convenient, and consequently it might be widely applicable to the creation of various artificial E3 RING fingers with the specific ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2)-binding capability.

Fine finger motor skill training with exoskeleton robotic hand in chronic stroke: stroke rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ockenfeld, Corinna; Tong, Raymond K Y; Susanto, Evan A; Ho, Sze-Kit; Hu, Xiao-ling

2013-06-01

Background and Purpose. Stroke survivors often show a limited recovery in the hand function to perform delicate motions, such as full hand grasping, finger pinching and individual finger movement. The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of an exoskeleton robotic hand together with fine finger motor skill training on 2 chronic stroke patients. Case Descriptions. Two post-stroke patients participated in a 20-session training program by integrating 10 minutes physical therapy, 20 minutes robotic hand training and 15 minutes functional training tasks with delicate objects(card, pen and coin). These two patients (A and B) had cerebrovascular accident at 6 months and 11 months respectively when enrolled in this study. Outcomes. The results showed that both patients had improvements in Fugl-Meyer assessment (FM), Action Research Arm Test (ARAT). Patients had better isolation of the individual finger flexion and extension based on the reduced muscle co-contraction from the electromyographic(EMG) signals and finger extension force after 20 sessions of training. Discussion. This preliminary study showed that by focusing on the fine finger motor skills together with the exoskeleton robotic hand, it could improve the motor recovery of the upper extremity in the fingers and hand function, which were showed in the ARAT. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness.

Finger tapping ability in healthy elderly and young adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Tomoko; Fukuoka, Yoshiyuki

2010-03-01

The maximum isometric force production capacity of the fingers decreases with age. However, little information is available on age-related changes in dynamic motor capacity of individual fingers. The purpose of this study was to compare the dynamic motor function of individual fingers between elderly and young adults using rapid single-finger and double-finger tapping. Fourteen elderly and 14 young adults performed maximum frequency tapping by the index, middle, ring, or little finger (single-finger tapping) and with alternate movements of the index-middle, middle-ring, or ring-little finger-pair (double-finger tapping). The maximum pinch force between the thumb and each finger, tactile sensitivity of each fingertip, and time taken to complete a pegboard test were also measured. Compared with young subjects, the older subjects had significantly slower tapping rates in all fingers and finger-pairs in the tapping tasks. The age-related decline was also observed in the tactile sensitivities of all fingers and in the pegboard test. However, there was no group difference in the pinch force of any finger. The tapping rate of each finger did not correlate with the pinch force or tactile sensitivity for the corresponding finger in the elderly subjects. Maximum rate of finger tapping was lower in the elderly adults compared with the young adults. The decline of finger tapping ability in elderly adults seems to be less affected by their maximum force production capacities of the fingers as well as tactile sensitivities at the tips of the fingers.

Oxidation-Mediated Fingering in Liquid Metals

Science.gov (United States)

Eaker, Collin B.; Hight, David C.; O'Regan, John D.; Dickey, Michael D.; Daniels, Karen E.

2017-10-01

We identify and characterize a new class of fingering instabilities in liquid metals; these instabilities are unexpected due to the large interfacial tension of metals. Electrochemical oxidation lowers the effective interfacial tension of a gallium-based liquid metal alloy to values approaching zero, thereby inducing drastic shape changes, including the formation of fractals. The measured fractal dimension (D =1.3 ±0.05 ) places the instability in a different universality class than other fingering instabilities. By characterizing changes in morphology and dynamics as a function of droplet volume and applied electric potential, we identify the three main forces involved in this process: interfacial tension, gravity, and oxidative stress. Importantly, we find that electrochemical oxidation can generate compressive interfacial forces that oppose the tensile forces at a liquid interface. The surface oxide layer ultimately provides a physical and electrochemical barrier that halts the instabilities at larger positive potentials. Controlling the competition between interfacial tension and oxidative (compressive) stresses at the interface is important for the development of reconfigurable electronic, electromagnetic, and optical devices that take advantage of the metallic properties of liquid metals.

Finger Search in the Implicit Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Nielsen, Jesper Asbjørn Sindahl; Truelsen, Jakob

2012-01-01

We address the problem of creating a dictionary with the finger search property in the strict implicit model, where no information is stored between operations, except the array of elements. We show that for any implicit dictionary supporting finger searches in q(t) = Ω(logt) time, the time to move...... the finger to another element is Ω(q− 1(logn)), where t is the rank distance between the query element and the finger. We present an optimal implicit static structure matching this lower bound. We furthermore present a near optimal implicit dynamic structure supporting search, change-finger, insert......, and delete in times $\\mathcal{O}(q(t))$, $\\mathcal{O}(q^{-1}(\\log n)\\log n)$, $\\mathcal{O}(\\log n)$, and $\\mathcal{O}(\\log n)$, respectively, for any q(t) = Ω(logt). Finally we show that the search operation must take Ω(logn) time for the special case where the finger is always changed to the element...

Finger replantation: surgical technique and indications.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbary, S; Dap, F; Dautel, G

2013-12-01

In this article, we discuss the surgical technique of finger replantation in detail, distinguishing particularities of technique in cases of thumb amputation, children fingertip replantation, ring finger avulsion, and very distal replantations. We emphasize the principles of bone shortening, the spare part concept, the special importance of nerve sutures and the use of vein graft in case of avulsion or crushing. However, even if finger replantation is now a routine procedure, a clear distinction should be made between revascularization and functional success. The indications for finger replantation are then detailed in the second part of this paper. The absolute indications for replantation are thumb, multiple fingers, transmetacarpal or hand, and any upper extremity amputation in a child whatever the level. Fingertip amputations distal to the insertion of the Flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) are also a good indication. Other cases are more controversial because of the poor functional outcome, especially for the index finger, which is often functionally excluded. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.

Generic Automated Multi-function Finger Design

Science.gov (United States)

Honarpardaz, M.; Tarkian, M.; Sirkett, D.; Ölvander, J.; Feng, X.; Elf, J.; Sjögren, R.

2016-11-01

Multi-function fingers that are able to handle multiple workpieces are crucial in improvement of a robot workcell. Design automation of multi-function fingers is highly demanded by robot industries to overcome the current iterative, time consuming and complex manual design process. However, the existing approaches for the multi-function finger design automation are unable to entirely meet the robot industries’ need. This paper proposes a generic approach for design automation of multi-function fingers. The proposed approach completely automates the design process and requires no expert skill. In addition, this approach executes the design process much faster than the current manual process. To validate the approach, multi-function fingers are successfully designed for two case studies. Further, the results are discussed and benchmarked with existing approaches.

New Finger Biometric Method Using Near Infrared Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eui Chul; Jung, Hyunwoo; Kim, Daeyeoul

2011-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new finger biometric method. Infrared finger images are first captured, and then feature extraction is performed using a modified Gaussian high-pass filter through binarization, local binary pattern (LBP), and local derivative pattern (LDP) methods. Infrared finger images include the multimodal features of finger veins and finger geometries. Instead of extracting each feature using different methods, the modified Gaussian high-pass filter is fully convolved. Therefore, the extracted binary patterns of finger images include the multimodal features of veins and finger geometries. Experimental results show that the proposed method has an error rate of 0.13%. PMID:22163741

Current status of ultrasonography of the finger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seun Ah; Kim, Baek Hyun [Dept. of Radiology, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Seon Jeong [Dept. of Radiology, Myongji Hospital, Seonam University College of Medicine, Goyang (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Ji Na [Dept. of Radiology, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Sun Young [Dept. of Radiology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Kyung Hee [Incheon Baek Hospital, Incheon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-03-15

The recent development of advanced high-resolution transducers has enabled the fast, easy, and dynamic ultrasonographic evaluation of small, superficial structures such as the finger. In order to best exploit these advances, it is important to understand the normal anatomy and the basic pathologies of the finger, as exemplified by the following conditions involving the dorsal, volar, and lateral sections of the finger: sagittal band injuries, mallet finger, and Boutonnière deformity (dorsal aspect); flexor tendon tears, trigger finger, and volar plate injuries (volar aspect); gamekeeper’s thumb (Stener lesions) and other collateral ligament tears (lateral aspect); and other lesions. This review provides a basis for understanding the ultrasonography of the finger and will therefore be useful for radiologists.

Current status of ultrasonography of the finger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seun Ah Lee

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The recent development of advanced high-resolution transducers has enabled the fast, easy, and dynamic ultrasonographic evaluation of small, superficial structures such as the finger. In order to best exploit these advances, it is important to understand the normal anatomy and the basic pathologies of the finger, as exemplified by the following conditions involving the dorsal, volar, and lateral sections of the finger: sagittal band injuries, mallet finger, and Boutonnière deformity (dorsal aspect; flexor tendon tears, trigger finger, and volar plate injuries (volar aspect; gamekeeper’s thumb (Stener lesions and other collateral ligament tears (lateral aspect; and other lesions. This review provides a basis for understanding the ultrasonography of the finger and will therefore be useful for radiologists.

Interfacial elastic fingering in Hele-Shaw cells: A weakly nonlinear study

KAUST Repository

Carvalho, Gabriel D.

2013-11-11

We study a variant of the classic viscous fingering instability in Hele-Shaw cells where the interface separating the fluids is elastic, and presents a curvature-dependent bending rigidity. By employing a second-order mode-coupling approach we investigate how the elastic nature of the interface influences the morphology of emerging interfacial patterns. This is done by focusing our attention on a conventionally stable situation in which the fluids involved have the same viscosity. In this framework, we show that the inclusion of nonlinear effects plays a crucial role in inducing sizable interfacial instabilities, as well as in determining the ultimate shape of the pattern-forming structures. Particularly, we have found that the emergence of either narrow or wide fingers can be regulated by tuning a rigidity fraction parameter. Our weakly nonlinear findings reinforce the importance of the so-called curvature weakening effect, which favors the development of fingers in regions of lower rigidity. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Interfacial elastic fingering in Hele-Shaw cells: A weakly nonlinear study

KAUST Repository

Carvalho, Gabriel D.; Miranda, José A.; Gadê lha, Hermes

2013-01-01

We study a variant of the classic viscous fingering instability in Hele-Shaw cells where the interface separating the fluids is elastic, and presents a curvature-dependent bending rigidity. By employing a second-order mode-coupling approach we investigate how the elastic nature of the interface influences the morphology of emerging interfacial patterns. This is done by focusing our attention on a conventionally stable situation in which the fluids involved have the same viscosity. In this framework, we show that the inclusion of nonlinear effects plays a crucial role in inducing sizable interfacial instabilities, as well as in determining the ultimate shape of the pattern-forming structures. Particularly, we have found that the emergence of either narrow or wide fingers can be regulated by tuning a rigidity fraction parameter. Our weakly nonlinear findings reinforce the importance of the so-called curvature weakening effect, which favors the development of fingers in regions of lower rigidity. © 2013 American Physical Society.

the strategy of finger use in children's addition Relationship with short-term memory, finger dexterity, and addition skills

OpenAIRE

Asakawa, Atsushi; Sugimura, Shinichiro

2009-01-01

Previous research has shown that the children's use of the fingers in additon changes with age. In this study, a part of data on the strategy of finger use by Asakawa and Sugimura (2009) was reanalyzed to clarify the relationship between, short-term memory, finger dexterity and addition skills. A two-way ANOVA showed a significant interaction between memory span and finger use. Examination of simple main effect indicated that significant effect of memory span at the group of the children who ...

Viscous fingering with permeability heterogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan, C.; Homsy, G.M.

1992-01-01

Viscous fingering in miscible displacements in the presence of permeability heterogeneities is studied using two-dimensional simulations. The heterogeneities are modeled as stationary random functions of space with finite correlation scale. Both the variance and scale of the heterogeneities are varied over modest ranges. It is found that the fingered zone grows linearly in time in a fashion analogous to that found in homogeneous media by Tan and Homsy [Phys. Fluids 31, 1330 (1988)], indicating a close coupling between viscous fingering on the one hand and flow through preferentially more permeable paths on the other. The growth rate of the mixing zone increases monotonically with the variance of the heterogeneity, as expected, but shows a maximum as the correlation scale is varied. The latter is explained as a ''resonance'' between the natural scale of fingers in homogeneous media and the correlation scale

Torque control of underactuated tendon-driven fingers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. E. Abdallah

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Given an underactuated tendon-driven finger, the finger posture is underdetermined and can move freely ("flop" in a region of slack tendons. This work shows that such an underactuated finger can be operated in tendon force control (rather than position control with effective performance. The force control eliminates the indeterminate slack while commanding a parameterized space of desired torques. The torque will either push the finger to the joint limits or wrap around an external object with variable torque – behavior that is sufficient for primarily gripping fingers. In addition, introducing asymmetric joint radii to the design allows the finger to command an expanded range of joint torques and to scan an expanded set of external surfaces. This study is motivated by the design and control of the secondary fingers of the NASA-GM R2 humanoid hand.

This paper was presented at the IFToMM/ASME International Workshop on Underactuated Grasping (UG2010, 19 August 2010, Montréal, Canada.

Microbiological Spoilage of Cereal Products

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Frederick K.; Johnson, Billie L.

A wide range of cereal products, including bakery items, refrigerated dough, fresh pasta products, dried cereal products, snack foods, and bakery mixes, are manufactured for food consumption. These products are subject to physical, chemical, and microbiological spoilage that affects the taste, aroma, leavening, appearance, and overall quality of the end consumer product. Microorganisms are ubiquitous in nature and have the potential for causing food spoilage and foodborne disease. However, compared to other categories of food products, bakery products rarely cause food poisoning. The heat that is applied during baking or frying usually eliminates pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, and low moisture contributes to product stability. Nevertheless, microbiological spoilage of these products occurs, resulting in substantial economic losses.

Primary syphilis of the fingers

OpenAIRE

Starzycki, Z

1983-01-01

Six patients were seen with primary syphilitic chancres on their fingers between 1965 and 1980. Of these, two had bipolar chancres on their fingers and genitals resulting from sexual foreplay. Because syphilis is rarely suspected in such cases diagnostic errors are common.

Some physical and functional properties of finger millet (Eleusine coracana) obtained in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramashia, S E; Gwata, E T; Meddows-Taylor, S; Anyasi, T A; Jideani, A I O

2018-02-01

The study determined the physical properties of finger millet (FM) (Eluesine coracana) grains and the functional properties of FM flour. Physical properties such as colour attributes, sample weight, bulk density, true density, porosity, surface area, sample volume, aspect ratio, sphericity, dimensional properties and moisture content of grain cultivars were determined. Water absorption capacity (WAC), bulk density (BD), dispersibility, viscosity and micro-structure of FM flours were also evaluated. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 23.0. Results showed that milky cream cultivar was significantly higher (pmillet, used as a control, was significantly different from FM flour on all dimensional properties. Moisture content of milky cream showed higher significant difference for both grains and flours as compared to brown and black grain/flours. Milky cream cultivar was significantly different in L*, b*, C*, H* values, WAC, BD and dispersibility for both FM grains and flours. Data showed that brown flour was significantly higher in viscosity than in milky and black flours. Microstructure results revealed that starch granules of raw FM flours had oval/spherical and smooth surface. The study is important for agricultural and food engineers, designers, scientists and processors in the design of equipment for FM grain processing. Results are likely to be useful in assessing the quality of grains used to fortify FM flour. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Two-finger (TF) SPUDT cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Guenter; Biryukov, Sergey V; Schmidt, Hagen; Steiner, Bernd; Wall, Bert

2011-03-01

SPUDT cells including two fingers are only known thus far for so-called NSPUDT directions. In that case, usual solid-finger cells are used. The purpose of the present paper is to find SPUDT cell types consisting of two fingers only for pure mode directions. Two-finger (TF) cells for pure mode directions on substrates like 128°YX LiNbO(3) and YZ LiNbO(3) were found by means of an optimization procedure. The forward direction of a TF-cell SPUDT on 128°YX LiNbO(3) was determined experimentally. The properties of the new cells are compared with those of conventional SPUDT cells. The reflectivity of TF cells on 128°YX LiNbO(3) turns out to be two to three times larger than that of distributed acoustic reflection transducer (DART) and Hanma-Hunsinger cells at the same metal layer thickness.

Finger-like voids induced by viscous fingering during phase inversion of alumina/PES/NMP suspensions

KAUST Repository

Wang, Bo; Lai, Zhiping

2012-01-01

membrane structure without such finger-like macrovoids was observed when the suspension was slowly immersed into pure ethanol or a mixture of 70. wt% NMP and 30. wt% water, whereas finger-like macrovoids occurred when the suspension was slid into the non

Homeostatic pressure, tumor growth and fingering of epithelial tissues: Some generic physics arguments

Science.gov (United States)

Risler, Thomas

2011-03-01

We propose that one aspect of homeostasis is the regulation of tissues to preferred pressures, which can lead to a competition for space of purely mechanical origin and be an underlying mechanism for tumor growth. Surface and bulk contributions to pressure lead to the existence of a critical size that must be overcome by metastases to reach macroscopic sizes. This property qualitatively explains the observed size distributions of metastases, while size-independent growth rates cannot account for clinical and experimental data. It also potentially explains the observed preferential growth of metastases on tissue surfaces and membranes, suggests a mechanism underlying the seed and soil hypothesis introduced by Stephen Paget in 1889, and yields realistic values for metastatic inefficiency. Treating epithelial tissues as viscous fluids with effective cell division, we find a novel hydrodynamic instability that leads to the formation of fingering protrusions of the epithelium into the connective tissue. Arising from a combination of viscous friction effects and proliferation of the epithelial cells, this instability provides physical insight into a potential mechanism by which interfaces between epithelia and stroma undulate, and potentially by which tissue dysplasia leads to cancerous invasion. In collaboration with M. Basan, J.-F. Joanny, X. Sastre-Garau and J. Prost.

Instrumented Glove Measures Positions Of Fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

1993-01-01

Glove instrumented with flat membrane potentiometers to obtain crude measurements of relative positions of fingers. Resistance of each potentiometer varies with position of associated finger; translator circuit connected to each potentiometer converts analog reading to 1 of 10 digital levels. Digitized outputs from all fingers fed to indicating, recording, and/or data-processing equipment. Gloves and circuits intended for use in biomedical research, training in critical manual tasks, and other specialized applications.

Analysis of prosody in finger braille using electromyography.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyagi, Manabi; Nishida, Masafumi; Horiuchi, Yasuo; Ichikawa, Akira

2006-01-01

Finger braille is one of the communication methods for the deaf blind. The interpreter types braille codes on the fingers of deaf blind. Finger braille seems to be the most suitable medium for real-time communication by its speed and accuracy of transmitting characters. We hypothesize that the prosody information exists in the time structure and strength of finger braille typing. Prosody is the paralinguistic information that has functions to transmit the sentence structure, prominence, emotions and other form of information in real time communication. In this study, we measured the surface electromyography (sEMG) of finger movement to analyze the typing strength of finger braille. We found that the typing strength increases at the beginning of a phrase and a prominent phrase. The result shows the possibility that the prosody in the typing strength of finger braille can be applied to create an interpreter system for the deafblind.

Ultrasound of the fingers for human identification using biometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Narayanasamy, Ganesh; Fowlkes, J Brian; Kripfgans, Oliver D; Jacobson, Jon A; De Maeseneer, Michel; Schmitt, Rainer M; Carson, Paul L

2008-03-01

It was hypothesized that the use of internal finger structure as imaged using commercially available ultrasound (US) scanners could act as a supplement to standard methods of biometric identification, as well as a means of assessing physiological and cardiovascular status. Anatomical structures in the finger including bone contour, tendon and features along the interphalangeal joint were investigated as potential biometric identifiers. Thirty-six pairs of three-dimensional (3D) gray-scale images of second to fourth finger (index, middle and ring) data taken from 20 individuals were spatially registered using MIAMI-Fuse software developed at our institution and also visually matched by four readers. The image-based registration met the criteria for matching successfully in 14 out of 15 image pairs on the same individual and did not meet criteria for matching in any of the 12 image pairs from different subjects, providing a sensitivity and specificity of 0.93 and 1.00, respectively. Visual matching of all image pairs by four readers yielded 96% successful match. Power Doppler imaging was performed to calculate the change in color pixel density due to physical exercise as a surrogate of stress level and to provide basic physiological information. (E-mail: gnarayan@umich.edu).

Vertical Finger Displacement Is Reduced in Index Finger Tapping During Repeated Bout Rate Enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Mora-Jensen, Mark Holten; Madeleine, Pascal; Hansen, Ernst Albin

2017-10-01

The present study analyzed (a) whether a recently reported phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement in finger tapping (i.e., a cumulating increase in freely chosen finger tapping frequency following submaximal muscle activation in the form of externally unloaded voluntary tapping) could be replicated and (b) the hypotheses that the faster tapping was accompanied by changed vertical displacement of the fingertip and changed peak force during tapping. Right-handed, healthy, and recreationally active individuals (n = 24) performed two 3-min index finger tapping bouts at freely chosen tapping frequency, separated by 10-min rest. The recently reported phenomenon of repeated bout rate enhancement was replicated. The faster tapping (8.8 ± 18.7 taps/min, corresponding to 6.0 ± 11.0%, p = .033) was accompanied by reduced vertical displacement (1.6 ± 2.9 mm, corresponding to 6.3 ± 14.9%, p = .012) of the fingertip. Concurrently, peak force was unchanged. The present study points at separate control mechanisms governing kinematics and kinetics during finger tapping.

Surgical Treatment of Trigger Finger: Open Release

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Firat Ozan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, open A1 pulley release results were evaluated in patients with a trigger finger diagnosis. 45 patients (29 females, 16 males, mean age 50.7 ± 11.9; range (24-79, 45 trigger fingers were released via open surgical technique. On the 25 of 45 cases were involved in the right hand and 16 of them were at the thumb, 2 at index, 6 at the middle and 1 at ring finger. Similarly, at the left hand, 15 of 20 cases were at the thumb, 1 at the index finger, 2 at middle finger and 2 at ring finger. Average follow-up time was 10.2 ± 2.7 (range, 6-15 months. Comorbidities in patients were; diabetes mellitus at 6 cases (13.3%, hypertension at 11 cases (24.4%, hyperthyroidism at 2 cases (4.4%, dyslipidemia at 2 cases (4.4% and lastly 2 cases had carpal tunnel syndrome operation. The mean time between the onset of symptoms to surgery was 6.9 ± 4.8 (range, 2-24 months. Patient satisfaction was very good in 34 cases (75.4% and good in 11 (24.6% patients. The distance between the pulpa of the operated finger and the palm was normal in every case postoperatively. We have not encountered any postoperative complications. We can recommend that; A1 pulley release via open incision is an effective and reliable method in trigger finger surgery.

Trigger Finger

Science.gov (United States)

... in a bent position. People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are at higher risk ... developing trigger finger include: Repeated gripping. Occupations and hobbies that involve repetitive hand use and prolonged gripping ...

Torque Control of Underactuated Tendon-driven Robotic Fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Muhammad E. (Inventor); Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Reiland, Matthew J. (Inventor); Wampler, Charles W. (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor); Platt, Robert (Inventor); Bridgwater, Lyndon (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A robotic system includes a robot having a total number of degrees of freedom (DOF) equal to at least n, an underactuated tendon-driven finger driven by n tendons and n DOF, the finger having at least two joints, being characterized by an asymmetrical joint radius in one embodiment. A controller is in communication with the robot, and controls actuation of the tendon-driven finger using force control. Operating the finger with force control on the tendons, rather than position control, eliminates the unconstrained slack-space that would have otherwise existed. The controller may utilize the asymmetrical joint radii to independently command joint torques. A method of controlling the finger includes commanding either independent or parameterized joint torques to the controller to actuate the fingers via force control on the tendons.

ANALYSIS WITH MSC ADAMS OF A 5-FINGER AND 3-PHALANX /FINGER UNDER-ACTUATEDMECHANICAL HAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gheorghe POPESCU

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the analysis with MSC ADAMS of a 5-fingered and 3-phalanx/finger underactuatedmechanical hand, designed by the author to work on industrial robots. Moreover, in order to increasegrasping safety in the automated handling process, the author has fitted each finger with a locking sequence inthe final phase of grasping. Thus, the mechanism of mechanical hand is considered to be a mechanical systemand is treated like a set of rigid bodies connected by mechanical linkages and elastic elements. To model andsimulate this mechanism with MSC ADAMS programme, the author covered the following stages: constructionof the model, testing-simulation, validation, finishing, parameterization, and optimization

Transcriptome wide identification and characterization of starch branching enzyme in finger millet.

Science.gov (United States)

Tyagi, Rajhans; Tiwari, Apoorv; Garg, Vijay Kumar; Gupta, Sanjay

2017-01-01

Starch-branching enzymes (SBEs) are one of the four major enzyme classes involved in starch biosynthesis in plants and play an important role in determining the structure and physical properties of starch granules. Multiple SBEs are involved in starch biosynthesis in plants. Finger millet is calcium rich important serial crop belongs to grass family and the transcriptome data of developing spikes is available on NCBI. In this study it was try to find out the gene sequence of starch branching enzyme and annotate the sequence and submit the sequence for further use. Rice SBE sequence was taken as reference and for characterization of the sequence different in silico tools were used. Four domains were found in the finger millet Starch branching enzyme like alpha amylase catalytic domain from 925 to2172 with E value 0, N-terminal Early set domain from 634 to 915 with E value 1.62 e-42, Alpha amylase, C-terminal all-beta domain from 2224 to 2511 with E value 5.80e-24 and 1,4-alpha-glucan-branching enzyme from 421 to 2517 with E value 0. Major binding interactions with the GLC (alpha-d-glucose), CA (calcium ion), GOL (glycerol), TRS (2-amino-2-hydroxymethylpropane- 1, 3-diol), MG (magnesium ion) and FLC (citrate anion) are fond with different residues. It was found in the phylogenetic study of the finger millet SBE with the 6 species of grass family that two clusters were form A and B. In cluster A, finger millet showed closeness with Oryzasativa and Setariaitalica, Sorghum bicolour and Zea mays while cluster B was formed with Triticumaestivum and Brachypodium distachyon. The nucleotide sequence of Finger millet SBE was submitted to NCBI with the accession no KY648913 and protein structure of SBE of finger millet was also submitted in PMDB with the PMDB id - PM0080938. This research presents a comparative overview of Finger millet SBE and includes their properties, structural and functional characteristics, and recent developments on their post-translational regulation.

Rehabilitation of single finger amputation with customized silicone prosthesis

OpenAIRE

Yadav, Niharika; Chand, Pooran; Jurel, Sunit Kumar

2016-01-01

Finger amputations are common in accidents at home, work, and play. Apart from trauma, congenital disease and deformity also leads to finger amputation. This results in loss of function, loss of sensation as well as loss of body image. Finger prosthesis offers psychological support and social acceptance in such cases. This clinical report describes a method to fabricate ring retained silicone finger prosthesis in a patient with partial finger loss.

Finger prosthesis: a boon to handicapped.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Ridhima; Kumar, Lakshya; Rao, Jitendra; Singh, Kamleshwar

2013-08-29

This is a clinical case report of a 52-year-old male patient with four partially missing fingers of the left hand. The article describes the clinical and laboratory procedure of making prosthesis with modern silicone material. A wax pattern was fabricated using the right hand of the patient. A special type of wax was formulated to make the pattern so that it can be easily moulded and carved. Intrinsic and extrinsic staining was also performed to match the adjacent skin colour. The patient was given the finger prosthesis and was asked to use a half glove (sports) to mask the junction between the prosthesis and the normal tissue. It also provides additional retention to the artificial fingers. The patient felt his social acceptance improved after wearing the finger prosthesis.

Characterisation of gaharu hydrosol: Physical, chemical and microbiological properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nur Humaira Lau Abdullah; Salmah Moosa

2010-01-01

Gaharu hydrosol is produced during the hydro distillation of resinous wood part of Aquilaria sp. This aromatic water is being considered as a by-product in the industry. There is interest to turn this aromatic by-product into aroma therapy products. The present study is carried out in order to understand the properties of gaharu hydrosol, physically, chemically and microbiologically. Gaharu hydrosol from two different extraction facilities for example at Kedaik Agar wood Sdn. Bhd. and Malaysian Nuclear Agency were characterised in this study. All the gaharu hydrosol samples displayed acidic nature, with pH in the range of 3.62 - 4.53. Four antioxidant assays were carried out to ascertain the antioxidant capabilities of two gaharu hydrosol samples through the total phenolic content assay, ABTS + radical scavenging activity, DPPH· radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing activity (FRAP). The results revealed that the samples exhibited lower antioxidant capabilities as compared to the positive control. For microbial population study, fungi was not present in the samples as there was no growth observed on the Plate Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) using membrane filtration technique. The antibacterial activity of the gaharu hydrosol against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was determined using agar dilution method and disk diffusion method. The results showed that the gaharu hydrosol did not inhibit the growth of both the bacteria. The results obtained from this study will be further evaluated for the development of new products using this aromatic gaharu by-product. (author)

Extrinsic versus intrinsic hand muscle dominance in finger flexion.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Sukaini, A; Singh, H P; Dias, J J

2016-05-01

This study aims to identify the patterns of dominance of extrinsic or intrinsic muscles in finger flexion during initiation of finger curl and mid-finger flexion. We recorded 82 hands of healthy individuals (18-74 years) while flexing their fingers and tracked the finger joint angles of the little finger using video motion tracking. A total of 57 hands (69.5%) were classified as extrinsic dominant, where the finger flexion was initiated and maintained at proximal interphalangeal and distal interphalangeal joints. A total of 25 (30.5%) were classified as intrinsic dominant, where the finger flexion was initiated and maintained at the metacarpophalangeal joint. The distribution of age, sex, dominance, handedness and body mass index was similar in the two groups. This knowledge may allow clinicians to develop more efficient rehabilitation regimes, since intrinsic dominant individuals would not initiate extrinsic muscle contraction till later in finger flexion, and might therefore be allowed limited early active motion. For extrinsic dominant individuals, by contrast, initial contraction of extrinsic muscles would place increased stress on the tendon repair site if early motion were permitted. © The Author(s) 2016.

Basics of radiation microbiology for food protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wills, P.A.

1985-01-01

The microbiological basics of food poisoning, food spoilage, and ionizing energy treatments are presented. Factors influencing the microbial resistance of ionizing radiation, including the use of physical agents for combination treatments, are briefly reviewed, and parameters involved in dose selection are considered

Advances Afoot in Microbiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Robin; Karon, Brad S

2017-07-01

In 2016, the American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium to examine point-of-care (POC) microbiology testing and to evaluate its effects on clinical microbiology. Colloquium participants included representatives from clinical microbiology laboratories, industry, and the government, who together made recommendations regarding the implementation, oversight, and evaluation of POC microbiology testing. The colloquium report is timely and well written (V. Dolen et al., Changing Diagnostic Paradigms for Microbiology , 2017, https://www.asm.org/index.php/colloquium-reports/item/6421-changing-diagnostic-paradigms-for-microbiology?utm_source=Commentary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=diagnostics). Emerging POC microbiology tests, especially nucleic acid amplification tests, have the potential to advance medical care. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Finger impedance evaluation by means of hand exoskeleton.

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorilla, Angelo Emanuele; Nori, Francesco; Masia, Lorenzo; Sandini, Giulio

2011-12-01

Modulation of arm mechanical impedance is a fundamental aspect for interaction with the external environment and its regulation is essential for stability preservation during manipulation. Even though past research on human arm movements has suggested that models of human finger impedance would benefit the study of neural control mechanisms and the design of novel hand prostheses, relatively few studies have focused on finger and hand impedance. This article touches on the two main aspects of this research topic: first it introduces a mechanical refinement of a device that can be used to effectively measure finger impedance during manipulation tasks; then, it describes a pilot study aimed at identifying the inertia of the finger and the viscous and elastic properties of finger muscles. The proposed wearable exoskeleton, which has been designed to measure finger posture and impedance modulation while leaving the palm free, is capable of applying fast displacements while monitoring the interaction forces between the human finger and the robotic links. Moreover, due to the relatively small inertia of the fingers, it allows us to meet some stringent specifications, performing relatively large displacements (~45°) before the stretch reflex intervenes (~25 ms). The results of measurements on five subjects show that inertia, damping, and stiffness can be effectively identified and that the parameters obtained are comparable with values from previous studies.

Number magnitude to finger mapping is disembodied and topological.

Science.gov (United States)

Plaisier, Myrthe A; Smeets, Jeroen B J

2011-03-01

It has been shown that humans associate fingers with numbers because finger counting strategies interact with numerical judgements. At the same time, there is evidence that there is a relation between number magnitude and space as small to large numbers seem to be represented from left to right. In the present study, we investigated whether number magnitude to finger mapping is embodied (related to the order of fingers on the hand) or disembodied (spatial). We let healthy human volunteers name random numbers between 1 and 30, while simultaneously tapping a random finger. Either the hands were placed directly next to each other, 30 cm apart, or the hands were crossed such that the left hand was on the right side of the body mid-line. The results show that naming a smaller number than the previous one was associated with tapping a finger to the left of the previously tapped finger. This shows that there is a spatial (disembodied) mapping between number magnitude and fingers. Furthermore, we show that this mapping is topological rather than metrically scaled.

Generating and analyzing synthetic finger vein images

OpenAIRE

Hillerström, Fieke; Kumar, Ajay; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.

2014-01-01

Abstract: The finger-vein biometric offers higher degree of security, personal privacy and strong anti-spoofing capabilities than most other biometric modalities employed today. Emerging privacy concerns with the database acquisition and lack of availability of large scale finger-vein database have posed challenges in exploring this technology for large scale applications. This paper details the first such attempt to synthesize finger-vein images and presents analysis of synthesized images fo...

Dorsal finger texture recognition: Investigating fixed-length SURF

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartung, Daniel; Kückelhahn, Jesper

2012-01-01

We seek to create fixed-length features from dorsal finger skin images extracted by the SURF interest point detector to combine it in the privacy enhancing helper data scheme. The source of the biometric samples is the GUC45 database which features finger vein, fingerprint and dorsal finger skin...

Characteristic of physical, chemical, and microbiological kombucha from various varieties of apples

Science.gov (United States)

Zubaidah, E.; Yurista, S.; Rahmadani, N. R.

2018-03-01

Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage with the addition of kombucha starter also called SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast). The purpose of this research was to know the physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics of kombucha from various varieties of apple kombucha. The study used Randomized Block Design (RAK) with one factor of apple varieties (Anna, Fuji, Granny Smith, Manalagi, Red Delicious, Rome Beauty, Royal Gala). Each treatment was repeated three times. Data was analyzed with ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). The best treatment was selected using Multiple Attribute method. Data of hedonic test was analysed using Friedman Test. The best treatment was obtained on Fuji varieties of kombucha apple with the characteristics as follows: total acid 1.33%; pH 2.95; Total phenol 268.57 μg/ml GAE; Total sugar 6.74%; Antibacterial activity against S.aureus 21.30 mm; Antibacterial activity E.coli 21.20 mm; Antioxidant activity 35.62%; Organoleptic aroma 3.55, taste 3.3; Color 3.4 (on a scale of 1-5)

Quantitative assessment of finger motor performance: Normative data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessio Signori

Full Text Available Finger opposition movements are the basis of many daily living activities and are essential in general for manipulating objects; an engineered glove quantitatively assessing motor performance during sequences of finger opposition movements has been shown to be useful to provide reliable measures of finger motor impairment, even subtle, in subjects affected by neurological diseases. However, the obtained behavioral parameters lack published reference values.To determine mean values for different motor behavioral parameters describing the strategy adopted by healthy people in performing repeated sequences of finger opposition movements, examining associations with gender and age.Normative values for finger motor performance parameters were obtained on a sample of 255 healthy volunteers executing sequences of finger-to-thumb opposition movements, stratified by gender and over a wide range of ages. Touch duration, inter-tapping interval, movement rate, correct sequences (%, movements in advance compared with a metronome (% and inter-hand interval were assessed.Increasing age resulted in decreased movement speed, advance movements with respect to a cue, correctness of sequences, and bimanual coordination. No significant performance differences were found between male and female subjects except for the duration of the finger touch, the interval between two successive touches and their ratio.We report age- and gender-specific normal mean values and ranges for different parameters objectively describing the performance of finger opposition movement sequences, which may serve as useful references for clinicians to identify possible deficits in subjects affected by diseases altering fine hand motor skills.

Prosthetic finger phalanges with lifelike skin compliance for low-force social touching interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ge Shuzhi

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prosthetic arms and hands that can be controlled by the user's electromyography (EMG signals are emerging. Eventually, these advanced prosthetic devices will be expected to touch and be touched by other people. As realistic as they may look, the currently available prosthetic hands have physical properties that are still far from the characteristics of human skins because they are much stiffer. In this paper, different configurations of synthetic finger phalanges have been investigated for their skin compliance behaviour and have been compared with the phalanges of the human fingers and a phalanx from a commercially available prosthetic hand. Methods Handshake tests were performed to identify which areas on the human hand experience high contact forces. After these areas were determined, experiments were done on selected areas using an indenting probe to obtain the force-displacement curves. Finite element simulations were used to compare the force-displacement results of the synthetic finger phalanx designs with that of the experimental results from the human and prosthetic finger phalanges. The simulation models were used to investigate the effects of (a varying the internal topology of the finger phalanx and (b varying different materials for the internal and external layers. Results and Conclusions During handshake, the high magnitudes of contact forces were observed at the areas where the full grasping enclosure of the other person's hand can be achieved. From these areas, the middle phalanges of the (a little, (b ring, and (c middle fingers were selected. The indentation experiments on these areas showed that a 2 N force corresponds to skin tissue displacements of more than 2 mm. The results from the simulation model show that introducing an open pocket with 2 mm height on the internal structure of synthetic finger phalanges increased the skin compliance of the silicone material to 235% and the polyurethane material to

Robust finger vein ROI localization based on flexible segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yu; Xie, Shan Juan; Yoon, Sook; Yang, Jucheng; Park, Dong Sun

2013-10-24

Finger veins have been proved to be an effective biometric for personal identification in the recent years. However, finger vein images are easily affected by influences such as image translation, orientation, scale, scattering, finger structure, complicated background, uneven illumination, and collection posture. All these factors may contribute to inaccurate region of interest (ROI) definition, and so degrade the performance of finger vein identification system. To improve this problem, in this paper, we propose a finger vein ROI localization method that has high effectiveness and robustness against the above factors. The proposed method consists of a set of steps to localize ROIs accurately, namely segmentation, orientation correction, and ROI detection. Accurate finger region segmentation and correct calculated orientation can support each other to produce higher accuracy in localizing ROIs. Extensive experiments have been performed on the finger vein image database, MMCBNU_6000, to verify the robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method shows the segmentation accuracy of 100%. Furthermore, the average processing time of the proposed method is 22 ms for an acquired image, which satisfies the criterion of a real-time finger vein identification system.

Robust Finger Vein ROI Localization Based on Flexible Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong Sun Park

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Finger veins have been proved to be an effective biometric for personal identification in the recent years. However, finger vein images are easily affected by influences such as image translation, orientation, scale, scattering, finger structure, complicated background, uneven illumination, and collection posture. All these factors may contribute to inaccurate region of interest (ROI definition, and so degrade the performance of finger vein identification system. To improve this problem, in this paper, we propose a finger vein ROI localization method that has high effectiveness and robustness against the above factors. The proposed method consists of a set of steps to localize ROIs accurately, namely segmentation, orientation correction, and ROI detection. Accurate finger region segmentation and correct calculated orientation can support each other to produce higher accuracy in localizing ROIs. Extensive experiments have been performed on the finger vein image database, MMCBNU_6000, to verify the robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method shows the segmentation accuracy of 100%. Furthermore, the average processing time of the proposed method is 22 ms for an acquired image, which satisfies the criterion of a real-time finger vein identification system.

Robust Finger Vein ROI Localization Based on Flexible Segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yu; Xie, Shan Juan; Yoon, Sook; Yang, Jucheng; Park, Dong Sun

2013-01-01

Finger veins have been proved to be an effective biometric for personal identification in the recent years. However, finger vein images are easily affected by influences such as image translation, orientation, scale, scattering, finger structure, complicated background, uneven illumination, and collection posture. All these factors may contribute to inaccurate region of interest (ROI) definition, and so degrade the performance of finger vein identification system. To improve this problem, in this paper, we propose a finger vein ROI localization method that has high effectiveness and robustness against the above factors. The proposed method consists of a set of steps to localize ROIs accurately, namely segmentation, orientation correction, and ROI detection. Accurate finger region segmentation and correct calculated orientation can support each other to produce higher accuracy in localizing ROIs. Extensive experiments have been performed on the finger vein image database, MMCBNU_6000, to verify the robustness of the proposed method. The proposed method shows the segmentation accuracy of 100%. Furthermore, the average processing time of the proposed method is 22 ms for an acquired image, which satisfies the criterion of a real-time finger vein identification system. PMID:24284769

Number to finger mapping is topological.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plaisier, M.A.; Smeets, J.B.J.

2011-01-01

It has been shown that humans associate fingers with numbers because finger counting strategies interact with numerical judgements. At the same time, there is evidence that there is a relation between number magnitude and space as small to large numbers seem to be represented from left to right. In

Polytopic dystelephalangy of the fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugiura, Y.

1989-01-01

An 11-year old girl with dystelephalangy (Kirner deformity) of the right middle, ring, and little, and the left index through little fingers is reported. To the author's best knowledge, such polytopic affection with dystelephalangy has not yet been reported. The parents, one of the siblings and maternal grandfather showed dystelephalangy of the little finger. So, the patient was considered to be a homozygous state of dystelephalangy gene. (orig.)

Hybrid-Actuated Finger Prosthesis with Tactile Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Yee Low

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Finger prostheses are devices developed to emulate the functionality of natural human fingers. On top of their aesthetic appearance in terms of shape, size and colour, such biomimetic devices require a high level of dexterity. They must be capable of gripping an object, and even manipulating it in the hand. This paper presents a biomimetic robotic finger actuated by a hybrid mechanism and integrated with a tactile sensor. The hybrid actuation mechanism comprises a DC micromotor and a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA wire. A customized test rig has been developed to measure the force and stroke produced by the SMA wire. In parallel with the actuator development, experimental investigations have been conducted on Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC and Pressure Conductive Rubber (PCR towards the development of a tactile sensor for the finger. The viability of using these materials for tactile sensing has been determined. Such a hybrid actuation approach aided with tactile sensing capability enables a finger design as an integral part of a prosthetic hand for applications up to the transradial amputation level.

Amputation of finger by horse bite with complete avulsion of both flexor tendons.

Science.gov (United States)

Koren, Lior; Stahl, Shalom; Rovitsky, Alexey; Peled, Eli

2011-08-08

Amputation of fingers with tendon avulsion occurs through a traction injury, and most occur through a ring avulsion mechanism. Usually the flexor digitorum profundus is torn out with the amputated finger. Replantation usually is recommended only when the amputation is distal to the flexor digitorum superficialis insertion. Animal bites are relatively common, with a decreasing order of frequency of dogs, cats, and humans. Horse bites are relatively infrequent but are associated with crush injuries and tissue loss when they occur. This article describes a 23-year-old man with amputation of his middle finger at the level of the proximal phalanx after being bitten by a horse. The amputated stump was avulsed with the middle finger flexor digitorum profundus and flexor digitorum superficialis torn from the muscle-tendon junction from approximately the middle of the forearm. The patient had no other injuries, and he was able to move his other 4 fingers with only mild pain. As the amputated digit was not suitable for replantation, the wound was irrigated and debrided. The edges of the phalanx were trimmed, and the edges of the wound were sutured. Tetanus toxoid and rabies vaccine were administered, along with intravenous amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. The patient was discharged from the hospital 2 days later, with no sign of infection of the wound or compartment syndrome of the forearm. This case demonstrates the weakest point in the myotendinous junction and emphasizes the importance of a careful physical examination in patients with a traumatic amputation. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

The role of fingers in number processing in young children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafay, Anne; Thevenot, Catherine; Castel, Caroline; Fayol, Michel

2013-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between finger counting and numerical processing in 4-7-year-old children. Children were assessed on a variety of numerical tasks and we examined the correlations between their rates of success and their frequency of finger use in a counting task. We showed that children's performance on finger pattern comparison and identification tasks did not correlate with the frequency of finger use. However, this last variable correlated with the percentages of correct responses in an enumeration task (i.e., Give-N task), even when the age of children was entered as a covariate in the analysis. Despite this correlation, we showed that some children who never used their fingers in the counting task were able to perform optimally in the enumeration task. Overall, our results support the conclusion that finger counting is useful but not necessary to develop accurate symbolic numerical skills. Moreover, our results suggest that the use of fingers in a counting task is related to the ability of children in a dynamic enumeration task but not to static tasks involving recognition or comparison of finger patterns. Therefore, it could be that the link between fingers and numbers remain circumscribed to counting tasks and do not extent to static finger montring situations.

Blood pressure measurement of all five fingers by strain gauge plethysmography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hirai, M; Nielsen, S L; Lassen, N A

1976-01-01

of the other fingers was measured using a 24-mm-wide cuff. Blood pressure at the proximal phalanx was higher than that at the intermediate phalanx in all fingers except finger V. The difference of blood pressure values corresponded well with circumference of the finger. In 15 normal subjects, blood pressure...... at the proximal phalanx was compared in fingers I, III, IV, and V, using 16, 20, 24 and 24 mm wide cuffs. Finger blood pressure was closest to arm systolic blood pressure when a 24-mm or 27-mm-wide cuff was used in fingers I, III, and IV, and with a 20-mm-wide cuff in finger V. As the standard deviation......The aim of the present paper was to study the methodological problems involved in measuring systolic blood pressure in all five fingers by the strain gauge technique. In 24 normal subjects, blood pressure at the proximal phalanx of finger I and both at the proximal and the intermediate phalanx...

Application of autoradiography in finger print analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stverak, B.; Kopejtko, J.; Simek, J.

1983-01-01

In order to broaden the possibilities of developing latent finger prints a tracer technique has been developed using sup(110m)Ag and autoradiographic imaging. This method has been tested on glass, paper and certain plastics. On paper it is possible to visualize finger prints even after previous development using Ninhydrin. It is shown that usable finger prints may be obtained also from materials from which they cannot be obtained using classical methods, e.g., polyethylene and simulated leather. (author)

Electrokinetic Control of Viscous Fingering

Science.gov (United States)

Mirzadeh, Mohammad; Bazant, Martin Z.

2017-10-01

We present a theory of the interfacial stability of two immiscible electrolytes under the coupled action of pressure gradients and electric fields in a Hele-Shaw cell or porous medium. Mathematically, our theory describes a phenomenon of "vector Laplacian growth," in which the interface moves in response to the gradient of a vector-valued potential function through a generalized mobility tensor. Physically, we extend the classical Saffman-Taylor problem to electrolytes by incorporating electrokinetic (EK) phenomena. A surprising prediction is that viscous fingering can be controlled by varying the injection ratio of electric current to flow rate. Beyond a critical injection ratio, stability depends only upon the relative direction of flow and current, regardless of the viscosity ratio. Possible applications include porous materials processing, electrically enhanced oil recovery, and EK remediation of contaminated soils.

The influence of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity and beta-1 receptor selectivity on the recovery of finger skin temperature after finger cooling in normotensive subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenders, J W; Salemans, J; de Boo, T; Lemmens, W A; Thien, T; van't Laar, A

1986-03-01

A double-blind randomized study was designed to investigate differences in the recovery of finger skin temperature after finger cooling during dosing with placebo or one of four beta-blockers: propranolol, atenolol, pindolol, and acebutolol. In 11 normotensive nonsmoking subjects, finger skin temperature was measured with a thermocouple before and 20 minutes after immersion of one hand in a water bath at 16 degrees C. This finger cooling test caused no significant changes in systemic hemodynamics such as arterial blood pressure, heart rate, and forearm blood flow. The recovery of finger skin temperature during propranolol dosing was better than that during pindolol and atenolol dosing. There were no differences between the recoveries of skin temperature during pindolol, atenolol, and acebutolol dosing. Thus we could demonstrate no favorable effect of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity or beta 1-selectivity on the recovery of finger skin temperature after finger cooling.

Mixing methods, tasting fingers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Anna; Mol, Annemarie; Satalkar, Priya

2011-01-01

This article reports on an ethnographic experiment. Four finger eating experts and three novices sat down for a hot meal and ate with their hands. Drawing on the technique of playing with the familiar and the strange, our aim was not to explain our responses, but to articulate them. As we seek...... words to do so, we are compelled to stretch the verb "to taste." Tasting, or so our ethnographic experiment suggests, need not be understood as an activity confined to the tongue. Instead, if given a chance, it may viscously spread out to the fingers and come to include appreciative reactions otherwise...

