WorldWideScience

Sample records for topical cyclogenesis regions

  1. Comparison of tropical cyclogenesis indices on seasonal to interannual timescales

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menkes, Christophe E. [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, IRD, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat, Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); IRD, Noumea Cedex (New Caledonia); Institut de Recherche Pour le Developpement, LOCEAN, IRD/UPMC/MNHN/CNRS, Noumea Cedex (New Caledonia); Lengaigne, Matthieu [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, IRD, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat, Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); National Institute of Oceanography, IRD, Goa (India); Marchesiello, Patrick [Laboratoire d' Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale (LEGOS), IRD, Toulouse (France); Jourdain, Nicolas C. [IRD, Noumea Cedex (New Caledonia); Vincent, Emmanuel M. [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, IRD, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat, Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); Lefevre, Jerome [IRD, Noumea Cedex (New Caledonia); Laboratoire d' Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale (LEGOS), IRD, Toulouse (France); Chauvin, Fabrice; Royer, Jean-Francois [Meteo-France, CNRM/GAME (Meteo-France/CNRS), Toulouse Cedex 01 (France)

    2012-01-15

    This paper evaluates the performances of four cyclogenesis indices against observed tropical cyclone genesis on a global scale over the period 1979-2001. These indices are: the Genesis Potential Index; the Yearly Genesis Parameter; the Modified Yearly Convective Genesis Potential Index; and the Tippett et al. Index (J Clim, 2011), hereafter referred to as TCS. Choosing ERA40, NCEP2, NCEP or JRA25 reanalysis to calculate these indices can yield regional differences but overall does not change the main conclusions arising from this study. By contrast, differences between indices are large and vary depending on the regions and on the timescales considered. All indices except the TCS show an equatorward bias in mean cyclogenesis, especially in the northern hemisphere where this bias can reach 5 . Mean simulated genesis numbers for all indices exhibit large regional discrepancies, which can commonly reach up to {+-}50%. For the seasonal timescales on which the indices are historically fitted, performances also vary widely in terms of amplitude although in general they all reproduce the cyclogenesis seasonality adequately. At the seasonal scale, the TCS seems to be the best fitted index overall. The most striking feature at interannual scales is the inability of all indices to reproduce the observed cyclogenesis amplitude. The indices also lack the ability to reproduce the general interannual phase variability, but they do, however, acceptably reproduce the phase variability linked to El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) - a major driver of tropical cyclones interannual variations. In terms of cyclogenesis mechanisms that can be inferred from the analysis of the index terms, there are wide variations from one index to another at seasonal and interannual timescales and caution is advised when using these terms from one index only. They do, however, show a very good coherence at ENSO scale thus inspiring confidence in the mechanism interpretations that can be obtained by

  2. Acceleration of tropical cyclogenesis by self-aggregation feedbacks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muller, Caroline J; Romps, David M

    2018-03-20

    Idealized simulations of tropical moist convection have revealed that clouds can spontaneously clump together in a process called self-aggregation. This results in a state where a moist cloudy region with intense deep convection is surrounded by extremely dry subsiding air devoid of deep convection. Because of the idealized settings of the simulations where it was discovered, the relevance of self-aggregation to the real world is still debated. Here, we show that self-aggregation feedbacks play a leading-order role in the spontaneous genesis of tropical cyclones in cloud-resolving simulations. Those feedbacks accelerate the cyclogenesis process by a factor of 2, and the feedbacks contributing to the cyclone formation show qualitative and quantitative agreement with the self-aggregation process. Once the cyclone is formed, wind-induced surface heat exchange (WISHE) effects dominate, although we find that self-aggregation feedbacks have a small but nonnegligible contribution to the maintenance of the mature cyclone. Our results suggest that self-aggregation, and the framework developed for its study, can help shed more light into the physical processes leading to cyclogenesis and cyclone intensification. In particular, our results point out the importance of the longwave radiative cooling outside the cyclone.

  3. Relationship between summer monsoon rainfall and cyclogenesis ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    relationship between Indian Ocean Dipole Mode. Index (IODMI) and the ... 2013) in the cyclogenesis over north Indian Ocean ..... Indian summer monsoon; J. Climate 17 3141–3155. ... Murakami H, Wang B and Kitoh A 2011 Future change.

  4. Mesoscale cyclogenesis over the western north Pacific Ocean during TPARC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher A. Davis

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Three cases of mesoscale marine cyclogenesis over the subtropics of the Western Pacific Ocean are investigated. Each case occurred during the THORPEX Pacific Asia Regional Campaign and Tropical Cyclone Structure (TCS-08 field phases in 2008. Each cyclone developed from remnants of disturbances that earlier showed potential for tropical cyclogenesis within the tropics. Two of the cyclones produced gale-force surface winds, and one, designated as a tropical cyclone, resulted in a significant coastal storm over eastern Japan. Development was initiated by a burst of organized mesoscale convection that consolidated and intensified the surface cyclonic circulation over a period of 12–24 h. Upper-tropospheric potential vorticity anomalies modulated the vertical wind shear that, in turn, influenced the periods of cyclone intensification and weakening. Weak baroclinicity associated with vertical shear was also deemed important in organizing mesoscale ascent and the convection outbreaks. The remnant tropical disturbances contributed exceptional water vapour content to higher latitudes that led to strong diabatic heating, and the tropical remnants contributed vorticity that was the seed of the development in the subtropics. Predictability of these events more than three days in advance appears to be minimal.

  5. Air mass origins and troposphere-to-stratosphere exchange associated with mid-latitude cyclogenesis and tropopause folding inferred from Be-7 measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kritz, Mark A.; Rosner, Stefan W.; Danielsen, Edwin F.; Selkirk, Henry B.

    1991-01-01

    The 1984 extratropical mission of NASA's Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange Project (STEP) studied cross-jet transport in regions of cyclogenesis and tropopause folding. Correlations of Be-7, ozone, water vapor, and potential vorticity measured on a NASA U-2 research aircraft flying in high shear regions above the jet core are indicative of mixing between the cyclonic and the anticyclonic sides of the jet and are consistent with the hypothesis that small-scale entrainments of upper tropospheric air into the lower stratosphere during cyclogenesis are important in maintaining the vertical gradients of Be-7, ozone, water vapor and other trace constituents in the lower few kilometers of the midlatitude stratosphere. Correlations between Be-7, and ozone suggest a lower tropical stratospheric origin for the ozone-poor lamina observed above the jet core.

  6. Tropical cyclogenesis in a tropical wave critical layer: easterly waves

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. J. Dunkerton

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available The development of tropical depressions within tropical waves over the Atlantic and eastern Pacific is usually preceded by a "surface low along the wave" as if to suggest a hybrid wave-vortex structure in which flow streamlines not only undulate with the waves, but form a closed circulation in the lower troposphere surrounding the low. This structure, equatorward of the easterly jet axis, is identified herein as the familiar critical layer of waves in shear flow, a flow configuration which arguably provides the simplest conceptual framework for tropical cyclogenesis resulting from tropical waves, their interaction with the mean flow, and with diabatic processes associated with deep moist convection. The recirculating Kelvin cat's eye within the critical layer represents a sweet spot for tropical cyclogenesis in which a proto-vortex may form and grow within its parent wave. A common location for storm development is given by the intersection of the wave's critical latitude and trough axis at the center of the cat's eye, with analyzed vorticity centroid nearby. The wave and vortex live together for a time, and initially propagate at approximately the same speed. In most cases this coupled propagation continues for a few days after a tropical depression is identified. For easterly waves, as the name suggests, the propagation is westward. It is shown that in order to visualize optimally the associated Lagrangian motions, one should view the flow streamlines, or stream function, in a frame of reference translating horizontally with the phase propagation of the parent wave. In this co-moving frame, streamlines are approximately equivalent to particle trajectories. The closed circulation is quasi-stationary, and a dividing streamline separates air within the cat's eye from air outside. The critical layer equatorward of the easterly jet axis is important to tropical cyclogenesis because its cat's eye provides (i a region of

  7. Seasonal cyclogenesis and the role of near-surface stratified layer in the Bay of Bengal

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Murty, V.S.N.; Sarma, M.S.S.; Tilvi, V.

    The role of the near-surface stratified layer developed due to the spread of low salinity waters under the influence of freshwater influx on the cyclogenesis over the Bay of Bengal is addressed. The seasonal variation of the Effective Oceanic Layer...

  8. African Easterly Jet: Barotropic Instability, Waves, and Cyclogenesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Man-Li C; Reale, Oreste; Schubert, Siegfried D.; Suarez, Max J.; Thorncroft, Chris D.

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the structure of the African easterly jet, focusing on instability processes on a seasonal and subseasonal scale, with the goal of identifying features that could provide increased predictability of Atlantic tropical cyclogenesis. The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) is used as the main investigating tool. MERRA is compared with other reanalyses datasets from major operational centers around the world and was found to describe very effectively the circulation over the African monsoon region. In particular, a comparison with precipitation datasets from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project shows that MERRA realistically reproduces seasonal precipitation over that region. The verification of the generalized Kuo barotropic instability condition computed from seasonal means is found to have the interesting property of defining well the location where observed tropical storms are detected. This property does not appear to be an artifact of MERRA and is present also in the other adopted reanalysis datasets. Therefore, the fact that the areas where the mean flow is unstable seems to provide a more favorable environment for wave intensification, could be another factor to include-in addition to sea surface temperature, vertical shear, precipitation, the role of Saharan air, and others-among large-scale forcings affecting development and tropical cyclone frequency. In addition, two prominent modes of variability are found based on a spectral analysis that uses the Hilbert-Huang transform: a 2.5-6-day mode that corresponds well to the African easterly waves and also a 6-9-day mode that seems to be associated with tropical- extratropical interaction.

  9. Tropical Cyclogenesis in a Tropical Wave Critical Layer: Easterly Waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunkerton, T. J.; Montgomery, M. T.; Wang, Z.

    2009-01-01

    The development of tropical depressions within tropical waves over the Atlantic and eastern Pacific is usually preceded by a "surface low along the wave" as if to suggest a hybrid wave-vortex structure in which flow streamlines not only undulate with the waves, but form a closed circulation in the lower troposphere surrounding the low. This structure, equatorward of the easterly jet axis, is identified herein as the familiar critical layer of waves in shear flow, a flow configuration which arguably provides the simplest conceptual framework for tropical cyclogenesis resulting from tropical waves, their interaction with the mean flow, and with diabatic processes associated with deep moist convection. The recirculating Kelvin cat's eye within the critical layer represents a sweet spot for tropical cyclogenesis in which a proto-vortex may form and grow within its parent wave. A common location for storm development is given by the intersection of the wave's critical latitude and trough axis at the center of the cat's eye, with analyzed vorticity centroid nearby. The wave and vortex live together for a time, and initially propagate at approximately the same speed. In most cases this coupled propagation continues for a few days after a tropical depression is identified. For easterly waves, as the name suggests, the propagation is westward. It is shown that in order to visualize optimally the associated Lagrangian motions, one should view the flow streamlines, or stream function, in a frame of reference translating horizontally with the phase propagation of the parent wave. In this co-moving frame, streamlines are approximately equivalent to particle trajectories. The closed circulation is quasi-stationary, and a dividing streamline separates air within the cat's eye from air outside.

  10. Explosive cyclogenesis of extra-tropical cyclone Klaus and its effects in Catalonia. A case study of hurricane force gusts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvo, J.; López, J. A.; Martín, F.; Morales, G.; Pascual, R.

    2009-09-01

    On 23th and 24th of January 2009, the extra-tropical cyclone Klaus crossed the north of Spain and the south of France producing several deaths and generalized damages. The cyclone of Atlantic origin underwent an explosive deepening of more than 1 hPa per hour at the surface level. Catalonia region was affected by gale-force winds and hurricane gusts. The Atlantic depression underwent a process called explosive cyclogenesis (when a surface cyclone deepens at a rate higher than 1 hPa/hr over 24 hours, approximately) in front of the Spanish Atlantic coasts. In this study we focus on its impact in the Catalonia areas where both synoptic and local effects were important. Also we evaluate the performance of the numerical weather prediction model outputs against observed data.

  11. Diagnosing indicators of large-scale forcing of east-coast cyclogenesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dowdy, Andrew J; Mills, Graham A; Timbal, Bertrand

    2010-01-01

    Extra-tropical cyclones that develop near the east coast of Australia often have severe consequences such as flash flooding and damaging winds and seas, as well as beneficial consequences such as being responsible for heavy rainfall events that contribute significantly to total rainfall and runoff. There is subjective evidence that the development of most major events, commonly known as East Coast Lows, is associated with the movement of a high amplitude upper-tropospheric trough system over eastern Australia. This paper examines a number of upper-tropospheric diagnostic quantities that might provide a basis for preparing a climatology of the large-scale drivers of east-coast cyclogenesis. A preliminary climatology of these diagnostic quantities, based on ECMWF interim reanalyses, is compared with a database of observed East Coast Low events. The potential application of these diagnostics to global climate model simulations of past and future climates is also discussed.

  12. Relationship between summer monsoon rainfall and cyclogenesis over Bay of Bengal during post-monsoon (October-December) season

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sadhuram, Y; Maneesha, K.

    peak monsoon (October–November) season and concluded that the frequency of cyclones is modulated by negative and positive IOD rather than El-Nino and La-Nina. In this study, the relationship between southwest monsoon rainfall (June–September) and TNDC... Relationship between summer monsoon rainfall and cyclogenesis over Bay of Bengal during post-monsoon (October–December) season Y Sadhuram∗ and K Maneesha CSIR–National Institute of Oceanography, 176, Lawsons Bay Colony, Visakhapatnam 530 017, India...

  13. Modelling study of mesoscale cyclogenesis over Ross Sea, Antarctica, on February 18, 1988

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stortini, M.; Morelli, S.; Marchesi, S. [Modena e Reggio Emilia Univ., Modena (Italy). Dipt. di Scienze dell' Ingegneria, Sez. Osservatorio Geofisico

    2000-04-01

    This paper examines the development of a summer event of mesoscale cyclogenesis off the coast of Victoria Land in the presence of katabatic winds, by means of numerical simulations. These refer to the period from 00 UTC 17 February to 00 UTC 19 February 1988 and were performed using the hydrostatic ETA (1993 version) limited area model with resolution 55 km x 55 km x 17 levels. The ETA model reproduces katabatic winds from Terra Nova Bay and a trough on the southwestern Ross Sea. A cyclonic vortex is simulated in the trough, even though it is weaker than the one present in the analysis initialized by the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (Reading, United Kingdom). Idealized simulations with varied surface conditions were also performed. In particular, an ice-covered ocean acts to weaken the atmospheric phenomena, while a no-mountain simulation emphasizes the influence of the orography and the cold winds from the coast of Victoria Land on the mesocyclonic activity.

  14. The European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Joint Committee Practice Advisory on Controversial Topics in Pediatric Regional Anesthesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivani, Giorgio; Suresh, Santhanam; Ecoffey, Claude; Bosenberg, Adrian; Lonnqvist, Per-Anne; Krane, Elliot; Veyckemans, Francis; Polaner, David M; Van de Velde, Marc; Neal, Joseph M

    2015-01-01

    Some topics in the clinical management of regional anesthesia in children remain controversial. To evaluate and come to a consensus regarding some of these topics, The European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA) and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) developed a joint committee practice advisory on pediatric regional anesthesia (PRA). Representatives from both ASRA and ESRA comprised the joint committee practice advisory on PRA. Evidence-based recommendations were based on a systematic search of the literature. In cases where no literature was available, expert opinion was elicited. Experts selected controversial topics in PRA. The performance of PRA under general anesthesia or deep sedation is associated with acceptable safety and should be viewed as the standard of care (Evidence B2 and Evidence B3). Because of the difficulty interpreting a negative test dose, the use of test dosing should remain discretionary (Evidence B4). The use of either air-loss of resistance or saline-loss of resistance techniques is supported by expert opinion, but the literature supporting one technique over the other is sparse and controversial; when used appropriately, each technique may be safely used in children. There are no current evidence-based data that the use of RA increases the risk for acute compartment syndrome or delays its diagnosis in children. High-level evidence is not yet available for the topics evaluated, and most recommendations are based on Evidence B studies. The ESRA/ASRA recommendations intend to provide guidance for the safe practice of regional anesthesia in children.

  15. Joint analysis of short-period variations of ionospheric parameters in Siberia and the Far East and processes of the tropical cyclogenesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chernigovskaya, M. A.; Kurkin, V. I.; Orlov, I. I.; Sharkov, E. A.; Pokrovskaya, I. V.

    2009-04-01

    In this work a possibility of manifestation of strong meteorological disturbances in the Earth lower atmosphere in variations of ionospheric parameters in the zone remote from the disturbance source has been studied. The spectral analysis of short-period variations (about ten minutes, hours) in maximum observed frequencies (MOF) of one-skip signals of oblique sounding has been carried out. These variations were induced by changes in the upper atmosphere parameters along the Magadan-Irkutsk oblique-incidence sounding path on the background of diurnal variations in the parameter under study. Data on MOF measurements with off-duty factor approximately 5 min in equinoxes (September, March) of 2005-2007 were used. The analysis was made using the improved ISTP-developed technique of determining periodicities in time series. The increase of signal spectrum energy at certain frequencies is interpreted as manifestation of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TID) associated with propagation of internal gravity waves in the atmosphere. The analysis revealed TIDs of temporal scales under consideration. The question concerning localization of possible sources of revealed disturbances is discussed. Troposphere meteorological disturbances giant in their energy (tropical cyclones, typhoon) are considered as potential sources of observable TIDs. The needed information on tropical cyclones that occurred in the north area of the Indian Ocean, south-west and central areas of the Pacific Ocean in 2005-2007 is taken from the electron base of satellite data on the global tropical cyclogenesis "Global-TC" (ISR RAS). In order to effectively separate disturbances associated with the magnetospheric-ionospheric interaction and disturbances induced by the lower atmosphere influence on the upper atmosphere, we analyze the tropical cyclogenesis events that occurred in quiet helio-geomagnetic conditions. The study was supported by the Program of RAS Presidium N 16 (Part 3) and the RFBR Grant N 08-05-00658.

  16. Dynamical Influence and Operational Impacts of an Extreme Mediterranean Cold Surge

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-01

    in significant flooding over regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea ( Trigo , Bigg, & Davies 2002). The cold air mass and associated cyclogenesis...119, 17–55. Trigo , I., G. Bigg, and T. Davies, 2002: Climatology of cyclogenesis mechanisms in the Mediterranean. Mon. Wea. Rev., 130, 549–569

  17. Coupled atmosphere ocean climate model simulations in the Mediterranean region: effect of a high-resolution marine model on cyclones and precipitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Sanna

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In this study we investigate the importance of an eddy-permitting Mediterranean Sea circulation model on the simulation of atmospheric cyclones and precipitation in a climate model. This is done by analyzing results of two fully coupled GCM (general circulation models simulations, differing only for the presence/absence of an interactive marine module, at very high-resolution (~ 1/16°, for the simulation of the 3-D circulation of the Mediterranean Sea. Cyclones are tracked by applying an objective Lagrangian algorithm to the MSLP (mean sea level pressure field. On annual basis, we find a statistically significant difference in vast cyclogenesis regions (northern Adriatic, Sirte Gulf, Aegean Sea and southern Turkey and in lifetime, giving evidence of the effect of both land–sea contrast and surface heat flux intensity and spatial distribution on cyclone characteristics. Moreover, annual mean convective precipitation changes significantly in the two model climatologies as a consequence of differences in both air–sea interaction strength and frequency of cyclogenesis in the two analyzed simulations.

  18. A hypothesis and a case-study projection of an influence of MJO modulation on boreal-summer tropical cyclogenesis in a warmer climate with a global non-hydrostatic model: a transition toward the central Pacific?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    KAZUYOSHI eOOUCHI

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The eastward shift of the enhanced activity of tropical cyclone to the central Pacific is a robust projection result for a future warmer climate, and is shared by most of the state-of-the-art climate models. The shift has been argued to originate from the underlying El-Ñino like sea-surface temperature (SST forcing. This study explores the possibility that the change of the activity of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO can be an additional, if not alternative, contributor to the shift, using the dataset of Yamada et al. (2010 from a global non-hydrostatic 14-km grid mesh time-slice experiment for a boreal-summer case. Within the case-study framework, we develop the hypothesis that an eastward shift of the high-activity area of the MJO, as manifested itself as the significant intra-seasonal modulation of the enhanced precipitation, is associated with the increased tropical cyclogenesis potential over the North central Pacific by regulating cyclonic relative vorticity and vertical shear. In contrast, the North Indian Ocean and maritime continent undergo relatively diminished genesis potential. An implication is that uncertainty in the future tropical cyclogenesis in some part of the Pacific and other ocean basins could be reduced if projection of the MJO and its connection with the underlying SST environment can be better understood and constrained by the improvement of climate models.

  19. Perspective on the northwestward shift of autumn tropical cyclogenesis locations over the western North Pacific from shifting ENSO

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Chundi; Zhang, Chengyang; Yang, Song; Chen, Dake; He, Shengping

    2017-11-01

    During the recent decades of satellite era, more tropical cyclogenesis locations (TCLs) were observed over the northwestern part of the western North Pacific (WNP), relative to the southeastern part, during the boreal autumn. This increase in TCLs over the northwestern WNP is largely attributed to the synergy of shifting El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the 1998 Pacific climate regime shift. Both central Pacific (CP) La Niña and CP El Niño have occurred more frequently since 1998, with only one eastern Pacific El Niño observed in autumn 2015. The change in the mean longitude of TCLs is closely linked to the ENSO diversity, whereas the change in the mean latitude is dominated by the warming of the WNP induced by an interdecadal tendency of CP La Niña-like events. The physical mechanisms responsible for this shifting ENSO-TCL linkage can be potentially explained by the tacit-and-mutual configurations between tropical upper-tropospheric trough and monsoon trough, on both interannual and interdecadal timescales, which is mainly due to the ENSO-related large-scale environment changes in ocean and atmosphere that modulate the WNP TCL.

  20. Mediterranean climate modelling: variability and climate change scenarios

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Somot, S.

    2005-12-01

    Air-sea fluxes, open-sea deep convection and cyclo-genesis are studied in the Mediterranean with the development of a regional coupled model (AORCM). It accurately simulates these processes and their climate variabilities are quantified and studied. The regional coupling shows a significant impact on the number of winter intense cyclo-genesis as well as on associated air-sea fluxes and precipitation. A lower inter-annual variability than in non-coupled models is simulated for fluxes and deep convection. The feedbacks driving this variability are understood. The climate change response is then analysed for the 21. century with the non-coupled models: cyclo-genesis decreases, associated precipitation increases in spring and autumn and decreases in summer. Moreover, a warming and salting of the Mediterranean as well as a strong weakening of its thermohaline circulation occur. This study also concludes with the necessity of using AORCMs to assess climate change impacts on the Mediterranean. (author)

  1. Mediterranean climate modelling: variability and climate change scenarios; Modelisation climatique du Bassin mediterraneen: variabilite et scenarios de changement climatique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Somot, S

    2005-12-15

    Air-sea fluxes, open-sea deep convection and cyclo-genesis are studied in the Mediterranean with the development of a regional coupled model (AORCM). It accurately simulates these processes and their climate variabilities are quantified and studied. The regional coupling shows a significant impact on the number of winter intense cyclo-genesis as well as on associated air-sea fluxes and precipitation. A lower inter-annual variability than in non-coupled models is simulated for fluxes and deep convection. The feedbacks driving this variability are understood. The climate change response is then analysed for the 21. century with the non-coupled models: cyclo-genesis decreases, associated precipitation increases in spring and autumn and decreases in summer. Moreover, a warming and salting of the Mediterranean as well as a strong weakening of its thermohaline circulation occur. This study also concludes with the necessity of using AORCMs to assess climate change impacts on the Mediterranean. (author)

  2. Productivity and Services: A topic to be encouraged in the regional and territorial studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Maroto Sánchez

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The role of the tertiarization processes on the growth of the overall productivity in the advanced economies has risen as one of the most controversial topics during the recent decades in the specialized literature. Despite the quantitative and the strategic importance of the service industries within the present economies, there has been a significant deficit of theoretical and empirical works on them since only a few decades. Talking about local, territorial and regional analyses —one of the most increasing research fields during the last years— this lack of attention is still evident. Following this motivation, the present «state of the art» should aim to help researchers and institutions in order to deep into the relationships and explaining factors between the growth of the service sector and the development of the overall productivity. In doing so, the paper reviews every theoretical and empirical works on this topic, both on conceptual and methodological issues, starting from the most conventional theses until the most updated revisions with a more positive and realistic point of view of the role of the tertiarization process on productivity.

  3. A case study on the formation and evolution of ice supersaturation in the vicinity of a warm conveyor belt's outflow region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Spichtinger

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available A case study is presented on the formation and evolution of an ice-supersaturated region (ISSR that was detected by a radiosonde in NE Germany at 06:00 UTC 29 November 2000. The ISSR was situated in the vicinity of the outflow region of a warm conveyor belt associated with an intense event of cyclogenesis in the eastern North Atlantic. Using ECMWF analyses and trajectory calculations it is determined when the air parcels became supersaturated and later subsaturated again. In the case considered, the state of air parcel supersaturation can last for longer than 24h. The ISSR was unusually thick: while the mean vertical extension of ISSRs in NE Germany is about 500m, the one investigated here reached 3km. The ice-supersaturated region investigated was bordered both vertically and horizontally by strongly subsaturated air. Near the path of the radiosonde the ISSR was probably cloud free, as inferred from METEOSAT infrared images. However, at other locations within the ISSR it is probable that there were cirrus clouds. Relative humidity measurements obtained by the Lindenberg radiosonde are used to correct the negative bias of the ECMWF humidity and to construct two-dimensional maps of ice supersaturation over Europe during the considered period. A systematic backward trajectory analysis for the ISSRs on these maps shows that the ISSR air masses themselves experienced only a moderate upward motion during the previous days, whereas parts of the ISSRs were located just above strongly ascending air masses from the boundary layer. This indicates qualitatively that warm conveyor belts associated with mid-latitude cyclogenesis are disturbances that can induce the formation of ISSRs in the upper troposphere. The ISSR maps also lead us to a new perception of ISSRs as large dynamic regions of supersaturated air where cirrus clouds can be embedded at some locations while there is clear air at others.

  4. Topical treatment of psoriasis: questionnaire results on topical therapy accessibility and influence of body surface area on usage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iversen, L; Lange, M M; Bissonette, R; Carvalho, A V E; van de Kerkhof, P C; Kirby, B; Kleyn, C E; Lynde, C W; van der Walt, J M; Wu, J J

    2017-07-01

    Topical treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis is first-line treatment and exhibits varying degrees of success across patient groups. Key factors influencing treatment success are physician topical treatment choice (high efficacy, low adverse events) and strict patient adherence. Currently, no formalized, international consensus guidelines exist to direct optimal topical treatment, although many countries have national guidelines. To describe and analyse cross-regional variations in the use and access of psoriasis topical therapies. The study was conducted as an observational cross-sectional study. A survey was distributed to dermatologists from the International Psoriasis Council (IPC) to assess topical therapy accessibility in 26 countries and to understand how body surface area (BSA) categories guide clinical decisions on topical use. Variation in the availability of tars, topical retinoids, dithranol and balneotherapy was reported. The vast majority of respondents (100% and 88.4%) used topical therapy as first-line monotherapy in situations with BSA 10%, the number of respondents who prescribe topical therapy decreased considerably. In addition, combination therapy of a topical drug and a systemic drug was frequently reported when BSA measured >10%. This physician survey provides new evidence on topical access and the influence of disease severity on topical usage in an effort to improve treatment strategies on a global level. © 2017 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

  5. Extended-range forecast for the temporal distribution of clustering tropical cyclogenesis over the western North Pacific

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Zhiwei; Li, Tim; Bai, Long; Gao, Jianyun

    2017-11-01

    Based on outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), an index for clustering tropical cyclogenesis (CTC) over the western North Pacific (WNP) was defined. Around 76 % of total CTC events were generated during the active phase of the CTC index, and 38 % of the total active phase was concurrent with CTC events. For its continuous property, the CTC index was used as the representative predictand for extended-range forecasting the temporal distribution of CTC events. The predictability sources for CTC events were detected via correlation analyses of the previous 35-5-day lead atmospheric fields against the CTC index. The results showed that the geopotential height at different levels and the 200 hPa zonal wind over the global tropics possessed large predictability sources, whereas the predictability sources of other variables, e.g., OLR, zonal wind, and relatively vorticity at 850 hPa and relatively humility at 700 hPa, were mainly confined to the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. Several spatial-temporal projection model (STPM) sets were constructed to carry out the extended-range forecast for the CTC index. By combining the output of STPMs separately conducted for the two dominant modes of intraseasonal variability, e.g., the 10-30 and the 30-80 day mode, useful forecast skill could be achieved for a 30-day lead time. The combined output successfully captured both the 10-30 and 30-80 day mode at least 10 days in advance. With a relatively low rate of false alarm, the STPM achieved hits for 80 % (69 %) of 54 CTC events during 2003-2014 at the 10-day (20-day) lead time, suggesting a practical value of the STPM for real-time forecasting WNP CTC events at an extended range.

  6. Synoptic Scale North American Weather Tracks and the Formation of North Atlantic Windstorms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baum, A. J.; Godek, M. L.

    2014-12-01

    Each winter, dozens of fatalities occur when intense North Atlantic windstorms impact Western Europe. Forecasting the tracks of these storms in the short term is often problematic, but long term forecasts provide an even greater challenge. Improved prediction necessitates the ability to identify these low pressure areas at formation and understand commonalities that distinguish these storms from other systems crossing the Atlantic, such as where they develop. There is some evidence that indicates the majority of intense windstorms that reach Europe have origins far west, as low pressure systems that develop over the North American continent. This project aims to identify the specific cyclogenesis regions in North America that produce a significantly greater number of dangerous storms. NOAA Ocean Prediction Center surface pressure reanalysis maps are used to examine the tracks of storms. Strong windstorms are characterized by those with a central pressure of less than 965 hPa at any point in their life cycle. Tracks are recorded using a coding system based on source region, storm track and dissipation region. The codes are analyzed to determine which region contains the most statistical significance with respect to strong Atlantic windstorm generation. The resultant set of codes also serves as a climatology of North Atlantic extratropical cyclones. Results indicate that a number of windstorms favor cyclogenesis regions off the east coast of the United States. A large number of strong storms that encounter east coast cyclogenesis zones originate in the central mountain region, around Colorado. These storms follow a path that exits North America around New England and subsequently travel along the Canadian coast. Some of these are then primed to become "bombs" over the open Atlantic Ocean.

  7. Topics and topic prominence in two sign languages

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kimmelman, V.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we describe topic marking in Russian Sign Language (RSL) and Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) and discuss whether these languages should be considered topic prominent. The formal markers of topics in RSL are sentence-initial position, a prosodic break following the topic, and

  8. Topical tags vs non-topical tags : Towards a bipartite classification?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Basile, Valerio; Peroni, Silvio; Tamburini, Fabio; Vitali, Fabio

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we investigate whether it is possible to create a computational approach that allows us to distinguish topical tags (i.e. talking about the topic of a resource) and non-topical tags (i.e. describing aspects of a resource that are not related to its topic) in folksonomies, in a way that

  9. The Intense Arctic Cyclone of Early August 2012: A Dynamically Driven Cyclogenesis Event

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosart, L. F.; Turchioe, A.; Adamchcik, E.

    2013-12-01

    cyclone. The relative importance of dynamical versus thermodynamical forcing to the cyclogenesis process as well as the bulk upscale effects of the intense cyclone on the larger scale higher-latitude circulation and the distribution of sea ice will be discussed. A noteworthy aspect of the post-storm polar environment was the upscale growth of a midlevel cyclonic circulation to include most of the Arctic Ocean. The off-pole displacement of this midlevel cyclonic circulation toward northern Canada by mid-August may have contributed to the termination of the 2012 summer-long intensive heat wave over most of the continental United States.

  10. Development and Application of Hyperspectral Infrared Ozone Retrieval Products for Operational Meteorology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berndt, Emily; Zavodsky, Bradley; Jedlovec, Gary

    2015-01-01

    Cyclogenesis is a key forecast challenge at operational forecasting centers such as WPC and OPC, so these centers have a particular interest in unique products that can identify key storm features. In some cases, explosively developing extratropical cyclones can produce hurricane force, non-convective winds along the East Coast and north Atlantic as well as the Pacific Ocean, with the potential to cause significant damage to life and property. Therefore, anticipating cyclogenesis for these types of storms is crucial for furthering the NOAA goal of a "Weather Ready Nation". Over the last few years, multispectral imagery (i.e. RGB) products have gained popularity among forecasters. The GOES-R satellite champion at WPC/OPC has regularly evaluated the Air Mass RGB products from GOES Sounder, MODIS, and SEVIRI to aid in forecasting cyclogenesis as part of ongoing collaborations with SPoRT within the framework of the GOES-R Proving Ground. WPC/OPC has used these products to identify regions of stratospheric air associated with tropopause folds that can lead to cyclogenesis and hurricane force winds. RGB products combine multiple channels or channel differences into multi-color imagery in which different colors represent a particular cloud or air mass type. Initial interaction and feedback from forecasters evaluating the legacy Air Mass RGBs revealed some uncertainty regarding what physical processes the qualitative RGB products represent and color interpretation. To enhance forecaster confidence and interpretation of the Air Mass RGB, NASA SPoRT has transitioned a total column ozone product from AIRS retrievals to the WPC/OPC. The use of legacy AIRS demonstrates future JPSS capabilities possible with CrIS or OMPS. Since stratospheric air can be identified by anomalous potential vorticity and warm, dry, ozone-rich air, hyperspectral infrared sounder ozone products can be used in conjunction with the Air Mass RGB for identifying the role of stratospheric air in explosive

  11. Demonstration of AIRS Total Ozone Products to Operations to Enhance User Readiness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berndt, Emily; Zavodsky, Bradley; Jedlovec, Gary

    2014-01-01

    Cyclogenesis is a key forecast challenge at operational forecasting centers such as WPC and OPC, so these centers have a particular interest in unique products that can identify key storm features. In some cases, explosively developing extratropical cyclones can produce hurricane force, non-convective winds along the East Coast and north Atlantic as well as the Pacific Ocean, with the potential to cause significant damage to life and property. Therefore, anticipating cyclogenesis for these types of storms is crucial for furthering the NOAA goal of a "Weather Ready Nation". Over the last few years, multispectral imagery (i.e. RGB) products have gained popularity among forecasters. The GOES-R satellite champion at WPC/OPC has regularly evaluated the Air Mass RGB products from GOES Sounder, MODIS, and SEVIRI to aid in forecasting cyclogenesis as part of ongoing collaborations with SPoRT within the framework of the GOES-R Proving Ground. WPC/OPC has used these products to identify regions of stratospheric air associated with tropopause folds that can lead to cyclogenesis and hurricane force winds. RGB products combine multiple channels or channel differences into multi-color imagery in which different colors represent a particular cloud or air mass type. Initial interaction and feedback from forecasters evaluating the legacy Air Mass RGBs revealed some uncertainty regarding what physical processes the qualitative RGB products represent and color interpretation. To enhance forecaster confidence and interpretation of the Air Mass RGB, NASA SPoRT has transitioned a total column ozone product from AIRS retrievals to the WPC/OPC. The use of legacy AIRS demonstrates future JPSS capabilities possible with CrIS or OMPS. Since stratospheric air can be identified by anomalous potential vorticity and warm, dry, ozone-rich air, hyperspectral infrared sounder ozone products can be used in conjunction with the Air Mass RGB for identifying the role of stratospheric air in explosive

  12. Changing the Topic. Topic Position in Ancient Greek Word Order

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Allan, R.J.