Evaluating effects of sewage sludge and household compost on soil physical, chemical and microbiological properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Debosz, K.; Petersen, S.O.; Kure, L.K.

2002-01-01

Recycling of organic wastes within agriculture may help maintain soil fertility via effects on physical, chemical and biological properties. Efficient use, however, requires an individual assessment of waste products, and effects should be compared with natural variations due to climate and soil......C, as well as in the field. The following properties were monitored: wet-stability of soil aggregates, clay dispersibility, hot-water extractable carbohydrates, resin-extractable P-i, inorganic N, biomass C and N, PLFA profiles, FDA hydrolysis activity, beta-glucosidase activity and CO2 evolution. In general...... amendment on the fraction of soil in wet-stable aggregates, or on the microbiological properties tested, which supported the observation from the incubation study that effects of organic wastes were transient. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved....

Advances Afoot in Microbiology

OpenAIRE

Patel, Robin; Karon, Brad S.

2017-01-01

In 2016, the American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium to examine point-of-care (POC) microbiology testing and to evaluate its effects on clinical microbiology. Colloquium participants included representatives from clinical microbiology laboratories, industry, and the government, who together made recommendations regarding the implementation, oversight, and evaluation of POC microbiology testing. The colloquium report is timely and well written (V. Dolen et al., Changing Diagnost...

The role of fingers in number processing in young children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne eLafay

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between finger counting and numerical processing in 4- to 7-year-old children. Children were assessed on a variety of numerical tasks and we examined the correlations between their rates of success and their frequency of finger use in a counting task. We showed that children’s performance on finger pattern comparison and identification tasks did not correlate with the frequency of finger use. However, this last variable correlated with the percentages of correct responses in an enumeration task (i.e., Give-N task, even when the age of children was entered as a covariate in the analysis. Despite this correlation, we showed that some children who never used their fingers in the counting task were able to perform optimally in the enumeration task. Overall, our results support the conclusion that finger counting is useful but not necessary to develop accurate symbolic numerical skills. Moreover, our results suggest that the use of fingers in a counting task is related to the ability of children in a dynamic enumeration task but not to static tasks involving recognition or comparison of finger patterns. Therefore, it could be that the link between fingers and numbers remain circumscribed to counting tasks and do not extent to static finger montring situations.

microbiological eva fermented african locust bea preservativ

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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They are also important prote supplement (Omafuvbe, 2002). Shelf life is th period of time during which the food produc was remain safe , be certain to retain desire microbiology, physical, chemical and senso characteristics and comply the nutritional dat when stored under conditions (temperature o handling) Kolapo et al., ...

Development of a CPM Machine for Injured Fingers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Yili; Zhang, Fuxiang; Ma, Xin; Meng, Qinggang

2005-01-01

Human fingers are easy to be injured. A CPM machine is a mechanism based on the rehabilitation theory of continuous passive motion (CPM). To develop a CPM machine for the clinic application in the rehabilitation of injured fingers is a significant task. Therefore, based on the theories of evidence based medicine (EBM) and CPM, we've developed a set of biomimetic mechanism after modeling the motions of fingers and analyzing its kinematics and dynamics analysis. We also design an embedded operating system based on ARM (a kind of 32-bit RISC microprocessor). The equipment can achieve the precise control of moving scope of fingers, finger's force and speed. It can serves as a rational checking method and a way of assessment for functional rehabilitation of human hands. Now, the first prototype has been finished and will start the clinical testing in Harbin Medical University shortly.

Diagnostic aspects of vibration-induced white finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Niels

2002-01-01

Vibration-induced white finger (VWF) is a secondary type of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) caused by exposure to hand-arm vibration. The present review concerns the cold-provoked attack of RP in vasospastic VWF. It concentrates on the most common clinical and laboratory methods used to diagnose RP in vibration-exposed subjects. Some physiological aspects of the attack of RP are mentioned to elucidate the diagnostic principles of the tests. Anamnestic diagnostics by medical interviews and questionnaires as well as cold-provocation tests with detection of finger colour, finger systolic blood pressure (FSP), recovery time of finger skin temperature and recovery time of normal nail colour after nail compression are mentioned. The discriminative capacity and the reproducibility of the tests are discussed. Cold-provocation tests with detection of finger colour or zero FSP during cooling are recommended to be used if an attack of RP has to be registered for diagnostic or medico-legal purposes in individual cases. An abnormal reduction in FSP during cooling makes a history of RP very probable and is a suitable laboratory test for groups of subjects. Both recovery tests may be useful screening tests in field studies of vibration-exposed subject groups.

A microelectrostatic repulsive-torque rotation actuator with two-width fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, Chao; He, Siyuan

2015-01-01

A microelectrostatic repulsive-torque rotation actuator with two-width fingers is presented. The actuator consists of finger-shaped electrodes and is made of two thin film layers, i.e. one movable layer and one fixed layer. There are two types of finger electrodes, namely constant-width and two-width fingers. The two-width finger has a narrow lower segment and a wide top segment. The constant-width finger has only the narrow lower segment. Each rotation finger has its corresponding aligned and unaligned fixed fingers. The electrostatic repulsive torque is generated and acts on the rotation fingers to rotate them up and away from the substrate. As a result, rotation is not limited by the gap between the movable and fixed layers and the ‘pull-in’ instability is avoided. Thus a large out-of-plane rotation and high operational stability can be achieved. The actuator is suitable for two-layer surface micromachining. The model of the actuator is developed. Prototypes are fabricated and tested. The experimental tests show that the actuator achieved a mechanical rotation of 7.65° at a driving voltage of 150 V. The settling time for a mechanical rotation of 5° is 5.7 ms. (paper)

Speed invariance of independent control of finger movements in pianists.

Science.gov (United States)

Furuya, Shinichi; Soechting, John F

2012-10-01

Independent control of finger movements characterizes skilled motor behaviors such as tool use and musical performance. The purpose of the present study was to identify the effect of movement frequency (tempo) on individuated finger movements in piano playing. Joint motion at the digits was recorded while 5 expert pianists were playing 30 excerpts from musical pieces with different fingering and key locations either at a predetermined normal tempo or as fast as possible. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis using an expectation-maximization algorithm determined three distinct patterns of finger movement coordination for a keypress with each of the index, middle, ring, and little fingers at each of the two tempi. The finger kinematics of each coordination pattern was overall similar across the tempi. Tone sequences assigned into each cluster were also similar for both tempi. A linear regression analysis determined no apparent difference in the amount of movement covariation between the striking and nonstriking fingers at both metacarpo-phalangeal and proximal-interphalangeal joints across the two tempi, which indicated no effect of tempo on independent finger movements in piano playing. In addition, the standard deviation of interkeystroke interval across strokes did not differ between the two tempi, indicating maintenance of rhythmic accuracy of keystrokes. Strong temporal constraints on finger movements during piano playing may underlie the maintained independent control of fingers over a wider range of tempi, a feature being likely to be specific to skilled pianists.

Effect of the linkers between the zinc fingers in zinc finger protein 809 on gene silencing and nuclear localization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ichida, Yu, E-mail: ichida-y@ncchd.go.jp; Utsunomiya, Yuko; Onodera, Masafumi

2016-03-18

Zinc finger protein 809 (ZFP809) belongs to the Kruppel-associated box-containing zinc finger protein (KRAB-ZFP) family and functions in repressing the expression of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV). ZFP809 binds to the primer-binding site (PBS)located downstream of the MoMLV-long terminal repeat (LTR) and induces epigenetic modifications at integration sites, such as repressive histone modifications and de novo DNA methylation. KRAB-ZFPs contain consensus TGEKP linkers between C2H2 zinc fingers. The phosphorylation of threonine residues within linkers leads to the inactivation of zinc finger binding to target sequences. ZFP809 also contains consensus linkers between zinc fingers. However, the function of ZFP809 linkers remains unknown. In the present study, we constructed ZFP809 proteins containing mutated linkers and examined their ability to silence transgene expression driven by MLV, binding ability to MLV PBS, and cellular localization. The results of the present study revealed that the linkers affected the ability of ZFP809 to silence transgene expression. Furthermore, this effect could be partly attributed to changes in the localization of ZFP809 proteins containing mutated linkers. Further characterization of ZFP809 linkers is required for understanding the functions and features of KRAB-ZFP-containing linkers. - Highlights: • ZFP809 has three consensus linkers between the zinc fingers. • Linkers are required for ZFP809 to silence transgene expression driven by MLV-LTR. • Linkers affect the precise nuclear localization of ZFP809.

Sliding Window-Based Region of Interest Extraction for Finger Vein Images

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lu; Yang, Gongping; Yin, Yilong; Xiao, Rongyang

2013-01-01

Region of Interest (ROI) extraction is a crucial step in an automatic finger vein recognition system. The aim of ROI extraction is to decide which part of the image is suitable for finger vein feature extraction. This paper proposes a finger vein ROI extraction method which is robust to finger displacement and rotation. First, we determine the middle line of the finger, which will be used to correct the image skew. Then, a sliding window is used to detect the phalangeal joints and further to ascertain the height of ROI. Last, for the corrective image with certain height, we will obtain the ROI by using the internal tangents of finger edges as the left and right boundary. The experimental results show that the proposed method can extract ROI more accurately and effectively compared with other methods, and thus improve the performance of finger vein identification system. Besides, to acquire the high quality finger vein image during the capture process, we propose eight criteria for finger vein capture from different aspects and these criteria should be helpful to some extent for finger vein capture. PMID:23507824

Finger agnosia and cognitive deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Andrew S; Trotter, Jeffrey S; Hertza, Jeremy; Bell, Christopher D; Dean, Raymond S

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of finger agnosia in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to determine if level of finger agnosia was related to cognitive impairment. Finger agnosia is a sensitive measure of cerebral impairment and is associated with neurofunctional areas implicated in AD. Using a standardized and norm-referenced approach, results indicated that patients with AD evidenced significantly decreased performance on tests of bilateral finger agnosia compared with healthy age-matched controls. Finger agnosia was predictive of cognitive dysfunction on four of seven domains, including: Crystallized Language, Fluid Processing, Associative Learning, and Processing Speed. Results suggest that measures of finger agnosia, a short and simple test, may be useful in the early detection of AD.

Clinical microbiology informatics.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhoads, Daniel D; Sintchenko, Vitali; Rauch, Carol A; Pantanowitz, Liron

2014-10-01

The clinical microbiology laboratory has responsibilities ranging from characterizing the causative agent in a patient's infection to helping detect global disease outbreaks. All of these processes are increasingly becoming partnered more intimately with informatics. Effective application of informatics tools can increase the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of microbiology testing while decreasing the laboratory workload, which can lead to optimized laboratory workflow and decreased costs. Informatics is poised to be increasingly relevant in clinical microbiology, with the advent of total laboratory automation, complex instrument interfaces, electronic health records, clinical decision support tools, and the clinical implementation of microbial genome sequencing. This review discusses the diverse informatics aspects that are relevant to the clinical microbiology laboratory, including the following: the microbiology laboratory information system, decision support tools, expert systems, instrument interfaces, total laboratory automation, telemicrobiology, automated image analysis, nucleic acid sequence databases, electronic reporting of infectious agents to public health agencies, and disease outbreak surveillance. The breadth and utility of informatics tools used in clinical microbiology have made them indispensable to contemporary clinical and laboratory practice. Continued advances in technology and development of these informatics tools will further improve patient and public health care in the future. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

ZifBASE: a database of zinc finger proteins and associated resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Punetha Ankita

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Information on the occurrence of zinc finger protein motifs in genomes is crucial to the developing field of molecular genome engineering. The knowledge of their target DNA-binding sequences is vital to develop chimeric proteins for targeted genome engineering and site-specific gene correction. There is a need to develop a computational resource of zinc finger proteins (ZFP to identify the potential binding sites and its location, which reduce the time of in vivo task, and overcome the difficulties in selecting the specific type of zinc finger protein and the target site in the DNA sequence. Description ZifBASE provides an extensive collection of various natural and engineered ZFP. It uses standard names and a genetic and structural classification scheme to present data retrieved from UniProtKB, GenBank, Protein Data Bank, ModBase, Protein Model Portal and the literature. It also incorporates specialized features of ZFP including finger sequences and positions, number of fingers, physiochemical properties, classes, framework, PubMed citations with links to experimental structures (PDB, if available and modeled structures of natural zinc finger proteins. ZifBASE provides information on zinc finger proteins (both natural and engineered ones, the number of finger units in each of the zinc finger proteins (with multiple fingers, the synergy between the adjacent fingers and their positions. Additionally, it gives the individual finger sequence and their target DNA site to which it binds for better and clear understanding on the interactions of adjacent fingers. The current version of ZifBASE contains 139 entries of which 89 are engineered ZFPs, containing 3-7F totaling to 296 fingers. There are 50 natural zinc finger protein entries ranging from 2-13F, totaling to 307 fingers. It has sequences and structures from literature, Protein Data Bank, ModBase and Protein Model Portal. The interface is cross linked to other public

Generating and analyzing synthetic finger vein images

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hillerström, Fieke; Kumar, Ajay; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.

2014-01-01

Abstract: The finger-vein biometric offers higher degree of security, personal privacy and strong anti-spoofing capabilities than most other biometric modalities employed today. Emerging privacy concerns with the database acquisition and lack of availability of large scale finger-vein database have

Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn].

Science.gov (United States)

Ceasar, Stanislaus Antony; Ignacimuthu, Savarimuthu

2015-01-01

Millets are the primary food source for millions of people in tropical regions of the world supplying mineral nutrition and protein. In this chapter, we describe an optimized protocol for the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of finger millet variety GPU 45. Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 harboring plasmid pCAMBIA1301 which contains hygromycin phosphotransferase (hph) as selectable marker gene and β-glucuronidase (GUS) as reporter gene has been used. This protocol utilizes the shoot apex explants for the somatic embryogenesis and regeneration of finger millet after the transformation by Agrobacterium. Desiccation of explants during cocultivation helps for the better recovery of transgenic plants. This protocol is very useful for the efficient production of transgenic plants in finger millet through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Association Between Finger Clubbing and Chronic Lung Disease in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Finger clubbed patients had higher risk of hypoxemia (46.7%), pulmonary hypertension (46.7%) and advanced disease in WHO stage III/ IV (91.7%) compared to non-finger clubbed patients. Finger clubbed patients had lower CD4 cells count and percentage (median 369cells, 13%) compared to non-clubbed patients ...

Esthetic, functional, and prosthetic outcomes with implant-retained finger prostheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Aydin, Cemal; Nemli, Secil Karakoca; Yilmaz, Handan

2013-04-01

Traumatic amputation of fingers results in a serious impairment of hand function and affects the psychological status of the patients. The implant-retained finger prostheses are an alternative treatment. The aim of this case report is to represent the use of osseointegrated implants for retention of finger prostheses in a patient with amputated thumb and index finger. Dental implants were placed in the residual bone of the fingers using two-stage surgery. Custom-made attachments were used to provide retention between implants and silicone prostheses. Prosthetic fingernails were made of composite resin material. After 6 months, implants were clinically successful, and the patient was satisfied with the appearance and the function of the prostheses. The complications of broken prosthetic nail and mild discoloration were observed. Reconstruction of amputated fingers with implant-retained prosthesis is a worthwhile treatment providing esthetic, functional, and psychological benefits, although some complications might be experienced. Clinical relevance Implant-retained finger prostheses are an acceptable treatment modality for patients with amputated fingers. Evaluating implant prognosis, functional results and prosthetic results of the patients are necessary to address the benefits and complications of the treatment.

Viscous Fingering in Deformable Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Jian Hui; MacMinn, Chris

2017-11-01

Viscous fingering is a classical hydrodynamic instability that occurs when an invading fluid is injected into a porous medium or a Hele-Shaw cell that contains a more viscous defending fluid. Recent work has shown that viscous fingering in a Hele-Shaw cell is supressed when the flow cell is deformable. However, the mechanism of suppression relies on a net volumetric expansion of the flow area. Here, we study flow in a novel Hele-Shaw cell consisting of a rigid bottom plate and a flexible top plate that deforms in a way that is volume-conserving. In other words, fluid injection into the flow cell leads to a local expansion of the flow area (outward displacement of the flexible surface) that must be coupled to non-local contraction (inward displacement of the flexible surface). We explore the impact of this volumetric confinement on steady viscous flow and on viscous fingering. We would like to thank EPSRC for the funding for this work.

The effects of vibration-reducing gloves on finger vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Welcome, Daniel E.; Dong, Ren G.; Xu, Xueyan S.; Warren, Christopher; McDowell, Thomas W.

2015-01-01

Vibration-reducing (VR) gloves have been used to reduce the hand-transmitted vibration exposures from machines and powered hand tools but their effectiveness remains unclear, especially for finger protection. The objectives of this study are to determine whether VR gloves can attenuate the vibration transmitted to the fingers and to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms of how these gloves work. Seven adult male subjects participated in the experiment. The fixed factors evaluated include hand force (four levels), glove condition (gel-filled, air bladder, no gloves), and location of the finger vibration measurement. A 3-D laser vibrometer was used to measure the vibrations on the fingers with and without wearing a glove on a 3-D hand-arm vibration test system. This study finds that the effect of VR gloves on the finger vibration depends on not only the gloves but also their influence on the distribution of the finger contact stiffness and the grip effort. As a result, the gloves increase the vibration in the fingertip area but marginally reduce the vibration in the proximal area at some frequencies below 100 Hz. On average, the gloves reduce the vibration of the entire fingers by less than 3% at frequencies below 80 Hz but increase at frequencies from 80 to 400 Hz. At higher frequencies, the gel-filled glove is more effective at reducing the finger vibration than the air bladder-filled glove. The implications of these findings are discussed. Relevance to industry Prolonged, intensive exposure to hand-transmitted vibration can cause hand-arm vibration syndrome. Vibration-reducing gloves have been used as an alternative approach to reduce the vibration exposure. However, their effectiveness for reducing finger-transmitted vibrations remains unclear. This study enhanced the understanding of the glove effects on finger vibration and provided useful information on the effectiveness of typical VR gloves at reducing the vibration transmitted to the fingers. The new

VISIONS FOR FOOTWEAR TIP SHAPE ACCORDING TO THE CONFIGURATION FINGER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MALCOCI Marina

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Compatibility between the consumer and the interior leg permanent footwear raises a number of issues. And any new form of footwear is time for a new silhouette last. Fashion is a factor in determining the shape of the last significant role. The most important influence on fashion in footwear that has at one time is found in peak shape. During registered a variety of forms leading to the last, for example, pointed, oval, round, square, asymmetrical, curved, trapezoidal, etc. Each has added a tip top recommended. The paper analyzes the morphofunctional characteristic, namely, finger configuration. The configuration of the fingers is determined from the positions of all the fingers of one another, as are six variants. Analysis of the shape and configuration of the arm fingers allow us to make the following recommendations to consumers: people showing finger configuration as in variant V and VI are advised not to wear pointy shoes because of the limited movement of the foot, which favors the diversion finger I exterior and deformed finger V; persons who fall within I-IV variant can procure pointy shoes; a round-tipped shoes, square, curved or asymmetric may be purchased by any consumer regardless of the configuration of the fingers; shoes with cut edge must be present only in garderopa people in variant I and II; consumers whose configuration is like finger-VI and III variants are awkwardly shaped fingers can buy shoes closed in the previous summer, but of different perforations or overlapping strips.

Three-dimensional viscous fingering of miscible fluids in porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Suekane, Tetsuya; Ono, Jei; Hyodo, Akimitsu; Nagatsu, Yuichiro

2017-10-01

Viscous fingering is a flow instability that is induced at the displacement front when a less-viscous fluid (LVF) displaces a more-viscous fluid (MVF). Because of the opaque nature of porous media, most experimental investigations of the structure of viscous fingering and its development in time have been limited to two-dimensional porous media or Hele-Shaw cells. In this study, we investigate the three-dimensional characteristics of viscous fingering in porous media using a microfocused x-ray computer tomography (CT) scanner. Similar to two-dimensional experiments, characteristic events such as tip-splitting, shielding, and coalescence were observed in three-dimensional viscous fingering as well. With an increase in the Péclet number at a fixed viscosity ratio, M , the fingers appearing on the interface tend to be fine; however, the locations of the tips of the fingers remain the same for the same injected volume of the LVF. The finger extensions increase in proportion to ln M , and the number of fingers emerging at the initial interface increases with M . This fact agrees qualitatively with linear stability analyses. Within the fingers, the local concentration of NaI, which is needed for the x-ray CT scanner, linearly decreases, whereas it sharply decreases at the tips of the fingers. A locally high Péclet number as well as unsteady motions in lateral directions may enhance the dispersion at the tips of the fingers. As the viscosity ratio increases, the efficiency of each sweep monotonically decreases and reaches an asymptotic state; in addition, the degree of mixing increases with the viscosity ratio. For high flow rates, the asymptotic value of the sweep efficiency is low for high viscosity ratios, while there is no clear dependence of the asymptotic value on the Péclet number.

Viscoelastic fingering with a pulsed pressure signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corvera Poire, E; Rio, J A del

2004-01-01

We derive a generalized Darcy's law in the frequency domain for a linear viscoelastic fluid flowing in a Hele-Shaw cell. This leads to an analytic expression for the dynamic permeability that has maxima which are several orders of magnitude larger than the static permeability. We then follow an argument of de Gennes (1987 Europhys. Lett. 2 195) to obtain the smallest possible finger width when viscoelasticity is important. Using this and a conservation law, we obtain the lowest bound for the width of a single finger displacing a viscoelastic fluid. When the driving force consists of a constant pressure gradient plus an oscillatory signal, our results indicate that the finger width varies in time following the frequency of the incident signal. Also, the amplitude of the finger width in time depends on the value of the dynamic permeability at the imposed frequency. When the finger is driven with a frequency that maximizes the permeability, variations in the amplitude are also maximized. This gives results that are very different for Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids. For the former ones the amplitude of the oscillation decays with frequency. For the latter ones on the other hand, the amplitude has maxima at the same frequencies that maximize the dynamic permeability

Comparing kinematic changes between a finger-tapping task and unconstrained finger flexion-extension task in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, W P; Rodrigues, J P; Mastaglia, F L; Thickbroom, G W

2013-06-01

Repetitive finger tapping is a well-established clinical test for the evaluation of parkinsonian bradykinesia, but few studies have investigated other finger movement modalities. We compared the kinematic changes (movement rate and amplitude) and response to levodopa during a conventional index finger-thumb-tapping task and an unconstrained index finger flexion-extension task performed at maximal voluntary rate (MVR) for 20 s in 11 individuals with levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease (OFF and ON) and 10 healthy age-matched controls. Between-task comparisons showed that for all conditions, the initial movement rate was greater for the unconstrained flexion-extension task than the tapping task. Movement rate in the OFF state was slower than in controls for both tasks and normalized in the ON state. The movement amplitude was also reduced for both tasks in OFF and increased in the ON state but did not reach control levels. The rate and amplitude of movement declined significantly for both tasks under all conditions (OFF/ON and controls). The time course of rate decline was comparable for both tasks and was similar in OFF/ON and controls, whereas the tapping task was associated with a greater decline in MA, both in controls and ON, but not OFF. The findings indicate that both finger movement tasks show similar kinematic changes during a 20-s sustained MVR, but that movement amplitude is less well sustained during the tapping task than the unconstrained finger movement task. Both movement rate and amplitude improved with levodopa; however, movement rate was more levodopa responsive than amplitude.

The physical and microbiological quality of chicken meat in the different type of enterprise poultry slaughterhouse: a case study in Karanganyar District

Science.gov (United States)

Hertanto, B. S.; Nurmalasari, C. D. A.; Nuhriawangsa, A. M. P.; Cahyadi, M.; Kartikasari, L. R.

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the physical and microbiological quality of chicken meat produced by the different type of enterprise slaughterhouse in Karanganyar District. The number of 20 poultry slaughterhouses was determined by convenience sampling method. The samples of chicken meat were randomly collected from medium enterprise poultry slaughterhouses (n=12) and small enterprise poultry slaughterhouses (n=8). A survey was carried out among poultry slaughterhouses in Karanganyar District. All the samples were subjected to physical quality consisted of pH test, texture, and color, while microbiological quality consisted of total plate count, microbial detection of Escherichia coli and Salmonella. The data were analyzed using descriptive quantitative analysis. The study showed that chicken meat in 6 small enterprise slaughterhouses and 11 medium enterprise slaughterhouses had normal pH of 5.81 - 6.3. Color and texture of chicken meats had relatively normal in both small and medium enterprise slaughterhouses. The total plate count of chicken meat showed in both small and medium enterprise slaughterhouses was 1x101 CFU/gr, and Salmonella was detected in 1 medium enterprise slaughterhouse. The overall results of the study suggest that the potential risk of chicken meat contamination depends on the processing of chicken meat in poultry slaughterhouses.

Tetanus following replantation of an amputated finger: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashida, Kenji; Murakami, Chikako; Fujioka, Masaki

2012-10-08

Tetanus is an infectious disease caused by tetanus toxin produced by Clostridium tetani and induces severe neurological manifestations. We treated a patient who developed tetanus during hospitalization for replantation of an amputated finger. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published case report of such an entity. A 49-year-old Japanese man had an amputation of his right middle finger at the distal interphalangeal joint region in an accident at work. His middle finger was successfully replanted, but his fingertip was partially necrotized because of crushing and so additional reconstruction with a reverse digital arterial flap was performed 15 days after the injury. Tetanus developed 21 days after replantation of the middle finger, but symptoms remitted via rapid diagnosis and treatment. In replantation after finger trauma with exposure of nerve and blood vessel bundles, concern over injuring nerves and blood vessels may prevent irrigation and debridement from being performed sufficiently; these treatments may have been insufficiently performed in this patient. It is likely that the replanted middle finger partially adhered, and Clostridium tetani colonized the partially necrotized region. Even when there is only limited soil contamination, administration of tetanus toxoid and anti-tetanus immunoglobulin is necessary when the fingers are injured outdoors and the finger nerves and blood vessels are exposed. The drugs should be administered just after replantation if the finger has been amputated. However, if clinicians pay attention to the possibility of tetanus development, treatment can be rapidly initiated.

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Personalized Weight Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Gongping; Xiao, Rongyang; Yin, Yilong; Yang, Lu

2013-01-01

Finger vein recognition is a promising biometric recognition technology, which verifies identities via the vein patterns in the fingers. Binary pattern based methods were thoroughly studied in order to cope with the difficulties of extracting the blood vessel network. However, current binary pattern based finger vein matching methods treat every bit of feature codes derived from different image of various individuals as equally important and assign the same weight value to them. In this paper, we propose a finger vein recognition method based on personalized weight maps (PWMs). The different bits have different weight values according to their stabilities in a certain number of training samples from an individual. Firstly we present the concept of PWM, and then propose the finger vein recognition framework, which mainly consists of preprocessing, feature extraction, and matching. Finally, we design extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposal. Experimental results show that PWM achieves not only better performance, but also high robustness and reliability. In addition, PWM can be used as a general framework for binary pattern based recognition. PMID:24025556

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Personalized Weight Maps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Yang

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Finger vein recognition is a promising biometric recognition technology, which verifies identities via the vein patterns in the fingers. Binary pattern based methods were thoroughly studied in order to cope with the difficulties of extracting the blood vessel network. However, current binary pattern based finger vein matching methods treat every bit of feature codes derived from different image of various individuals as equally important and assign the same weight value to them. In this paper, we propose a finger vein recognition method based on personalized weight maps (PWMs. The different bits have different weight values according to their stabilities in a certain number of training samples from an individual. Firstly we present the concept of PWM, and then propose the finger vein recognition framework, which mainly consists of preprocessing, feature extraction, and matching. Finally, we design extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposal. Experimental results show that PWM achieves not only better performance, but also high robustness and reliability. In addition, PWM can be used as a general framework for binary pattern based recognition.

Physical, chemical, microbiological and sensorial behaviour evolution of non cooked pressed cheese paste while in refrigerated storage, made with red chilli powder, treated by heat or ionization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iben El Hadj Mohamed, A.

1998-01-01

The evolution of different physical, chemical, microbiological and sensorial characteristics of a Tunisian manufactured cheese made of non cooked pressed cheese paste with red chilli powder treated by heat, was measured while in refrigerated storage and compared to the one treated by ionization (author)

[Environmental microbiological control].

Science.gov (United States)

Martín Salas, Carmen; Tordoya Titichoca, Igberto J; Ezpeleta Baquedano, Carmen

2016-07-01

The environmental microbiological control is necessary to prevent infections associated with certain procedures that are performed at the hospital. In this review the procedures for control of water and dialysis fluids, and air in operating rooms and immunocompromised units are addressed. The dialysis quality management guidelines define the highest levels of chemical, microbiological and endotoxin in purified water and dialysis fluids based on the recommendations of scientific societies. The microbiological control of water and dialysis fluids should include detection of microorganisms and endotoxin levels. Regarding the microbiological air sampling of operating rooms and immunocompromised units the types of clean rooms in which is recommended to perform microbiological air monitoring; the sample collection methods; culture media; incubation conditions; the most common microorganisms, and permissible levels depending on the type of surgery are described. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Convolutional Neural Network-Based Finger-Vein Recognition Using NIR Image Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Hyung Gil; Lee, Min Beom; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-06-06

Conventional finger-vein recognition systems perform recognition based on the finger-vein lines extracted from the input images or image enhancement, and texture feature extraction from the finger-vein images. In these cases, however, the inaccurate detection of finger-vein lines lowers the recognition accuracy. In the case of texture feature extraction, the developer must experimentally decide on a form of the optimal filter for extraction considering the characteristics of the image database. To address this problem, this research proposes a finger-vein recognition method that is robust to various database types and environmental changes based on the convolutional neural network (CNN). In the experiments using the two finger-vein databases constructed in this research and the SDUMLA-HMT finger-vein database, which is an open database, the method proposed in this research showed a better performance compared to the conventional methods.

Three-dimensional printing of a microneedle array on personalized curved surfaces for dual-pronged treatment of trigger finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Seng Han; Ng, Jian Yao; Kang, Lifeng

2017-01-10

The hand function of patients who suffer from trigger finger can be impaired by the use of traditional splints. There is also a risk of systemic side effects with oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) used for pain relief. Microneedle-assisted transdermal drug delivery offers an attractive alternative for local delivery of NSAIDs. However, traditional microneedle arrays fabricated on flat surfaces are unable to deliver drugs effectively across the undulating skin surface of affected finger(s). In this study, using 3D printing, a dual-function microneedle array has been fabricated on personalized curved surfaces (microneedle splint) for drug delivery and splinting of the affected finger. The novel microneedle splint was assessed for its physical characteristics and the microneedles were shown to withstand up to twice the average thumb force without fracturing. An average skin penetration efficiency of 64% on dermatomed human cadaver skin was achieved and the final microneedle splint showed biocompatibility with human dermal cell lines. A significantly higher amount of diclofenac permeated through the skin by 0.5 h with the use of the microneedle splint as compared to intact skin. The fabricated microneedle splint can thus be a potential new approach to treat trigger finger via personalized splinting without affecting normal hand function.

Image Quality Enhancement Using the Direction and Thickness of Vein Lines for Finger-Vein Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Young Ho Park

2012-10-01

Full Text Available On the basis of the increased emphasis placed on the protection of privacy, biometric recognition systems using physical or behavioural characteristics such as fingerprints, facial characteristics, iris and finger-vein patterns or the voice have been introduced in applications including door access control, personal certification, Internet banking and ATM machines. Among these, finger-vein recognition is advantageous in that it involves the use of inexpensive and small devices that are difficult to counterfeit. In general, finger-vein recognition systems capture images by using near infrared (NIR illumination in conjunction with a camera. However, such systems can face operational difficulties, since the scattering of light from the skin can make capturing a clear image difficult. To solve this problem, we proposed new image quality enhancement method that measures the direction and thickness of vein lines. This effort represents novel research in four respects. First, since vein lines are detected in input images based on eight directional profiles of a grey image instead of binarized images, the detection error owing to the non-uniform illumination of the finger area can be reduced. Second, our method adaptively determines a Gabor filter for the optimal direction and width on the basis of the estimated direction and thickness of a detected vein line. Third, by applying this optimized Gabor filter, a clear vein image can be obtained. Finally, the further processing of the morphological operation is applied in the Gabor filtered image and the resulting image is combined with the original one, through which finger-vein image of a higher quality is obtained. Experimental results from application of our proposed image enhancement method show that the equal error rate (EER of finger-vein recognition decreases to approximately 0.4% in the case of a local binary pattern-based recognition and to approximately 0.3% in the case of a wavelet transform

Tetanus following replantation of an amputated finger: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hayashida Kenji

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Tetanus is an infectious disease caused by tetanus toxin produced by Clostridium tetani and induces severe neurological manifestations. We treated a patient who developed tetanus during hospitalization for replantation of an amputated finger. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published case report of such an entity. Case presentation A 49-year-old Japanese man had an amputation of his right middle finger at the distal interphalangeal joint region in an accident at work. His middle finger was successfully replanted, but his fingertip was partially necrotized because of crushing and so additional reconstruction with a reverse digital arterial flap was performed 15 days after the injury. Tetanus developed 21 days after replantation of the middle finger, but symptoms remitted via rapid diagnosis and treatment. Conclusions In replantation after finger trauma with exposure of nerve and blood vessel bundles, concern over injuring nerves and blood vessels may prevent irrigation and debridement from being performed sufficiently; these treatments may have been insufficiently performed in this patient. It is likely that the replanted middle finger partially adhered, and Clostridium tetani colonized the partially necrotized region. Even when there is only limited soil contamination, administration of tetanus toxoid and anti-tetanus immunoglobulin is necessary when the fingers are injured outdoors and the finger nerves and blood vessels are exposed. The drugs should be administered just after replantation if the finger has been amputated. However, if clinicians pay attention to the possibility of tetanus development, treatment can be rapidly initiated.

Non-contact finger vein acquisition system using NIR laser

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jiman; Kong, Hyoun-Joong; Park, Sangyun; Noh, SeungWoo; Lee, Seung-Rae; Kim, Taejeong; Kim, Hee Chan

2009-02-01

Authentication using finger vein pattern has substantial advantage than other biometrics. Because human vein patterns are hidden inside the skin and tissue, it is hard to forge vein structure. But conventional system using NIR LED array has two drawbacks. First, direct contact with LED array raise sanitary problem. Second, because of discreteness of LEDs, non-uniform illumination exists. We propose non-contact finger vein acquisition system using NIR laser and Laser line generator lens. Laser line generator lens makes evenly distributed line laser from focused laser light. Line laser is aimed on the finger longitudinally. NIR camera was used for image acquisition. 200 index finger vein images from 20 candidates are collected. Same finger vein pattern extraction algorithm was used to evaluate two sets of images. Acquired images from proposed non-contact system do not show any non-uniform illumination in contrary with conventional system. Also results of matching are comparable to conventional system. We developed Non-contact finger vein acquisition system. It can prevent potential cross contamination of skin diseases. Also the system can produce uniformly illuminated images unlike conventional system. With the benefit of non-contact, proposed system shows almost equivalent performance compared with conventional system.

Sensory Feedback Training for Improvement of Finger Perception in Cerebral Palsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias Blumenstein

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To develop and to test a feedback training system for improvement of tactile perception and coordination of fingers in children and youth with cerebral palsy. Methods. The fingers of 7 probands with cerebral palsy of different types and severity were stimulated using small vibration motors integrated in the fingers of a hand glove. The vibration motors were connected through a microcontroller to a computer and to a response 5-button keyboard. By pressing an appropriate keyboard button, the proband must indicate in which finger the vibration was felt. The number of incorrect responses and the reaction time were measured for every finger. The perception and coordination of fingers were estimated before and after two-week training using both clinical tests and the measurements. Results. Proper functioning of the developed system in persons with cerebral palsy was confirmed. The tactile sensation of fingers was improved in five of seven subjects after two weeks of training. There was no clear tendency towards improvement of selective use of fingers. Conclusion. The designed feedback system could be used to train tactile perception of fingers in children and youth with cerebral palsy. An extensive study is required to confirm these findings.

A new algorithmic approach for fingers detection and identification

Science.gov (United States)

Mubashar Khan, Arslan; Umar, Waqas; Choudhary, Taimoor; Hussain, Fawad; Haroon Yousaf, Muhammad

2013-03-01

Gesture recognition is concerned with the goal of interpreting human gestures through mathematical algorithms. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or state but commonly originate from the face or hand. Hand gesture detection in a real time environment, where the time and memory are important issues, is a critical operation. Hand gesture recognition largely depends on the accurate detection of the fingers. This paper presents a new algorithmic approach to detect and identify fingers of human hand. The proposed algorithm does not depend upon the prior knowledge of the scene. It detects the active fingers and Metacarpophalangeal (MCP) of the inactive fingers from an already detected hand. Dynamic thresholding technique and connected component labeling scheme are employed for background elimination and hand detection respectively. Algorithm proposed a new approach for finger identification in real time environment keeping the memory and time constraint as low as possible.

Salty Microbiology

Science.gov (United States)

Schneegurt, Mark A.; Wedel, Adrianne N.; Pokorski, Edward W.

2004-01-01

Using microbiology activities in the classroom is an effective way for teachers to address National Standards in the life sciences. However, common microbiology activities that involve swabbing doorknobs and hands are too risky due to the likelihood of culturing human pathogens. In addition, making sterile media and maintaining sterile conditions…

Multimodal biometric method that combines veins, prints, and shape of a finger

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Byung Jun; Park, Kang Ryoung; Yoo, Jang-Hee; Kim, Jeong Nyeo

2011-01-01

Multimodal biometrics provides high recognition accuracy and population coverage by using various biometric features. A single finger contains finger veins, fingerprints, and finger geometry features; by using multimodal biometrics, information on these multiple features can be simultaneously obtained in a short time and their fusion can outperform the use of a single feature. This paper proposes a new finger recognition method based on the score-level fusion of finger veins, fingerprints, and finger geometry features. This research is novel in the following four ways. First, the performances of the finger-vein and fingerprint recognition are improved by using a method based on a local derivative pattern. Second, the accuracy of the finger geometry recognition is greatly increased by combining a Fourier descriptor with principal component analysis. Third, a fuzzy score normalization method is introduced; its performance is better than the conventional Z-score normalization method. Fourth, finger-vein, fingerprint, and finger geometry recognitions are combined by using three support vector machines and a weighted SUM rule. Experimental results showed that the equal error rate of the proposed method was 0.254%, which was lower than those of the other methods.

A PZT Actuated Triple-Finger Gripper for Multi-Target Micromanipulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a triple-finger gripper driven by a piezoceramic (PZT transducer for multi-target micromanipulation. The gripper consists of three fingers assembled on adjustable pedestals with flexible hinges for a large adjustable range. Each finger has a PZT actuator, an amplifying structure, and a changeable end effector. The moving trajectories of single and double fingers were calculated and finite element analyses were performed to verify the reliability of the structures. In the gripping experiment, various end effectors of the fingers such as tungsten probes and fibers were tested, and different micro-objects such as glass hollow spheres and iron spheres with diameters ranging from 10 to 800 μm were picked and released. The output resolution is 145 nm/V, and the driven displacement range of the gripper is 43.4 μm. The PZT actuated triple-finger gripper has superior adaptability, high efficiency, and a low cost.

HE upgrade beyond phase 1. Finger scintillator option.

CERN Document Server

Afanasiev, Sergey; Boyarintsev, A.Yu; Emeliantchik, Igor; Golutvin, Igor; Grinyov, B.V; Ershov, Yuri; Levchuk, Leonid; Litomin, Aliaksandr; Malakhov, Alexander; Moisenz, Petr; Popov, V.F; Shumeiko, Nikolai; Smirnov, Vitaly; Sorokin, Pavlo; Zhmurin, Petro

2014-01-01

CMS hadron calorimeters (HB, HE, HO) have been in operation for several years and contributed substantially to the success of the CMS Physics Program. The endcap calorimeter HE suffered more radiation damage than anticipated causing rapid degradation of scintillator segments (tiles) which have a higher radiation flux from secondary particles than HB and HO. A proposal to upgrade of HE calorimeter will provide a solution for survivability at future LHC higher luminosity. A finger-strip plastic scintillator option has many advantages and is a lower cost alternative to keep the excellent HE performance at high luminosity. Measurements and simulations have been performed and this method is a good upgrade strategy.

[Medical microbiology laboratories in Dutch hospitals: essential for safe patient care].

Science.gov (United States)

Bonten, M J M

2008-12-06

The Netherlands Health Care Inspectorate investigated the quality of medical microbiology laboratories in Dutch hospitals. By and large the laboratories fulfilled the requirements for appropriate care, although some processes were unsatisfactory and some were insufficiently formalised. In the Netherlands, laboratories for medical microbiology are integrated within hospitals and medical microbiologists are responsible for the diagnostic processes as well as for co-treatment of patients, infection prevention and research. This integrated model contrasts to the more industrialised model in many other countries, where such laboratories are physically distinct from hospitals with a strong focus on diagnostics. The Inspectorate also concludes that the current position of medical microbiology in Dutch hospitals is necessary for patient safety and that outsourcing of these facilities is considered unacceptable.

[When doors slam, fingers jam!].

Science.gov (United States)

Claudet, I; Toubal, K; Carnet, C; Rekhroukh, H; Zelmat, B; Debuisson, C; Cahuzac, J-P

2007-08-01

Epidemiological analysis in a universitary paediatric emergency unit of children admitted after accidental injuries resulting from fingers crushed in a door. Prospective, descriptive cohort study from September 6th, 2004 to July 1st, 2005 included all children admitted for finger injuries crushed in a non-automatic door. included accidents due to automatic doors, toy's or refrigerator doors, families who refused to participate to the study or families who had left the waiting area before medical examination. Collected data were patient and family characteristics, accident characteristics and its management. Three hundred and forty children affected by 427 digital lesions were included. The mean age was 5.5+/-3.8 years (range 4 months - 15.5 years). Male/female ratio was equal to 1.2: 1. Fifty-eight percent of patients belonged to families composed of 3 or more siblings. Ninety-three per cent of families came to hospital within the first 2 hours after the accident (mean delay 99+/-162 min, median range 54 minutes). Location of the accident was: domestic (62%, at home (64%)), at school (17%). Locations within the home were: the bedroom (33%), bathroom and toilets (21%). An adult was present in 75% of cases and responsible for the trauma in 25% of accidents, another child in 44%. The finger or fingers were trapped on the hinge side in 57% of patients. No specific safeguard devices were used by 94% of families. Among victims, 20% had several crushed digits; left and right hand were injured with an equal frequency. The commonest involved digits were: the middle finger (29%), the ring finger (23%). The nail plate was damaged in 60% of digital lesions, associated with a wound (50%), a distal phalanx fracture (P3) (12%). Six children had a partial or complete amputation of P3, 2 children a lesion of the extensor tendon, 1 child had a rupture of the external lateral ligament. Three percent of children required an admission to the paediatric orthopaedic surgery unit. Post

Influence of physical damage and freezing on histamine concentration and microbiological quality of yellowfin tuna during processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gonzalo García-Tapia

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Yellowfin tuna has a high level of free histidine in their muscle, which can lead to histamine formation by microorganisms if temperature abuse occurs during handling and further processing. The objective of this study was to measure levels of histamine in damaged and undamaged thawed muscle to determine the effect of physical damage on the microbial count and histamine formation during the initial steps of canning processing and to isolate and identify the main histamine-forming microorganisms present in the flesh of yellowfin tuna. Total mesophilic and psicrophilic microorganisms were determined using the standard plate method. The presence of histamine-forming microorganisms was determined in a modified Niven's agar. Strains were further identified using the API 20E kit for enterobacteriaceae and Gram-negative bacilli. Physically damaged tuna did not show higher microbiological contamination than that of undamaged muscle tuna. The most active histamine-forming microorganism present in tuna flesh was Morganella morganii. Other decarboxylating microorganisms present were Enterobacter agglomerans and Enterobacter cloacae. Physical damage of tune during catching and handling did not increase the level of histamine or the amount of microorganisms present in tuna meat during frozen transportation, but they showed a higher risk of histamine-forming microorganism growth during processing.

Finger Thickening during Extra-Heavy Oil Waterflooding: Simulation and Interpretation Using Pore-Scale Modelling.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Regaieg

Full Text Available Although thermal methods have been popular and successfully applied in heavy oil recovery, they are often found to be uneconomic or impractical. Therefore, alternative production protocols are being actively pursued and interesting options include water injection and polymer flooding. Indeed, such techniques have been successfully tested in recent laboratory investigations, where X-ray scans performed on homogeneous rock slabs during water flooding experiments have shown evidence of an interesting new phenomenon-post-breakthrough, highly dendritic water fingers have been observed to thicken and coalesce, forming braided water channels that improve sweep efficiency. However, these experimental studies involve displacement mechanisms that are still poorly understood, and so the optimization of this process for eventual field application is still somewhat problematic. Ideally, a combination of two-phase flow experiments and simulations should be put in place to help understand this process more fully. To this end, a fully dynamic network model is described and used to investigate finger thickening during water flooding of extra-heavy oils. The displacement physics has been implemented at the pore scale and this is followed by a successful benchmarking exercise of the numerical simulations against the groundbreaking micromodel experiments reported by Lenormand and co-workers in the 1980s. A range of slab-scale simulations has also been carried out and compared with the corresponding experimental observations. We show that the model is able to replicate finger architectures similar to those observed in the experiments and go on to reproduce and interpret, for the first time to our knowledge, finger thickening following water breakthrough. We note that this phenomenon has been observed here in homogeneous (i.e. un-fractured media: the presence of fractures could be expected to exacerbate such fingering still further. Finally, we examine the impact of

Aquatic Microbiology Laboratory Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Robert C.; And Others

This laboratory manual presents information and techniques dealing with aquatic microbiology as it relates to environmental health science, sanitary engineering, and environmental microbiology. The contents are divided into three categories: (1) ecological and physiological considerations; (2) public health aspects; and (3)microbiology of water…

Stainless steel quadralatch finger test report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deichelbohrer, P.R.

1996-01-01

The design of the quadralatch on the universal samplers was changed in response to flammable gas operating constraints. Additional redesign of the fingers was included to facilitate manufacturability. The new design was tested to assure satisfactory performance. It was shown that the fingers can hold a sampler in place with an upward force of at least 2200 N (500 pounds) and that the mechanical remote latch unit can release the quadralatch under this condition of maximum upward force

C2H2 type of zinc finger transcription factors in foxtail millet define response to abiotic stresses.

Science.gov (United States)

Muthamilarasan, Mehanathan; Bonthala, Venkata Suresh; Mishra, Awdhesh Kumar; Khandelwal, Rohit; Khan, Yusuf; Roy, Riti; Prasad, Manoj

2014-09-01

C2H2 type of zinc finger transcription factors (TFs) play crucial roles in plant stress response and hormone signal transduction. Hence considering its importance, genome-wide investigation and characterization of C2H2 zinc finger proteins were performed in Arabidopsis, rice and poplar but no such study was conducted in foxtail millet which is a C4 Panicoid model crop well known for its abiotic stress tolerance. The present study identified 124 C2H2-type zinc finger TFs in foxtail millet (SiC2H2) and physically mapped them onto the genome. The gene duplication analysis revealed that SiC2H2s primarily expanded in the genome through tandem duplication. The phylogenetic tree classified these TFs into five groups (I-V). Further, miRNAs targeting SiC2H2 transcripts in foxtail millet were identified. Heat map demonstrated differential and tissue-specific expression patterns of these SiC2H2 genes. Comparative physical mapping between foxtail millet SiC2H2 genes and its orthologs of sorghum, maize and rice revealed the evolutionary relationships of C2H2 type of zinc finger TFs. The duplication and divergence data provided novel insight into the evolutionary aspects of these TFs in foxtail millet and related grass species. Expression profiling of candidate SiC2H2 genes in response to salinity, dehydration and cold stress showed differential expression pattern of these genes at different time points of stresses.

Use of Mutation Breeding Technique in Improving Finger Millet in Northern Zambia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Msikita, R.N.