    2014-01-01

    Ancient Greek, topics can be expressed as intra-clausal constituents but they can also precede or follow the main clause as extra-clausal constituents. Together, these various topic expressions constitute a coherent system of complementary pragmatic functions. For a comprehensive account of topic

  13. Handbook for Forecasters in the Mediterranean. Part 2. Regional Forecasting Aids for the Mediterranean Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-12-01

    important role in modifying the poniente. Strong northwesterly flow crossing the Sierra Nevada (see Figure 1-1) causes a lee trough to develop along...the coast of southern France. *Comprises British forecast sea areas Lions, Unicorn , Bougie; see Figure lb in the Introduction. II-I 0) (1) C- C.0 CDC L...Alps are most important features insofar as they play a significant weather role in terms of planetary waves, cyclogenesis and fronts. 1 .2 SEASONAL

  14. A study of topics for distance education-A survey of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ratz, Joan M.; Schuster, Rudy M.; Marcy, Ann H.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify training topics and distance education technologies preferred by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees. This study was conducted on behalf of the National Conservation Training Center to support their distance education strategy planning and implementation. When selecting survey recipients, we focused on employees in positions involving conservation and environmental education and outreach programming. We conducted the study in two phases. First, we surveyed 72 employees to identify useful training topics. The response rate was 61 percent; respondents were from all regions and included supervisors and nonsupervisors. Five topics for training were identified: creating and maintaining partnerships (partnerships), technology, program planning and development (program planning), outreach methods to engage the community (outreach methods), and evaluation methods. In the second phase, we surveyed 1,488 employees to assess preferences for training among the five topics identified in the first survey and preferences among six distance education technologies: satellite television, video conferencing, audio conferencing, computer mediated training, written resources, and audio resources. Two types of instructor-led training were included on the survey to compare to the technology options. Respondents were asked what types of information, such as basic facts or problem solving skills, were needed for each of the five topics. The adjusted response rate was 64 percent; respondents were from all regions and included supervisors and nonsupervisors. The results indicated clear preferences among respondents for certain training topics and technologies. All five training topics were valued, but the topics of partnerships and technology were given equal value and were valued more than the other three topics. Respondents indicated a desire for training on the topics of partnerships, technology, program planning, and outreach methods. For

  15. A comparison of patient pain and visual outcome using topical anesthesia versus regional anesthesia during cataract surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hosoda Y

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Yoshikatsu Hosoda, Shoji Kuriyama, Yoko Jingami, Hidetsugu Hattori, Hisako Hayashi, Miho Matsumoto Department of Ophthalmology, Otsu Red-Cross Hospital, Otsu, Japan Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the level of patient pain during the phacoemulsification and implantation of foldable intraocular lenses while under topical, intracameral, or sub-Tenon lidocaine.Patients and methods: This was a retrospective study. Three hundred and one eyes subjected to cataract surgery were included in this study. All eyes underwent phacoemulsification surgery and intraocular lens implantation using topical, sub-Tenon, or intracameral anesthesia. The topical group received 4% lidocaine drops, and the intracameral group received a 0.1–0.2 cc infusion of 1% preservative-free lidocaine into the anterior chamber through the side port combined with topical drops of lidocaine. The sub-Tenon group received 2% lidocaine. Best-corrected visual acuity, corneal endothelial cell loss, and intraoperative pain level were evaluated. Pain level was assessed on a visual analog scale (range 0–2.Results: There were no significant differences in visual outcome and corneal endothelial cell loss between the three groups. The mean pain score in the sub-Tenon group was significantly lower than that in the topical and intracameral groups (P=0.0009 and P=0.0055, respectively. In 250 eyes without high myopia (<-6D, there were no significant differences in mean pain score between the sub-Tenon and intracameral groups (P=0.1417. No additional anesthesia was required in all groups.Conclusion: Intracameral lidocaine provides sufficient pain suppressive effects in eyes without high myopia, while sub-Tenon anesthesia is better for cataract surgery in eyes with high myopia. Keywords: cataract, anesthesia, topical, intracameral, sub-Tenon

  16. Freshman Health Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hovde, Karen

    2011-01-01

    This article examines a cluster of health topics that are frequently selected by students in lower division classes. Topics address issues relating to addictive substances, including alcohol and tobacco, eating disorders, obesity, and dieting. Analysis of the topics examines their interrelationships and organization in the reference literature.…

  17. A comparison of patient pain and visual outcome using topical anesthesia versus regional anesthesia during cataract surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosoda, Yoshikatsu; Kuriyama, Shoji; Jingami, Yoko; Hattori, Hidetsugu; Hayashi, Hisako; Matsumoto, Miho

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the level of patient pain during the phacoemulsification and implantation of foldable intraocular lenses while under topical, intracameral, or sub-Tenon lidocaine. This was a retrospective study. Three hundred and one eyes subjected to cataract surgery were included in this study. All eyes underwent phacoemulsification surgery and intraocular lens implantation using topical, sub-Tenon, or intracameral anesthesia. The topical group received 4% lidocaine drops, and the intracameral group received a 0.1-0.2 cc infusion of 1% preservative-free lidocaine into the anterior chamber through the side port combined with topical drops of lidocaine. The sub-Tenon group received 2% lidocaine. Best-corrected visual acuity, corneal endothelial cell loss, and intraoperative pain level were evaluated. Pain level was assessed on a visual analog scale (range 0-2). There were no significant differences in visual outcome and corneal endothelial cell loss between the three groups. The mean pain score in the sub-Tenon group was significantly lower than that in the topical and intracameral groups (P=0.0009 and P=0.0055, respectively). In 250 eyes without high myopia (< -6D), there were no significant differences in mean pain score between the sub-Tenon and intracameral groups (P=0.1417). No additional anesthesia was required in all groups. Intracameral lidocaine provides sufficient pain suppressive effects in eyes without high myopia, while sub-Tenon anesthesia is better for cataract surgery in eyes with high myopia.

  18. Misuse of topical corticosteroids: A clinical study of adverse effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vivek Kumar Dey

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Misuse of topical corticosteroids is a widespread phenomenon among young people in India, especially women. The practice is associated with significant adverse effects and poor awareness of these effects among the general public. Aim: This study was conducted to examine the misuse and adverse effects of topical corticosteroids among the people in Bastar region in Chhattisgarh state of India. Materials and Methods: Data collected from patients presenting with at least one of the adverse effects of topical corticosteroids as the chief complaint, from November 2010 to October 2011. Results: Out of the 6723 new patients, 379 (5.63% had presented with misuse and adverse effects of topical corticosteroids, of whom 78.89% were females. More than 65% of the patients were in the age group 10-29 years. The main reason for using the topical corticosteroids was to lighten skin colour and treat melasma and suntan. Acne (37.99% and telangiectasia (18.99% were the most common adverse effects noted. Conclusions: Misuse of topical corticosteroids has a huge impact on dermatological practice, leading to a significant proportion of visits to the dermatologist. This hydra-headed problem needs multi-dimensional interventions, involving educational, legal and managerial approaches with cooperation from different sectors of society.

  19. Evaluating topic models with stability

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    De Waal, A

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Topic models are unsupervised techniques that extract likely topics from text corpora, by creating probabilistic word-topic and topic-document associations. Evaluation of topic models is a challenge because (a) topic models are often employed...

  20. Topical report review status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-08-01

    This report provides industry with procedures for submitting topical reports, guidance on how the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) processes and responds to topical report submittals, and an accounting, with review schedules, of all topical reports currently accepted for review schedules, of all topical reports currently accepted for review by the NRC. This report will be published annually. Each sponsoring organization with one or more topical reports accepted for review copies

  1. An examination of two pathways to tropical cyclogenesis occurring in idealized simulations with a cloud-resolving numerical model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. E. Nicholls

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Simulations are conducted with a cloud-resolving numerical model to examine the transformation of a weak incipient mid-level cyclonic vortex into a tropical cyclone. Results demonstrate that two distinct pathways are possible and that development along a particular pathway is sensitive to model physics and initial conditions. One pathway involves a steady increase of the surface winds to tropical cyclone strength as the radius of maximum winds gradually decreases. A notable feature of this evolution is the creation of small-scale lower tropospheric cyclonic vorticity anomalies by deep convective towers and subsequent merger and convergence by the low-level secondary circulation. The second pathway also begins with a strengthening low-level circulation, but eventually a significantly stronger mid-level circulation develops. Cyclogenesis occurs subsequently when a small-scale surface concentrated vortex forms abruptly near the center of the larger-scale circulation. The small-scale vortex is warm core throughout the troposphere and results in a fall in local surface pressure of a few millibars. It usually develops rapidly, undergoing a modest growth to form a small tropical cyclone. Many of the simulated systems approach or reach tropical cyclone strength prior to development of a prominent mid-level vortex so that the subsequent formation of a strong small-scale surface concentrated vortex in these cases could be considered intensification rather than genesis. Experiments are performed to investigate the dependence on the inclusion of the ice phase, radiation, the size and strength of the incipient mid-level vortex, the amount of moisture present in the initial vortex, and the sea surface temperature. Notably, as the sea surface temperature is raised, the likelihood of development along the second pathway is increased. This appears to be related to an increased production of ice. The sensitivity of the pathway taken to model physics and initial

  2. Syntacticized topics in Kurmuk

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Torben

    2015-01-01

    This article argues that Kurmuk, a little-described Western Nilotic language, is characterized by a syntacticized topic whose grammatical relation is variable. In this language, declarative clauses have as topic an obligatory preverbal NP which is either a subject, an object or an adjunct....... The grammatical relation of the topic is expressed by a voice-like inflection of the verb, here called orientation. While subject-orientation is morphologically unmarked, object-oriented and adjunct-oriented verbs are marked by a subject suffix or by a suffix indicating that the topic is not subject, and adjunct......-orientation differs from object-orientation by a marked tone pattern. Topic choice largely reflects information structure by indicating topic continuity. The topic also plays a crucial role in relative clauses and in clauses with contrastive constituent focus, in that objects and adjuncts can only be relativized...

  3. Treatment of chronic regional pain syndrome type 1 with palmitoylethanolamide and topical ketamine cream: modulation of nonneuronal cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keppel Hesselink JM

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Jan M Keppel Hesselink,1 David J Kopsky21Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Bosch en Duin, The Netherlands; 2Institute for Neuropathic Pain, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsAbstract: Chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS can be intractable to treat and patients sometimes suffer for many years. Therefore, new treatment strategies are needed to alleviate symptoms in CRPS patients. This case report describes a patient suffering from intractable CRPS type 1 for 13 years. Due to her swollen painful feet and left knee she is wheelchair-bound. The combination of palmitoylethanolamide and ketamine 10% cream reduced her pain by more than 50% after 1 month of treatment, and a marked reduction in swelling and skin discoloration was noticed. Furthermore, she could walk independently again and she experienced no side effects. Thus, palmitoylethanolamide and topical ketamine could be a combination therapy option for treating CRPS patients.Keywords: palmitoylethanolamide, ketamine, cream, CRPS, endocannabinoid, sudeck, mast cells

  4. Comprehensive review on additives of topical dosage forms for drug delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garg, Tarun; Rath, Goutam; Goyal, Amit K

    2015-12-01

    Skin is the largest organ of the human body and plays the most important role in protecting against pathogen and foreign matter. Three important modes such as topical, regional and transdermal are widely used for delivery of various dosage forms. Among these modes, the topical dosage forms are preferred because it provides local therapeutic activity when applied to the skin or mucous membranes. Additives or pharmaceutical excipients (non-drug component of dosage form) are used as inactive ingredients in dosage form or tools for structuring dosage forms. The main use of topical dosage form additives are controling the extent of absorption, maintaining the viscosity, improving the stability as well as organoleptic property and increasing the bulk of the formulation. The overall goal of this article is to provide the clinician with information related to the topical dosage form additives and their current major applications against various diseases.

  5. Topical Drugs for Pain Relief

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anjali Srinivasan

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Topical therapy helps patients with oral and perioral pain problems such as ulcers, burning mouth syndrome, temporomandibular disorders, neuromas, neuropathies and neuralgias. Topical drugs used in the field of dentistry are topical anaesthetics, topical analgesics, topical antibiotics and topical corticosteroids. It provides symptomatic/curative effect. Topical drugs are easy to apply, avoids hepatic first pass metabolism and more sites specific. But it can only be used for medications that require low plasma concentrations to achieve a therapeutic effect.

  6. Successful treatment of Beauveria bassiana fungal keratitis with topical voriconazole.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogawa, Akiko; Matsumoto, Yukihiro; Yaguchi, Takashi; Shimmura, Shigeto; Tsubota, Kazuo

    2016-04-01

    We describe a 66-year-old woman who suffered from fungal keratitis after corneal transplantation. The causative organism was identified as Beauveria bassiana on the basis of morphological characteristics and the sequence of the internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal RNA gene. The patient was successfully treated with topical voriconazole (VRCZ) use only. We, hereby, present the first report of a case with B. bassiana fungal keratitis that responded to topical antifungal VRCZ treatment. Copyright © 2015 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Topics in the generalized vector dominance model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chavin, S.

    1976-01-01

    Two topics are covered in the generalized vector dominance model. In the first topic a model is constructed for dilepton production in hadron-hadron interactions based on the idea of generalized vector-dominance. It is argued that in the high mass region the generalized vector-dominance model and the Drell-Yan parton model are alternative descriptions of the same underlying physics. In the low mass regions the models differ; the vector-dominance approach predicts a greater production of dileptons. It is found that the high mass vector mesons which are the hallmark of the generalized vector-dominance model make little contribution to the large yield of leptons observed in the transverse-momentum range 1 less than p/sub perpendicular/ less than 6 GeV. The recently measured hadronic parameters lead one to believe that detailed fits to the data are possible under the model. The possibility was expected, and illustrated with a simple model the extreme sensitivity of the large-p/sub perpendicular/ lepton yield to the large-transverse-momentum tail of vector-meson production. The second topic is an attempt to explain the mysterious phenomenon of photon shadowing in nuclei utilizing the contribution of the longitudinally polarized photon. It is argued that if the scalar photon anti-shadows, it could compensate for the transverse photon, which is presumed to shadow. It is found in a very simple model that the scalar photon could indeed anti-shadow. The principal feature of the model is a cancellation of amplitudes. The scheme is consistent with scalar photon-nucleon data as well. The idea is tested with two simple GVDM models and finds that the anti-shadowing contribution of the scalar photon is not sufficient to compensate for the contribution of the transverse photon. It is found doubtful that the scalar photon makes a significant contribution to the total photon-nuclear cross section

  8. Topical report review status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1982-08-01

    A Topical Report Review Status is scheduled to be published semi-annually. The primary purpose of this document is to provide periodic progress reports of on-going topical report reviews, to identify those topical reports for which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff review has been completed and, to the extent practicable, to provide NRC management with sufficient information regarding the conduct of the topical report program to permit taking whatever actions deemed necessary or appropriate. This document is also intended to be a source of information to NRC Licensing Project Managers and other NRC personnel regarding the status of topical reports which may be referenced in applications for which they have responsibility. This status report is published primarily for internal NRC use in managing the topical report program, but is also used by NRC to advise the industry of report review status

  9. Topical report review status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-01-01

    A Topical Report Review Status is scheduled to be published semi-annually. The primary purpose of this document is to provide periodic progress reports of on-going topical report reviews, to identify those topical reports for which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff review has been completed and, to the extent practicable, to provide NRC management with sufficient information regarding the conduct of the topical report program to permit taking whatever actions deemed necessary or appropriate. This document is also intended to be a source of information to NRC Licensing Project Managers and other NRC personnel regarding the status of topical reports which may be referenced in applications for which they have responsibility. This status report is published primarily for internal NRC use in managing the topical report program, but is also used by NRC to advise the industry of report review status

  10. 75 FR 26647 - Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-12

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution... are treated with a topical solution of ivermectin. DATES: This rule is effective May 12, 2010. FOR... ANADA 200-340 for PRIVERMECTIN (ivermectin), a topical solution used on cattle to control infestations...

  11. Topical medication instillation techniques for glaucoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Li; Wang, Xuemei; Wu, Meijing

    2017-02-20

    Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and the second most common cause of blindness after cataracts. The primary treatment for glaucoma aims to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) with the use of topical medicines. Topical medication instillation techniques, such as eyelid closure and nasolacrimal occlusion when instilling drops, have been proposed as potential methods to increase ocular absorption and decrease systemic absorption of the drops. To investigate the effectiveness of topical medication instillation techniques compared with usual care or another method of instillation of topical medication in the management of glaucoma or ocular hypertension. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register) (2016, Issue 12), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 8 December 2016), Embase Ovid (1947 to 8 December 2016), PubMed (1948 to 8 December 2016), LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature Database) (1982 to 8 December 2016), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts Database (1970 to 8 December 2016), the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT) (www.controlled-trials.com) (last searched 13 May 2013), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) (searched 8 December 2016) and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en) (searched 8 December 2016). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. We included randomized controlled trials which had compared any topical medication instillation technique with usual care or a different method of instillation of topical medication. Two review authors independently screened records from the searches for eligibility, assessed the risk of bias, and extracted data. We followed methods recommended by Cochrane. We identified two trials (122 eyes of 61 participants) that had evaluated a topical medication instillation technique. We

  12. Women's Health Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Information by Audience For Women Women's Health Topics Women's Health Topics Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More sharing options Linkedin Pin it Email Print National Women's Health Week May 13 - 19, 2018 Join us ...

  13. Human-competitive automatic topic indexing

    CERN Document Server

    Medelyan, Olena

    2009-01-01

    Topic indexing is the task of identifying the main topics covered by a document. These are useful for many purposes: as subject headings in libraries, as keywords in academic publications and as tags on the web. Knowing a document’s topics helps people judge its relevance quickly. However, assigning topics manually is labor intensive. This thesis shows how to generate them automatically in a way that competes with human performance. Three kinds of indexing are investigated: term assignment, a task commonly performed by librarians, who select topics from a controlled vocabulary; tagging, a popular activity of web users, who choose topics freely; and a new method of keyphrase extraction, where topics are equated to Wikipedia article names. A general two-stage algorithm is introduced that first selects candidate topics and then ranks them by significance based on their properties. These properties draw on statistical, semantic, domain-specific and encyclopedic knowledge. They are combined using a machine learn...

  14. Topic Visualization and Survival Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Ping Jr

    2017-01-01

    Latent semantic structure in a text collection is called a topic. In this thesis, we aim to visualize topics in the scientific literature and detect active or inactive research areas based on their lifetime. Topics were extracted from over 1 million abstracts from the arXiv.org database using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). Hellinger distance measures similarity between two topics. Topics are determined to be relevant if their pairwise distances are smaller than the threshold of Hellinger ...

  15. GeneTopics - interpretation of gene sets via literature-driven topic models

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Annotation of a set of genes is often accomplished through comparison to a library of labelled gene sets such as biological processes or canonical pathways. However, this approach might fail if the employed libraries are not up to date with the latest research, don't capture relevant biological themes or are curated at a different level of granularity than is required to appropriately analyze the input gene set. At the same time, the vast biomedical literature offers an unstructured repository of the latest research findings that can be tapped to provide thematic sub-groupings for any input gene set. Methods Our proposed method relies on a gene-specific text corpus and extracts commonalities between documents in an unsupervised manner using a topic model approach. We automatically determine the number of topics summarizing the corpus and calculate a gene relevancy score for each topic allowing us to eliminate non-specific topics. As a result we obtain a set of literature topics in which each topic is associated with a subset of the input genes providing directly interpretable keywords and corresponding documents for literature research. Results We validate our method based on labelled gene sets from the KEGG metabolic pathway collection and the genetic association database (GAD) and show that the approach is able to detect topics consistent with the labelled annotation. Furthermore, we discuss the results on three different types of experimentally derived gene sets, (1) differentially expressed genes from a cardiac hypertrophy experiment in mice, (2) altered transcript abundance in human pancreatic beta cells, and (3) genes implicated by GWA studies to be associated with metabolite levels in a healthy population. In all three cases, we are able to replicate findings from the original papers in a quick and semi-automated manner. Conclusions Our approach provides a novel way of automatically generating meaningful annotations for gene sets that are directly

  16. Incorporating Topic Assignment Constraint and Topic Correlation Limitation into Clinical Goal Discovering for Clinical Pathway Mining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Xu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Clinical pathways are widely used around the world for providing quality medical treatment and controlling healthcare cost. However, the expert-designed clinical pathways can hardly deal with the variances among hospitals and patients. It calls for more dynamic and adaptive process, which is derived from various clinical data. Topic-based clinical pathway mining is an effective approach to discover a concise process model. Through this approach, the latent topics found by latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA represent the clinical goals. And process mining methods are used to extract the temporal relations between these topics. However, the topic quality is usually not desirable due to the low performance of the LDA in clinical data. In this paper, we incorporate topic assignment constraint and topic correlation limitation into the LDA to enhance the ability of discovering high-quality topics. Two real-world datasets are used to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the topics discovered by our method are with higher coherence, informativeness, and coverage than the original LDA. These quality topics are suitable to represent the clinical goals. Also, we illustrate that our method is effective in generating a comprehensive topic-based clinical pathway model.

  17. Health Topic XML File Description

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... this page: https://medlineplus.gov/xmldescription.html Health Topic XML File Description: MedlinePlus To use the sharing ... information categories assigned. Example of a Full Health Topic Record A record for a MedlinePlus health topic ...

  18. Regional Price Levels in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petr Musil

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available International comparison belongs to statistical topics which attracts either experts or general public. Official statistics provides estimates of national price levels only. Therefore, official regional analysis is based on national price levels and does not take into account potential differences in prices among regions within a country. Fortunately, researchers have been dealing with them and estimates for several countries are available. The topic is also important in the Czech Republic even two papers focused on regional price levels were published in Statistika journal in 2016. The aim of the paper is to compare both approaches from various perspectives.

  19. Border region studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Makkonen, Teemu; Williams, Allan

    2016-01-01

    The contemporary conditions of academic capitalism exert pressures on researchers to avoid ‘peripheral’ journals and ‘unfashionable’ topics. Here an attempt is made to shed light onto the structure of one such ‘offbeat’ field, namely ‘border region studies’, by discussing its geographical...... distribution, key themes, significance and impact. The review suggests that border region studies can be considered a significant and important ‘branch’ of regional studies, which accounts for a small but increasing proportion of regional studies research particularly in Europe and North America. Four main...

  20. Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

    2016-01-01

    Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail.

  1. Topics of Disasters in Scientific Outputs of Medical Sciences: A Cross-Sectional Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Aghalari

    2017-01-01

    Conclusion: Although, there were scientific articles dedicated to emergencies, disasters and accidents, such topics were limited. Therefore, it seems necessary to take appropriate measures aimed at greater attention to the needs of national and regional medical scientists.

  2. Regulatory Information By Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA develops and enforces regulations that span many environmental topics, from acid rain reduction to wetlands restoration. Each topic listed below may include related laws and regulations, compliance enforcement information, policies guidance

  3. Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Yıldırım

    Full Text Available Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA, propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision and other observations from the study are discussed in detail.

  4. Differential Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Changyou; Buntine, Wray; Ding, Nan; Xie, Lexing; Du, Lan

    2015-02-01

    In applications we may want to compare different document collections: they could have shared content but also different and unique aspects in particular collections. This task has been called comparative text mining or cross-collection modeling. We present a differential topic model for this application that models both topic differences and similarities. For this we use hierarchical Bayesian nonparametric models. Moreover, we found it was important to properly model power-law phenomena in topic-word distributions and thus we used the full Pitman-Yor process rather than just a Dirichlet process. Furthermore, we propose the transformed Pitman-Yor process (TPYP) to incorporate prior knowledge such as vocabulary variations in different collections into the model. To deal with the non-conjugate issue between model prior and likelihood in the TPYP, we thus propose an efficient sampling algorithm using a data augmentation technique based on the multinomial theorem. Experimental results show the model discovers interesting aspects of different collections. We also show the proposed MCMC based algorithm achieves a dramatically reduced test perplexity compared to some existing topic models. Finally, we show our model outperforms the state-of-the-art for document classification/ideology prediction on a number of text collections.

  5. Topic Model for Graph Mining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xuan, Junyu; Lu, Jie; Zhang, Guangquan; Luo, Xiangfeng

    2015-12-01

    Graph mining has been a popular research area because of its numerous application scenarios. Many unstructured and structured data can be represented as graphs, such as, documents, chemical molecular structures, and images. However, an issue in relation to current research on graphs is that they cannot adequately discover the topics hidden in graph-structured data which can be beneficial for both the unsupervised learning and supervised learning of the graphs. Although topic models have proved to be very successful in discovering latent topics, the standard topic models cannot be directly applied to graph-structured data due to the "bag-of-word" assumption. In this paper, an innovative graph topic model (GTM) is proposed to address this issue, which uses Bernoulli distributions to model the edges between nodes in a graph. It can, therefore, make the edges in a graph contribute to latent topic discovery and further improve the accuracy of the supervised and unsupervised learning of graphs. The experimental results on two different types of graph datasets show that the proposed GTM outperforms the latent Dirichlet allocation on classification by using the unveiled topics of these two models to represent graphs.

  6. Analyses of Research Topics in the Field of Informetrics Based on the Method of Topic Modeling

    OpenAIRE

    Sung-Chien Lin

    2014-01-01

    In this study, we used the approach of topic modeling to uncover the possible structure of research topics in the field of Informetrics, to explore the distribution of the topics over years, and to compare the core journals. In order to infer the structure of the topics in the field, the data of the papers published in the Journal of Informetricsand Scientometrics during 2007 to 2013 are retrieved from the database of the Web of Science as input of the approach of topic modeling. The results ...

  7. Analyses of Research Topics in the Field of Informetrics Based on the Method of Topic Modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sung-Chien Lin

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we used the approach of topic modeling to uncover the possible structure of research topics in the field of Informetrics, to explore the distribution of the topics over years, and to compare the core journals. In order to infer the structure of the topics in the field, the data of the papers published in the Journal of Informetricsand Scientometrics during 2007 to 2013 are retrieved from the database of the Web of Science as input of the approach of topic modeling. The results of this study show that when the number of topics was set to 10, the topic model has the smallest perplexity. Although data scopes and analysis methodsare different to previous studies, the generating topics of this study are consistent with those results produced by analyses of experts. Empirical case studies and measurements of bibliometric indicators were concerned important in every year during the whole analytic period, and the field was increasing stability. Both the two core journals broadly paid more attention to all of the topics in the field of Informetrics. The Journal of Informetricsput particular emphasis on construction and applications ofbibliometric indicators and Scientometrics focused on the evaluation and the factors of productivity of countries, institutions, domains, and journals.

  8. Topical treatments of skin pain: a general review with a focus on hidradenitis suppurativa with topical agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheinfeld, Noah

    2014-07-15

    Hidradenitis Supprurativa (HS) is a painful chronic follicular disease. Few papers have addressed pain control for this debilitating condition. Possible topical agents include tricyclic antidepressants, opioids, anticonvulsants, NSAIDs, NMDA receptor antagonists, local anesthetics and other agents. The first line agents for the topical treatment of the cutaneous pain of HS are diclonefac gel 1% and liposomal xylocaine 4% and 5% cream or 5% ointment. The chief advantage of topical xylocaine is that is quick acting i.e. immediate however with a limited duration of effect 1-2 hours. The use of topical ketamine, which blocks n-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in a non-competitive fashion, might be a useful tool for the treatment of HS pain. Topical doxepin, which available in a 5% commercially preparation (Zonalon®) , makes patients drowsy and is not useful for controlling the pain of HS . Doxepin is available in a 3% or 3.3% concentration (which causes less drowsiness) from compounding pharmacies and can be used in compounded analgesic preparations with positive effect. Topical doxepin is preferred over use of topical amitriptyline because topical doxepin is more effective. Nevertheless, topical amitriptyline increase of the tactile and mechanical nociceptive thresholds and can be used for topical pain control in compound mixture of analgesics . Gabapentin and pregablin can also be used compounded with other agents in topical analgesic preparations with positive topical anesthetic effect. Capsaicin is not useful for topical treatment of the pain of HS. Sometimes compounded of anesthetics medications such as ketamine 10%, bupivacaine 1%, diclofenac 3%, doxepin 3% or 3.3%, and gabapentin 6% can extend the duration of effect so that medication only needs to be used 2 or 3 times a day. Still in my experience the easiest to get and most patient requested agent is topical diclonefac 1% gel.

  9. Topical steroid-damaged skin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anil Abraham

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Topical steroids, commonly used for a wide range of skin disorders, are associated with side effects both systemic and cutaneous. This article aims at bringing awareness among practitioners, about the cutaneous side effects of easily available, over the counter, topical steroids. This makes it important for us as dermatologists to weigh the usefulness of topical steroids versus their side effects, and to make an informed decision regarding their use in each individual based on other factors such as age, site involved and type of skin disorder.

  10. Mental Mechanisms for Topics Identification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Louis Massey

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Topics identification (TI is the process that consists in determining the main themes present in natural language documents. The current TI modeling paradigm aims at acquiring semantic information from statistic properties of large text datasets. We investigate the mental mechanisms responsible for the identification of topics in a single document given existing knowledge. Our main hypothesis is that topics are the result of accumulated neural activation of loosely organized information stored in long-term memory (LTM. We experimentally tested our hypothesis with a computational model that simulates LTM activation. The model assumes activation decay as an unavoidable phenomenon originating from the bioelectric nature of neural systems. Since decay should negatively affect the quality of topics, the model predicts the presence of short-term memory (STM to keep the focus of attention on a few words, with the expected outcome of restoring quality to a baseline level. Our experiments measured topics quality of over 300 documents with various decay rates and STM capacity. Our results showed that accumulated activation of loosely organized information was an effective mental computational commodity to identify topics. It was furthermore confirmed that rapid decay is detrimental to topics quality but that limited capacity STM restores quality to a baseline level, even exceeding it slightly.

  11. The Role of University Education in the Aarhus Region, Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dreisler, Poul

    2006-01-01

    The idea 'Towards Entrepreneurial Regions' is driven by hopes for higher regional competitiveness,dynamics,openness and diversity. Thus the topic reaches beyond economic and technological dimensions, comprising also the cultural and social spheres as matters of regional identity, capital, distinc......The idea 'Towards Entrepreneurial Regions' is driven by hopes for higher regional competitiveness,dynamics,openness and diversity. Thus the topic reaches beyond economic and technological dimensions, comprising also the cultural and social spheres as matters of regional identity, capital......, distinctiveness and attractiveness. Mere technological approaches often remained superficial. The entrepreneurial perspective shows how important it will be to develop systems in which the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competences is integrated....

  12. Injury Thresholds for Topical Cream-Coated Skin of Hairless Guinea Pigs (Cavia Procellus) in Near Infrared Region

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Stolarski, David J; Zohner, Justin J; Imholte, Michelle L; Chavey, Lucas J; Pocock, Ginger M; Buchanan, Kelvin C; Jindra, Nichole M; Figueroa, Manuel A; Thomas, Robert J; Rockwell, Benjamin A

    2006-01-01

    .... Hairless guinea pigs (cavia porcellus) in vivo were used to evaluate how the minimum visible lesion threshold for single-pulse laser exposure is changed with a topical agent applied to the skin...

  13. Exploiting the functional and taxonomic structure of genomic data by probabilistic topic modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xin; Hu, Xiaohua; Lim, Tze Y; Shen, Xiajiong; Park, E K; Rosen, Gail L

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we present a method that enable both homology-based approach and composition-based approach to further study the functional core (i.e., microbial core and gene core, correspondingly). In the proposed method, the identification of major functionality groups is achieved by generative topic modeling, which is able to extract useful information from unlabeled data. We first show that generative topic model can be used to model the taxon abundance information obtained by homology-based approach and study the microbial core. The model considers each sample as a “document,” which has a mixture of functional groups, while each functional group (also known as a “latent topic”) is a weight mixture of species. Therefore, estimating the generative topic model for taxon abundance data will uncover the distribution over latent functions (latent topic) in each sample. Second, we show that, generative topic model can also be used to study the genome-level composition of “N-mer” features (DNA subreads obtained by composition-based approaches). The model consider each genome as a mixture of latten genetic patterns (latent topics), while each functional pattern is a weighted mixture of the “N-mer” features, thus the existence of core genomes can be indicated by a set of common N-mer features. After studying the mutual information between latent topics and gene regions, we provide an explanation of the functional roles of uncovered latten genetic patterns. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method.

  14. Topical Treatment of Degenerative Knee Osteoarthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Zengdong; Huang, Rongzhong

    2018-01-01

    This article reviews topical management strategies for degenerative osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. A search of Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane library using MeSH terms including "topical," "treatment," "knee" and "osteoarthritis" was carried out. Original research and review articles on the effectiveness and safety, recommendations from international published guidelines and acceptability studies of topical preparations were included. Current topical treatments included for the management of knee OA include topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, capsaicin, salicylates and physical treatments such as hot or cold therapy. Current treatment guidelines recommend topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as an alternative and even first-line therapy for OA management, especially among elderly patients. Guidelines on other topical treatments vary, from recommendations against their use, to in favor as alternative or simultaneous therapy, especially for patients with contraindications to other analgesics. Although often well-tolerated and preferred by many patients, clinical care still lags in the adoption of topical treatments. Aspects of efficacy, safety and patient quality of life data require further research. Copyright © 2018 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Correlated Topic Vector for Scene Classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Pengxu; Qin, Fei; Wan, Fang; Zhu, Yi; Jiao, Jianbin; Ye, Qixiang

    2017-07-01

    Scene images usually involve semantic correlations, particularly when considering large-scale image data sets. This paper proposes a novel generative image representation, correlated topic vector, to model such semantic correlations. Oriented from the correlated topic model, correlated topic vector intends to naturally utilize the correlations among topics, which are seldom considered in the conventional feature encoding, e.g., Fisher vector, but do exist in scene images. It is expected that the involvement of correlations can increase the discriminative capability of the learned generative model and consequently improve the recognition accuracy. Incorporated with the Fisher kernel method, correlated topic vector inherits the advantages of Fisher vector. The contributions to the topics of visual words have been further employed by incorporating the Fisher kernel framework to indicate the differences among scenes. Combined with the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) features and Gibbs sampling solution, correlated topic vector shows great potential when processing large-scale and complex scene image data sets. Experiments on two scene image data sets demonstrate that correlated topic vector improves significantly the deep CNN features, and outperforms existing Fisher kernel-based features.

  16. Topical botulinum toxin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Ashley; Nasir, Adnan

    2010-03-01

    Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing discipline that capitalizes on the unique properties of matter engineered on the nanoscale. Vehicles incorporating nanotechnology have led to great strides in drug delivery, allowing for increased active ingredient stability, bioavailability, and site-specific targeting. Botulinum toxin has historically been used for the correction of neurological and neuromuscular disorders, such as torticollis, blepharospasm, and strabismus. Recent dermatological indications have been for the management of axillary hyperhydrosis and facial rhytides. Traditional methods of botulinum toxin delivery have been needle-based. These have been associated with increased pain and cost. Newer methods of botulinum toxin formulation have yielded topical preparations that are bioactive in small pilot clinical studies. While there are some risks associated with topical delivery, the refinement and standardization of delivery systems and techniques for the topical administration of botulinum toxin using nanotechnology is anticipated in the near future.

  17. Topical methotrexate pretreatment enhances the therapeutic effect of topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on hamster buccal pouch precancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Deng-Fu; Lee, Jeng-Woei; Chen, Hsin-Ming; Hsu, Yih-Chih

    2014-09-01

    Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) is effective for treatment of human oral precancerous lesions. This animal study aimed to assess whether topical methotrexate (MTX) pretreatment could enhance the therapeutic effect of topical ALA-PDT on hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions. Twenty hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions were treated with either topical ALA-PDT with topical MTX pretreatment (topical MTX-ALA-PDT group, n = 10) or topical ALA-PDT alone (topical ALA-PDT group, n = 10). The intracellular protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) level in another 12 precancerous lesions (n = 6 for either the topical MTX-ALA or topical ALA group) was monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy. The intracellular PpIX reached its peak level in precancerous lesions 6.5 hours and 2.5 hours after topical ALA application for the topical MTX-ALA group (5.63-fold higher in the lesion than in the normal mucosa) and topical ALA group (2.42-fold higher in the lesion than in the normal mucosa), respectively. The complete response rate of precancerous lesions was 80% for the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group and 70% for the topical ALA-PDT group. In addition, the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group required a significantly lower mean treatment number (2.1 ± 0.6) to achieve complete response than the topical ALA-PDT group (4.4 ± 1.3, p topical MTX-ALA-PDT group had a lower recurrence rate (12.5%) than the topical ALA-PDT group (28.6%). We conclude that topical MTX-pretreatment can increase intracellular PpIX production in hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions and significantly improves the outcomes of the precancerous lesions treated with topical ALA-PDT. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  18. Comparison of tropical cyclogenesis indices on seasonal to interannual timescales

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Menkes, C.E.; Lengaigne, M.; Marchesiello, P.; Jourdain, N.C.; Vincent, E.M.; Lefevre, J.; Chauvin, F.; Royer, J.-F.

    Convective Genesis Potential Index; and the Tippett et al. Index (J Clim, 2011), hereafter referred to as TCS. Choosing ERA40, NCEP2, NCEP or JRA25 reanalysis to calculate these indices can yield regional differences but overall does not change the main...

  19. Recent advances in topical anesthesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Topical anesthetics act on the peripheral nerves and reduce the sensation of pain at the site of application. In dentistry, they are used to control local pain caused by needling, placement of orthodontic bands, the vomiting reflex, oral mucositis, and rubber-dam clamp placement. Traditional topical anesthetics contain lidocaine or benzocaine as active ingredients and are used in the form of solutions, creams, gels, and sprays. Eutectic mixtures of local anesthesia cream, a mixture of various topical anesthetics, has been reported to be more potent than other anesthetics. Recently, new products with modified ingredients and application methods have been introduced into the market. These products may be used for mild pain during periodontal treatment, such as scaling. Dentists should be aware that topical anesthetics, although rare, might induce allergic reactions or side effects as a result of an overdose. Topical anesthetics are useful aids during dental treatment, as they reduce dental phobia, especially in children, by mitigating discomfort and pain. PMID:28879311

  20. Discriminative Relational Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ning; Zhu, Jun; Xia, Fei; Zhang, Bo

    2015-05-01

    Relational topic models (RTMs) provide a probabilistic generative process to describe both the link structure and document contents for document networks, and they have shown promise on predicting network structures and discovering latent topic representations. However, existing RTMs have limitations in both the restricted model expressiveness and incapability of dealing with imbalanced network data. To expand the scope and improve the inference accuracy of RTMs, this paper presents three extensions: 1) unlike the common link likelihood with a diagonal weight matrix that allows the-same-topic interactions only, we generalize it to use a full weight matrix that captures all pairwise topic interactions and is applicable to asymmetric networks; 2) instead of doing standard Bayesian inference, we perform regularized Bayesian inference (RegBayes) with a regularization parameter to deal with the imbalanced link structure issue in real networks and improve the discriminative ability of learned latent representations; and 3) instead of doing variational approximation with strict mean-field assumptions, we present collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithms for the generalized relational topic models by exploring data augmentation without making restricting assumptions. Under the generic RegBayes framework, we carefully investigate two popular discriminative loss functions, namely, the logistic log-loss and the max-margin hinge loss. Experimental results on several real network datasets demonstrate the significance of these extensions on improving prediction performance.

  1. Topical anesthesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mritunjay Kumar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Topical anesthetics are being widely used in numerous medical and surgical sub-specialties such as anesthesia, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, dentistry, urology, and aesthetic surgery. They cause superficial loss of pain sensation after direct application. Their delivery and effectiveness can be enhanced by using free bases; by increasing the drug concentration, lowering the melting point; by using physical and chemical permeation enhancers and lipid delivery vesicles. Various topical anesthetic agents available for use are eutectic mixture of local anesthetics, ELA-max, lidocaine, epinephrine, tetracaine, bupivanor, 4% tetracaine, benzocaine, proparacaine, Betacaine-LA, topicaine, lidoderm, S-caine patch™ and local anesthetic peel. While using them, careful attention must be paid to their pharmacology, area and duration of application, age and weight of the patients and possible side-effects.

  2. Problematic topic transitions in dysarthric conversation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloch, Steven; Saldert, Charlotta; Ferm, Ulrika

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the nature of topic transition problems associated with acquired progressive dysarthric speech in the everyday conversation of people with motor neurone disease. Using conversation analytic methods, a video collection of five naturally occurring problematic topic transitions was identified, transcribed and analysed. These were extracted from a main collection of over 200 other-initiated repair sequences and a sub-set of 15 problematic topic transition sequences. The sequences were analysed with reference to how the participants both identified and resolved the problems. Analysis revealed that topic transition by people with dysarthria can prove problematic. Conversation partners may find transitions problematic not only because of speech intelligibility but also because of a sequential disjuncture between the dysarthric speech turn and whatever topic has come prior. In addition the treatment of problematic topic transition as a complaint reveals the potential vulnerability of people with dysarthria to judgements of competence. These findings have implications for how dysarthria is conceptualized and how specific actions in conversation, such as topic transition, might be suitable targets for clinical intervention.

  3. 76 FR 81806 - Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-29

    .... FDA-2011-N-0003] Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution... solution of ivermectin. DATES: This rule is effective December 29, 2011. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT... ANADA 200-318 for [[Page 81807

  4. Topical methotrexate pretreatment enhances the therapeutic effect of topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on hamster buccal pouch precancers

    OpenAIRE

    Deng-Fu Yang; Jeng-Woei Lee; Hsin-Ming Chen; Yih-Chih Hsu

    2014-01-01

    Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) is effective for treatment of human oral precancerous lesions. This animal study aimed to assess whether topical methotrexate (MTX) pretreatment could enhance the therapeutic effect of topical ALA-PDT on hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions. Methods: Twenty hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions were treated with either topical ALA-PDT with topical MTX pretreatment (topical MTX-ALA-PDT group, n = 10) or topical A...

  5. Understanding and simulating the link between African easterly waves and Atlantic tropical cyclones using a regional climate model: the role of domain size and lateral boundary conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caron, Louis-Philippe [MISU, Stockholm University, Stockholm (Sweden); Universite du Quebec a Montreal, CRCMD Network, Montreal, QC (Canada); Jones, Colin G. [Swedish Meterological and Hydrological Institute, Rossby Center, Norrkoeping (Sweden)

    2012-07-15

    Using a suite of lateral boundary conditions, we investigate the impact of domain size and boundary conditions on the Atlantic tropical cyclone and african easterly Wave activity simulated by a regional climate model. Irrespective of boundary conditions, simulations closest to observed climatology are obtained using a domain covering both the entire tropical Atlantic and northern African region. There is a clear degradation when the high-resolution model domain is diminished to cover only part of the African continent or only the tropical Atlantic. This is found to be the result of biases in the boundary data, which for the smaller domains, have a large impact on TC activity. In this series of simulations, the large-scale Atlantic atmospheric environment appears to be the primary control on simulated TC activity. Weaker wave activity is usually accompanied by a shift in cyclogenesis location, from the MDR to the subtropics. All ERA40-driven integrations manage to capture the observed interannual variability and to reproduce most of the upward trend in tropical cyclone activity observed during that period. When driven by low-resolution global climate model (GCM) integrations, the regional climate model captures interannual variability (albeit with lower correlation coefficients) only if tropical cyclones form in sufficient numbers in the main development region. However, all GCM-driven integrations fail to capture the upward trend in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. In most integrations, variations in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity appear uncorrelated with variations in African easterly wave activity. (orig.)

  6. Topical immunomodulators in dermatology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khandpur Sujay

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Topical immunomodulators are agents that regulate the local immune response of the skin. They are now emerging as the therapy of choice for several immune-mediated dermatoses such as atopic dermatitis, contact allergic dermatitis, alopecia areata, psoriasis, vitiligo, connective tissue disorders such as morphea and lupus erythematosus, disorders of keratinization and several benign and malignant skin tumours, because of their comparable efficacy, ease of application and greater safety than their systemic counterparts. They can be used on a domiciliary basis for longer periods without aggressive monitoring. In this article, we have discussed the mechanism of action, common indications and side-effects of the commonly used topical immunomodulators, excluding topical steroids. Moreover, newer agents, which are still in the experimental stages, have also been described. A MEDLINE search was undertaken using the key words "topical immunomodulators, dermatology" and related articles were also searched. In addition, a manual search for many Indian articles, which are not indexed, was also carried out. Wherever possible, the full article was reviewed. If the full article could not be traced, the abstract was used.

  7. Recent Advances In Topical Therapy In Dermatology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohan Thappa Devinder

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available With changing times various newer topical agents are introduced in the field of dermatology. Tacrolimus and pimecrolimus are immunisuppressants, which are effective topically and are tried in the management of atopic dermatitis as well as other disorders including allergic contact dermatitis, atrophic lichen planus, pyoderma gangrenosum. Imiquimod, an immune response modifier, is presently in use for genital warts but has potentials as anti- tumour agent and in various other dermatological conditions when used topically. Tazarotene is a newer addition to the list of topical reginoids, which is effective in psoriasis and has better effect in combination with calcipotriene, phototherapy and topical costicosteroids. Tazarotene and adapelene are also effective in inflammatory acne. Calcipotriol, a vitamin D analogue has been introduced as a topical agent in the treatment of psoriasis. Steroid components are also developed recently which will be devoid of the side effects but having adequate anti-inflammatory effect. Topical photodynamic therapy has also a wide range of use in dermatology. Newer topical agents including cidofovir, capsaicin, topical sensitizers, topical antifungal agents for onychomycosis are also of use in clinical practice. Other promising developments include skin substitutes and growth factors for wound care.

  8. Topic Modeling of Hierarchical Corpora /

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Do-kyum

    2014-01-01

    The sizes of modern digital libraries have grown beyond our capacity to comprehend manually. Thus we need new tools to help us in organizing and browsing large corpora of text that do not require manually examining each document. To this end, machine learning researchers have developed topic models, statistical learning algorithms for automatic comprehension of large collections of text. Topic models provide both global and local views of a corpus; they discover topics that run through the co...

  9. Testosterone Topical

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... not apply any testosterone topical products to your penis or scrotum or to skin that has sores, ... are severe or do not go away: breast enlargement and/or pain decreased sexual desire acne depression ...

  10. Credibility improves topical blog post retrieval

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weerkamp, W.; de Rijke, M.

    2008-01-01

    Topical blog post retrieval is the task of ranking blog posts with respect to their relevance for a given topic. To improve topical blog post retrieval we incorporate textual credibility indicators in the retrieval process. We consider two groups of indicators: post level (determined using

  11. Topic prominence in Chinese EFL learners’ interlanguage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaopeng Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topicprominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from a discourse perspective. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of topic chains (Wang, 2002; 2004. The research target are the topic chain, which is the main topic-prominent structure in Chinese discourse, and zero anaphora, which is the most common topic anaphora in the topic chain. Two important findings emerged from the present study. First, the characteristics of Chinese topic chains are transferrable to the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners, thus resulting in overgeneralization of the zero anaphora. Second, the interlanguage discourse of Chinese EFL learners reflects a change of the second language acquisition process from topic-prominence to subject-prominence, thus lending support to the discourse transfer hypothesis.

  12. Topical report review status: Volume 10

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-03-01

    This report provides industry with procedures for submitting topical reports, guidance on how the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) processes and responds to topical report submittals, and an accounting, with review schedules, of all topical reports currently accepted for review by the NRC. This report is published annually

  13. Chiropractic: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... for back pain (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Chiropractic updates by ... ENCYCLOPEDIA Chiropractic care for back pain Related Health Topics Back Pain Complementary and Integrative Medicine National Institutes ...

  14. Diets: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Mediterranean diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Diets updates by ... foods Diet-busting foods Mediterranean diet Related Health Topics Child Nutrition DASH Eating Plan Diabetic Diet Nutrition ...

  15. Colonoscopy: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Virtual colonoscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Colonoscopy updates by ... Colonoscopy Colonoscopy discharge Sigmoidoscopy Virtual colonoscopy Related Health Topics Colonic Diseases Colonic Polyps Colorectal Cancer National Institutes ...

  16. Dialysis: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... access for hemodialysis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Dialysis updates by ... for hemodialysis Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Creatinine Kidney Cysts Kidney Failure Peritoneal Disorders National ...

  17. Menopause: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish What is Menopause? (National Institute on Aging) Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Menopause updates by ... test Menopause Types of hormone therapy Related Health Topics Hormone Replacement Therapy Menstruation Premature Ovarian Failure National ...

  18. Vaginitis: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Vulvovaginitis - overview (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Vaginitis updates by ... Vaginitis test - wet mount Vulvovaginitis - overview Related Health Topics Trichomoniasis Vaginal Diseases Yeast Infections Other Languages Find ...

  19. Topical Acne Treatments and Pregnancy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Topical Acne Treatments In every pregnancy, a woman starts out with a 3-5% chance of having a baby ... This sheet talks about whether exposure to topical acne treatments may increase the risk for birth defects ...

  20. Symbiosis: Rich, Exciting, Neglected Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowland, Jane Thomas

    1974-01-01

    Argues that the topic of symbiosis has been greatly neglected and underemphasized in general-biology textbooks. Discusses many types and examples of symbiosis, and provides an extensive bibliography of the literature related to this topic. (JR)

  1. Prediabetes:MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... in Spanish Prediabetes (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Prediabetes updates by ... Glucose tolerance test - non-pregnant Prediabetes Related Health Topics A1C Diabetes Diabetes in Children and Teens Diabetes ...

  2. Diabetes: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... High blood sugar (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Diabetes updates by ... ketones test Show More Show Less Related Health Topics A1C Blood Sugar Diabetes and Pregnancy Diabetes Complications ...

  3. Parameters in fractional laser assisted delivery of topical anesthetics: Role of laser type and laser settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meesters, Arne A; Nieboer, Marilin J; Kezic, Sanja; de Rie, Menno A; Wolkerstorfer, Albert

    2018-05-07

    Efficacy of topical anesthetics can be enhanced by pretreatment of the skin with ablative fractional lasers. However, little is known about the role of parameters such as laser modality and laser density settings in this technique. Aims of this study were to compare the efficacy of pretreatment with two different ablative fractional laser modalities, a CO 2 laser and an Er:YAG laser, and to assess the role of laser density in ablative fractional laser assisted topical anesthesia. In each of 15 healthy subjects, four 10 × 10 mm test regions on the back were randomized to pretreatment (70-75 μm ablation depth) with CO 2 laser at 5% density, CO 2 laser at 15% density, Er:YAG laser at 5% density or Er:YAG laser at 15% density. Articaine hydrochloride 40 mg/ml + epinephrine 10 μg/ml solution was applied under occlusion to all four test regions. After 15 minutes, a pass with the CO 2 laser (1,500 μm ablation depth) was administered as pain stimulus to each test region. A reference pain stimulus was given on unanesthetized skin. The main outcome parameter, pain, was scored on a 0-10 visual analogue scale (VAS) after each pain stimulus. Median VAS scores were 1.50 [CO 2 5%], 0.50 [CO 2 15%], 1.50 [Er:YAG 5%], 0.43 [Er:YAG 15%], and 4.50 [unanesthetized reference]. VAS scores for all pretreated test regions were significantly lower compared to the untreated reference region (P laser pretreated regions. However, VAS scores were significantly lower at 15% density compared to 5% density for both for the CO 2 laser (P laser (P laser was considered slightly more painful than pretreatment with Er:YAG laser by the subjects. Fractional laser assisted topical anesthesia is effective even with very low energy settings and an occlusion time of only 15 minutes. Both the CO 2 laser and the Er:YAG laser can be used to assist topical anesthesia although the CO 2 laser pretreatment is experienced as more painful. In our study settings, using articaine

  4. Tracking topic birth and death in LDA.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wilson, Andrew T.; Robinson, David Gerald

    2011-09-01

    Most topic modeling algorithms that address the evolution of documents over time use the same number of topics at all times. This obscures the common occurrence in the data where new subjects arise and old ones diminish or disappear entirely. We propose an algorithm to model the birth and death of topics within an LDA-like framework. The user selects an initial number of topics, after which new topics are created and retired without further supervision. Our approach also accommodates many of the acceleration and parallelization schemes developed in recent years for standard LDA. In recent years, topic modeling algorithms such as latent semantic analysis (LSA)[17], latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)[10] and their descendants have offered a powerful way to explore and interrogate corpora far too large for any human to grasp without assistance. Using such algorithms we are able to search for similar documents, model and track the volume of topics over time, search for correlated topics or model them with a hierarchy. Most of these algorithms are intended for use with static corpora where the number of documents and the size of the vocabulary are known in advance. Moreover, almost all current topic modeling algorithms fix the number of topics as one of the input parameters and keep it fixed across the entire corpus. While this is appropriate for static corpora, it becomes a serious handicap when analyzing time-varying data sets where topics come and go as a matter of course. This is doubly true for online algorithms that may not have the option of revising earlier results in light of new data. To be sure, these algorithms will account for changing data one way or another, but without the ability to adapt to structural changes such as entirely new topics they may do so in counterintuitive ways.

  5. Topics in lightwave transmission systems

    CERN Document Server

    Li, Tingye

    1991-01-01

    Topics in Lightwave Transmission Systems is a second volume of a treatise on optical fiber communications that is devoted to the science, engineering, and application of information transmission via optical fibers. The first volume, published in 1985, dealt exclusively with fiber fabrication. The present volume contains topics that pertain to subsystems and systems. The book contains five chapters and begins with discussions of transmitters and receivers, which are basic to systems now operating in the field. Subsequent chapters cover topics relating to coherent systems: frequency and phase m

  6. Bridging regional innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Teis

    2013-01-01

    to assess the progress of integration in the regions, as well as the effect of cross-border innovation policies. Consequently, important questions are left unanswered, including the central research question of this paper: does the sudden removal of significant physical barriers directly impacts......The topics of regional innovation systems (RIS) and cross-border regions attract increasing attention, but few studies combine the themes. Further, the existing empirical studies of cross-border innovation and knowledge creation analyse one case at one point in time, thus, making it difficult...... collaboration activity in cross-border innovation systems? This paper examines regional integration in the Oresund Region over time. It deals with a specific part of the RIS, as it analyses research collaboration between actors from the Danish and Swedish sides, with a specific emphasis on the biotech industry...

  7. Topical versus systemic diclofenac in the treatment of temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Rienzo Businco, L; Di Rienzo Businco, A; D'Emilia, M; Lauriello, M; Coen Tirelli, G

    2004-10-01

    The most frequent symptom of craniomandibular dysfunction is pain in the preauricular area or in the temporo-mandibular joint, usually localized at the level of the masticatory musculature. Patients sometimes also complain of reflect otalgia, headaches and facial pain. Osteoarthrosis is a frequent degenerative debilitating chronic disorder that can affect the temporomandibular joint. It causes pain and articular rigidity, a reduction in mobility, and radiological alterations are visible in stratigraphy. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of a topically applied non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug that has recently become commercially available (diclofenac sodium in a patented carrier containing dimethyl sulfoxide, that favours transcutaneous absorption) which is commonly used to alleviate pain in knee or elbow joints, versus oral diclofenac, in the treatment of symptoms of temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint was diagnosed in 36 adult patients. The patients were randomized in two age- and gender -matched groups. Group A (18 patients) received oral diclofenac sodium administered after a meal in 50-mg tablets twice a day for 14 days. Group B (18 patients) received 16 mg/ml topical diclofenac (diclofenac topical solution, 10 drops 4 times a day for 14 days). All patients completed a questionnaire at the start and end of therapy. Patients were asked to quantify on a graded visual analogue scale and to reply to questions about the pain and tenderness of the temporomandibular joint and the functional limitation of mouth opening. Patients were also requested to report side-effects of the treatment. All patients showed relief from pain after treatment: the difference between the two groups was not significant (p > 0.05). Post-treatment, 16 patients of group A had epigastralgic symptoms. Three patients treated with topical diclofenac showed a modest irritation of the temporomandibular joint region, and disappeared

  8. Preliminary stop of the TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (TOPIC) trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koeneman, M. M.; Kruse, Arnold-Jan; Kooreman, L. F. S.; zur Hausen, Axel; Hopman, Anton H N; Sep, S. J. S.; Van Gorp, T.; Slangen, B. F. M.; van Beekhuizen, H. J.; de Sande, Michiel A. J. van; Gerestein, Cornelis G.; Nijman, H. W.; Kruitwagen, R. F. M. P.

    2017-01-01

    The "TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia" (TOPIC) trial was stopped preliminary, due to lagging inclusions. This study aimed to evaluate the treatment efficacy and clinical applicability of imiquimod 5% cream in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

  9. Comparison of Systemic and Topical Hypericum Perforatum on Diabetic Surgical Wounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altıparmak, Mehmet; Eskitaşçıoğlu, Teoman

    2018-02-01

    Surgical wounds in diabetic patients still remain a problem till the present day. As a common plant found around the world, Hypericum perforatum L. (Hypericaceae) is traditionally prepared as an oily extract and used as a folk remedy for various diseases such as wounds, burns, cuts, etc. This study aims to evaluate the effect of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) on problematic wounds while comparing oral and topical applications. Incisional and excisional wound models were made on the dorsal regions of 54 diabetic Spraque-Dawley rats. The rats were divided into the following six groups (n = 9): Group 1: control, Group 2: diabetic, Group 3: diabetic oral Hypericum perforatum, Group 4: diabetic topical Hypericum perforatum, Group 5: diabetic oral olive oil, and Group 6: diabetic topical olive oil. Groups 3 and 4 had significantly higher tensile strength, tissue hydroxyproline concentration, and collagen density compared with Group 2. Inflammatory cell density and collagen density on day 3 were significantly higher in Groups 3 and 6 compared with Group 2. On day 21, Groups 3 and 6 had significantly higher fibroblastic activity compared with Group 2. This study has proved that oral St. John's wort has more positive effects on problematic wounds compared with topical St. John's wort and olive oil, which is a vehicle. Hypericum perforatum results with faster inflammatory response and better healing. These results could be an addition to literature about the clinical usage of Hypericum perforatum on diabetic wounds.

  10. Sustainable production and consumption in a regional policy perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Coenen, Franciscus H.J.M.

    2004-01-01

    One of the main challenges regions face in sustainable development is changing their production and consumption patterns. This paper focuses on the role of regional government in sustainable production and consumption polices, one of the specific topics in the framework of the European Regional

  11. Deep Unfolding for Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, Jen-Tzung; Lee, Chao-Hsi

    2018-02-01

    Deep unfolding provides an approach to integrate the probabilistic generative models and the deterministic neural networks. Such an approach is benefited by deep representation, easy interpretation, flexible learning and stochastic modeling. This study develops the unsupervised and supervised learning of deep unfolded topic models for document representation and classification. Conventionally, the unsupervised and supervised topic models are inferred via the variational inference algorithm where the model parameters are estimated by maximizing the lower bound of logarithm of marginal likelihood using input documents without and with class labels, respectively. The representation capability or classification accuracy is constrained by the variational lower bound and the tied model parameters across inference procedure. This paper aims to relax these constraints by directly maximizing the end performance criterion and continuously untying the parameters in learning process via deep unfolding inference (DUI). The inference procedure is treated as the layer-wise learning in a deep neural network. The end performance is iteratively improved by using the estimated topic parameters according to the exponentiated updates. Deep learning of topic models is therefore implemented through a back-propagation procedure. Experimental results show the merits of DUI with increasing number of layers compared with variational inference in unsupervised as well as supervised topic models.

  12. Bimatoprost Topical

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... not use a cotton swab or any other brush or applicator to apply topical bimatoprost.To use the solution, follow these steps: Wash your hands and face thoroughly with soap and water. Be sure that all makeup is removed. Do not let the tip of ...

  13. Topics in quantum field theory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dams, C.J.F.

    2006-01-01

    In this PhD-thesis some topics in quantum field theory are considered. The first chapter gives a background to these topics. The second chapter discusses renormalization. In particular it is shown how loop calculations can be performed when using the axial gauge fixing. Fermion creation and

  14. Learning topic models by belief propagation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Jia; Cheung, William K; Liu, Jiming

    2013-05-01

    Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is an important hierarchical Bayesian model for probabilistic topic modeling, which attracts worldwide interest and touches on many important applications in text mining, computer vision and computational biology. This paper represents the collapsed LDA as a factor graph, which enables the classic loopy belief propagation (BP) algorithm for approximate inference and parameter estimation. Although two commonly used approximate inference methods, such as variational Bayes (VB) and collapsed Gibbs sampling (GS), have gained great success in learning LDA, the proposed BP is competitive in both speed and accuracy, as validated by encouraging experimental results on four large-scale document datasets. Furthermore, the BP algorithm has the potential to become a generic scheme for learning variants of LDA-based topic models in the collapsed space. To this end, we show how to learn two typical variants of LDA-based topic models, such as author-topic models (ATM) and relational topic models (RTM), using BP based on the factor graph representations.

  15. Bare quantifier fronting as contrastive topicalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion Giurgea

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available I argue that indefinites (in particular bare quantifiers such as ‘something’, ‘somebody’, etc. which are neither existentially presupposed nor in the restriction of a quantifier over situations, can undergo topicalization in a number of Romance languages (Catalan, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, but only if the sentence contains “verum” focus, i.e. focus on a high degree of certainty of the sentence. I analyze these indefinites as contrastive topics, using Büring’s (1999 theory (where the term ‘S-topic’ is used for what I call ‘contrastive topic’. I propose that the topic is evaluated in relation to a scalar set including generalized quantifiers such as {lP $x P(x, lP MANYx P(x, lP MOSTx P(x, lP “xP(x} or {lP $xP(x, lP P(a, lP P(b …}, and that the contrastive topic is the weakest generalized quantifier in this set. The verum focus, which is part of the “comment” that co-occurs with the “Topic”, introduces a set of alternatives including degrees of certainty of the assertion. The speaker asserts that his claim is certainly true or highly probable, contrasting it with stronger claims for which the degree of probability is unknown. This explains the observation that in downward entailing contexts, the fronted quantified DPs are headed by ‘all’ or ‘many’, whereas ‘some’, small numbers or ‘at least n’ appear in upward entailing contexts. Unlike other cases of non-specific topics, which are property topics, these are quantifier topics: the topic part is a generalized quantifier, the comment is a property of generalized quantifiers. This explains the narrow scope of the fronted quantified DP.

  16. Resources for Topics in Architecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Noate, Judith, Comp.

    This guide for conducting library research on topics in architecture or on the work of a particular architect presents suggestions for utilizing four categories of resources: books, dictionaries and encyclopedias, indexes, and a periodicals and series list (PASL). Two topics are researched as examples: the contemporary architect Richard Meier, and…

  17. Web directories as topical context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kaptein, R.; Kamps, J.; Aly, R.; Hauff, C.; den Hamer, I.; Hiemstra, D.; Huibers, T.; de Jong, F.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we explore whether the Open Directory (or DMOZ) can be used to classify queries into topical categories on different levels and whether we can use this topical context to improve retrieval performance. We have set up a user study to let test persons explicitly classify queries into

  18. Link-topic model for biomedical abbreviation disambiguation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Seonho; Yoon, Juntae

    2015-02-01

    The ambiguity of biomedical abbreviations is one of the challenges in biomedical text mining systems. In particular, the handling of term variants and abbreviations without nearby definitions is a critical issue. In this study, we adopt the concepts of topic of document and word link to disambiguate biomedical abbreviations. We newly suggest the link topic model inspired by the latent Dirichlet allocation model, in which each document is perceived as a random mixture of topics, where each topic is characterized by a distribution over words. Thus, the most probable expansions with respect to abbreviations of a given abstract are determined by word-topic, document-topic, and word-link distributions estimated from a document collection through the link topic model. The model allows two distinct modes of word generation to incorporate semantic dependencies among words, particularly long form words of abbreviations and their sentential co-occurring words; a word can be generated either dependently on the long form of the abbreviation or independently. The semantic dependency between two words is defined as a link and a new random parameter for the link is assigned to each word as well as a topic parameter. Because the link status indicates whether the word constitutes a link with a given specific long form, it has the effect of determining whether a word forms a unigram or a skipping/consecutive bigram with respect to the long form. Furthermore, we place a constraint on the model so that a word has the same topic as a specific long form if it is generated in reference to the long form. Consequently, documents are generated from the two hidden parameters, i.e. topic and link, and the most probable expansion of a specific abbreviation is estimated from the parameters. Our model relaxes the bag-of-words assumption of the standard topic model in which the word order is neglected, and it captures a richer structure of text than does the standard topic model by considering

  19. Unsupervised topic discovery by anomaly detection

    OpenAIRE

    Cheng, Leon

    2013-01-01

    Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited With the vast amount of information and public comment available online, it is of increasing interest to understand what is being said and what topics are trending online. Government agencies, for example, want to know what policies concern the public without having to look through thousands of comments manually. Topic detection provides automatic identification of topics in documents based on the information content and enhances many ...

  20. Topical cyclosporine for atopic keratoconjunctivitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-López, Julio J; López-Alcalde, Jesús; Morcillo Laiz, Rafael; Fernández Buenaga, Roberto; Rebolleda Fernández, Gema

    2012-09-12

    Atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC) is a chronic ocular surface non-infectious inflammatory condition that atopic dermatitis patients may suffer at any time point in the course of their dermatologic disease and is independent of its degree of severity. AKC is usually not self resolving and it poses a higher risk of corneal injuries and severe sequelae. Management of AKC should prevent or treat corneal damage. Although topical corticosteroids remain the standard treatment for patients with AKC, prolonged use may lead to complications. Topical cyclosporine A (CsA) may improve AKC signs and symptoms, and be used as a corticosteroid sparing agent. To determine the efficacy and gather evidence on safety from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of topical CsA in patients with AKC. We searched CENTRAL (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 6), MEDLINE (January 1946 to July 2012), EMBASE (January 1980 to July 2012), Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS) (January 1982 to July 2012), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (January 1937 to July 2012), OpenGrey (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe) (www.opengrey.eu/), the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT) (www.controlled-trials.com), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov), the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en), the IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal (http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/no_cache/en/myportal/index.htm) and Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. The electronic databases were last searched on 9 July 2012. We also handsearched the following conference proceedings: American Academy of Ophthalmology, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, International Council of Opthalmology and Societas

  1. 21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

  2. Topical therapy of atopic dermatitis: controversies from Hippocrates to topical immunomodulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilles, Gérard; Wallach, Daniel; Taïeb, Alain

    2007-02-01

    Although atopic dermatitis can be treated efficiently, there is still much controversy about the risk/benefit ratio of both topical corticosteroids and topical immunomodulators. Conflicting data may be found about the usefulness of bathing, diet regulation, and other therapeutic interventions. These controversies result in part from the persistence of Hippocratic doctrines in modern medical thinking. Humoralist and diathetic doctrines, as they pertain to eczema, are reviewed. The paradoxical worsening of oozing and the deadly hazards of hospitalization before the era of antibiotics are brought to mind. We hope that this historical review will improve the understanding of current controversies and help dermatologists to manage patients with atopic dermatitis and other chronic skin diseases.

  3. Topic Time Series Analysis of Microblogs

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-10-01

    may be distributed more globally. Tweets on a specific topic that cluster spatially, temporally or both might be of interest to analysts, marketers ...of $ and @, with the latter only in the case that it is the only character in the token (the @ symbol is significant in its usage by Instagram in...is generated by Instagram . Topic 80, Distance: 143.2101 Top words: 1. rawr 2. ˆ0ˆ 3. kill 4. jurassic 5. dinosaur Analysis: This topic is quite

  4. Topic modelling in the information warfare domain

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    De Waal, A

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available for interesting and relevant topics. The objectives of this paper is to describe topic modelling, put it in context as a useful IW technique and illustrate its use with two examples. They discuss several applications of topic modelling in the safety and security...

  5. Agriculture 2008. The critical agrarian report. Main topic 2008: Agriculture as an energy producer; Landwirtschaft 2008. Der kritische Agrarbericht. Schwerpunkt 2008: Landwirtschaft als Energieerzeuger

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schneider, M.; Fink-Kessler, A.; Stodieck, F. (comps.)

    2008-01-15

    The focus of the critical agrarian report in this year is the topic 'agriculture as an energy producer'. In 44 contributions, the agrarian events of the year 2007 are analyzed and the setting the points for the future are discussed. The topics of this report are: Agricultural policy and social situation, world trade and nutrition, ecological agriculture, production and market, regional market, regional development, nature and environment, forest, animal protection and animal husbandry, genetic engineering, agrarian culture, consumer and nourishing culture.

  6. Task-Driven Comparison of Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Eric; Gleicher, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Topic modeling, a method of statistically extracting thematic content from a large collection of texts, is used for a wide variety of tasks within text analysis. Though there are a growing number of tools and techniques for exploring single models, comparisons between models are generally reduced to a small set of numerical metrics. These metrics may or may not reflect a model's performance on the analyst's intended task, and can therefore be insufficient to diagnose what causes differences between models. In this paper, we explore task-centric topic model comparison, considering how we can both provide detail for a more nuanced understanding of differences and address the wealth of tasks for which topic models are used. We derive comparison tasks from single-model uses of topic models, which predominantly fall into the categories of understanding topics, understanding similarity, and understanding change. Finally, we provide several visualization techniques that facilitate these tasks, including buddy plots, which combine color and position encodings to allow analysts to readily view changes in document similarity.

  7. Australasian emergency physicians: a learning and educational needs analysis. Part Four: CPD topics desired by emergency physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dent, Andrew W; Weiland, Tracey J; Paltridge, Debbie

    2008-06-01

    To report the preferences of Fellows of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine for topics they would desire for their continuing professional development (CPD). A mailed survey of Fellows of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine asked for Likert type responses on the desirability of CPD on 15 procedural skills, 13 management skills, 11 clinical emergency topics, 9 topics related to teaching, 7 related to diagnostics and 5 evidence based practice topics. CPD in procedural skills of advanced and surgical airways, ED ultrasound, ventilation, skills, plastic procedures and regional anaesthesia were nominated as desirable by 85% of emergency physicians (EP). More than 90% desired CPD in ophthalmological, otorhinolaryngeal, neonatal and paediatric emergencies. Of diagnostic skills, more than 80% considered CPD on computerized tomography, electrocardiography and plain X-ray interpretation as desirable, well as CPD about teaching in general, simulation and preparing candidates for fellowship exams. Of the 12 management skills, 11 were seen as desirable topics by more than 70%, with counter disaster planning, giving feedback and dealing with complaints the most popular. All evidence based practice related skills, including interpreting statistics and undertaking literature searches were seen as desirable topics by more than 80% of EP. This information may assist in the planning of future educational interventions for emergency physicians. EP seek CPD on management, educational and other non clinical skills, as well as topics relating directly to patient care.

  8. Topical Session on Materials Management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    At its second meeting, in Paris, 5-7 December 2001, the WPDD held two topical sessions on the D and D Safety Case and on the Management of Materials from D and D, respectively. This report documents the topical session on the management of materials. Presentations during the topical session covered key aspects of the management of materials and meant to provide an exchange of information and experience, including: Experience and lessons learnt from VLLW and non-radioactive material management in Spain and Germany with special attention to recycling (How specific solutions came about? Are there 'generic' examples for wider adoption?); Risk assessment of recycling and non-recycling: a CPD study; Waste acceptance issues within different national contexts (What constraints are there on the waste receiving body and what flexibility can the latter have? What constraints does this impose on D and D implementers? What about wastes are without current solution? What needs to be done? What about large items and 'difficult' waste in general?); Radiological characterisation of materials during decommissioning, particularly difficult situations - large volumes, large items,.. wastes, heterogeneous streams (What examples of established practice? What are the approaches or aspects that set the regulatory requirements? How can the flow rates be large but the answers acceptable? How much is needed to be known for later action, e. g., disposal, release, protection of worker, etc.); Radiological characterisation of buildings as they stand, in order to allow conventional demolition (What are strategies for optimisation of characterisation? How much needs to be known to take action later? e.g. for storage, disposal, release, cost estimation and ALARA? What needs to be done in advance and after decommissioning/dismantling?). At the end of each presentation time was allotted for discussion of the paper. Integral to the Topical Session was a facilitated plenary discussion on the topical

  9. Topical steroid addiction in atopic dermatitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fukaya M

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Mototsugu Fukaya,1 Kenji Sato,2 Mitsuko Sato,3 Hajime Kimata,4 Shigeki Fujisawa,5 Haruhiko Dozono,6 Jun Yoshizawa,7 Satoko Minaguchi8 1Tsurumai Kouen Clinic, Nagoya, 2Department of Dermatology, Hannan Chuo Hospital, Osaka, 3Sato Pediatric Clinic, Osaka, 4Kimata Hajime Clinic, Osaka, 5Fujisawa Dermatology Clinic, Tokyo, 6Dozono Medical House, Kagoshima, 7Yoshizawa Dermatology Clinic, Yokohama, 8Department of Dermatology, Kounosu Kyousei Hospital, Saitama, Japan Abstract: The American Academy of Dermatology published a new guideline regarding topical therapy in atopic dermatitis in May 2014. Although topical steroid addiction or red burning skin syndrome had been mentioned as possible side effects of topical steroids in a 2006 review article in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, no statement was made regarding this illness in the new guidelines. This suggests that there are still controversies regarding this illness. Here, we describe the clinical features of topical steroid addiction or red burning skin syndrome, based on the treatment of many cases of the illness. Because there have been few articles in the medical literature regarding this illness, the description in this article will be of some benefit to better understand the illness and to spur discussion regarding topical steroid addiction or red burning skin syndrome. Keywords: topical steroid addiction, atopic dermatitis, red burning skin syndrome, rebound, corticosteroid, eczema

  10. Eye Wear: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... When You Exercise (National Institute on Aging) - PDF Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Eye Wear updates by email What's this? GO Related Health Topics Refractive Errors National Institutes of Health The primary ...

  11. 21 CFR 524.1193 - Ivermectin topical solution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Ivermectin topical solution. 524.1193 Section 524...) ANIMAL DRUGS, FEEDS, AND RELATED PRODUCTS OPHTHALMIC AND TOPICAL DOSAGE FORM NEW ANIMAL DRUGS § 524.1193 Ivermectin topical solution. (a) Specifications. Each milliliter (mL) of solution contains 5 milligrams of...

  12. Eosinophilic Esophagitis: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Esophagitis (EoE) (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology) Also in Spanish Latest News Eosinophilic Esophagitis May ... Pediatric and Adolescent Patients (American College of Gastroenterology) Topic Image Related Health Topics Eosinophilic Disorders Esophagus Disorders ...

  13. Female Infertility: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Prolactin blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Female Infertility updates ... Serum progesterone Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Assisted Reproductive Technology Infertility Male Infertility National Institutes ...

  14. Mobility Aids: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Mobility Problems (AGS Foundation for Health in Aging) Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Mobility Aids updates ... standing and walking Using a cane Related Health Topics Assistive Devices Other Languages Find health information in ...

  15. Genetic Testing: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Your Family's Health (National Institutes of Health) - PDF Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Genetic Testing updates ... testing and your cancer risk Karyotyping Related Health Topics Birth Defects Genetic Counseling Genetic Disorders Newborn Screening ...

  16. Folic Acid: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... acid in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Folic Acid updates ... acid - test Folic acid in diet Related Health Topics Vitamins National Institutes of Health The primary NIH ...

  17. Pneumococcal Infections: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Prevention, Immunization Action Coalition) - PDF Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Pneumococcal Infections updates ... ray Meningitis - pneumococcal Sputum gram stain Related Health Topics Meningitis Pneumonia Sepsis Sinusitis Streptococcal Infections National Institutes ...

  18. Wilms' Tumor: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Wilms tumor (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Wilms Tumor updates ... ENCYCLOPEDIA After chemotherapy - discharge Wilms tumor Related Health Topics Kidney Cancer National Institutes of Health The primary ...

  19. Child Safety: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... injuries in children (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Child Safety updates ... safety Preventing head injuries in children Related Health Topics Infant and Newborn Care Internet Safety Motor Vehicle ...

  20. Pneumocystis Infections: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Pneumocystis Infections updates ... GO MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia Related Health Topics HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS and Infections Pneumonia National ...

  1. Collapsed Lung: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Pneumothorax - infants (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Collapsed Lung updates ... Lung surgery Pneumothorax - slideshow Pneumothorax - infants Related Health Topics Chest Injuries and Disorders Lung Diseases Pleural Disorders ...

  2. Male Infertility: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Testicular biopsy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Male Infertility updates ... analysis Sperm release pathway Testicular biopsy Related Health Topics Assisted Reproductive Technology Female Infertility Infertility National Institutes ...

  3. Healthy Aging: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Aging National Institute on Aging Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Healthy Aging updates ... 65 Health screening - women - over 65 Related Health Topics Exercise for Seniors Nutrition for Seniors Seniors' Health ...

  4. Psoriatic Arthritis: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Handouts Psoriatic arthritis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Psoriatic Arthritis updates ... this? GO MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Psoriatic arthritis Related Health Topics Arthritis Psoriasis National Institutes of Health The primary ...

  5. Hip Replacement: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... invasive hip replacement (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Hip Replacement updates ... replacement - precautions Minimally invasive hip replacement Related Health Topics Hip Injuries and Disorders National Institutes of Health ...

  6. Platelet Disorders: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Thromobocytopenia - drug-induced (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Platelet Disorders updates ... Willebrand disease Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Bleeding Disorders Blood Clots Blood Count Tests Blood ...

  7. Cardiac Rehabilitation: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... in Spanish Electrocardiogram (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Cardiac Rehabilitation updates ... How to take your pulse Pulse Related Health Topics Heart Attack Heart Diseases How to Prevent Heart ...