2002-01-01

Many breeders have observed that induced mutation increases genetic variability, and the expose to mutagenic agents increases mutation frequency. Studies have indicated the effect in height reduction, increased yield components,disease resistance, in crop like rice and wheat. A study was conducted in finger millet in thr Northern part of Zambia (Region III), a high rainfall area, aiming at improving finger length, number of fingers till ring capacity in order to increase the yield. the seed of Nyika variety, popular to farmers due to its medium maturity, palm shaped fingers (six fingers on average), and light brown grain. Three quantities of seed were irradiated at 15Kr, 20Kr and 30Kr doses. A dose of 15Kr of gamma rays irradiation continued to create good genetic change in the exposed material. These observations clearly suggest that 15Kr dose of gamma rays is the optimum one to expose/irradiate finger millet to create desired genetic changes. The results of 2000/2001 were not significantly different. However, FMM 165 had better yields (3193 Kg) than FMM 175 in Misamfu, while FMM 175 yielded better (3272 Kg) in Chinsali. During 2001/2002 both FMMs performed well in the national finger number of 10 per head. There were also highly significant differences among finger lengths.FMM 165 had finger length of 10.3 cm. Concerning grain yield FMM 165 and FMM 175 had 3802 and 3864 Kg/ha, respectively, which were above the overall mean 3864 Kg/ha. Grain yield correlated positively with finger number with an r-value of 0.19 and finger length r-value of 0.22 although it was not significant at 1% or 5%. Meanwhile in the advance trial there were significant differences among genotypes in finger number. Both FMMs had 9 fingers above the overall mean of 8.8. In the finger length there were highly significant differences. FMM 175 had a length of 11.5 cm while FMM 165 had 10.4 cm. There were highly significant differences among the genotypes in yield. FMM 165 (4636 Kg) and FMM 175

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Local Directional Code

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Xianjing; Yang, Gongping; Yin, Yilong; Xiao, Rongyang

2012-01-01

Finger vein patterns are considered as one of the most promising biometric authentication methods for its security and convenience. Most of the current available finger vein recognition methods utilize features from a segmented blood vessel network. As an improperly segmented network may degrade the recognition accuracy, binary pattern based methods are proposed, such as Local Binary Pattern (LBP), Local Derivative Pattern (LDP) and Local Line Binary Pattern (LLBP). However, the rich directional information hidden in the finger vein pattern has not been fully exploited by the existing local patterns. Inspired by the Webber Local Descriptor (WLD), this paper represents a new direction based local descriptor called Local Directional Code (LDC) and applies it to finger vein recognition. In LDC, the local gradient orientation information is coded as an octonary decimal number. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LDC achieves better performance than methods using LLBP. PMID:23202194

Finger Vein Recognition Based on Local Directional Code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rongyang Xiao

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Finger vein patterns are considered as one of the most promising biometric authentication methods for its security and convenience. Most of the current available finger vein recognition methods utilize features from a segmented blood vessel network. As an improperly segmented network may degrade the recognition accuracy, binary pattern based methods are proposed, such as Local Binary Pattern (LBP, Local Derivative Pattern (LDP and Local Line Binary Pattern (LLBP. However, the rich directional information hidden in the finger vein pattern has not been fully exploited by the existing local patterns. Inspired by the Webber Local Descriptor (WLD, this paper represents a new direction based local descriptor called Local Directional Code (LDC and applies it to finger vein recognition. In LDC, the local gradient orientation information is coded as an octonary decimal number. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LDC achieves better performance than methods using LLBP.

NUMERICALLY DETERMINED TRANSPORT LAWS FOR FINGERING ('THERMOHALINE') CONVECTION IN ASTROPHYSICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Traxler, A.; Garaud, P.; Stellmach, S.

2011-01-01

We present the first three-dimensional simulations of fingering convection performed at parameter values approaching those relevant for astrophysics. Our simulations reveal the existence of simple asymptotic scaling laws for turbulent heat and compositional transport, which can be straightforwardly extrapolated from our numerically tractable values to the true astrophysical regime. Our investigation also indicates that thermo-compositional 'staircases', a key consequence of fingering convection in the ocean, cannot form spontaneously in the fingering regime in stellar interiors. Our proposed empirically determined transport laws thus provide simple prescriptions for mixing by fingering convection in a variety of astrophysical situations, and should, from here on, be used preferentially over older and less accurate parameterizations. They also establish that fingering convection does not provide sufficient extra-mixing to explain observed chemical abundances in red giant branch stars.

Evaluation of finger millet incorporated noodles for nutritive value and glycemic index

OpenAIRE

Shukla, Kamini; Srivastava, Sarita

2011-01-01

The present study was undertaken to develop finger millet incorporated noodles for diabetic patients. Finger millet variety VL-149 was taken. The finger millet flour and refined wheat flour (RWF) were evaluated for nutrient composition. The finger millet flour (FMF) was blended in various proportions (30 to 50%) in refined wheat flour and used for the preparation of noodles. Control consisted of RWF noodles. Sensory quality and nutrient composition of finger millet noodles was evaluated. The ...

Osmosis-driven viscous fingering of oil-in-water emulsions

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ying; Rallabandi, Bhargav; Baskaran, Mrudhula; Stone, Howard

2017-11-01

Viscous fingering occurs when a low viscosity fluid invades a more viscous fluid. Fingering of two miscible fluids is more complicated than that of immiscible fluids in that there is no sharp fluid-fluid interface and diffusion occurs between the phases. We experimentally studied the fingering of two miscible fluids: an oil-in-water emulsion and a sodium chloride solution. When the concentration of sodium chloride in the water phase in the emulsion exceeds that in the sodium chloride solution, the consequent osmotic flow automatically facilitates the occurrence of the fingering. On the contrary, when the sodium chloride solution has higher concentration, the spreading of emulsion is more uniform than the case without the concentration difference. We provide a model to rationalize and quantify these observations.

Finger-vein and fingerprint recognition based on a feature-level fusion method

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jinfeng; Hong, Bofeng

2013-07-01

Multimodal biometrics based on the finger identification is a hot topic in recent years. In this paper, a novel fingerprint-vein based biometric method is proposed to improve the reliability and accuracy of the finger recognition system. First, the second order steerable filters are used here to enhance and extract the minutiae features of the fingerprint (FP) and finger-vein (FV). Second, the texture features of fingerprint and finger-vein are extracted by a bank of Gabor filter. Third, a new triangle-region fusion method is proposed to integrate all the fingerprint and finger-vein features in feature-level. Thus, the fusion features contain both the finger texture-information and the minutiae triangular geometry structure. Finally, experimental results performed on the self-constructed finger-vein and fingerprint databases are shown that the proposed method is reliable and precise in personal identification.

Spontaneous eye blinks are entrained by finger tapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Cong, D-K; Sharikadze, M; Staude, G; Deubel, H; Wolf, W

2010-02-01

We studied the mutual cross-talk between spontaneous eye blinks and continuous, self-paced unimanual and bimanual tapping. Both types of motor activities were analyzed with regard to their time-structure in synchronization-continuation tapping tasks which involved different task instructions, namely "standard" finger tapping (Experiment 1), "strong" tapping (Experiment 2) requiring more forceful finger movements, and "impulse-like" tapping (Experiment 3) where upward-downward finger movements had to be very fast. In a further control condition (Experiment 4), tapping was omitted altogether. The results revealed a prominent entrainment of spontaneous blink behavior by the manual tapping, with bimanual tapping being more effective than unimanual tapping, and with the "strong" and "impulse-like" tapping showing the largest effects on blink timing. Conversely, we found no significant effects of the tapping on the timing of the eye blinks across all experiments. The findings suggest a functional overlap of the motor control structures responsible for voluntary, rhythmic finger movements and eye blinking behavior.

Design and control of five fingered under-actuated robotic hand

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, Biswojit; Parida, Pramod Kumar

2018-04-01

Now a day's research regarding humanoid robots and its application in different fields (industry, household, rehabilitation and exploratory) is going on entire the globe. Among which a challenging topic is to design a dexterous robotic hand which not only can perform as a hand of a robot but also can be used in re habilitation. The basic key concern is a dexterous robot hand which can be able to mimic the function of biological hand to perform different operations. This thesis work is regarding design and control of a under-actuated robotic hand consisting of four under actuated fingers (index finger, middle finger, little finger and ring finger ) , a thumb and a dexterous palm which can copy the motions and grasp type of human hand which having 21degrees of freedom instead of 25Degree Of Freedom.

Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of Genes Encoding PHD-Finger Protein in Tomato

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayat, S.; Cheng, Z.; Chen, X.

2016-01-01

The PHD-finger proteins are conserved in eukaryotic organisms and are involved in a variety of important functions in different biological processes in plants. However, the function of PHD fingers are poorly known in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). In current study, we identified 45 putative genes coding Phd finger protein in tomato distributed on 11 chromosomes except for chromosome 8. Some of the genes encode other conserved key domains besides Phd-finger. Phylogenetic analysis of these 45 proteins resulted in seven clusters. Most Phd finger proteins were predicted to PML body location. These PHD-finger genes displayed differential expression either in various organs, at different development stages and under stresses in tomato. Our study provides the first systematic analysis of PHD-finger genes and proteins in tomato. This preliminary study provides a very useful reference information for Phd-finger proteins in tomato. They will be helpful for cloning and functional study of tomato PHD-finger genes. (author)

Microbiological corrosion of metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vladislavlev, V.V.

1992-01-01

Problems is considered of development of the microbiological corrosion of the NPP equipment. The main attention is paid to the selective character of microbiological corrosion in zones of welded joints of austenitic steels. It is noted that the presence of technological defects promotes growth of corrosional damages. Methods for microbiological corrosion protection are discussed

Making fingers and words count in a cognitive robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivian Milagros De La Cruz

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Evidence from developmental as well as neuroscientific studies suggest that finger counting activity plays an important role in the acquisition of numerical skills in children. It has been claimed that this skill helps in building motor-based representations of number that continue to influence number processing well into adulthood, facilitating the emergence of number concepts from sensorimotor experience through a bottom-up process. The act of counting also involves the acquisition and use of a verbal number system of which number words are the basic building blocks. Using a Cognitive Developmental Robotics paradigm we present results of a modeling experiment on whether finger counting and the association of number words (or tags to fingers, could serve to bootstrap the representation of number in a cognitive robot, enabling it to perform basic numerical operations such as addition. The cognitive architecture of the robot is based on artificial neural networks, which enable the robot to learn both sensorimotor skills (finger counting and linguistic skills (using number words. The results obtained in our experiments show that learning the number words in sequence along with finger configurations helps the fast building of the initial representation of number in the robot. Number knowledge, is instead, not as efficiently developed when number words are learned out of sequence without finger counting. Furthermore, the internal representations of the finger configurations themselves, developed by the robot as a result of the experiments, sustain the execution of basic arithmetic operations, something consistent with evidence coming from developmental research with children. The model and experiments demonstrate the importance of sensorimotor skill learning in robots for the acquisition of abstract knowledge such as numbers.

Automation in Clinical Microbiology

Science.gov (United States)

Ledeboer, Nathan A.

2013-01-01

Historically, the trend toward automation in clinical pathology laboratories has largely bypassed the clinical microbiology laboratory. In this article, we review the historical impediments to automation in the microbiology laboratory and offer insight into the reasons why we believe that we are on the cusp of a dramatic change that will sweep a wave of automation into clinical microbiology laboratories. We review the currently available specimen-processing instruments as well as the total laboratory automation solutions. Lastly, we outline the types of studies that will need to be performed to fully assess the benefits of automation in microbiology laboratories. PMID:23515547

Low Power Measurements on a Finger Drift Tube Linac

CERN Document Server

Schempp, A

2004-01-01

The efficiency of RFQs decreases at higher particle energies. The DTL structures used in this energy regions have a defocusing influence on the beam. To achieve a focusing effect, fingers with quadrupole symmetry were added to the drift tubes. Driven by the same power supply as the drift tubes, the fingers do not need an additional power source or feedthrough. Beam dynamics have been studied with PARMTEQ . Detailed analysis of the field distribution was done and the geometry of the finger array has been optimized with respect to beam dynamics. A spiral loaded cavity with finger drift tubes was built up and low power measurements were done. In this contribution, the results of the rf simulating with Microwave Studio are shown in comparison with bead pertubation measurement on a prototype cavity.

Role of protein structure and the role of individual fingers in zinc finger protein-DNA recognition: a molecular dynamics simulation study and free energy calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Hamed, Mazen Y.

2018-05-01

Molecular dynamics and MM_GBSA energy calculations on various zinc finger proteins containing three and four fingers bound to their target DNA gave insights into the role of each finger in the DNA binding process as part of the protein structure. The wild type Zif 268 (PDB code: 1AAY) gave a ΔG value of - 76.1 (14) kcal/mol. Zinc fingers ZF1, ZF2 and ZF3 were mutated in one experiment and in another experiment one finger was cut and the rest of the protein was studied for binding. The ΔΔG values for the Zinc Finger protein with both ZF1 and ZF2 mutated was + 80 kcal/mol, while mutating only ZF1 the ΔΔG value was + 52 kcal/mol (relative to the wild type). Cutting ZF3 and studying the protein consisting only of ZF1 linked to ZF2 gave a ΔΔG value of + 68 kcal/mol. Upon cutting ZF1, the resulting ZF2 linked to ZF3 protein gave a ΔΔG value of + 41 kcal/mol. The above results shed light on the importance of each finger in the binding process, especially the role of ZF1 as the anchoring finger followed in importance by ZF2 and ZF3. The energy difference between the binding of the wild type protein Zif268 (1AAY) and that for individual finger binding to DNA according to the formula: ΔΔGlinkers, otherstructuralfactors = ΔGzif268 - (ΔGF1+F2+F3) gave a value = - 44.5 kcal/mol. This stabilization can be attributed to the contribution of linkers and other structural factors in the intact protein in the DNA binding process. DNA binding energies of variant proteins of the wild type Zif268 which differ in their ZF1 amino acid sequence gave evidence of a good relationship between binding energy and recognition and specificity, this finding confirms the reported vital role of ZF1 in the ZF protein scanning and anchoring to the target DNA sequence. The role of hydrogen bonds in both specific and nonspecific amino acid-DNA contacts is discussed in relation to mutations. The binding energies of variant Zinc Finger proteins confirmed the role of ZF1 in the recognition

The Incidence of Finger Ridge Counts among the Christian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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higher among the males than females, with sex difference significant ,they were compared with ... Finger prints were taken by a USB finger print reader (Biometric Scanner).According .... "Digital dermatoglyphics of three caste groups of Mysore.

Experience of Percutaneous Trigger Finger Release under Local ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Trigger finger is a common disorder of upper extremity. Majority of the patients can be treated conservatively but some resistant cases eventually need surgery. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of percutaneous trigger finger release under local anesthesia. Subjects and Methods: This is a ...

Comparative Performance Analysis of G-RAKE Receivers with Suboptimal Finger Placement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. B. Baltzis

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Generalized RAKE (G-RAKE reception reduces the total amount of interference and provides enhanced diversity by comprising extra fingers to collect information about interference and further using channel and impairment correlation estimates for fingers allocation. However, the hardware complexity and the excessive computational requirements of GRAKE receivers may restrict their application in real systems; thus, suboptimal solutions are commonly used. In this paper, we propose and evaluate three maximum likelihood G-RAKE structures for colored noise with suboptimal finger placement. In all implementations, the fingers are optimally distributed within a time window that spans from several chip periods before the first arriving multipath to several chip periods after the latest one. The first receiver has its fingers at integer multiples of the chip period while in the rest two structures the search window is segmented in halves and tenths of the chip duration. This work also extends earlier studies by thoroughly investigating the impact of fractionally spaced finger placement on system performance. Our analysis shows that a suboptimal finger allocation reduces hardware complexity with negligible performance loss. The impact of channel delay spread and processing gain on system performance is also investigated and gives interesting results.

The genetic map of finger millet, Eleusine coracana.

Science.gov (United States)

Dida, Mathews M; Srinivasachary; Ramakrishnan, Sujatha; Bennetzen, Jeffrey L; Gale, Mike D; Devos, Katrien M

2007-01-01

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), expressed-sequenced tag (EST), and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to generate a genetic map of the tetraploid finger millet (Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana) genome (2n = 4x = 36). Because levels of variation in finger millet are low, the map was generated in an inter-subspecific F(2) population from a cross between E. coracana subsp. coracana cv. Okhale-1 and its wild progenitor E. coracana subsp. africana acc. MD-20. Duplicated loci were used to identify homoeologous groups. Assignment of linkage groups to the A and B genome was done by comparing the hybridization patterns of probes in Okhale-1, MD-20, and Eleusine indica acc. MD-36. E. indica is the A genome donor to E. coracana. The maps span 721 cM on the A genome and 787 cM on the B genome and cover all 18 finger millet chromosomes, at least partially. To facilitate the use of marker-assisted selection in finger millet, a first set of 82 SSR markers was developed. The SSRs were identified in small-insert genomic libraries generated using methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes. Thirty-one of the SSRs were mapped. Application of the maps and markers in hybridization-based breeding programs will expedite the improvement of finger millet.

Kinematic design of a finger abduction mechanism for an anthropomorphic robotic hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.-A. A. Demers

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the kinematic design of an abduction mechanism for the fingers of an underactuated anthropomorphic robotic hand. This mechanism will enhance the range of feasible grasps of the underactuated hand without significantly increasing its complexity. The analysis of the link between the index finger and the third finger is first assessed, where the parameters are studied in order to follow the amplitude constraint and to minimize the coordination error. Then, the study of the mechanism joining the third finger and the little finger is summarized. Finally, a prototype of the finger's abduction system is presented.

This paper was presented at the IFToMM/ASME International Workshop on Underactuated Grasping (UG2010, 19 August 2010, Montréal, Canada.

Generation of dense plume fingers in saturated-unsaturated homogeneous porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Cremer, Clemens J. M.; Graf, Thomas

2015-02-01

Flow under variable-density conditions is widespread, occurring in geothermal reservoirs, at waste disposal sites or due to saltwater intrusion. The migration of dense plumes typically results in the formation of vertical plume fingers which are known to be triggered by material heterogeneity or by variations in source concentration that causes the density variation. Using a numerical groundwater model, six perturbation methods are tested under saturated and unsaturated flow conditions to mimic heterogeneity and concentration variations on the pore scale in order to realistically generate dense fingers. A laboratory-scale sand tank experiment is numerically simulated, and the perturbation methods are evaluated by comparing plume fingers obtained from the laboratory experiment with numerically simulated fingers. Dense plume fingering for saturated flow can best be reproduced with a spatially random, time-constant perturbation of the solute source. For unsaturated flow, a spatially and temporally random noise of solute concentration or a random conductivity field adequately simulate plume fingering.

Radiation safety education reduces the incidence of adult fingers on neonatal chest radiographs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahota, N; Burbridge, B E; Duncan, M D

2014-01-01

A previous audit revealed a high frequency of adult fingers visualised on neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) chest radiographs—representing an example of inappropriate occupational radiation exposure. Radiation safety education was provided to staff and we hypothesised that the education would reduce the frequency of adult fingers visualised on NICU chest radiographs. Two cross-sectional samples taken before and after the administration of the education were compared. We examined fingers visualised directly in the beam, fingers in the direct beam but eliminated by technologists editing the image, and fingers under the cones of the portable x-ray machine. There was a 46.2% reduction in fingers directly in the beam, 50.0% reduction in fingers directly in the beam but cropped out, and 68.4% reduction in fingers in the coned area. There was a 57.1% overall reduction in adult fingers visualised, which was statistically significant (Z value − 7.48, P < 0.0001). This study supports radiation safety education in minimising inappropriate occupational radiation exposure. (paper)

X-Ray Exam: Finger

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español X-Ray Exam: Finger KidsHealth / For Parents / X-Ray Exam: ... Muscles, and Joints Broken Bones Getting an X-ray (Video) X-Ray (Video) View more Partner Message About Us ...

Intensity Variation Normalization for Finger Vein Recognition Using Guided Filter Based Singe Scale Retinex.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Shan Juan; Lu, Yu; Yoon, Sook; Yang, Jucheng; Park, Dong Sun

2015-07-14

Finger vein recognition has been considered one of the most promising biometrics for personal authentication. However, the capacities and percentages of finger tissues (e.g., bone, muscle, ligament, water, fat, etc.) vary person by person. This usually causes poor quality of finger vein images, therefore degrading the performance of finger vein recognition systems (FVRSs). In this paper, the intrinsic factors of finger tissue causing poor quality of finger vein images are analyzed, and an intensity variation (IV) normalization method using guided filter based single scale retinex (GFSSR) is proposed for finger vein image enhancement. The experimental results on two public datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in enhancing the image quality and finger vein recognition accuracy.

Evaluation of finger millet incorporated noodles for nutritive value and glycemic index.

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, Kamini; Srivastava, Sarita

2014-03-01

The present study was undertaken to develop finger millet incorporated noodles for diabetic patients. Finger millet variety VL-149 was taken. The finger millet flour and refined wheat flour (RWF) were evaluated for nutrient composition. The finger millet flour (FMF) was blended in various proportions (30 to 50%) in refined wheat flour and used for the preparation of noodles. Control consisted of RWF noodles. Sensory quality and nutrient composition of finger millet noodles was evaluated. The 30% finger millet incorporated noodles were selected best on the basis of sensory evaluation. Noodles in that proportion along with control were evaluated for glycemic response. Nutrient composition of noodles showed that 50% finger millet incorporated noodles contained highest amount of crude fat (1.15%), total ash (1.40%), crude fiber (1.28%), carbohydrate (78.54%), physiological energy (351.36 kcal), insoluble dietary fiber (5.45%), soluble dietary fiber (3.71%), iron (5.58%) and calcium (88.39%), respectively. However, control RWF noodles contained highest amount of starch (63.02%), amylose (8.72%) and amylopectin (54.29%). The glycemic index (GI) of 30% finger millet incorporated noodles (best selected by sensory evaluation) was observed significantly lower (45.13) than control noodles (62.59). It was found that finger millet flour incorporated noodles were found nutritious and showed hypoglycemic effect.

Nailfold Capillaroscopy of Fingers and Toes - Variations of Normal.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambova, Sevdalina Nikolova; Muller-Ladner, Ulf

2018-04-20

Nailfold capillaroscopy is the only method for morphological assessment of nutritive capillaries. The literature data about capillaroscopic findings in healthy individuals are scarce. To evaluate and compare the capillaroscopic findings of fingers and toes in healthy subjects. 22 healthy individuals were included in the study. Capillaroscopic examination was performed with videocapillaroscope Videocap 3.0 (DS Medica). Exclusion criteria were as follows: history of vasospasm, presence of accompanying diseases, taking any medications, arterial hypertension in first degree relatives, overweight or obesity (body mass index > 25kg/m2) and presence of chronic arterial or venous insufficiency. Poor visibility of nailfold capillaries was found significantly more frequently in the toes (22.7%, 5/22) as compared with fingers (0/22). Slight irregularities in capillary distribution and orientation to their parallel axis were significantly more common in the toes (31.8%, 7/22) as compared with fingers (9%, 2/22), (p10%) was found significantly more often in the toes (12/22) as compared with fingers (6/22, χ2=6.769, p<0.05). Short capillary loops (length<100µm) were observed significantly more often in the toes (11/22 - toes, 1/22 - fingers, χ2=14.666, p<0.05). Capillaroscopic examination of the toes shows some differences as compared to those of the fingers such as greater number of cases with poor visibility and slight irregularities of distribution, greater number of shorter capillaries and increased tortuosity, which might be related to the thicker epidermis of the toes and increased capillary pressure due to gravity. The values of the major capillaroscopic parameters such as capillary diameters and capillary density in fingers and toes do not differ significantly. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Viscous fingering of HCI through gastric mucin

Science.gov (United States)

Bhaskar, K. Ramakrishnan; Garik, Peter; Turner, Bradley S.; Bradley, James Douglas; Bansil, Rama; Stanley, H. Eugene; Lamont, J. Thomas

1992-12-01

THE HCI in the mammalian stomach is concentrated enough to digest the stomach itself, yet the gastric epithelium remains undamaged. One protective factor is gastric mucus, which forms a protective layer over the surface epithelium1-4 and acts as a diffusion barrier5,6 Bicarbonate ions secreted by the gastric epithelium7 are trapped in the mucus gel, establishing a gradient from pH 1-2 at the lumen to pH 6-7 at the cell surface8-10. How does HCI, secreted at the base of gastric glands by parietal cells, traverse the mucus layer without acidifying it? Here we demonstrate that injection of HCI through solutions of pig gastric mucin produces viscous fingering patterns11-18 dependent on pH, mucin concentration and acid flow rate. Above pH 4, discrete fingers are observed, whereas below pH 4, HCI neither penetrates the mucin solution nor forms fingers. Our in vitro results suggest that HCI secreted by the gastric gland can penetrate the mucus gel layer (pH 5-7) through narrow fingers, whereas HC1 in the lumen (pH 2) is prevented from diffusing back to the epithelium by the high viscosity of gastric mucus gel on the luminal side.

The biometric recognition on contactless multi-spectrum finger images

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Wenxiong; Chen, Xiaopeng; Wu, Qiuxia

2015-01-01

This paper presents a novel multimodal biometric system based on contactless multi-spectrum finger images, which aims to deal with the limitations of unimodal biometrics. The chief merits of the system are the richness of the permissible texture and the ease of data access. We constructed a multi-spectrum instrument to simultaneously acquire three different types of biometrics from a finger: contactless fingerprint, finger vein, and knuckleprint. On the basis of the samples with these characteristics, a moderate database was built for the evaluation of our system. Considering the real-time requirements and the respective characteristics of the three biometrics, the block local binary patterns algorithm was used to extract features and match for the fingerprints and finger veins, while the Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF algorithm was applied for knuckleprints. Finally, score-level fusion was performed on the matching results from the aforementioned three types of biometrics. The experiments showed that our proposed multimodal biometric recognition system achieves an equal error rate of 0.109%, which is 88.9%, 94.6%, and 89.7% lower than the individual fingerprint, knuckleprint, and finger vein recognitions, respectively. Nevertheless, our proposed system also satisfies the real-time requirements of the applications.

Robotic Assistance for Training Finger Movement Using a Hebbian Model: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Justin B; Chan, Vicky; Ingemanson, Morgan L; Cramer, Steven C; Wolbrecht, Eric T; Reinkensmeyer, David J

2017-08-01

Robots that physically assist movement are increasingly used in rehabilitation therapy after stroke, yet some studies suggest robotic assistance discourages effort and reduces motor learning. To determine the therapeutic effects of high and low levels of robotic assistance during finger training. We designed a protocol that varied the amount of robotic assistance while controlling the number, amplitude, and exerted effort of training movements. Participants (n = 30) with a chronic stroke and moderate hemiparesis (average Box and Blocks Test 32 ± 18 and upper extremity Fugl-Meyer score 46 ± 12) actively moved their index and middle fingers to targets to play a musical game similar to GuitarHero 3 h/wk for 3 weeks. The participants were randomized to receive high assistance (causing 82% success at hitting targets) or low assistance (55% success). Participants performed ~8000 movements during 9 training sessions. Both groups improved significantly at the 1-month follow-up on functional and impairment-based motor outcomes, on depression scores, and on self-efficacy of hand function, with no difference between groups in the primary endpoint (change in Box and Blocks). High assistance boosted motivation, as well as secondary motor outcomes (Fugl-Meyer and Lateral Pinch Strength)-particularly for individuals with more severe finger motor deficits. Individuals with impaired finger proprioception at baseline benefited less from the training. Robot-assisted training can promote key psychological outcomes known to modulate motor learning and retention. Furthermore, the therapeutic effectiveness of robotic assistance appears to derive at least in part from proprioceptive stimulation, consistent with a Hebbian plasticity model.

Manipulation of viscous fingering in a radially tapered cell geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Bongrand, Grégoire; Tsai, Peichun Amy

2018-06-01

When a more mobile fluid displaces another immiscible one in a porous medium, viscous fingering propagates with a partial sweep, which hinders oil recovery and soil remedy. We experimentally investigate the feasibility of tuning such fingering propagation in a nonuniform narrow passage with a radial injection, which is widely used in various applications. We show that a radially converging cell can suppress the common viscous fingering observed in a uniform passage, and a full sweep of the displaced fluid is then achieved. The injection flow rate Q can be further exploited to manipulate the viscous fingering instability. For a fixed gap gradient α , our experimental results show a full sweep at a small Q but partial displacement with fingering at a sufficient Q . Finally, by varying α , we identify and characterize the variation of the critical threshold between stable and unstable displacements. Our experimental results reveal good agreement with theoretical predictions by a linear stability analysis.

Analysis and optimal design of an underactuated finger mechanism for LARM hand

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Shuangji; Ceccarelli, Marco; Carbone, Giuseppe; Zhan, Qiang; Lu, Zhen

2011-09-01

This paper aims to present general design considerations and optimality criteria for underactuated mechanisms in finger designs. Design issues related to grasping task of robotic fingers are discussed. Performance characteristics are outlined as referring to several aspects of finger mechanisms. Optimality criteria of the finger performances are formulated after careful analysis. A general design algorithm is summarized and formulated as a suitable multi-objective optimization problem. A numerical case of an underactuated robot finger design for Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics (LARM) hand is illustrated with the aim to show the practical feasibility of the proposed concepts and computations.

An estimation of finger-tapping rates and load capacities and the effects of various factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekşioğlu, Mahmut; İşeri, Ali

2015-06-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the finger-tapping rates and finger load capacities of eight fingers (excluding thumbs) for a healthy adult population and investigate the effects of various factors on tapping rate. Finger-tapping rate, the total number of finger taps per unit of time, can be used as a design parameter of various products and also as a psychomotor test for evaluating patients with neurologic problems. A 1-min tapping task was performed by 148 participants with maximum volitional tempo for each of eight fingers. For each of the tapping tasks, the participant with the corresponding finger tapped the associated key in the standard position on the home row of a conventional keyboard for touch typing. The index and middle fingers were the fastest fingers for both hands, and little fingers the slowest. All dominant-hand fingers, except little finger, had higher tapping rates than the fastest finger of the nondominant hand. Tapping rate decreased with age and smokers tapped faster than nonsmokers. Tapping duration and exercise had also significant effect on tapping rate. Normative data of tapping rates and load capacities of eight fingers were estimated for the adult population. In designs of psychomotor tests that require the use of tapping rate or finger load capacity data, the effects of finger, age, smoking, and tapping duration need to be taken into account. The findings can be used for ergonomic designs requiring finger-tapping capacity and also as a reference in psychomotor tests. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Association between finger tapping, attention, memory, and cognitive diagnosis in elderly patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabinowitz, Israel; Lavner, Yizhar

2014-08-01

This study examined the association between spontaneous finger tapping and cognitive function, with a detailed analysis of the two main phases of finger tapping, the touch-phase and the off-phase. 170 elderly patients (83 men, 87 women; M age = 82.1 yr., SD = 6.2) underwent cognitive assessment including the Mini-Mental State Examination, a forward digit span test, and 15 sec. of finger tapping. Results indicated a significant increase in the length and variability of the finger-touch phase among participants with mild cognitive impairment or dementia compared to participants with no cognitive impairment, suggesting a relationship between finger tapping and attention, short-term memory, and cognitive diagnosis. Pattern classification analyses on the finger tapping parameters indicated a specificity of 0.91 and sensitivity of 0.52 for ruling out cognitive impairment.

Trigger Finger (Stenosing Tenosynovitis)

Science.gov (United States)

... All Topics A-Z Videos Infographics Symptom Picker Anatomy Bones Joints Muscles Nerves Vessels Tendons About Hand Surgery What is a Hand Surgeon? What is a Hand Therapist? Media Find a Hand Surgeon Home Anatomy Trigger Finger Email to a friend * required fields ...

Intensity Variation Normalization for Finger Vein Recognition Using Guided Filter Based Singe Scale Retinex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shan Juan Xie

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Finger vein recognition has been considered one of the most promising biometrics for personal authentication. However, the capacities and percentages of finger tissues (e.g., bone, muscle, ligament, water, fat, etc. vary person by person. This usually causes poor quality of finger vein images, therefore degrading the performance of finger vein recognition systems (FVRSs. In this paper, the intrinsic factors of finger tissue causing poor quality of finger vein images are analyzed, and an intensity variation (IV normalization method using guided filter based single scale retinex (GFSSR is proposed for finger vein image enhancement. The experimental results on two public datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in enhancing the image quality and finger vein recognition accuracy.

Computer simulation of viscous fingering in a lifting Hele-Shaw cell

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

We simulate viscous fingering generated by separating two plates with a constant force, in a lifting Hele-Shaw cell. Variation in the patterns for different fluid viscosity and lifting force is studied. Viscous fingering is strongly affected by anisotropy. We report a computer simulation study of fingering patterns, where circular or ...

Food safety assurance systems: Microbiological testing, sampling plans, and microbiological criteria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zwietering, M.H.; Ross, T.; Gorris, L.G.M.

2014-01-01

Microbiological criteria give information about the quality or safety of foods. A key component of a microbiological criterion is the sampling plan. Considering: (1) the generally low level of pathogens that are deemed tolerable in foods, (2) large batch sizes, and (3) potentially substantial

Virtual Simulations as Preparation for Lab Exercises: Assessing Learning of Key Laboratory Skills in Microbiology and Improvement of Essential Non-Cognitive Skills.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guido Makransky

Full Text Available To investigate if a virtual laboratory simulation (vLAB could be used to replace a face to face tutorial (demonstration to prepare students for a laboratory exercise in microbiology.A total of 189 students who were participating in an undergraduate biology course were randomly selected into a vLAB or demonstration condition. In the vLAB condition students could use a vLAB at home to 'practice' streaking out bacteria on agar plates in a virtual environment. In the demonstration condition students were given a live demonstration from a lab tutor showing them how to streak out bacteria on agar plates. All students were blindly assessed on their ability to perform the streaking technique in the physical lab, and were administered a pre and post-test to determine their knowledge of microbiology, intrinsic motivation to study microbiology, and self-efficacy in the field of microbiology prior to, and after the experiment.The results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups on their lab scores, and both groups had similar increases in knowledge of microbiology, intrinsic motivation to study microbiology, as well as self-efficacy in the field of microbiology.Our data show that vLABs function just as well as face to face tutorials in preparing students for a physical lab activity in microbiology. The results imply that vLABs could be used instead of face to face tutorials, and a combination of virtual and physical lab exercises could be the future of science education.

Finger crease pattern recognition using Legendre moments and principal component analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Rongfang; Lin, Tusheng

2007-03-01

The finger joint lines defined as finger creases and its distribution can identify a person. In this paper, we propose a new finger crease pattern recognition method based on Legendre moments and principal component analysis (PCA). After obtaining the region of interest (ROI) for each finger image in the pre-processing stage, Legendre moments under Radon transform are applied to construct a moment feature matrix from the ROI, which greatly decreases the dimensionality of ROI and can represent principal components of the finger creases quite well. Then, an approach to finger crease pattern recognition is designed based on Karhunen-Loeve (K-L) transform. The method applies PCA to a moment feature matrix rather than the original image matrix to achieve the feature vector. The proposed method has been tested on a database of 824 images from 103 individuals using the nearest neighbor classifier. The accuracy up to 98.584% has been obtained when using 4 samples per class for training. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is feasible and effective in biometrics.

[Onsite microbiology services and outsourcing microbiology and offsite laboratories--advantage and disadvantage, thinking of effective utilization].

Science.gov (United States)

Hosokawa, Naoto

2011-10-01

In recent years, budget restrictions have prompted hospital managers to consider outsourcing microbiology service. But there are many advantages onsite microbiology services. Onsite microbiology services have some advantages. 1) High recovery rate of microorganism. 2) Shorter turn around time. 3) Easy to communicate between physician and laboratory technician. 4) Effective utilization of blood culture. 5) Getting early information about microorganism. 6) Making antibiogram (microbiological local factor). 7) Getting information for infection control. The disadvantages are operating costs and labor cost. The important point of maximal utilization of onsite microbiology service is close communication between physicians to microbiology laboratory. It will be able to provide prompt and efficient report to physicians through discussion about Gram stain findings, agar plate media findings and epidemiological information. The rapid and accurate identification of pathogen affords directed therapy, thereby decreasing the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and shortening the length of hospital stay and unnecessary ancillary procedures. When the physician use outsourcing microbiology services, should discuss with offsite laboratories about provided services. Infection control person has to arrange data of susceptibility about every isolate and monitoring multi-drug resistant organism. Not only onsite microbiology services but also outsourcing microbiology services, to communicate bedside and laboratory is most important point of effective utilization.

Viscous fingering effects in solvent displacement of heavy oil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cuthiell, D. [Suncor Energy, Fort McMurray, AB (Canada); Kissel, G.; Jackson, C.; Frauenfeld, T.W.J.; Fisher, D. [Alberta Research Council, Devon, AB (Canada); Rispler, K. [Saskatchewan Research Council, Saskatoon, SK (Canada)

2004-07-01

Vapour Extraction (VAPEX) is a solvent-based process that is analogous to steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for the recovery of heavy oil. A cyclic solvent process is preferred for thin reservoirs, particularly primary-depleted reservoirs. In a cyclic steam stimulation process, a solvent is injected into the reservoir for a period of time before oil is produced from the well. Viscous fingering is a phenomena that characterizes several solvent-based processes for the recovery of heavy oil. A combined experimental and simulation study was conducted to characterize viscous fingering under heavy oil recovery conditions (high ratio of oil to solvent viscosity). Four experiments were conducted in heavy oil-saturated sand packs. Three involved injection of a miscible, liquid solvent at the bottom of the sand pack. The heavy oil in these experiments was displaced upwardly. The fourth experiment involved top-down injection of a gaseous solvent. The miscible liquid displacement was dominated by one solvent finger which broke through to a producing well at the other end of the sand pack. Breakthrough times were similar to that at lower viscosity. The fourth experiment showed fingering along with features of a gravity-driven VAPEX process. Key features of the experiment and realistic fingering patterns were numerically simulated using a commercial reservoir simulator. It was emphasized that accurate modelling of dispersion is necessary in matching the observed phenomena. The simulations should include the capillary effects because of their significance for gaseous fingering and the VAPEX processes. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 20 figs.

Magnetic resonance imaging and radiographic findings of seal finger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marjelund, S.; Tikkakoski, T.; Isokangas, M.; Raeisaenen, S.

2006-01-01

Purpose: To describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiographic findings of five patients with seal finger. Material and Methods: The MR images and radiographs of five patients with seal finger were retrospectively evaluated. MRI was performed on four patients in the subacute phase, and follow-up imaging was done on one of them at 5 months. One patient had MRI only at a later stage 5 years after onset. Radiographs were taken three times in the subacute phase and once at a later stage. One patient had had seal finger in another finger previously. Results: Short-tau inversion-recovery (STIR) sequence showed extensive subcutaneous soft tissue edema in all four patients in the subacute phase and tenosynovitis of the flexion tendons in two cases. Three patients had edema in 2-3 phalanges, and effusion in the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint was seen in one case. At the later stage, no signal pathology in soft tissues or bones was seen in STIR images. In the subacute phase, radiographs showed digital soft-tissue swelling in three patients, and one patient had a narrowed DIP joint, periarticular osteoporosis, and a periosteal reaction. At the later stage, flexion contracture of the finger was seen. Conclusion: In addition to soft-tissue infection, seal finger causes bone marrow edema, tenosynovitis, and effusion in the interphalangeal joints visible as increased signal intensity in STIR images. Radiographs reveal periarticular osteoporosis with loss of cartilage in the subacute phase and flexion contracture at the later stage. MRI (STIR) allows more precise delineation of the inflammatory process compared to radiography

Magnetic resonance imaging and radiographic findings of seal finger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marjelund, S.; Tikkakoski, T.; Isokangas, M.; Raeisaenen, S. [Oulu Univ. Hospital (Finland). Dept. of Radiology

2006-12-15

Purpose: To describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiographic findings of five patients with seal finger. Material and Methods: The MR images and radiographs of five patients with seal finger were retrospectively evaluated. MRI was performed on four patients in the subacute phase, and follow-up imaging was done on one of them at 5 months. One patient had MRI only at a later stage 5 years after onset. Radiographs were taken three times in the subacute phase and once at a later stage. One patient had had seal finger in another finger previously. Results: Short-tau inversion-recovery (STIR) sequence showed extensive subcutaneous soft tissue edema in all four patients in the subacute phase and tenosynovitis of the flexion tendons in two cases. Three patients had edema in 2-3 phalanges, and effusion in the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint was seen in one case. At the later stage, no signal pathology in soft tissues or bones was seen in STIR images. In the subacute phase, radiographs showed digital soft-tissue swelling in three patients, and one patient had a narrowed DIP joint, periarticular osteoporosis, and a periosteal reaction. At the later stage, flexion contracture of the finger was seen. Conclusion: In addition to soft-tissue infection, seal finger causes bone marrow edema, tenosynovitis, and effusion in the interphalangeal joints visible as increased signal intensity in STIR images. Radiographs reveal periarticular osteoporosis with loss of cartilage in the subacute phase and flexion contracture at the later stage. MRI (STIR) allows more precise delineation of the inflammatory process compared to radiography.

Self-reported wrist and finger symptoms associated with other physical/mental symptoms and use of computers/mobile phones.

Science.gov (United States)

Korpinen, Leena; Pääkkönen, Rauno; Gobba, Fabriziomaria

2018-03-01

Recently, computer, mobile phone and Internet use has increased. This study aimed to determine the possible relation between self-reported wrist and finger symptoms (aches, pain or numbness) and using computers/mobile phones, and to analyze how the symptoms are specifically associated with utilizing desktop computers, portable computers or mini-computers and mobile phones. A questionnaire was sent to 15,000 working-age Finns (age 18-65). Via a questionnaire, 723 persons reported wrist and finger symptoms often or more with use. Over 80% use mobile phones daily and less than 30% use desktop computers or the Internet daily at leisure, e.g., over 89.8% quite often or often experienced pain, numbness or aches in the neck, and 61.3% had aches in the hips and the lower back. Only 33.7% connected their symptoms to computer use. In the future, the development of new devices and Internet services should incorporate the ergonomics of the hands and wrists.

Reconstruction of fingers after electrical injury using lateral tarsal artery flap

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang MH

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Minghua Zhang, Mitao Huang, Pihong Zhang, Pengfei Liang, Licheng Ren, Jizhang Zeng, Jie Zhou, Xiong Liu, Tinghong Xie, Xiaoyuan Huang Department of Burns Reconstruction Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China Objective: Electrical injuries to the fingers account for the majority of total severe burns that occur each year. While several types of flaps have been used in covering finger defects, all have limitations or disadvantages. The purpose of this study was to introduce our clinical experiences of using the lateral tarsal artery (LTA flap to successfully restore fingers after electrical injury.Patients and methods: From 2005 to 2012, 10 patients with 14 severe electrical burns to their fingers, including six thumbs and four index and four middle fingers, were treated with LTA flap. The wound size ranged from 2.0×3.0 cm to 3.5×5.0 cm. The flap with free tendon graft was used to repair the tendon defect in four cases, free nerve graft was used to repair the feeling defect in two cases, and the flap with nerve was used to repair the feeling defect in two cases. All the patients were followed up for 3 months to 2 years.Results: All skin flaps adhered successfully and there were no complications. All patients were satisfied with the esthetic appearance and functional outcome of the finger reconstruction.Conclusion: LTA flap is a reliable method to restore fingers after severe electrical injuries. Keywords: electrical injuries to fingers, lateral tarsal artery flap

A three-fingered, touch-sensitive, metrological micro-robotic assembly tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torralba, Marta; Hastings, D J; Thousand, Jeffery D; Nowakowski, Bartosz K; Smith, Stuart T

2015-01-01

This article describes a metrological, robotic hand to manipulate and measure micrometer size objects. The presented work demonstrates not only assembly operations, but also positioning control and metrology capability. Sample motion is achieved by a commercial positioning stage, which provides XYZ-displacements for assembly of components. A designed and manufactured gripper tool that incorporates 21 degrees-of-freedom for independent alignment of actuators, sensors, and the three fingers of this hand is presented. These fingers can be opened and closed by piezoelectric actuators through levered flexures providing an 80 μm displacement range measured with calibrated opto-interrupter based, knife-edge sensors. The operational ends of the fingers comprise of a quartz tuning fork with a 7 μm diameter 3.2 mm long carbon fiber extending from the end of one tuning fork tine. Finger-tip force-sensing is achieved by the monitoring of individual finger resonances typically at around 32 kHz. Experimental results included are focused on probe performance analysis. Pick and place operation using the three fingers is demonstrated with all fingers being continuously oscillated, a capability not possible with the previous single or two finger tweezer type designs. By monitoring electrical feedback during pick and place operations, changes in the response of the three probes demonstrate the ability to identify both grab and release operations. Component metrology has been assessed by contacting different micro-spheres of diameters 50(±7.5) μm, 135(±20) μm, and 140(±20) μm. These were measured by the micro robot to have diameters of 67, 133, and 126 μm respectively with corresponding deviations of 4.2, 4.9, and 4.3 μm. This deviation in the measured results was primarily due to the manual, joystick-based, contacting of the fingers, difficulties associated with centering the components to the axis of the hand, and lower contact sensitivity for the smallest sphere

Fingering in a channel and tripolar Loewner evolutions

Science.gov (United States)

Durán, Miguel A.; Vasconcelos, Giovani L.

2011-11-01

A class of Laplacian growth models in the channel geometry is studied using the formalism of tripolar Loewner evolutions, in which three points, namely, the channel corners and the point at infinity, are kept fixed. Initially, the problem of fingered growth, where growth takes place only at the tips of slitlike fingers, is revisited and a class of exact solutions of the corresponding Loewner equation is presented for the case of stationary driving functions. A model for interface growth is then formulated in terms of a generalized tripolar Loewner equation and several examples are presented. It is shown that the growing interface evolves into a steadily moving finger and that tip competition arises for nonsymmetric initial configurations with multiple tips.

Extra-articular subcutaneous "inverted king post-truss" ligament reconstruction for severe swan neck deformity (snapping finger).

Science.gov (United States)

de Soras, X; de Mourgues, P; Pradel, P; Urien, J-P; Beaudoin, E

2017-02-01

A swan neck deformity (SND) can be well tolerated for a long time, until the appearance of a disabling "snapping finger". In its most advanced condition, the other hand is needed to initiate finger flexion. We propose a technique of extra-articular, subcutaneous ligament reconstruction with an "inverted king post-truss" configuration use in roofs and to reinforce railway bridges. An artificial ligament (MaxBraid™ polyethylene surgical suture, 5 metric, Biomet) makes a figure of eight between transosseous tunnels in the proximal and middle phalanges, crossing over top of the A3 pulley. We limited our series to severe SND cases with "snapping finger". We excluded isolated SNDs without functional disability. Eleven patients were followed for 3.4 years on average. The cause was an acute injury 8 times (7 balloon accidents), rheumatoid arthritis 2 times and overuse once (saxophone). Only one case was a poor outcome of mallet finger. The 11 patients were reassessed by a telephone survey. Two patients underwent reoperation: one for a ligament rupture, the other one for a knot that became untied. One patient had a suspected late rupture but without recurrence of the disabling snapping finger. The 11 patients considered themselves improved by the intervention. Nine patients did not notice any difference between their operated finger and the contralateral side. Return to manual activity was possible once the skin had healed. The technique is simpler than the spiral oblique retinacular ligament (SORL) reconstruction technique described by Thomson-Littler and also less demanding because it does not involve the distal interphalangeal joint. It requires only a short incision in the volar crease of the proximal interphalangeal joint. No tendon or ligament is sacrificed. Neither postoperative immobilization nor lengthy physical therapy is needed. Complications can be avoided by selecting the appropriate artificial ligament material and careful knot tying. Copyright © 2016 SFCM

Dynamic performance of a C/C composite finger seal in a tilting mode

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hailin ZHAO

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The complex operating state of aeroengines has an impact on the performance of finger seals. However, little work has been focused on the issue and the dynamic performance of finger seals is also rarely studied. Therefore, a distributed mass equivalent model considering working conditions is proposed in this paper for solving the existing problems. The effects of the fiber bundle density and the preparation direction of the fiber bundle of a C/C composite on the dynamic performance of a finger seal are investigated in rotor tilt based on the proposed model. The difference between the C/C composite finger seal performances under the rotor precession and nutation tilt cases is also investigated. The results show that the fiber bundle density and the preparation direction of the fiber bundle have an influence on the dynamic performance of the finger seal as rotor tilt is considered, and the dynamic performance of the finger seal is different in the two kinds of tilting modes. In addition, a novel method for design of finger seals is presented based on the contact pressure between finger boots and the rotor. Finger seals with good leakage rates and low wear can be acquired in this method.

42 CFR 493.909 - Microbiology.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Microbiology. 493.909 Section 493.909 Public Health... Proficiency Testing Programs by Specialty and Subspecialty § 493.909 Microbiology. The subspecialties under the specialty of microbiology for which a program may offer proficiency testing are bacteriology...