  8. Cardiac Arrest: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Handouts Cardiac arrest (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Cardiac Arrest updates ... this? GO MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Cardiac arrest Related Health Topics Arrhythmia CPR Pacemakers and Implantable Defibrillators National Institutes ...

  9. Kawasaki Disease: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Kawasaki disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Kawasaki Disease updates ... GO MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Electrocardiogram Kawasaki disease Related Health Topics Vasculitis National Institutes of Health The primary NIH ...

  10. Diabetic Diet: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Sweeteners - sugar substitutes (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Diabetic Diet updates ... you have diabetes Sweeteners - sugar substitutes Related Health Topics Blood Sugar Diabetes Diabetes in Children and Teens ...

  11. Infection Control: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Staph infections - hospital (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Infection Control updates ... infections when visiting Staph infections - hospital Related Health Topics Hepatitis HIV/AIDS MRSA National Institutes of Health ...

  12. Hearing Aids: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... for hearing loss (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Hearing Aids updates ... MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Devices for hearing loss Related Health Topics Cochlear Implants Hearing Disorders and Deafness National Institutes ...

  13. Kidney Tests: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Total protein (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Kidney Tests updates ... hour volume Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Kidney Cancer Kidney Diseases National Institutes of Health ...

  14. Ischemic Stroke: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Thrombolytic therapy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Ischemic Stroke updates ... cardiogenic embolism Stroke - slideshow Thrombolytic therapy Related Health Topics Hemorrhagic Stroke Stroke Stroke Rehabilitation National Institutes of ...

  15. Pulmonary Rehabilitation: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Handouts Postural drainage (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Pulmonary Rehabilitation updates ... this? GO MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Postural drainage Related Health Topics Lung Diseases National Institutes of Health The primary ...

  16. Antibiotic Resistance: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... GO GO About MedlinePlus Site Map FAQs Customer Support Health Topics Drugs & Supplements Videos & Tools Español You Are Here: Home → Health Topics → Antibiotic Resistance URL of this page: https://medlineplus.gov/antibioticresistance. ...

  17. Interannual variability of the South Pacific Convergence Zone and implications for tropical cyclone genesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vincent, Emmanuel M. [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat: Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); UPMC, LOCEAN/IPSL, Paris Cedex 05 (France); Lengaigne, Matthieu [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat: Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (India); Menkes, Christophe E. [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat: Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Noumea (New Caledonia); Jourdain, Nicolas C. [Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Noumea (New Caledonia); Marchesiello, Patrick [Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Noumea (New Caledonia); CNES/CNRS/UPS/IRD, Laboratoire d' Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale (LEGOS), Toulouse (France); Madec, Gurvan [IRD/UPMC/CNRS/MNHN, Laboratoire d' Oceanographie et du Climat: Experimentation et Approches Numeriques (LOCEAN), Paris (France); National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton (United Kingdom)

    2011-05-15

    The interannual variability of the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) and its influence on tropical cyclone (TC) genesis in the South Pacific are investigated using observations and ERA40 reanalysis over the 1979-2002 period. In austral summer, the SPCZ displays four typical structures at interannual timescales. The first three are characterized by a diagonal orientation of the SPCZ and account for 85% of the summer seasons. One is close to climatology and the other two exhibit a 3 northward or southward departure from the SPCZ climatological position. In contrast, the fourth one, that only encompasses three austral summer seasons (the extreme 1982/1983 and 1997/1998 El Nino events and the moderate 1991/1992 El Nino event), displays very peculiar behaviour where the SPCZ largely departs from its climatological position and is zonally oriented. Variability of the western/central Pacific equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) is shown to modulate moisture transport south of the equator, thereby strongly constraining the location of the SPCZ. The SPCZ location is also shown to strongly modulate the atmospheric circulation variability in the South Pacific with specific patterns for each class. However, independently of its wide year-to-year excursions, the SPCZ is always collocated with the zero relative vorticity at low levels while the maximum vorticity axis lies 6 to the south of the SPCZ position. This coherent atmospheric organisation in the SPCZ region is shown to constrain tropical cyclogenesis to occur preferentially within 10 south of the SPCZ location as this region combines all the large-scale atmospheric conditions that favour the breeding of TCs. This analysis also reveals that cyclogenesis in the central Pacific (in the vicinity of French Polynesia) only occurs when the SPCZ displays a zonal orientation while this observation was previously attributed to El Nino years in general. Different characteristics of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO

  18. Dissociating Effects of Scrambling and Topicalization within the Left Frontal and Temporal Language Areas: An fMRI Study in Kaqchikel Maya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Shinri; Koizumi, Masatoshi; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

    2017-01-01

    Some natural languages grammatically allow different types of changing word orders, such as object scrambling and topicalization. Scrambling and topicalization are more related to syntax and semantics/phonology, respectively. Here we hypothesized that scrambling should activate the left frontal regions, while topicalization would affect the bilateral temporal regions. To examine such distinct effects in our functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we targeted the Kaqchikel Maya language, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. In Kaqchikel, the syntactically canonical word order is verb-object-subject (VOS), but at least three non-canonical word orders (i.e., SVO, VSO, and OVS) are also grammatically allowed. We used a sentence-picture matching task, in which the participants listened to a short Kaqchikel sentence and judged whether a picture matched the meaning of the sentence. The advantage of applying this experimental paradigm to an understudied language such as Kaqchikel is that it will allow us to validate the universality of linguistic computation in the brain. We found that the conditions with scrambled sentences [+scrambling] elicited significant activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus and lateral premotor cortex, both of which have been proposed as grammar centers, indicating the effects of syntactic loads. In contrast, the conditions without topicalization [-topicalization] resulted in significant activation in bilateral Heschl's gyrus and superior temporal gyrus, demonstrating that the syntactic and phonological processes were clearly dissociated within the language areas. Moreover, the pre-supplementary motor area and left superior/middle temporal gyri were activated under relatively demanding conditions, suggesting their supportive roles in syntactic or semantic processing. To exclude any semantic/phonological effects of the object-subject word orders, we performed direct comparisons while making the factor of topicalization constant, and

  19. Large-Scale Topic Detection and Language Model Adaptation

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Seymore, Kristie

    1997-01-01

    .... We have developed a language model adaptation scheme that takes apiece of text, chooses the most similar topic clusters from a set of over 5000 elemental topics, and uses topic specific language...

  20. Quantum mechanics II advanced topics

    CERN Document Server

    Rajasekar, S

    2015-01-01

    Quantum Mechanics II: Advanced Topics uses more than a decade of research and the authors’ own teaching experience to expound on some of the more advanced topics and current research in quantum mechanics. A follow-up to the authors introductory book Quantum Mechanics I: The Fundamentals, this book begins with a chapter on quantum field theory, and goes on to present basic principles, key features, and applications. It outlines recent quantum technologies and phenomena, and introduces growing topics of interest in quantum mechanics. The authors describe promising applications that include ghost imaging, detection of weak amplitude objects, entangled two-photon microscopy, detection of small displacements, lithography, metrology, and teleportation of optical images. They also present worked-out examples and provide numerous problems at the end of each chapter.

  1. Topical application of hemostatic paste

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Mizanur Rahman

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available As a measure to control minor surgical bleeding, surgeons usually depend on a number of hemostatic aids. Topical use of bovine thrombin is a widely used procedure to arrest such minor bleeding. A 35 year old male sergeant of Bangladesh Air Force presented with repeated development of hematoma in his left thigh without any history of trauma or previous history of bleeding. Critical analysis of the patient’s history, routine and sophisticated hematological investigations revealed that the patient developed anti-thrombin antibody following the application of hemostatic paste in the tooth socket five years back during minor dental procedure to stop ignorable bleeding episodes. Therefore, topical use of hemostatic glue/paste or bovine thrombin should be avoided to desist minor bleeding as recombinant human thrombin is now available for topical use.

  2. Aerodynamics of wind turbines emerging topics

    CERN Document Server

    Amano, R S

    2014-01-01

    Focusing on Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines with topics ranging from Fundamental to Application of horizontal axis wind turbines, this book presents advanced topics including: Basic Theory for Wind turbine Blade Aerodynamics, Computational Methods, and Special Structural Reinforcement Technique for Wind Turbine Blades.

  3. SETI: A good introductory physics topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobson, Art

    1997-04-01

    If America is to achieve the science literacy that is essential to industrialized democracy, all students must study such topics as scientific methodology, pseudoscience, ozone depletion, and global warming. My large-enrollment liberal-arts physics course covers the great principles of physics along with several such philosophical and societal topics. It is easy to include the interdisciplinary context of physics in courses for non-scientists, because these courses are flexible, conceptual, and taught to students whose interests span a broad range. Students find these topics relevant and fascinating, leading to large enrollments by non-scientists even in courses labeled ''physics.'' I will discuss my approach to teaching the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI), a topic with lots of good physics and with connections to scientific methodology and pseudoscience. A textbook for this kind of course has been published, Physics: Concepts and Connections (Prentice-Hall, 1995).

  4. Affinity between information retrieval system and search topic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebinuma, Yukio

    1979-01-01

    Ten search profiles are tested on the INIS system at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The results are plotted on recall-precision chart ranging from 100% recall to 100% precision. The curves are not purely systems-dependent nor search-dependent, and are determined substantially by the ''affinity'' between the system and the search topic. The curves are named ''Affinity curves of search topics with information retrieval systems'', and hence retrieval affinity factors are derived. They are obtained not only for individual search topics but also for averages in the system. By such a quantitative examination, the difference of affinity among search topics in a given system, that of the same search topic among various systems, and that of systems to the same group of search topics can be compared reasonably. (author)

  5. Analyzing the history of Cognition using Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen Priva, Uriel; Austerweil, Joseph L

    2015-02-01

    Very few articles have analyzed how cognitive science as a field has changed over the last six decades. We explore how Cognition changed over the last four decades using Topic Models. Topic Models assume that every word in every document is generated by one of a limited number of topics. Words that are likely to co-occur are likely to be generated by a single topic. We find a number of significant historical trends: the rise of moral cognition, eyetracking methods, and action, the fall of sentence processing, and the stability of development. We introduce the notion of framing topics, which frame content, rather than present the content itself. These framing topics suggest that over time Cognition turned from abstract theorizing to more experimental approaches. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Topical Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Oil from Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Israel J. M. Santos

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Tropidurus hispidus has been used in traditional medicine in several regions of Northeastern Region of Brazil. Its medicinal use involves the treatment of diseases such as warts, sore throat, tonsillitis, chicken pox, varicella, measles, asthma, alcoholism, and dermatomycosis. The present study evaluated the topical anti-inflammatory activity of Tropidurus hispidus fat in treating ear edema in an animal model. Oil from T. hispidus (OTH was evaluated on its effect against experimental inflammation in mice. OTH was extracted from body fat located in the ventral region of Tropidurus hispidus using hexane as a solvent. We used the model of mouse ear edema induced by phlogistic agents, croton oil (single and multiple applications, arachidonic acid, phenol, capsaicin, and histamine, applied into the right ears of animals pretreated with acetone (control, dexamethasone, or OTH. OTH inhibited the dermatitis induced by all noxious agents, except capsaicin. This effect may be related to the fatty acids present in OTH.

  7. Topics of Bioengineering in Wikipedia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vassia Atanassova

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available The present report aims to give a snapshot of how topics from the field of bioengineering (bioinformatics, bioprocess systems, biomedical engineering, biotechnology, etc. are currently covered in the free electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia. It also offers insights and information about what Wikipedia is, how it functions, how and when to cite Wikipedian articles, if necessary. Several external wikis, devoted to topics of bioengineering, are also listed and reviewed.

  8. Topics in Astrophysical X-Ray and Gamma Ray Spectroscopy. Ph.D. Thesis - Maryland Univ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bussard, R. W.

    1978-01-01

    A number of topics relating to astrophysical observations that have already been made or are currently planned of spectral features, mostly emission lines, in the X-ray and gamma ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum are investigated. These topics include: the production of characteristic X-ray and gamma ray lines by nonthermal ions, spectral features induced by processes occurring in strong magnetic fields, and the positron annihilation line at 0.5 MeV. The rate of X-ray production at 6.8 keV by the 2p to 1s transition in fast hydrogen- and helium-like iron ions, following both electron capture to excited levels and collisional excitation is calculated. The cross section for electron-ion Coulomb collisions in strong fields is also calculated.

  9. TOPIC: a debugging code for torus geometry input data of Monte Carlo transport code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iida, Hiromasa; Kawasaki, Hiromitsu.

    1979-06-01

    TOPIC has been developed for debugging geometry input data of the Monte Carlo transport code. the code has the following features: (1) It debugs the geometry input data of not only MORSE-GG but also MORSE-I capable of treating torus geometry. (2) Its calculation results are shown in figures drawn by Plotter or COM, and the regions not defined or doubly defined are easily detected. (3) It finds a multitude of input data errors in a single run. (4) The input data required in this code are few, so that it is readily usable in a time sharing system of FACOM 230-60/75 computer. Example TOPIC calculations in design study of tokamak fusion reactors (JXFR, INTOR-J) are presented. (author)

  10. Updates of Topical and Local Anesthesia Agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyce, Ricardo A; Kirpalani, Tarun; Mohan, Naveen

    2016-04-01

    As described in this article, there are many advances in topical and local anesthesia. Topical and local anesthetics have played a great role in dentistry in alleviating the fears of patients, eliminating pain, and providing pain control. Many invasive procedures would not be performed without the use and advances of topical/local anesthetics. The modern-day dentist has the responsibility of knowing the variety of products on the market and should have at least references to access before, during, and after treatment. This practice ensures proper care with topical and local anesthetics for the masses of patients entering dental offices worldwide. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Anesthesia: A Topic for Interdisciplinary Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labianca, Dominick A.; Reeves, William J.

    1977-01-01

    Describes an interdisciplinary approach for teaching the topic of anesthesia as one aspect of a chemistry-oriented course for nonscience majors which focuses on timely topics such as the energy crisis and drugs. Historical treatment with the examination of literature is emphasized in teaching. (HM)

  12. A climatology based on reanalysis of baroclinic developmental regions in the extratropical northern hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de la Torre, Laura; Nieto, Raquel; Noguerol, Marta; Añel, Juan Antonio; Gimeno, Luis

    2008-12-01

    Regions of the occurrence of different phenomena related to the development of baroclinic disturbances are reviewed for the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, using National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data. The occurrence of height lows appears to be related to the orography near the earth's surface and with surface- and upper-air cyclogenesis in the upper troposphere. Over the cyclone tracks, the surface maxima appear to be trapped by land masses, whereas over the Mediterranean Sea they are located on the lee side of mountain ranges. The forcing terms of the geopotential tendency and omega equations mark the genesis (and, by the vorticity advection terms, the path) of the extratropical cyclones on the storm track. They occur mostly over the western coast of the oceans, beginning and having maxima on the lee side of the Rocky Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. Their associated fronts form from the cold air coming from the continents and converging with the warm air over the Gulf and Kuroshio currents. Evident trends are found only for the Atlantic cyclone track (positive) and the Pacific cyclone track (negative) until the last decade when the tendency reverses. Over the southern Pacific, the number of fronts is lower during 1978-1997, coinciding with a period of strong El Niño Southern Oscillation episodes. This information is important for validating numerical models in order to predict changes associated with climate change and to study the behavior of extratropical cyclones and fronts.

  13. Efficacy, tolerability and consumer acceptability of terbinafine topical spray versus terbinafine topical solution: a phase IIa, randomised, observer-blind, comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Marc; Evans, Charles; Muddle, Andrew; Turner, Rob; Lim, Sian; Reed, Jessica; Traynor, Matt

    2013-10-01

    Tinea pedis is one of the world's most prevalent dermatophyte infections. MedSpray™ tinea pedis 1 % w/w (topical spray) is a novel, easy-to-use propellant-based spray formulation containing 1 % w/w terbinafine, requiring no manipulation at the site of infection. This is in contrast to the only formulation currently approved in Europe for single application (none are approved in the USA for single use), which is Lamisil(®) Once 1 % w/w (topical solution), containing 1 % w/w terbinafine hydrochloride, which requires manipulation on the affected area. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability and consumer acceptability of a topical spray versus a topical solution in the treatment of tinea pedis. This study is a phase IIa, randomised, observer-blind, non-inferiority comparative study of the topical spray compared with the topical solution over a 12-week study period. The study was conducted at Bioskin GmbH, Hamburg and Berlin. Patients (n = 120) who presented with the presence of interdigital tinea pedis caused by dermatophytes on one or both feet were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly assigned between the two treatment groups. Either the topical spray or the topical solution was administered by the study nurse and consisted of a single application (equivalent to 20 mg of terbinafine per foot) on day 1 of the study. No further applications were made for the duration of the study. The hypothesis formulated before commencement of the study was that the topical spray would prove to be non-inferior to the topical solution. Efficacy assessments, including clinical signs and symptoms, mycology and microscopy were performed at baseline and 1, 6 and 12 weeks after treatment. The rate of mycological cure at week 1 was statistically equivalent for both treatments. There was a significant reduction in the overall clinical score as assessed by the Physician's Global Assessment of signs and symptoms for both treatment groups. The topical

  14. Topics in quantum cryptography, quantum error correction, and channel simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Zhicheng

    In this thesis, we mainly investigate four different topics: efficiently implementable codes for quantum key expansion [51], quantum error-correcting codes based on privacy amplification [48], private classical capacity of quantum channels [44], and classical channel simulation with quantum side information [49, 50]. For the first topic, we propose an efficiently implementable quantum key expansion protocol, capable of increasing the size of a pre-shared secret key by a constant factor. Previously, the Shor-Preskill proof [64] of the security of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) [6] quantum key distribution protocol relied on the theoretical existence of good classical error-correcting codes with the "dual-containing" property. But the explicit and efficiently decodable construction of such codes is unknown. We show that we can lift the dual-containing constraint by employing the non-dual-containing codes with excellent performance and efficient decoding algorithms. For the second topic, we propose a construction of Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) [19, 68] quantum error-correcting codes, which are originally based on pairs of mutually dual-containing classical codes, by combining a classical code with a two-universal hash function. We show, using the results of Renner and Koenig [57], that the communication rates of such codes approach the hashing bound on tensor powers of Pauli channels in the limit of large block-length. For the third topic, we prove a regularized formula for the secret key assisted capacity region of a quantum channel for transmitting private classical information. This result parallels the work of Devetak on entanglement assisted quantum communication capacity. This formula provides a new family protocol, the private father protocol, under the resource inequality framework that includes the private classical communication without the assisted secret keys as a child protocol. For the fourth topic, we study and solve the problem of classical channel

  15. Topical thrombin-related corneal calcification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiratli, Hayyam; Irkeç, Murat; Alaçal, Sibel; Söylemezoğlu, Figen

    2006-09-01

    To report a highly unusual case of corneal calcification after brief intraoperative use of topical thrombin. A 44-year-old man underwent sclerouvectomy for ciliochoroidal leiomyoma, during which 35 UNIH/mL lyophilized bovine thrombin mixed with 9 mL of diluent containing 1500 mmol/mL calcium chloride was used. From the first postoperative day, corneal and anterior lenticular capsule calcifications developed, and corneal involvement slightly enlarged thereafter. A year later, 2 corneal punch biopsies confirmed calcification mainly in the Bowman layer. Topical treatment with 1.5% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid significantly restored corneal clarity. Six months later, a standard extracapsular cataract extraction with intraocular lens placement improved visual acuity to 20/60. This case suggests that topical thrombin drops with elevated calcium concentrations may cause acute corneal calcification in Bowman layer and on the anterior lens capsule.

  16. Effects of topical topiramate in wound healing in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jara, Carlos Poblete; Bóbbo, Vanessa Cristina Dias; Carraro, Rodrigo Scarpari; de Araujo, Thiago Matos Ferreira; Lima, Maria H M; Velloso, Licio A; Araújo, Eliana P

    2018-02-23

    Recent studies have indicated that systemic topiramate can induce an improvement on the aesthetic appearance of skin scars. Here, we evaluated topical topiramate as an agent to improve wound healing in C57/BL6 mice. Mice were inflicted with a 6.0 mm punch to create two wounds in the skin of the dorsal region. Thereafter, mice were randomly assigned to either vehicle or topical topiramate (20 µl of 2% cream) once a day for 14 days, beginning on the same day as wound generation. We analyzed the wound samples over real-time PCR, Western blotting, and microscopy. There was no effect of the topiramate treatment on the time for complete reepithelization of the wound. However, on microscopic analysis, topiramate treatment resulted in increased granulation tissue, thicker epidermal repair, and improved deposition of type I collagen fibers. During wound healing, there were increased expressions of anti-inflammatory markers, such as IL-10, TGF-β1, and reduced expression of the active form of JNK. In addition, topiramate treatment increased the expression of active forms of two intermediaries in the insulin-signaling pathway, IRS-1 and Akt. Finally, at the end of the wound-healing process, topiramate treatment resulted in increased expression of SOX-2, a transcription factor that is essential to maintain cell self-renewal of undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. We conclude that topical topiramate can improve the overall quality of wound healing in the healthy skin of mice. This improvement is accompanied by reduced expression of markers involved in inflammation and increased expression of proteins of the insulin-signaling pathway.

  17. Topics in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1963-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, JungSu; Stewart, Alan E; Phelps, Rosemary E

    2017-11-01

    Historical trends in a scientific field should be apparent in the changing content of journal articles over time. Using a topic modeling approach, a statistical method for quantifying the thematic content of text, 70 topics were extracted from the abstracts of 3,603 articles published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology from 1963 to 2015. After examining interpretability of 70 topics derived from the model, 64 meaningful topics and their trends were named. In addition, the authors also classified some of the related topics into 4 categories-counseling process and outcome, multiculturalism, research methodology, and vocational psychology. Counseling process and outcome related topics have decreased recently, while topics relating to multiculturalism and diversity have shown increasing trends. The authors also discussed trends that were observed and tried to account for the changing frequencies of some important research topics within these categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Influence of number of topics, topic duration, and curricular focus on biology achievement of Population 3 TIMSS countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodges, Eddie Louis

    The purposes of this study were to determine if a relationship exists between biology achievement and (1) number of topics, (2) topic duration, (3) curricular focus, and (4) science achievement using TIMSS data from Population 3---the final year of secondary school. Students included in this study were subsets of the 55,675 students from 22 countries who participated in the science literacy portion of TIMSS at the Population 3 level (IEA, 1997). The sample included in this study for the four research questions were comprised of between (1) 17,769 and 37,794 students from 15 countries, (2) 17,769 and 37,794 students from 15 countries, (3) 21,715 and 46,458 students from 18 countries, and (4) 19,518 and 46,458 students from 18 countries, respectively. A Pearson's product moment correlation was used to determine whether a relationship exists between the number of biology topics addressed by intended national science curricula and mean student achievement on selected items by country. No statistically significant correlation was found by country between biology achievement and number of topics. To determine whether a relationship exists between the topic duration of biology topics addressed by released, biology-oriented, Population 3 Science Literacy items and student achievement on those items, a Pearson's product moment correlation was also used. A statistically significant correlation between biology achievement and topic duration for only one topic (Interdependence of Life) was found at the .05 level of significance. A possible relationship between the degree of curricular focus of Population 3 TIMSS countries and student achievement on selected items by country was evaluated using a Pearson's product moment correlation. No statistically significant correlation by country between biology achievement and degree of curricular focus was found. A Pearson's product moment correlation was used to determine whether a relationship exists between science literacy

  19. Centro Regional de Ciencias Nucleares (a Brazilian regional center for nuclear sciences) - activities report - 1999; Centro Regional de Ciencias Nucleares - relatorio de atividades - 1999

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-12-01

    The annual activities report of 1999 of nuclear sciences regional center - Brazilian organization - introduces the next main topics: institutional relations; sectorial actions - logistic support and training, laboratory of radiation protection and dosimetry, laboratory of metrology, laboratory of chemical characterization; technical and scientific events; and financial resources and perspectives for 2000.

  20. Extracting Hot spots of Topics from Time Stamped Documents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei; Chundi, Parvathi

    2011-01-01

    Identifying time periods with a burst of activities related to a topic has been an important problem in analyzing time-stamped documents. In this paper, we propose an approach to extract a hot spot of a given topic in a time-stamped document set. Topics can be basic, containing a simple list of keywords, or complex. Logical relationships such as and, or, and not are used to build complex topics from basic topics. A concept of presence measure of a topic based on fuzzy set theory is introduced to compute the amount of information related to the topic in the document set. Each interval in the time period of the document set is associated with a numeric value which we call the discrepancy score. A high discrepancy score indicates that the documents in the time interval are more focused on the topic than those outside of the time interval. A hot spot of a given topic is defined as a time interval with the highest discrepancy score. We first describe a naive implementation for extracting hot spots. We then construct an algorithm called EHE (Efficient Hot Spot Extraction) using several efficient strategies to improve performance. We also introduce the notion of a topic DAG to facilitate an efficient computation of presence measures of complex topics. The proposed approach is illustrated by several experiments on a subset of the TDT-Pilot Corpus and DBLP conference data set. The experiments show that the proposed EHE algorithm significantly outperforms the naive one, and the extracted hot spots of given topics are meaningful. PMID:21765568

  1. Topics in supergravity and string theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eastaugh, A.G.

    1987-01-01

    The first topic covered in this dissertation concerns the harmonic expansion technique and its application to the dimensional compactification of higher dimensional supergravity. A simple example is given to explain the method and then the method is applied to the problem of obtaining the mass spectrum of the squashed seven-sphere compactification of eleven dimensional supergravity. The second topic concerns the application of Fujikawa's method of anomaly calculation to the calculation of the critical dimension of various string models. The third topic is a study and explicit calculation of the Fock space representation of the vertex in Witten's formulation of the interacting open bosonic string field theory

  2. Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of pain due to soft tissue injury: diclofenac epolamine topical patch

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R Lionberger

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available David R Lionberger1, Michael J Brennan21Southwest Orthopedic Group, Houston, TX, USA; 2Department of Medicine, Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport, CT, USAAbstract: The objective of this article is to review published clinical data on diclofenac epolamine topical patch 1.3% (DETP in the treatment of acute soft tissue injuries, such as strains, sprains, and contusions. Review of published literature on topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, diclofenac, and DETP in patients with acute soft tissue injuries was included. Relevant literature was identified on MEDLINE using the search terms topical NSAIDs, diclofenac, diclofenac epolamine, acute pain, sports injury, soft tissue injury, strain, sprain, and contusion, and from citations in retrieved articles covering the years 1978–2008. Review of published, randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses shows that topical NSAIDs are significantly more effective than placebo in relieving acute pain; the pooled average relative benefit was 1.7 (95% confidence interval, 1.5–1.9. In a limited number of comparisons, topical and oral NSAIDs provided comparable pain relief, but the use of topical agents produced lower plasma drug concentrations and fewer systemic adverse events (AEs. The physical–chemical properties of diclofenac epolamine make it well suited for topical use. In patients with acute soft tissue injuries treated with DETP, clinical data report an analgesic benefit within hours of the first application, and significant pain relief relative to placebo within 3 days. Moreover, DETP displayed tolerability comparable with placebo; the most common AEs were pruritus and other application site reactions. Review of published literature suggests that DETP is generally safe and well tolerated, clinically efficacious, and a rational treatment option for patients experiencing acute pain associated with strains, sprains, and contusions, and other localized painful conditions

  3. Topics in modern differential geometry

    CERN Document Server

    Verstraelen, Leopold

    2017-01-01

    A variety of introductory articles is provided on a wide range of topics, including variational problems on curves and surfaces with anisotropic curvature. Experts in the fields of Riemannian, Lorentzian and contact geometry present state-of-the-art reviews of their topics. The contributions are written on a graduate level and contain extended bibliographies. The ten chapters are the result of various doctoral courses which were held in 2009 and 2010 at universities in Leuven, Serbia, Romania and Spain.

  4. Key Topics in Sports Medicine

    OpenAIRE

    2006-01-01

    Key Topics in Sports Medicine is a single quick reference source for sports and exercise medicine. It presents the essential information from across relevant topic areas, and includes both the core and emerging issues in this rapidly developing field. It covers: 1) Sports injuries, rehabilitation and injury prevention, 2) Exercise physiology, fitness testing and training, 3) Drugs in sport, 4) Exercise and health promotion, 5) Sport and exercise for special and clinical populations, 6) The ps...

  5. Salicylic Acid Topical

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... the package label for more information.Apply a small amount of the salicylic acid product to one or two small areas you want to treat for 3 days ... know that children and teenagers who have chicken pox or the flu should not use topical salicylic ...

  6. Centro Regional de Ciencias Nucleares (a Brazilian regional center for nuclear sciences) - activities report - 1999

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-12-01

    The annual activities report of 1999 of nuclear sciences regional center - Brazilian organization - introduces the next main topics: institutional relations; sectorial actions - logistic support and training, laboratory of radiation protection and dosimetry, laboratory of metrology, laboratory of chemical characterization; technical and scientific events; and financial resources and perspectives for 2000

  7. News Media and the Öresund Region

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Falkheimer, Jesper; Ørsten, Mark; Eberholst, Mads Kæmsgaard

    2017-01-01

    Europeanisation, in other words, of the potential for increased communication linkages in news media content among European Union (EU) member states. We investigate this topic by analysing news content published by selected media outlets from 2002 to 2012 and by interviewing Danish and Swedish journalists who...... cover the region. We find that most news content does not mention the Öresund region, and that one reason for this lack might be that neither Danish nor Swedish reporters consider the region to be newsworthy....

  8. Topical report review status. Volume 9, No. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-02-01

    This report provides industry with procedures for submitting topical reports, guidance on how the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) processes and responds to topical report submittals, and an accounting, with review schedules, of all topical reports currently accepted for review by the NRC. This report is published semiannually

  9. Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of pain due to soft tissue injury: diclofenac epolamine topical patch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lionberger, David R; Brennan, Michael J

    2010-11-10

    The objective of this article is to review published clinical data on diclofenac epolamine topical patch 1.3% (DETP) in the treatment of acute soft tissue injuries, such as strains, sprains, and contusions. Review of published literature on topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diclofenac, and DETP in patients with acute soft tissue injuries was included. Relevant literature was identified on MEDLINE using the search terms topical NSAIDs, diclofenac, diclofenac epolamine, acute pain, sports injury, soft tissue injury, strain, sprain, and contusion, and from citations in retrieved articles covering the years 1978-2008. Review of published, randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses shows that topical NSAIDs are significantly more effective than placebo in relieving acute pain; the pooled average relative benefit was 1.7 (95% confidence interval, 1.5-1.9). In a limited number of comparisons, topical and oral NSAIDs provided comparable pain relief, but the use of topical agents produced lower plasma drug concentrations and fewer systemic adverse events (AEs). The physical-chemical properties of diclofenac epolamine make it well suited for topical use. In patients with acute soft tissue injuries treated with DETP, clinical data report an analgesic benefit within hours of the first application, and significant pain relief relative to placebo within 3 days. Moreover, DETP displayed tolerability comparable with placebo; the most common AEs were pruritus and other application site reactions. Review of published literature suggests that DETP is generally safe and well tolerated, clinically efficacious, and a rational treatment option for patients experiencing acute pain associated with strains, sprains, and contusions, and other localized painful conditions.

  10. Climate Variability and Change in the Mediterranean Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lionello, Piero; Özsoy, Emin; Planton, Serge; Zanchetta, Giovanni

    2017-04-01

    This special issue collects new research results on the climate of the Mediterranean region. It covers traditional topics of the MedCLIVAR programme (www.medclivar.eu, Lionello et al. 2006, Lionello et al. 2012b) being devoted to papers addressing on-going and future climate changes in the Mediterranean region and their impacts on its environment.

  11. Probabilistic topic modeling for the analysis and classification of genomic sequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Background Studies on genomic sequences for classification and taxonomic identification have a leading role in the biomedical field and in the analysis of biodiversity. These studies are focusing on the so-called barcode genes, representing a well defined region of the whole genome. Recently, alignment-free techniques are gaining more importance because they are able to overcome the drawbacks of sequence alignment techniques. In this paper a new alignment-free method for DNA sequences clustering and classification is proposed. The method is based on k-mers representation and text mining techniques. Methods The presented method is based on Probabilistic Topic Modeling, a statistical technique originally proposed for text documents. Probabilistic topic models are able to find in a document corpus the topics (recurrent themes) characterizing classes of documents. This technique, applied on DNA sequences representing the documents, exploits the frequency of fixed-length k-mers and builds a generative model for a training group of sequences. This generative model, obtained through the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm, is then used to classify a large set of genomic sequences. Results and conclusions We performed classification of over 7000 16S DNA barcode sequences taken from Ribosomal Database Project (RDP) repository, training probabilistic topic models. The proposed method is compared to the RDP tool and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm in a extensive set of trials using both complete sequences and short sequence snippets (from 400 bp to 25 bp). Our method reaches very similar results to RDP classifier and SVM for complete sequences. The most interesting results are obtained when short sequence snippets are considered. In these conditions the proposed method outperforms RDP and SVM with ultra short sequences and it exhibits a smooth decrease of performance, at every taxonomic level, when the sequence length is decreased. PMID:25916734

  12. Topical treatment of psoriasis: questionnaire results on topical therapy accessibility and influence of body surface area on usage

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Iversen, L.; Lange, M.M. De; Bissonette, R.; Carvalho, A.V.E.; Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de; Kirby, B.; Kleyn, C.E.; Lynde, C.W.; Walt, J.M. van der; Wu, J.J.

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Topical treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis is first-line treatment and exhibits varying degrees of success across patient groups. Key factors influencing treatment success are physician topical treatment choice (high efficacy, low adverse events) and strict patient adherence.

  13. Hot topics: Signal processing in acoustics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaumond, Charles F.

    2005-09-01

    Signal processing in acoustics is a multidisciplinary group of people that work in many areas of acoustics. We have chosen two areas that have shown exciting new applications of signal processing to acoustics or have shown exciting and important results from the use of signal processing. In this session, two hot topics are shown: the use of noiselike acoustic fields to determine sound propagation structure and the use of localization to determine animal behaviors. The first topic shows the application of correlation on geo-acoustic fields to determine the Greens function for propagation through the Earth. These results can then be further used to solve geo-acoustic inverse problems. The first topic also shows the application of correlation using oceanic noise fields to determine the Greens function through the ocean. These results also have utility for oceanic inverse problems. The second topic shows exciting results from the detection, localization, and tracking of marine mammals by two different groups. Results from detection and localization of bullfrogs are shown, too. Each of these studies contributed to the knowledge of animal behavior. [Work supported by ONR.

  14. Topical Valproate Solution for Hair Growth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anil Kakunje

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Valproate is used regularly in the treatment of various seizure disorders, bipolar disorder, migraine prophylaxis and off label in many other conditions. Alopecia or hair loss is cosmetic side effect of oral valproate administration. Hair loss with valproate is diffused, non-scarring and dose related. A large number of drugs may interfere with the hair cycle and produce hair loss. We have only a few drugs like Minoxidil, Finasteride used for hair regeneration and both have its own side effects and limitations. In contrast to oral ingestions of valproate causing hair loss, early experiments with topical Valproic acid cream showed hair regeneration. Valproic acid cream is currently unavailable in the market, alternatively, we do have valproate and divalproex solutions available in various strengths which have a potential to be used topically for hair regeneration. The side effects and cost of topical valproate solution could be much less than the available options in the market. Valproate solution topically has the potential to be used for hair growth.

  15. Regional Cost Estimates for Reclamation Practices on Arid and Semiarid Lands; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    W. K. Ostler

    2002-01-01

    The U.S. Army uses the Integrated Training Area Management program for managing training land. One of the major objectives of the Integrated Training Area Management program has been to develop a method for estimating training land carrying capacity in a sustainable manner. The Army Training and Testing Area Carrying Capacity methodology measures training load in terms of Maneuver Impact Miles. One Maneuver Impact Mile is the equivalent impact of an M1A2 tank traveling one mile while participating in an armor battalion field training exercise. The Army Training and Testing Area Carrying Capacity methodology is also designed to predict land maintenance costs in terms of dollars per Maneuver Impact Mile. The overall cost factor is calculated using the historical cost of land maintenance practices and the effectiveness of controlling erosion. Because land maintenance costs and effectiveness are influenced by the characteristics of the land, Army Training and Testing Area Carrying Capacity cost factors must be developed for each ecological region of the country. Costs for land maintenance activities are presented here for the semiarid and arid regions of the United States. Five ecoregions are recognized, and average values for reclamation activities are presented. Because there are many variables that can influence costs, ranges for reclamation activities are also presented. Costs are broken down into six major categories: seedbed preparation, fertilization, seeding, planting, mulching, and supplemental erosion control. Costs for most land reclamation practices and materials varied widely within and between ecological provinces. Although regional cost patterns were evident for some practices, the patterns were not consistent between practices. For the purpose of estimating land reclamation costs for the Army Training and Testing Area Carrying Capacity methodology, it may be desirable to use the ''Combined Average'' of all provinces found in the last row of each table

  16. Evaluating topic model interpretability from a primary care physician perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Corey W; Oh, Andrea; Chen, Shawn; Speier, William

    2016-02-01

    Probabilistic topic models provide an unsupervised method for analyzing unstructured text. These models discover semantically coherent combinations of words (topics) that could be integrated in a clinical automatic summarization system for primary care physicians performing chart review. However, the human interpretability of topics discovered from clinical reports is unknown. Our objective is to assess the coherence of topics and their ability to represent the contents of clinical reports from a primary care physician's point of view. Three latent Dirichlet allocation models (50 topics, 100 topics, and 150 topics) were fit to a large collection of clinical reports. Topics were manually evaluated by primary care physicians and graduate students. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests for Paired Samples were used to evaluate differences between different topic models, while differences in performance between students and primary care physicians (PCPs) were tested using Mann-Whitney U tests for each of the tasks. While the 150-topic model produced the best log likelihood, participants were most accurate at identifying words that did not belong in topics learned by the 100-topic model, suggesting that 100 topics provides better relative granularity of discovered semantic themes for the data set used in this study. Models were comparable in their ability to represent the contents of documents. Primary care physicians significantly outperformed students in both tasks. This work establishes a baseline of interpretability for topic models trained with clinical reports, and provides insights on the appropriateness of using topic models for informatics applications. Our results indicate that PCPs find discovered topics more coherent and representative of clinical reports relative to students, warranting further research into their use for automatic summarization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Topics on continua

    CERN Document Server

    Macias, Sergio

    2005-01-01

    Specialized as it might be, continuum theory is one of the most intriguing areas in mathematics. However, despite being popular journal fare, few books have thoroughly explored this interesting aspect of topology. In Topics on Continua, Sergio Macías, one of the field's leading scholars, presents four of his favorite continuum topics: inverse limits, Jones's set function T, homogenous continua, and n-fold hyperspaces, and in doing so, presents the most complete set of theorems and proofs ever contained in a single topology volume. Many of the results presented have previously appeared only in research papers, and some appear here for the first time. After building the requisite background and exploring the inverse limits of continua, the discussions focus on Professor Jones''s set function T and continua for which T is continuous. An introduction to topological groups and group actions lead to a proof of Effros''s Theorem, followed by a presentation of two decomposition theorems. The author then offers an...