Evaluation of electron beam irradiation for disinfection of turmeric fingers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yasumoto, Kyoden; Fujino, Masayuki; Supriyadi (Kyoto Univ., Uji (Japan). Research Inst. for Food Science); Suzuki, Tetsuya; Hayashi, Toru

1991-08-01

Turmeric finger as one of the most popular spices has been widely used for food manufacturing. However, it has also been a major cause of bacterial infestation of food materials especially in curry, ham and sausage manufacturing. In this study decontamination of bacteria in turmeric finger by electron beam irradiation was evaluated by comparing with several other decontamination methods: i.e., boiling, microwave irradiation, treatment by twin screw extruder and gamma-ray irradiation. By estimation of colony counting on nutrient agar plate, turmeric finger without any treatment gave total viable cell at 10{sup 8}/g. Turmeric finger which was irradiated by electron beam at 10 kGy dose dramatically reduced thermotolerant cell population below self restriction level (<1000/g), which has been required by food hygiene law. The same level of sterilization effect was obtained only by gamma-ray irradiation at 10 kGy and 20 kGy. On the other hand, although treatment through twin screw extruder slightly reduced bacterial numbers, neither boiling nor microwave irradiation gave sufficient decontamination effect on turmeric fingers. (author).

Evaluation of electron beam irradiation for disinfection of turmeric fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasumoto, Kyoden; Fujino, Masayuki; Supriyadi; Suzuki, Tetsuya; Hayashi, Toru.

1991-01-01

Turmeric finger as one of the most popular spices has been widely used for food manufacturing. However, it has also been a major cause of bacterial infestation of food materials especially in curry, ham and sausage manufacturing. In this study decontamination of bacteria in turmeric finger by electron beam irradiation was evaluated by comparing with several other decontamination methods: i.e., boiling, microwave irradiation, treatment by twin screw extruder and gamma-ray irradiation. By estimation of colony counting on nutrient agar plate, turmeric finger without any treatment gave total viable cell at 10 8 /g. Turmeric finger which was irradiated by electron beam at 10 kGy dose dramatically reduced thermotolerant cell population below self restriction level (<1000/g), which has been required by food hygiene law. The same level of sterilization effect was obtained only by gamma-ray irradiation at 10 kGy and 20 kGy. On the other hand, although treatment through twin screw extruder slightly reduced bacterial numbers, neither boiling nor microwave irradiation gave sufficient decontamination effect on turmeric fingers. (author)

Patient-specific prosthetic fingers by remote collaboration--a case study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John-John Cabibihan

Full Text Available The concealment of amputation through prosthesis usage can shield an amputee from social stigma and help improve the emotional healing process especially at the early stages of hand or finger loss. However, the traditional techniques in prosthesis fabrication defy this as the patients need numerous visits to the clinics for measurements, fitting and follow-ups. This paper presents a method for constructing a prosthetic finger through online collaboration with the designer. The main input from the amputee comes from the Computer Tomography (CT data in the region of the affected and the non-affected fingers. These data are sent over the internet and the prosthesis is constructed using visualization, computer-aided design and manufacturing tools. The finished product is then shipped to the patient. A case study with a single patient having an amputated ring finger at the proximal interphalangeal joint shows that the proposed method has a potential to address the patient's psychosocial concerns and minimize the exposure of the finger loss to the public.

Evaluation of electron beam irradiation for disinfection of turmeric fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasumoto, K.; Fujino, M.; Supriyadi; Suzuki, T.; Hayashi, T.

1991-01-01

Turmeric finger as one of the most popular spices has been widely used for food manufacturing. However, it has also been a major cause of bacterial infestation of food materials especially in curry, ham and sausage manufacturing. In this study decontamination of bacteria in turmeric finger by electron beam irradiation was evaluated by comparing with several other decontamination methods: i.e., boiling, microwave irradiation, treatment by twin screw extruder and gamma-ray irradiation. By estimation of colony counting on nutrient agar plate, turmeric finger without any treatment gave total viable cell at 10 8 /g. Turmeric finger which was irradiated by electron beam at 10kGy dose dramatically reduced thermotolerant cell population below self restriction level (<1000/g), which has been required by food hygiene law. The same level of sterilization effect was obtained only by gamma-ray irradiation at 10kGy and 20kGy. On the other hand, although treatment through twin screw extruder slightly reduced bacterial numbers, neither boiling nor microwave irradiation gave sufficient decontamination effect on turmeric fingers

Hidradenocarcinoma of the finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Nazerali, Rahim S; Tan, Cynthia; Fung, Maxwell A; Chen, Steven L; Wong, Michael S

2013-04-01

Hidradenocarcinoma is a rare adnexal neoplasm representing the malignant counterpart of hidradenoma derived from eccrine sweat glands. Misdiagnosis of this disease is common due to the wide variety of histological patterns and rarity of this malignancy. We report an 87-year-old man presenting with a rare case of biopsy-proven hidradenocarcinoma of the finger. There is no standard care of treatment of hidradenocarcinoma, especially of those tumors in rare locations such as the fingers, given its rarity, variable tumor behavior and histology. Although limited treatment strategies exist, detailed data including TNM, location, histologic type and grade, and patient age should be gathered for optimal treatment strategy. The literature supports a 3-fold approach to these malignancies involving margin-free resection, sentinel lymph node biopsy to evaluate possible metastasis, and long-term follow-up given high risk of recurrence. Our treatment strategy involved a 4-fold, multidisciplinary approach involving reconstruction to optimize tumor-free remission and hand function.

Food microbiology

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain); Moss, M. O; Adams, M. R

2008-01-01

... is directed primarily at students of Microbiology, Food Science and related subjects up to Master's level and assumes some knowledge of basic microbiology. We have chosen not to burden the text with references to the primary literature in order to preserve what we hope is a reasonable narrative flow. Some suggestions for further reading for each chapter are included in Chapter 12. These are largely review articles and monographs which develop the overview provided and can also give access to...

Evaluation of the finger wrinkling test: A pilot study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Barneveld, S.; van der Palen, Jacobus Adrianus Maria; van Putten, Michel Johannes Antonius Maria

2010-01-01

Purpose: Tilt table testing mainly evaluates the systemic cardiovascular part of the autonomic nervous system, while it is assumed that the finger wrinkling test assesses the peripheral part of the autonomic nervous system. In this study we explored whether the finger wrinkling test could be a

Finger-tapping motion analysis in cervical myelopathy by magnetic-sensor tapping device.

Science.gov (United States)

Miwa, Toshitada; Hosono, Noboru; Mukai, Yoshihiro; Makino, Takahiro; Kandori, Akihiko; Fuji, Takeshi

2013-08-01

Case-control study. The purpose of this study is to determine finger motion of patients with cervical myelopathy during finger-tapping cycles. A major symptom of patients with compressive cervical myelopathy is finger clumsiness. Therefore, understanding finger motion is prerequisite in assessing the severity of myelopathy. The popular grip-and-release test evaluates only the number of motion cycles, which is insufficient to fully describe complex finger motion. Forty-three patients with cervical myelopathy and 41 healthy controls tapped their index fingers against their thumbs as rapidly as possible for 30 seconds and the motion was recorded by a magnetic-sensor coil attached to the nail surface. Output signals were stored in a computer, which automatically calculated tapping frequency, distance moved, ratio of opening/closing velocity and the SD of the tapping interval. The SD of the tapping interval was significantly greater and all other measures were significantly smaller in patients with cervical myelopathy, than in healthy controls. All indices significantly improved after surgical decompression of the cervical spine. Distance moved (Pearson correlation coefficient: r=0.590, Ptapping interval (r=-0.451; P=0.002) were significantly correlated with the Japanese Orthopedic Association score (neurological scale). The quantitative evaluation of finger paralysis was performed by this tapping device. Speed and regularity in repetitive motion of fingers were correlated with the severity of cervical myelopathy.

Sheep milk yogurt from a short food supply chain: study of the microbiological, chemico-physical and organoleptic parameters in relation to shelf-life

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Nicla Marri

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Aim of this work was to analyse some microbiological, chemico-physical and organoleptic parameters of sheep milk yogurt during and after its declared shelf-life. Five samples of a sheep’s milk yogurt of the same lot, collected from a short supply chain ovine dairy farm of the Roman province, were analysed. Declared shelf-life of the product was 30 days. The products were examined at 2, 14, 30, 35 and 40 days from the production date, performing the following microbiological analyses: enumeration of i colony-forming units characteristic of the yogurt, ii Enterobacteriaceae, iii yeasts and/or moulds at 25°C. Microbiological identification was performed by miniature biochemical tests and for the lactic acid bacteria also by PCR. At every test interval, evaluation of organoleptic parameters and pH was also performed. The analysed product maintained an almost constant amount of lactic acid bacteria until the end of the declared shelf-life. Concerning lactic acid bacteria, a 100% concordance of the results observed by using biochemical identification methods and PCR assays was obtained. After 14 days from the production, the presence of yeasts (Candida famata was revealed, while the presence of moulds was detected after 30 days. Ralstonia picketii, an environmental microorganism, was also isolated. The results obtained in this study indicate that yogurt spoilage is mainly due to the growth of specific microorganisms of spoilage, such as yeasts and moulds.

Environmental microbiology

Science.gov (United States)

Briški, Felicita; Vuković Domanovac, Marija

2017-10-01

For most people, microorganisms are out of sight and therefore out of mind but they are large, extremely diverse group of organisms, they are everywhere and are the dominant form of life on planet Earth. Almost every surface is colonized by microorganisms, including our skin; however most of them are harmless to humans. Some microorganisms can live in boiling hot springs, whereas others form microbial communities in frozen sea ice. Among their many roles, microorganisms are necessary for biogeochemical cycling, soil fertility, decomposition of dead plants and animals and biodegradation of many complex organic compounds present in the environment. Environmental microbiology is concerned with the study of microorganisms in the soil, water and air and their application in bioremediation to reduce environmental pollution through the biological degradation of pollutants into non-toxic or less toxic substances. Field of environmental microbiology also covers the topics such as microbially induced biocorrosion, biodeterioration of constructing materials and microbiological quality of outdoor and indoor air.

Models of brachial to finger pulse wave distortion and pressure decrement.

Science.gov (United States)

Gizdulich, P; Prentza, A; Wesseling, K H

1997-03-01

To model the pulse wave distortion and pressure decrement occurring between brachial and finger arteries. Distortion reversion and decrement correction were also our aims. Brachial artery pressure was recorded intra-arterially and finger pressure was recorded non-invasively by the Finapres technique in 53 adult human subjects. Mean pressure was subtracted from each pressure waveform and Fourier analysis applied to the pulsations. A distortion model was estimated for each subject and averaged over the group. The average inverse model was applied to the full finger pressure waveform. The pressure decrement was modelled by multiple regression on finger systolic and diastolic levels. Waveform distortion could be described by a general, frequency dependent model having a resonance at 7.3 Hz. The general inverse model has an anti-resonance at this frequency. It converts finger to brachial pulsations thereby reducing average waveform distortion from 9.7 (s.d. 3.2) mmHg per sample for the finger pulse to 3.7 (1.7) mmHg for the converted pulse. Systolic and diastolic level differences between finger and brachial arterial pressures changed from -4 (15) and -8 (11) to +8 (14) and +8 (12) mmHg, respectively, after inverse modelling, with pulse pressures correct on average. The pressure decrement model reduced both the mean and the standard deviation of systolic and diastolic level differences to 0 (13) and 0 (8) mmHg. Diastolic differences were thus reduced most. Brachial to finger pulse wave distortion due to wave reflection in arteries is almost identical in all subjects and can be modelled by a single resonance. The pressure decrement due to flow in arteries is greatest for high pulse pressures superimposed on low means.

Finger Vein Recognition Using Optimal Partitioning Uniform Rotation Invariant LBP Descriptor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bang Chao Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available As a promising biometric system, finger vein identification has been studied widely and many relevant researches have been proposed. However, it is hard to extract a satisfied finger vein pattern due to the various vein thickness, illumination, low contrast region, and noise existing. And most of the feature extraction algorithms rely on high-quality finger vein database and take a long time for a large dimensional feature vector. In this paper, we proposed two block selection methods which are based on the estimate of the amount of information in each block and the contribution of block location by looking at recognition rate of each block position to reduce feature extraction time and matching time. The specific approach is to find out some local finger vein areas with low-quality and noise, which will be useless for feature description. Local binary pattern (LBP descriptors are proposed to extract the finger vein pattern feature. Two finger vein databases are taken to test our algorithm performance. Experimental results show that proposed block selection algorithms can reduce the feature vector dimensionality in a large extent.

Consolidated clinical microbiology laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Sautter, Robert L; Thomson, Richard B

2015-05-01

The manner in which medical care is reimbursed in the United States has resulted in significant consolidation in the U.S. health care system. One of the consequences of this has been the development of centralized clinical microbiology laboratories that provide services to patients receiving care in multiple off-site, often remote, locations. Microbiology specimens are unique among clinical specimens in that optimal analysis may require the maintenance of viable organisms. Centralized laboratories may be located hours from patient care settings, and transport conditions need to be such that organism viability can be maintained under a variety of transport conditions. Further, since the provision of rapid results has been shown to enhance patient care, effective and timely means for generating and then reporting the results of clinical microbiology analyses must be in place. In addition, today, increasing numbers of patients are found to have infection caused by pathogens that were either very uncommon in the past or even completely unrecognized. As a result, infectious disease specialists, in particular, are more dependent than ever on access to high-quality diagnostic information from clinical microbiology laboratories. In this point-counterpoint discussion, Robert Sautter, who directs a Charlotte, NC, clinical microbiology laboratory that provides services for a 40-hospital system spread over 3 states in the southeastern United States explains how an integrated clinical microbiology laboratory service has been established in a multihospital system. Richard (Tom) Thomson of the NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, IL, discusses some of the problems and pitfalls associated with large-scale laboratory consolidation. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Hybrid Photoacoustic/Ultrasound Tomograph for Real-Time Finger Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Oeri, Milan; Bost, Wolfgang; Sénégond, Nicolas; Tretbar, Steffen; Fournelle, Marc

2017-10-01

We report a target-enclosing, hybrid tomograph with a total of 768 elements based on capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer technology and providing fast, high-resolution 2-D/3-D photoacoustic and ultrasound tomography tailored to finger imaging. A freely programmable ultrasound beamforming platform sampling data at 80 MHz was developed to realize plane wave transmission under multiple angles. A multiplexing unit enables the connection and control of a large number of elements. Fast image reconstruction is provided by GPU processing. The tomograph is composed of four independent and fully automated movable arc-shaped transducers, allowing imaging of all three finger joints. The system benefits from photoacoustics, yielding high optical contrast and enabling visualization of finger vascularization, and ultrasound provides morphologic information on joints and surrounding tissue. A diode-pumped, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and an optical parametric oscillator are used to broaden the spectrum of emitted wavelengths to provide multispectral imaging. Custom-made optical fiber bundles enable illumination of the region of interest in the plane of acoustic detection. Precision in positioning of the probe in motion is ensured by use of a motor-driven guide slide. The current position of the probe is encoded by the stage and used to relate ultrasound and photoacoustic signals to the corresponding region of interest of the suspicious finger joint. The system is characterized in phantoms and a healthy human finger in vivo. The results obtained promise to provide new opportunities in finger diagnostics and establish photoacoustic/ultrasound-tomography in medical routine. Copyright © 2017 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distinct neural control of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the hand during single finger pressing.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupan, Sigrid S G; Stegeman, Dick F; Maas, Huub

2018-06-01

Single finger force tasks lead to unintended activation of the non-instructed fingers, commonly referred to as enslaving. Both neural and mechanical factors have been associated with this absence of finger individuality. This study investigates the amplitude modulation of both intrinsic and extrinsic finger muscles during single finger isometric force tasks. Twelve participants performed single finger flexion presses at 20% of maximum voluntary contraction, while simultaneously the electromyographic activity of several intrinsic and extrinsic muscles associated with all four fingers was recorded using 8 electrode pairs in the hand and two 30-electrode grids on the lower arm. The forces exerted by each of the fingers, in both flexion and extension direction, were recorded with individual force sensors. This study shows distinct activation patterns in intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles. Intrinsic muscles exhibited individuation, where the agonistic and antagonistic muscles associated with the instructed fingers showed the highest activation. This activation in both agonistic and antagonistic muscles appears to facilitate finger stabilisation during the isometric force task. Extrinsic muscles show an activation independent from instructed finger in both agonistic and antagonistic muscles, which appears to be associated with stabilisation of the wrist, with an additional finger-dependent modulation only present in the agonistic extrinsic muscles. These results indicate distinct muscle patterns in intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles during single finger isometric force pressing. We conclude that the finger specific activation of intrinsic muscles is not sufficient to fully counteract enslaving caused by the broad activation of the extrinsic muscles. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

21 CFR 866.2540 - Microbiological incubator.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

...) MEDICAL DEVICES IMMUNOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY DEVICES Microbiology Devices § 866.2540 Microbiological... intended for medical purposes to cultivate microorganisms and aid in the diagnosis of disease. (b...

A hierarchical classification method for finger knuckle print recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Tao; Yang, Gongping; Yang, Lu

2014-12-01

Finger knuckle print has recently been seen as an effective biometric technique. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical classification method for finger knuckle print recognition, which is rooted in traditional score-level fusion methods. In the proposed method, we firstly take Gabor feature as the basic feature for finger knuckle print recognition and then a new decision rule is defined based on the predefined threshold. Finally, the minor feature speeded-up robust feature is conducted for these users, who cannot be recognized by the basic feature. Extensive experiments are performed to evaluate the proposed method, and experimental results show that it can achieve a promising performance.

Optical Myography: Detecting Finger Movements by Looking at the Forearm

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Christian eNissler

2016-04-01

Full Text Available One of the crucial problems found in the scientific community of assistive / rehabilitation robotics nowadays is that of automatically detecting what a disabled subject (for instance, a hand amputee wants to do, exactly when she wants to do it and strictly for the time she wants to do it. This problem, commonly called intent detection, has traditionally been tackled using surface electromyography, a technique which suffers from a number of drawbacks, including the changes in the signal induced by sweat and muscle fatigue. With the advent of realistic, physically plausible augmented- and virtual-reality environments for rehabilitation, this approach does not suffice anymore. In this paper we explore a novel method to solve the problem, that we call Optical Myography (OMG. The idea is to visually inspect the human forearm (or stump to reconstruct what fingers are moving and to what extent. In a psychophysical experiment involving ten intact subjects, we used visual fiducial markers (AprilTags and a standard web-camera to visualize the deformations of the surface of the forearm, which then were mapped to the intended finger motions. As ground truth, a visual stimulus was used, avoiding the need for finger sensors (force/position sensors, datagloves, etc.. Two machine-learning approaches, a linear and a non-linear one, were comparatively tested in settings of increasing realism. The results indicate an average error in the range of 0.05 to 0.22 (root mean square error normalized over the signal range, in line with similar results obtained with more mature techniques such as electromyography. If further successfully tested in the large, this approach could lead to vision-based intent detection of amputees, with the main application of letting such disabled persons dexterously and reliably interact in an augmented- / virtual-reality setup.

Compensating Pose Uncertainties through Appropriate Gripper Finger Cutouts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wolniakowski, Adam; Gams, Andrej; Kiforenko, Lilita

2018-01-01

The gripper finger design is a recurring problem in many robotic grasping platforms used in industry. The task of switching the gripper configuration to accommodate a new batch of objects typically requires engineering expertise and is a lengthy and costly iterative trial-and-error process. One...... in a sample industrial object grasping scenario for a finger that was designed using an automated simulation-based geometry optimization method (Wolniakowski et al., 2013, 2015). We test the developed gripper with a set of grasps subjected to structured perturbation in a simulation environment and in the real......-world setting. We provide a comparison of the data obtained by using both of these approaches. We argue that the strong correspondence observed in results validates the use of dynamic simulation for the gripper finger design and optimization....

Involuntary Neuromuscular Coupling between the Thumb and Finger of Stroke Survivors during Dynamic Movement.

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Jones, Christopher L; Kamper, Derek G

2018-01-01

Finger-thumb coordination is crucial to manual dexterity but remains incompletely understood, particularly following neurological injury such as stroke. While being controlled independently, the index finger and thumb especially must work in concert to perform a variety of tasks requiring lateral or palmar pinch. The impact of stroke on this functionally critical sensorimotor control during dynamic tasks has been largely unexplored. In this study, we explored finger-thumb coupling during close-open pinching motions in stroke survivors with chronic hemiparesis. Two types of perturbations were applied randomly to the index with a novel Cable-Actuated Finger Exoskeleton: a sudden joint acceleration stretching muscle groups of the index finger and a sudden increase in impedance in selected index finger joint(s). Electromyographic signals for specific thumb and index finger muscles, thumb tip trajectory, and index finger joint angles were recorded during each trial. Joint angle perturbations invoked reflex responses in the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), first dorsal interossei (FDI), and extensor digitorum communis muscles of the index finger and heteronymous reflex responses in flexor pollicis brevis of the thumb ( p  index finger joint impedance was suddenly increased, thumb tip movement was substantially increased, from 2 to 10 cm ( p  index finger impacting thumb activity. The degree of coupling modulated with the phase of motion. These findings reveal a potential mechanism for direct intervention to improve poststroke hand mobility and provide insight on prospective neurologically oriented therapies.

Neural network committees for finger joint angle estimation from surface EMG signals

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Reddy Narender P

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In virtual reality (VR systems, the user's finger and hand positions are sensed and used to control the virtual environments. Direct biocontrol of VR environments using surface electromyography (SEMG signals may be more synergistic and unconstraining to the user. The purpose of the present investigation was to develop a technique to predict the finger joint angle from the surface EMG measurements of the extensor muscle using neural network models. Methodology SEMG together with the actual joint angle measurements were obtained while the subject was performing flexion-extension rotation of the index finger at three speeds. Several neural networks were trained to predict the joint angle from the parameters extracted from the SEMG signals. The best networks were selected to form six committees. The neural network committees were evaluated using data from new subjects. Results There was hysteresis in the measured SMEG signals during the flexion-extension cycle. However, neural network committees were able to predict the joint angle with reasonable accuracy. RMS errors ranged from 0.085 ± 0.036 for fast speed finger-extension to 0.147 ± 0.026 for slow speed finger extension, and from 0.098 ± 0.023 for the fast speed finger flexion to 0.163 ± 0.054 for slow speed finger flexion. Conclusion Although hysteresis was observed in the measured SEMG signals, the committees of neural networks were able to predict the finger joint angle from SEMG signals.

78 FR 68907 - Agency Information Collection (Hand and Finger Conditions Disability Benefits Questionnaire...

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2013-11-15

... Finger Conditions Disability Benefits Questionnaire) Under OMB Review AGENCY: Veterans Benefits... Control No. 2900- NEW (Hand and Finger Conditions Disability Benefits Questionnaire)'' in any... Benefits Questionnaire)''. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Hand and Finger Conditions Disability Benefits...

Spoof Detection for Finger-Vein Recognition System Using NIR Camera

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Dat Tien Nguyen

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Finger-vein recognition, a new and advanced biometrics recognition method, is attracting the attention of researchers because of its advantages such as high recognition performance and lesser likelihood of theft and inaccuracies occurring on account of skin condition defects. However, as reported by previous researchers, it is possible to attack a finger-vein recognition system by using presentation attack (fake finger-vein images. As a result, spoof detection, named as presentation attack detection (PAD, is necessary in such recognition systems. Previous attempts to establish PAD methods primarily focused on designing feature extractors by hand (handcrafted feature extractor based on the observations of the researchers about the difference between real (live and presentation attack finger-vein images. Therefore, the detection performance was limited. Recently, the deep learning framework has been successfully applied in computer vision and delivered superior results compared to traditional handcrafted methods on various computer vision applications such as image-based face recognition, gender recognition and image classification. In this paper, we propose a PAD method for near-infrared (NIR camera-based finger-vein recognition system using convolutional neural network (CNN to enhance the detection ability of previous handcrafted methods. Using the CNN method, we can derive a more suitable feature extractor for PAD than the other handcrafted methods using a training procedure. We further process the extracted image features to enhance the presentation attack finger-vein image detection ability of the CNN method using principal component analysis method (PCA for dimensionality reduction of feature space and support vector machine (SVM for classification. Through extensive experimental results, we confirm that our proposed method is adequate for presentation attack finger-vein image detection and it can deliver superior detection results compared

Spoof Detection for Finger-Vein Recognition System Using NIR Camera.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Yoon, Hyo Sik; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-10-01

Finger-vein recognition, a new and advanced biometrics recognition method, is attracting the attention of researchers because of its advantages such as high recognition performance and lesser likelihood of theft and inaccuracies occurring on account of skin condition defects. However, as reported by previous researchers, it is possible to attack a finger-vein recognition system by using presentation attack (fake) finger-vein images. As a result, spoof detection, named as presentation attack detection (PAD), is necessary in such recognition systems. Previous attempts to establish PAD methods primarily focused on designing feature extractors by hand (handcrafted feature extractor) based on the observations of the researchers about the difference between real (live) and presentation attack finger-vein images. Therefore, the detection performance was limited. Recently, the deep learning framework has been successfully applied in computer vision and delivered superior results compared to traditional handcrafted methods on various computer vision applications such as image-based face recognition, gender recognition and image classification. In this paper, we propose a PAD method for near-infrared (NIR) camera-based finger-vein recognition system using convolutional neural network (CNN) to enhance the detection ability of previous handcrafted methods. Using the CNN method, we can derive a more suitable feature extractor for PAD than the other handcrafted methods using a training procedure. We further process the extracted image features to enhance the presentation attack finger-vein image detection ability of the CNN method using principal component analysis method (PCA) for dimensionality reduction of feature space and support vector machine (SVM) for classification. Through extensive experimental results, we confirm that our proposed method is adequate for presentation attack finger-vein image detection and it can deliver superior detection results compared to CNN

Establishing molecular microbiology facilities in developing countries

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Salman S. Ahmed

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Summary: Microbiology laboratories play an important role in epidemiology and infection control programs. Within microbiology laboratories, molecular microbiology techniques have revolutionized the identification and surveillance of infectious diseases. The combination of excellent sensitivity, specificity, low contamination levels and speed has made molecular techniques appealing methods for the diagnosis of many infectious diseases. In a well-equipped microbiology laboratory, the facility designated for molecular techniques remains indiscrete. However, in most developing countries, poor infrastructure and laboratory mismanagement have precipitated hazardous consequences. The establishment of a molecular microbiology facility within a microbiology laboratory remains fragmented. A high-quality laboratory should include both conventional microbiology methods and molecular microbiology techniques for exceptional performance. Furthermore, it should include appropriate laboratory administration, a well-designed facility, laboratory procedure standardization, a waste management system, a code of practice, equipment installation and laboratory personnel training. This manuscript lays out fundamental issues that need to be addressed when establishing a molecular microbiology facility in developing countries. Keywords: Developing country, Molecular technique, Molecular microbiology laboratory

Luciferase-Zinc-Finger System for the Rapid Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria.

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Shi, Chu; Xu, Qing; Ge, Yue; Jiang, Ling; Huang, He

2017-08-09

Rapid and reliable detection of pathogenic bacteria is crucial for food safety control. Here, we present a novel luciferase-zinc finger system for the detection of pathogens that offers rapid and specific profiling. The system, which uses a zinc-finger protein domain to probe zinc finger recognition sites, was designed to bind the amplified conserved regions of 16S rDNA, and the obtained products were detected using a modified luciferase. The luciferase-zinc finger system not only maintained luciferase activity but also allowed the specific detection of different bacterial species, with a sensitivity as low as 10 copies and a linear range from 10 to 10 4 copies per microliter of the specific PCR product. Moreover, the system is robust and rapid, enabling the simultaneous detection of 6 species of bacteria in artificially contaminated samples with excellent accuracy. Thus, we envision that our luciferase-zinc finger system will have far-reaching applications.

Measurements Of Fingers Doses Of Staff Members In Nuclear Medicine Department

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

AL LEHYANI, S.H.; SHOUSHA, H.A.; HASSAN, R.A.

2009-01-01

For some occupationally radiation exposed groups, the hands are more heavily exposed to ionizing radiation than the rest of the body. The Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority runs an extensive personal dosimetry service in Egypt, but finger doses have not been measured to a wide extent. In this study, the finger doses were measured for five different nuclear medicine staff occupational groups for which heavy irradiation of the hands was suspected. Finger doses were measured for nuclear medicine physicians, technologists, nurses and physicists. The nuclear medicine staff working with the radioactive materials wears two TLD dosimeters during the whole period, which lasted from 1 to 4 weeks. The staff performs their work on a regular basis throughout the month, and means annual doses were calculated for these groups. The doses to the fingers for the 99m Tc technologists and nurses of groups (2) and (3) were observed to be 30.24 ± 14.5 μSv/GBq (mean ± SD) and 30.37 ± 17.5 μSv/GBq, respectively. Similarly, the dose to the fingers for the 131 I technologists in group (5) was estimated to be 126.13 ± 38.2μSv/GBq. Finger doses for the physicians could not be calculated per unit of activity because they did not handle the radiopharmaceuticals directly but their doses were reported in millisieverts that accumulated in 1 week. The doses to the fingers of the physicist were 16.3±7.7 μSv/GBq. The maximum average finger dose in this study was found to be 2.8 mSv for the technologists handled therapeutic 131 I (group 5). It could be concluded that the maximum expected annual dose to the extremities appeared to be less than the annual limit (500 mSv/y).

The Promyelocytic Leukemia Zinc Finger Protein: Two Decades of Molecular Oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suliman, Bandar Ali; Xu, Dakang; Williams, Bryan Raymond George

2012-01-01

The promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF) protein, also known as Zbtb16 or Zfp145, was first identified in a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia, where a reciprocal chromosomal translocation t(11;17)(q23;q21) resulted in a fusion with the RARA gene encoding retinoic acid receptor alpha. The wild-type Zbtb16 gene encodes a transcription factor that belongs to the POK (POZ and Krüppel) family of transcriptional repressors. In addition to nine Krüppel-type sequence-specific zinc fingers, which make it a member of the Krüppel-like zinc finger protein family, the PLZF protein contains an N-terminal BTB/POZ domain and RD2 domain. PLZF has been shown to be involved in major developmental and biological processes, such as spermatogenesis, hind limb formation, hematopoiesis, and immune regulation. PLZF is localized mainly in the nucleus where it exerts its transcriptional repression function, and many post-translational modifications affect this ability and also have an impact on its cytoplasmic/nuclear dissociation. PLZF achieves its transcriptional regulation by binding to many secondary molecules to form large multi-protein complexes that bind to the regulatory elements in the promoter region of the target genes. These complexes are also capable of physically interacting with its target proteins. Recently, PLZF has become implicated in carcinogenesis as a tumor suppressor gene, since it regulates the cell cycle and apoptosis in many cell types. This review will examine the major advances in our knowledge of PLZF biological activities that augment its value as a therapeutic target, particularly in cancer and immunological diseases.

Mixing methods, tasting fingers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Anna; Mol, Annemarie; Satalkar, Priya

2011-01-01

This article reports on an ethnographic experiment. Four finger eating experts and three novices sat down for a hot meal and ate with their hands. Drawing on the technique of playing with the familiar and the strange, our aim was not to explain our responses, but to articulate them. As we seek wo...

Evolution across the Curriculum: Microbiology

Science.gov (United States)

Burmeister, Alita R.; Smith, James J.

2016-01-01

An integrated understanding of microbiology and evolutionary biology is essential for students pursuing careers in microbiology and healthcare fields. In this Perspective, we discuss the usefulness of evolutionary concepts and an overall evolutionary framework for students enrolled in microbiology courses. Further, we propose a set of learning goals for students studying microbial evolution concepts. We then describe some barriers to microbial evolution teaching and learning and encourage the continued incorporation of evidence-based teaching practices into microbiology courses at all levels. Next, we review the current status of microbial evolution assessment tools and describe some education resources available for teaching microbial evolution. Successful microbial evolution education will require that evolution be taught across the undergraduate biology curriculum, with a continued focus on applications and applied careers, while aligning with national biology education reform initiatives. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education PMID:27158306

Fluctuation of biological rhythm in finger tapping

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshinaga, H.; Miyazima, S.; Mitake, S.

2000-06-01

By analyzing biological rhythms obtained from finger tapping, we have investigated the differences of two biological rhythms between healthy and handicapped persons caused by Parkinson, brain infraction, car accident and so on. In this study, we have observed the motion of handedness of all subjects and obtained a slope a which characterizes a power-law relation between frequency and amplitude of finger-tapping rhythm. From our results, we have estimated that the slope a=0.06 is a rough criterion in order to distinguish healthy and handicapped persons.

Meta-analysis in microbiology

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N Pabalan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The use of meta-analysis in microbiology may facilitate decision-making that impacts public health policy. Directed at clinicians and researchers in microbiology, this review outlines the steps in performing this statistical technique, addresses its biases and describes its value in this discipline. The survey to estimate extent of the use of meta-analyses in microbiology shows the remarkable growth in the use of this research methodology, from a minimal Asian output to a level comparable with those of Europe and North America in the last 7 years.

Personal recognition using finger knuckle shape oriented features and texture analysis

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K. Usha

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Finger knuckle print is considered as one of the emerging hand biometric traits due to its potentiality toward the identification of individuals. This paper contributes a new method for personal recognition using finger knuckle print based on two approaches namely, geometric and texture analyses. In the first approach, the shape oriented features of the finger knuckle print are extracted by means of angular geometric analysis and then integrated to achieve better precision rate. Whereas, the knuckle texture feature analysis is carried out by means of multi-resolution transform known as Curvelet transform. This Curvelet transform has the ability to approximate curved singularities with minimum number of Curvelet coefficients. Since, finger knuckle patterns mainly consist of lines and curves, Curvelet transform is highly suitable for its representation. Further, the Curvelet transform decomposes the finger knuckle image into Curvelet sub-bands which are termed as ‘Curvelet knuckle’. Finally, principle component analysis is applied on each Curvelet knuckle for extracting its feature vector through the covariance matrix derived from their Curvelet coefficients. Extensive experiments were conducted using PolyU database and IIT finger knuckle database. The experimental results confirm that, our proposed method shows a high recognition rate of 98.72% with lower false acceptance rate of 0.06%.

Arrhythmokinesis is evident during unimanual not bimanual finger tapping in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Trager, Megan H; Velisar, Anca; Koop, Mandy Miller; Shreve, Lauren; Quinn, Emma; Bronte-Stewart, Helen

2015-01-01

Arrhythmokinesis, the variability in repetitive movements, is a fundamental feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesized that unimanual repetitive alternating finger tapping (AFT) would reveal more arrhythmokinesis compared to bimanual single finger alternating hand tapping (SFT), in PD. The variability of inter-strike interval (CVISI) and of amplitude (CVAMP) during AFT and SFT were measured on an engineered, MRI-compatible keyboard in sixteen PD subjects off medication and in twenty-four age-matched controls. The CVISI and CVAMP of the more affected (MA) and less affected (LA) sides in PD subjects were greater during AFT than SFT (P tapping brings out more arrhythmokinesis compared to bimanual, single finger tapping in PDs but not in controls. Arrhythmokinesis during unimanual, alternating finger tapping captured a significant difference between both the MA and LA hands of PD subjects and controls, whereas that during a bimanual, single finger tapping task only distinguished between the MA hand and controls. Arrhythmokinesis underlies freezing of gait and may also underlie the freezing behavior documented in fine motor control if studied using a unimanual alternating finger tapping task.

Compensating Hand Function in Chronic Stroke Patients Through the Robotic Sixth Finger.

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Salvietti, Gionata; Hussain, Irfan; Cioncoloni, David; Taddei, Sabrina; Rossi, Simone; Prattichizzo, Domenico

2017-02-01

A novel solution to compensate hand grasping abilities is proposed for chronic stroke patients. The goal is to provide the patients with a wearable robotic extra-finger that can be worn on the paretic forearm by means of an elastic band. The proposed prototype, the Robotic Sixth Finger, is a modular articulated device that can adapt its structure to the grasped object shape. The extra-finger and the paretic hand act like the two parts of a gripper cooperatively holding an object. We evaluated the feasibility of the approach with four chronic stroke patients performing a qualitative test, the Frenchay Arm Test. In this proof of concept study, the use of the Robotic Sixth Finger has increased the total score of the patients by two points in a five points scale. The subjects were able to perform the two grasping tasks included in the test that were not possible without the robotic extra-finger. Adding a robotic opposing finger is a very promising approach that can significantly improve the functional compensation of the chronic stroke patient during everyday life activities.

Rate effects on timing, key velocity, and finger kinematics in piano performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Bella, Simone Dalla; Palmer, Caroline

2011-01-01

We examined the effect of rate on finger kinematics in goal-directed actions of pianists. In addition, we evaluated whether movement kinematics can be treated as an indicator of personal identity. Pianists' finger movements were recorded with a motion capture system while they performed melodies from memory at different rates. Pianists' peak finger heights above the keys preceding keystrokes increased as tempo increased, and were attained about one tone before keypress. These rate effects were not simply due to a strategy to increase key velocity (associated with tone intensity) of the corresponding keystroke. Greater finger heights may compensate via greater tactile feedback for a speed-accuracy tradeoff that underlies the tendency toward larger temporal variability at faster tempi. This would allow pianists to maintain high temporal accuracy when playing at fast rates. In addition, finger velocity and accelerations as pianists' fingers approached keys were sufficiently unique to allow pianists' identification with a neural-network classifier. Classification success was higher in pianists with more extensive musical training. Pianists' movement "signatures" may reflect unique goal-directed movement kinematic patterns, leading to individualistic sound.

Microbiology and atmospheric processes: chemical interactions of primary biological aerosols

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L. Deguillaume

2008-07-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the influence of primary biological aerosols (PBA on atmospheric chemistry and vice versa through microbiological and chemical properties and processes. Several studies have shown that PBA represent a significant fraction of air particulate matter and hence affect the microstructure and water uptake of aerosol particles. Moreover, airborne micro-organisms, namely fungal spores and bacteria, can transform chemical constituents of the atmosphere by metabolic activity. Recent studies have emphasized the viability of bacteria and metabolic degradation of organic substances in cloud water. On the other hand, the viability and metabolic activity of airborne micro-organisms depend strongly on physical and chemical atmospheric parameters such as temperature, pressure, radiation, pH value and nutrient concentrations. In spite of recent advances, however, our knowledge of the microbiological and chemical interactions of PBA in the atmosphere is rather limited. Further targeted investigations combining laboratory experiments, field measurements, and modelling studies will be required to characterize the chemical feedbacks, microbiological activities at the air/snow/water interface supplied to the atmosphere.

Evaluation of the conservative treatment of Trigger finger by local instillation of corticosteroids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muris Pecar

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Trigger Finger (tenosynovitis stenosans is a specific, named disease from a group of repetitive strain injury (RSI diseases, caused by inflammation which results in difficulties during muscle contraction and weakened and painful tendon movement. It is common in the outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation practice. The aim of our study was to evaluate the success of conservative treatment of Trigger Finger by local instillation of corticosteroids.Methods: The study was designed as an observational and open analysis of the results of conservative treatment of 45 patients. We used precise instillation of steroid anti-inflammatory antirheumatic drugs in the area of patho-anatomic, microtraumatic injuries of tendon and its sheath. Patients were evaluated before and after the treatment with 0 to 5 evaluation score scale. The data were analyzed using X2 test.Results: Most of the patients had evaluation score of 2, 3 and 4, before the treatment. After the treatment 10 (29% patients had achieved score 4 and 35 (71% patients had achieved score 5. All of the patients with score 5 had excellent working ability with full working capacity. Other patients had well-preserved working ability, which improved to excellent in maximum of 7 days.Conclusions: Conservative treatment of Trigger finger shows good therapeutic effects and taking into account the benefits, convenience and generally lower cost of conservative treatment for the patient, should be considered as an effective alternative to surgical treatment.

Finger tapping analysis in patients with Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism.

Science.gov (United States)

Djurić-Jovičić, Milica; Petrović, Igor; Ječmenica-Lukić, Milica; Radovanović, Saša; Dragašević-Mišković, Nataša; Belić, Minja; Miler-Jerković, Vera; Popović, Mirjana B; Kostić, Vladimir S

2016-08-01

The goal of this study was to investigate repetitive finger tapping patterns in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson syndrome (PSP-R), or multiple system atrophy of parkinsonian type (MSA-P). The finger tapping performance was objectively assessed in PD (n=13), PSP-R (n=15), and MSA-P (n=14) patients and matched healthy controls (HC; n=14), using miniature inertial sensors positioned on the thumb and index finger, providing spatio-temporal kinematic parameters. The main finding was the lack or only minimal progressive reduction in amplitude during the finger tapping in PSP-R patients, similar to HC, but significantly different from the sequence effect (progressive decrement) in both PD and MSA-P patients. The mean negative amplitude slope of -0.12°/cycle revealed less progression of amplitude decrement even in comparison to HC (-0.21°/cycle, p=0.032), and particularly from PD (-0.56°/cycle, p=0.001), and MSA-P patients (-1.48°/cycle, p=0.003). No significant differences were found in the average finger separation amplitudes between PD, PSP-R and MSA-P patients (pmsa-pd=0.726, pmsa-psp=0.363, ppsp-pd=0.726). The lack of clinically significant sequence effect during finger tapping differentiated PSP-R from both PD and MSA-P patients, and might be specific for PSP-R. The finger tapping kinematic parameter of amplitude slope may be a neurophysiological marker able to differentiate particular forms of parkinsonism. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Ulusoy, Melda; Sipahi, Rifat

2016-01-01

Braille reading is a complex process involving intricate finger-motion patterns and finger-rubbing actions across Braille letters for the stimulation of appropriate nerves. Although Braille reading is performed by smoothly moving the finger from left-to-right, research shows that even fluent reading requires right-to-left movements of the finger, known as "reversal". Reversals are crucial as they not only enhance stimulation of nerves for correctly reading the letters, but they also show one to re-read the letters that were missed in the first pass. Moreover, it is known that reversals can be performed as often as in every sentence and can start at any location in a sentence. Here, we report experimental results on the feasibility of an algorithm that can render a machine to automatically adapt to reversal gestures of one's finger. Through Braille-reading-analogous tasks, the algorithm is tested with thirty sighted subjects that volunteered in the study. We find that the finger motion adaptive algorithm (FMAA) is useful in achieving cooperation between human finger and the machine. In the presence of FMAA, subjects' performance metrics associated with the tasks have significantly improved as supported by statistical analysis. In light of these encouraging results, preliminary experiments are carried out with five blind subjects with the aim to put the algorithm to test. Results obtained from carefully designed experiments showed that subjects' Braille reading accuracy in the presence of FMAA was more favorable then when FMAA was turned off. Utilization of FMAA in future generation Braille reading devices thus holds strong promise.

Researches on Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Sheep and Cow Milk from Cristian Farm, Romania

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Popa Ionuţ Radu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted over a period of three month in the Cristian farm, Sibiu. For the physical, chemical and microbiological analyzes were taken a number of 15 samples per month. From physico-chemical point of view the content evolution of fat, not fat solid substance, density, protein, freezing point, temperature, lactose, conductivity, pH, water addition was followed. Samples were analyzed using the milk analyzer Ekomilk Total of the Research Centre in Biotechnology and Microbiology of the "Lucian Blaga" University. The microbiological contamination of milk was done by determining the total number of bacteria and coliform bacteria. From microbiological point of view it was observed that these conditions are largely met, but a more rigorous control on the cleanliness of utensils and of the staff is required.

Digital artery perforator (DAP) flaps: modifications for fingertip and finger stump reconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitsunaga, Narushima; Mihara, Makoto; Koshima, Isao; Gonda, Koichi; Takuya, Iida; Kato, Harunosuke; Araki, Jun; Yamamoto, Yushuke; Yuhei, Otaki; Todokoro, Takeshi; Ishikawa, Shoichi; Eri, Uehara; Mundinger, Gerhard S

2010-08-01

Various fingertip reconstructions have been reported for situations where microsurgical finger replantation is impossible. One method is the digital artery perforator (DAP) flap. Herein we report 13 DAP flaps for fingertip and finger stump reconstruction following traumatic finger amputations, highlighting modifications to the originally described DAP flap. From October 1998 to December 2007, a total of 13 fingers (11 patients) underwent fingertip and finger stump reconstruction with modified DAP flaps following traumatic finger amputations. We performed six adipocutaneous flaps, three adipose-only flaps, two supercharged flaps and two extended flaps. Flap size ranged from 1.44 to 8 cm(2) (average 3.25 cm(2)). All flaps survived completely with the exception of partial skin necrosis in two cases. One of these cases required debridement and skin grafting. Our initial three cases used donor-site skin grafting. The donor site was closed primarily in the 10 subsequent cases. No patients showed postoperative hypersensitivity of repaired fingertips. Semmes-Weinstein (SW) test result for flaps including a digital nerve branch did not differ from those without (average 4.07 vs. 3.92). Modified DAP flaps allow for preservation of digital length, volume and finger function. They can be raised as adiposal-only flaps or extended flaps and supercharged through perforator-to-perforator anastomoses. The donor defect on the lateral pulp can be closed primarily or by skin grafting. For traumatic fingertip and finger stump reconstructions, DAP flaps deliver consistent aesthetic and functional results. Copyright 2009 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated Finger Spelling by Highly Realistic 3D Animation

Science.gov (United States)

Adamo-Villani, Nicoletta; Beni, Gerardo

2004-01-01

We present the design of a new 3D animation tool for self-teaching (signing and reading) finger spelling the first basic component in learning any sign language. We have designed a highly realistic hand with natural animation of the finger motions. Smoothness of motion (in real time) is achieved via programmable blending of animation segments. The…

Feasibility of ambulatory, continuous 24-hour finger arterial pressure recording

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Imholz, B. P.; Langewouters, G. J.; van Montfrans, G. A.; Parati, G.; van Goudoever, J.; Wesseling, K. H.; Wieling, W.; Mancia, G.

1993-01-01

We tested Portapres, an innovative portable, battery-operated device for the continuous, noninvasive, 24-hour ambulatory measurement of blood pressure in the finger. Portapres is based on Finapres, a stationary device for the measurement of finger arterial pressure. Systems were added to record

Novel Phl-producing genotypes of finger millet rhizosphere associated pseudomonads and assessment of their functional and genetic diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sekar, Jegan; Prabavathy, Vaiyapuri Ramalingam

2014-07-01

Genetic diversity of phlD gene, an essential gene in the biosynthesis of 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol, was studied by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in 20 Phl-producing pseudomonads isolated from finger millet rhizosphere. RFLP analysis of phlD gene displayed three patterns with HaeIII and TaqI enzymes. phlD gene sequence closely correlated with RFLP results and revealed the existence of three new genotypes G, H and I. Further, the phylogenetic and concatenated sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA, rpoB, gyrB, rpoD genes supported the hypothesis that these genotypes G, H and I were different from reported genotypes A-F. In all phylogenetic studies, the genotype G formed a distant clade from the groups of Pseudomonas putida and P. aeruginosa (sensu strictu), but the groups H and I were closely related to P. aeruginosa/P. stutzeri group. The Phl-producing pseudomonads exhibited antagonistic activity against Pyricularia grisea (TN508), Gaeumannomyces graminis (DSM1463), Fusarium oxysporum (DSM62297), Xanthomonas campestris (DSM3586) and Erwinia persicina (HMGU155). In addition, these strains exhibited various plant growth-promoting traits. In conclusion, this study displays the existence of novel Phl-producing pseudomonads genotypes G, H and I from finger millet rhizosphere, which formed taxonomically outward phylogenetic lineage from the groups of P. putida and P. aeruginosa (sensu strictu). © 2014 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fusarium verticillioides from finger millet in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Saleh, Amgad A; Esele, J P; Logrieco, Antonio; Ritieni, Alberto; Leslie, John F

2012-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a subsistence crop grown in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Sub-continent. Fusarium species occurring on this crop have not been reported. Approximately 13% of the Fusarium isolates recovered from finger millet growing at three different locations in eastern Uganda belong to Fusarium verticillioides, and could produce up to 18,600 µg/g of total fumonisins when cultured under laboratory conditions. These strains are all genetically unique, based on AFLP analyses, and form fertile perithecia when crossed with the standard mating type tester strains for this species. All but one of the strains is female-fertile and mating-type segregates 13:20 Mat-1:Mat-2. Three new sequences of the gene encoding translation elongation factor 1-α were found within the population. These results indicate a potential health risk for infants who consume finger millet gruel as a weaning food, and are consistent with the hypothesis that F. verticillioides originated in Africa and not in the Americas, despite its widespread association with maize grown almost anywhere worldwide.