  18. Topical cholesterol in clofazimine induced ichthyosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pandey S

    1994-01-01

    Full Text Available Topical application of 10% cholesterol in petrolatum significantly (P< 0.05 controlled the development of ichthyosis in 62 patients taking 100 mg clofazimine daily for a period of 3 months. However, topical cholesterol application did not affect the lowering of serum cholesterol induced by oral clofazimine. Probable mechanism of action is being discussed.

  19. Topical antibiotic monotherapy prescribing practices in acne vulgaris.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoover, William D; Davis, Scott A; Fleischer, Alan B; Feldman, Steven R

    2014-04-01

    The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of dosing topical antibiotics as monotherapy in the treatment of acne vulgaris, and physician specialty prescribing these medications. This study is a retrospective review of all visits with a sole diagnosis of acne vulgaris (ICD-9-CM code 706.1) found on the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) in 1993-2010. We recorded the number of visits surveyed where acne vulgaris was the sole diagnosis, number of visits where topical antibiotics were the only treatment prescribed, and the specialty of physician in each encounter. Topical erythromycin or clindamycin were the sole medication prescribed in 0.81% of the visits recorded, with 60% of these prescriptions arising from dermatologists and 40% from non-dermatologists. The trend of prescribing topical antibiotic monotherapy is declining (p acnes to topical antibiotic regimens has led to the need to re-evaluate the use of topical antibiotics in the treatment of acne vulgaris. While the rate of topical antibiotic monotherapy is declining, their use should be reserved for situations where the direct need for antibiotics arises. If a clinician feels that antibiotics are a necessary component to acne therapy, they should be used as part of a combination regimen.

  20. Influence of regional-scale anthropogenic emissions on CO2 distributions over the western North Pacific

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vay, S. A.; Woo, J.-H.; Anderson, B. E.; Thornhill, K. L.; Blake, D. R.; Westberg, D. J.; Kiley, C. M.; Avery, M. A.; Sachse, G. W.; Streets, D. G.; Tsutsumi, Y.; Nolf, S. R.

    2003-10-01

    We report here airborne measurements of atmospheric CO2 over the western North Pacific during the March-April 2001 Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) mission. The CO2 spatial distributions were notably influenced by cyclogenesis-triggered transport of regionally polluted continental air masses. Examination of the CO2 to C2H2/CO ratio indicated rapid outflow of combustion-related emissions in the free troposphere below 8 km. Although the highest CO2 mixing ratios were measured within the Pacific Rim region, enhancements were also observed further east over the open ocean at locations far removed from surface sources. Near the Asian continent, discrete plumes encountered within the planetary boundary layer contained up to 393 ppmv of CO2. Coincident enhancements in the mixing ratios of C2Cl4, C2H2, and C2H4 measured concurrently revealed combustion and industrial sources. To elucidate the source distributions of CO2, an emissions database for Asia was examined in conjunction with the chemistry and 5-day backward trajectories that revealed the WNW/W sector of northeast Asia was a major contributor to these pollution events. Comparisons of NOAA/CMDL and JMA surface data with measurements obtained aloft showed a strong latitudinal gradient that peaked between 35° and 40°N. We estimated a net CO2 flux from the Asian continent of approximately 13.93 Tg C day-1 for late winter/early spring with the majority of the export (79%) occurring in the lower free troposphere (2-8 km). The apportionment of the flux between anthropogenic and biospheric sources was estimated at 6.37 Tg C day-1 and 7.56 Tg C day-1, respectively.

  1. Baby Health Checkup: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Baby Health Checkup ... GO MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA Well-child visits Related Health Topics Childhood Immunization Common Infant and Newborn Problems Infant ...

  2. Laser Eye Surgery: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... corneal surgery - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Laser Eye Surgery ... surgery - what to ask your doctor Related Health Topics Refractive Errors National Institutes of Health The primary ...

  3. Child Mental Health: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... events and children (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Child Mental Health ... in childhood Traumatic events and children Related Health Topics Bullying Child Behavior Disorders Mental Disorders Mental Health ...

  4. Bone Marrow Transplantation: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... marrow transplant - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Bone Marrow Transplantation ... transplant - slideshow Graft-versus-host disease Related Health Topics Bone Marrow Diseases Stem Cells National Institutes of ...

  5. Nutrition for Seniors: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... America) National Institute on Aging Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Nutrition for Seniors updates by email What's this? GO Related Health Topics Nutrition Seniors' Health National Institutes of Health The ...

  6. Blood Count Tests: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish WBC count (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Blood Count Tests ... WBC count Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Bleeding Disorders Blood Laboratory Tests National Institutes of ...

  7. Hormone Replacement Therapy: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... of hormone therapy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Hormone Replacement Therapy ... Estrogen overdose Types of hormone therapy Related Health Topics Menopause National Institutes of Health The primary NIH ...

  8. Topics in millimeter wave technology

    CERN Document Server

    Button, Kenneth

    1988-01-01

    Topics in Millimeter Wave Technology, Volume 1 presents topics related to millimeter wave technology, including fin-lines and passive components realized in fin-lines, suspended striplines, suspended substrate microstrips, and modal power exchange in multimode fibers. A miniaturized monopulse assembly constructed in planar waveguide with multimode scalar horn feeds is also described. This volume is comprised of five chapters; the first of which deals with the analysis and synthesis techniques for fin-lines as well as the various passive components realized in fin-line. Tapers, discontinuities,

  9. Topical report review status. Volume 7, No. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-11-01

    Purpose of this document is to provide periodic progress reports of on-going topical report reviews, to identify those topical reports for which the NRC staff review has been completed and those which are under review and to provide NRC management with sufficient information regarding the conduct of the topical report program to permit taking whatever actions are deemed necessary or appropriate. This document is also intended to be a source of information to NRC Licensing Project Managers and other NRC personnel regarding the status of topical reports which may be referenced in applications for which they have responsibility

  10. Development and Evaluation of Topical Gabapentin Formulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcock, Natalie; Hiom, Sarah; Birchall, James C.

    2017-01-01

    Topical delivery of gabapentin is desirable to treat peripheral neuropathic pain conditions whilst avoiding systemic side effects. To date, reports of topical gabapentin delivery in vitro have been variable and dependent on the skin model employed, primarily involving rodent and porcine models. In this study a variety of topical gabapentin formulations were investigated, including Carbopol® hydrogels containing various permeation enhancers, and a range of proprietary bases including a compounded Lipoderm® formulation; furthermore microneedle facilitated delivery was used as a positive control. Critically, permeation of gabapentin across a human epidermal membrane in vitro was assessed using Franz-type diffusion cells. Subsequently this data was contextualised within the wider scope of the literature. Although reports of topical gabapentin delivery have been shown to vary, largely dependent upon the skin model used, this study demonstrated that 6% (w/w) gabapentin 0.75% (w/w) Carbopol® hydrogels containing 5% (w/w) DMSO or 70% (w/w) ethanol and a compounded 10% (w/w) gabapentin Lipoderm® formulation were able to facilitate permeation of the molecule across human skin. Further pre-clinical and clinical studies are required to investigate the topical delivery performance and pharmacodynamic actions of prospective formulations. PMID:28867811

  11. Institutions and regional development in Southeast Asia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Andriesse, E.H.S.

    2008-01-01

    The study of relationships between regional performance and varieties of capitalism within developing countries is an interesting and challenging topic. Although it is evident that capitalist institutions have made further inroads in Southeast Asia, it is far from certain how particular

  12. Selected topics in nuclear structure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Solov` ev, V G; Gromov, K Ya; Malov, L A; Shilov, V M

    1994-12-31

    The Fourth International Conference on selected topics in nuclear structure was held at Dubna in July 1994 on recent experimental and theoretical investigations in nuclear structure. Topics discussed were the following: nuclear structure at low-energy excitations (collective quasiparticle phenomena, proton-neutron interactions, microscopic and phenomenological theories of nuclear structure; nuclear structure studies with charged particles). heavy ions, neutrons and photons; nuclei at high angular momenta and superdeformation, structure and decay properties of giant resonances, charge-exchange resonances and {beta}-decay; semiclassical approach of large amplitude collective motion and structure of hot nuclei.

  13. Topics in current aerosol research

    CERN Document Server

    Hidy, G M

    1971-01-01

    Topics in Current Aerosol Research deals with the fundamental aspects of aerosol science, with emphasis on experiment and theory describing highly dispersed aerosols (HDAs) as well as the dynamics of charged suspensions. Topics covered range from the basic properties of HDAs to their formation and methods of generation; sources of electric charges; interactions between fluid and aerosol particles; and one-dimensional motion of charged cloud of particles. This volume is comprised of 13 chapters and begins with an introduction to the basic properties of HDAs, followed by a discussion on the form

  14. Selected topics in nuclear structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Solov'ev, V.G.; Gromov, K.Ya.; Malov, L.A.; Shilov, V.M.

    1994-01-01

    The Fourth International Conference on selected topics in nuclear structure was held at Dubna in July 1994 on recent experimental and theoretical investigations in nuclear structure. Topics discussed were the following: nuclear structure at low-energy excitations (collective quasiparticle phenomena, proton-neutron interactions, microscopic and phenomenological theories of nuclear structure; nuclear structure studies with charged particles. heavy ions, neutrons and photons; nuclei at high angular momenta and superdeformation, structure and decay properties of giant resonances, charge-exchange resonances and β-decay; semiclassical approach of large amplitude collective motion and structure of hot nuclei

  15. Regional Educational Laboratory Electronic Network Phase 2 System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cradler, John

    1995-01-01

    The Far West Laboratory in collaboration with the other regional educational laboratories is establishing a regionally coordinated telecommunication network to electronically interconnect each of the ten regional laboratories with educators and education stakeholders from the school to the state level. For the national distributed information database, each lab is working with mid-level networks to establish a common interface for networking throughout the country and include topics of importance to education reform as assessment and technology planning.

  16. Topical Antibacterials and Global Challenges on Resistance ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    skin infections can be easily treated with topical antibacterial medication that is available over the counter or by ... infection in minor cut or burn, eyes and ear infection [5]. .... Sensitive/dry skin ... includes both oral and topical antibiotics, but.

  17. Topical phenytoin for treating pressure ulcers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Xiang Yong; Li, Hong Ling; Su, He; Cai, Hui; Guo, Tian Kang; Liu, Ruifeng; Jiang, Lei; Shen, Yan Fei

    2017-02-22

    Pressure ulcers are common in clinical practice and pose a significant health problem worldwide. Apart from causing suffering to patients, they also result in longer hospital stays and increase the cost of health care. A variety of methods are used for treating pressure ulcers, including pressure relief, patient repositioning, biophysical strategies, nutritional supplementation, debridement, topical negative pressure, and local treatments including dressings, ointments and creams such as bacitracin, silver sulphadiazine, neomycin, and phenytoin. Phenytoin is a drug more commonly used in the treatment of epilepsy, but may play an important role in accelerating ulcer healing. To assess the effects of topical phenytoin on the rate of healing of pressure ulcers of any grade, in any care setting. In September 2016, we searched the following electronic databases to identify relevant randomized clinical trials: the Cochrane Wounds Specialised Register; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; the Cochrane Library); Ovid MEDLINE; Ovid Embase; and EBSCO CINAHL Plus. We handsearched conference proceedings from the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, European Wound Management Association and the Tissue Viability Society for all available years. We searched the references of the retrieved trials to identify further relevant trials. We also searched clinical trials registries to identify ongoing and unpublished studies. There were no restrictions with respect to language, date of publication or study setting. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) addressing the effects (both benefits and harms) of topical phenytoin on the healing of pressure ulcers of any grade compared with placebo or alternative treatments or no therapy, irrespective of blinding, language, and publication status. Two review authors independently selected studies, extracted information on participants, interventions, methods and results and assessed risk of bias using

  18. Topics in Finance Part VII--Dividend Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laux, Judy

    2011-01-01

    This series inspects the major topics in finance, reviewing the roles of stockholder wealth maximization, the risk-return tradeoff, and agency conflicts. The current article, devoted to dividend policy, also reviews the topic as presented in textbooks and the literature.

  19. A Progress Review of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Müller, Sabine

    2016-01-01

    This study reviews the literature related to regional entrepreneurship. It identifies the main topical perspectives, advancements and shortcomings, discusses several research gaps and proposes ways forward. The literature review is based on 170 peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals...... of entrepreneurship and regional science. The findings reveal that major debates occur within the disciplines of regional economics, sociology and economic geography, but discussions across disciplines are scant. While regional economists tend to overlook the role of contextualized agency, and thus neglect processes...... and regional structuring in order to expand current understandings of which types of entrepreneurship prevail in different localities....

  20. Topics in Nuclear Astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, K.C.

    1982-01-01

    Some topics in nuclear astrophysics are discussed, e.g.: highly evolved stellar cores, stellar evolution (through the temperature analysis of stellar surface), nucleosynthesis and finally the solar neutrino problem. (L.C.) [pt

  1. Case Of Iatrogenic Cushing's Syndrome By Topical Triamcinolone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zil-E-Ali, Ahsan; Janjua, Omer Hanif; Latif, Aiza; Aadil, Muhammad

    2018-01-01

    Cushing's syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms due to hypercortisolism. Prolong use of topical steroid may cause this syndrome and suppression of hypothalamic and pituitary function, however such events are more common with oral and parenteral route. There are very few cases of Cushing's syndrome with a topical application amongst which triamcinolone is the rarest drug. We report a case of 11-year-old boy is presented who developed Cushing's disease by topical application. The child had body rashes for which the caregiver consulted a local quack, a topical cream of triamcinolone was prescribed. After application for three months, the patient became obese and developed a moon-like face. A thorough biochemical workup and diagnostic test for Cushing's disease was done to confirm. The following case report a dramatic example of development of the syndrome from chronic topical application of the least potent corticosteroid.

  2. Interpretable Topic Features for Post-ICU Mortality Prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Yen-Fu; Rumshisky, Anna

    2016-01-01

    Electronic health records provide valuable resources for understanding the correlation between various diseases and mortality. The analysis of post-discharge mortality is critical for healthcare professionals to follow up potential causes of death after a patient is discharged from the hospital and give prompt treatment. Moreover, it may reduce the cost derived from readmissions and improve the quality of healthcare. Our work focused on post-discharge ICU mortality prediction. In addition to features derived from physiological measurements, we incorporated ICD-9-CM hierarchy into Bayesian topic model learning and extracted topic features from medical notes. We achieved highest AUCs of 0.835 and 0.829 for 30-day and 6-month post-discharge mortality prediction using baseline and topic proportions derived from Labeled-LDA. Moreover, our work emphasized the interpretability of topic features derived from topic model which may facilitates the understanding and investigation of the complexity between mortality and diseases.

  3. Exploring Topic Structure: Coherence, Diversity and Relatedness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J. He (Jiyin)

    2011-01-01

    htmlabstractThe use of topical information has long been studied in the context of information retrieval. For example, grouping search results into topical categories enables more effective information presentation to users, while grouping documents in a collection can lead to efficient information

  4. topicmodels: An R Package for Fitting Topic Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bettina Grun

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Topic models allow the probabilistic modeling of term frequency occurrences in documents. The fitted model can be used to estimate the similarity between documents as well as between a set of specified keywords using an additional layer of latent variables which are referred to as topics. The R package topicmodels provides basic infrastructure for fitting topic models based on data structures from the text mining package tm. The package includes interfaces to two algorithms for fitting topic models: the variational expectation-maximization algorithm provided by David M. Blei and co-authors and an algorithm using Gibbs sampling by Xuan-Hieu Phan and co-authors.

  5. Topical Research: Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynn, Karen

    This lesson plan can be used in social studies, language arts, or library research. The instructional objective is for students to select a topic of study relating to Africa, write a thesis statement, collect information from media sources, and develop a conclusion. The teacher may assign the lesson for written or oral evaluation. The teacher…

  6. Topic structure affects semantic integration: evidence from event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiaohong; Chen, Xuhai; Chen, Shuang; Xu, Xiaoying; Yang, Yufang

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated whether semantic integration in discourse context could be influenced by topic structure using event-related brain potentials. Participants read discourses in which the last sentence contained a critical word that was either congruent or incongruent with the topic established in the first sentence. The intervening sentences between the first and the last sentence of the discourse either maintained or shifted the original topic. Results showed that incongruent words in topic-maintained discourses elicited an N400 effect that was broadly distributed over the scalp while those in topic-shifted discourses elicited an N400 effect that was lateralized to the right hemisphere and localized over central and posterior areas. Moreover, a late positivity effect was only elicited by incongruent words in topic-shifted discourses, but not in topic-maintained discourses. This suggests an important role for discourse structure in semantic integration, such that compared with topic-maintained discourses, the complexity of discourse structure in topic-shifted condition reduces the initial stage of semantic integration and enhances the later stage in which a mental representation is updated.

  7. Diclofenac Topical (osteoarthritis pain)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... gel (Voltaren) is used to relieve pain from osteoarthritis (arthritis caused by a breakdown of the lining ... Diclofenac topical liquid (Pennsaid) is used to relieve osteoarthritis pain in the knees. Diclofenac is in a ...

  8. Diclofenac Topical (actinic keratosis)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... topical gel (Solaraze) is used to treat actinic keratosis (flat, scaly growths on the skin caused by ... The way diclofenac gel works to treat actinic keratosis is not known.Diclofenac is also available as ...

  9. Digital Social Network Mining for Topic Discovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moradianzadeh, Pooya; Mohi, Maryam; Sadighi Moshkenani, Mohsen

    Networked computers are expanding more and more around the world, and digital social networks becoming of great importance for many people's work and leisure. This paper mainly focused on discovering the topic of exchanging information in digital social network. In brief, our method is to use a hierarchical dictionary of related topics and words that mapped to a graph. Then, with comparing the extracted keywords from the context of social network with graph nodes, probability of relation between context and desired topics will be computed. This model can be used in many applications such as advertising, viral marketing and high-risk group detection.

  10. Development and Evaluation of Topical Gabapentin Formulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher J. Martin

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Topical delivery of gabapentin is desirable to treat peripheral neuropathic pain conditions whilst avoiding systemic side effects. To date, reports of topical gabapentin delivery in vitro have been variable and dependent on the skin model employed, primarily involving rodent and porcine models. In this study a variety of topical gabapentin formulations were investigated, including Carbopol® hydrogels containing various permeation enhancers, and a range of proprietary bases including a compounded Lipoderm® formulation; furthermore microneedle facilitated delivery was used as a positive control. Critically, permeation of gabapentin across a human epidermal membrane in vitro was assessed using Franz-type diffusion cells. Subsequently this data was contextualised within the wider scope of the literature. Although reports of topical gabapentin delivery have been shown to vary, largely dependent upon the skin model used, this study demonstrated that 6% (w/w gabapentin 0.75% (w/w Carbopol® hydrogels containing 5% (w/w DMSO or 70% (w/w ethanol and a compounded 10% (w/w gabapentin Lipoderm® formulation were able to facilitate permeation of the molecule across human skin. Further pre-clinical and clinical studies are required to investigate the topical delivery performance and pharmacodynamic actions of prospective formulations.

  11. Antimicrobial topical agents used in the vagina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frey Tirri, Brigitte

    2011-01-01

    Vaginally applied antimicrobial agents are widely used in the vagina in women with lower genital tract infections. An 'antimicrobial' is a general term that refers to a group of drugs that are effective against bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa. Topical treatments can be prescribed for a wide variety of vaginal infections. Many bacterial infections, such as bacterial vaginosis, desquamative inflammatory vaginitis or, as some European authors call it, aerobic vaginitis as well as infection with Staphylococcus aureus or group A streptococci, may be treated in this way. Candida vulvovaginitis is a fungal infection that is very amenable to topical treatment. The most common viral infections which can be treated with topical medications are condylomata acuminata and herpes simplex. The most often encountered protozoal vaginitis, which is caused by Trichomonas vaginalis, may be susceptible to topical medications, although this infection is treated systemically. This chapter covers the wide variety of commonly used topical antimicrobial agents for these diseases and focuses on the individual therapeutic agents and their clinical efficacy. In addition, potential difficulties that can occur in practice, as well as the usage of these medications in the special setting of pregnancy, are described in this chapter. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. Influence of input matrix representation on topic modelling performance

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    De Waal, A

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Topic models explain a collection of documents with a small set of distributions over terms. These distributions over terms define the topics. Topic models ignore the structure of documents and use a bag-of-words approach which relies solely...

  13. Topical methotrexate pretreatment enhances the therapeutic effect of topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on hamster buccal pouch precancers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deng-Fu Yang

    2014-09-01

    Conclusion: We conclude that topical MTX-pretreatment can increase intracellular PpIX production in hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions and significantly improves the outcomes of the precancerous lesions treated with topical ALA-PDT.

  14. A Data-Based Approach to Discovering Multi-Topic Influential Leaders.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xing Tang

    Full Text Available Recently, increasing numbers of users have adopted microblogging services as their main information source. However, most of them find themselves drowning in the millions of posts produced by other users every day. To cope with this, identifying a set of the most influential people is paramount. Moreover, finding a set of related influential users to expand the coverage of one particular topic is required in real world scenarios. Most of the existing algorithms in this area focus on topology-related methods such as PageRank. These methods mine link structures to find the expected influential rank of users. However, because they ignore the interaction data, these methods turn out to be less effective in social networks. In reality, a variety of topics exist within the information diffusing through the network. Because they have different interests, users play different roles in the diffusion of information related to different topics. As a result, distinguishing influential leaders according to different topics is also worthy of research. In this paper, we propose a multi-topic influence diffusion model (MTID based on traces acquired from historic information. We decompose the influential scores of users into two parts: the direct influence determined by information propagation along the link structure and indirect influence that extends beyond the restrictions of direct follower relationships. To model the network from a multi-topical viewpoint, we introduce topic pools, each of which represents a particular topic information source. Then, we extract the topic distributions from the traces of tweets, determining the influence propagation probability and content generation probability. In the network, we adopt multiple ground nodes representing topic pools to connect every user through bidirectional links. Based on this multi-topical view of the network, we further introduce the topic-dependent rank (TD-Rank algorithm to identify the multi-topic

  15. A Data-Based Approach to Discovering Multi-Topic Influential Leaders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Xing; Miao, Qiguang; Yu, Shangshang; Quan, Yining

    2016-01-01

    Recently, increasing numbers of users have adopted microblogging services as their main information source. However, most of them find themselves drowning in the millions of posts produced by other users every day. To cope with this, identifying a set of the most influential people is paramount. Moreover, finding a set of related influential users to expand the coverage of one particular topic is required in real world scenarios. Most of the existing algorithms in this area focus on topology-related methods such as PageRank. These methods mine link structures to find the expected influential rank of users. However, because they ignore the interaction data, these methods turn out to be less effective in social networks. In reality, a variety of topics exist within the information diffusing through the network. Because they have different interests, users play different roles in the diffusion of information related to different topics. As a result, distinguishing influential leaders according to different topics is also worthy of research. In this paper, we propose a multi-topic influence diffusion model (MTID) based on traces acquired from historic information. We decompose the influential scores of users into two parts: the direct influence determined by information propagation along the link structure and indirect influence that extends beyond the restrictions of direct follower relationships. To model the network from a multi-topical viewpoint, we introduce topic pools, each of which represents a particular topic information source. Then, we extract the topic distributions from the traces of tweets, determining the influence propagation probability and content generation probability. In the network, we adopt multiple ground nodes representing topic pools to connect every user through bidirectional links. Based on this multi-topical view of the network, we further introduce the topic-dependent rank (TD-Rank) algorithm to identify the multi-topic influential users

  16. Topical melatonin for treatment of androgenetic alopecia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Tobias W; Trüeb, Ralph M; Hänggi, Gabriella; Innocenti, Marcello; Elsner, Peter

    2012-10-01

    In the search for alternative agents to oral finasteride and topical minoxidil for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA), melatonin, a potent antioxidant and growth modulator, was identified as a promising candidate based on in vitro and in vivo studies. One pharmacodynamic study on topical application of melatonin and four clinical pre-post studies were performed in patients with androgenetic alopecia or general hair loss and evaluated by standardised questionnaires, TrichoScan, 60-second hair count test and hair pull test. FIVE CLINICAL STUDIES SHOWED POSITIVE EFFECTS OF A TOPICAL MELATONIN SOLUTION IN THE TREATMENT OF AGA IN MEN AND WOMEN WHILE SHOWING GOOD TOLERABILITY: (1) Pharmacodynamics under once-daily topical application in the evening showed no significant influence on endogenous serum melatonin levels. (2) An observational study involving 30 men and women showed a significant reduction in the degree of severity of alopecia after 30 and 90 days (P melatonin solution can be considered as a treatment option in androgenetic alopecia.

  17. Interactional Organization and Topic Control in Conciliation Hearings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wânia Terezinha Ladeira

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available We analyse discursive topic in talk-in-interaction within the institutional setting of three conciliation hearings held in a kind of small claims court for consumption conflict resolution. This research is based on Interactional Sociolinguistics and Conversation Analysis theories. The analysis shows that the participants of those meetings have asymmetric rights regarding the choice of discussion topics. Thus, the mediator is the one who has the right to suggest and control the discursive topics of the conversation. This topic control is the most important institutional procedure that can cause a reduction in accusations and adjacent replies. Consequently, the chance of mediators achieving their institutional task of reaching an agreement between parts in conflict is increased.

  18. The use of compound topical anesthetics: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kravitz, Neal D

    2007-10-01

    The author reviewed the history of, federal regulations regarding, risks of and adverse drug reactions of five compound topical anesthetics: tetracaine, adrenaline/epinephrine and cocaine (TAC); lidocaine, adrenaline/epinephrine and tetracaine (LET); lidocaine, tetracaine and phenylephrine (TAC 20 percent Alternate); lidocaine, prilocaine and tetracaine (Profound); and lidocaine, prilocaine, tetracaine and phenylephrine with thickeners (Profound PET). The author reviewed clinical trials, case reports, descriptive articles, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and recent public advisory warnings regarding the federal approval of and risks associated with the use of compound topical anesthetics. Compound topical anesthetics are neither FDA-regulated nor -unregulated. Some compounding pharmacies bypass the new FDA drug approval process, which is based on reliable scientific data and ensures that a marketed drug is safe, effective, properly manufactured and accurately labeled. Two deaths have been attributed to the lay use of compound topical anesthetics. In response, the FDA has announced the strengthening of its efforts against unapproved drug products. Compound topical anesthetics may be an effective alternative to local infiltration for some minimally invasive dental procedures; however, legitimate concerns exist in regard to their safety. Until they become federally regulated, compound topical anesthetics remain unapproved drug products whose benefits may not outweigh their risks for dental patients.

  19. Topical Apigenin Alleviates Cutaneous Inflammation in Murine Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mao-Qiang Man

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Herbal medicines have been used in preventing and treating skin disorders for centuries. It has been demonstrated that systemic administration of chrysanthemum extract exhibits anti-inflammatory properties. However, whether topical applications of apigenin, a constituent of chrysanthemum extract, influence cutaneous inflammation is still unclear. In the present study, we first tested whether topical applications of apigenin alleviate cutaneous inflammation in murine models of acute dermatitis. The murine models of acute allergic contact dermatitis and acute irritant contact dermatitis were established by topical application of oxazolone and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA, respectively. Inflammation was assessed in both dermatitis models by measuring ear thickness. Additionally, the effect of apigenin on stratum corneum function in a murine subacute allergic contact dermatitis model was assessed with an MPA5 physiology monitor. Our results demonstrate that topical applications of apigenin exhibit therapeutic effects in both acute irritant contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis models. Moreover, in comparison with the vehicle treatment, topical apigenin treatment significantly reduced transepidermal water loss, lowered skin surface pH, and increased stratum corneum hydration in a subacute murine allergic contact dermatitis model. Together, these results suggest that topical application of apigenin could provide an alternative regimen for the treatment of dermatitis.

  20. Knowledge-Based Topic Model for Unsupervised Object Discovery and Localization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Zhenxing; Hua, Gang; Wang, Le; Gao, Xinbo

    Unsupervised object discovery and localization is to discover some dominant object classes and localize all of object instances from a given image collection without any supervision. Previous work has attempted to tackle this problem with vanilla topic models, such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). However, in those methods no prior knowledge for the given image collection is exploited to facilitate object discovery. On the other hand, the topic models used in those methods suffer from the topic coherence issue-some inferred topics do not have clear meaning, which limits the final performance of object discovery. In this paper, prior knowledge in terms of the so-called must-links are exploited from Web images on the Internet. Furthermore, a novel knowledge-based topic model, called LDA with mixture of Dirichlet trees, is proposed to incorporate the must-links into topic modeling for object discovery. In particular, to better deal with the polysemy phenomenon of visual words, the must-link is re-defined as that one must-link only constrains one or some topic(s) instead of all topics, which leads to significantly improved topic coherence. Moreover, the must-links are built and grouped with respect to specific object classes, thus the must-links in our approach are semantic-specific , which allows to more efficiently exploit discriminative prior knowledge from Web images. Extensive experiments validated the efficiency of our proposed approach on several data sets. It is shown that our method significantly improves topic coherence and outperforms the unsupervised methods for object discovery and localization. In addition, compared with discriminative methods, the naturally existing object classes in the given image collection can be subtly discovered, which makes our approach well suited for realistic applications of unsupervised object discovery.Unsupervised object discovery and localization is to discover some dominant object classes and localize all of object

  1. Topic Prominence in Chinese EFL Learners' Interlanguage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Shaopeng; Yang, Lianrui

    2014-01-01

    The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topicprominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from a discourse perspective. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of topic chains (Wang, 2002; 2004). The…

  2. A Discourse Perspective of Topic-prominence in Chinese EFL Learners’ Interlanguage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaopeng Li

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topic-prominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from the discourse perspective. We have selected as the research target “topic chain” which is the main topic-prominent structure in Chinese discourse and “zero anaphora” which is the most common topic anaphor of topic chain. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of “topic chain” (Wang, 2002; 2004. Actually, in the event of a topic chain, research on topic structures should go into the typical range of discourse. Two important findings were yielded by the present study. First, the characteristics of Chinese topic chain are transferrable to the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners, thus resulting in overgeneralization of zero anaphora; second, interlanguage discourse of Chinese EFL learners reflects the characteristics of a second language acquisition process from topic-prominence to subject-prominence, thus lending support to the discourse transfer hypothesis.

  3. Topical reports on Louisiana salt domes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-09-01

    The Institute for Environmental Studies at Louisiana State University conducted research into the potential use of Louisiana salt domes for disposal of nuclear waste material. Topical reports generated in 1981 and 1982 related to Vacherie and Rayburn's domes are compiled and presented, which address palynological studies, tiltmeter monitoring, precise releveling, saline springs, and surface hydrology. The latter two are basically a compilation of references related to these topics. Individual reports are abstracted

  4. Data Mining Thesis Topics in Finland

    OpenAIRE

    Bajo Rouvinen, Ari

    2017-01-01

    The Theseus open repository contains metadata about more than 100,000 thesis publications from the different universities of applied sciences in Finland. Different data mining techniques were applied to the Theseus dataset to build a web application to explore thesis topics and degree programmes using different libraries in Python and JavaScript. Thesis topics were extracted from manually annotated keywords by the authors and curated subjects by the librarians. During the project, the quality...

  5. Selected topics in e+e- physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sau Lan Wu

    1981-01-01

    Selected topics of recent experimental results from the high-energy electron-positron storage rings are presented. The topics include some of the tau and charm physics from SPEAR, the upsilon physics from DORIS and CESR, and the γγ physics and quark and gluon physics from the PLUTO and TASSO Collaborations at PETRA. Related data from the JADE and MARK J Collaborations at PETRA are discussed in separated papers at this school. (orig.)

  6. An overview of topic modeling and its current applications in bioinformatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lin; Tang, Lin; Dong, Wen; Yao, Shaowen; Zhou, Wei

    2016-01-01

    With the rapid accumulation of biological datasets, machine learning methods designed to automate data analysis are urgently needed. In recent years, so-called topic models that originated from the field of natural language processing have been receiving much attention in bioinformatics because of their interpretability. Our aim was to review the application and development of topic models for bioinformatics. This paper starts with the description of a topic model, with a focus on the understanding of topic modeling. A general outline is provided on how to build an application in a topic model and how to develop a topic model. Meanwhile, the literature on application of topic models to biological data was searched and analyzed in depth. According to the types of models and the analogy between the concept of document-topic-word and a biological object (as well as the tasks of a topic model), we categorized the related studies and provided an outlook on the use of topic models for the development of bioinformatics applications. Topic modeling is a useful method (in contrast to the traditional means of data reduction in bioinformatics) and enhances researchers' ability to interpret biological information. Nevertheless, due to the lack of topic models optimized for specific biological data, the studies on topic modeling in biological data still have a long and challenging road ahead. We believe that topic models are a promising method for various applications in bioinformatics research.

  7. Control of pain with topical plant medicines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James David Adams Jr.

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Pain is normally treated with oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents and opioids. These drugs are dangerous and are responsible for many hospitalizations and deaths. It is much safer to use topical preparations made from plants to treat pain, even severe pain. Topical preparations must contain compounds that penetrate the skin, inhibit pain receptors such as transient receptor potential cation channels and cyclooxygenase-2, to relieve pain. Inhibition of pain in the skin disrupts the pain cycle and avoids exposure of internal organs to large amounts of toxic compounds. Use of topical pain relievers has the potential to save many lives, decrease medical costs and improve therapy.

  8. Topics in Finance Part VI--Capital Budgeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laux, Judy

    2011-01-01

    This series on the theory of financial management offers insight into the roles of stockholder wealth maximization, the risk-return tradeoff, and agency conflicts as they apply to major topics in finance. The current article investigates capital budgeting. Much literature addresses this topic, with a number of articles challenging mainstream…

  9. Fostering Topic Knowledge: Essential for Academic Writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proske, Antje; Kapp, Felix

    2013-01-01

    Several researchers emphasize the role of the writer's topic knowledge for writing. In academic writing topic knowledge is often constructed by studying source texts. One possibility to support that essential phase of the writing process is to provide interactive learning questions which facilitate the construction of an adequate situation…

  10. Ego Involvement and Topic Controversiality as Related to Attitude Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sledden, Elizabeth A.; Fernandez, Katherine A.

    Attitude change was measured on four different topics before and immediately after a persuasion was presented in order to compare the degree of change with the level of ego involvement as it relates to topic controversiality. Ego involvement was based on self-ratings of concern for each topic. Objective topic controversiality was based on the…

  11. EvoRiver: Visual Analysis of Topic Coopetition on Social Media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Guodao; Wu, Yingcai; Liu, Shixia; Peng, Tai-Quan; Zhu, Jonathan J H; Liang, Ronghua

    2014-12-01

    Cooperation and competition (jointly called "coopetition") are two modes of interactions among a set of concurrent topics on social media. How do topics cooperate or compete with each other to gain public attention? Which topics tend to cooperate or compete with one another? Who plays the key role in coopetition-related interactions? We answer these intricate questions by proposing a visual analytics system that facilitates the in-depth analysis of topic coopetition on social media. We model the complex interactions among topics as a combination of carry-over, coopetition recruitment, and coopetition distraction effects. This model provides a close functional approximation of the coopetition process by depicting how different groups of influential users (i.e., "topic leaders") affect coopetition. We also design EvoRiver, a time-based visualization, that allows users to explore coopetition-related interactions and to detect dynamically evolving patterns, as well as their major causes. We test our model and demonstrate the usefulness of our system based on two Twitter data sets (social topics data and business topics data).

  12. The ability of general circulation models to simulate tropical cyclones and their precursors over the North Atlantic main development region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daloz, Anne Sophie; Chauvin, Fabrice [Groupe de Modelisation Grande Echelle et Climat, CNRM-GAME, Meteo-France, Toulouse Cedex 1 (France); Walsh, Kevin [University of Melbourne, School of Earth Sciences, Melbourne, VIC (Australia); Lavender, Sally; Abbs, Deborah [CSIRO Atmospheric and Marine Research, Aspendale, VIC (Australia); Roux, Frank [Universite de Toulouse and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire d' Aerologie, Toulouse (France)

    2012-10-15

    The ability of General Circulation Models (GCMs) to generate Tropical Cyclones (TCs) over the North Atlantic Main Development Region (MDR; 10-20 N, 20-80 W; Goldenberg and Shapiro in J Clim 9:1169-1187, 1996) is examined through a subset of ocean-atmosphere coupled simulations from the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) multimodel data set and a high-resolution (0.5 ) Sea Surface Temperature (SST)-forced simulation from the Australian Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model GCM. The results are compared with National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP-2) and European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis (ERA-40) reanalyses over a common period from 1980 to 1998. Important biases in the representation of the TC activity are encountered over the MDR. This study emphasizes the strong link in the GCMs between African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and TC activity in this region. However, the generation of AEWs is not a sufficient condition alone for the models to produce TCs. Precipitation over the Sahel, especially rainfall over the Fouta Djallon highlands (cf. Fig. 1), is playing a role in the generation of TCs over the MDR. The influence of large-scale fields such as SST, vertical wind shear and tropospheric humidity on TC genesis is also examined. The ability of TC genesis indices, such as the Genesis Potential Index and the Convective Yearly Genesis Potential, to represent TC activity over the MDR in simulations at low to high spatial resolutions is analysed. These indices are found to be a reasonable method for comparing cyclogenesis in different models, even though other factors such as AEW activity should also be considered. (orig.)