Microbiology Education in Nursing Practice?

OpenAIRE

Durrant, Robert J.; Doig, Alexa K.; Buxton, Rebecca L.; Fenn, JoAnn P.

2017-01-01

Nurses must have sufficient education and training in microbiology to perform many roles within clinical nursing practice (e.g., administering antibiotics, collecting specimens, preparing specimens for transport and delivery, educating patients and families, communicating results to the healthcare team, and developing care plans based on results of microbiology studies and patient immunological status). It is unclear whether the current microbiology courses required of nursing students in the...

A new technique to determine vertical dimension of occlusion from anthropometric measurements of fingers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruchi Ladda

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find the correlation between vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO and length of fingers. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 dentate subjects comprising of 200 males and 200 females. Anthropometric measurements of VDO, length of index finger, length of little finger, and distance from tip of thumb to tip of index finger of right hand were recorded clinically using modified digital vernier caliper. Correlation between VDO and length of fingers was studied using Spearman′s coefficient. For the execution of regression command and preparation of prediction equations to estimate VDO, Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software Version 11.5 was used. Results: VDO was significantly and positively correlated with all the parameters studied. In males, correlation of VDO was strongest for length of index finger (r-0.406 whereas in females, it was strongest for length of little finger (r-0.385. VDO estimation using regression equation had a standard error of ± 3.76 in males and ± 2.86 in females for length of index finger, ±3.81 and ± 2.74 in males and females respectively for length of little finger, ±3.99 and ± 2.89 in males and females respectively for distance from tip of thumb to tip of index finger. Conclusions: Since the variations between VDO and finger lengths are within the range of 2-4 mm, VDO prediction through this method is reliable, and reproducible. Also the method is simple, economic, and non-invasive; hence, it could be recommended for everyday practice.

EFFECT OF THYME ESSENTIAL OIL ADDITION ON PHYSICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF TABLE EGGS

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Henrieta Arpášová

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Essentialoils areintensivefragrant, oilyliquidsubstances containedindifferent parts of theplant. Their function is based on organoleptic effect and stimulation of organism to the production of digestive juices. Result is ahigherdigestibilityandabsorption of nutirents. Besides antibacterial properties, essential oils or their components have been shown to exhibit antiviral,antimycotic, antitoxigenic, antiparasitic, and insecticidal properties. In this experiment the effects of supplementation of the diet for laying hens with thyme essential oils on physical and microbiological egg parameters were studied.Hens of laying hybrid Hy-Line Brown (n=30 were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=10 and fed for 23 weeks on diets with thyme essential oil supplemented. In the first experimental group the feed mixture was supplemented with thyme essential oil addition in a dose 0.5 g/kg, in the second one some essential oil in a dose 1g/kg. The results suggest that all of qualitative parameters of egg internal content (yolk weight (g, yolk index, percentage portion egg yolk (%, yolk index, yolk colour (°HLR, albumen weight (g, percentage portion of albumen (%, Haugh Units (HU, albumen index were with thyme essential oil addition insignificantly influenced (P>0.05. The number of coliforms, enterococci, fungi and yeasts decreased with increasing dose of oil. The number of lactobacilli was zero in all groups.

Oral Microbiology and Immunology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahlén, Gunnar; Fiehn, Nils-Erik; Olsen, Ingar

, dental assistants and trainees may find it a useful source of reference. The contents are based on general microbiology and immunology. Oral microbiology is given particular attention, with examples relevant to oral infectious diseases. Each chapter opens with a relatively short pre-reading section...

[Comparison of Bacteria ERIC-PCR Fingerprints of Index Fingers and Contactants].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Y T; Sun, D M; Shi, S P; Yang, X

2018-02-01

To explore the bacteria relevance between index fingers and contactant' surfaces （mobile phone touch screen and desktop of personal office table）. Bacteria were collected from the index fingers, mobile phone touch screen and desktop of personal office table of 10 volunteers. Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus （ERIC）-PCR fingerprint was established by PCR amplification technique of metagenome. There were 7 volunteers' ERIC-PCR fingerprints of index fingers matched that took from the mobile phone touch screens, and different from each other. There were 3 volunteers' ERIC-PCR fingerprints of index fingers matched that took from desk top of personal office table, and other 7 volunteers' ERIC-PCR fingerprints did not match perfectly with that took from desk top of personal office table, but had at least one similar band for both. The bacteria on index finger shows individual specificity, which on mobile phone touching screen and personal desktop may be a new biological sample of forensic identification. Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the finger masquerading as an abscess. Case report.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Sullivan, S T

2012-02-03

A 43-year-old man presented with an abscess on his left ring finger, which recurred despite multiple drainage procedures. Histological examination of the lesion was unhelpful; it was only on histopathological examination of the finger after ray amputation that the diagnosis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma was established. This case illustrates the need to consider malignancy when dealing with chronic finger infections.

[The modern microbiology in the clinical managing].

Science.gov (United States)

Casal Román, Manuel

2012-01-01

The tuberculosis is one of the most important and mortal diseases of the world. The microbiological confirmatory diagnosis and the microbiological therapeutic orientation are fundamental nowadays in the tuberculosis in AIDS and in the Resistant tuberculosis. They are described throughout the time by the classic Microbiology: From 1882 to final 20th century (130 years). With the modern current Microbiology: In the beginning of the 21st century (20-30 years). And as will be done with the future Microbiology: From the years 2020-30. The important advances are outlined in the modern and future clinical microbiology, for the control of the Tuberculosis.

Finger vein identification using fuzzy-based k-nearest centroid neighbor classifier

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Jaafar, Haryati; Ramli, Dzati Athiar

2015-02-01

In this paper, a new approach for personal identification using finger vein image is presented. Finger vein is an emerging type of biometrics that attracts attention of researchers in biometrics area. As compared to other biometric traits such as face, fingerprint and iris, finger vein is more secured and hard to counterfeit since the features are inside the human body. So far, most of the researchers focus on how to extract robust features from the captured vein images. Not much research was conducted on the classification of the extracted features. In this paper, a new classifier called fuzzy-based k-nearest centroid neighbor (FkNCN) is applied to classify the finger vein image. The proposed FkNCN employs a surrounding rule to obtain the k-nearest centroid neighbors based on the spatial distributions of the training images and their distance to the test image. Then, the fuzzy membership function is utilized to assign the test image to the class which is frequently represented by the k-nearest centroid neighbors. Experimental evaluation using our own database which was collected from 492 fingers shows that the proposed FkNCN has better performance than the k-nearest neighbor, k-nearest-centroid neighbor and fuzzy-based-k-nearest neighbor classifiers. This shows that the proposed classifier is able to identify the finger vein image effectively.

Population Structure and Diversity in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana) Germplasm.

Science.gov (United States)

A genotypic analysis of 79 finger millet accessions (E. coracana subsp. coracana) from 11 African and 5 Asian countries, plus 14 wild E. coracana subsp. africana lines collected in Uganda and Kenya was conducted with 45 SSR markers distributed across the finger millet genome. Phylogenetic and popula...

Rate effects on timing, key velocity, and finger kinematics in piano performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Dalla Bella

Full Text Available We examined the effect of rate on finger kinematics in goal-directed actions of pianists. In addition, we evaluated whether movement kinematics can be treated as an indicator of personal identity. Pianists' finger movements were recorded with a motion capture system while they performed melodies from memory at different rates. Pianists' peak finger heights above the keys preceding keystrokes increased as tempo increased, and were attained about one tone before keypress. These rate effects were not simply due to a strategy to increase key velocity (associated with tone intensity of the corresponding keystroke. Greater finger heights may compensate via greater tactile feedback for a speed-accuracy tradeoff that underlies the tendency toward larger temporal variability at faster tempi. This would allow pianists to maintain high temporal accuracy when playing at fast rates. In addition, finger velocity and accelerations as pianists' fingers approached keys were sufficiently unique to allow pianists' identification with a neural-network classifier. Classification success was higher in pianists with more extensive musical training. Pianists' movement "signatures" may reflect unique goal-directed movement kinematic patterns, leading to individualistic sound.

Variations in the nerves of the thumb and index finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, W A; Coupland, R E

1975-11-01

The digital nerves to the thumb and index finger have been studied by dissecting twenty-five embalmed upper limbs. The palmar digital nerves to the thumb were constant in position and course, with a short lateral cutaneous branch from the radial palmar digital nerve in 30 per cent of cases. The palmar digital nerves to the index finger had a variable pattern, the commonest arrangement, well described in Gray's Anatomy, occurring in 74 per cent of cases. The variations and their frequency are described. By examining histological cross-sections of the index finger it was found that of about 5,000 endoneurial tubes entering the finger, 60 per cent passed beyond the distal digital crease to supply the pulp and nail bed. The depth of the palmar digital nerves was about 3 millimetres, but less at the digital creases, and their diameter lay between 1 and 1.5 millimetres as far as the distal digital crease. Clinical applications of the findings are discussed.

Microbiological Food Safety Surveillance in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoyan Pei

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Microbiological food safety surveillance is a system that collects data regarding food contamination by foodborne pathogens, parasites, viruses, and other harmful microbiological factors. It helps to understand the spectrum of food safety, timely detect food safety hazards, and provide relevant data for food safety supervision, risk assessment, and standards-setting. The study discusses the microbiological surveillance of food safety in China, and introduces the policies and history of the national microbiological surveillance system. In addition, the function and duties of different organizations and institutions are provided in this work, as well as the generation and content of the surveillance plan, quality control, database, and achievement of the microbiological surveillance of food safety in China.

Systematic classification of the His-Me finger superfamily.

Science.gov (United States)

Jablonska, Jagoda; Matelska, Dorota; Steczkiewicz, Kamil; Ginalski, Krzysztof

2017-11-16

The His-Me finger endonucleases, also known as HNH or ββα-metal endonucleases, form a large and diverse protein superfamily. The His-Me finger domain can be found in proteins that play an essential role in cells, including genome maintenance, intron homing, host defense and target offense. Its overall structural compactness and non-specificity make it a perfectly-tailored pathogenic module that participates on both sides of inter- and intra-organismal competition. An extremely low sequence similarity across the superfamily makes it difficult to identify and classify new His-Me fingers. Using state-of-the-art distant homology detection methods, we provide an updated and systematic classification of His-Me finger proteins. In this work, we identified over 100 000 proteins and clustered them into 38 groups, of which three groups are new and cannot be found in any existing public domain database of protein families. Based on an analysis of sequences, structures, domain architectures, and genomic contexts, we provide a careful functional annotation of the poorly characterized members of this superfamily. Our results may inspire further experimental investigations that should address the predicted activity and clarify the potential substrates, to provide more detailed insights into the fundamental biological roles of these proteins. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Task-specific kinetic finger tremor affects the performance of carrom players.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahathuduwa, Chanaka N; Weerasinghe, Vajira S; Dassanayake, Tharaka L; Priyadarshana, Rajeewa; Dissanayake, Arunika L; Perera, Christine

2016-01-01

We aimed to determine the effect of task-specific kinetic finger tremor, as indexed by surface electromyography (EMG), on the accuracy of a carrom stroke. Surface EMG of extensor digitorum communis muscle of the playing arm was recorded during rest, isometric contraction and stroke execution in 17 male carrom players with clinically observed finger tremor and 18 skill- and age-matched controls. Log-transformed power spectral densities (LogPSDs) of surface EMG activity (signifying tremor severity) at a 1-s pre-execution period correlated with angular error of the stroke. LogPSDs in 4-10 Hz range were higher in players with tremor than controls during pre-execution (P kinetic finger tremor in carrom players. This finger tremor during the immediate pre-execution phase appears to be a significant determinant of stroke accuracy.

Tool-specific performance of vibration-reducing gloves for attenuating fingers-transmitted vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Welcome, Daniel E.; Dong, Ren G.; Xu, Xueyan S.; Warren, Christopher; McDowell, Thomas W.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Fingers-transmitted vibration can cause vibration-induced white finger. The effectiveness of vibration-reducing (VR) gloves for reducing hand transmitted vibration to the fingers has not been sufficiently examined. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to examine tool-specific performance of VR gloves for reducing finger-transmitted vibrations in three orthogonal directions (3D) from powered hand tools. METHODS A transfer function method was used to estimate the tool-specific effectiveness of four typical VR gloves. The transfer functions of the VR glove fingers in three directions were either measured in this study or during a previous study using a 3D laser vibrometer. More than seventy vibration spectra of various tools or machines were used in the estimations. RESULTS When assessed based on frequency-weighted acceleration, the gloves provided little vibration reduction. In some cases, the gloves amplified the vibration by more than 10%, especially the neoprene glove. However, the neoprene glove did the best when the assessment was based on unweighted acceleration. The neoprene glove was able to reduce the vibration by 10% or more of the unweighted vibration for 27 out of the 79 tools. If the dominant vibration of a tool handle or workpiece was in the shear direction relative to the fingers, as observed in the operation of needle scalers, hammer chisels, and bucking bars, the gloves did not reduce the vibration but increased it. CONCLUSIONS This study confirmed that the effectiveness for reducing vibration varied with the gloves and the vibration reduction of each glove depended on tool, vibration direction to the fingers, and finger location. VR gloves, including certified anti-vibration gloves do not provide much vibration reduction when judged based on frequency-weighted acceleration. However, some of the VR gloves can provide more than 10% reduction of the unweighted vibration for some tools or workpieces. Tools and gloves can be matched for

42 CFR 493.821 - Condition: Microbiology.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Condition: Microbiology. 493.821 Section 493.821 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES... These Tests § 493.821 Condition: Microbiology. The specialty of microbiology includes, for purposes of...

Spectrometric microbiological analyzer

Science.gov (United States)

Schlager, Kenneth J.; Meissner, Ken E.

1996-04-01

Currently, there are four general approaches to microbiological analysis, i.e., the detection, identification and quantification of micro-organisms: (1) Traditional culturing and staining procedures, metabolic fermentations and visual morphological characteristics; (2) Immunological approaches employing microbe-specific antibodies; (3) Biotechnical techniques employing DNA probes and related genetic engineering methods; and (4) Physical measurement techniques based on the biophysical properties of micro-organisms. This paper describes an instrumentation development in the fourth of the above categories, physical measurement, that uses a combination of fluorometric and light scatter spectra to detect and identify micro-organisms at the species level. A major advantage of this approach is the rapid turnaround possible in medical diagnostic or water testing applications. Fluorometric spectra serve to define the biochemical characteristics of the microbe, and light scatter spectra the size and shape morphology. Together, the two spectra define a 'fingerprint' for each species of microbe for detection, identification and quantification purposes. A prototype instrument has been developed and tested under NASA sponsorship based on fluorometric spectra alone. This instrument demonstrated identification and quantification capabilities at the species level. The paper reports on test results using this instrument, and the benefits of employing a combination of fluorometric and light scatter spectra.

Fingers' vibration transmission and grip strength preservation performance of vibration reducing gloves.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamouda, K; Rakheja, S; Dewangan, K N; Marcotte, P

2018-01-01

The vibration isolation performances of vibration reducing (VR) gloves are invariably assessed in terms of power tools' handle vibration transmission to the palm of the hand using the method described in ISO 10819 (2013), while the nature of vibration transmitted to the fingers is ignored. Moreover, the VR gloves with relatively low stiffness viscoelastic materials affect the grip strength in an adverse manner. This study is aimed at performance assessments of 12 different VR gloves on the basis of handle vibration transmission to the palm and the fingers of the gloved hand, together with reduction in the grip strength. The gloves included 3 different air bladder, 3 gel, 3 hybrid, and 2 gel-foam gloves in addition to a leather glove. Two Velcro finger adapters, each instrumented with a three-axis accelerometer, were used to measure vibration responses of the index and middle fingers near the mid-phalanges. Vibration transmitted to the palm was measured using the standardized palm adapter. The vibration transmissibility responses of the VR gloves were measured in the laboratory using the instrumented cylindrical handle, also described in the standard, mounted on a vibration exciter. A total of 12 healthy male subjects participated in the study. The instrumented handle was also used to measure grip strength of the subjects with and without the VR gloves. The results of the study showed that the VR gloves, with only a few exceptions, attenuate handle vibration transmitted to the fingers only in the 10-200 Hz and amplify middle finger vibration at frequencies exceeding 200 Hz. Many of the gloves, however, provided considerable reduction in vibration transmitted to the palm, especially at higher frequencies. These suggest that the characteristics of vibration transmitted to fingers differ considerably from those at the palm. Four of the test gloves satisfied the screening criteria of the ISO 10819 (2013) based on the palm vibration alone, even though these caused

[Necrosis in fingers and toes following local anaesthesia with adrenaline--an urban legend?].

Science.gov (United States)

Finsen, Vilhjalmur

2013-09-17

It is often maintained that a local anaesthetic (usually lidocaine) with adrenaline must not be used in fingers and toes because it may cause necrosis due to vascular spasm in end arteries. This review article is an attempt to find evidence to support this warning. Relevant literature was found by means of searches in PubMed limited downwards to 1946 and in EMBASE from 1980 to 2012, and in reference lists. Five review articles on finger necrosis following local anaesthesia concluded that lidocaine with adrenaline does not entail a risk of ischaemic injury. One article found 48 reported cases of finger necrosis in the period 1880 to 2000. Most were from the first half of the 1900s, and none involved lidocaine. Gangrene of part of the finger tip has subsequently been described in one patient with Raynaud's syndrome. No cases of necrosis have been described in a large number of reported accidents in which EpiPen injections contained the same quantity of adrenaline as is found in 60 ml lidocaine with adrenaline. Over a quarter of a million reports have been made of operations on feet, hands, fingers and toes anaesthetised with lidocaine with adrenaline without resulting necrosis. There are no grounds for the warning against using lidocaine with adrenaline in fingers and toes. This anaesthetic offers considerable practical advantages. Care should be taken with infected fingers or fingers with poor circulation.

The relation between the anthropometric characteristics of fingers and cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Mardanshahi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Anthropometry is a science of human body measurement that could be used for manufacturing artificial limbs or prosthesis, investigating body differences between populations, utilizing in forensics and criminology, or even in the diagnosis of some diseases. Two of the most important anthropometric characteristics are dermatoglyphic patterns and finger length. Many studies have evaluated the relation between these two characteristics in different diseases such as cancers. It assumed that dermatoglyphic patterns and finger length could be used as predictors of some cancers such as gastric, ovarian, prostate, testicular, and breast cancers. In this review, we evaluated the relation between dermatoglyphic variability and finger length in different cancers more precisely.

Finger vein recognition based on convolutional neural network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng Gesi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Biometric Authentication Technology has been widely used in this information age. As one of the most important technology of authentication, finger vein recognition attracts our attention because of its high security, reliable accuracy and excellent performance. However, the current finger vein recognition system is difficult to be applied widely because its complicated image pre-processing and not representative feature vectors. To solve this problem, a finger vein recognition method based on the convolution neural network (CNN is proposed in the paper. The image samples are directly input into the CNN model to extract its feature vector so that we can make authentication by comparing the Euclidean distance between these vectors. Finally, the Deep Learning Framework Caffe is adopted to verify this method. The result shows that there are great improvements in both speed and accuracy rate compared to the previous research. And the model has nice robustness in illumination and rotation.

Decontamination in the Electron Probe Microanalysis with a Peltier-Cooled Cold Finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Buse, Ben; Kearns, Stuart; Clapham, Charles; Hawley, Donovan

2016-10-01

A prototype Peltier thermoelectric cooling unit has been constructed to cool a cold finger on an electron microprobe. The Peltier unit was tested at 15 and 96 W, achieving cold finger temperatures of -10 and -27°C, respectively. The Peltier unit did not adversely affect the analytical stability of the instrument. Heat conduction between the Peltier unit mounted outside the vacuum and the cold finger was found to be very efficient. Under Peltier cooling, the vacuum improvement associated with water vapor deposition was not achieved; this has the advantage of avoiding severe degradation of the vacuum observed when warming up a cold finger from liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperatures. Carbon contamination rates were reduced as cooling commenced; by -27°C contamination rates were found to be comparable with LN2-cooled devices. Peltier cooling, therefore, provides a viable alternative to LN2-cooled cold fingers, with few of their associated disadvantages.

The Case Report of Trigger Finger Improved with Hominis Placenta Pharmacopuncture Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeong-Won Kim

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives : The Purpose of this study is to investigate and report the effectiveness of Hominis Placenta using Pharmacopuncture treatment for trigger finger. Methods : 3 Patients are admitted at Dept. of Oriental Rehabilitation, Bu-Chun Jaseng Oriental Medicine Hospital, diagnosed as Trigger finger and treated with Hominis Placenta Pharmacopuncture. Each cases are measured and assessed by Quinnell's classification of triggering and VAS (Visual Analogue Scale scores. Results : 3 Patients of trigger finger have a different kind of cause and fingers lesion they have, but nodules are not significantly found up, so we could classify all of 3 patients to diffuse type. After treatment of Hominis placenta Pharmacopuncture, spontaneous pain and tenderness, grades of triggering are decreased significantly. We would expect that Hominis placenta Pharmacopuncture has a effect on degenerative diseases of diffuse type's tendon sheath. Conclusions : Trigger finger is generally divided into two stages, inflammatory and degenerative stage, and when degenerative stage, Hominis placenta pharmacopuncture appears to be effective.

Reorganization of finger coordination patterns through motor exploration in individuals after stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranganathan, Rajiv

2017-09-11

Impairment of hand and finger function after stroke is common and affects the ability to perform activities of daily living. Even though many of these coordination deficits such as finger individuation have been well characterized, it is critical to understand how stroke survivors learn to explore and reorganize their finger coordination patterns for optimizing rehabilitation. In this study, I examine the use of a body-machine interface to assess how participants explore their movement repertoire, and how this changes with continued practice. Ten participants with chronic stroke wore a data glove and the finger joint angles were mapped on to the position of a cursor on a screen. The task of the participants was to move the cursor back and forth between two specified targets on a screen. Critically, the map between the finger movements and cursor motion was altered so that participants sometimes had to generate coordination patterns that required finger individuation. There were two phases to the experiment - an initial assessment phase on day 1, followed by a learning phase (days 2-5) where participants trained to reorganize their coordination patterns. Participants showed difficulty in performing tasks which had maps that required finger individuation, and the degree to which they explored their movement repertoire was directly related to clinical tests of hand function. However, over four sessions of practice, participants were able to learn to reorganize their finger movement coordination pattern and improve their performance. Moreover, training also resulted in improvements in movement repertoire outside of the context of the specific task during free exploration. Stroke survivors show deficits in movement repertoire in their paretic hand, but facilitating movement exploration during training can increase the movement repertoire. This suggests that exploration may be an important element of rehabilitation to regain optimal function.

Trigger finger presenting secondary to leiomyoma: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harb Ziad

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction We present a previously undescribed entity: trigger finger secondary to a leiomyoma. This is the first time such a case has been reported and highlights the fact that common conditions can sometimes present secondary to rare diseases. Case presentation A 39-year-old Caucasian man presented with a fairly typical presentation of trigger finger. During surgical treatment, the lesion was excised and sent for histology, which showed tissue consistent with a leiomyoma. The patient made an uneventful recovery. Conclusion Trigger finger is a common condition that is usually easily diagnosed and managed. However, it is important to appreciate that uncommon conditions, such as leiomyoma, can present with what is sometimes considered trivial disease, and one should always consider the differential diagnoses even when faced with relatively benign conditions.

Identification of the ``a'' Genome of Finger Millet Using Chloroplast DNA

Science.gov (United States)

Hilu, K. W.

1988-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine corocana subsp. coracana), an important cereal in East Africa and India, is a tetraploid species with unknown genomic components. A recent cytogenetic study confirmed the direct origin of this millet from the tetraploid E. coracana subsp. africana but questioned Eleusine indica as a genomic donor. Chloroplast (ct) DNA sequence analysis using restriction fragment pattern was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships between E. coracana subsp. coracana (domesticated finger millet), E. coracana subspecies africana (wild finger millet), and E. indica. Eleusine tristachya was included since it is the only other annual diploid species in the genus with a basic chromosome number of x = 9 like finger millet. Eight of the ten restriction endonucleases used had 16 to over 30 restriction sites per genome and were informative. E. coracana subsp. coracana and subsp. africana and E. indica were identical in all the restriction sites surveyed, while the ct genome of E. tristachya differed consistently by at least one mutational event for each restriction enzyme surveyed. This random survey of the ct genomes of these species points out E. indica as one of the genome donors (maternal genome donor) of domesticated finger millet contrary to a previous cytogenetic study. The data also substantiate E. coracana subsp. africana as the progenitor of domesticated finger millet. The disparity between the cytogenetic and the molecular approaches is discussed in light of the problems associated with chromosome pairing and polyploidy. PMID:8608927

Identification of the "A" genome of finger millet using chloroplast DNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilu, K W

1988-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine corocana subsp. coracana), an important cereal in East Africa and India, is a tetraploid species with unknown genomic components. A recent cytogenetic study confirmed the direct origin of this millet from the tetraploid E. coracana subsp. africana but questioned Eleusine indica as a genomic donor. Chloroplast (ct) DNA sequence analysis using restriction fragment pattern was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships between E. coracana subsp. coracana (domesticated finger millet), E. coracana subspecies africana (wild finger millet), and E. indica. Eleusine tristachya was included since it is the only other annual diploid species in the genus with a basic chromosome number of x = 9 like finger millet. Eight of the ten restriction endonucleases used had 16 to over 30 restriction sites per genome and were informative. E. coracana subsp. coracana and subsp. africana and E. indica were identical in all the restriction sites surveyed, while the ct genome of E, tristachya differed consistently by at least one mutational event for each restriction enzyme surveyed. This random survey of the ct genomes of these species points out E. indica as one of the genome donors (maternal genome donor) of domesticated finger millet contrary to a previous cytogenetic study. The data also substantiate E. coracana subsp. africana as the progenitor of domesticated finger millet. The disparity between the cytogenetic and the molecular approaches is discussed in light of the problems associated with chromosome pairing and polyploidy.

CUTANEOUS MYXOID CYST ON THE SCLEROTIC FINGER IN A PATIENT WITH DIFFUSE SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taeko Nakamura-Wakatsuki

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Skin tumors occurring on the scleroderma fingers are rarely seen. Swollen fingers are hallmarks of systemic sclerosis, and mucin deposition in the lesional skin is a constant feature in systemic sclerosis. Here we describe a case of cutaneous myxoid cyst on the flexor aspect of the sclerotic fingers in a patient with severe diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. Cutaneous myxoid cyst is a relatively common benign tumor; however, cases of cutaneous myxoid cysts developing on the scleroderma fingers have not been reported to date. Mucin deposition in the sclerotic skin may be a predisposing factor in the induction of myxoid cyst on the scleroderma finger in our patient.

OpenStax: Microbiology Provides a Cost-Effective and Accessible Resource for Undergraduate Microbiology Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda Lyn Gunn

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This is a review of Openstax: Microbiology, a textbook that has been put together by a collaborative effort between Openstax College and the American Society for Microbiology.  The text will be offered in a variety of formats including web-based, PDF, and hardcopy, and is set for publication Spring 2016. Review of: OpenStax: Microbiology. Nina Parker, Mark Schneegurt, and Anh-Hue Tu; (2016. OpenStax and ASM. 1100 pages. (Note: At time of journal printing, this book was not yet published. Certain publication details may change slightly.

Brain activity during bilateral rapid alternate finger tapping measured with magnetoencephalography

Science.gov (United States)

Fukuda, Hiroshi; Odagaki, Masato; Hiwaki, Osamu; Kodabashi, Atsushi; Fujimoto, Toshiro

2009-04-01

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), brain regions involved in an alternate bimanual tapping task by index fingers triggered with spontaneous timing were investigated. The tapping mode in which both index fingers moved simultaneously was interlaced during the task. The groups of the alternate tapping (AL mode) and the simultaneous tapping (SI mode) were extracted from the successive alternating taps with a histogram of intervals between the right and left index fingers. MEG signals in each mode were averaged separately before and after the tapping initiation of the dominant index finger. The activities of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex before and after the tapping initiation in the AL mode were larger than that in the SI mode. The result indicates that the activity of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex depends on the degree of achievement in the difficult motor task such as the voluntary alternate tapping movements.

Palm to Finger Ulnar Sensory Nerve Conduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidowich, Eduardo; Nascimento, Osvaldo J M; Orsini, Marco; Pupe, Camila; Pessoa, Bruno; Bittar, Caroline; Pires, Karina Lebeis; Bruno, Carlos; Coutinho, Bruno Mattos; de Souza, Olivia Gameiro; Ribeiro, Pedro; Velasques, Bruna; Bittencourt, Juliana; Teixeira, Silmar; Bastos, Victor Hugo

2015-12-29

Ulnar neuropathy at the wrist (UNW) is rare, and always challenging to localize. To increase the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of UNW many authors advocate the stimulation of the ulnar nerve (UN) in the segment of the wrist and palm. The focus of this paper is to present a modified and simplified technique of sensory nerve conduction (SNC) of the UN in the wrist and palm segments and demonstrate the validity of this technique in the study of five cases of type III UNW. The SNC of UN was performed antidromically with fifth finger ring recording electrodes. The UN was stimulated 14 cm proximal to the active electrode (the standard way) and 7 cm proximal to the active electrode. The normal data from amplitude and conduction velocity (CV) ratios between the palm to finger and wrist to finger segments were obtained. Normal amplitude ratio was 1.4 to 0.76. Normal CV ratio was 0.8 to 1.23.We found evidences of abnormal SNAP amplitude ratio or substantial slowing of UN sensory fibers across the wrist in 5 of the 5 patients with electrophysiological-definite type III UNW.

Palm to finger ulnar sensory nerve conduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Davidowich

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Ulnar neuropathy at the wrist (UNW is rare, and always challenging to localize. To increase the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of UNW many authors advocate the stimulation of the ulnar nerve (UN in the segment of the wrist and palm. The focus of this paper is to present a modified and simplified technique of sensory nerve conduction (SNC of the UN in the wrist and palm segments and demonstrate the validity of this technique in the study of five cases of type III UNW. The SNC of UN was performed antidromically with fifth finger ring recording electrodes. The UN was stimulated 14 cm proximal to the active electrode (the standard way and 7 cm proximal to the active electrode. The normal data from amplitude and conduction velocity (CV ratios between the palm to finger and wrist to finger segments were obtained. Normal amplitude ratio was 1.4 to 0.76. Normal CV ratio was 0.8 to 1.23.We found evidences of abnormal SNAP amplitude ratio or substantial slowing of UN sensory fibers across the wrist in 5 of the 5 patients with electrophysiological-definite type III UNW.

Veterinary microbiology and microbial disease

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Quinn, P. J

2011-01-01

"Veterinary Microbiology is one of the core subjects for veterinary students. Fully revised and expanded, this new edition covers every aspect of veterinary microbiology for students in both paraclinical and clinical years...

Selective recruitment of single motor units in human flexor digitorum superficialis muscle during flexion of individual fingers.

Science.gov (United States)

Butler, T J; Kilbreath, S L; Gorman, R B; Gandevia, S C

2005-08-15

Flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) is an extrinsic multi-tendoned muscle which flexes the proximal interphalangeal joints of the four fingers. It comprises four digital components, each with a tendon that inserts onto its corresponding finger. To determine the degree to which these digital components can be selectively recruited by volition, we recorded the activity of a single motor unit in one component via an intramuscular electrode while the subject isometrically flexed each of the remaining fingers, one at a time. The finger on which the unit principally acted was defined as the 'test finger' and that which flexed isometrically was the 'active' finger. Activity in 79 units was recorded. Isometric finger flexion forces of 50% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) activated less than 50% of single units in components of FDS acting on fingers that were not voluntarily flexed. With two exceptions, the median recruitment threshold for all active-test finger combinations involving the index, middle, ring and little finger test units was between 49 and 60% MVC (60% MVC being the value assigned to those not recruited). The exceptions were flexion of the little finger while recording from ring finger units (median: 40% MVC), and vice versa (median: 2% MVC). For all active-test finger combinations, only 35/181 units were activated when the active finger flexed at less than 20% MVC, and the fingers were adjacent for 28 of these. Functionally, to recruit FDS units during grasping and lifting, relatively heavy objects were required, although systematic variation occurred with the width of the object. In conclusion, FDS components can be selectively activated by volition and this may be especially important for grasping at high forces with one or more fingers.

Comparative analyses reveal high levels of conserved colinearity between the finger millet and rice genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivasachary; Dida, Mathews M; Gale, Mike D; Devos, Katrien M

2007-08-01

Finger millet is an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 36) grass that belongs to the Chloridoideae subfamily. A comparative analysis has been carried out to determine the relationship of the finger millet genome with that of rice. Six of the nine finger millet homoeologous groups corresponded to a single rice chromosome each. Each of the remaining three finger millet groups were orthologous to two rice chromosomes, and in all the three cases one rice chromosome was inserted into the centromeric region of a second rice chromosome to give the finger millet chromosomal configuration. All observed rearrangements were, among the grasses, unique to finger millet and, possibly, the Chloridoideae subfamily. Gene orders between rice and finger millet were highly conserved, with rearrangements being limited largely to single marker transpositions and small putative inversions encompassing at most three markers. Only some 10% of markers mapped to non-syntenic positions in rice and finger millet and the majority of these were located in the distal 14% of chromosome arms, supporting a possible correlation between recombination and sequence evolution as has previously been observed in wheat. A comparison of the organization of finger millet, Panicoideae and Pooideae genomes relative to rice allowed us to infer putative ancestral chromosome configurations in the grasses.

Contamination by human fingers. The Midas touch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gwozdz, R.; Grass, F.

2004-01-01

Anthropogenic activity is one of the causes of contamination in the human environment: contamination of air, water, top soils, plants and food products has complex effects on human health problems. Wear and abrasion of various surfaces are constant processes in daily life, and commonly include interaction between human fingers and surfaces of every conceivable material. New methods for investigation of trace transfer processes by human fingers are described. Results of transfer for commonly used metals such as gold, silver, zinc, cadmium, tin, cobalt, nickel, chromium and iron are presented. Relationship between transfer of metals by touch and the general problem of purity in analytical activities is briefly discussed. (author)

Models of brachial to finger pulse wave distortion and pressure decrement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gizdulich, P.; Prentza, A.; Wesseling, K.H.

1997-01-01

Objective: To model the pulse wave distortion and pressure decrement occurring between brachial and finger arteries. Distortion reversion and decrement correction were also our aims. Methods: Brachial artery pressure was recorded intra-arterially and finger pressure was recorded non-invasively by

Evaluation of nutraceutical and antinutritional properties in barnyard and finger millet varieties grown in Himalayan region.

Science.gov (United States)

Panwar, Priyankar; Dubey, Ashutosh; Verma, A K

2016-06-01

Five elite varieties of barnyard (Echinochloa frumentacea) and finger (Eleusine coracana) growing at northwestern Himalaya were investigated for nutraceutical and antinutritional properties. Barnyard millet contained higher amount of crude fiber, total dietary fiber, tryptophan content, total carotenoids, α-tocopherol compared to the finger millet whereas the finger millet contains higher amount of methionine and ascorbic acid as compared to the barnyard millet. The secondary metabolites of biological functions were analyzed and found that barnyard millet contained the higher amount of polyphenols, tannins and ortho-dihydroxy phenol content compared to finger millet. Among antinutitional compounds barnyard millet contained lower phytic acid content compare to finger millet whereas no significant difference in trypsin inhibition activity of barnyard millet and finger millet varieties were found. Barnyard millet contained higher acid phosphatase, α-galactosidase and α-amylase inhibitor activity compared to finger millet. Finger millet seeds contained about 10-13 folds higher calcium content and double amount of manganese content in comparison to barnyard millet seeds. Present study suggests that barnyard millet varieties studied under present investigation were found nutritionally superior compared to finger millet varieties.

Finger muscle attachments for an OpenSim upper-extremity model.

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Jong Hwa Lee

Full Text Available We determined muscle attachment points for the index, middle, ring and little fingers in an OpenSim upper-extremity model. Attachment points were selected to match both experimentally measured locations and mechanical function (moment arms. Although experimental measurements of finger muscle attachments have been made, models differ from specimens in many respects such as bone segment ratio, joint kinematics and coordinate system. Likewise, moment arms are not available for all intrinsic finger muscles. Therefore, it was necessary to scale and translate muscle attachments from one experimental or model environment to another while preserving mechanical function. We used a two-step process. First, we estimated muscle function by calculating moment arms for all intrinsic and extrinsic muscles using the partial velocity method. Second, optimization using Simulated Annealing and Hooke-Jeeves algorithms found muscle-tendon paths that minimized root mean square (RMS differences between experimental and modeled moment arms. The partial velocity method resulted in variance accounted for (VAF between measured and calculated moment arms of 75.5% on average (range from 48.5% to 99.5% for intrinsic and extrinsic index finger muscles where measured data were available. RMS error between experimental and optimized values was within one standard deviation (S.D of measured moment arm (mean RMS error = 1.5 mm < measured S.D = 2.5 mm. Validation of both steps of the technique allowed for estimation of muscle attachment points for muscles whose moment arms have not been measured. Differences between modeled and experimentally measured muscle attachments, averaged over all finger joints, were less than 4.9 mm (within 7.1% of the average length of the muscle-tendon paths. The resulting non-proprietary musculoskeletal model of the human fingers could be useful for many applications, including better understanding of complex multi-touch and gestural movements.

[Microbiological diagnosis of HIV infection].

Science.gov (United States)

López-Bernaldo de Quirós, Juan Carlos; Delgado, Rafael; García, Federico; Eiros, José M; Ortiz de Lejarazu, Raúl

2007-12-01

Currently, there are around 150,000 HIV-infected patients in Spain. This number, together with the fact that this disease is now a chronic condition since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, has generated an increasing demand on the clinical microbiology laboratories in our hospitals. This increase has occurred not only in the diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic diseases, but also in tests related to the diagnosis and therapeutic management of HIV infection. To meet this demand, the Sociedad de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clinica (Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology) has updated its standard Procedure for the microbiological diagnosis of HIV infection. The main advances related to serological diagnosis, plasma viral load, and detection of resistance to antiretroviral drugs are reviewed in this version of the Procedure.

Osseointegrated silicone finger prosthesis using dental implants: a renovated technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinnakota, Dileep Nag; Sankar, V Vijay; Chirumamilla, Naveen; Reddy, V Vamsikrishna

2014-11-01

In clinical practice, we come across patients with traumatically amputated or congenitally missing partial or complete fingers that can be restored using microsurgical replantation or transplantation procedures. However, in some cases this might not be possible due to systemic or local factors and the lost or missing part has to be replaced prosthetically to offer psychological and functional wellbeing. These prostheses can be constructed with various materials like acrylics or silicone retained with the help of auxiliary aids. However, these prostheses cause some hindrance in performing functions like writing, typing, etc. The aim of the present trial was to ameliorate the existing design of implant supported finger prosthesis. Distal phalange of middle finger replaced with implant supported silicone finger prosthesis is modified by utilizing a metal framework to support silicone material to improve rigidity while working. We could achieve a good function, esthetics and tactile sensibility with this modified design. Whenever, feasible this design can improve the performance and patients feel a deep sense of satisfaction and improved self-esteem with this modified prosthesis.

Multi-fingered haptic palpation utilizing granular jamming stiffness feedback actuators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Min; Sareh, Sina; Seneviratne, Lakmal D; Wurdemann, Helge A; Althoefer, Kaspar; Ranzani, Tommaso; Dasgupta, Prokar

2014-01-01

This paper describes a multi-fingered haptic palpation method using stiffness feedback actuators for simulating tissue palpation procedures in traditional and in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Soft tissue stiffness is simulated by changing the stiffness property of the actuator during palpation. For the first time, granular jamming and pneumatic air actuation are combined to realize stiffness modulation. The stiffness feedback actuator is validated by stiffness measurements in indentation tests and through stiffness discrimination based on a user study. According to the indentation test results, the introduction of a pneumatic chamber to granular jamming can amplify the stiffness variation range and reduce hysteresis of the actuator. The advantage of multi-fingered palpation using the proposed actuators is proven by the comparison of the results of the stiffness discrimination performance using two-fingered (sensitivity: 82.2%, specificity: 88.9%, positive predicative value: 80.0%, accuracy: 85.4%, time: 4.84 s) and single-fingered (sensitivity: 76.4%, specificity: 85.7%, positive predicative value: 75.3%, accuracy: 81.8%, time: 7.48 s) stiffness feedback. (paper)

Finger-Based Numerical Skills Link Fine Motor Skills to Numerical Development in Preschoolers.

Science.gov (United States)

Suggate, Sebastian; Stoeger, Heidrun; Fischer, Ursula

2017-12-01

Previous studies investigating the association between fine-motor skills (FMS) and mathematical skills have lacked specificity. In this study, we test whether an FMS link to numerical skills is due to the involvement of finger representations in early mathematics. We gave 81 pre-schoolers (mean age of 4 years, 9 months) a set of FMS measures and numerical tasks with and without a specific finger focus. Additionally, we used receptive vocabulary and chronological age as control measures. FMS linked more closely to finger-based than to nonfinger-based numerical skills even after accounting for the control variables. Moreover, the relationship between FMS and numerical skill was entirely mediated by finger-based numerical skills. We concluded that FMS are closely related to early numerical skill development through finger-based numerical counting that aids the acquisition of mathematical mental representations.

Robotic Finger Assembly

Science.gov (United States)

Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor); Bridgwater, Lyndon (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor); Linn, Douglas Martin (Inventor); Platt, Robert J., Jr. (Inventor); Hargrave, Brian (Inventor); Askew, Scott R. (Inventor); Valvo, Michael C. (Inventor)

2014-01-01

A robotic hand includes a finger with first, second, and third phalanges. A first joint rotatably connects the first phalange to a base structure. A second joint rotatably connects the first phalange to the second phalange. A third joint rotatably connects the third phalange to the second phalange. The second joint and the third joint are kinematically linked such that the position of the third phalange with respect to the second phalange is determined by the position of the second phalange with respect to the first phalange.

Determining the number of fingers in the lifting Hele-Shaw problem

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Jose; Dias, Eduardo

2013-11-01

The lifting Hele-Shaw cell flow is a variation of the celebrated radial viscous fingering problem for which the upper cell plate is lifted uniformly at a specified rate. This procedure causes the formation of intricate interfacial patterns. Most theoretical studies determine the total number of emerging fingers by maximizing the linear growth rate, but this generates discrepancies between theory and experiments. In this work, we tackle the number of fingers selection problem in the lifting Hele-Shaw cell by employing the recently proposed maximum-amplitude criterion. Our linear stability analysis accounts for the action of capillary, viscous normal stresses, and wetting effects, as well as the cell confinement. The comparison of our results with very precise laboratory measurements for the total number of fingers shows a significantly improved agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data. We thank CNPq (Brazilian Sponsor) for financial support.

Non-destructive examination of the bonding interface in DEMO divertor fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richou, Marianne; Missirlian, Marc; Vignal, Nicolas; Cantone, Vincent; Hernandez, Caroline; Norajitra, Prachai; Spatafora, Luigi

2013-01-01

Highlights: • SATIR tests on DEMO divertor fingers (integrating or not He cooling system). • Millimeter size artificial defects were manufactured. • Detectability of millimeter size artificial defects was evaluated. • SATIR can detect defect in DEMO divertor fingers. • Simulations are well correlated to SATIR tests. -- Abstract: Plasma facing components (PFCs) with tungsten (W) armor materials for DEMO divertor require a high heat flux removal capability (at least 10 MW/m 2 in steady-state conditions). The reference divertor PFC concept is a finger with a tungsten tile as a protection and sacrificial layer brazed to a thimble made of tungsten alloy W – 1% La 2 O 3 (WL10). Defects may be located at the W thimble to W tile interface. As the number of fingers is considerable (>250,000), it is then a major issue to develop a reliable control procedure in order to control with a non-destructive examination the fabrication processes. The feasibility for detecting defect with infrared thermography SATIR test bed is presented. SATIR is based on the heat transient method and is used as an inspection tool in order to assess component heat transfer capability. SATIR tests were performed on fingers integrating or not the complex He cooling system (steel cartridge with jet holes). Millimeter size artificial defects were manufactured and their detectability was evaluated. Results of this study demonstrate that the SATIR method can be considered as a relevant non-destructive technique examination for the defect detection of DEMO divertor fingers

Microbiological soil regeneration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Behrens, D.; Wiesner, J.

1992-01-01

The Interdiciplinary Task Force ''Environmental Biotechnology - Soil'' of DECHEMA aims to pool the knowledge potential of the Dechema study committees on environmental biotechnology and soil protection with a view to the advancement of microbiological soil decontamination techniques. This conference volume on the 9th expert meeting of Dechema on environmental protection subjects entitled ''Microbiological Soil Regeneration'', held on February 27th and 28th, 1991, and the subsequent compilation of results give an intermediate account of the ongoing work of the Dechema Task Force. (orig.) [de

Cortex Inspired Model for Inverse Kinematics Computation for a Humanoid Robotic Finger

Science.gov (United States)

Gentili, Rodolphe J.; Oh, Hyuk; Molina, Javier; Reggia, James A.; Contreras-Vidal, José L.

2013-01-01

In order to approach human hand performance levels, artificial anthropomorphic hands/fingers have increasingly incorporated human biomechanical features. However, the performance of finger reaching movements to visual targets involving the complex kinematics of multi-jointed, anthropomorphic actuators is a difficult problem. This is because the relationship between sensory and motor coordinates is highly nonlinear, and also often includes mechanical coupling of the two last joints. Recently, we developed a cortical model that learns the inverse kinematics of a simulated anthropomorphic finger. Here, we expand this previous work by assessing if this cortical model is able to learn the inverse kinematics for an actual anthropomorphic humanoid finger having its two last joints coupled and controlled by pneumatic muscles. The findings revealed that single 3D reaching movements, as well as more complex patterns of motion of the humanoid finger, were accurately and robustly performed by this cortical model while producing kinematics comparable to those of humans. This work contributes to the development of a bioinspired controller providing adaptive, robust and flexible control of dexterous robotic and prosthetic hands. PMID:23366569

Characteristics of Handwriting of People With Cerebellar Ataxia: Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis of the Pen Tip, Finger, and Wrist.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujisawa, Yuhki; Okajima, Yasutomo

2015-11-01

There are several functional tests for evaluating manual performance; however, quantitative manual tests for ataxia, especially those for evaluating handwriting, are limited. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of cerebellar ataxia by analyzing handwriting, with a special emphasis on correlation between the movement of the pen tip and the movement of the finger or wrist. This was an observational study. Eleven people who were right-handed and had cerebellar ataxia and 17 people to serve as controls were recruited. The Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia was used to grade the severity of ataxia. Handwriting movements of both hands were analyzed. The time required for writing a character, the variability of individual handwriting, and the correlation between the movement of the pen tip and the movement of the finger or wrist were evaluated for participants with ataxia and control participants. The writing time was longer and the velocity profile and shape of the track of movement of the pen tip were more variable in participants with ataxia than in control participants. For participants with ataxia, the direction of movement of the pen tip deviated more from that of the finger or wrist, and the shape of the track of movement of the pen tip differed more from that of the finger or wrist. The severity of upper extremity ataxia measured with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia was mostly correlated with the variability parameters. Furthermore, it was correlated with the directional deviation of the trajectory of movement of the pen tip from that of the finger and with increased dissimilarity of the shapes of the tracks. The results may have been influenced by the scale and parameters used to measure movement. Ataxic handwriting with increased movement noise is characterized by irregular pen tip movements unconstrained by the finger or wrist. The severity of ataxia is correlated with these unconstrained movements. © 2015 American

Evolution across the Curriculum: Microbiology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alita R. Burmeister

2016-05-01

Full Text Available An integrated understanding of microbiology and evolutionary biology is essential for students pursuing careers in microbiology and healthcare fields. In this Perspective, we discuss the usefulness of evolutionary concepts and an overall evolutionary framework for students enrolled in microbiology courses. Further, we propose a set of learning goals for students studying microbial evolution concepts. We then describe some barriers to microbial evolution teaching and learning and encourage the continued incorporation of evidence-based teaching practices into microbiology courses at all levels. Next, we review the current status of microbial evolution assessment tools and describe some education resources available for teaching microbial evolution. Successful microbial evolution education will require that evolution be taught across the undergraduate biology curriculum, with a continued focus on applications and applied careers, while aligning with national biology education reform initiatives.

Effects of finger counting on numerical development – the opposing views of neurocognition and mathematics education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Korbinian eMoeller

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Usually children learn the basic principles of number and arithmetic by the help of finger-based representations. However, whether the reliance on finger-based representations is only beneficial or whether it may even become detrimental is the subject of an ongoing debate between neuro-cognitive and mathematics education researchers. From the neuro-cognitive perspective finger counting provides multi-sensory input conveying both cardinal and ordinal aspects of numbers. Recent data indicate that children with good finger-based numerical representations show better arithmetic skills and that training finger gnosis enhances mathematical skills. From this neuro-cognitive researchers conclude that elaborate finger-based numerical representations are beneficial for later numerical development.However, mathematics education research recommends fostering mental numerical representations so as to induce children to abandon finger-counting. More precisely mathematics education recommends moving from finger counting to concrete structured representations and then, finally, to mental representations of numbers.Taken together, there is obviously an important debate between the neuro-cognitve and mathematics education research concerning the benefits or detriments of finger-based strategies for numerical development. In the present review, the rationale of both lines of evidence will be presented and discussed.

Ribosomal DNA variation in finger millet and wild species of Eleusine (Poaceae).

Science.gov (United States)

Hilu, K W; Johnson, J L

1992-04-01

Finger millet is an important cereal crop in the semi-arid regions of Africa and India. The crop belongs to the grass genus Eleusine, which includes nine annual and perennial species native to Africa except for the New World species E. tristachya. Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) variation in finger millet and related wild species was used to provide information on the origin of the genomes of this tetraploid crop and point out genetic relationships of the crop to other species in the genus. The restriction endonucleases used revealed a lack of variability in the rDNA spacer region in domesticated finger millet. All the rDNA variants of the crop were found in the proposed direct tetraploid ancestor, E. coracana subsp. africana. Wild and domesticated finger millet displayed the phenotypes found in diploid E. indica. Diploid Eleusine tristachya showed some similarity to the crop in some restriction sites. The remaining species were quite distinct in rDNA fragment patterns. The study supports the direct origin of finger millet from subspecies africana shows E. indica to be one of the genome donors of the crop, and demonstrates that none of the other species examined could have donated the second genome of the crop. The rDNA data raise the possibility that wild and domesticated finger millet could have originated as infraspecific polyploid hybrids from different varieties of E. indica.

From viscous fingers to wormholes - interactions between structures emerging in unstable growth

Science.gov (United States)

Budek, Agnieszka; Kwiatkowski, Kamil; Szymczak, Piotr

2017-04-01

Dissolution of porous and fractured rock can lead to instabilities, where long finger-like channels or „wormholes" are spontaneously formed, focusing the majority of the flow. Formation of those structures leads to a significant increase in permeability of the system, and is thus important in many engineering applications, e.g. in acidization during oil and gas recovery stimulation. In this communication, we analyse this process using two different numerical models (a network model and a Darcy scale one). We show that wormhole patterns depend strongly on the amount of soluble material in the system, as quantified by the permeability contrast κ between the dissolved and undissolved medium. For small and intermediate values of κ, a large number of relatively thin and strongly interacting channels are formed. The longer channels attract shorter ones, with loops being formed as a result. However, for large values of κ the pattern gets sparse with individual wormholes repelling each other. Interestingly, a similar succession of patterns can be observed in viscous fingering in a rectangular network of channels. In such a system, anisotropy of the network promotes the growth of long and thin fingers which behave similarly to wormholes. The attraction rate between growing fingers depends strongly on the viscosity ratio, I. The latter plays a role similar to that of permeability ratio for dissolution of porous material. To explain this behaviour, we have created a simple analytical model of interacting fingers, allowing us to quantify their mutual interaction as a function of finger lengths, distances between them and - most importantly - relative permeabilities. The theoretical predictions are in a good agreement with simulation data for both dissolution and viscous fingering processes.

A Diabetic Elderly Man with Finger Ulcer.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamad, Noraini; Badrin, Salziyan; Wan Abdullah, Wan Noor Hasbee

2018-03-01

Fixed cutaneous sporotrichosis is a differential diagnosis that can be considered in diabetic patients who present with a poorly healing ulcer. Although its prevalence is low, it can occur in patients with immunocompromised status. Here we report a case of a 70-year-old man with diabetes mellitus who presented with a 1-month history of an unhealed ulcer over the tip of his left middle finger. He experienced a cat bite over his left middle finger 1 month prior to the appearance of the lesion. A skin biopsy revealed the presence of Sporothrix schenckii . Oral itraconazole 200 mg twice daily was started empirically and the patient showed marked improvement in the skin lesion after 2 months of therapy.

A multiscale approach to simulating the conformational properties of unbound multi-C₂H₂ zinc finger proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lei; Wade, Rebecca C; Heermann, Dieter W

2015-09-01

The conformational properties of unbound multi-Cys2 His2 (mC2H2) zinc finger proteins, in which zinc finger domains are connected by flexible linkers, are studied by a multiscale approach. Three methods on different length scales are utilized. First, atomic detail molecular dynamics simulations of one zinc finger and its adjacent flexible linker confirmed that the zinc finger is more rigid than the flexible linker. Second, the end-to-end distance distributions of mC2H2 zinc finger proteins are computed using an efficient atomistic pivoting algorithm, which only takes excluded volume interactions into consideration. The end-to-end distance distribution gradually changes its profile, from left-tailed to right-tailed, as the number of zinc fingers increases. This is explained by using a worm-like chain model. For proteins of a few zinc fingers, an effective bending constraint favors an extended conformation. Only for proteins containing more than nine zinc fingers, is a somewhat compacted conformation preferred. Third, a mesoscale model is modified to study both the local and the global conformational properties of multi-C2H2 zinc finger proteins. Simulations of the CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), an important mC2H2 zinc finger protein for genome spatial organization, are presented. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abnormal maximal finger tapping in abstinent cannabis users.

Science.gov (United States)

Flavel, Stanley C; White, Jason M; Todd, Gabrielle

2013-11-01

To investigate movement speed and rhythmicity in abstinent cannabis users, we hypothesized that abstinent cannabis users exhibit decreased maximal finger tapping frequency and increased variability of tapping compared with non-drug users. The study involved 10 healthy adult cannabis users and 10 age-matched and gender-matched controls with no history of illicit drug use. Subjects underwent a series of screening tests prior to participation. Subjects were then asked to tap a strain gauge as fast as possible with the index finger of their dominant hand (duration 5 s). The average intertap interval did not significantly differ between groups, but the coefficient of variation of the intertap interval was significantly greater in the cannabis group than in controls (p=0.011). The cannabis group also exhibited a slow tapping frequency at the beginning of the task. Rhythmicity of finger tapping is abnormal in individuals with a history of cannabis use. The abnormality appears to be long lasting and adds to the list of functional changes present in abstinent cannabis users. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Compensating Pose Uncertainties through Appropriate Gripper Finger Cutouts

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Wolniakowski Adam

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The gripper finger design is a recurring problem in many robotic grasping platforms used in industry. The task of switching the gripper configuration to accommodate for a new batch of objects typically requires engineering expertise, and is a lengthy and costly iterative trial-and-error process. One of the open challenges is the need for the gripper to compensate for uncertainties inherent to the workcell, e.g. due to errors in calibration, inaccurate pose estimation from the vision system, or object deformation. In this paper, we present an analysis of gripper uncertainty compensating capabilities in a sample industrial object grasping scenario for a finger that was designed using an automated simulation-based geometry optimization method (Wolniakowski et al., 2013, 2015. We test the developed gripper with a set of grasps subjected to structured perturbation in a simulation environment and in the real-world setting. We provide a comparison of the data obtained by using both of these approaches. We argue that the strong correspondence observed in results validates the use of dynamic simulation for the gripper finger design and optimization.

A finger leaf design for dual layer MLCs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui Weijie; Dai Jianrong

2010-01-01

Objective: To introduce a finger leaf design that is applied to dual layer MLCs. Methods: An optimization model was firstly constructed to describe the problem of determining leaf end shapes,and the corresponding problems were then solved by the simplex search method or the simulated annealing technique. Optimal parameters for arc shapes of leaf end projections were obtained, and a comparison was done between optimized MLCs and conventional MLCs in terms of field conformity. The optimization process was based on 634 target fields selected from the patient data base of a treatment planning system. Areas of these fields ranged from 20.0 to 602.7 cm with a mean and its standard deviation of (125.7 ± 0.0) cm 2 . Results: The optimized leaf end shapes projected to the isocenter plane were semicircles. With the finger leaf design, the total area of discrepancy regions between MLC fields and target fields was reduced by 32.3%. Conclusions: The finger leaf design improves the conformity of the MLC shaped fields to the desired target fields. (authors)

MR imaging of the finger tendons: Normal anatomy and commonly encountered pathology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ragheb, Dina; Stanley, Anthony; Gentili, Amilcare; Hughes, Tudor; Chung, Christine B.

2005-01-01

MR imaging has emerged as a powerful tool in the evaluation of soft tissue structures such as the tendons of the hand and finger due to its excellent soft tissue contrast and multiplanar imaging capabilities. In the finger and hand, perhaps more than in any other location in the body, a detailed and intimate understanding of anatomy is crucial for lesion localization, directing clinical management and predicting long-term prognosis. These issues are of paramount importance to both the clinician and imager, both faced with the challenge of the complex anatomy and pathology associated with these delicate structures. The anatomy of the finger including intrinsic and extrinsic muscles, retinacular structures, and tendons will be discussed. The MR imaging features of common lesions of the tendons of the hand and finger will be reviewed

Finger Vein Recognition Based on a Personalized Best Bit Map

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Gongping; Xi, Xiaoming; Yin, Yilong

2012-01-01

Finger vein patterns have recently been recognized as an effective biometric identifier. In this paper, we propose a finger vein recognition method based on a personalized best bit map (PBBM). Our method is rooted in a local binary pattern based method and then inclined to use the best bits only for matching. We first present the concept of PBBM and the generating algorithm. Then we propose the finger vein recognition framework, which consists of preprocessing, feature extraction, and matching. Finally, we design extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposal. Experimental results show that PBBM achieves not only better performance, but also high robustness and reliability. In addition, PBBM can be used as a general framework for binary pattern based recognition. PMID:22438735

Visual Foraging With Fingers and Eye Gaze

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Ómar I. Jóhannesson

2016-03-01

Full Text Available A popular model of the function of selective visual attention involves search where a single target is to be found among distractors. For many scenarios, a more realistic model involves search for multiple targets of various types, since natural tasks typically do not involve a single target. Here we present results from a novel multiple-target foraging paradigm. We compare finger foraging where observers cancel a set of predesignated targets by tapping them, to gaze foraging where observers cancel items by fixating them for 100 ms. During finger foraging, for most observers, there was a large difference between foraging based on a single feature, where observers switch easily between target types, and foraging based on a conjunction of features where observers tended to stick to one target type. The pattern was notably different during gaze foraging where these condition differences were smaller. Two conclusions follow: (a The fact that a sizeable number of observers (in particular during gaze foraging had little trouble switching between different target types raises challenges for many prominent theoretical accounts of visual attention and working memory. (b While caveats must be noted for the comparison of gaze and finger foraging, the results suggest that selection mechanisms for gaze and pointing have different operational constraints.

Haematopoietic malignancies caused by dysregulation of a chromatin-binding PHD finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gang G; Song, Jikui; Wang, Zhanxin; Dormann, Holger L; Casadio, Fabio; Li, Haitao; Luo, Jun-Li; Patel, Dinshaw J; Allis, C David

2009-06-11

Histone H3 lysine 4 methylation (H3K4me) has been proposed as a critical component in regulating gene expression, epigenetic states, and cellular identities1. The biological meaning of H3K4me is interpreted by conserved modules including plant homeodomain (PHD) fingers that recognize varied H3K4me states. The dysregulation of PHD fingers has been implicated in several human diseases, including cancers and immune or neurological disorders. Here we report that fusing an H3K4-trimethylation (H3K4me3)-binding PHD finger, such as the carboxy-terminal PHD finger of PHF23 or JARID1A (also known as KDM5A or RBBP2), to a common fusion partner nucleoporin-98 (NUP98) as identified in human leukaemias, generated potent oncoproteins that arrested haematopoietic differentiation and induced acute myeloid leukaemia in murine models. In these processes, a PHD finger that specifically recognizes H3K4me3/2 marks was essential for leukaemogenesis. Mutations in PHD fingers that abrogated H3K4me3 binding also abolished leukaemic transformation. NUP98-PHD fusion prevented the differentiation-associated removal of H3K4me3 at many loci encoding lineage-specific transcription factors (Hox(s), Gata3, Meis1, Eya1 and Pbx1), and enforced their active gene transcription in murine haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Mechanistically, NUP98-PHD fusions act as 'chromatin boundary factors', dominating over polycomb-mediated gene silencing to 'lock' developmentally critical loci into an active chromatin state (H3K4me3 with induced histone acetylation), a state that defined leukaemia stem cells. Collectively, our studies represent, to our knowledge, the first report that deregulation of the PHD finger, an 'effector' of specific histone modification, perturbs the epigenetic dynamics on developmentally critical loci, catastrophizes cellular fate decision-making, and even causes oncogenesis during mammalian development.

Finger blood content, light transmission, and pulse oximetry errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Craft, T M; Lawson, R A; Young, J D

1992-01-01

The changes in light emitting diode current necessary to maintain a constant level of light incident upon a photodetector were measured in 20 volunteers at the two wavelengths employed by pulse oximeters. Three states of finger blood content were assessed; exsanguinated, hyperaemic, and normal. The changes in light emitting diode current with changes in finger blood content were small and are not thought to represent a significant source of error in saturation as measured by pulse oximetry.

African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Author Guidelines. Aims and scope. African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology is the official Journal of African Society for Clinical Microbiology. It publishes original research papers in all aspects of Medical Microbiology, including Bacteriology, Virology Rickettsiology and Chlamydiology, Mycology, ...

Large-signal modeling of multi-finger InP DHBT devices at millimeter-wave frequencies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Tom Keinicke; Midili, Virginio; Squartecchia, Michele

2017-01-01

A large-signal modeling approach has been developed for multi-finger devices fabricated in an Indium Phosphide (InP) Double Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (DHBT) process. The approach utilizes unit-finger device models embedded in a multi-port parasitic network. The unit-finger model is based...... on an improved UCSD HBT model formulation avoiding an erroneous RciCbci transit-time contribution from the intrinsic collector region as found in other III-V based HBT models. The mutual heating between fingers is modeled by a thermal coupling network with parameters extracted from electro-thermal simulations...

Cold-Blooded Attention: Finger Temperature Predicts Attentional Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Vergara, Rodrigo C; Moënne-Loccoz, Cristóbal; Maldonado, Pedro E

2017-01-01

Thermal stress has been shown to increase the chances of unsafe behavior during industrial and driving performances due to reductions in mental and attentional resources. Nonetheless, establishing appropriate safety standards regarding environmental temperature has been a major problem, as modulations are also be affected by the task type, complexity, workload, duration, and previous experience with the task. To bypass this attentional and thermoregulatory problem, we focused on the body rather than environmental temperature. Specifically, we measured tympanic, forehead, finger and environmental temperatures accompanied by a battery of attentional tasks. We considered a 10 min baseline period wherein subjects were instructed to sit and relax, followed by three attentional tasks: a continuous performance task (CPT), a flanker task (FT) and a counting task (CT). Using multiple linear regression models, we evaluated which variable(s) were the best predictors of performance. The results showed a decrement in finger temperature due to instruction and task engagement that was absent when the subject was instructed to relax. No changes were observed in tympanic or forehead temperatures, while the environmental temperature remained almost constant for each subject. Specifically, the magnitude of the change in finger temperature was the best predictor of performance in all three attentional tasks. The results presented here suggest that finger temperature can be used as a predictor of alertness, as it predicted performance in attentional tasks better than environmental temperature. These findings strongly support that peripheral temperature can be used as a tool to prevent unsafe behaviors and accidents.

Cold-Blooded Attention: Finger Temperature Predicts Attentional Performance

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Rodrigo C. Vergara

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Thermal stress has been shown to increase the chances of unsafe behavior during industrial and driving performances due to reductions in mental and attentional resources. Nonetheless, establishing appropriate safety standards regarding environmental temperature has been a major problem, as modulations are also be affected by the task type, complexity, workload, duration, and previous experience with the task. To bypass this attentional and thermoregulatory problem, we focused on the body rather than environmental temperature. Specifically, we measured tympanic, forehead, finger and environmental temperatures accompanied by a battery of attentional tasks. We considered a 10 min baseline period wherein subjects were instructed to sit and relax, followed by three attentional tasks: a continuous performance task (CPT, a flanker task (FT and a counting task (CT. Using multiple linear regression models, we evaluated which variable(s were the best predictors of performance. The results showed a decrement in finger temperature due to instruction and task engagement that was absent when the subject was instructed to relax. No changes were observed in tympanic or forehead temperatures, while the environmental temperature remained almost constant for each subject. Specifically, the magnitude of the change in finger temperature was the best predictor of performance in all three attentional tasks. The results presented here suggest that finger temperature can be used as a predictor of alertness, as it predicted performance in attentional tasks better than environmental temperature. These findings strongly support that peripheral temperature can be used as a tool to prevent unsafe behaviors and accidents.

MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF CONFECTIONARY PRODUCTS

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Ľubomíra Juhaniaková

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work was to determine microbiological quality of confectionery products. In confectionery products microbiological parameters: total count of bacteria, coliforms bacteria,mesophilic aerobes bacteria and microscopic filamentous fungi were observed. The confectionery products were evaluated: Kremeš and Venčekcake. For microbiological tests 20 samples of confectionery products were used. The numbers of total count of bacteria ranged from 3.29 log CFU.g-1, the number of mesophilic aerobes bacteria ranged from 1.86 to 2.85 log CFU.g-1, coliforms bacteria in confectionery products ranged from 0to 2.06CFU.g-1and the number of microscopic fungi ranged from 1.13 to 1.96CFU.g-1. The samples of cake prom private production showed better microbiological quality as samples from market production. All investigated samples of confectionary products were inaccordance with the Codex Alimentarius of the Slovak Republic.

Self-Expression or Teacher Influence: The Shaw System of Finger-Painting.

Science.gov (United States)

Stankiewicz, Mary Ann

1984-01-01

Finger painting is often regarded as the epitome of free expression for children. However, a careful review of the history of Ruth Shaw's finger-painting system reveals that it was dominated by specific techniques and stylistic conventions taught without a critical understanding of art history or appreciation. (IS)

Mechanisms of inhibition of zinc-finger transcription factors by selenium compounds ebselen and selenite.

Science.gov (United States)

Larabee, Jason L; Hocker, James R; Hanas, Jay S

2009-03-01

The anti-inflammatory selenium compounds, ebselen (2-phenyl-1,2-benzisoselenazol-3[2H]-one) and selenite, were found to alter the DNA binding mechanisms and structures of cysteine-rich zinc-finger transcription factors. As assayed by DNase I protection, DNA binding by TFIIIA (transcription factor IIIA, prototypical Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger protein), was inhibited by micromolar amounts of ebselen. In a gel shift assay, ebselen inhibited the Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger-containing DNA binding domain (DBD) of the NF-kappaB mediated transcription factor Sp1. Ebselen also inhibited DNA binding by the p50 subunit of the pro-inflammatory Cys-containing NF-kappaB transcription factor. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was utilized to elucidate mechanisms of chemical interaction between ebselen and a zinc-bound Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger polypeptide modeled after the third finger of Sp1 (Sp1-3). Exposing Sp1-3 to micromolar amounts of ebselen resulted in Zn(2+) release from this peptide and the formation of a disulfide bond by oxidation of zinc finger SH groups, the likely mechanism for DNA binding inhibition. Selenite was shown by ESI-MS to also eject zinc from Sp1-3 as well as induce disulfide bond formation through SH oxidation. The selenite-dependent inhibition/oxidation mechanism differed from that of ebselen by inducing the formation of a stable selenotrisulfide bond. Selenite-induced selenotrisulfide formation was dependent upon the structure of the Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger as alteration in the finger structure enhanced this reaction as well as selenite-dependent zinc release. Ebselen and selenite-dependent inhibition/oxidation of Cys-rich zinc finger proteins, with concomitant release of zinc and finger structural changes, points to mechanisms at the atomic and protein level for selenium-induced alterations in Cys-rich proteins, and possible amelioration of certain inflammatory, neurodegenerative, and oncogenic responses.

Radiosynoviorthesis in osteoarthritis of finger joints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moedder, G.

2006-01-01

This is an overview about osteoarthritis of the finger joints. The scientific publications according to the therapy of this disease by means of radiosynoviorthesis are presented, comparing the results in rheumatoid arthritis. Additionally own experience and results are reported. (orig.)

Insights using the molecular model of Lipoxygenase from Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.)).

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Apoorv; Avashthi, Himanshu; Jha, Richa; Srivastava, Ambuj; Kumar Garg, Vijay; Wasudev Ramteke, Pramod; Kumar, Anil

2016-01-01

Lipoxygenase-1 (LOX-1) protein provides defense against pests and pathogens and its presence have been positively correlated with plant resistance against pathogens. Linoleate is a known substrate of lipoxygenase and it induces necrosis leading to the accumulation of isoflavonoid phytoalexins in plant leaves. Therefore, it is of interest to study the structural features of LOX-1 from Finger millet. However, the structure ofLOX-1 from Finger millet is not yet known. A homology model of LOX-1 from Finger millet is described. Domain architecture study suggested the presence of two domains namely PLAT (Phospho Lipid Acyl Transferase) and lipoxygenase. Molecular docking models of linoleate with lipoxygenase from finger millet, rice and sorghum are reported. The features of docked models showed that finger millet have higher pathogen resistance in comparison to other cereal crops. This data is useful for the molecular cloning of fulllength LOX-1 gene for validating its role in improving plant defense against pathogen infection and for various other biological processes.

Role of zinc finger structure in nuclear localization of transcription factor Sp1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Tatsuo; Azumano, Makiko; Uwatoko, Chisana; Itoh, Kohji; Kuwahara, Jun

2009-01-01

Transcription factor Sp1 is localized in the nucleus and regulates gene expression. Our previous study demonstrated that the carboxyl terminal region of Sp1 containing 3-zinc finger region as DNA binding domain can also serve as nuclear localization signal (NLS). However, the nuclear transport mechanism of Sp1 has not been well understood. In this study, we performed a gene expression study on mutant Sp1 genes causing a set of amino acid substitutions in zinc finger domains to elucidate nuclear import activity. Nuclear localization of the GFP-fused mutant Sp1 proteins bearing concomitant substitutions in the first and third zinc fingers was highly inhibited. These mutant Sp1 proteins had also lost the binding ability as to the GC box sequence. The results suggest that the overall tertiary structure formed by the three zinc fingers is essential for nuclear localization of Sp1 as well as dispersed basic amino acids within the zinc fingers region.

Measuring contact area in a sliding human finger-pad contact.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, X; Carré, M J; Zhang, Q; Lu, Z; Matcher, S J; Lewis, R

2018-02-01

The work outlined in this paper was aimed at achieving further understanding of skin frictional behaviour by investigating the contact area between human finger-pads and flat surfaces. Both the static and the dynamic contact areas (in macro- and micro-scales) were measured using various techniques, including ink printing, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC). In the studies of the static measurements using ink printing, the experimental results showed that the apparent and the real contact area increased with load following a piecewise linear correlation function for a finger-pad in contact with paper sheets. Comparisons indicated that the OCT method is a reliable and effective method to investigate the real contact area of a finger-pad and allow micro-scale analysis. The apparent contact area (from the DIC measurements) was found to reduce with time in the transition from the static phase to the dynamic phase while the real area of contact (from OCT) increased. The results from this study enable the interaction between finger-pads and contact object surface to be better analysed, and hence improve the understanding of skin friction. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Analyses results of the EHF FW Panel with welded fingers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sviridenko, M.N.; Leshukov, A.Yu.; Razmerov, A.V.; Tomilov, S.N.; Danilov, I.V.; Strebkov, Yu.S.; Mazul, I.V.; Labusov, A.; Gervash, A.A.; Belov, A.V.; Semichev, D.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The design of FW panel with welded fingers has been developed. • The FW panel with welded fingers has been analyzed. • The pressure drop in FW panel coolant path do not exceed allowable one. • The mass flow rate distribution between finger pairs are on acceptable level. • Temperatures in FW components do not exceed allowable one. - Abstract: According to Procurement Arrangement (PA) Russian Federation will procure 40% of enhanced heat flux first wall (FW) panels. The signing of PA is scheduled on November 2013. In framework of PA preparation the RF specialists perform EHF FW design optimization in order to provide the ability to operation of EHF FW panel under ITER conditions. This article contains the design description of EHF FW 14 developed by RF and following analysis have been performed: • Hydraulic analysis; • Transient thermal analysis; • Structural analysis. Analyses results show that new design of FW panel with two straight welds for finger fixation on FW beam developed by RF specialists can be used as a reference design for ITER blanket EHF FW panel loaded by 5 MW/m 2 peak heat flux

Gold Finger: Metal Jewellery as a Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Therapy!

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Hlaing

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Polyarticular psoriatic arthritis is a chronic, progressive and disabling auto-immune disease often affecting the small joints of the hands in a symmetrical fashion. The disease can progress rapidly causing joint swelling and damaging cartilage and bone around the joints resulting in severe deformities. We report a very unusual case of a 49-year-old woman who presented with polyarticular psoriatic arthritis affecting all proximal interphalangeal (PIP joints of both hands except the left ring finger PIP joint. On clinical examination there was no evidence of arthritis in the left ring finger PIP joint. We confirmed the paucity of joint damage in the PIP joint of the left ring finger using more modern imaging modalities such as musculoskeletal ultrasound and MRI scan of the small joints of the hands. All other PIP joints in both hands demonstrated advanced degrees of joint damage secondary to chronic psoriatic inflammatory arthritis. We postulated that wearing a gold wedding ring has helped protecting the PIP joint of the left ring finger from the damaging effect of inflammatory arthritis. The possible mechanisms by which metal jewellery (gold ring confer protection to adjacent joints was discussed.

Finger vein recognition using local line binary pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Shing, Chai Wuh; Suandi, Shahrel Azmin

2011-01-01

In this paper, a personal verification method using finger vein is presented. Finger vein can be considered more secured compared to other hands based biometric traits such as fingerprint and palm print because the features are inside the human body. In the proposed method, a new texture descriptor called local line binary pattern (LLBP) is utilized as feature extraction technique. The neighbourhood shape in LLBP is a straight line, unlike in local binary pattern (LBP) which is a square shape. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LLBP has better performance than the previous methods using LBP and local derivative pattern (LDP).

[Post-mortem microbiology analysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Rodríguez, Amparo; Alberola, Juan; Cohen, Marta Cecilia

2013-12-01

Post-mortem microbiology is useful in both clinical and forensic autopsies, and allows a suspected infection to be confirmed. Indeed, it is routinely applied to donor studies in the clinical setting, as well as in sudden and unexpected death in the forensic field. Implementation of specific sampling techniques in autopsy can minimize the possibility of contamination, making interpretation of the results easier. Specific interpretation criteria for post-mortem cultures, the use of molecular diagnosis, and its fusion with molecular biology and histopathology have led to post-mortem microbiology playing a major role in autopsy. Multidisciplinary work involving microbiologists, pathologists, and forensic physicians will help to improve the achievements of post-mortem microbiology, prevent infectious diseases, and contribute to a healthier population. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Surgery for trigger finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorini, Haroldo Junior; Tamaoki, Marcel Jun; Lenza, Mário; Gomes Dos Santos, Joao Baptista; Faloppa, Flávio; Belloti, Joao Carlos

2018-02-20

Trigger finger is a common clinical disorder, characterised by pain and catching as the patient flexes and extends digits because of disproportion between the diameter of flexor tendons and the A1 pulley. The treatment approach may include non-surgical or surgical treatments. Currently there is no consensus about the best surgical treatment approach (open, percutaneous or endoscopic approaches). To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of different methods of surgical treatment for trigger finger (open, percutaneous or endoscopic approaches) in adults at any stage of the disease. We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase and LILACS up to August 2017. We included randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials that assessed adults with trigger finger and compared any type of surgical treatment with each other or with any other non-surgical intervention. The major outcomes were the resolution of trigger finger, pain, hand function, participant-reported treatment success or satisfaction, recurrence of triggering, adverse events and neurovascular injury. Two review authors independently selected the trial reports, extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias. Measures of treatment effect for dichotomous outcomes calculated risk ratios (RRs), and mean differences (MDs) or standardised mean differences (SMD) for continuous outcomes, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). When possible, the data were pooled into meta-analysis using the random-effects model. GRADE was used to assess the quality of evidence for each outcome. Fourteen trials were included, totalling 1260 participants, with 1361 trigger fingers. The age of participants included in the studies ranged from 16 to 88 years; and the majority of participants were women (approximately 70%). The average duration of symptoms ranged from three to 15 months, and the follow-up after the procedure ranged from eight weeks to 23 months.The studies reported nine types of comparisons: open surgery versus steroid injections (two

Timing and extent of finger force enslaving during a dynamic force task cannot be explained by EMG activity patterns.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mojtaba Mirakhorlo

Full Text Available Finger enslaving is defined as the inability of the fingers to move or to produce force independently. Such finger enslaving has predominantly been investigated for isometric force tasks. The aim of this study was to assess whether the extent of force enslaving is dependent on relative finger movements. Ten right-handed subjects (22-30 years flexed the index finger while counteracting constant resistance forces (4, 6 and 8 N orthogonal to the fingertip. The other, non-instructed fingers were held in extension. EMG activities of the mm. flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS and extensor digitorum (ED in the regions corresponding to the index, middle and ring fingers were measured. Forces exerted by the non-instructed fingers increased substantially (by 0.2 to 1.4 N with flexion of the index finger, increasing the enslaving effect with respect to the static, pre-movement phase. Such changes in force were found 260-370 ms after the initiation of index flexion. The estimated MCP joint angle of the index finger at which forces exerted by the non-instructed fingers started to increase varied between 4° and 6°. In contrast to the finger forces, no significant changes in EMG activity of the FDS regions corresponding to the non-instructed fingers upon index finger flexion were found. This mismatch between forces and EMG of the non-instructed fingers, as well as the delay in force development are in agreement with connective tissue linkages being slack when the positions of the fingers are similar, but pulled taut when one finger moves relative to the others. Although neural factors cannot be excluded, our results suggest that mechanical connections between muscle-tendon structures were (at least partly responsible for the observed increase in force enslaving during index finger flexion.

INFLUENCE MATURATION OF VEAL ON THE MICROBIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL INDICATORS

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Simona Kunová

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to evaluate microbial and pH changes in veal meat during maturation. Total viable counts, coliform bacteria and pH changes in chilling meat were evaluated after 24 hours, 7 days and 14 days of meat maturation. There were analysed 8 samples of veal meeat. Results of microbiological analysis were compared with Commission regulation (EC No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. Total viable counts (TVC in samples after 24 hours of chilling ranged from 2.02 log CFU.cm-to 4.21 log CFU.cm-2 (1.64 . 104 CFU.cm-2. The average number of TVC after 24 hours of meat maturation was 3.27 log CFU.cm-2, coliform bacteria (CB after 24 hours were lower than than 1 log cfu.cm-2 in five samples, and the highest number of coliform bacteria was 1.65 log cfu.cm-2, average number of CB was 1.13 log cfu.cm-2. pH values in samples after 24 hours of maturation were in range from 6.6 to 7.0, average pH value was 6.8. TVC in samples after 7 days of chilling ranged from 3.09 log CFU.cm-2 to 4.01 log CFU.cm-2, the average number of TVC after 7 days of storage was 3.39 log CFU.cm-2. CB after 7 days of meat maturation were lower than 1 log CFU cm-2 in three samples, the highest value of CB was 2.07 log CFU cm-2, the average value of CB in samples after 7 days of meat chilling was 1.03 log CFU cm-2. pH values of meat after 7 days of maturation ranged from 5.5 to 6.1. The average pH value of samples after 7 days of storage was 5.73 pH values of meat after 14 days of maturation ranged from 6.0 to 6.4. The average pH value of samples after 14 days of storage was 6.16.

Design and control of three fingers motion for dexterous assembly of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this paper, the authors describe and demonstrate how a three fingered gripper can be designed and simulated to provide both gross motion and fine motion to the fingers. ... This mimicry is required to design the correct motions and tactile forces necessary to handle delicate and non delicate engineering components.

Conservation, diversification and expansion of C2H2 zinc finger proteins in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Böhm Siegfried

2004-07-01

Full Text Available Background The classical C2H2 zinc finger domain is involved in a wide range of functions and can bind to DNA, RNA and proteins. The comparison of zinc finger proteins in several eukaryotes has shown that there is a lot of lineage specific diversification and expansion. Although the number of characterized plant proteins that carry the classical C2H2 zinc finger motifs is growing, a systematic classification and analysis of a plant genome zinc finger gene set is lacking. Results We found through in silico analysis 176 zinc finger proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana that hence constitute the most abundant family of putative transcriptional regulators in this plant. Only a minority of 33 A. thaliana zinc finger proteins are conserved in other eukaryotes. In contrast, the majority of these proteins (81% are plant specific. They are derived from extensive duplication events and form expanded families. We assigned the proteins to different subgroups and families and focused specifically on the two largest and evolutionarily youngest families (A1 and C1 that are suggested to be primarily involved in transcriptional regulation. The newly defined family A1 (24 members comprises proteins with tandemly arranged zinc finger domains. Family C1 (64 members, earlier described as the EPF-family in Petunia, comprises proteins with one isolated or two to five dispersed fingers and a mostly invariant QALGGH motif in the zinc finger helices. Based on the amino acid pattern in these helices we could describe five different signature sequences prevalent in C1 zinc finger domains. We also found a number of non-finger domains that are conserved in these families. Conclusions Our analysis of the few evolutionarily conserved zinc finger proteins of A. thaliana suggests that most of them could be involved in ancient biological processes like RNA metabolism and chromatin-remodeling. In contrast, the majority of the unique A. thaliana zinc finger proteins are known or

Robotic Hand with Flexible Fingers for Grasping Cylindrical Objects

OpenAIRE

柴田, 瑞穂

2015-01-01

In this manuscript, a robotic hand for grasping a cylindrical object is proposed. This robotic hand has flexible fingers that can hold a cylindrical object during moving. We introduce a grasping strategy for a cylindrical object in terms of state transition graph. In this strategy the robotic hand picks up the cylindrical object utilizing a suction device before the hand grasp the object. We also design the flexible fingers; then, we investigate the validity of this robotic hand via several e...

Finger-Shaped GelForce: Sensor for Measuring Surface Traction Fields for Robotic Hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Sato, K; Kamiyama, K; Kawakami, N; Tachi, S

2010-01-01

It is believed that the use of haptic sensors to measure the magnitude, direction, and distribution of a force will enable a robotic hand to perform dexterous operations. Therefore, we develop a new type of finger-shaped haptic sensor using GelForce technology. GelForce is a vision-based sensor that can be used to measure the distribution of force vectors, or surface traction fields. The simple structure of the GelForce enables us to develop a compact finger-shaped GelForce for the robotic hand. GelForce that is developed on the basis of an elastic theory can be used to calculate surface traction fields using a conversion equation. However, this conversion equation cannot be analytically solved when the elastic body of the sensor has a complicated shape such as the shape of a finger. Therefore, we propose an observational method and construct a prototype of the finger-shaped GelForce. By using this prototype, we evaluate the basic performance of the finger-shaped GelForce. Then, we conduct a field test by performing grasping operations using a robotic hand. The results of this test show that using the observational method, the finger-shaped GelForce can be successfully used in a robotic hand.

Design of a Reconfigurable Robotic System for Flexoextension Fitted to Hand Fingers Size.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar-Pereyra, J Felipe; Castillo-Castaneda, Eduardo

2016-01-01

Due to the growing demand for assistance in rehabilitation therapies for hand movements, a robotic system is proposed to mobilize the hand fingers in flexion and extension exercises. The robotic system is composed by four, type slider-crank, mechanisms that have the ability to fit the user fingers length from the index to the little finger, through the adjustment of only one link for each mechanism. The trajectory developed by each mechanism corresponds to the natural flexoextension path of each finger. The amplitude of the rotations for metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) varies from 0 to 90° and the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) varies from 0 to 60°; the joint rotations are coordinated naturally. The four R-RRT mechanisms orientation allows a 15° abduction movement for index, ring, and little fingers. The kinematic analysis of this mechanism was developed in order to assure that the displacement speed and smooth acceleration into the desired range of motion and the simulation results are presented. The reconfiguration of mechanisms covers about 95% of hand sizes of a group of Mexican adult population. Maximum trajectory tracking error is less than 3% in full range of movement and it can be compensated by the additional rotation of finger joints without injury to the user.

Distinct neural control of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the hand during single finger pressing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dupan, Sigrid S.G.; Stegeman, Dick F.; Maas, Huub

2018-01-01

Single finger force tasks lead to unintended activation of the non-instructed fingers, commonly referred to as enslaving. Both neural and mechanical factors have been associated with this absence of finger individuality. This study investigates the amplitude modulation of both intrinsic and

Estimation method of finger tapping dynamics using simple magnetic detection system.

Science.gov (United States)

Kandori, Akihiko; Sano, Yuko; Miyashita, Tsuyoshi; Okada, Yoshihisa; Irokawa, Masataka; Shima, Keisuke; Tsuji, Toshio; Yokoe, Masaru; Sakoda, Saburo

2010-05-01

We have developed the simple estimation method of a finger tapping dynamics model for investigating muscle resistance and stiffness during tapping movement in normal subjects. We measured finger tapping movements of 207 normal subjects using a magnetic finger tapping detection system. Each subject tapped two fingers in time with a metronome at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Hz. The velocity and acceleration values for both the closing and opening tapping data were used to estimate a finger tapping dynamics model. Using the frequency response of the ratio of acceleration to velocity of the mechanical impedance parameters, we estimated the resistance (friction coefficient) and compliance (stiffness). We found two dynamics models for the maximum open position and tap position. In the maximum open position, the extensor muscle resistance was twice as high as the flexor muscle resistance and males had a higher spring constant. In the tap position, the flexor muscle resistance was much higher than the extensor muscle resistance. This indicates that the tapping dynamics in the maximum open position are controlled by the balance of extensor and flexor muscle friction resistances and the flexor stiffness, and the flexor friction resistance is the main component in the tap position. It can be concluded that our estimation method makes it possible to understand the tapping dynamics.

Estimation method of finger tapping dynamics using simple magnetic detection system

Science.gov (United States)

Kandori, Akihiko; Sano, Yuko; Miyashita, Tsuyoshi; Okada, Yoshihisa; Irokawa, Masataka; Shima, Keisuke; Tsuji, Toshio; Yokoe, Masaru; Sakoda, Saburo

2010-05-01

We have developed the simple estimation method of a finger tapping dynamics model for investigating muscle resistance and stiffness during tapping movement in normal subjects. We measured finger tapping movements of 207 normal subjects using a magnetic finger tapping detection system. Each subject tapped two fingers in time with a metronome at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Hz. The velocity and acceleration values for both the closing and opening tapping data were used to estimate a finger tapping dynamics model. Using the frequency response of the ratio of acceleration to velocity of the mechanical impedance parameters, we estimated the resistance (friction coefficient) and compliance (stiffness). We found two dynamics models for the maximum open position and tap position. In the maximum open position, the extensor muscle resistance was twice as high as the flexor muscle resistance and males had a higher spring constant. In the tap position, the flexor muscle resistance was much higher than the extensor muscle resistance. This indicates that the tapping dynamics in the maximum open position are controlled by the balance of extensor and flexor muscle friction resistances and the flexor stiffness, and the flexor friction resistance is the main component in the tap position. It can be concluded that our estimation method makes it possible to understand the tapping dynamics.

Ret Finger Protein: An E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Juxtaposed to the XY Body in Meiosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabelle Gillot

2009-01-01

Full Text Available During prophase I of male meiosis, the sex chromosomes form a compact structure called XY body that associates with the nuclear membrane of pachytene spermatocytes. Ret Finger Protein is a transcriptional repressor, able to interact with both nuclear matrix-associated proteins and double-stranded DNA. We report the precise and unique localization of Ret Finger Protein in pachytene spermatocytes, in which Ret Finger Protein takes place of lamin B1, between the XY body and the inner nuclear membrane. This localization of Ret Finger Protein does not seem to be associated with O-glycosylation or sumoylation. In addition, we demonstrate that Ret Finger Protein contains an E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. These observations lead to an attractive hypothesis in which Ret Finger Protein would be involved in the positioning and the attachment of XY body to the nuclear lamina of pachytene spermatocytes.

Real time relationship between individual finger force and grip exertion on distal phalanges in linear force following tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Shi-Jian; Shu, Ge; Gong, Yan

2018-05-01

Individual finger force (FF) in a grip task is a vital concern in rehabilitation engineering and precise control of manipulators because disorders in any of the fingers will affect the stability or accuracy of the grip force (GF). To understand the functions of each finger in a dynamic grip exertion task, a GF following experiment with four individual fingers without thumb was designed. This study obtained four individual FFs from the distal phalanges with a cylindrical handle in dynamic GF following tasks. Ten healthy male subjects with similar hand sizes participated in the four-finger linear GF following tasks at different submaximal voluntary contraction (SMVC) levels. The total GF, individual FF, finger force contribution, and following error were subsequently calculated and analyzed. The statistics indicated the following: 1) the accuracy and stability of GF at low %MVC were significantly higher than those at high SMVC; 2) at low SMVC, the ability of the fingers to increase the GF was better than the ability to reduce it, but it was contrary at high SMVC; 3) when the target wave (TW) was changing, all four fingers strongly participated in the force exertion, but the participation of the little finger decreased significantly when TW remained stable; 4) the index finger and ring finger had a complementary relationship and played a vital role in the adjustment and control of GF. The middle finger and little finger had a minor influence on the force control and adjustment. In conclusion, each of the fingers had different functions in a GF following task. These findings can be used in the assessment of finger injury rehabilitation and for algorithms of precise control. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Post-exercise cortical depression following repetitive passive finger movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Otsuka, Ryohei; Sasaki, Ryoki; Tsuiki, Shota; Kojima, Sho; Onishi, Hideaki

2017-08-24

This study aimed to clarify the influence of range of repetitive passive finger movement on corticospinal excitability. Thirteen healthy subjects participated in this study. Passive index finger adduction-abduction movements were performed from 15° abduction to 15° adduction, 15° abduction to 0°, 0° to 15° adduction, and 15° adduction to 30° adduction, each at 15°/s for 10min on separate days. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation and M- and F-waves were measured before and after each repetitive passive index finger movement protocol to evaluate changes in corticospinal excitability. MEP amplitude significantly decreased after all passive movements, while F-wave amplitude, F-wave persistence, and M-wave amplitude remained stable. These results suggest that cortical excitability decreases after repetitive passive movement. However, the range of repetitive passive movement does not markedly influence the magnitude of cortical depression. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantification of Finger-Tapping Angle Based on Wearable Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Djurić-Jovičić, Milica; Jovičić, Nenad S; Roby-Brami, Agnes; Popović, Mirjana B; Kostić, Vladimir S; Djordjević, Antonije R

2017-01-25

We propose a novel simple method for quantitative and qualitative finger-tapping assessment based on miniature inertial sensors (3D gyroscopes) placed on the thumb and index-finger. We propose a simplified description of the finger tapping by using a single angle, describing rotation around a dominant axis. The method was verified on twelve subjects, who performed various tapping tasks, mimicking impaired patterns. The obtained tapping angles were compared with results of a motion capture camera system, demonstrating excellent accuracy. The root-mean-square (RMS) error between the two sets of data is, on average, below 4°, and the intraclass correlation coefficient is, on average, greater than 0.972. Data obtained by the proposed method may be used together with scores from clinical tests to enable a better diagnostic. Along with hardware simplicity, this makes the proposed method a promising candidate for use in clinical practice. Furthermore, our definition of the tapping angle can be applied to all tapping assessment systems.

fMRI assessment of somatotopy in human Brodmann area 3b by electrical finger stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurth, R; Villringer, K; Mackert, B M; Schwiemann, J; Braun, J; Curio, G; Villringer, A; Wolf, K J

1998-01-26

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is capable of detecting focal brain activation induced by electrical stimulation of single fingers in human subjects. In eight subjects somatotopic arrangement of the second and fifth finger was found in Brodmann area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex. In four subjects the representation area of the second finger was located lateral and inferior to the fifth finger; in one subject the somatotopy was reversed. In three subjects representation areas of the two fingers in Brodmann area 3b were found overlapping. Additional activated areas were found on the crown of ipsilateral and contralateral postcentral gyrus (Brodmann areas 1 and 2) and posterior parietal cortex.

Impaired Finger Dexterity in Parkinson's Disease Is Associated with Praxis Function

Science.gov (United States)

Vanbellingen, T.; Kersten, B.; Bellion, M.; Temperli, P.; Baronti, F.; Muri, R.; Bohlhalter, S.

2011-01-01

A controversial concept suggests that impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson's disease may be related to limb kinetic apraxia that is not explained by elemental motor deficits such as bradykinesia. To explore the nature of dexterous difficulties, the aim of the present study was to assess the relationship of finger dexterity with ideomotor praxis…

Neuron selection based on deflection coefficient maximization for the neural decoding of dexterous finger movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yong-Hee; Thakor, Nitish V; Schieber, Marc H; Kim, Hyoung-Nam

2015-05-01

Future generations of brain-machine interface (BMI) will require more dexterous motion control such as hand and finger movements. Since a population of neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) area is correlated with finger movements, neural activities recorded in M1 area are used to reconstruct an intended finger movement. In a BMI system, decoding discrete finger movements from a large number of input neurons does not guarantee a higher decoding accuracy in spite of the increase in computational burden. Hence, we hypothesize that selecting neurons important for coding dexterous flexion/extension of finger movements would improve the BMI performance. In this paper, two metrics are presented to quantitatively measure the importance of each neuron based on Bayes risk minimization and deflection coefficient maximization in a statistical decision problem. Since motor cortical neurons are active with movements of several different fingers, the proposed method is more suitable for a discrete decoding of flexion-extension finger movements than the previous methods for decoding reaching movements. In particular, the proposed metrics yielded high decoding accuracies across all subjects and also in the case of including six combined two-finger movements. While our data acquisition and analysis was done off-line and post processing, our results point to the significance of highly coding neurons in improving BMI performance.

"Finger" structure of tiles in CMS Endcap Hadron Calorimeters

CERN Document Server

Afanasiev, Sergey; Danilov, Mikhail; Emeliantchik, Igor; Ershov, Yuri; Golutvin, Igor; Grinyov, B.V; Ibragimova, Elvira; Levchuk, Leonid; Litomin, Aliaksandr; Makankin, Alexander; Malakhov, Alexander; Moisenz, Petr; Nuritdinov, I; Popov, V.F; Rusinov, Vladimir; Shumeiko, Nikolai; Smirnov, Vitaly; Sorokin, Pavlo; Tarkovskiy, Evgueni; Tashmetov, A; Vasiliev, S.E; Yuldashev, Bekhzod; Zamyatin, Nikolay; Zhmurin, Petro

2015-01-01

Two CMS Endcap hadron calorimeters (HE) have been in operation for several years and contributed substantially to the success of the CMS Physics Program. The HE calorimeter suffered more from the radiation than it had been anticipated because of rapid degradation of scintillator segments (tiles) which have a high radiation flux of secondary particles. Some investigations of scintillators have shown that the degradation of plastic scintillator increases significantly at low dose rates. A proposal to upgrade up-grade the HE calorimeter has been prepared to provide a solution for survivability of the future LHC at higher luminosity and higher energy. A finger-strip plastic scintillator option has many advantages and is a lower cost alternative to keep the excellent HE performance at high luminosity. Measurements have been performed and this method has proved to be a good upgrade strategy.

High-pressure microbiology

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Michiels, Chris; Bartlett, Douglas Hoyt; Aertsen, Abram

2008-01-01

... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. High Hydrostatic Pressure Effects in the Biosphere: from Molecules to Microbiology * Filip Meersman and Karel Heremans . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Effects...