  13. Selected topics in magnetism

    CERN Document Server

    Gupta, L C

    1993-01-01

    Part of the ""Frontiers in Solid State Sciences"" series, this volume presents essays on such topics as spin fluctuations in Heisenberg magnets, quenching of spin fluctuations by high magnetic fields, and kondo effect and heavy fermions in rare earths amongst others.

  14. Topics in quantum theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuille, A.L.

    1980-11-01

    Topics in the Yang-Mills theories of strong interactions and the quantum theories of gravity are examined, using the path integral approach, including; Yang-Mills instantons in curved spacetimes, Israel-Wilson metrics, Kaehler spacetimes, instantons and anti-instantons. (U.K.)

  15. Risk assessment of topically applied products

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Søborg, Tue; Basse, Line Hollesen; Halling-Sørensen, Bent

    2007-01-01

    The human risk of harmful substances in semisolid topical dosage forms applied topically to normal skin and broken skin, respectively, was assessed. Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) and three derivatives of BADGE previously quantified in aqueous cream and the UV filters 3-BC and 4-MBC were used...... as model compounds. Tolerable daily intake (TDI) values have been established for BADGE and derivatives. Endocrine disruption was chosen as endpoint for 3-BC and 4-MBC. Skin permeation of the model compounds was investigated in vitro using pig skin membranes. Tape stripping was applied to simulate broken...... parameters for estimating the risk. The immediate human risk of BADGE and derivatives in topical dosage forms was found to be low. However, local treatment of broken skin may lead to higher exposure of BADGE and derivatives compared to application to normal skin. 3-BC permeated skin at higher flux than 4-MBC...

  16. In vivo multiphoton imaging of human skin: assessment of topical corticosteroid-induced epidermis atrophy and depigmentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ait El Madani, Hassan; Tancrède-Bohin, Emmanuelle; Bensussan, Armand; Colonna, Anne; Dupuy, Alain; Bagot, Martine; Pena, Ana-Maria

    2012-02-01

    Multiphoton microscopy has emerged in the past decade as a promising tool for noninvasive skin imaging. Our aim was to evaluate the potential of multiphoton microscopy to detect topical corticosteroids side effects within the epidermis and to provide new insights into their dynamics. Healthy volunteers were topically treated with clobetasol propionate on a small region of their forearms under overnight occlusion for three weeks. The treated region of each patient was investigated at D0, D7, D15, D22 (end of the treatment), and D60. Our study shows that multiphoton microscopy allows for the detection of corticoid-induced epidermis modifications: thinning of stratum corneum compactum and epidermis, decrease of keratinocytes size, and changes in their morphology from D7 to D22. We also show that multiphoton microscopy enables in vivo three-dimensional (3-D) quantitative assessment of melanin content. We observe that melanin density decreases during treatment and almost completely disappears at D22. Moreover, these alterations are reversible as they are no longer present at D60. Our study demonstrates that multiphoton microscopy is a convenient and powerful tool for noninvasive 3-D dynamical studies of skin integrity and pigmentation.

  17. MALDI imaging facilitates new topical drug development process by determining quantitative skin distribution profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonnel, David; Legouffe, Raphaël; Eriksson, André H; Mortensen, Rasmus W; Pamelard, Fabien; Stauber, Jonathan; Nielsen, Kim T

    2018-04-01

    Generation of skin distribution profiles and reliable determination of drug molecule concentration in the target region are crucial during the development process of topical products for treatment of skin diseases like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Imaging techniques like mass spectrometric imaging (MSI) offer sufficient spatial resolution to generate meaningful distribution profiles of a drug molecule across a skin section. In this study, we use matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) to generate quantitative skin distribution profiles based on tissue extinction coefficient (TEC) determinations of four different molecules in cross sections of human skin explants after topical administration. The four drug molecules: roflumilast, tofacitinib, ruxolitinib, and LEO 29102 have different physicochemical properties. In addition, tofacitinib was administrated in two different formulations. The study reveals that with MALDI-MSI, we were able to observe differences in penetration profiles for both the four drug molecules and the two formulations and thereby demonstrate its applicability as a screening tool when developing a topical drug product. Furthermore, the study reveals that the sensitivity of the MALDI-MSI techniques appears to be inversely correlated to the drug molecules' ability to bind to the surrounding tissues, which can be estimated by their Log D values. Graphical abstract.

  18. Detecting Hotspot Information Using Multi-Attribute Based Topic Model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Wang

    Full Text Available Microblogging as a kind of social network has become more and more important in our daily lives. Enormous amounts of information are produced and shared on a daily basis. Detecting hot topics in the mountains of information can help people get to the essential information more quickly. However, due to short and sparse features, a large number of meaningless tweets and other characteristics of microblogs, traditional topic detection methods are often ineffective in detecting hot topics. In this paper, we propose a new topic model named multi-attribute latent dirichlet allocation (MA-LDA, in which the time and hashtag attributes of microblogs are incorporated into LDA model. By introducing time attribute, MA-LDA model can decide whether a word should appear in hot topics or not. Meanwhile, compared with the traditional LDA model, applying hashtag attribute in MA-LDA model gives the core words an artificially high ranking in results meaning the expressiveness of outcomes can be improved. Empirical evaluations on real data sets demonstrate that our method is able to detect hot topics more accurately and efficiently compared with several baselines. Our method provides strong evidence of the importance of the temporal factor in extracting hot topics.

  19. Detecting Hotspot Information Using Multi-Attribute Based Topic Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jing; Li, Li; Tan, Feng; Zhu, Ying; Feng, Weisi

    2015-01-01

    Microblogging as a kind of social network has become more and more important in our daily lives. Enormous amounts of information are produced and shared on a daily basis. Detecting hot topics in the mountains of information can help people get to the essential information more quickly. However, due to short and sparse features, a large number of meaningless tweets and other characteristics of microblogs, traditional topic detection methods are often ineffective in detecting hot topics. In this paper, we propose a new topic model named multi-attribute latent dirichlet allocation (MA-LDA), in which the time and hashtag attributes of microblogs are incorporated into LDA model. By introducing time attribute, MA-LDA model can decide whether a word should appear in hot topics or not. Meanwhile, compared with the traditional LDA model, applying hashtag attribute in MA-LDA model gives the core words an artificially high ranking in results meaning the expressiveness of outcomes can be improved. Empirical evaluations on real data sets demonstrate that our method is able to detect hot topics more accurately and efficiently compared with several baselines. Our method provides strong evidence of the importance of the temporal factor in extracting hot topics. PMID:26496635

  20. Spectral Learning for Supervised Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Yong; Wang, Yining; Zhu, Jun

    2018-03-01

    Supervised topic models simultaneously model the latent topic structure of large collections of documents and a response variable associated with each document. Existing inference methods are based on variational approximation or Monte Carlo sampling, which often suffers from the local minimum defect. Spectral methods have been applied to learn unsupervised topic models, such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), with provable guarantees. This paper investigates the possibility of applying spectral methods to recover the parameters of supervised LDA (sLDA). We first present a two-stage spectral method, which recovers the parameters of LDA followed by a power update method to recover the regression model parameters. Then, we further present a single-phase spectral algorithm to jointly recover the topic distribution matrix as well as the regression weights. Our spectral algorithms are provably correct and computationally efficient. We prove a sample complexity bound for each algorithm and subsequently derive a sufficient condition for the identifiability of sLDA. Thorough experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets verify the theory and demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the spectral algorithms. In fact, our results on a large-scale review rating dataset demonstrate that our single-phase spectral algorithm alone gets comparable or even better performance than state-of-the-art methods, while previous work on spectral methods has rarely reported such promising performance.

  1. Image Re-Ranking Based on Topic Diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Xueming; Lu, Dan; Wang, Yaxiong; Zhu, Li; Tang, Yuan Yan; Wang, Meng

    2017-08-01

    Social media sharing Websites allow users to annotate images with free tags, which significantly contribute to the development of the web image retrieval. Tag-based image search is an important method to find images shared by users in social networks. However, how to make the top ranked result relevant and with diversity is challenging. In this paper, we propose a topic diverse ranking approach for tag-based image retrieval with the consideration of promoting the topic coverage performance. First, we construct a tag graph based on the similarity between each tag. Then, the community detection method is conducted to mine the topic community of each tag. After that, inter-community and intra-community ranking are introduced to obtain the final retrieved results. In the inter-community ranking process, an adaptive random walk model is employed to rank the community based on the multi-information of each topic community. Besides, we build an inverted index structure for images to accelerate the searching process. Experimental results on Flickr data set and NUS-Wide data sets show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

  2. Formulation and evaluation of microemulsion-based hydrogel for topical delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabale, Vidya; Vora, Sejal

    2012-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop microemulsion-based hydrogel formulation for topical delivery of bifonazole with an objective to increase the solubility and skin permeability of the drug. Oleic acid was screened as the oil phase of microemulsions, due to a good solubilizing capacity of the microemulison systems. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams for microemulsion regions were constructed using oleic acid as the oil, Tween 80 as the surfactant and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as the cosurfactant. Various microemulsion formulations were prepared and optimized by 3(2) factorial design on the basis of percentage (%) transmittance, globule size, zeta potential, drug release, and skin permeability. The abilities of various microemulsions to deliver bifonazole through the skin were evaluated ex vivo using Franz diffusion cells fitted with rat skins. The Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC) K100 M as a gel matrix was used to construct the microemulsion-based hydrogel for improving the viscosity of microemulsion for topical administration. The optimized microemulsion-based hydrogel was evaluated for viscosity, spreadability, skin irritancy, skin permeability, stability, and antifungal activity by comparing it with marketed bifonazole cream. The mechanism of drug release from microemulsion-based hydrogel was observed to follow zero order kinetics. The studied optimized microemulsion-based hydrogel showed a good stability over the period of 3 months. Average globule size of optimized microemulsion (F5) was found to be 18.98 nm, zeta potential was found to be -5.56 mv, and permeability of drug from microemulsion within 8 h was observed 84%. The antifungal activity of microemulsion-based hydrogel was found to be comparable with marketed cream. The results indicate that the studied microemulsion-based hydrogel (F5) has a potential for sustained action of drug release and it may act as promising vehicle for topical delivery of ibuprofen.

  3. Recent topics in NMR imaging and MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Tokuko

    2002-01-01

    NMR and NMR imaging (MRI) are finding increasing use not only in the clinical and medical fields, but also in material, physicochemical, biological, geological, industrial and environmental applications. This short review is limited to two topics: new techniques and pulse sequences and their application to non-clinical fields that may have clinical application; and new trends in MR contrast agents. The former topic addresses pulse sequence and data analysis; dynamics such as diffusion, flow, velocity and velocimetry; chemometrics; pharmacological agents; and chemotherapy; the latter topic addresses contrast agents (CA) sensitive to biochemical activity; CA based on water exchange; molecular interactions and stability of CA; characteristics of emerging CA; superparamagnetic CA; and macromolecular CA. (author)

  4. Mercosur's regional health agenda: architecture and themes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luisa Guimaraes Queiroz

    Full Text Available This article describes the shaping of institutional health spaces in the Mercosur, with analysis of themes and results and considerations on the construction of the regional agenda and on the effects of regional economic integration processes on health policies and systems. We discuss the organization, operation, focus topics, and results achieved in specific health forums (Meeting of Ministers of Health and Sub-Working Group 11, seeking to analyze the architecture and issues addressed by the regional agenda and drawing parallels with the European experience. The aim of this reflection is to identify how the work done by Mercosur structures contributes to building a regional agenda, with the expectation that the integration can contribute to reducing inequalities in access to health care in the region.

  5. Modulation of cortical activity during comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar text topics in speed reading and speed listening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchweitz, Augusto; Mason, Robert A; Meschyan, Gayane; Keller, Timothy A; Just, Marcel Adam

    2014-12-01

    Brain activation associated with normal and speeded comprehension of expository texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics was investigated in reading and listening. The goal was to determine how brain activation and the comprehension processes it reflects are modulated by comprehension speed and topic familiarity. Passages on more familiar topics differentially activated a set of areas in the anterior temporal lobe and medial frontal gyrus, areas often associated with text-level integration processes, which we interpret to reflect integration of previous knowledge with the passage content. Passages presented at the faster presentation resulted in more activation of a network of frontal areas associated with strategic and working-memory processes (as well as visual or auditory sensory-related regions), which we interpret to reflect maintenance of local coherence among briefly available passage segments. The implications of this research is that the brain system for text comprehension adapts to varying perceptual and knowledge conditions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Sexual Problems in Men: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Spanish Retrograde ejaculation (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Sexual Problems in ... Premature ejaculation Reifenstein syndrome Retrograde ejaculation Related Health Topics Erectile Dysfunction Penis Disorders Prostate Diseases Testicular Disorders ...

  7. Cancer--Living with Cancer: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... during cancer treatment (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Cancer--Living with ... care plan Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Cancer Cancer Chemotherapy Palliative Care National Institutes of ...

  8. Full Text or Abstract? : Examining Topic Coherence Scores Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Syed, S.; Spruit, M.

    2017-01-01

    This paper assesses topic coherence and human topic ranking of uncovered latent topics from scientific publications when utilizing the topic model latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) on abstract and full-text data. The coherence of a topic, used as a proxy for topic quality, is based on the

  9. Infantile generalized hypertrichosis caused by topical minoxidil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rampon, Greice; Henkin, Caroline; de Souza, Paulo Ricardo Martins; Almeida, Hiram Larangeira de

    2016-01-01

    Rare cases of hypertrichosis have been associated with topically applied minoxidil. We present the first reported case in the Brazilian literature of generalized hypertrichosis affecting a 5-year-old child, following use of minoxidil 5%, 20 drops a day, for hair loss. The laboratory investigation excluded hyperandrogenism and thyroid dysfunction. Topical minoxidil should be used with caution in children.

  10. Measuring Regional Price Levels in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Mrázek

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Regional price level comparison in the Czech Republic was a topic not touched until recently. Then a team of researchers from the University of Economics in Prague pioneered the way for NUTS 3 regions for the year 2007 and repeatedly in 2012. Another step to establish more reliable results came together with a research team of the Technical University in Liberec, which brought qualitatively new and well advanced approaches. This article aims to discuss some aspects of the two attempts to establish regional price level compariso in the Czech Republic.

  11. Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection following Topical Hormone Replacement Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander L. Pan

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare condition, usually presenting as an acute coronary syndrome, and is often seen in states associated with high systemic estrogen levels such as pregnancy or oral contraceptive use. While topical hormonal replacement therapy may result in increased estrogen levels similar to those documented with oral contraceptive use, there are no reported cases of spontaneous coronary dissection with topical hormonal replacement therapy. We describe a 53-year-old female who developed two spontaneous coronary dissections while on topical hormonal replacement therapy. The patient had no other risk factors for coronary dissection. After withdrawal from topical hormonal therapy, our patient has done well and has not had recurrent coronary artery dissections over a one-year follow-up period. The potential contributory role of topical hormonal therapy as a cause of spontaneous coronary dissection should be recognized.

  12. Do scientists trace hot topics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Tian; Li, Menghui; Wu, Chensheng; Yan, Xiao-Yong; Fan, Ying; Di, Zengru; Wu, Jinshan

    2013-01-01

    Do scientists follow hot topics in their scientific investigations? In this paper, by performing analysis to papers published in the American Physical Society (APS) Physical Review journals, it is found that papers are more likely to be attracted by hot fields, where the hotness of a field is measured by the number of papers belonging to the field. This indicates that scientists generally do follow hot topics. However, there are qualitative differences among scientists from various countries, among research works regarding different number of authors, different number of affiliations and different number of references. These observations could be valuable for policy makers when deciding research funding and also for individual researchers when searching for scientific projects.

  13. #Healthy Selfies: Exploration of Health Topics on Instagram.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muralidhara, Sachin; Paul, Michael J

    2018-06-29

    Social media provides a complementary source of information for public health surveillance. The dominate data source for this type of monitoring is the microblogging platform Twitter, which is convenient due to the free availability of public data. Less is known about the utility of other social media platforms, despite their popularity. This work aims to characterize the health topics that are prominently discussed in the image-sharing platform Instagram, as a step toward understanding how this data might be used for public health research. The study uses a topic modeling approach to discover topics in a dataset of 96,426 Instagram posts containing hashtags related to health. We use a polylingual topic model, initially developed for datasets in different natural languages, to model different modalities of data: hashtags, caption words, and image tags automatically extracted using a computer vision tool. We identified 47 health-related topics in the data (kappa=.77), covering ten broad categories: acute illness, alternative medicine, chronic illness and pain, diet, exercise, health care & medicine, mental health, musculoskeletal health and dermatology, sleep, and substance use. The most prevalent topics were related to diet (8,293/96,426; 8.6% of posts) and exercise (7,328/96,426; 7.6% of posts). A large and diverse set of health topics are discussed in Instagram. The extracted image tags were generally too coarse and noisy to be used for identifying posts but were in some cases accurate for identifying images relevant to studying diet and substance use. Instagram shows potential as a source of public health information, though limitations in data collection and metadata availability may limit its use in comparison to platforms like Twitter. ©Sachin Muralidhara, Michael J. Paul. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 29.06.2018.

  14. Regional views on the new system of radiological protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoda, N.; Fujimoto, K.; Miyamaru, K.; Lee, J.; Loy, J.; Pan, Z.Q.

    2005-01-01

    This document takes stock on the second session of the second Asian regional conference. In this session, japanese regulators, researchers and operators presented their regional views on the new ICRP recommendations. It was commonly expressed that an understanding of the background to the introduced concepts in the new recommendations is required. Other regional views from Korea, Australia and China were also expressed, based on their own regulatory system and referring to radiological protection topics in their countries. (A.L.B.)

  15. Third Regional Meeting: Nuclear Energy in Central Europe, Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stritar, A.; Jencic, I.

    1996-01-01

    Third Regional Meeting for Nuclear Energy in Central Europe is an annual meeting of the Nuclear Society of Slovenia. The proceedings contain 71 articles from Slovenia, surrounding countries and countries of the Central and Eastern European Region. Topics are: Research Reactors, Reactor Physics, Probabilistic Safety Assessment, Severe Accident management, Thermal Hydraulics, NPP Operation, Radioactive Waste Management, Main Components Integrity, Environment and Other Aspects and Public Information

  16. Third Regional Meeting: Nuclear Energy in Central Europe, Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stritar, A; Jencic, I [Nuclear Society of Slovenia (Slovenia); eds.

    1996-07-01

    Third Regional Meeting for Nuclear Energy in Central Europe is an annual meeting of the Nuclear Society of Slovenia. The proceedings contain 71 articles from Slovenia, surrounding countries and countries of the Central and Eastern European Region. Topics are: Research Reactors, Reactor Physics, Probabilistic Safety Assessment, Severe Accident management, Thermal Hydraulics, NPP Operation, Radioactive Waste Management, Main Components Integrity, Environment and Other Aspects and Public Information.

  17. Infantile generalized hypertrichosis caused by topical minoxidil*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rampon, Greice; Henkin, Caroline; de Souza, Paulo Ricardo Martins; de Almeida Jr, Hiram Larangeira

    2016-01-01

    Rare cases of hypertrichosis have been associated with topically applied minoxidil. We present the first reported case in the Brazilian literature of generalized hypertrichosis affecting a 5-year-old child, following use of minoxidil 5%, 20 drops a day, for hair loss. The laboratory investigation excluded hyperandrogenism and thyroid dysfunction. Topical minoxidil should be used with caution in children. PMID:26982785

  18. Lecture Notes on Topics in Accelerator Physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chao, Alex W.

    2002-01-01

    These are lecture notes that cover a selection of topics, some of them under current research, in accelerator physics. I try to derive the results from first principles, although the students are assumed to have an introductory knowledge of the basics. The topics covered are: (1) Panofsky-Wenzel and Planar Wake Theorems; (2) Echo Effect; (3) Crystalline Beam; (4) Fast Ion Instability; (5) Lawson-Woodward Theorem and Laser Acceleration in Free Space; (6) Spin Dynamics and Siberian Snakes; (7) Symplectic Approximation of Maps; (8) Truncated Power Series Algebra; and (9) Lie Algebra Technique for nonlinear Dynamics. The purpose of these lectures is not to elaborate, but to prepare the students so that they can do their own research. Each topic can be read independently of the others

  19. Lecture Notes on Topics in Accelerator Physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chao, Alex W.

    2002-11-15

    These are lecture notes that cover a selection of topics, some of them under current research, in accelerator physics. I try to derive the results from first principles, although the students are assumed to have an introductory knowledge of the basics. The topics covered are: (1) Panofsky-Wenzel and Planar Wake Theorems; (2) Echo Effect; (3) Crystalline Beam; (4) Fast Ion Instability; (5) Lawson-Woodward Theorem and Laser Acceleration in Free Space; (6) Spin Dynamics and Siberian Snakes; (7) Symplectic Approximation of Maps; (8) Truncated Power Series Algebra; and (9) Lie Algebra Technique for nonlinear Dynamics. The purpose of these lectures is not to elaborate, but to prepare the students so that they can do their own research. Each topic can be read independently of the others.

  20. Relativity theory - topical

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmutzer, E.

    1979-01-01

    Issued on the occasion of Albert Einstein's 100th birthday the book deals topically with the special and general relativity theory. The latest experiments to confirm the relativity theory are described and the historical development of the theory is presented in detail. Emphasis is given to the disclosure of deep insights into the nature of matter. Of interest to experts in physical and natural sciences and to mathematicians

  1. The effect of regional politics on regional life expectancy in Italy (1980-2010).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonker, Marcel F; D'Ippolito, Edoardo; Eikemo, Terje A; Congdon, Peter D; Nante, Nicola; Mackenbach, Johan P; Kamphuis, Carlijn B M

    2017-03-01

    The evidence on the association between politics and health is scarce considering the importance of this topic for population health. Studies that investigated the effect of different political regimes on health outcomes show inconsistent results. Bayesian time-series cross-section analyses are used to examine the overall impact of regional politics on variations in Italian regional life expectancy (LE) at birth during the period 1980-2010. Our analyses control for trends in and unobserved determinants of regional LE, correct for temporal as well as spatial autocorrelation, and employ a flexible specification for the timing of the political effects. In the period from 1980 to 1995, we find no evidence that the communist, left-oriented coalitions and Christian Democratic, centre-oriented coalitions have had an effect on regional LE. In the period from 1995 onwards, after a major reconfiguration of Italy's political regimes and a major healthcare reform, we again find no evidence that the Centre-Left and Centre-Right coalitions have had a significant impact on regional LE. The presented results provide no support for the notion that different regional political regimes in Italy have had a differential effect on regional LE, even though Italian regions have had considerable and increasing autonomy over healthcare and health-related policies and expenditures.

  2. Analyzing research trends on drug safety using topic modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Chen

    2018-04-06

    Published drug safety data has evolved in the past decade due to scientific and technological advances in the relevant research fields. Considering that a vast amount of scientific literature has been published in this area, it is not easy to identify the key information. Topic modeling has emerged as a powerful tool to extract meaningful information from a large volume of unstructured texts. Areas covered: We analyzed the titles and abstracts of 4347 articles in four journals dedicated to drug safety from 2007 to 2016. We applied Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model to extract 50 main topics, and conducted trend analysis to explore the temporal popularity of these topics over years. Expert Opinion/Commentary: We found that 'benefit-risk assessment and communication', 'diabetes' and 'biologic therapy for autoimmune diseases' are the top 3 most published topics. The topics relevant to the use of electronic health records/observational data for safety surveillance are becoming increasingly popular over time. Meanwhile, there is a slight decrease in research on signal detection based on spontaneous reporting, although spontaneous reporting still plays an important role in benefit-risk assessment. The topics related to medical conditions and treatment showed highly dynamic patterns over time.

  3. Regional systems development for geothermal energy resources: Pacific region (California and Hawaii). Task 2: Regional program monitoring and progress evaluation, topical report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1979-03-19

    All the objectives of the regional program monitoring and progress evaluation have been met through personal contacts and the review of data. They are as follows: to determine the existing status of power plant projects and future plans; to identify major problem areas for each project (technical, financial, regulatory) that are affecting progress; and to analyze the data and to develop recommendations directed toward resolving problems. The results have been presented in a tabular summary format that is accompanied by explanatory text covering 25 projects.

  4. Duration of oral tetracycline-class antibiotic therapy and use of topical retinoids for the treatment of acne among general practitioners (GP): A retrospective cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbieri, John S; Hoffstad, Ole; Margolis, David J

    2016-12-01

    Guidelines recommend limiting the duration of oral antibiotic therapy in acne to 3 to 6 months and prescribing concomitant topical retinoids for all patients. We sought to evaluate the duration of therapy with oral tetracyclines and the use of topical retinoids among patients with acne treated primarily by general practitioners in the United Kingdom. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Health Improvement Network database. The mean duration of therapy was 175.1 days. Of antibiotic courses, 62% were not associated with a topical retinoid; 29% exceeded 6 months in duration. If all regions were to achieve uses similar to the region with the shortest mean duration of therapy, approximately 3.3 million antibiotic days per year could be avoided in the United Kingdom. The Health Improvement Network does not include information on acne severity and clinical outcomes. Prescribing behavior for oral antibiotics in the treatment of acne among general practitioners is not aligned with current guideline recommendations. Increasing the use of topical retinoids and considering alternative agents to oral antibiotics when appropriate represent opportunities to reduce antibiotic exposure and associated complications such as antibiotic resistance and to improve outcomes in patients treated for acne. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Radiation risks -a possible teaching topic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howes, R.W.

    1975-01-01

    Radiation risks has been the subject of hot debate since 1969 due in main to the energy crisis and the switch to nuclear power. Topics of this debate including; the controversy concerned with the late radiobiological effects of low level radiation, the social responsibility of modern scientists, the sometimes acrimonious discussion which has taken place over many years concerning radiation standards, and present day misgivings over the environmental aspect of the nuclear power programme, are discussed and suggestions are made of ways in which the topics could be introduced into teaching courses. (U.K.)

  6. Efficacy of adding topical simvastatin to topical calcipotriol on improvement of cutaneous plaque psoriasis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fariba Iraji

    2014-01-01

    Conclusion: This study indicates that topical simvastatin is not associated with significant impacts in the treatment of psoriasis as compared to oral form. This study indicates that psoriasis is a systemic disorder with variable skin manifestations.

  7. Nuclear safety - Topical issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1995-01-01

    The following topical issues related to nuclear safety are discussed: steam generators; maintenance strategies; control rod drive nozzle cracks; core shrouds cracks; sump strainer blockage; fire protection; computer software important for safety; safety during shutdown; operational safety experience; external hazards and other site related issues. 5 figs, 5 tabs

  8. Real-time topic-aware influence maximization using preprocessing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei; Lin, Tian; Yang, Cheng

    2016-01-01

    Influence maximization is the task of finding a set of seed nodes in a social network such that the influence spread of these seed nodes based on certain influence diffusion model is maximized. Topic-aware influence diffusion models have been recently proposed to address the issue that influence between a pair of users are often topic-dependent and information, ideas, innovations etc. being propagated in networks are typically mixtures of topics. In this paper, we focus on the topic-aware influence maximization task. In particular, we study preprocessing methods to avoid redoing influence maximization for each mixture from scratch. We explore two preprocessing algorithms with theoretical justifications. Our empirical results on data obtained in a couple of existing studies demonstrate that one of our algorithms stands out as a strong candidate providing microsecond online response time and competitive influence spread, with reasonable preprocessing effort.

  9. Topical application of amelogenin extracellular matrix protein in non-healing venous ulcers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burçin Abud

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background and Design: Treatment of chronic venous ulcers of the lower extremity is still an important difficulty. The principal treatment of these ulcers includes compression therapy, local wound care and surgery. Unresponsiveness to these standard treatments is a frequent situation with negative effects on life quality and reductions in personal productivity. Therefore, there is a need for new applications to increase the effectiveness of treatment in treatment-resistant cases. In the present study, we retrospectively evaluated the results of topical application of amelogenin extracellular matrix protein in resistant venous ulcers. Materials and Methods: We analyzed the records of patients with treatment-resistant venous ulceration who were treated with amelogenin extracellular matrix protein between June 2011 and December 2012.. Results: 26 patients (21 male and 5 female with a total number of 28 ulcers (24 patients with 1 ulcer, 2 patients with two ulcers were evaluated. The patients were treated with topically applied amelogenin extracellular matrix protein and regional four bandage compression. Bandages were changed weekly. Each cure continued for six weeks. In fourteen patients (15 ulcers, we observed a complete healing by the end of the first cure. In another twelve cases (13 ulcers, the same period resulted with a reduction in wound diameter. We continued to the second cure for these patients. By the end of the second cure, complete healing was achieved in five cases (6 ulcers. Conclusion: Topical application of amelogenin extracellular matrix protein may be considered as an effective therapeutic choice for refractory venous ulcers.

  10. Topical minoxidil: cardiac effects in bald man.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leenen, F H; Smith, D L; Unger, W P

    1988-01-01

    Systemic cardiovascular effects during chronic treatment with topical minoxidil vs placebo were evaluated using a double-blind, randomized design for two parallel groups (n = 20 for minoxidil, n = 15 for placebo). During 6 months of follow-up, blood pressure did not change, whereas minoxidil increased heart rate by 3-5 beats min-1. Compared with placebo, topical minoxidil caused significant increases in LV end-diastolic volume, in cardiac output (by 0.751 min-1) and in LV mass (by 5 g m-2). We conclude that in healthy subjects short-term use of topical minoxidil is likely not to be detrimental. However, safety needs to be established regarding ischaemic symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease as well as for the possible development of LV hypertrophy in healthy subjects during years of therapy. PMID:3191000

  11. Medical adherence to topical corticosteroid preparations prescribed for psoriasis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svendsen, Mathias Tiedemann; Andersen, Flemming; Hansen, Jakob

    2017-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Topical corticosteroids and corticosteroid combinations are the principal treatments in psoriasis. The aim of this study was to investigate published literature dealing with medical adherence to topical corticosteroid or corticosteroid combinations in patients with psoriasis. MATERIALS...... health outcome in topical treatment of psoriasis, further studies should be conducted addressing determinants of nonadherence and test interventions to improve adherence. Validated measurements of medical nonadherence, prescription registers, or medication-weight are needed....

  12. Topical erythropoietin promotes wound repair in diabetic rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamed, Saher; Ullmann, Yehuda; Masoud, Muhannad; Hellou, Elias; Khamaysi, Ziad; Teot, Luc

    2010-01-01

    Wound healing in diabetic patients is slower than in healthy individuals. Erythropoietin (EPO) has non-hemopoietic targets in the skin, and systemically administered EPO promotes wound healing in experimental animals. This study investigated the effect of topical EPO treatment on defective wound repair in the skin of diabetic rats. Full-thickness excisional skin wounds were made in 38 rats, of which 30 had diabetes. The wounds were then treated topically with a cream that contained either vehicle, 600 IU ml(-1) EPO (low dose), or 3,000 IU ml(-1) (high dose) EPO. We assessed the rate of wound closure during the 12-day treatment period, and microvascular density (MVD), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and hydroxyproline (HP) contents, and the extent of apoptosis in wound tissues at the end of the 12-day treatment period. Topical EPO treatment significantly reduced the time to final wound closure. This increased rate of closure of the two EPO-treated wounds in diabetic rats was associated with increased MVD, VEGF, and HP contents, and a reduced extent of apoptosis. In light of our finding that topical EPO treatment promotes skin wound repair in diabetic rats, we propose that topical EPO treatment is a therapeutically beneficial method of treating chronic diabetic wounds.

  13. Comparative evaluation of topical Sodium fusidate cream in common pyodermas with topical gentamicin ointment and systemic antibiotics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roy AK

    1996-01-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: One hundred cases of common pyodermas consisting of four groups, namely impetigo, furunculosis and chronic folliculitis were taken. Each group containing twenty five cases were divided again into three subgroups. From each group, 15 were treated with 2 percent Sodium fusidate cream, 5 were with 0.1 percent Gentamycin sulphate cream and the rest 5 with systemic Erythromycin stearate. In the group of Impetigo, Bockhart′s Impetigo and Furunculosis, topical Sodium fusidate cream showed excellent result, better than Gentamycin topical and equal to that of systemic Erythromycin stearate.

  14. Characters and Topical Diversity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Rune

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the difference between the bestseller and the non-bestseller in nonfiction. It is noticed that many bestsellers in nonfiction belongs to the sub-genre of creative nonfiction, but also that the topics in this kind of literature i...

  15. Analysis and application of opinion model with multiple topic interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun; Wang, Liang; Wang, Ximeng

    2017-08-01

    To reveal heterogeneous behaviors of opinion evolution in different scenarios, we propose an opinion model with topic interactions. Individual opinions and topic features are represented by a multidimensional vector. We measure an agent's action towards a specific topic by the product of opinion and topic feature. When pairs of agents interact for a topic, their actions are introduced to opinion updates with bounded confidence. Simulation results show that a transition from a disordered state to a consensus state occurs at a critical point of the tolerance threshold, which depends on the opinion dimension. The critical point increases as the dimension of opinions increases. Multiple topics promote opinion interactions and lead to the formation of macroscopic opinion clusters. In addition, more topics accelerate the evolutionary process and weaken the effect of network topology. We use two sets of large-scale real data to evaluate the model, and the results prove its effectiveness in characterizing a real evolutionary process. Our model achieves high performance in individual action prediction and even outperforms state-of-the-art methods. Meanwhile, our model has much smaller computational complexity. This paper provides a demonstration for possible practical applications of theoretical opinion dynamics.

  16. Topic structure for information retrieval

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    He, J.; Sanderson, M.; Zhai, C.; Zobel, J.; Allan, J.; Aslam, J.A.

    2009-01-01

    In my research, I propose a coherence measure, with the goal of discovering and using topic structures within and between documents, of which I explore its extensions and applications in information retrieval.

  17. Generative Topic Modeling in Image Data Mining and Bioinformatics Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xin

    2012-01-01

    Probabilistic topic models have been developed for applications in various domains such as text mining, information retrieval and computer vision and bioinformatics domain. In this thesis, we focus on developing novel probabilistic topic models for image mining and bioinformatics studies. Specifically, a probabilistic topic-connection (PTC) model…

  18. Topical Antimycotics for Oral Candidiasis in Warfarin Users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellfritzsch, Maja; Pottegård, Anton; Pedersen, Andreas James Thestrup; Burghle, Alaa; Mouaanaki, Fatima; Hallas, Jesper; Grove, Erik Lerkevang; Damkier, Per

    2017-04-01

    Treatment for oral candidiasis in warfarin users may be complicated by drug-drug interactions (DDIs) between warfarin and topically applied antimycotics. However, current knowledge of these putative DDIs is merely based on case series. We therefore performed a cohort cross-over study with the objective to evaluate the potential DDIs between warfarin and miconazole oral gel or nystatin oral solution. The cohort consisted of individuals using warfarin in the period of 1998-2012 (n ≈ 7400). We collected data on cohort members' measurements of the international normalized ratio (INR) from a clinical database, and obtained information on their use of topically applied miconazole and nystatin from a regional prescription register. Potential DDIs were assessed by comparing INR values before and after initiation of an antimycotic drug. Among 17 warfarin users exposed to miconazole oral gel, the mean INR increased from 2.5 (95% CI: 2.1-2.8) to 3.8 (95% CI: 2.8-4.8) after exposure, corresponding to a mean INR increase of 1.4 (95% CI: 0.3-2.4). Among 30 warfarin users exposed to nystatin oral solution, the mean INR was 2.7 (95% CI: 2.3-3.1) before and 2.5 (95% CI: 2.2-2.9) after exposure. In conclusion, we found evidence supporting a clinically relevant drug-drug interaction between warfarin and miconazole oral gel. In contrast, we did not find any indication of an interaction between warfarin and nystatin oral solution. Nystatin rather than miconazole should be preferred when treating warfarin users for oral candidiasis. © 2016 Nordic Association for the Publication of BCPT (former Nordic Pharmacological Society).

  19. Progressive Learning of Topic Modeling Parameters: A Visual Analytics Framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Assady, Mennatallah; Sevastjanova, Rita; Sperrle, Fabian; Keim, Daniel; Collins, Christopher

    2018-01-01

    Topic modeling algorithms are widely used to analyze the thematic composition of text corpora but remain difficult to interpret and adjust. Addressing these limitations, we present a modular visual analytics framework, tackling the understandability and adaptability of topic models through a user-driven reinforcement learning process which does not require a deep understanding of the underlying topic modeling algorithms. Given a document corpus, our approach initializes two algorithm configurations based on a parameter space analysis that enhances document separability. We abstract the model complexity in an interactive visual workspace for exploring the automatic matching results of two models, investigating topic summaries, analyzing parameter distributions, and reviewing documents. The main contribution of our work is an iterative decision-making technique in which users provide a document-based relevance feedback that allows the framework to converge to a user-endorsed topic distribution. We also report feedback from a two-stage study which shows that our technique results in topic model quality improvements on two independent measures.

  20. Selected topics in nuclear structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    The collection of abstracts on selected topics in nuclear structure are given. Special attention pays to collective excitations and high-spin states of nuclei, giant resonance structure, nuclear reaction mechanisms and so on

  1. Topical anti-infective sinonasal irrigations: update and literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jivianne T; Chiu, Alexander G

    2014-01-01

    Sinonasal anti-infective irrigations have emerged as a promising therapeutic modality in the comprehensive management of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), particularly in the context of recalcitrant disease. The purpose of this article was to delineate the current spectrum of topical anti-infective therapies available and evaluate their role in the treatment of CRS. A systematic literature review was performed on all studies investigating the use of topical antimicrobial solutions in the medical therapy of CRS. Anti-infective irrigations were stratified into topical antibacterial, antifungal, and additive preparations according to their composition and respective microbicidal properties. The use of topical antibiotic irrigations has been supported by low-level studies in the treatment of refractory CRS, with optimal results achieved in patients who have undergone prior functional endoscopic sinus surgery and received culture-directed therapy. Multiple evidence-based reviews have not established any clinical benefit with the administration of topical antifungals, and their use is not currently recommended in the management of routine CRS. Topical additives including surfactants may be beneficial as adjunctive treatment for recalcitrant CRS, but additional research is needed to investigate their efficacy in comparison with other agents and establish safety profiles. Topical anti-infective solutions are not recommended as first-line therapy for routine CRS but may be considered as a potential option for patients with refractory CRS who have failed traditional medical and surgical intervention. Additional research is necessary to determine which patient populations would derive the most benefit from each respective irrigation regimen and identify potential toxicities associated with prolonged use.

  2. IMPACT OF GLOBAL RETAILERS ON REGIONAL MARKET PARTICIPANTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Evtyugina

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The given article is focused on a topical subject of global trade networks and the current trends of their development on a regional retail market. The authors believe that deep integration of international networks in the regions significantly increases the competition among network operators in the trade sector and creates a certain challenge for Russian retailers, and require introduction of innovative management techniques, automation of operational processes, expansion of assortment, better service, lower prices, etc. Research and assessment of the parameters given in the article help verifying an effect of international networks on the development process of regional market participants.

  3. Building bridges across electronic health record systems through inferred phenotypic topics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, You; Ghosh, Joydeep; Bejan, Cosmin Adrian; Gunter, Carl A; Gupta, Siddharth; Kho, Abel; Liebovitz, David; Sun, Jimeng; Denny, Joshua; Malin, Bradley

    2015-06-01

    Data in electronic health records (EHRs) is being increasingly leveraged for secondary uses, ranging from biomedical association studies to comparative effectiveness. To perform studies at scale and transfer knowledge from one institution to another in a meaningful way, we need to harmonize the phenotypes in such systems. Traditionally, this has been accomplished through expert specification of phenotypes via standardized terminologies, such as billing codes. However, this approach may be biased by the experience and expectations of the experts, as well as the vocabulary used to describe such patients. The goal of this work is to develop a data-driven strategy to (1) infer phenotypic topics within patient populations and (2) assess the degree to which such topics facilitate a mapping across populations in disparate healthcare systems. We adapt a generative topic modeling strategy, based on latent Dirichlet allocation, to infer phenotypic topics. We utilize a variance analysis to assess the projection of a patient population from one healthcare system onto the topics learned from another system. The consistency of learned phenotypic topics was evaluated using (1) the similarity of topics, (2) the stability of a patient population across topics, and (3) the transferability of a topic across sites. We evaluated our approaches using four months of inpatient data from two geographically distinct healthcare systems: (1) Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) and (2) Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). The method learned 25 phenotypic topics from each healthcare system. The average cosine similarity between matched topics across the two sites was 0.39, a remarkably high value given the very high dimensionality of the feature space. The average stability of VUMC and NMH patients across the topics of two sites was 0.988 and 0.812, respectively, as measured by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Also the VUMC and NMH topics have smaller variance of characterizing

  4. The Importance and Interest of Introductory Psychology Textbook Topics: Student Opinions at Technical College, 2-, and 4-Year Institutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCann, Lee I.; Immel, Kathy R.; Kadah-Ammeter, Tammy L.; Adelson, Sarah K.

    2016-01-01

    Introductory psychology students at a technical college, 2-year community college, and a regional university rated how important textbook chapters or topics were to them now and in the future and how interesting they were. Importance and interest ratings were highly correlated, and the whole course was rated of greater importance and interest than…

  5. Topic Modeling of NASA Space System Problem Reports: Research in Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Layman, Lucas; Nikora, Allen P.; Meek, Joshua; Menzies, Tim

    2016-01-01

    Problem reports at NASA are similar to bug reports: they capture defects found during test, post-launch operational anomalies, and document the investigation and corrective action of the issue. These artifacts are a rich source of lessons learned for NASA, but are expensive to analyze since problem reports are comprised primarily of natural language text. We apply topic modeling to a corpus of NASA problem reports to extract trends in testing and operational failures. We collected 16,669 problem reports from six NASA space flight missions and applied Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling to the document corpus. We analyze the most popular topics within and across missions, and how popular topics changed over the lifetime of a mission. We find that hardware material and flight software issues are common during the integration and testing phase, while ground station software and equipment issues are more common during the operations phase. We identify a number of challenges in topic modeling for trend analysis: 1) that the process of selecting the topic modeling parameters lacks definitive guidance, 2) defining semantically-meaningful topic labels requires nontrivial effort and domain expertise, 3) topic models derived from the combined corpus of the six missions were biased toward the larger missions, and 4) topics must be semantically distinct as well as cohesive to be useful. Nonetheless,topic modeling can identify problem themes within missions and across mission lifetimes, providing useful feedback to engineers and project managers.

  6. Getting Started with Topic Modeling and MALLET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shawn Graham

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available In this lesson you will first learn what topic modeling is and why you might want to employ it in your research. You will then learn how to install and work with the MALLET natural language processing toolkit to do so. MALLET involves modifying an environment variable (essentially, setting up a short-cut so that your computer always knows where to find the MALLET program and working with the command line (ie, by typing in commands manually, rather than clicking on icons or menus. We will run the topic modeller on some example files, and look at the kinds of outputs that MALLET installed. This will give us a good idea of how it can be used on a corpus of texts to identify topics found in the documents without reading them individually.

  7. In vivo real-time monitoring system of electroporation mediated control of transdermal and topical drug delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blagus, Tanja; Markelc, Bostjan; Cemazar, Maja; Kosjek, Tina; Preat, Veronique; Miklavcic, Damijan; Sersa, Gregor

    2013-12-28

    Electroporation (EP) is a physical method for the delivery of molecules into cells and tissues, including the skin. In this study, in order to control the degree of transdermal and topical drug delivery, EP at different amplitudes of electric pulses was evaluated. A new in vivo real-time monitoring system based on fluorescently labeled molecules was developed, for the quantification of transdermal and topical drug delivery. EP of the mouse skin was performed with new non-invasive multi-array electrodes, delivering different amplitudes of electric pulses ranging from 70 to 570 V, between the electrode pin pairs. Patches, soaked with 4 kDa fluorescein-isothiocyanate labeled dextran (FD), doxorubicin (DOX) or fentanyl (FEN), were applied to the skin before and after EP. The new monitoring system was developed based on the delivery of FD to and through the skin. FD relative quantity was determined with fluorescence microscopy imaging, in the treated region of the skin for topical delivery and in a segment of the mouse tail for transdermal delivery. The application of electric pulses for FD delivery resulted in enhanced transdermal delivery. Depending on the amplitude of electric pulses, it increased up to the amplitude of 360 V, and decreased at higher amplitudes (460 and 570 V). Topical delivery steadily enhanced with increasing the amplitude of the delivered electric pulses, being even higher than after tape stripping used as a positive control. The non-invasive monitoring of the delivery of DOX, a fluorescent chemotherapeutic drug, qualitatively and quantitatively confirmed the effects of EP at 360 and 570 V pulse amplitudes on topical and transdermal drug delivery. Delivery of FEN at 360 and 570 V pulse amplitudes verified the observed effects as obtained with FD and DOX, by the measured physiological responses of the mice as well as FEN plasma concentration. This study demonstrates that with the newly developed non-invasive multi-array electrodes and with the

  8. Is topical haloperidol a useful glaucoma treatment?

    OpenAIRE

    Lavin, M. J.; Andrews, V.

    1986-01-01

    A randomised, double blind, single dose study of topical haloperidol, a dopamine receptor blocking drug, was performed on 20 healthy volunteers. After its administration a modest reduction in intraocular pressure was recorded over the six-hour study period, but the difference was not significant at the p less than 0.05 level. Although dopamine blocking agents are effective in reducing intraocular pressure in experimental animals, topical haloperidol appears unlikely to be clinically useful in...

  9. Topical Melatonin for Treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia

    OpenAIRE

    Fischer, Tobias W; Tr?eb, Ralph M; H?nggi, Gabriella; Innocenti, Marcello; Elsner, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Background: In the search for alternative agents to oral finasteride and topical minoxidil for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA), melatonin, a potent antioxidant and growth modulator, was identified as a promising candidate based on in vitro and in vivo studies. Materials and Methods: One pharmacodynamic study on topical application of melatonin and four clinical pre-post studies were performed in patients with androgenetic alopecia or general hair loss and evaluated by standardise...

  10. Space and economics : An introduction to regional economics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heijman, W.J.M.; Schipper, R.A.

    2010-01-01

    The subject area Regional Economics is becoming more and more topical. This means that in economic analyses the production factor 'space' is of increasing importance. This study book aims to integrate space in the area of General Economics in an analytical way. Models and their applications play a

  11. New guidelines for topical NSAIDs in the osteoarthritis treatment paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altman, Roy D

    2010-12-01

    Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, often affects hands, hips, and knees and involves an estimated 26.9 million US adults. Women have a higher prevalence of OA, and the risk of developing OA increases with age, obesity, and joint malalignment. OA typically presents with pain and reduced function. Therapeutic programs are often multimodal and must take into account pharmaceutical toxicities and patient comorbidities. For example, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are associated with cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and renal adverse events. Topical NSAIDs offer efficacy with reduced systemic drug exposure. This is a review of current guideline recommendations regarding the use of topical NSAIDs in OA of the hand and knee. Articles were identified by PubMed search (January 1, 2000 to May 21, 2010). Several current guidelines for management of OA recommend topical NSAIDs, indicating them as a safe and effective treatment. One guideline recommends that topical NSAIDs be considered as first-line pharmacologic therapy. A US guideline for knee OA recommends topical NSAIDs in older patients and in patients with increased gastrointestinal risk. The consensus across US and European OA guidelines is that topical NSAIDs are a safe and effective treatment for OA. Because the research base on topical NSAIDs for OA is small, guidelines will continue to evolve.

  12. The effects of oral and topical corticosteroid in rabbit corneas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Araki-Sasaki, Kaoru; Katsuta, Osamu; Mano, Hidetoshi; Nagano, Takashi; Nakamura, Masatsugu

    2016-09-05

    To determine the most effective route of administration of corticosteroids in the treatment of ocular surface disease, by characterizing the difference between oral prednisolone and topical dexamethasone administration using an animal model. Pharmacokinetic analyses determined the corticosteroid concentrations in the normal ocular tissues of rabbits after oral or topical administration of corticosteroids using LC-MS/MS. In wound healing analyses, the area of the epithelial defect created by keratectomy using a 6-mm trephine was calculated with an image analyzer using an orally or topically steroid-administrated animal model. The average size of basal epithelial cells, the frequency of mitotic basal epithelial cells, the number of squamous cells, and the number of hypertrophic stromal fibroblasts were determined in the enucleated corneal tissues after wound closure. By slit lamp examination, no remarkable differences were observed between orally and topically administered groups. Pharmacokinetic analyses showed that the distribution of dexamethasone after topical administration was superior to that after oral administration in the cornea. In contrast, both concentrations of corticosteroid applied topically and orally were similar with regards to AUCs (area under the concentration-time curve) in the conjunctiva. Although the healing rate was slower in the topical group, all corneas were almost healed within 96 h in the wound healing analysis. According to the histological analyses of epithelial cells, the average basal cell size was larger, the frequency of mitotic basal cells was greater, and the number of squamous epithelial cell layers was lower in the topically administered group although all of these differences were with no statistical significance. However, the number of hypertrophic stromal fibroblasts in the topically administered group was significantly lower than that in the orally administered group. There are different distributions and effects between

  13. Preferred Writing Topics of Urban and Rural Middle School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shippen, Margaret E.; Houchins, David E.; Puckett, DaShaunda; Ramsey, Michelle

    2007-01-01

    This study compared the preferred writing topics of urban and rural middle school students. Eighth graders (n = 205) responded to a brief survey of preferred writing topics in the descriptive writing genres of real or imagined stories, reports, and opinions. While some preferred writing topics were divergent such as society, crime, and violence,…

  14. Oral Versus Topical Diclofenac Sodium in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tieppo Francio, Vinicius; Davani, Saeid; Towery, Chris; Brown, Tony L

    2017-06-01

    Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of joint pain in the United States and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), such as Diclofenac sodium, which is currently available in two main routes of administration; oral and topical distribution have been established as one of the standard treatments for OA. Generally, oral NSAIDs are well tolerated; however our narrative review suggests that the topical solution had a better tolerability property than oral Diclofenac sodium, especially due to side effects of gastrointestinal bleeding with the utilization of the oral format. In addition, the topical route may be considered a reasonable selection by clinicians for management of musculoskeletal pain in those patients with a history of potential risk and adverse side effects. Most studies reviewed comparing oral versus topical solution of Diclofenac sodium revealed comparable efficacy, with minimal side effects utilizing the topical route. The key point of this narrative review is to help clinicians that currently must decide between very inexpensive diclofenac oral presentations and expensive topical presentations especially in the elderly population and the pros and cons of such decision-making process.

  15. Topicality and impact in social media: diverse messages, focused messengers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Lilian; Menczer, Filippo

    2015-01-01

    We have a limited understanding of the factors that make people influential and topics popular in social media. Are users who comment on a variety of matters more likely to achieve high influence than those who stay focused? Do general subjects tend to be more popular than specific ones? Questions like these demand a way to detect the topics hidden behind messages associated with an individual or a keyword, and a gauge of similarity among these topics. Here we develop such an approach to identify clusters of similar hashtags in Twitter by detecting communities in the hashtag co-occurrence network. Then the topical diversity of a user's interests is quantified by the entropy of her hashtags across different topic clusters. A similar measure is applied to hashtags, based on co-occurring tags. We find that high topical diversity of early adopters or co-occurring tags implies high future popularity of hashtags. In contrast, low diversity helps an individual accumulate social influence. In short, diverse messages and focused messengers are more likely to gain impact.

  16. Fourth Regional Meeting: Nuclear Energy in Central Europe, Proceedings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mavko, B; Cizelj, L [eds.; Nuclear Society of Slovenia (Slovenia)

    1997-07-01

    Fourth Regional Meeting for Nuclear Energy in Central Europe is an annual meeting of the Nuclear Society of Slovenia. The proceedings contain 89 articles from Slovenia, surrounding countries and countries of the Central and Eastern European Region. Topics are: Research Reactors, Reactor Physics, Probabilistic Safety Assessment, Severe Accidents, Ageing and Integrity, Thermal Hydraulics, NPP Operation Experiance, Radioactive Waste Management, Environment and Other Aspects, Public and Nuclear Energy, SG Replacement and Plant Uprating.

  17. Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of pain due to soft tissue injury: diclofenac epolamine topical patch

    OpenAIRE

    Lionberger, David

    2010-01-01

    David R Lionberger1, Michael J Brennan21Southwest Orthopedic Group, Houston, TX, USA; 2Department of Medicine, Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport, CT, USAAbstract: The objective of this article is to review published clinical data on diclofenac epolamine topical patch 1.3% (DETP) in the treatment of acute soft tissue injuries, such as strains, sprains, and contusions. Review of published literature on topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), diclofenac, and DETP in patients with ac...

  18. Electrocautery Superior to Topical Treatments for Precancerous Anal Lesions

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Professional Anal Cancer Treatment Anal Cancer Prevention Research Electrocautery Superior to Topical Treatments for Precancerous Anal Lesions ... randomized clinical trial conducted in Amsterdam suggest that electrocautery is better than topical imiquimod or fluorouracil at ...

  19. Skin penetration and tissue permeation after topical administration of diclofenac.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagen, Martina; Baker, Mark

    2017-09-01

    Topical delivery of drugs is an alternative to oral administration, often with similar efficacy but potentially a more favorable tolerability profile. However, topical formulations need to be able to penetrate the skin and permeate to the target areas in quantities sufficient to exert a therapeutic effect. Many factors can affect this process, including the physicochemical properties of the drug, the formulation used, and the site and mode of application. It is believed that measurement of drug concentrations at the sites of action may be an indicator of their likely efficacy. This review addresses these issues, with reference to topically administered diclofenac in osteoarthritis. Articles relevant to this review were identified after a systematic search of Medline and Embase, using the key words "diclofenac", "topical administration" and "osteoarthritis" in the search strategy. The sparse data available indicate that topical diclofenac can penetrate and permeate to deeper tissues, with a lower plasma to tissue ratio than oral diclofenac. The tissue diclofenac levels after topical delivery are sustained over time (at least several hours). However, there is not enough data to establish how diclofenac levels in the joint compare with IC 50 levels (50% of the maximum inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis) established following oral administration. After topical application, diclofenac can penetrate the skin and permeate to deeper tissues, where it reaches a concentration that appears to be sufficient to exert a therapeutic effect. More robust methods are required for in vivo characterization to better estimate the clinical efficacy of topically applied drugs.

  20. Laser-assisted delivery of topical methotrexate - in vitro investigations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Taudorf, Elisabeth Hjardem

    2016-01-01

    of the correlation between laser parameters and tissue effects was used to deliver methotrexate (MTX) topically through microscopic ablation zones (MAZs) of precise dimensions. MTX is a well-known chemotherapeutic and anti-inflammatory drug that may cause systemic adverse effects, and topical delivery is thus......Ablative fractional lasers (AFXL) are increasingly used to treat dermatological disorders and to facilitate laser-assisted topical drug delivery. In this thesis, laser-tissue interactions generated by stacked pulses with a miniaturized low-power 2,940 nm AFXL were characterized (study I). Knowledge...... zones of varying thickness. The ratio of skin deposition versus transdermal permeation was constant, regardless of MAZ depth. Impact of transport kinetics on AFXL-assisted topical MTX delivery: MTX accumulated rapidly in AFXL-processed skin. MTX was detectable in mid-dermis after 15 min. and saturated...

  1. Armenian media coverage of science topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mkhitaryan, Marie

    2016-12-01

    The article discusses features and issues of Armenian media coverage on scientific topics and provides recommendations on how to promote scientific topics in media. The media is more interested in social or public reaction rather than in scientific information itself. Medical science has a large share of the global media coverage. It is followed by articles about environment, space, technology, physics and other areas. Armenian media mainly tends to focus on a scientific topic if at first sight it contains something revolutionary. Media primarily reviews whether that scientific study can affect the Armenian economy and only then decides to refer to it. Unfortunately, nowadays the perception of science is a little distorted in media. We can often see headlines of news where is mentioned that the scientist has made "an invention". Nowadays it is hard to see the border between a scientist and an inventor. In fact, the technological term "invention" attracts the media by making illusionary sensation and ensuring large audience. The report also addresses the "Gitamard" ("A science-man") special project started in 2016 in Mediamax that tells about scientists and their motivations.

  2. How to Prevent Heart Disease: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... and your heart (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get How to Prevent ... your heart Stress and your heart Related Health Topics Blood Thinners Cholesterol Heart Diseases Heart Health Tests ...

  3. Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis Vaccines: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDF Topic Image MedlinePlus Email Updates Get Tetanus, Diphtheria, and ... updates by email What's this? GO Related Health Topics Childhood Immunization Diphtheria Immunization Tetanus Whooping Cough National ...

  4. Graph-based Techniques for Topic Classification of Tweets in Spanish

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hector Cordobés

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Topic classification of texts is one of the most interesting challenges in Natural Language Processing (NLP. Topic classifiers commonly use a bag-of-words approach, in which the classifier uses (and is trained with selected terms from the input texts. In this work we present techniques based on graph similarity to classify short texts by topic. In our classifier we build graphs from the input texts, and then use properties of these graphs to classify them. We have tested the resulting algorithm by classifying Twitter messages in Spanish among a predefined set of topics, achieving more than 70% accuracy.

  5. Staff Development for Rural Middle Schools through Regional Conferences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, William F.

    1994-01-01

    Isolation, limited access to colleges and universities, and financial constraints restrict staff development opportunities for rural school systems. Recognizing these problems, the Virginia Middle School Association has adopted a regional conference structure that shifts meeting locations throughout seven major areas. The "hot topics"…

  6. 9th Annual UNCG Regional Mathematics and Statistics Conference

    CERN Document Server

    Chhetri, Maya; Gupta, Sat; Shivaji, Ratnasingham

    2015-01-01

    This volume contains rigorously reviewed papers on the topics presented by students at The 9th Annual University of North Carolina at Greensboro Regional Mathematics and Statistics Conference (UNCG RMSC) that took place on November 2, 2013.  All papers are coauthored by student researchers and their faculty mentors. This conference series was inaugurated in 2005, and it now attracts over 150 participants from over 30 universities from North Carolina and surrounding states. The conference is specifically tailored for students to present their research projects that encompass a broad spectrum of topics in mathematics, mathematical biology, statistics, and computer science.

  7. Topics in computational linear optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hultberg, Tim Helge

    2000-01-01

    Linear optimization has been an active area of research ever since the pioneering work of G. Dantzig more than 50 years ago. This research has produced a long sequence of practical as well as theoretical improvements of the solution techniques avilable for solving linear optimization problems...... of high quality solvers and the use of algebraic modelling systems to handle the communication between the modeller and the solver. This dissertation features four topics in computational linear optimization: A) automatic reformulation of mixed 0/1 linear programs, B) direct solution of sparse unsymmetric...... systems of linear equations, C) reduction of linear programs and D) integration of algebraic modelling of linear optimization problems in C++. Each of these topics is treated in a separate paper included in this dissertation. The efficiency of solving mixed 0-1 linear programs by linear programming based...

  8. Similar Response Patterns to 5%Topical Minoxidil Foam in Frontal and Vertex Scalp of Men with Androgenetic Alopecia: A Microarray Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirmirani, P.; Consolo, M.; Oyetakin-White, P.; Baron, E.; Leahy, P.; Karnik, P.

    2014-01-01

    Summary Background There are regional variations in scalp hair miniaturization seen in androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Use of topical minoxidil can lead to reversal of miniaturization in the vertex scalp. However, its effects on other scalp regions are less well studied. Methods A placebo controlled double-blinded prospective pilot study of minoxidil topical foam 5% (MTF) vs placebo was conducted in sixteen healthy men ages 18-49 with Hamilton-Norwood type IV-V thinning. The subjects were asked to apply the treatment (active drug or placebo) to the scalp twice daily for eight weeks. Stereotactic scalp photographs were taken at the baseline and final visits to monitor global hair growth. Scalp biopsies were done at the leading edge of hair loss from the frontal and vertex scalp before and after treatment with MTF and placebo and microarray analysis was done using the Affymetrix GeneChip HG U133 Plus 2.0. Results Global stereotactic photographs showed that MTF induced hair growth in both the frontal and vertex scalp of AGA patients. Regional differences in gene expression profiles were observed before treatment. However, MTF treatment induced the expression of hair keratin associated genes and decreased the expression of epidermal differentiation complex (EDC) and inflammatory genes in both scalp regions. Conclusions These data suggest that MTF is effective in the treatment of both the frontal and vertex scalp of AGA patients. PMID:25204361

  9. Two topics in quantum chromodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bjorken, J.D.

    1989-12-01

    The two topics are (1) estimates of perturbation theory coefficients for R(e + e - → hadrons), and (2) the virtual-photon structure function, with emphasis on the analytic behavior in its squared mass. 20 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

  10. Vaccine Hesitancy in Discussion Forums: Computer-Assisted Argument Mining with Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skeppstedt, Maria; Kerren, Andreas; Stede, Manfred

    2018-01-01

    Arguments used when vaccination is debated on Internet discussion forums might give us valuable insights into reasons behind vaccine hesitancy. In this study, we applied automatic topic modelling on a collection of 943 discussion posts in which vaccine was debated, and six distinct discussion topics were detected by the algorithm. When manually coding the posts ranked as most typical for these six topics, a set of semantically coherent arguments were identified for each extracted topic. This indicates that topic modelling is a useful method for automatically identifying vaccine-related discussion topics and for identifying debate posts where these topics are discussed. This functionality could facilitate manual coding of salient arguments, and thereby form an important component in a system for computer-assisted coding of vaccine-related discussions.

  11. Characterizing interdisciplinarity of researchers and research topics using web search engines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sayama, Hiroki; Akaishi, Jin

    2012-01-01

    Researchers' networks have been subject to active modeling and analysis. Earlier literature mostly focused on citation or co-authorship networks reconstructed from annotated scientific publication databases, which have several limitations. Recently, general-purpose web search engines have also been utilized to collect information about social networks. Here we reconstructed, using web search engines, a network representing the relatedness of researchers to their peers as well as to various research topics. Relatedness between researchers and research topics was characterized by visibility boost-increase of a researcher's visibility by focusing on a particular topic. It was observed that researchers who had high visibility boosts by the same research topic tended to be close to each other in their network. We calculated correlations between visibility boosts by research topics and researchers' interdisciplinarity at the individual level (diversity of topics related to the researcher) and at the social level (his/her centrality in the researchers' network). We found that visibility boosts by certain research topics were positively correlated with researchers' individual-level interdisciplinarity despite their negative correlations with the general popularity of researchers. It was also found that visibility boosts by network-related topics had positive correlations with researchers' social-level interdisciplinarity. Research topics' correlations with researchers' individual- and social-level interdisciplinarities were found to be nearly independent from each other. These findings suggest that the notion of "interdisciplinarity" of a researcher should be understood as a multi-dimensional concept that should be evaluated using multiple assessment means.

  12. The Effect of Testosterone Topical Solution in Hypogonadal Men With Suboptimal Response to a Topical Testosterone Gel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, Patrick R; Kim, Edward D; Ruff, Dustin D; Seftel, Allen D

    2018-05-01

    This study evaluated the effect of axillary administration of a 2% testosterone solution (Axiron ® ) in hypogonadal (HGN) men who had had a suboptimal response to treatment with a commercially available topical testosterone gel. HGN men averaging 57 years old, with a mean body mass index of 31.9 kg/m 2 and median baseline testosterone level (T-level) of 185.2 ng/dL, who had failed to reach normal T-levels with a topical testosterone gel (Androgel 1.62%, Androgel, Testim, or Fortesta) were treated with a 2% testosterone solution until T-levels reached a normal range (from ≥300 to ≤1,050 ng/dL) or for up to 9 weeks. Outcomes included the cumulative percentage of men with a serum T-level in the normal range during treatment with Axiron and improvement in symptoms of low energy level and low sexual drive. During the study, 95% of HGN men (72/78) attained a T-level in the normal range. The median T-level at endpoint was 495.7 ng/dL, a threefold increase over baseline, p levels within the first 2 weeks of treatment. In a post hoc analysis, all subjects with baseline body mass indexes >35 kg/m 2 ( n = 19) achieved T-levels in the normal range. Prior to treatment, over 61% of subjects (48/78) reported impairment in either energy level or sexual drive. After treatment (or testosterone normalization), energy level improved in 75% of subjects and sexual drive improved in 70%. Topical 2% testosterone solution is a safe and effective treatment for HGN men who have had a suboptimal response to previous treatment with topical testosterone gels.

  13. Conference on Stochastic Analysis and Related Topics

    CERN Document Server

    Peterson, Jonathon

    2017-01-01

    The articles in this collection are a sampling of some of the research presented during the conference “Stochastic Analysis and Related Topics”, held in May of 2015 at Purdue University in honor of the 60th birthday of Rodrigo Bañuelos. A wide variety of topics in probability theory is covered in these proceedings, including heat kernel estimates, Malliavin calculus, rough paths differential equations, Lévy processes, Brownian motion on manifolds, and spin glasses, among other topics.

  14. Topical use of dexpanthenol: a 70th anniversary article.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proksch, Ehrhardt; de Bony, Raymond; Trapp, Sonja; Boudon, Stéphanie

    2017-12-01

    Approximately 70 years ago, the first topical dexpanthenol-containing formulation (Bepanthen™ Ointment) has been developed. Nowadays, various topical dexpanthenol preparations exist, tailored according to individual requirements. Topical dexpanthenol has emerged as frequently used formulation in the field of dermatology and skin care. Various studies confirmed dexpanthenol's moisturizing and skin barrier enhancing potential. It prevents skin irritation, stimulates skin regeneration and promotes wound healing. Two main directions in the use of topical dexpanthenol-containing formulations have therefore been pursued: as skin moisturizer/skin barrier restorer and as facilitator of wound healing. This 70th anniversary paper reviews studies with topical dexpanthenol in skin conditions where it is most frequently used. Although discovered decades ago, the exact mechanisms of action of dexpanthenol have not been fully elucidated yet. With the adoption of new technologies, new light has been shed on dexpanthenol's mode of action at the molecular level. It appears that dexpanthenol increases the mobility of stratum corneum molecular components which are important for barrier function and modulates the expression of genes important for wound healing. This review will update readers on recent advances in this field.

  15. Retrospective Evaluation of Topical Bimatoprost and Iris Pigmentation Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaleski-Larsen, Lisa A; Ruth, Nadine H; Fabi, Sabrina G

    2017-12-01

    Topical bimatoprost is a topical prostaglandin analog originally used to treat glaucoma and more recently used to cosmetically induce hypertrichosis of the eyelashes. Iris pigmentation change has been noted in the treatment of glaucoma but has not been assessed with the cosmetic periorbital application of bimatoprost. To evaluate for iris pigmentation change with the long-term cosmetic use of topical bimatoprost. A retrospective chart review in a cosmetic dermatology practice of women (N = 50) who consistently purchased topical bimatoprost over an average of 4.59 years was compared with that of age-matched non-bimatoprost patients (N = 50). A blinded evaluator assessed each patient for iris pigmentary change. No iris pigmentation change was noted with the cutaneous application of bimatoprost. The cutaneous application of bimatoprost appears to be safe with minimal risk for iris pigmentation change.

  16. Increased Topical Generic Prices by Manufacturers: An Isolated Trend or Worrisome Future?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatt, Mehul D; Bhatt, Birju D; Dorrian, James T; McLellan, Beth N

    2018-03-12

    There is limited data regarding generic medication prices. Recent studies have shown price changes at the retail level, but much is not known about the pharmaceutical supply chain or price changes at the manufacturer level. We sought to examine the extent of price changes for topical generic medications. A comprehensive review of average wholesale prices (AWP) and manufacturers of topical generics and available corresponding branded medications was conducted for 2005 and 2016. A total of 51 topical chemical entities were examined. Between 2005 and 2016, the AWP of topical generics increased by 273% and the AWP of topical branded increased by 379%. The topical generic with the most price change increased by 2529%. Eight of the top twenty topical generics with the highest increase in AWP also had an increase in the number of manufacturers. These findings are not generalizable to medications used in other areas of medicine CONCLUSIONS: Topical generic prices are rapidly increasing at the manufacturer level. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  17. Topical Session on the Decommissioning and Dismantling Safety Case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    Set up by the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC), the WPDD brings together senior representatives of national organisations who have a broad overview of Decommissioning and Dismantling (D and D) issues through their work as regulators, implementers, R and D experts or policy makers. These include representatives from regulatory authorities, industrial decommissioners from the NEA Cooperative Programme on Exchange of Scientific and Technical Information on Nuclear Installation Decommissioning Projects (CPD), and cross-representation from the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities, the Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health, and the RWMC. The EC is a member of the WPDD and the IAEA also participates. This ensures co-ordination amongst activities in these international programmes. Participation from civil society organisations is considered on a case by case basis, and has already taken place through the active involvement of the Group of Municipalities with Nuclear Installations at the first meeting of the WPDD At its second meeting, in Paris, 5-7 December 2001, the WPDD held two topical sessions on the D and D Safety Case and on the Management of Materials from D and D, respectively. This report documents the topical session on the safety case. The topical session was meant to provide an exchange of information and experience on the following issues: What topics should be included in a safety case? Of what should it consist? Is there sufficient and complete guidance nationally and internationally? How do practices differ internationally? Main boundary condition to this session was that it would deal with plants where spent fuel has been removed. Also the topical sessions was kept at a level that makes the most of the varied constituency of the WPDD. Namely, interface issues are important, and issue-identification and discussion was the immediate goal. There was less interest in examining areas where variability amongst national

  18. Dressings and topical agents for preventing pressure ulcers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Zena E H; Webster, Joan

    2013-08-18

    Pressure ulcers, which are localised injury to the skin, or underlying tissue or both, occur when people are unable to reposition themselves to relieve pressure on bony prominences. Pressure ulcers are often difficult to heal, painful and impact negatively on the individual's quality of life. The cost implications of pressure ulcer treatment are considerable, compounding the challenges in providing cost effective, efficient health services. Efforts to prevent the development of pressure ulcers have focused on nutritional support, pressure redistributing devices, turning regimes and the application of various topical agents and dressings designed to maintain healthy skin, relieve pressure and prevent shearing forces. Although products aimed at preventing pressure ulcers are widely used, it remains unclear which, if any, of these approaches are effective in preventing the development of pressure ulcers. To evaluate the effects of dressings and topical agents on the prevention of pressure ulcers, in people of any age without existing pressure ulcers, but considered to be at risk of developing a pressure ulcer, in any healthcare setting. In February 2013 we searched the following electronic databases to identify reports of relevant randomised clinical trials (RCTs): the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library); Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (The Cochrane Library); Ovid MEDLINE; Ovid MEDLINE (In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations); Ovid EMBASE; and EBSCO CINAHL. We included RCTs evaluating the use of dressings, topical agents, or topical agents with dressings, compared with a different dressing, topical agent, or combined topical agent and dressing, or no intervention or standard care, with the aim of preventing the development of a pressure ulcer. We assessed trials for their appropriateness for inclusion and for their risk of bias. This was done by two review

  19. Regional forecasting with global atmospheric models; Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Crowley, T.J.; Smith, N.R. [Applied Research Corp., College Station, TX (United States)

    1994-05-01

    The purpose of the project was to conduct model simulations for past and future climate change with respect to the proposed Yucca Mtn. repository. The authors report on three main topics, one of which is boundary conditions for paleo-hindcast studies. These conditions are necessary for the conduction of three to four model simulations. The boundary conditions have been prepared for future runs. The second topic is (a) comparing the atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) with observations and other GCMs; and (b) development of a better precipitation data base for the Yucca Mtn. region for comparisons with models. These tasks have been completed. The third topic is preliminary assessments of future climate change. Energy balance model (EBM) simulations suggest that the greenhouse effect will likely dominate climate change at Yucca Mtn. for the next 10,000 years. The EBM study should improve rational choice of GCM CO{sub 2} scenarios for future climate change.

  20. Topical minoxidil in the treatment of alopecia areata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenton, D A; Wilkinson, J D

    1983-01-01

    A modified double blind crossover study was performed to assess the effect of 1% topical minoxidil as compared with placebo in 30 patients with alopecia areata and alopecia totalis. The active preparation produced a highly significant incidence of hair regrowth. A cosmetically acceptable response was noted in 16 patients. No side effects were seen. The study confirmed that topical minoxidil will induce new hair growth in alopecia areata but that it is less likely to do so in more severe and extensive disease. Furthermore, patients with alopecia universalis and totalis may not respond at all. Nevertheless, as compared with other drugs minoxidil applied topically is relatively non-toxic, is easy to use, and has no systemic or local side effects. Images p1016-a PMID:6412929

  1. Topics in Bioethics: A Development of Student Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keith A. Johnson

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Exposing students to current biotechnological and medical issues is eye-opening for many students in a way that is not always achieved through lecture-based learning. Lecture or investigative teaching styles provide a tremendous knowledge base for the students, but sometimes these teaching styles do not allow the student to fully develop, especially personal attitudes to issues in bioethics. Through online videos, Hollywood movies, guided readings and classroom discussions, students in this course are informed of some bioethical topics, encouraged to learn about other topics, and use this gained knowledge to develop personal positions regarding the value and/or risk of the issues. This course has been well-received by previous students as a favorite in terms of both topics covered and style.

  2. Selected topics in grand unification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seckel, D.

    1983-01-01

    This dissertation is a collection of four pieces of research dealing with grand unification. The topics are neutron oscillation, CP violation, magnetic monopole abundance and distribution in neutron stars, and a proposal for an inflationary cosmology driven by stress-energy in domain walls

  3. An effective coherence measure to determine topical consistency in user-generated content

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    He, J.; Weerkamp, W.; Larson, M.; de Rijke, M.

    2009-01-01

    When searching for blogs on a specific topic, information seekers prefer blogs that place a central focus on that topic over blogs whose mention of the topic is diffuse or incidental. In order to present users with better blog feed search results, we developed a measure of topical consistency that

  4. Applied atomic and collision physics special topics

    CERN Document Server

    Massey, H S W; Bederson, Benjamin

    1982-01-01

    Applied Atomic Collision Physics, Volume 5: Special Topics deals with topics on applications of atomic collisions that were not covered in the first four volumes of the treatise. The book opens with a chapter on ultrasensitive chemical detectors. This is followed by separate chapters on lighting, magnetohydrodynamic electrical power generation, gas breakdown and high voltage insulating gases, thermionic energy converters, and charged particle detectors. Subsequent chapters deal with the operation of multiwire drift and proportional chambers and streamer chambers and their use in high energy p

  5. Topical antifungal agents: an update.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diehl, K B

    1996-10-01

    So many topical antifungal agents have been introduced that it has become very difficult to select the proper agent for a given infection. Nonspecific agents have been available for many years, and they are still effective in many situations. These agents include Whitfield's ointment, Castellani paint, gentian violet, potassium permanganate, undecylenic acid and selenium sulfide. Specific antifungal agents include, among others, the polyenes (nystatin, amphotericin B), the imidazoles (metronidazole, clotrimazole) and the allylamines (terbinafine, naftifine). Although the choice of an antifungal agent should be based on an accurate diagnosis, many clinicians believe that topical miconazole is a relatively effective agent for the treatment of most mycotic infections. Terbinafine and other newer drugs have primary fungicidal effects. Compared with older antifungal agents, these newer drugs can be used in lower concentrations and shorter therapeutic courses. Studies are needed to evaluate the clinical efficacies and cost advantages of both newer and traditional agents.