Optimization of illuminating system to detect optical properties inside a finger

Science.gov (United States)

Sano, Emiko; Shikai, Masahiro; Shiratsuki, Akihide; Maeda, Takuji; Matsushita, Masahito; Sasakawa, Koichi

2007-01-01

Biometrics performs personal authentication using individual bodily features including fingerprints, faces, etc. These technologies have been studied and developed for many years. In particular, fingerprint authentication has evolved over many years, and fingerprinting is currently one of world's most established biometric authentication techniques. Not long ago this technique was only used for personal identification in criminal investigations and high-security facilities. In recent years, however, various biometric authentication techniques have appeared in everyday applications. Even though providing great convenience, they have also produced a number of technical issues concerning operation. Generally, fingerprint authentication is comprised of a number of component technologies: (1) sensing technology for detecting the fingerprint pattern; (2) image processing technology for converting the captured pattern into feature data that can be used for verification; (3) verification technology for comparing the feature data with a reference and determining whether it matches. Current fingerprint authentication issues, revealed in research results, originate with fingerprint sensing technology. Sensing methods for detecting a person's fingerprint pattern for image processing are particularly important because they impact overall fingerprint authentication performance. The following are the current problems concerning sensing methods that occur in some cases: Some fingers whose fingerprints used to be difficult to detect by conventional sensors. Fingerprint patterns are easily affected by the finger's surface condition, such noise as discontinuities and thin spots can appear in fingerprint patterns obtained from wrinkled finger, sweaty finger, and so on. To address these problems, we proposed a novel fingerprint sensor based on new scientific knowledge. A characteristic of this new method is that obtained fingerprint patterns are not easily affected by the finger

Role of Rayleigh numbers on characteristics of double diffusive salt fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Rehman, F.; Singh, O. P.

2018-05-01

Double diffusion convection, driven by two constituents of the fluid with different molecular diffusivity, is widely applied in oceanography and large number of other fields like astrophysics, geology, chemistry and metallurgy. In case of ocean, heat (T) and salinity (S) are the two components with varying diffusivity, where heat diffuses hundred times faster than salt. Component (T) stabilizes the system whereas components (S) destabilizes the system with overall density remains stable and forms the rising and sinking fingers known as salt fingers. Recent observations suggest that salt finger characteristics such as growth rates, wavenumber, and fluxes are strongly depending on the Rayleigh numbers as major driving force. In this paper, we corroborate this observation with the help of experiments, numerical simulations and linear theory. An eigenvalue expression for growth rate is derived from the linearized governing equations with explicit dependence on Rayleigh numbers, density stability ratio, Prandtl number and diffusivity ratio. Expressions for fastest growing fingers are also derived as a function various non-dimensional parameter. The predicted results corroborate well with the data reported from the field measurements, experiments and numerical simulations.

Considerations in the selection of model substrates for microbiological effects research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francis, A.J.; Rose, A.W.

1984-01-01

The physical and chemical characteristics of several energy residues have been briefly reviewed in order to select a model or representative substrate of basic research to determine the significance of anaerobic microbial dissolution and mobilization or immobilization of toxic trace elements under subsurface environmental conditions. The major factors which influence the dissolution and mobilization of trace metals have been critically examined, e.g., (i) effects on pH of leachates (pyrite oxidation), soluble acid, and basic compounds; (ii) effects on oxidation state of leachates (oxidation state of Fe, presence of organics); (iii) concentration of toxic inorganic species, and chemical form; (iv) surface area of waste particles; and (v) physical strength and particle size, with resulting effects on permeability of the substrate. Several major physical and chemical characteristics are common to energy-related residues yet each of these materials has a unique set of physical and chemical properties. The pros and cons of selecting a single model substrate for microbiological research were discussed at the Geochemical and Biochemical Working Group Meeting and use of the end-member concept was suggested. From the abundance, distribution, forms of trace metals present, and volume of these metal-containing residues disposed of in the subsurface environments, microbiological studies can be performed with coal beneficiation and coal gasification residues under a variety of subsurface environmental conditions, and results can be validated in the field. The basic scientific information obtained from this research can be applied to other materials of similar composition. 18 references, 3 figures, 7 tables

Microbiology, philosophy and education.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Malley, Maureen A

2016-09-01

There are not only many links between microbiological and philosophical topics, but good educational reasons for microbiologists to explore the philosophical issues in their fields. I examine three broad issues of classification, causality and model systems, showing how these philosophical dimensions have practical implications. I conclude with a discussion of the educational benefits for recognising the philosophy in microbiology. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Finger vein recognition based on the hyperinformation feature

Science.gov (United States)

Xi, Xiaoming; Yang, Gongping; Yin, Yilong; Yang, Lu

2014-01-01

The finger vein is a promising biometric pattern for personal identification due to its advantages over other existing biometrics. In finger vein recognition, feature extraction is a critical step, and many feature extraction methods have been proposed to extract the gray, texture, or shape of the finger vein. We treat them as low-level features and present a high-level feature extraction framework. Under this framework, base attribute is first defined to represent the characteristics of a certain subcategory of a subject. Then, for an image, the correlation coefficient is used for constructing the high-level feature, which reflects the correlation between this image and all base attributes. Since the high-level feature can reveal characteristics of more subcategories and contain more discriminative information, we call it hyperinformation feature (HIF). Compared with low-level features, which only represent the characteristics of one subcategory, HIF is more powerful and robust. In order to demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework, we provide a case study to extract HIF. We conduct comprehensive experiments to show the generality of the proposed framework and the efficiency of HIF on our databases, respectively. Experimental results show that HIF significantly outperforms the low-level features.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Nutritional, technological, and medical approach of finger millet (Eleusine coracana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Gull

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. is also known as African millet and is commonly called “ragi” in India. It has excellent nutritional value and is even superior to other common cereals. It is a richest source of calcium (344 mg and magnesium (408 mg than other millets. Predominant fatty acids of this millet are oleic (49%, linoleic (25%, and palmitic acids (25%. Finger millet contains both water-soluble and lipo-soluble vitamins. Emerging bakery products prepared from this millet are pasta, noodles, vermicelli, and bread. Being gluten free, it is suitable for individuals suffering from celiac disease. Finger millet grain is a rich source of several phytochemicals. Finger millet possesses blood glucose lowering, cholesterol lowering, and antiulcerative, wound healing properties as indicated by in vitro and in vivo studies. Commonly used processing techniques for this millet are milling, malting, popping, and decortications.

On the granular fingering instability: controlled triggering in laboratory experiments and numerical simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Vriend, Nathalie; Tsang, Jonny; Arran, Matthew; Jin, Binbin; Johnsen, Alexander

2017-11-01

When a mixture of small, smooth particles and larger, coarse particles is released on a rough inclined plane, the initial uniform front may break up in distinct fingers which elongate over time. This fingering instability is sensitive to the unique arrangement of individual particles and is driven by granular segregation (Pouliquen et al., 1997). Variability in initial conditions create significant limitations for consistent experimental and numerical validation of newly developed theoretical models (Baker et al., 2016) for finger formation. We present an experimental study using a novel tool that sets the initial fingering width of the instability. By changing this trigger width between experiments, we explore the response of the avalanche breakup to perturbations of different widths. Discrete particle simulations (using MercuryDPM, Thornton et al., 2012) are conducted under a similar setting, reproducing the variable finger width, allowing validation between experiments and numerical simulations. A good agreement between simulations and experiments is obtained, and ongoing theoretical work is briefly introduced. NMV acknowledges the Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship.

Finger Vein Recognition Using Local Line Binary Pattern

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bakhtiar Affendi Rosdi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a personal verification method using finger vein is presented. Finger vein can be considered more secured compared to other hands based biometric traits such as fingerprint and palm print because the features are inside the human body. In the proposed method, a new texture descriptor called local line binary pattern (LLBP is utilized as feature extraction technique. The neighbourhood shape in LLBP is a straight line, unlike in local binary pattern (LBP which is a square shape. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LLBP has better performance than the previous methods using LBP and local derivative pattern (LDP.

Finger-gate manipulated quantum transport in Dirac materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kleftogiannis, Ioannis; Cheng, Shun-Jen; Tang, Chi-Shung

2015-01-01

We investigate the quantum transport properties of multichannel nanoribbons made of materials described by the Dirac equation, under an in-plane magnetic field. In the low energy regime, positive and negative finger-gate potentials allow the electrons to make intra-subband transitions via hole-like or electron-like quasibound states (QBS), respectively, resulting in dips in the conductance. In the high energy regime, double dip structures in the conductance are found, attributed to spin-flip or spin-nonflip inter-subband transitions through the QBSs. Inverting the finger-gate polarity offers the possibility to manipulate the spin polarized electronic transport to achieve a controlled spin-switch. (paper)

Finger Vein Recognition Using Local Line Binary Pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Shing, Chai Wuh; Suandi, Shahrel Azmin

2011-01-01

In this paper, a personal verification method using finger vein is presented. Finger vein can be considered more secured compared to other hands based biometric traits such as fingerprint and palm print because the features are inside the human body. In the proposed method, a new texture descriptor called local line binary pattern (LLBP) is utilized as feature extraction technique. The neighbourhood shape in LLBP is a straight line, unlike in local binary pattern (LBP) which is a square shape. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LLBP has better performance than the previous methods using LBP and local derivative pattern (LDP). PMID:22247670

The results of surgical and nonsurgical treatment of mallet finger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Starčević Branislav

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The injury of the hand tendon classified as mallet finger presents the loss of continuity of the united lateral band of the extensor apparatus above distal interphalangeal joint, which consequently leads to specific deformity of distal interphalangeal joint which is called mallet (hammer finger. Objective Our paper had several research Objectives: presentation of the existing Results of surgical and nonsurgical treatment of mallet finger deformities and comparison of our findings and other authors’ Results. Method: The study was retro-prospective, and analyzed 62 patients treated in the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade (at the Institute of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, and the Emergency Center in the period 1998 to 2003. The follow up of these patients lasted at least 8 months (from 8.3 months to 71.7 months. An average follow up was 28.7 months. The Objective parameters used in the study were as follows: sex, age, dominating hand, hand injury, finger injury, mode of treatment, complications, distal interphalangeal joint flexion and total movement of the distal interphalangeal joint. Collected data were analyzed by χ2-test and Student’s t-test. The confidence interval was p=0.05. Results: A total range of motion was 51.9±6.6 for nonsurgically treated patients, and 48.2±4.2 degrees for operated patients. Mean extension deficit of the distal interphalangeal joint was 6.5±3.3 for nonsurgical and 10.0±3.2 for operated patients. Conclusion: The Results confirmed that nonsurgical mode of treatment of mallet finger deformity was much more successful than surgical Method of treating the same deformity.

Finger jointing green southern yellow pine with a soy-based adhesive

Science.gov (United States)

Philip H. Steele; Roland E. Kreibicha; Petrus J. Steynberg; Richard W. Hemingway

1998-01-01

The authors present results of laboratory tests for a soy-based adhesive to bond southern yellow pine using the finger-jointing method. There was some reason to suspect that finger jointing of southern yellow pine (SYP) with the honeymoon system using soy-based adhesive might prove more difficult than for western species. The Wood Handbook classes western species in...

Human motor cortical activity recorded with Micro-ECoG electrodes, during individual finger movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, W; Degenhart, A D; Collinger, J L; Vinjamuri, R; Sudre, G P; Adelson, P D; Holder, D L; Leuthardt, E C; Moran, D W; Boninger, M L; Schwartz, A B; Crammond, D J; Tyler-Kabara, E C; Weber, D J

2009-01-01

In this study human motor cortical activity was recorded with a customized micro-ECoG grid during individual finger movements. The quality of the recorded neural signals was characterized in the frequency domain from three different perspectives: (1) coherence between neural signals recorded from different electrodes, (2) modulation of neural signals by finger movement, and (3) accuracy of finger movement decoding. It was found that, for the high frequency band (60-120 Hz), coherence between neighboring micro-ECoG electrodes was 0.3. In addition, the high frequency band showed significant modulation by finger movement both temporally and spatially, and a classification accuracy of 73% (chance level: 20%) was achieved for individual finger movement using neural signals recorded from the micro-ECoG grid. These results suggest that the micro-ECoG grid presented here offers sufficient spatial and temporal resolution for the development of minimally-invasive brain-computer interface applications.

Design of a Reconfigurable Robotic System for Flexoextension Fitted to Hand Fingers Size

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Felipe Aguilar-Pereyra

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the growing demand for assistance in rehabilitation therapies for hand movements, a robotic system is proposed to mobilize the hand fingers in flexion and extension exercises. The robotic system is composed by four, type slider-crank, mechanisms that have the ability to fit the user fingers length from the index to the little finger, through the adjustment of only one link for each mechanism. The trajectory developed by each mechanism corresponds to the natural flexoextension path of each finger. The amplitude of the rotations for metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP and proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP varies from 0 to 90° and the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP varies from 0 to 60°; the joint rotations are coordinated naturally. The four R-RRT mechanisms orientation allows a 15° abduction movement for index, ring, and little fingers. The kinematic analysis of this mechanism was developed in order to assure that the displacement speed and smooth acceleration into the desired range of motion and the simulation results are presented. The reconfiguration of mechanisms covers about 95% of hand sizes of a group of Mexican adult population. Maximum trajectory tracking error is less than 3% in full range of movement and it can be compensated by the additional rotation of finger joints without injury to the user.

Clubbed fingers: the claws we lost?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwers, A.A.M.; Vermeij-Keers, C.; Zoelen, E.J.J. van; Gooren, L.J.G.

2004-01-01

Clubbed digits resemble the human embryonic fingers and toes, which took like the digits of a claw. Clubbed digits, thus, may represent the return of the embryonic claw and may even represent the claws man has lost during evolution, if ontogenesis realty recapitulates phylogenesis. We put forward

Dynamic Behavior Analysis of Non-Contacting Hydrodynamic Finger Seal Based on Fluid-Solid-Interaction Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su Hua

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Finger seal is an advanced compliant seal and can be utilized to separate high (HP and low pressure (LP zones in high speed rotating shaft environment. The work to be presented concerns the dynamic behavior of a repetitive section of a two-layer finger seal with high-and padded low-pressure laminates. The dynamic performance of the finger seal are analyzed by the coupled fluid-solid-interaction (FSI simulations. By using the commercial software ANSYS-CFX, the numerical simulation results of interactions between the gas flow and fingers structural deformation are described when the radial periodic excitation from the shaft applies to the finger seal. And the gas film loading capacity, gas film stiffness and leakage varied with time are put forward in different working conditions. Compared with the dynamic performance analysis results based on equivalent dynamic method, the FSI dynamic analysis shows some different characteristics which are more accordance with actual circumstance. Moreover, it is shown that under low pressure differential and high rotation speed the non-contacting finger seal with advance features both in sealing effectiveness and potential unlimited life span can be obtained by rational structure design. But for the non-contacting finger seal with circumferential convergent pad working in high pressure and low rotating speed conditions, it is difficult to improve the sealing performance by the way of changing the structure parameters of finger seal. It is because the high pressure plays a major role on this sealing situation.

Laterality of repetitive finger movement performance and clinical features of Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Stegemöller, Elizabeth; Zaman, Andrew; MacKinnon, Colum D; Tillman, Mark D; Hass, Chris J; Okun, Michael S

2016-10-01

Impairments in acoustically cued repetitive finger movement often emerge at rates near to and above 2Hz in persons with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in which some patients move faster (hastening) and others move slower (bradykinetic). The clinical features impacting this differential performance of repetitive finger movement remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare repetitive finger movement performance between the more and less affected side, and the difference in clinical ratings among performance groups. Forty-one participants diagnosed with idiopathic PD completed an acoustically cued repetitive finger movement task while "on" medication. Eighteen participants moved faster, 10 moved slower, and 13 were able to maintain the appropriate rate at rates above 2Hz. Clinical measures of laterality, disease severity, and the UPDRS were obtained. There were no significant differences between the more and less affected sides regardless of performance group. Comparison of disease severity, tremor, and rigidity among performance groups revealed no significant differences. Comparison of posture and postural instability scores revealed that the participants that demonstrated hastening had worse posture and postural instability scores. Consideration of movement rate during the clinical evaluation of repetitive finger movement may provide additional insight into varying disease features in persons with PD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stable expression of mtlD gene imparts multiple stress tolerance in finger millet.

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Ramanna Hema

Full Text Available Finger millet is susceptible to abiotic stresses, especially drought and salinity stress, in the field during seed germination and early stages of seedling development. Therefore developing stress tolerant finger millet plants combating drought, salinity and associated oxidative stress in these two growth stages is important. Cellular protection through osmotic adjustment and efficient free radical scavenging ability during abiotic stress are important components of stress tolerance mechanisms in plants. Mannitol, an osmolyte, is known to scavenge hydroxyl radicals generated during various abiotic stresses and thereby minimize stress damage in several plant species. In this study transgenic finger millet plants expressing the mannitol biosynthetic pathway gene from bacteria, mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (mtlD, were developed through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation. mtlD gene integration in the putative transgenic plants was confirmed by Southern blot. Further, performance of transgenic finger millet under drought, salinity and oxidative stress was studied at plant level in T1 generation and in T1 and T2 generation seedlings. Results from these experiments showed that transgenic finger millet had better growth under drought and salinity stress compared to wild-type. At plant level, transgenic plants showed better osmotic adjustment and chlorophyll retention under drought stress compared to the wild-type. However, the overall increase in stress tolerance of transgenics for the three stresses, especially for oxidative stress, was only marginal compared to other mtlD gene expressing plant species reported in the literature. Moreover, the Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation protocol developed for finger millet in this study can be used to introduce diverse traits of agronomic importance in finger millet.

Stable expression of mtlD gene imparts multiple stress tolerance in finger millet.

Science.gov (United States)

Hema, Ramanna; Vemanna, Ramu S; Sreeramulu, Shivakumar; Reddy, Chandrasekhara P; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Udayakumar, Makarla

2014-01-01

Finger millet is susceptible to abiotic stresses, especially drought and salinity stress, in the field during seed germination and early stages of seedling development. Therefore developing stress tolerant finger millet plants combating drought, salinity and associated oxidative stress in these two growth stages is important. Cellular protection through osmotic adjustment and efficient free radical scavenging ability during abiotic stress are important components of stress tolerance mechanisms in plants. Mannitol, an osmolyte, is known to scavenge hydroxyl radicals generated during various abiotic stresses and thereby minimize stress damage in several plant species. In this study transgenic finger millet plants expressing the mannitol biosynthetic pathway gene from bacteria, mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (mtlD), were developed through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation. mtlD gene integration in the putative transgenic plants was confirmed by Southern blot. Further, performance of transgenic finger millet under drought, salinity and oxidative stress was studied at plant level in T1 generation and in T1 and T2 generation seedlings. Results from these experiments showed that transgenic finger millet had better growth under drought and salinity stress compared to wild-type. At plant level, transgenic plants showed better osmotic adjustment and chlorophyll retention under drought stress compared to the wild-type. However, the overall increase in stress tolerance of transgenics for the three stresses, especially for oxidative stress, was only marginal compared to other mtlD gene expressing plant species reported in the literature. Moreover, the Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation protocol developed for finger millet in this study can be used to introduce diverse traits of agronomic importance in finger millet.

Finger island flaps for treatment of dermato-desmogenic flexion contractures of proximal interphalangeal joints

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T. S. Antonova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Soft tissue defect will form after operative treatment of the dermato-desmogenic flexion contractures of fingers interphalangeal joints of the 2–3 grades after excision of the scar. Using the island flaps (Littler at the central vascular pedicle is one of the classical methods of plastic closure of such defects. Goal. To study the effectiveness of the surgical treatment of dermato-desmogenic flexion contractures of proximal interphalangeal joints of the fingers by using finger island flaps at the central vascular or neuro-vascular pedicle. Materials and methods. 14 operations were carried out on 13 patients for removing dermato-desmogenic flexion contractures of proximal interphalangeal (PIP joints of triphalangeal fingers over a 2-year period (2013–2015. The group included patients with a flexion contracture of the 2–3 grades PIP joints of triphalangeal fingers. Operations were performed on average 5 months after the injury (from 1.5 up to 16 months. Finger island flap in all cases was taken from adjacent finger by using the blood supply of their common finger artery. In all cases the island flap on the central pedicel was used, in 9 cases digital nerve was included in the pedicle (Littler. Closure of donor wound was made with free-skin grafts. Permanent splinting of the hand with extension of the interphalangeal joints and moderate flexion of the metacarpophalangeal joints were performed during 7–8 days after surgery, then exercise therapy was prescribed. Results. The results were estimated 6 and 12 months after surgery. All the results were regarded as excellent. In 5 cases of using the flap on a vascular pedicle flap hypoesthesia was detected, that has not led to dysfunction of the hand. Contracture recurrence during follow-up was not observed. Conclusions. Using the surgery for treatment of dermato-desmogenic flexion contractures of proximal interphalangeal joints of the fingers with the island flaps at the central vascular or neuro

Involuntary Neuromuscular Coupling between the Thumb and Finger of Stroke Survivors during Dynamic Movement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher L. Jones

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Finger–thumb coordination is crucial to manual dexterity but remains incompletely understood, particularly following neurological injury such as stroke. While being controlled independently, the index finger and thumb especially must work in concert to perform a variety of tasks requiring lateral or palmar pinch. The impact of stroke on this functionally critical sensorimotor control during dynamic tasks has been largely unexplored. In this study, we explored finger–thumb coupling during close–open pinching motions in stroke survivors with chronic hemiparesis. Two types of perturbations were applied randomly to the index with a novel Cable-Actuated Finger Exoskeleton: a sudden joint acceleration stretching muscle groups of the index finger and a sudden increase in impedance in selected index finger joint(s. Electromyographic signals for specific thumb and index finger muscles, thumb tip trajectory, and index finger joint angles were recorded during each trial. Joint angle perturbations invoked reflex responses in the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS, first dorsal interossei (FDI, and extensor digitorum communis muscles of the index finger and heteronymous reflex responses in flexor pollicis brevis of the thumb (p < 0.017. Phase of movement played a role as a faster peak reflex response was observed in FDI during opening than during closing (p < 0.002 and direction of perturbations resulted in shorter reflex times for FDS and FDI (p < 0.012 for extension perturbations. Surprisingly, when index finger joint impedance was suddenly increased, thumb tip movement was substantially increased, from 2 to 10 cm (p < 0.001. A greater effect was seen during the opening phase (p < 0.044. Thus, involuntary finger–thumb coupling was present during dynamic movement, with perturbation of the index finger impacting thumb activity. The degree of coupling modulated with the phase of motion. These findings reveal a potential

Zinc-finger proteins in health and disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Cassandri, Matteo; Smirnov, Artem; Novelli, Flavia; Pitolli, Consuelo; Agostini, Massimiliano; Malewicz, Michal; Melino, Gerry; Raschellà, Giuseppe

2017-01-01

Zinc-finger proteins (ZNFs) are one of the most abundant groups of proteins and have a wide range of molecular functions. Given the wide variety of zinc-finger domains, ZNFs are able to interact with DNA, RNA, PAR (poly-ADP-ribose) and other proteins. Thus, ZNFs are involved in the regulation of several cellular processes. In fact, ZNFs are implicated in transcriptional regulation, ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, signal transduction, actin targeting, DNA repair, cell migration, and numerous other processes. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge of this class of proteins. Firstly, we describe the actual classification of ZNFs, their structure and functions. Secondly, we focus on the biological role of ZNFs in the development of organisms under normal physiological and pathological conditions.

A Novel Multi-Finger Gate Structure of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cui Lei; Wang Quan; Wang Xiao-Liang; Xiao Hong-Ling; Wang Cui-Mei; Jiang Li-Juan; Feng Chun; Yin Hai-Bo; Gong Jia-Min; Li Bai-Quan; Wang Zhan-Guo

2015-01-01

A novel multi-finger gate high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is designed to reduce the peak electric field value at the drain-side gate edge when the device is at off-state. The effective gate length (L_e_f_f) of the multi-finger gate device is smaller than that of the field plate gate device. In this work, field plate gate, five-finger gate and ten-finger gate devices are simulated. The results of the simulation indicate that the multi-finger gate device has a lower peak value than the device with the gate field plate. Moreover, this value would be further reduced when the number of gate fingers is increased. In addition, it has the potential to make the HEMT work in a higher frequency since it has a lower effective length of gate. (paper)

Effect of mixed spices in lemon glass marinade cuisine on changes in chemical physical and microbiological quality of ready-to-cook Thai indigenous chicken meat during chilled storage

OpenAIRE

Wongwiwat, P.; Yanpakdee, S.; Wattanachant, S.

2007-01-01

The effects of spices on chemical, physical and microbiological quality of ready-to-cook Thai indigenous chicken meat were investigated during storage at 4oC for 15 days. The spices used with marinade ingredient (soya sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and salt) were lemon glass, black pepper, garlic, coriander root and mixed spices. Non-marinated chicken meat (control 1) and marinated only ingredients (control 2) were used as control treatments. The qualities of ready-to-cook chicken meat that were ...

Anatomy of the fingers in MR imaging using a high resolution surface coil; Die Anatomie der Finger in der MRT unter Anwendung einer Hochaufloesungsspule

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maeurer, J. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Mueller, H.F. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Lemke, A.J. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Requardt, R. [Siemens AG, Erlangen (Germany); Stein, I. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Schedel, H. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Langer, R. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Felix, R. [Strahlenklinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Wedding, Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany)

1994-12-31

MR-images of the fingers of twenty healthy volunteers were obtained at a 1,5-T whole-body system with a high resolution coil. Additionally, the fingers of two formalin-fixed anatomical specismen were imaged, fronzen and then subsequently sectioned for anatomic correlation. Measurements were recorded with a slice thickness of 2 mm. A 256x256 matrix and a 2,5 cam fiel of view (FOV) were used resulting in a pixel size of 0,01 mm{sup 2}. Based on the excellent depiction of anatomic detail and contrast resolution high resolution MRI of the fingers enabled identification of osseous and cartilaginous structures, as well as delineation of tendons, ligaments blood-vessels and dermal layers. (orig.) [Deutsch] An einem 1,5-T-Ganzkoerpertomographen wurden die Finger von 20 gesunden Probanden mit einer Hochaufloesungsspule zur Darstellung der Anatomie untersucht. Zum Vergleich erfolgte die Abbildung der anatomischen Strukturen an zwei formol- und alkoholfixierten Leichepraeparaten der Hand mittels MRT. Im Anschluss wurden die untersuchten Regionen am tiefgefrorenen Praeparat mit einer Bandsaege nachgeschnitten. Die MR-Messungen wurden mit einer Schichtdicke von 3 mm, einem Field of View (FOV) von 25 mm und einer Matrix von 256x256 Pixel durchgefuehrt. Die daraus resultierende Pixelgroesse betrug 0,01 mm{sup 2}. Der Weichteilkontrast und die hohe Ortsaufloesung ermoeglichten die Identifikation von Knochen- und Knorpelstrukturen sowie die Abgrenzung von Sehnen, Baendern, Blutgefaessen und Hautschichten. (orig.)

Finger Counting Habits in Middle Eastern and Western Individuals: An Online Survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lindemann, O.; Alipour, A.; Fischer, M.H.

2011-01-01

The current study documents the presence of cultural differences in the development of finger counting strategies. About 900 Middle Eastern (i.e., Iranian) and Western (i.e., European and American) individuals reported in an online survey how they map numbers onto their fingers when counting from 1

Fifteen years experience with finger arterial pressure monitoring : Assessment of the technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Imholz, B.P.M.; Wieling, W.; Montfrans, G.A. van; Wesseling, K.H.

1998-01-01

We review the Finapres technology, embodied in several TNO-prototypes and in the Ohmeda 2300 and 2300e Finapres NIBP. Finapres is an acronym for FINger Arterial PRESsure, the device delivers a continuous finger arterial pressure waveform. Many papers report on the accuracy of the device in

Fifteen years experience with finger arterial pressure monitoring: assessment of the technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Imholz, B. P.; Wieling, W.; van Montfrans, G. A.; Wesseling, K. H.

1998-01-01

We review the Finapres technology, embodied in several TNO-prototypes and in the Ohmeda 2300 and 2300e Finapres NIBP. Finapres is an acronym for FINger Arterial PRESsure, the device delivers a continuous finger arterial pressure waveform. Many papers report on the accuracy of the device in

Multi-finger prehension: control of a redundant mechanical system.

Science.gov (United States)

Latash, Mark L; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M

2009-01-01

The human hand has been a fascinating object of study for researchers in both biomechanics and motor control. Studies of human prehension have contributed significantly to the progress in addressing the famous problem of motor redundancy. After a brief review of the hand mechanics, we present results of recent studies that support a general view that the apparently redundant design of the hand is not a source of computational problems but a rich apparatus that allows performing a variety of tasks in a reliable and flexible way (the principle of abundance). Multi-digit synergies have been analyzed at two levels of a hypothetical hierarchy involved in the control of prehensile actions. At the upper level, forces and moments produced by the thumb and virtual finger (an imagined finger with a mechanical action equal to the combined mechanical action of all four fingers of the hand) co-vary to stabilize the gripping action and the orientation of the hand-held object. These results support the principle of superposition suggested earlier in robotics with respect to the control of artificial grippers. At the lower level of the hierarchy, forces and moments produced by individual fingers co-vary to stabilize the magnitude and direction of the force vector and the moment of force produced by the virtual finger. Adjustments to changes in task constraints (such as, for example, friction under individual digits) may be local and synergic. The latter reflect multi-digit prehension synergies and may be analyzed with the so-called chain effects: Sequences of relatively straightforward cause-effect links directly related to mechanical constraints leading to non-trivial strong co-variation between pairs of elemental variables. Analysis of grip force adjustments during motion of hand-held objects suggests that the central nervous system adjusts to gravitational and inertial loads differently. The human hand is a gold mine for researchers interested in the control of natural human

Advanced analysis of finger-tapping performance: a preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Barut, Cağatay; Kızıltan, Erhan; Gelir, Ethem; Köktürk, Fürüzan

2013-06-01

The finger-tapping test is a commonly employed quantitative assessment tool used to measure motor performance in the upper extremities. This task is a complex motion that is affected by external stimuli, mood and health status. The complexity of this task is difficult to explain with a single average intertap-interval value (time difference between successive tappings) which only provides general information and neglects the temporal effects of the aforementioned factors. This study evaluated the time course of average intertap-interval values and the patterns of variation in both the right and left hands of right-handed subjects using a computer-based finger-tapping system. Cross sectional study. Thirty eight male individuals aged between 20 and 28 years (Mean±SD = 22.24±1.65) participated in the study. Participants were asked to perform single-finger-tapping test for 10 seconds of test period. Only the results of right-handed (RH) 35 participants were considered in this study. The test records the time of tapping and saves data as the time difference between successive tappings for further analysis. The average number of tappings and the temporal fluctuation patterns of the intertap-intervals were calculated and compared. The variations in the intertap-interval were evaluated with the best curve fit method. An average tapping speed or tapping rate can reliably be defined for a single-finger tapping test by analysing the graphically presented data of the number of tappings within the test period. However, a different presentation of the same data, namely the intertap-interval values, shows temporal variation as the number of tapping increases. Curve fitting applications indicate that the variation has a biphasic nature. The measures obtained in this study reflect the complex nature of the finger-tapping task and are suggested to provide reliable information regarding hand performance. Moreover, the equation reflects both the variations in and the general

Quantitative assessment of finger motor impairment in multiple sclerosis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bonzano

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To address the disability impact on fine hand motor functions in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS by quantitatively measuring finger opposition movements, with the aim of providing a new "score" integrating current methods for disability assessment. METHODS: 40 MS patients (Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS: 0-7 and 80 healthy controls (HC performed a repetitive finger-to-thumb opposition sequence with their dominant hand at spontaneous and maximal velocity, and uni- and bi-manually metronome-paced. A sensor-engineered glove was used to measure finger motor performance. Twenty-seven HC were tested twice, one month apart, to assess test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The motor parameters showed a good reproducibility in HC and demonstrated significantly worse performance in MS patients with respect to HC. A multivariate model revealed that rate of movement in the spontaneous velocity condition and inter-hand interval (IHI, indicating bimanual coordination, contributed independently to differentiate the two groups. A finger motor impairment score based on these two parameters was able to discriminate HC from MS patients with very low EDSS scores (p<0.001: a significant difference was already evident for patients with EDSS = 0. Further, in the MS group, some motor performance parameters correlated with the clinical scores. In particular, significant correlations were found between IHI and EDSS (r = 0.56; p<0.0001, MS Functional Composite (r = -0.40; p = 0.01, Paced Auditory Serial Addition (r = -0.38; p = 0.02. No motor performance parameter correlated with Timed 25-Foot Walk. CONCLUSIONS: A simple, quantitative, objective method measuring finger motor performance could be used to define a score discriminating healthy controls and MS patients, even with very low disability. This sensitivity might be of crucial importance for monitoring the disease course and the treatment effects in early MS patients, when

Task specificity of finger dexterity tests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berger, M.A.M.; Krul, A.; Daanen, H.A.M.

2009-01-01

Finger dexterity tests are generally used to assess performance decrease due to gloves, cold and pathology. It is generally assumed that the O’Connor and Purdue Pegboard test yield similar results. In this experiment we compared these two tests for dry conditions without gloves, and for dry and wet

Task specificity of finger dexterity tests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berger, M.A.M.; Krul, A.J.; Daanen, H.A.M.

2009-01-01

Finger dexterity tests are generally used to assess performance decrease due to gloves, cold and pathology. It is generally assumed that the O'Connor and Purdue Pegboard test yield similar results. In this experiment we compared these two tests for dry conditions without gloves, and for dry and wet

Robust Operation of Tendon-Driven Robot Fingers Using Force and Position-Based Control Laws

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Muhammad E (Inventor); Platt, Jr., Robert J. (Inventor); Reiland, Matthew J (Inventor); Hargrave, Brian (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A (Inventor); Strawser, Philip A (Inventor); Ihrke, Chris A. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A robotic system includes a tendon-driven finger and a control system. The system controls the finger via a force-based control law when a tension sensor is available, and via a position-based control law when a sensor is not available. Multiple tendons may each have a corresponding sensor. The system selectively injects a compliance value into the position-based control law when only some sensors are available. A control system includes a host machine and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a control process, which is executed by the host machine to control the finger via the force- or position-based control law. A method for controlling the finger includes determining the availability of a tension sensor(s), and selectively controlling the finger, using the control system, via the force or position-based control law. The position control law allows the control system to resist disturbances while nominally maintaining the initial state of internal tendon tensions.

Building a Portuguese Food Microbiological Information Network

OpenAIRE

Viegas, Silvia; Machado, Claudia; Dantas, Maria; Oliveira, Luísa

2011-01-01

Introduction: The integration of food data from research, microbiological monitoring, epidemiological investigation and disease surveillance is crucial to manage foodborne risk. Consequently, INSA launched the Portuguese Food Information Resource Programme (PortFIR) in a partnership with GS1 Portugal to create national food chain expert networks and sustainable databases on food composition, consumption and chemical and microbiological contamination. Presently, the Food Microbiological Inform...

The chemical/physical and microbiological characteristics of typical bath and laundry waste waters. [waste water reclamation during manned space flight

Science.gov (United States)

Hypes, W. D.; Batten, C. E.; Wilkins, J. R.

1974-01-01

Chemical/physical and microbiological characteristics are studied of typical bath and laundry waters collected during a 12 day test in which the untreated waste waters were reused for toilet flush. Most significant changes were found for ammonia, color, methylene blue active substances, phosphates, sodium, sulfates, total organic carbon, total solids, and turbidity in comparison with tap water baseline. The mean total number of microorganisms detected in the waste waters ranged from 1 million to 10 to the 7th power cells/m1 and the mean number of possible coliforms ranged from 10 to the 5th power to 1 million. An accumulation of particulates and an objectible odor were detected in the tankage used during the 12 day reuse of the untreated waste waters. The combined bath and laundry waste waters from a family of four provided 91 percent of the toilet flush water for the same family.

Reliability and Validity of Finger Strength and Endurance Measurements in Rock Climbing

Science.gov (United States)

Michailov, Michail Lubomirov; Baláš, Jirí; Tanev, Stoyan Kolev; Andonov, Hristo Stoyanov; Kodejška, Jan; Brown, Lee

2018-01-01

Purpose: An advanced system for the assessment of climbing-specific performance was developed and used to: (a) investigate the effect of arm fixation (AF) on construct validity evidence and reliability of climbing-specific finger-strength measurement; (b) assess reliability of finger-strength and endurance measurements; and (c) evaluate the…

An Optimal Design of Driving Mechanism in a 1 Degree of Freedom (d.o.f. Anthropomorphic Finger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ceccarelli

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Mechanisms can be used in finger design to obtain suitable actuation systems and to give stiff robust behavior in grasping tasks. The design of driving mechanisms for fingers has been attached at LARM in Cassino with the aim to obtain one degree of freedom actuation for an anthropomorphic finger. The dimensional design of a finger-driving mechanism has been formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem by using evaluation criteria for fundamental characteristics regarding with finger motion, grasping equilibrium and force transmission. The feasibility of the herein proposed optimum design procedure for a finger-driving mechanism has been tested by numerical examples that have been also used to enhance a prototype previously built at LARM in Cassino.

Normal tendon sheath of the second to fifth fingers as seen on oblique views

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fischer, E.

1984-01-01

Oblique views of the fingers, using a low kilovolt technique, show a portion of the tendon sheaths which can be regarded as representative of the entire sheath. Because of the varying obliquity of each finger, this proportion differs in the fingers. With increasing age the projected portion of the sheath becomes smaller because it is covered by increasing bone formation in the insertion of the tendon sheat. Normal values have been obtained for adults according to their decades; from these, quite minor degrees of tendon sheat thickening can be determined. In camptodactyly of the fifth finger, which is not uncommon, the tendon sheat may be widened in the absence of a tenosynovitis.

Index finger somatosensory evoked potentials in blind Braille readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Giriyappa, Dayananda; Subrahmanyam, Roopakala Mysore; Rangashetty, Srinivasa; Sharma, Rajeev

2009-01-01

Traditionally, vision has been considered the dominant modality in our multi-sensory perception of the surrounding world. Sensory input via non-visual tracts becomes of greater behavioural relevance in totally blind individuals to enable effective interaction with the world around them. These include audition and tactile perceptions, leading to an augmentation in these perceptions when compared with normal sighted individuals. The objective of the present work was to study the index finger somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in totally blind and normal sighted individuals. SEPs were recorded in 15 Braille reading totally blind females and compared with 15 age-matched normal sighted females. Latency and amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potential waveforms (N9, N13, and N20) were measured. Amplitude of N20 SEP (a cortical somatosensory evoked potential) was significantly larger in the totally blind than in normal sighted individuals (p Braille reading right index finger. Totally blind Braille readers have larger N20 amplitude, suggestive of greater somatosensory cortical representation of the Braille reading index finger.

Finger and foot tapping sensor system for objective motor assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đurić-Jovičić Milica

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background/Aim. Finger tapping test is commonly used in neurological examinations as a test of motor performance. The new system comprising inertial and force sensors and custom proprietary software was developed for quantitative estimation and assessment of finger and foot tapping tests. The aim of this system was to provide diagnosis support and objective assessment of motor function. Methods. Miniature inertial sensors were placed on fingertips and used for measuring finger movements. A force sensor was placed on the fingertip of one finger, in order to measure the force during tapping. For foot tapping assessment, an inertial sensor was mounted on the subject’s foot, which was placed above a force platform. By using this system, various parameters such as a number of taps, tapping duration, rhythm, open and close speed, the applied force and tapping angle, can be extracted for detailed analysis of a patient’s motor performance. The system was tested on 13 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 14 healthy controls. Results. The system allowed easy measurement of listed parameters, and additional graphical representation showed quantitative differences in these parameters between neurological patient and healthy subjects. Conclusion. The novel system for finger and foot tapping test is compact, simple to use and efficiently collects patient data. Parameters measured in patients can be compared to those measured in healthy subjects, or among groups of patients, or used to monitor progress of the disease, or therapy effects. Created data and scores could be used together with the scores from clinical tests, providing the possibility for better insight into the diagnosis. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 175090 and Grant no. 175016

Intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia: magnetic resonance imaging of finger lesions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sung, Jinkyeong; Kim, Jee-Young [The Catholic University of Korea, Department of Radiology, St. Vincent' s Hospital, College of Medicine, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do (Korea, Republic of); Yoo, Changyoung [The Catholic University of Korea, Department of Hospital Pathology, St. Vincent' s Hospital, College of Medicine, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do (Korea, Republic of)

2016-02-15

To describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia (IPEH), to identify findings differentiating IPEH of the finger from that of other locations, and to correlate these with pathology. Nineteen patients with 20 I.E. masses of the finger (n = 13) and other locations (n = 7) were evaluated. All patients underwent MRI, and the results were correlated with pathology. Seventeen IPEHs, including all IPEHs of the finger, were located in the subcutis, the three other lesions in the muscle layer. On T1WI, all masses were isointense or slightly hyperintense. IPEHs of the finger (n = 13) revealed focal hyperintense nodules (n = 2) or central hypointensity (n = 2) on T1WI, hypointensity with a hyperintense rim (n = 7), hyperintensity with hypointense nodules (n = 5), or isointensity with a hypointense rim (n = 1) on T2WI, and rim enhancement (n = 5), heterogeneous enhancement with nodular nonenhanced areas (n = 6), peripheral nodular enhancement (n = 1), or no enhancement (n = 1) on gadolinium-enhanced T1WI. IPEHs of other locations (n = 7) demonstrated focal hyperintense nodules (n = 5) on T1WI, hyperintensity with hypointense nodules (n = 5) or heterogeneous signal intensity (n = 2) on T2WI, and rim or rim and septal enhancement (n = 6) or peripheral nodular enhancement (n = 1). Microscopically, IPEHs were composed of thrombi that were hypointense on T2WI and papillary endothelial proliferations that showed T2 hyperintensity and enhancement. MRI of finger IPEH reveals well-demarcated subcutaneous masses with hypointensity or hypointense nodules with peripheral hyperintensity on T2WI, as well as peripheral enhancement. T1 hyperintense nodules, internal heterogeneity on T2WI, and septal enhancement are more common in IPEH of other locations. (orig.)

Treatment of soft-tissue loss with nerve defect in the finger using the boomerang nerve flap.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chao; Tang, Peifu; Zhang, Xu

2013-01-01

This study reports simultaneous repair of soft-tissue loss and proper digital nerve defect in the finger using a boomerang nerve flap including nerve graft from the dorsal branch of the proper digital nerve. From July of 2007 to May of 2010, the flap was used in 17 fingers in 17 patients. The injured fingers included five index, seven long, and five ring fingers. The mean soft-tissue loss was 2.5 × 1.9 cm. The mean flap size was 2.8 × 2.1 cm. Proper digital nerve defects were reconstructed using nerve graft harvested from the dorsal branch of the adjacent finger's proper digital nerve. The average nerve graft length was 2.5 cm. The comparison group included 32 patients treated using a cross-finger flap and a secondary free nerve graft. In the study group, 15 flaps survived completely. Partial necrosis at the distal edge of the flap occurred in two cases. At a mean follow-up of 22 months, the average static two-point discrimination and Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test results on the pulp of the reconstructed finger were 7.5 mm and 3.86, respectively. In the comparison group, the results were 9.3 mm and 3.91, respectively. The study group presented better discriminatory sensation on the pulp and milder pain and cold intolerance in the reconstructed finger. The boomerang nerve flap is useful and reliable for reconstructing complicated finger damage involving soft-tissue loss and nerve defect, especially in difficult anatomical regions. Therapeutic, II.

Intracellular HIV-1 Gag localization is impaired by mutations in the nucleocapsid zinc fingers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muriaux Delphine

2007-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein (NC is formed of two CCHC zinc fingers flanked by highly basic regions. HIV-1 NC plays key roles in virus structure and replication via its nucleic acid binding and chaperoning properties. In fact, NC controls proviral DNA synthesis by reverse transcriptase (RT, gRNA dimerization and packaging, and virion assembly. Results We previously reported a role for the first NC zinc finger in virion structure and replication 1. To investigate the role of both NC zinc fingers in intracellular Gag trafficking, and in virion assembly, we generated series of NC zinc fingers mutations. Results show that all Zinc finger mutations have a negative impact on virion biogenesis and maturation and rendered defective the mutant viruses. The NC zinc finger mutations caused an intracellular accumulation of Gag, which was found either diffuse in the cytoplasm or at the plasma membrane but not associated with endosomal membranes as for wild type Gag. Evidences are also provided showing that the intracellular interactions between NC-mutated Gag and the gRNA were impaired. Conclusion These results show that Gag oligomerization mediated by gRNA-NC interactions is required for correct Gag trafficking, and assembly in HIV-1 producing cells and the release of infectious viruses.

Use of preputial skin for coverage of post-burn contractures of fingers in children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed I Zaroo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: Hand burns are common injuries. Children frequently sustain burn injuries, especially to their hands. Contractures are a common sequel of severe burns around joints. The prepuce, or foreskin, has been used as a skin graft for a number of indications. We conducted this study to evaluate the feasibility of utilising the preputial skin for the management of post-burn contractures of fingers in uncircumcised male children. Materials and Methods: Preputial skin was used for the coverage of released contractures of fingers in 12 patients aged 2-6 years. The aetiology of burns was "Kangri" burn in eight patients and scalding in four patients. Six patients had contracture in two fingers, four patients in one finger, and two patients had contractures in three fingers. Results: None of the patients had graft loss, and all the wounds healed within 2 weeks. All patients had complete release of contractures without any recurrence. Hyperpigmentation of the grafts was observed over a period of time, which was well accepted by the parents. Conclusions: Preputial skin can be used successfully for male children with mild-to-moderate contractures of 2-3 fingers for restoration of the hand function, minimal donor site morbidity.

Finger tips detection for two handed gesture recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Bhuyan, M. K.; Kar, Mithun Kumar; Neog, Debanga Raj

2011-10-01

In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed for fingertips detection in view of two-handed static hand pose recognition. In our method, finger tips of both hands are detected after detecting hand regions by skin color-based segmentation. At first, the face is removed in the image by using Haar classifier and subsequently, the regions corresponding to the gesturing hands are isolated by a region labeling technique. Next, the key geometric features characterizing gesturing hands are extracted for two hands. Finally, for all possible/allowable finger movements, a probabilistic model is developed for pose recognition. Proposed method can be employed in a variety of applications like sign language recognition and human-robot-interactions etc.

ANALYTICAL MICROBIOLOGY LABORATORY

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Federal Laboratory Consortium — This laboratory contains equipment that performs a broad array of microbiological analyses for pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. It performs challenge studies...

Finger Replantation in Sanglah General Hospital: Report of Five Cases and Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agus Roy Rusly Hariantana Hamid

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Replantation is the prime treatment for amputated hands and fingers due to functional and aesthetic advantages. The absolute indications for replantation are amputations of the thumb, multiple fingers, trans metacarpal or hand, and any upper extremity in a child, regardless of the amputation level. A fingertip amputation distal to the insertion of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS is also a good indication. Indications have been expanded to include amputation at nail level, and when there is a request from the patient, replantation is attempted even for a single finger amputation regardless of the amputation level. Based on the mechanism of injury, a clean-cut sharp amputation is more likely replanted compare to a crush and avulsion injuries. With a proper management of the amputated finger, replantation can be attempted even after 24 hours. This report was written to provide examples of finger replantation cases and the measures that can be taken in a resource-limited hospital in order to conduct a replantation. Case Series: We reported five out of nine digital replantation cases in Sanglah General Hospital between January and July 2014. Two patients were a six and an eleven years old boys who accidentally cut their finger while playing, the rests were male labors between 20-30 years old whose amputations due to machine injuries. Result: A 100% replant survival was achieved. After a period of follow up with occupational therapy, all patients regain good functional and cosmetic results. 

Finger Search in Grammar-Compressed Strings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bille, Philip; Christiansen, Anders Roy; Cording, Patrick Hagge

2016-01-01

random access, that is, given a position in the original uncompressed string report the character at that position. In this paper we study the random access problem with the finger search property, that is, the time for a random access query should depend on the distance between a specified index f...

[The opportunities, challenges and trends in the rejuvenation of microbiology].

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Ping; Chen, Xiangdong

2010-01-01

In history, the development of microbiology had undergone two golden ages and some depression time as well. In the last two decades, the application of many physiochemical technologies including genomics, structural biology, bioinformatics, PCR, and high-resolution microscopy has led to a series of breakthroughs in microbiology. Microbiology has now awakened and entered its third golden age for development. This review discusses our view of the opportunities, challenges, and trends in the current advancement of microbiology. The topics include: (1) The two golden ages for microbiology in history. (2) The opportunities and challenges in the rejuvenation of microbiology. (3) The characteristics and trends of the current development of microbiology. (4) Integral microbiology--the hallmark of the third golden age.

Viscous and gravitational fingering in multiphase compositional and compressible flow

Science.gov (United States)

Moortgat, Joachim

2016-03-01

Viscous and gravitational fingering refer to flow instabilities in porous media that are triggered by adverse mobility or density ratios, respectively. These instabilities have been studied extensively in the past for (1) single-phase flow (e.g., contaminant transport in groundwater, first-contact-miscible displacement of oil by gas in hydrocarbon production), and (2) multi-phase immiscible and incompressible flow (e.g., water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection in oil reservoirs). Fingering in multiphase compositional and compressible flow has received much less attention, perhaps due to its high computational complexity. However, many important subsurface processes involve multiple phases that exchange species. Examples are carbon sequestration in saline aquifers and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by gas or WAG injection below the minimum miscibility pressure. In multiphase flow, relative permeabilities affect the mobility contrast for a given viscosity ratio. Phase behavior can also change local fluid properties, which can either enhance or mitigate viscous and gravitational instabilities. This work presents a detailed study of fingering behavior in compositional multiphase flow in two and three dimensions and considers the effects of (1) Fickian diffusion, (2) mechanical dispersion, (3) flow rates, (4) domain size and geometry, (5) formation heterogeneities, (6) gravity, and (7) relative permeabilities. Results show that fingering in compositional multiphase flow is profoundly different from miscible conditions and upscaling techniques used for the latter case are unlikely to be generalizable to the former.

Environmental Microbiology Laboratory

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Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, located in Bldg. 644 provides a dual-gas respirometer for measurement of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide evolution...

Investigation of an alleged mechanism of finger injury in an automobile crash.

Science.gov (United States)

Stacey, Stephen; Kent, Richard

2006-07-01

This investigation centers on the case of an adult male whose finger was allegedly amputated by the steering wheel of his car during a crash. The subject claimed to have been driving with his left index finger inserted through a hole in the spoke of his steering wheel and was subsequently involved in an offset frontal collision with a tree. The finger was found to be cleanly severed at the mid-shaft of the proximal phalanx after the crash. This injury was alleged to have been caused by inertial loading from the rotation of the steering wheel during the crash. To determine whether this injury mechanism was plausible, three laboratory tests representing distinct loading scenarios were carried out with postmortem human surrogates loaded dynamically by the subject's steering wheel. It was found that the inertial loads generated in this loading scenario are insufficient to amputate the finger. Additionally, artificially constraining the finger to force an amputation to occur revealed that a separation at the proximal interphalangeal joint occurs rather than a bony fracture of the proximal phalanx. Based on these biomechanical tests, it can be concluded that the subject's injury did not occur during the automobile crash in question. Furthermore, it can be shown that the injury was self-inflicted to fraudulently claim on an insurance policy.

Microbiological aspects of safety in radioactive waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ershov, B.G.; Safonov, A.V.; Nazina, T.N.; Gorbunova, O.A.

2012-01-01

In long-term storage and/or disposal of radioactive waste, microbiological processes play an important, and in some cases a vital role. The article discusses the issues of microbiological processes in underground liquid LLW repositories and microbiological destruction of cemented radwaste. It is shown that biological additives to cement matrices can be used to effectively prevent the occurrence of microbiological processes, increasing reliability of engineering barriers that block release of radionuclides into the areas adjacent to the repositories [ru

MEG-compatible pneumatic stimulator to elicit passive finger and toe movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Piitulainen, Harri; Bourguignon, Mathieu; Hari, Riitta; Jousmäki, Veikko

2015-05-15

Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals recorded from the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex are coherent with kinematics of both active and passive finger movements. The coherence mainly reflects movement-related proprioceptive afference to the cortex. Here we describe a novel MEG-compatible stimulator to generate computer-controlled passive finger and toe movements that can be used as stimuli in functional brain-imaging experiments. The movements are produced by pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM), elastic actuator that shortens with increasing air pressure. To test the applicability of the stimulator to functional brain-imaging, 4-min trains of passive repetitive 5-mm flexion-extension movements of the right and left index finger and the right hallux were produced at 3Hz while the subject's brain activity was measured with whole-scalp MEG and finger or toe kinematics with an accelerometer. In all ten subjects studied, statistically significant coherence (up to 0.78) occurred between the accelerometer and MEG signals at the movement frequency or its first harmonic. Sources of coherent activity were in the contralateral hand or foot SM1 cortices. Movement-evoked fields elicited with intermittent movements of the right index finger (once every 3.2-4.0s; mean±SD peak response latency 88±25ms) were co-located with the respective coherent sources. We further moved the right index finger at 3, 6, and 12Hz (movement ranges 5, 3, and 2mm, respectively), and analyzed the first 1, 2, and 4-min epochs of data. One minute of data was sufficient to locate the left hand area of the SM1 cortex at all movement frequencies. Sound-induced spurious coherence was reliably ruled out in a control experiment. Our novel movement stimulator thus provides a robust and reliable tool to track proprioceptive afference to the cortex and to locate the SM1 cortex. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pattern formation of frictional fingers in a gravitational potential

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksen, Jon Alm; Toussaint, Renaud; Mâløy, Knut Jørgen; Flekkøy, Eirik; Galland, Olivier; Sandnes, Bjørnar

2018-01-01

Aligned finger structures, with a characteristic width, emerge during the slow drainage of a liquid-granular mixture in a tilted Hele-Shaw cell. A transition from vertical to horizontal alignment of the finger structures is observed as the tilting angle and the granular density are varied. An analytical model is presented, demonstrating that the alignment properties are the result of the competition between fluctuating granular stresses and the hydrostatic pressure. The dynamics is reproduced in simulations. We also show how the system explains patterns observed in nature, created during the early stages of a dike formation.

Compression and flexural properties of finger jointed mango wood sections

OpenAIRE

Kumar, V.S Kishan; Sharma, C.M; Gupta, Sachin

2014-01-01

In this paper, an attempt was made to assess the effectiveness of finger jointing in utilising mango wood sections for various end uses like furniture. The study was based on the estimation of Modulus of elasticity and Modulus of rupture under static bending and Maximum Crushing Stress and Modulus of elasticity under compression parallel to grain of finger jointed sections and comparing them with the values measured for clear wood sections from the same lot. For joining the sections, the Poly...

Trace element finger printing of emeralds by PIXE and PIGE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Xinpei; Palmer, G.R.; MacArthur, J.D.

1990-01-01

The concentrations of 18 major- and minor-elements in 12 Emeralds from different mines and two synthetic ones are measured with proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and γ-ray emission (PIGE). The concentration and distribution of 18 elements are used to establish the characteristic finger print pattern of each Emerald. With the help of cluster analysis of SYSTAT statistical package for IBMPC, these finger prints are analysed, from which a quantitative description of the dissimilarities between Emeralds can be given

Finger doses during interventional radiology: The value of flexible protective gloves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vehmas, T.

1991-01-01

Finger doses of radiologists and assistants during 19 interventional radiological procedures were measured with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs), and two types of flexible protective gloves were compared with each other. There were considerable differences in doses between different sites of TLDs on fingers. The exact site of TLDs on hands/fingers should thus be reported in papers. Both gloves were also irradiated through an Alderson phantom and the attenuation values were measured. The gloves with slightly greater attenuation proved to be significantly less comfortable to use. Wearing flexible protective gloves did not lengthen screening times as compared to a previous study in the same department. Various aspects of using such gloves are discussed. The attenuation values of gloves reported by the manufacturers may not apply under all clinical circumstances. (orig.) [de

Finger ridge count correlations among four tribes of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Kusuma, Y S; Babu, B V; Naidu, J M

2002-06-01

The present paper reports the distribution of finger ridge count correlations among four tribal populations from Andhra Pradesh, India viz., Dulia, Kotia, Manne Dora and Manzai Mali, and examines the intra and inter population variation. Higher correlations are recorded in left hands compared to right hands, but they are not significant. The homologous fingers exhibit a stronger correlation. In all the tribes, the correlations between right hand fingers are relatively higher among women when compared to men. Regarding inter population variation Dulia men differ significantly from the men of Manne Dora and the Manzai Mali tribes, and Kotia women also differ from the women of the Manne Dora significantly. The average correlation coefficient of the present populations is similar to other Indian populations reported earlier but lower than African and European populations.

Sports Injury-Related Fingers and Thumb Deformity Due to Tendon or Ligament Rupture.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Rong-Jie; Zhang, Hui-Bo; Zhan, Hui-Li; Qian, Zhan-Hua; Wang, Nai-Li; Liu, Yue; Li, Wen-Ting; Yin, Yu-Ming

2018-05-05

Hand injuries are very common in sports, such as skiing and ball sports. One of the major reasons causing hand and finger deformity is due to ligament and tendon injury. The aim of this study was to investigate if the high-resolution 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can demonstrate the complex anatomy of the fingers and thumb, especially the tendons and ligaments, and provide the accurate diagnosis of clinically important fingers and thumbs deformity due to ligamentous and tendinous injuries during sport activities. Sixteen fresh un-embalmed cadaveric hands were harvested from eight cadavers. A total of 20 healthy volunteers' hands and 44 patients with fingers or thumb deformity due to sports-related injuries were included in this study. All subjects had MR examination with T1-weighted images and proton density-weighted imaging with fat suppression (PD FS) in axial, coronal, and sagittal plane, respectively. Subsequently, all 16 cadaveric hands were sliced into 2-mm thick slab with a band saw (six in coronal plane, six in sagittal plane, and four in axial plane). The correlation of anatomic sections and the MRI characteristics of tendons of fingers and the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) at the metacarpal phalangeal joint (MCPJ) of thumb between 20 healthy volunteers and 44 patients (confirmed by surgery) were analyzed. The normal ligaments and tendons in 16 cadaveric hands and 20 volunteers' hands showed uniform low-signal intensity on all the sequences of the MRI. Among 44 patients with tendinous and ligamentous injuries in the fingers or thumb, 12 cases with UCL injury at MCPJ of the thumb (Stener lesion = 8 and non-Stener lesion = 4), 6 cases with the central slip injury, 12 cases with terminal tendon injury, and 14 cases with flexor digitorum profundus injury. The ligaments and tendons disruption manifested as increased signal intensity and poor definition, discontinuity, and heterogeneous signal intensity of the involved ligaments and tendons. Sports

Effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation on force of finger pinch

Science.gov (United States)

Odagaki, Masato; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Hiwaki, Osamu

2009-04-01

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is used to explore many aspects of brain function, and to treat neurological disorders. Cortical motor neuronal activation by TMS over the primary motor cortex (M1) produces efferent signals that pass through the corticospinal tracts. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) are observed in muscles innervated by the stimulated motor cortex. TMS can cause a silent period (SP) following MEP in voluntary electromyography (EMG). The present study examined the effects of TMS eliciting MEP and SP on the force of pinching using two fingers. Subjects pinched a wooden block with the thumb and index finger. TMS was applied to M1 during the pinch task. EMG of first dorsal interosseous muscles and pinch forces were measured. Force output increased after the TMS, and then oscillated. The results indicated that the motor control system to keep isotonic forces of the muscles participated in the finger pinch was disrupted by the TMS.

Effect of finger motion on transverse median nerve movement in the carpal tunnel.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Hyo Jung; Yoon, Joon Shik

2016-10-01

We used ultrasonography (US) to investigate the effects of finger motion on movement of the median nerve in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and the correlation between these US parameters and CTS severity. Ultrasonographic measures were performed in 23 control wrists and 22 CTS wrists in women. During first through third finger flexion and grip motion, median nerve movements were obtained using US and a tracing program. Nerve movements during third finger flexion in the dorsopalmar axis and grip motion in both axes, and during second finger flexion in the radioulnar axis, differed significantly between the control and CTS groups. US parameters correlated negatively with cross-sectional area. This study shows that transverse median nerve movements decreased during grip using US and correlated negatively with CTS severity. Muscle Nerve, 2016 Muscle Nerve 54: -, 2016 Muscle Nerve 54: 738-742, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and occupational risk factors among professional cooks: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasu, Miwako; Sakai, Kazuhiro; Kogi, Kazutaka; Ito, Akiyoshi; Feskens, Edith J M; Tomita, Shigeru; Temmyo, Yoshiomi; Ueno, Mitsuo; Miyagi, Shigeji

2011-05-26

Previous studies have pointed out that the school lunch workers in Japan are suffering from work-related disorders including finger deformations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and the association with job-related risk factors. A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 5,719 subjects (response rate: 81%, 982 men and 4,737 women) was undertaken during September 2003 to February 2004. Finger deformations were found among 11.7% of the men and 35.6% of the women studied, with significant differences among sex, age and sex-age groups. For both men and women the pattern of finger deformations across the hand was similar for the right and the left hand. For women, the deformations were found in about 10% of the distal interphalangeal joints of all fingers. Based on multiple logistic regression analyses, the factors female sex, age, the number of cooked lunches per cook and cooking activities were independently associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. High prevalence odds ratios were found for those frequently carrying or using tools by hands such as delivering containers, distributing meals, preparing dishes, washing equipment, cutting and stirring foods. Among the school lunch workers studied, women had a higher prevalence of finger deformations on all joints of both hands. Various cooking tasks were associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. The results suggest that improvements in working conditions are important for preventing work-related disorders such as finger deformations.

Finger millet (Ragi, Eleusine coracana L.): a review of its nutritional properties, processing, and plausible health benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Shobana, S; Krishnaswamy, K; Sudha, V; Malleshi, N G; Anjana, R M; Palaniappan, L; Mohan, V

2013-01-01

Finger millet or ragi is one of the ancient millets in India (2300 BC), and this review focuses on its antiquity, consumption, nutrient composition, processing, and health benefits. Of all the cereals and millets, finger millet has the highest amount of calcium (344mg%) and potassium (408mg%). It has higher dietary fiber, minerals, and sulfur containing amino acids compared to white rice, the current major staple in India. Despite finger millet's rich nutrient profile, recent studies indicate lower consumption of millets in general by urban Indians. Finger millet is processed by milling, malting, fermentation, popping, and decortication. Noodles, vermicilli, pasta, Indian sweet (halwa) mixes, papads, soups, and bakery products from finger millet are also emerging. In vitro and in vivo (animal) studies indicated the blood glucose lowering, cholesterol lowering, antiulcerative, wound healing properties, etc., of finger millet. However, appropriate intervention or randomized clinical trials are lacking on these health effects. Glycemic index (GI) studies on finger millet preparations indicate low to high values, but most of the studies were conducted with outdated methodology. Hence, appropriate GI testing of finger millet preparations and short- and long-term human intervention trials may be helpful to establish evidence-based health benefits. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Soil microbiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolf, D.C.; Legg, J.O.

1984-01-01

The major areas of soil microbiological and biochemical research which have involved both stable and radioactive isotopes are summarized. These include microbial decomposition of naturally occurring materials, microbial biomass, interactions of plants and microbes, denitrification, mineralization and immobilization of nitrogen and biological nitrogen fixation. (U.K.)

Undergraduate Laboratory Exercises Specific to Food Spoilage Microbiology

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Abigail B.; Worobo, Randy W.; Orta-Ramirez, Alicia

2016-01-01

Food spoilage has an enormous economic impact, and microbial food spoilage plays a significant role in food waste and loss; subsequently, an equally significant portion of undergraduate food microbiology instruction should be dedicated to spoilage microbiology. Here, we describe a set of undergraduate microbiology laboratory exercises that focus…

Design and fabrication of a three-finger prosthetic hand using SMA muscle wires

Science.gov (United States)

Simone, Filomena; York, Alexander; Seelecke, Stefan

2015-03-01

Bio-inspired hand-like gripper systems based on shape memory alloy (SMA) wire actuation have the potential to enable a number of useful applications in, e.g., the biomedical field or industrial assembly systems. The inherent high energy density makes SMA solutions a natural choice for systems with lightweight, low noise and high force requirements, such as hand prostheses or robotic systems in a human/machine environment. The focus of this research is the development, design and realization of a SMA-actuated prosthetic hand prototype with three fingers. The use of thin wires (100 μm diameter) allows for high cooling rates and therefore fast movement of each finger. Grouping several small wires mechanically in parallel allows for high force actuation. To save space and to allow for a direct transmission of the motion to each finger, the SMA wires are attached directly within each finger, across each phalanx. In this way, the contraction of the wires will allow the movement of the fingers without the use of any additional gears. Within each finger, two different bundles of wires are mounted: protagonist ones that create bending movement and the antagonist ones that enable stretching of each phalanx. The resistance change in the SMA wires is measured during actuation, which allows for monitoring of the wire stroke and potentially the gripping force without the use of additional sensors. The hand is built with modern 3D-printing technologies and its performance while grasping objects of different size and shape is experimentally investigated illustrating the usefulness of the actuator concept.

Diagnostic microbiology in veterinary dermatology: present and future

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guardabassi, Luca; Damborg, Peter; Stamm, Ivonne

2017-01-01

the identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of key pathogens in veterinary dermatology. Methods The Study Group for Veterinary Microbiology (ESGVM) of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) identified scientific, technological, educational...... not adequately equipped to run up-to-date clinical microbiologic diagnostic tests. Conclusions and clinical importance ESGVM recommends the use of laboratories employing mass spectrometry for ID and broth micro-dilution for AST, and offering assistance by expert microbiologists on pre- and post-analytical issues......Background The microbiology laboratory can be perceived as a service provider rather than an integral part of the healthcare team. Objectives The aim of this review is to discuss the current challenges of providing a state-of-the-art diagnostic veterinary microbiology service including...

Radial viscous fingering of hot asthenosphere within the Icelandic plume beneath the North Atlantic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Schoonman, C. M.; White, N. J.; Pritchard, D.

2017-06-01

The Icelandic mantle plume has had a significant influence on the geologic and oceanographic evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean during Cenozoic times. Full-waveform tomographic imaging of this region shows that the planform of this plume has a complex irregular shape with significant shear wave velocity anomalies lying beneath the lithospheric plates at a depth of 100-200 km. The distribution of these anomalies suggests that about five horizontal fingers extend radially beneath the fringing continental margins. The best-imaged fingers lie beneath the British Isles and beneath western Norway where significant departures from crustal isostatic equilibrium have been measured. Here, we propose that these radial fingers are generated by a phenomenon known as the Saffman-Taylor instability. Experimental and theoretical analyses show that fingering occurs when a less viscous fluid is injected into a more viscous fluid. In radial, miscible fingering, the wavelength and number of fingers are controlled by the mobility ratio (i.e. the ratio of viscosities), by the Péclet number (i.e. the ratio of advective and diffusive transport rates), and by the thickness of the horizontal layer into which fluid is injected. We combine shear wave velocity estimates with residual depth measurements around the Atlantic margins to estimate the planform distribution of temperature and viscosity within a horizontal asthenospheric layer beneath the lithospheric plate. Our estimates suggest that the mobility ratio is at least 20-50, that the Péclet number is O (104), and that the asthenospheric channel is 100 ± 20 km thick. The existence and planform of fingering is consistent with experimental observations and with theoretical arguments. A useful rule of thumb is that the wavelength of fingering is 5 ± 1 times the thickness of the horizontal layer. Our proposal has been further tested by examining plumes of different vigor and planform (e.g. Hawaii, Cape Verde, Yellowstone). Our results

Gold finger formation studied by high-resolution mass spectrometry and in silico methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laskay, Ü.A.; Garino, C.; Tsybin, Y.O.; Salassa, L.; Casini, A.

2015-01-01

High-resolution mass spectrometry and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics studies were employed for characterizing the formation of two gold finger (GF) domains from the reaction of zinc fingers (ZF) with gold complexes. The influence of both the gold oxidation state and the ZF coordination sphere

Women's finger sensitivity correlates with partnered sexual behavior but not solitary masturbation frequencies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brody, S.; Fischer, A.H.; Hess, U.

2008-01-01

In a sample of 97 healthy Dutch female university students, women with greater finger tactile sensitivity (von Frey-type filaments) engaged more in partnered (but not solitary masturbation) sexual behavior. Orgasmic responses in the past 30 days were not correlated with finger sensitivity. Results

Differences in Activation Area Within Brodmann Area 2 Caused by Pressure Stimuli on Fingers and Joints

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Mi-Hyun; Kim, Hyung-Sik; Baek, Ji-Hye; Lee, Jung-Chul; Park, Sung-Jun; Jeong, Ul-Ho; Gim, Seon-Young; Kim, Sung-Phil; Lim, Dae-Woon; Chung, Soon-Cheol

2015-01-01

Abstract In this study, a constant pressure stimulus was applied on the 3 joints (first [p1], second [p2], and third [p3] joints) of 4 fingers (index, middle, ring, and little fingers), and the activation areas within Brodmann area 2 (BA 2) were compared for these different fingers and joints by using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Eight healthy male college students (25.4 ± 1.32 years) participated in the study. Each session was composed of 3 blocks, and each block was composed of a Control phase (30 seconds) and a Pressure phase (30 seconds). No pressure stimulus was applied in the Control phase, during which the subjects would simply lay comfortably with their eyes closed. In the Pressure phase, a pressure stimulus was applied onto one of the joints of the selected finger. For each finger and joint, BA 2 areas activated by the pressure stimulus were extracted by the region of interest method. There was a significant difference in the activation areas for the different fingers (P = .042) as well as for the different joints (P = .050). The activation area decreased in the order of the little, index, and middle fingers, as well as in the order of p1, p3, and p2. PMID:26402840

Journal of Tropical Microbiology and Biotechnology

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Journal of Tropical Microbiology and Biotechnology (JTMB) formerly Journal of Tropical Microbiology gives preeminence to the central role of modern biotechnology and microorganisms as tools and targets in current research, which is largely multidisciplinary. JTMB covers a broad range of topics, such as disease ...

In-silico mining, type and frequency analysis of genic microsatellites of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.): a comparative genomic analysis of NBS-LRR regions of finger millet with rice.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalyana Babu, B; Pandey, Dinesh; Agrawal, P K; Sood, Salej; Kumar, Anil

2014-05-01

In recent years, the increased availability of the DNA sequences has given the possibility to develop and explore the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived SSR markers. In the present study, a total of 1956 ESTs of finger millet were used to find the microsatellite type, distribution, frequency and developed a total of 545 primer pairs from the ESTs of finger millet. Thirty-two EST sequences had more than two microsatellites and 1357 sequences did not have any SSR repeats. The most frequent type of repeats was trimeric motif, however the second place was occupied by dimeric motif followed by tetra-, hexa- and penta repeat motifs. The most common dimer repeat motif was GA and in case of trimeric SSRs, it was CGG. The EST sequences of NBS-LRR region of finger millet and rice showed higher synteny and were found on nearly same positions on the rice chromosome map. A total of eight, out of 15 EST based SSR primers were polymorphic among the selected resistant and susceptible finger millet genotypes. The primer FMBLEST5 could able to differentiate them into resistant and susceptible genotypes. The alleles specific to the resistant and susceptible genotypes were sequenced using the ABI 3130XL genetic analyzer and found similarity to NBS-LRR regions of rice and finger millet and contained the characteristic kinase-2 and kinase 3a motifs of plant R-genes belonged to NBS-LRR region. The In-silico and comparative analysis showed that the genes responsible for blast resistance can be identified, mapped and further introgressed through molecular breeding approaches for enhancing the blast resistance in finger millet.

Teaching microbiological food safety through case studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florence Dubois-Brissonnet

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Higher education students usually ask for more training based on case studies. This was addressed by designing a specific food safety module (24 hours in which students were shown how to predict microbiological risks in food products i.e. they were asked to determine product shelf-life according to product formulation, preservation methods and consumption habits using predictive microbiology tools. Working groups of four students first identified the main microbiological hazards associated with a specific product. To perform this task, they were given several documents including guides for good hygiene practices, reviews on microbiological hazards in the food sector, flow sheets, etc…  After three-hours of work, the working groups prepared and gave an oral presentation in front of their classmates and professors. This raised comments and discussion that allowed students to adjust their conclusions before beginning the next step of their work. This second step consisted in the evaluation of the safety risk associated with the two major microbiological hazards of the product studied, using predictive microbiology. Students then attended a general lecture on the different tools of predictive microbiology and tutorials (6 hours that made them familiar with the modelling of bacterial growth or inactivation. They applied these tools (9 hours to predict the shelf-life of the studied product according to various scenarios of preservation (refrigeration, water activity, concentration of salt or acid, modified atmosphere, etc… and/or consumption procedures (cooking. The module was concluded by oral presentations of each working group and included student evaluation (3 hours.

Cortical Decoding of Individual Finger and Wrist Kinematics for an Upper-Limb Neuroprosthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, Vikram; Tenore, Francesco; Acharya, Soumyadipta; Schieber, Marc H.; Thakor, Nitish V.

2010-01-01

Previous research has shown that neuronal activity can be used to continuously decode the kinematics of gross movements involving arm and hand trajectory. However, decoding the kinematics of fine motor movements, such as the manipulation of individual fingers, has not been demonstrated. In this study, single unit activities were recorded from task-related neurons in M1 of two trained rhesus monkey as they performed individuated movements of the fingers and wrist. The primates’ hand was placed in a manipulandum, and strain gauges at the tips of each finger were used to track the digit’s position. Both linear and non-linear filters were designed to simultaneously predict kinematics of each digit and the wrist, and their performance compared using mean squared error and correlation coefficients. All models had high decoding accuracy, but the feedforward ANN (R=0.76–0.86, MSE=0.04–0.05) and Kalman filter (R=0.68–0.86, MSE=0.04–0.07) performed better than a simple linear regression filter (0.58–0.81, 0.05–0.07). These results suggest that individual finger and wrist kinematics can be decoded with high accuracy, and be used to control a multi-fingered prosthetic hand in real-time. PMID:19964645

An fMRI study of finger tapping in children and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Turesky, Ted K; Olulade, Olumide A; Luetje, Megan M; Eden, Guinevere F

2018-04-02

Functional brain imaging studies have characterized the neural bases of voluntary movement for finger tapping in adults, but equivalent information for children is lacking. When contrasted to adults, one would expect children to have relatively greater activation, reflecting compensation for an underdeveloped motor system combined with less experience in the execution of voluntary movement. To test this hypothesis, we acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data on 17 healthy right-handed children (7.48 ± 0.66 years) and 15 adults (24.9 ± 2.9 years) while they performed an irregularly paced finger-tapping task in response to a visual cue (left- and right-hand examined separately). Whole-brain within-group analyses revealed that finger tapping in either age group and for either hand activated contralateral SM1, SMA, ipsilateral anterior cerebellum, and occipital cortices. We used an ANOVA factorial design to test for main effects of Age Group (children vs adults), Hand (left vs. right), and their interactions. For main effects of Age Group, children showed relatively greater activity in left SM1 (extending into bilateral SMA), and, surprisingly, adults exhibited relatively greater activity in right pre-SMA/SMA (extending into left pre-SMA/SMA), right lateral globus pallidus, left putamen, and right anterior cerebellum. The interaction of Age Group × Hand revealed that while both groups activated right SM1 during left finger tapping and exhibited signal decreases (i.e., below fixation baseline) during right finger tapping, both these responses were attenuated in children relative to adults. These data provide an important foundation by which to study children with motor disorders. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Study of the effects of the hand grip and finger strengths on the friction and petrissage - the massage manipulations - of the students who take massage courses: Kütahya City example

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erzeybek Mustafa Said

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this research, the effect of the hand grip and finger strengths on the power development between the friction and petrissage techniques - the massage manipulations - have been studied. To the study that has been structured as a single group pretest/post test, 36 healthy males who are the students of the University of Dumlupınar, Academy of Physical Education and Sports and who take massage courses (age = 19.72 ± 1.56 years (average ± Sd have been included. The practical massage course has continued for 12 weeks, two days a week for a total of one hour and the hand grip strength of both hands (right hand grip strength = RHG, left hand grip strength = LHG and the grip strength of both fingers (right finger strength = RF, left finger strength = LF have been recorded at the beginning. For the measurements carried out before and later of the study with regard to the hand grip strength, a Takkei branded hand dynamometer and with regard to the finger grip strength a (baseline branded pinch meter have been used. All measurements have been repeated twice and for the analysis, the average values obtained from two deads have been used. For statistical analysis, with regard to the changes in the pre test-post test finger strength and hand grip strength, paired-samples t test has been used. The significance limit has been defined as p0.05. It is possible to report that massaging regularly with both hands is efficient for the development of the finger and hand grip strengths; especially, with regard to the friction (circular movements that are generally carried out with fingers and petrissage (kneading that is generally carried out with the palm techniques.

Direct Numerical Simulation of Fingering Instabilities in Coating Flows

Science.gov (United States)

Eres, Murat H.; Schwartz, Leonard W.

1998-11-01

We consider stability and finger formation in free surface flows. Gravity driven downhill drainage and temperature gradient driven climbing flows are two examples of such problems. The former situation occurs when a mound of viscous liquid on a vertical wall is allowed to flow. Constant surface shear stress due to temperature gradients (Marangoni stress) can initiate the latter problem. The evolution equations are derived using the lubrication approximation. We also include the effects of finite-contact angles in the evolution equations using a disjoining pressure model. Evolution equations for both problems are solved using an efficient alternating-direction-implicit method. For both problems a one-dimensional base state is established, that is steady in a moving reference frame. This base state is unstable to transverse perturbations. The transverse wavenumbers for the most rapidly growing modes are found through direct numerical solution of the nonlinear evolution equations, and are compared with published experimental results. For a range of finite equilibrium contact angles, the fingers can grow without limit leading to semi-finite steady fingers in a moving coordinate system. A computer generated movie of the nonlinear simulation results, for several sets of input parameters, will be shown.

Online Signature Verification on MOBISIG Finger-Drawn Signature Corpus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margit Antal

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We present MOBISIG, a pseudosignature dataset containing finger-drawn signatures from 83 users captured with a capacitive touchscreen-based mobile device. The database was captured in three sessions resulting in 45 genuine signatures and 20 skilled forgeries for each user. The database was evaluated by two state-of-the-art methods: a function-based system using local features and a feature-based system using global features. Two types of equal error rate computations are performed: one using a global threshold and the other using user-specific thresholds. The lowest equal error rate was 0.01% against random forgeries and 5.81% against skilled forgeries using user-specific thresholds that were computed a posteriori. However, these equal error rates were significantly raised to 1.68% (random forgeries case and 14.31% (skilled forgeries case using global thresholds. The same evaluation protocol was performed on the DooDB publicly available dataset. Besides verification performance evaluations conducted on the two finger-drawn datasets, we evaluated the quality of the samples and the users of the two datasets using basic quality measures. The results show that finger-drawn signatures can be used by biometric systems with reasonable accuracy.

Microbiology of Animal Bite Wound Infections

Science.gov (United States)

Abrahamian, Fredrick M.; Goldstein, Ellie J. C.

2011-01-01

Summary: The microbiology of animal bite wound infections in humans is often polymicrobial, with a broad mixture of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. Bacteria recovered from infected bite wounds are most often reflective of the oral flora of the biting animal, which can also be influenced by the microbiome of their ingested prey and other foods. Bacteria may also originate from the victim's own skin or the physical environment at the time of injury. Our review has focused on bite wound infections in humans from dogs, cats, and a variety of other animals such as monkeys, bears, pigs, ferrets, horses, sheep, Tasmanian devils, snakes, Komodo dragons, monitor lizards, iguanas, alligators/crocodiles, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, swans, and sharks. The medical literature in this area has been made up mostly of small case series or case reports. Very few studies have been systematic and are often limited to dog or cat bite injuries. Limitations of studies include a lack of established or inconsistent criteria for an infected wound and a failure to utilize optimal techniques in pathogen isolation, especially for anaerobic organisms. There is also a lack of an understanding of the pathogenic significance of all cultured organisms. Gathering information and conducting research in a more systematic and methodical fashion through an organized research network, including zoos, veterinary practices, and rural clinics and hospitals, are needed to better define the microbiology of animal bite wound infections in humans. PMID:21482724

New Egyptian Journal of Microbiology: Journal Sponsorship

African Journals Online (AJOL)

New Egyptian Journal of Microbiology: Journal Sponsorship. Journal Home > About the Journal > New Egyptian Journal of Microbiology: Journal Sponsorship. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Finger Search in the Implicit Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Nielsen, Jesper Asbjørn Sindahl; Truelsen, Jakob

2012-01-01

, and delete in times $\\mathcal{O}(q(t))$, $\\mathcal{O}(q^{-1}(\\log n)\\log n)$, $\\mathcal{O}(\\log n)$, and $\\mathcal{O}(\\log n)$, respectively, for any q(t) = Ω(logt). Finally we show that the search operation must take Ω(logn) time for the special case where the finger is always changed to the element...

Compact Tactile Sensors for Robot Fingers

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Toby B.; Lussy, David; Gaudiano, Frank; Hulse, Aaron; Diftler, Myron A.; Rodriguez, Dagoberto; Bielski, Paul; Butzer, Melisa

2004-01-01

Compact transducer arrays that measure spatial distributions of force or pressure have been demonstrated as prototypes of tactile sensors to be mounted on fingers and palms of dexterous robot hands. The pressure- or force-distribution feedback provided by these sensors is essential for the further development and implementation of robot-control capabilities for humanlike grasping and manipulation.

Bioaccessible mineral content of malted finger millet (Eleusine coracana), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and barley (Hordeum vulgare).

Science.gov (United States)

Platel, Kalpana; Eipeson, Sushma W; Srinivasan, Krishnapura

2010-07-14

Malted grains are extensively used in weaning and geriatric foods. Malting generally improves the nutrient content and digestibility of foods. The present investigation examined the influence of malting of finger millet, wheat, and barley on the bioaccessibility of iron, zinc, calcium, copper, and manganese. Malting increased the bioaccessibility of iron by >3-fold from the two varieties of finger millet and by >2-fold from wheat, whereas such a beneficial influence was not seen in barley. The bioaccessibility of zinc from wheat and barley increased to an extent of 234 and 100%, respectively, as a result of malting. However, malting reduced the bioaccessibility of zinc from finger millet. Malting marginally increased the bioaccessibility of calcium from white finger millet and wheat. Whereas malting did not exert any influence on bioaccessibility of copper from finger millet and wheat, it significantly decreased (75%) the same from barley. Malting did increase the bioaccessibility of manganese from brown finger millet (17%) and wheat (42%). Thus, malting could be an appropriate food-based strategy to derive iron and other minerals maximally from food grains.

Sports Injury-Related Fingers and Thumb Deformity Due to Tendon or Ligament Rupture

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Rong-Jie Bai

2018-01-01

Conclusions: Sports injury-related fingers and thumb deformity are relatively common. MRI is an accurate method for evaluation of the anatomy and pathologic conditions of the fingers and thumb. It is a useful tool for accurate diagnosis of the sports-related ligaments and tendons injuries in hand.

Control System Design of the YWZ Multi-Fingered Dexterous Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenzhen Yang

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The manipulation abilities of a multi-fingered dexterous hand, such as motion in real-time, flexibility, grasp stability etc., are largely dependent on its control system. This paper developed a control system for the YWZ dexterous hand, which had five fingers and twenty degrees of freedom (DOFs. All of the finger joints of the YWZ dexterous handwere active joints driven by twenty micro-stepper motors respectively. The main contribution of this paper was that we were able to use stepper motor control to actuate the hand's fingers, thus, increasing the hands feasibility. Based the actuators of the YWZ dexterous hand, we firstly developed an integrated circuit board (ICB, which was the communication hardware between the personal computer (PC and the YWZ dexterous hand. The ICB included a centre controller, twenty driver chips, a USB port and other electrical parts. Then, a communication procedure between the PC and the ICB was developed to send the control commands to actuate the YWZ dexterous hand. Experiment results showed that under this control system, the motion of the YWZ dexterous hand was real-time; both the motion accuracy and the motion stability of the YWZ dexterous hand were reliable. Compared with other types of actuators related to dexterous hands, such as pneumatic servo cylinder, DC servo motor, shape memory alloy etc., experiment results verified that the stepper motors as actuators for the dexterous handswere effective, economical, controllable and stable.

Prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and occupational risk factors among professional cooks: a cross-sectional study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomita Shigeru

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous studies have pointed out that the school lunch workers in Japan are suffering from work-related disorders including finger deformations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and the association with job-related risk factors. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 5,719 subjects (response rate: 81%, 982 men and 4,737 women was undertaken during September 2003 to February 2004. Results Finger deformations were found among 11.7% of the men and 35.6% of the women studied, with significant differences among sex, age and sex-age groups. For both men and women the pattern of finger deformations across the hand was similar for the right and the left hand. For women, the deformations were found in about 10% of the distal interphalangeal joints of all fingers. Based on multiple logistic regression analyses, the factors female sex, age, the number of cooked lunches per cook and cooking activities were independently associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. High prevalence odds ratios were found for those frequently carrying or using tools by hands such as delivering containers, distributing meals, preparing dishes, washing equipment, cutting and stirring foods. Conclusions Among the school lunch workers studied, women had a higher prevalence of finger deformations on all joints of both hands. Various cooking tasks were associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. The results suggest that improvements in working conditions are important for preventing work-related disorders such as finger deformations.

A comparison of multi-metal deposition processes utilising gold nanoparticles and an evaluation of their application to 'low yield' surfaces for finger mark development.

Science.gov (United States)

Fairley, C; Bleay, S M; Sears, V G; NicDaeid, N

2012-04-10

This paper reports a comparison of the effectiveness and practicality of using different multi-metal deposition processes for finger mark development. The work investigates whether modifications can be made to improve the performance of the existing process published by Schnetz. Secondly, we compare the ability of different multi-metal deposition processes to develop finger marks on a range of surfaces with that of other currently used development processes. All published multi-metal deposition processes utilise an initial stage of colloidal gold deposition followed by enhancement of the marks with using a physical developer. All possible combinations of colloidal gold and physical developer stages were tested. The method proposed by Schnetz was shown to be the most effective process, however a modification which reduced the pH of the enhancement solution was revealed to provide the best combination of effectiveness and practicality. In trials comparing the modified formulation with vacuum metal deposition, superglue and powder suspensions on surfaces which typically give low finger mark yields (cling film, plasticised vinyl, leather and masking tape), the modified method produced significantly better results over existing processes for cling film and plasticised vinyl. The modified formulation was found to be ineffective on both masking tape and leather. It is recommended that further tests be carried out on the modified multi-metal deposition formulation to establish whether it could be introduced for operational work on cling film material in particular. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The normal tendon sheath of the second to fifth fingers as seen on oblique views

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, E.

1984-01-01

Oblique views of the fingers, using a low kilovolt technique, show a portion of the tendon sheaths which can be regarded as representative of the entire sheath. Because of the varying obliquity of each finger, this proportion differs in the fingers. With increasing age the projected portion of the sheath becomes smaller because it is covered by increasing bone formation in the insertion of the tendon sheat. Normal values have been obtained for adults according to their decades; from these, quite minor degrees of tendon sheat thickening can be determined. In camptodactyly of the fifth finger, which is not uncommon, the tendon sheat may be widened in the absence of a tenosynovitis. (orig.) [de

[Bacterial identification methods in the microbiology laboratory].

Science.gov (United States)

Bou, Germán; Fernández-Olmos, Ana; García, Celia; Sáez-Nieto, Juan Antonio; Valdezate, Sylvia

2011-10-01

In order to identify the agent responsible of the infectious process and understanding the pathogenic/pathological implications, clinical course, and to implement an effective antimicrobial therapy, a mainstay in the practice of clinical microbiology is the allocation of species to a microbial isolation. In daily routine practice microbiology laboratory phenotypic techniques are applied to achieve this goal. However, they have some limitations that are seen more clearly for some kinds of microorganism. Molecular methods can circumvent some of these limitations, although its implementation is not universal. This is due to higher costs and the level of expertise required for thei implementation, so molecular methods are often centralized in reference laboratories and centers. Recently, proteomics-based methods made an important breakthrough in the field of diagnostic microbiology and will undoubtedly have a major impact on the future organization of the microbiology services. This paper is a short review of the most noteworthy aspects of the three bacterial identification methods described above used in microbiology laboratories. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Automation in the clinical microbiology laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Susan M; Marlowe, Elizabeth M

2013-09-01

Imagine a clinical microbiology laboratory where a patient's specimens are placed on a conveyor belt and sent on an automation line for processing and plating. Technologists need only log onto a computer to visualize the images of a culture and send to a mass spectrometer for identification. Once a pathogen is identified, the system knows to send the colony for susceptibility testing. This is the future of the clinical microbiology laboratory. This article outlines the operational and staffing challenges facing clinical microbiology laboratories and the evolution of automation that is shaping the way laboratory medicine will be practiced in the future. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantitative assessment of finger tapping characteristics in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Roalf, David R; Rupert, Petra; Mechanic-Hamilton, Dawn; Brennan, Laura; Duda, John E; Weintraub, Daniel; Trojanowski, John Q; Wolk, David; Moberg, Paul J

2018-06-01

Fine motor impairments are common in neurodegenerative disorders, yet standardized, quantitative measurements of motor abilities are uncommonly used in neurological practice. Thus, understanding and comparing fine motor abilities across disorders have been limited. The current study compared differences in finger tapping, inter-tap interval, and variability in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy older adults (HOA). Finger tapping was measured using a highly sensitive light-diode finger tapper. Total number of finger taps, inter-tap interval, and intra-individual variability (IIV) of finger tapping was measured and compared in AD (n = 131), PD (n = 63), MCI (n = 46), and HOA (n = 62), controlling for age and sex. All patient groups had fine motor impairments relative to HOA. AD and MCI groups produced fewer taps with longer inter-tap interval and higher IIV compared to HOA. The PD group, however, produced more taps with shorter inter-tap interval and higher IIV compared to HOA. Disease-specific changes in fine motor function occur in the most common neurodegenerative diseases. The findings suggest that alterations in finger tapping patterns are common in AD, MCI, and PD. In addition, the present results underscore the importance of motor dysfunction even in neurodegenerative disorders without primary motor symptoms.

Microbial ecology of the skin in the era of metagenomics and molecular microbiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hannigan, Geoffrey D; Grice, Elizabeth A

2013-12-01

The skin is the primary physical barrier between the body and the external environment and is also a substrate for the colonization of numerous microbes. Previously, dermatological microbiology research was dominated by culture-based techniques, but significant advances in genomic technologies have enabled the development of less-biased, culture-independent approaches to characterize skin microbial communities. These molecular microbiology approaches illustrate the great diversity of microbiota colonizing the skin and highlight unique features such as site specificity, temporal dynamics, and interpersonal variation. Disruptions in skin commensal microbiota are associated with the progression of many dermatological diseases. A greater understanding of how skin microbes interact with each other and with their host, and how we can therapeutically manipulate those interactions, will provide powerful tools for treating and preventing dermatological disease.

Virtual Simulations as Preparation for Lab Exercises: Assessing Learning of Key Laboratory Skills in Microbiology and Improvement of Essential Non-Cognitive Skills

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Makransky, Guido; Warming Thisgaard, Malene; Gadegaard, Helen

2016-01-01

Objective To investigate if a virtual laboratory simulation (vLAB) could be used to replace a face to face tutorial (demonstration) to prepare students for a laboratory exercise in microbiology. Methods A total of 189 students who were participating in an undergraduate biology course were randomly...... selected into a vLAB or demonstration condition. In the vLAB condition students could use a vLAB at home to 'practice' streaking out bacteria on agar plates in a virtual environment. In the demonstration condition students were given a live demonstration from a lab tutor showing them how to streak out......-efficacy in the field of microbiology. Conclusion Our data show that vLABs function just as well as face to face tutorials in preparing students for a physical lab activity in microbiology. The results imply that vLABs could be used instead of face to face tutorials, and a combination of virtual and physical lab...

Lead inhibition of DNA-binding mechanism of Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanas, J S; Rodgers, J S; Bantle, J A; Cheng, Y G

1999-11-01

The association of lead with chromatin in cells suggests that deleterious metal effects may in part be mediated through alterations in gene function. To elucidate if and how lead may alter DNA binding of cysteine-rich zinc finger proteins, lead ions were analyzed for their ability to alter the DNA binding mechanism of the Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger protein transcription factor IIIA (TFIIIA). As assayed by DNase I protection, the interaction of TFIIIA with the 50-bp internal control region of the 5S ribosomal gene was partially inhibited by 5 microM lead ions and completely inhibited by 10 to 20 microM lead ions. Preincubation of free TFIIIA with lead resulted in DNA-binding inhibition, whereas preincubation of a TFIIIA/5S RNA complex with lead did not result in DNA-binding inhibition. Because 5S RNA binds TFIIIA zinc fingers, this result is consistent with an inhibition mechanism via lead binding to zinc fingers. The complete loss of DNase I protection on the 5S gene indicates the mechanism of inhibition minimally involves the N-terminal fingers of TFIIIA. Inhibition was not readily reversible and occurred in the presence of an excess of beta-mercaptoethanol. Inhibition kinetics were fast, progressing to completion in approximately 5 min. Millimolar concentrations of sulfhydryl-specific arsenic ions were not inhibitory for TFIIIA binding. Micromolar concentrations of lead inhibited DNA binding by Sp1, another Cys(2)His(2) finger protein, but not by the nonfinger protein AP2. Inhibition of Cys(2)His(2) zinc finger transcription factors by lead ions at concentrations near those known to have deleterious physiological effects points to new molecular mechanisms for lead toxicity in promoting disease.

Recent advances in diagnostic microbiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Bravo, Lulette Tricia C; Procop, Gary W

2009-07-01

The past decade has seen a surge in the development of a variety of molecular diagnostics designed to rapidly identify or characterize medically important microorganisms. We briefly review important advances in molecular microbiology, and then discuss specific assays that have been implemented in clinical microbiology laboratories throughout the country. We also discuss emerging methods and technologies that will soon be more widely used for the prompt and accurate detection of the agents of infectious diseases.

Review of Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn): A power house of health benefiting nutrients

OpenAIRE

Dinesh Chandra; Satish Chandra; Pallavi; A.K. Sharma

2016-01-01

The bulk of the world's millet crop is produced by India, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and China. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn), little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth ex Roem. & Schult.), foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauvois) and proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) are most commonly found species among various millet varieties. In India, finger millet occupy the largest area under cultivation among the small millets. Finger millet stands unique among ...

Thermal resistance matrix representation of thermal effects and thermal design in multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jin Dong-Yue; Zhang Wan-Rong; Chen Liang; Fu Qiang; Xiao Ying; Wang Ren-Qing; Zhao Xin

2011-01-01

The thermal resistance matrix including self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance is presented to describe the thermal effects of multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors. The dependence of thermal resistance matrix on finger spacing is also investigated. It is shown that both self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance are lowered by increasing the finger spacing, in which the downward dissipated heat path is widened and the heat flow from adjacent fingers is effectively suppressed. The decrease of self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance is helpful for improving the thermal stability of power devices. Furthermore, with the aid of the thermal resistance matrix, a 10-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) with non-uniform finger spacing is designed for high thermal stability. The optimized structure can effectively lower the peak temperature while maintaining a uniformity of the temperature profile at various biases and thus the device effectively may operate at a higher power level.

Experience of Percutaneous Trigger Finger Release under Local ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

New Delhi, India. ... This procedure is easy, quicker, less complications and economical with good results. ... Sahu and Gupta: Trigger finger release under local anesthesia .... the most cost-effective treatment is two trials of corticosteroid.

Delineation of somatosensory finger areas using vibrotactile stimulation, an ECoG study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wahnoun, Rémy; Benson, Michelle; Helms-Tillery, Stephen; Adelson, P David

2015-10-01

In surgical planning for epileptic focus resection, functional mapping of eloquent cortex is attained through direct electrical stimulation of the brain. This procedure is uncomfortable, can trigger seizures or nausea, and relies on subjective evaluation. We hypothesize that a method combining vibrotactile stimulation and statistical clustering may provide improved somatosensory mapping. Seven pediatric candidates for surgical resection underwent a task in which their fingers were independently stimulated using a custom designed finger pad, during electrocorticographic monitoring. A cluster-based statistical analysis was then performed to localize the elicited activity on the recording grids. Mid-Gamma clusters (65-115 Hz) arose in areas consistent with anatomical predictions as well as clinical findings, with five subjects presenting a somatotopic organization of the fingers. This process allowed us to delineate finger representation even in patients who were sleeping, with strong interictal activity, or when electrical stimulation did not successfully locate eloquent areas. We suggest that this scheme, relying on the endogenous neural response rather than exogenous electrical activation, could eventually be extended to map other sensory areas and provide a faster and more objective map to better anticipate outcomes of surgical resection.