  6. Topical report review status, July 15, 1983. Vol. 7, No. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1983-08-01

    A Topical Report Review Status is scheduled to be published semi-annually. The primary purpose of this document is to provide periodic progress reports of on-going topical report reviews, to identify those topical reports for which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff review has been completed and, to the extent practicable, to provide NRC management with sufficient information regarding the conduct of the topical report program to permit taking whatever actions deemed necessary or appropriate. This document is also intended to be a source of information to NRC Licensing Project Managers and other NRC personnel regarding the status of topical reports which may be referenced in applications for which they have responsibility

  7. The role of preventive topical antibiotic treatment prior to intravitreal injection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Vladimirovna Ageeva

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD requires frequent intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF agents, sometimes on monthly basis during a long period of time. Endophthalmitis is a rare but extremely severe complication of intravitreal injections. As it has been proven before, the flora from the conjunctival surface is the main source for endophthalmitis. Using Povidone-iodine solution (Betadine10 % Povidone-iodine, EGIS PHARMACEUTICALS is the only way to prevent endophthalmitis. The efficacy of it was proven by numerous studies. No evidence exists that topical antibiotiotics prior and after injections could be effective for prevention of endophthalmitis. Purpose: To study the advisability of topical antibiotic application before intravitreal injection. Materials and methods: Under investigation, there were 25 eyes of 25 patients with wet AMD treated by anti-VEGF intravitreal injections. All patients used topical antibiotics 3 days before injection. Conjunctival culture from injection eye was collected three times: before topical antibiotic use; after topical antibiotic use, and after Betadine 5 % application. Results: The rates of Staphylococcus epidermidis before and after topical antibiotic use were approximately equal. However there was no Staphylococcus epidermidis found after Betadine 5 % application. Conclusion: Our study showed the effectiveness of Betadine 5 % solution in conjunctival flora reduction. Use of topical antibiotics 3 days prior intravitreal injections is not effective. Key words: age-related macular degeneration; endophthalmitis; intravitreal injection; topical antibiotics; endophthalmitis prevention.

  8. An overview of topical treatment for atopic eczema | Motswaledi ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... on the elbows and knees in younger children, and the cubital and popliteal fossae in older children and adults. Treatment modalities include emollients, topical corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors, phototherapy and immunosuppressive therapy. This article provides a brief overview of topical treatments for atopic eczema.

  9. Treatment Duration of Topics in Senior Secondary School Core ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    kofimereku

    years to better equip the students for university education (Daily Graphic of. September 15th 1998). .... five items similar to those in the SS Mathematics Book 3, and covered all the sub-topics of the topic ..... Soviet Union. United States. 181. 188.

  10. Toxic keratopathy due to abuse of topical anesthetic drugs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeniad, Baris; Canturk, Serife; Esin Ozdemir, Fatma; Alparslan, Nilufer; Akarcay, Koray

    2010-06-01

    To describe 8 cases of toxic keratopathy due to abuse of topical anesthetic drugs. Clinical findings from patients with toxic keratopathy were investigated retrospectively. Two patients had toxic keratopathy bilaterally. Five of 8 patients had an ocular history of a corneal foreign body, 1 had basal membrane dystrophy, 1 had ultraviolet radiation, and 1 had chemical burn. All patients had undergone psychiatric consultation. Four patients had anxiety disorder and 1 had bipolar disease. Clinical signs were improved in all patients with discontinuation of topical anesthetic drug use along with adjunctive psychiatric treatment. Penetrating keratoplasty was performed in 2 patients. Toxic keratopathy due to topical anesthetic abuse is a curable disease. Early diagnosis and prevention of topical anesthetic drug use are the most important steps in the treatment of this condition. As these patients commonly exhibit psychiatric disorders, adjunctive psychiatric treatment may help to break the chemical addiction.

  11. Recent advances and perspectives in topical oral anesthesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franz-Montan, Michelle; Ribeiro, Lígia Nunes de Morais; Volpato, Maria Cristina; Cereda, Cintia Maria Saia; Groppo, Francisco Carlos; Tofoli, Giovana Randomille; de Araújo, Daniele Ribeiro; Santi, Patrizia; Padula, Cristina; de Paula, Eneida

    2017-05-01

    Topical anesthesia is widely used in dentistry to reduce pain caused by needle insertion and injection of the anesthetic. However, successful anesthesia is not always achieved using the formulations that are currently commercially available. As a result, local anesthesia is still one of the procedures that is most feared by dental patients. Drug delivery systems (DDSs) provide ways of improving the efficacy of topical agents. Areas covered: An overview of the structure and permeability of oral mucosa is given, followed by a review of DDSs designed for dental topical anesthesia and their related clinical trials. Chemical approaches to enhance permeation and anesthesia efficacy, or to promote superficial anesthesia, include nanostructured carriers (liposomes, cyclodextrins, polymeric nanoparticle systems, solid lipid nanoparticles, and nanostructured lipid carriers) and different pharmaceutical dosage forms (patches, bio- and mucoadhesive systems, and hydrogels). Physical methods include pre-cooling, vibration, iontophoresis, and microneedle arrays. Expert opinion: The combination of different chemical and physical methods is an attractive option for effective topical anesthesia in oral mucosa. This comprehensive review should provide the readers with the most relevant options currently available to assist pain-free dental anesthesia. The findings should be considered for future clinical trials.

  12. Topic shift impairs pronoun resolution during sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiaodong; Zhou, Xiaolin

    2016-02-01

    This study investigated how topic shift and topic continuation influence pronoun interpretation in Chinese. ERPs recorded on pronouns in topic structure showed stronger and earlier late positive responses (P600) for the topic-shift than for the topic-continuation conditions. However, in nontopic structure where the subject (denoting only subjecthood), rather than the topic (denoting both topichood and subjecthood), acted as the antecedent of the pronoun, almost indistinguishable P600 responses were obtained on the pronoun regardless of whether it was referring to the subject (i.e., subject continuation) or the object (i.e., subject shift). Moreover, stronger and earlier P600 responses were elicited by pronouns in the topic-shift than in the subject-shift conditions, although there was no difference between the topic-continuation and the subject-continuation conditions. These findings suggest that topic shift results in greater difficulty in the resolution stage of referential processing, although the bonding process is not sensitive to the manipulation of topic status, and that topic has a privileged cognitive status relative to other nontopic entities (e.g., subject) in real-time language processing. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  13. Health-related hot topic detection in online communities using text clustering.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yingjie Lu

    Full Text Available Recently, health-related social media services, especially online health communities, have rapidly emerged. Patients with various health conditions participate in online health communities to share their experiences and exchange healthcare knowledge. Exploring hot topics in online health communities helps us better understand patients' needs and interest in health-related knowledge. However, the statistical topic analysis employed in previous studies is becoming impractical for processing the rapidly increasing amount of online data. Automatic topic detection based on document clustering is an alternative approach for extracting health-related hot topics in online communities. In addition to the keyword-based features used in traditional text clustering, we integrate medical domain-specific features to represent the messages posted in online health communities. Three disease discussion boards, including boards devoted to lung cancer, breast cancer and diabetes, from an online health community are used to test the effectiveness of topic detection. Experiment results demonstrate that health-related hot topics primarily include symptoms, examinations, drugs, procedures and complications. Further analysis reveals that there also exist some significant differences among the hot topics discussed on different types of disease discussion boards.

  14. Topics in industrial mathematics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vatsya, S.R.

    1992-01-01

    Mathematical methods are widely used to solve practical problems arising in modern industry. This article outlines some of the topics relevant to AECL programmes. This covers the applications of transmission and neutron transport tomography to determine density distributions in rocks and two phase flow situations. Another example covered is the use of variational methods to solve the problems of aerosol migration and control theory. (author). 7 refs

  15. Topical beta-Blockers and Mortality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muskens, Rogier P. H. M.; Wolfs, Roger C. W.; Wittenian, Jacqueline C. M.; Hofman, Albert; de Jong, Paulus T. V. M.; Stricker, Bruno H. C.; Jansonius, Nomdo M.

    Purpose: To study the associations between long-term and short-term use of topical beta-blockers and mortality. Design: Prospective population-based cohort study. Participants: To examine long-term effects, 3842 participants aged 55 years and older were recruited. To examine short-term effects, 484

  16. In-vivo remission spectroscopy on tattoos and topically applied photosensitizers in man

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koenig, Karsten; Beck, Gerd C.; Boehncke, Wolf-Henning; Kaufmann, Roland; Hibst, Raimund

    1994-02-01

    In-vivo remission spectra of the human skin in the spectral region of 400 nm to 800 nm were recorded using a xenon lamp as an excitation source, a fiberoptical sensor combined with a polychromator, and a multichannel analyzer. The remission of amateur tattoos before and after laser treatment (Q-switched Nd:YAG) was measured and the degree of blanching determined. It was found that the process of blanching proceeds partly reversible. In another study, the time-dependent remission of human skin after topical administration of the photosensitizer Methylene Blue was studied. The additional application of the ceratolytic agent urea promotes the penetration of the thiazine dye. The experimental data were analyzed by the Kubelka Munk theory.

  17. Non-adherence to topical treatments for actinic keratosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shergill B

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Bav Shergill,1 Simon Zokaie,2 Alison J Carr3 1Department of Dermatology, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Elm Grove, Brighton, UK; 2Leo Pharma, Princes Risborough, 3Hamell, London, UK Background: There is limited information on the patterns of use, adherence rates, and factors that impact adherence with topical treatments for actinic keratosis (AK. Objectives: To establish patterns of use and adherence with topical treatments for AK and to identify treatment-related factors that impact on adherence. Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was performed using a standardized questionnaire completed online or via telephone interview. Patients were stratified according to the presence of AK lesions on the scalp and/or other extremities; and presence of scarring resulting from treatment. Results: This study included 305 patients with AK who were currently using a patient-applied topical therapy for AK or had used one within the previous 12 months. In total, 88% (n = 268/305 of patients were either non-adherent, non-persistent or both non-adherent and non-persistent to topical therapy. Duration of treatment was associated with increasing rates of non-adherence (adjusted odds ratio [OR]; for treatment durations greater than 4 weeks, 2.2, P < 0.01: 52% of patients were non-adherent with 3–4 week treatment duration; 69% of patients with 4–8 week treatment duration; and 71% of patients with 6–12 week treatment duration. There were similar increases in non-persistence with increasing treatment duration (adjusted OR; for treatment durations greater than 4 weeks, 2.1, P < 0.05. Conclusion: This study found high rates of non-adherence and non-persistence in patients with AK. Duration of treatment was a significant factor contributing to non-adherence and non-persistence to topical treatments. Patient-applied topical therapies that require less frequent application and have shorter treatment duration may be associated with improved

  18. Skin permeation and antioxidant efficacy of topically applied resveratrol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, Cristina; Martí, M; Barba, C; Carrer, V; Rubio, L; Coderch, L

    2017-08-01

    The permeation of resveratrol was assessed by in vitro and in vivo experiments 24 h after topical administration. The in vitro profile of resveratrol was assessed by Raman spectroscopy. Human skin permeation was analysed in vivo by the tape stripping method with the progressive removal of the stratum corneum layers using adhesive tape strips. Moreover, the free radical scavenging activity of resveratrol after its topical application was determined using the DPPH assay. The Raman spectra indicated that the topically applied resveratrol penetrates deep into the skin. The results showed high amounts of resveratrol in the different stratum corneum layers close to the surface and a constant lower amount in the upper layers of the viable epidermis. The concentration of resveratrol present in the outermost stratum corneum layers was obtained by tape stripping after in vivo application. The results demonstrated that resveratrol mainly remained in the human stratum corneum layers. After topical application, resveratrol maintained its antiradical activity. The antioxidant efficacy of the compound was higher in the inner layers of the stratum corneum. As these results have demonstrated, topically applied resveratrol reinforces the antioxidant system of the stratum corneum and provides an efficient means of increasing the tissue levels of antioxidants in the human epidermis.

  19. Topics in current aerosol research (part2)

    CERN Document Server

    Hidy, G M

    1972-01-01

    Topics in Current Aerosol Research, Part 2 contains some selected articles in the field of aerosol study. The chosen topics deal extensively with the theory of diffusiophoresis and thermophoresis. Also covered in the book is the mathematical treatment of integrodifferential equations originating from the theory of aerosol coagulation. The book is the third volume of the series entitled International Reviews in Aerosol Physics and Chemistry. The text offers significant understanding of the methods employed to develop a theory for thermophoretic and diffusiophoretic forces acting on spheres in t

  20. Teachers' Views of Moral Education Topics - Taiwan and the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Huey-Ya; Davidman, Patricia; Petersen, George; Thomas, R. Murray

    1998-01-01

    In a questionnaire survey, 94 teachers in Taiwan and 140 in the United States judged which topics among 20 moral issues would be appropriate subjects of study in grade six of the primary school and in the first year of the university. The issues related to religion, ethnicity, gender, health care, crime, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, guns, government corruption, birth control, caring for the elderly, and television programming. The results revealed great diversity of opinion within each group of respondents. No single topic was approved by all teachers in either group, nor was any topic rejected by all. Among the 234 teachers, no two offered precisely the same configuration of answers over the 20 topics. Nevertheless, some group trends could be identified for individual topics. For example, in both countries the great majority of respondents would teach about industrial pollution, whereas very few would approve of trying to identify the best religion. In the rationales teachers offered in support of their choices, the four reasons that figured most prominently in both countries were that a topic would contribute to the nation's welfare, would help students to make wise decisions, would be interesting for students, and would represent a peaceful way to face social problems.

  1. Visions 2025 and Linkage to NEXT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiscombe, W.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    This talk will describe the progress to date on creating a science-driven vision for the NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) in the post-2010 period. This effort began in the Fall of 2001 by organizing five science workgroups with representatives from NASA, academia and other agencies: Long-Term Climate, Medium-Term Climate, Extreme Weather, Biosphere & Ecosystems, and Solid Earth, Ice Sheets, & Sea Level. Each workgroup was directed to scope out one Big Question, including not just the science but the observational and modeling requirements, the information system requirements, and the applications and benefits to society. This first set of five Big Questions is now in hand and has been presented to the ESE Director. It includes: water resources, intraseasonal predictability, tropical cyclogenesis, invasive species, and sea level. Each of these topics will be discussed briefly. How this effort fits into the NEXT vision exercise and into Administrator O'Keefe's new vision for NASA will also be discussed.

  2. Testosterone therapy in microphallic hypospadias: topical or parenteral?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chalapathi, G; Rao, K L N; Chowdhary, S K; Narasimhan, K L; Samujh, Ram; Mahajan, J K

    2003-02-01

    Local or systemic application of testosterone is reported to stimulate penile growth. Intramuscular testosterone has been found to be effective in 50% of patients; however, variable results have been reported with topical testosterone. The current study is an attempt to compare the efficacy of intramuscular versus topical testosterone application. A total of 26 consecutive patients with hypospadias and small penis (enlargement was observed in 60% children in group A and 75% in group B. Although the desired therapeutic effect of testosterone was achieved in both the groups, this study failed to show any significant difference between the 2 routes of administration. However, in group A, (topical) serum testosterone crossed the normal range in 15% of patients and was associated with significant reversible side effects. Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

  3. Transdermal and Topical Drug Administration in the Treatment of Pain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wojciech Leppert

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The comprehensive treatment of pain is multidimodal, with pharmacotherapy playing a key role. An effective therapy for pain depends on the intensity and type of pain, the patients’ age, comorbidities, and appropriate choice of analgesic, its dose and route of administration. This review is aimed at presenting current knowledge on analgesics administered by transdermal and topical routes for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care professionals dealing with patients suffering from pain. Analgesics administered transdermally or topically act through different mechanisms. Opioids administered transdermally are absorbed into vessels located in subcutaneous tissue and, subsequently, are conveyed in the blood to opioid receptors localized in the central and peripheral nervous system. Non–steroidal anti–inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs applied topically render analgesia mainly through a high concentration in the structures of the joint and a provision of local anti–inflammatory effects. Topically administered drugs such as lidocaine and capsaicin in patches, capsaicin in cream, EMLA cream, and creams containing antidepressants (i.e., doxepin, amitriptyline act mainly locally in tissues through receptors and/or ion channels. Transdermal and topical routes offer some advantages over systemic analgesic administration. Analgesics administered topically have a much better profile for adverse effects as they relieve local pain with minimal systemic effects. The transdermal route apart from the above-mentioned advantages and provision of long period of analgesia may be more convenient, especially for patients who are unable to take drugs orally. Topically and transdermally administered opioids are characterised by a lower risk of addiction compared to oral and parenteral routes.

  4. Topical beta-blockers and mortality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Müskens, Rogier P. H. M.; Wolfs, Roger C. W.; Witteman, Jacqueline C. M.; Hofman, Albert; de Jong, Paulus T. V. M.; Stricker, Bruno H. C.; Jansonius, Nomdo M.

    2008-01-01

    To study the associations between long-term and short-term use of topical beta-blockers and mortality. Prospective population-based cohort study. To examine long-term effects, 3842 participants aged 55 years and older were recruited. To examine short-term effects, 484 incident beta-blocker users and

  5. Topics in elementary particle physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dugan, M.J.

    1985-01-01

    Topics in elementary particle physics are discussed. Models with N = 2 supersymmetry are constructed. The CP violation properties of a class of N = 1 supergravity models are analyzed. The structure of a composite Higgs model is investigated. The implications of a 17 keV neutrino are considered

  6. Topical ganciclovir in the treatment of acute herpetic keratitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabbara, Khalid F; Al Balushi, Noorjehan

    2010-08-19

    Herpetic keratitis is caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) and is a common cause of corneal blindness. Following a primary ocular herpetic infection, latency of the virus occurs, followed by subsequent recurrences of herpetic keratitis. Such recurrences may lead to structural damage of the cornea. Recurrent herpetic keratitis is a common indication for corneal transplantation. Recurrences of herpetic keratitis in the corneal graft may lead to corneal graft rejection. Several antiviral agents for HSV are available, including the thymidine analogs. Prolonged use of thymidine analogs may lead to toxicity of the ocular surface, including epithelial keratitis, corneal ulcers, follicular conjunctivitis, and punctal occlusions. Availability of topical antiviral agents that are safe and effective in the treatment and prophylaxis of herpetic keratitis is highly desirable. Ganciclovir is a potent inhibitor of members of the herpes virus family. The drug has been used systemically for the treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis. Its hematologic toxicity secondary to systemic administration led to its limited use in herpetic infections. On the other hand, topical ganciclovir has been shown to be as safe and effective as acyclovir in the treatment of herpetic epithelial keratitis. Furthermore, topical ganciclovir can reach therapeutic levels in the cornea and aqueous humor following topical application. Several clinical trials have shown that topical ganciclovir 0.15% ophthalmic gel is safe and effective in the treatment and prophylaxis of herpetic epithelial disease. Long-term use of ganciclovir ophthalmic gel in patients with penetrating keratoplasty following herpetic keratitis has prevented recurrences of the disease. Topical ganciclovir ophthalmic gel is well tolerated, does not cause toxic effects on the ocular surface, and does not cause hematologic abnormalities. Clinical studies have underscored the potential role of ganciclovir ophthalmic gel in the treatment and

  7. Comparison of topical capsaicin and topical turpentine oil for treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Musharraf, M.U.; Ahmed, Z.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Diabetes Mellitus is a pandemic of the modern era owing to our rapidly deteriorating lifestyle. Painful diabetic neuropathy is one of the costliest and disabling complications of diabetes mellitus. No single treatment exists to prevent or reverse neuropathic changes or to provide total pain relief. Topical Capsaicin and Turpentine Oil are found to be effective in treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy. Methods: Patients of either gender with ages between 18 and 70 years having painful diabetic neuropathy already taking one oral drug for painful neuropathy and treatment for diabetes mellitus and an HbA1C less than 8.5% were included while Pregnant or lactating mothers, patients with chronic liver disease and patients with renal insufficiency (creatinine >3.0 mg/dl) and peripheral arterial disease were excluded from study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups (A and B) using computer generated random number table. Group A was given topical application of capsaicin while Group B was given topical application of commercially available turpentine oil over painful site on feet. Results: 300 patients were equally divided in two groups. The patients in group A had a Visual Analog Pain Score of 7.91±5.10 at baseline and 5.10±1.343 after 3 months of treatment (p-value 0.0001). The patients in group B had a Visual Analog Pain Score of 7.83±1.012 at baseline and 5.20±1.187 after 3 months of treatment (p-value 0.0001). Chi Square test was applied to compare efficacy of both groups. It was noted that 71 (53%) had efficacy in group A and 63 (47%) had efficacy in the group B but the difference was not statistically significant. (p-value=0.399). Conclusion: It has been concluded that turpentine oil is effective in managing diabetic neuropathic pain similar to capsaicin cream.

  8. Periorbital muscle atrophy associated with topical bimatoprost therapy

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Priscilla Xinhui; Koh, Victor Teck Chang; Cheng, Jin Fong

    2014-01-01

    Priscilla Xinhui Wang, Victor Teck Chang Koh, Jin Fong ChengDepartment of Ophthalmology, National University Health System, SingaporeAbstract: Topical Bimatoprost is a common and popular prostaglandin analog used as an ocular hypotensive agent in the treatment of glaucoma. Side effects include ocular hyperaemia, ocular pruritus, and periocular and iris pigmentary changes. Perioribital lipodystrophy is another well-documented outcome associated with chronic use of topical bimatoprost, which re...

  9. Topic theory and Brazilian musicality: Considerations on rhetoricity in music

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Acácio T. C. Piedade

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available This article presents an application of the topic theory to the analyses of Brazilian music. It starts with a reflection on the concepts of musicality, friction of musicalities in Brazilian jazz, and the fusion of musicalities that emerges from the invention of tradition. The discussion follows with the question of the adaptability of topic theory to national musics. Then, some musical examples are used in order to present some of the universes of topics of Brazilian music. In this article I argue that the concept of rhetoricity brings good results to the study of musical signification, and that the theory of topics is useful for other contexts than classical music, being an interesting route to the investigation of sociocultural connections in musicalities.

  10. Problematic topics in first-year mathematics: lecturer and student views

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ní Shé, Caitríona; Mac an Bhaird, Ciarán; Ní Fhloinn, Eabhnat; O'Shea, Ann

    2017-07-01

    In this paper we report on the outcomes of two surveys carried out in higher education institutions of Ireland; one of students attending first-year undergraduate non-specialist mathematics modules and another of their lecturers. The surveys aimed to identify the topics that these students found difficult, whether they had most difficulty with the concepts or procedures involved in the topics, and the resources they used to overcome these difficulties. In this paper we focus on the mathematical concepts and procedures that students found most difficult. While there was agreement between students and lecturers on certain problematic topics, this was not uniform across all topics, and students rated their conceptual understanding higher than their ability to do questions, in contrast to lecturers' opinions.

  11. Early addition of topical corticosteroids in the treatment of bacterial keratitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Kathryn J; Srinivasan, Muthiah; Mascarenhas, Jeena; Rajaraman, Revathi; Ravindran, Meenakshi; Glidden, David V; Oldenburg, Catherine E; Sun, Catherine Q; Zegans, Michael E; McLeod, Stephen D; Acharya, Nisha R; Lietman, Thomas M

    2014-06-01

    Scarring from bacterial keratitis remains a leading cause of visual loss. To determine whether topical corticosteroids are beneficial as an adjunctive therapy for bacterial keratitis if given early in the course of infection. The Steroids for Corneal Ulcers Trial (SCUT) was a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial that overall found no effect of adding topical corticosteroids to topical moxifloxacin hydrochloride in bacterial keratitis. Here, we assess the timing of administration of corticosteroids in a subgroup analysis of the SCUT. We define earlier administration of corticosteroids (vs placebo) as addition after 2 to 3 days of topical antibiotics and later as addition after 4 or more days of topical antibiotics. We assess the effect of topical corticosteroids (vs placebo) on 3-month best spectacle-corrected visual acuity in patients who received corticosteroids or placebo earlier vs later. Further analyses were performed for subgroups of patients with non-Nocardia keratitis and those with no topical antibiotic use before enrollment. Patients treated with topical corticosteroids as adjunctive therapy within 2 to 3 days of antibiotic therapy had approximately 1-line better visual acuity at 3 months than did those given placebo (-0.11 logMAR; 95% CI, -0.20 to -0.02 logMAR; P = .01). In patients who had 4 or more days of antibiotic therapy before corticosteroid treatment, the effect was not significant; patients given corticosteroids had 1-line worse visual acuity at 3 months compared with those in the placebo group (0.10 logMAR; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.23 logMAR; P = .14). Patients with non-Nocardia keratitis and those having no topical antibiotic use before the SCUT enrollment showed significant improvement in best spectacle-corrected visual acuity at 3 months if corticosteroids were administered earlier rather than later. There may be a benefit with adjunctive topical corticosteroids if application occurs earlier in the course of bacterial

  12. Plasmasphere dynamics in the duskside bulge region: A new look at old topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpenter, D. L.; Giles, B. L.; Chappell, C. R.; Decreau, P. M. E.; Anderson, R. R.; Persoon, A. M.; Smith, A. J.; Corcuff, Y.; Canu, P.

    1993-01-01

    Data acquired during several multiday periods in 1982 at ground stations Siple, Halley, and Kerguelen and on satellites Dynamics Explorer 1, International Sun Earth Explorer 1, and GEOS 2 have been used to investigate thermal plasma structure and dynamics in the duskside plasmasphere bulge region of the Earth. The distribution of thermal plasma in the dusk bulge sector is difficult to describe realistically, in part because of the time integral manner in which the thermal plasma distribution depends upon on the effects of bulk cross-B flow and interchange plasma flows along B. While relatively simple MHD models can be useful for qualitatively predicting certain effects of enhanced convection on a quiet plasmasphere, such as an initial sunward entrainment of the outer regions, they are of limited value in predicting the duskside thermal plasma structures that are observed. Furthermore, use of such models can be misleading if one fails to realize that they do not address the question of the formation of the steep plasmapause profile or provide for a possible role of instabilities or other irreversible processes in plasmapause formation. Our specific findings, which are based both upon the present case studies and upon earlier work, include the following: (1) during active periods the plasmasphere appears to become divided into two entities, a main plasmasphere and a duskside bulge region. (2) in the aftermath of an increase in convection activity, the main plasmasphere tends (from a statistical point of view) to become roughly circular in equatorial cross section, with only a slight bulge at dusk; (3) the abrupt westward edge of the duskside bulge observed from whistlers represents a state in the evolution of sunward extending streamers; (4) in the aftermath of a weak magnetic storm, 10 to 30% of the plasma 'removed' from the outer plasmasphere appears to remain in the afternoon-dusk sector beyond the main plasmasphere. (5) outlying dense plasma structures may

  13. (Post-Yugoslav anti-war engagement: A research topic awaiting attention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bilić Bojan

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available (Post-Yugoslav anti-war contention has remained an under-theorised topic almost twenty years after the end of the wars of Yugoslav succession. Rather than focusing on the “ontogenesis” of individual pacifist enterprises, this paper examines the reasons for which (post-Yugoslav anti-war activisms have been marginalised in recent East European sociological scholarship. I argue that a thorough appreciation of these phenomena requires a Yugoslav/regional approach which has not been favoured by post-Yugoslav social science scholars. This article also offers a critical reading of the existing attempts to theorise (post- Yugoslav anti-war activisms. It criticises their failure to draw upon the rich conceptual ap­paratus of social movement theories developed within Western political sociology over the last couple of decades. In spite of the fact that the concept of “social movement” may be contested in the context of post-Yugoslav anti-war engagement on the basis of its quantitative marginality, this should not deter (post-Yugoslav social scientists from applying and refining Anglo-Saxon social movement theories in a culturally sensitive manner. Specific dynamics of anti-war activism occurring within an armed conflict has not been sufficiently studied. This is an important knowledge lacuna where regional sociologists could offer a substantive contribution.

  14. Section 608 Technician Certification Test Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Identifies some of the topics covered on Section 608 Technician Certification tests such as ozone depletion, the Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol, Substitute Refrigerants and oils, Refrigeration and Recovery Techniques.

  15. Towards Interactive Construction of Topical Hierarchy: A Recursive Tensor Decomposition Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chi; Liu, Xueqing; Song, Yanglei; Han, Jiawei

    2015-08-01

    Automatic construction of user-desired topical hierarchies over large volumes of text data is a highly desirable but challenging task. This study proposes to give users freedom to construct topical hierarchies via interactive operations such as expanding a branch and merging several branches. Existing hierarchical topic modeling techniques are inadequate for this purpose because (1) they cannot consistently preserve the topics when the hierarchy structure is modified; and (2) the slow inference prevents swift response to user requests. In this study, we propose a novel method, called STROD, that allows efficient and consistent modification of topic hierarchies, based on a recursive generative model and a scalable tensor decomposition inference algorithm with theoretical performance guarantee. Empirical evaluation shows that STROD reduces the runtime of construction by several orders of magnitude, while generating consistent and quality hierarchies.

  16. Analyzing the field of bioinformatics with the multi-faceted topic modeling technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heo, Go Eun; Kang, Keun Young; Song, Min; Lee, Jeong-Hoon

    2017-05-31

    Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of molecular biology and computing technology. To characterize the field as convergent domain, researchers have used bibliometrics, augmented with text-mining techniques for content analysis. In previous studies, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was the most representative topic modeling technique for identifying topic structure of subject areas. However, as opposed to revealing the topic structure in relation to metadata such as authors, publication date, and journals, LDA only displays the simple topic structure. In this paper, we adopt the Tang et al.'s Author-Conference-Topic (ACT) model to study the field of bioinformatics from the perspective of keyphrases, authors, and journals. The ACT model is capable of incorporating the paper, author, and conference into the topic distribution simultaneously. To obtain more meaningful results, we use journals and keyphrases instead of conferences and bag-of-words.. For analysis, we use PubMed to collected forty-six bioinformatics journals from the MEDLINE database. We conducted time series topic analysis over four periods from 1996 to 2015 to further examine the interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics. We analyze the ACT Model results in each period. Additionally, for further integrated analysis, we conduct a time series analysis among the top-ranked keyphrases, journals, and authors according to their frequency. We also examine the patterns in the top journals by simultaneously identifying the topical probability in each period, as well as the top authors and keyphrases. The results indicate that in recent years diversified topics have become more prevalent and convergent topics have become more clearly represented. The results of our analysis implies that overtime the field of bioinformatics becomes more interdisciplinary where there is a steady increase in peripheral fields such as conceptual, mathematical, and system biology. These results are

  17. Principles of topical treatment: advancement in gel vehicle technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feldman, Steven R

    2014-04-01

    Topical treatment is a pillar of dermatologic practice. The delivery of drug by a topical vehicle is dependent on complex physical chemistry and on how well patients apply the product. The potency of topical agents is not solely dependent on the concentration of active drug in the vehicle. A corticosteroid molecule may have vastly different potency depending on what vehicle is used to deliver it. Similarly, a new gel vehicle is able to deliver considerably more active antifungal than an older vehicle technology and may represent a promising vehicle for other novel formulations. The use of new vehicles can provide more effective means for treating patients with skin disease.

  18. Tactile friction of topical formulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skedung, L; Buraczewska-Norin, I; Dawood, N; Rutland, M W; Ringstad, L

    2016-02-01

    The tactile perception is essential for all types of topical formulations (cosmetic, pharmaceutical, medical device) and the possibility to predict the sensorial response by using instrumental methods instead of sensory testing would save time and cost at an early stage product development. Here, we report on an instrumental evaluation method using tactile friction measurements to estimate perceptual attributes of topical formulations. Friction was measured between an index finger and an artificial skin substrate after application of formulations using a force sensor. Both model formulations of liquid crystalline phase structures with significantly different tactile properties, as well as commercial pharmaceutical moisturizing creams being more tactile-similar, were investigated. Friction coefficients were calculated as the ratio of the friction force to the applied load. The structures of the model formulations and phase transitions as a result of water evaporation were identified using optical microscopy. The friction device could distinguish friction coefficients between the phase structures, as well as the commercial creams after spreading and absorption into the substrate. In addition, phase transitions resulting in alterations in the feel of the formulations could be detected. A correlation was established between skin hydration and friction coefficient, where hydrated skin gave rise to higher friction. Also a link between skin smoothening and finger friction was established for the commercial moisturizing creams, although further investigations are needed to analyse this and correlations with other sensorial attributes in more detail. The present investigation shows that tactile friction measurements have potential as an alternative or complement in the evaluation of perception of topical formulations. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Investigating Online Destination Images Using a Topic-Based Sentiment Analysis Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gang Ren

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available With the development of Web 2.0, many studies have tried to analyze tourist behavior utilizing user-generated contents. The primary purpose of this study is to propose a topic-based sentiment analysis approach, including a polarity classification and an emotion classification. We use the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model to extract topics from online travel review data and analyze the sentiments and emotions for each topic with our proposed approach. The top frequent words are extracted for each topic from online reviews on Ctrip.com. By comparing the relative importance of each topic, we conclude that many tourists prefer to provide “suggestion” reviews. In particular, we propose a new approach to classify the emotions of online reviews at the topic level utilizing an emotion lexicon, focusing on specific emotions to analyze customer complaints. The results reveal that attraction “management” obtains most complaints. These findings may provide useful insights for the development of attractions and the measurement of online destination image. Our proposed method can be used to analyze reviews from many online platforms and domains.

  20. Learning From Short Text Streams With Topic Drifts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Peipei; He, Lu; Wang, Haiyan; Hu, Xuegang; Zhang, Yuhong; Li, Lei; Wu, Xindong

    2017-09-18

    Short text streams such as search snippets and micro blogs have been popular on the Web with the emergence of social media. Unlike traditional normal text streams, these data present the characteristics of short length, weak signal, high volume, high velocity, topic drift, etc. Short text stream classification is hence a very challenging and significant task. However, this challenge has received little attention from the research community. Therefore, a new feature extension approach is proposed for short text stream classification with the help of a large-scale semantic network obtained from a Web corpus. It is built on an incremental ensemble classification model for efficiency. First, more semantic contexts based on the senses of terms in short texts are introduced to make up of the data sparsity using the open semantic network, in which all terms are disambiguated by their semantics to reduce the noise impact. Second, a concept cluster-based topic drifting detection method is proposed to effectively track hidden topic drifts. Finally, extensive studies demonstrate that as compared to several well-known concept drifting detection methods in data stream, our approach can detect topic drifts effectively, and it enables handling short text streams effectively while maintaining the efficiency as compared to several state-of-the-art short text classification approaches.

  1. Follicular and percutaneous penetration pathways of topically applied minoxidil foam.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blume-Peytavi, Ulrike; Massoudy, Lida; Patzelt, Alexa; Lademann, Jürgen; Dietz, Ekkehart; Rasulev, Utkur; Garcia Bartels, Natalie

    2010-11-01

    In the past, it was assumed that the intercellular route was the only relevant penetration pathway for topically applied substances. Recent results on follicular penetration emphasize that the hair follicles represent a highly relevant and efficient penetration pathway and reservoir for topically applied substances. This study investigates a selective closure technique of hair follicle orifices in vivo assessing interfollicular and follicular absorption rates of topical minoxidil foam in humans. In delimited skin area, single hair orifices or interfollicular skin were blocked with a microdrop of special varnish-wax-mixture in vivo. Minoxidil foam (5%) was topically applied, and transcutaneous absorption was measured by a new surface ionization mass spectrometry technique in serum. Different settings (open, closed or none of both) enabled to clearly distinguish between interfollicular and follicular penetration of the topically applied minoxidil foam. Five minutes after topical application, minoxidil was detected in blood samples when follicles remained open, whereas with closed follicles 30 min were needed. Highest levels were found first when both pathways were open, followed by open follicles and subsequently by closed follicles. These results demonstrate the high importance of the follicular penetration pathway. Hair follicles are surrounded by a dense network of blood capillaries and dendritic cells and have stem cells in their immediate vicinity, making them ideal targets for drug delivery. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Etodolac Containing Topical Niosomal Gel: Formulation Development and Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gyati Shilakari Asthana

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed to investigate the delivery potential of Etodolac (ETD containing topical niosomal gel. Niosomal formulations were prepared by thin film hydration method at various ratios of cholesterol and Span 60 and were evaluated with respect to particle size, shape, entrapment efficiency, and in vitro characteristics. Dicetyl phosphate (DCP was also added in the niosomal formulation. Mean particle size of niosomal formulation was found to be in the range of 2 μm to 4 μm. Niosomal formulation N2 (1 : 1 ratio of cholesterol and surfactant displayed good entrapment efficiency (96.72%. TEM analyses showed that niosomal formulation was spherical in shape. Niosomal formulation (N2 displayed high percentage of drug release after 24 h (94.91 at (1 : 1 ratio of cholesterol : surfactant. Further selected niosomal formulation was used to formulate topical gel and was characterized with respect to its various parameters such as pH, viscosity, spreadability, ex vivo study, and in vivo potential permeation. Ex vivo study showed that niosomal gel possessed better skin permeation study than the plain topical gel. Further in vivo study revealed good inhibition of inflammation in case of topical niosomal gel than plain gel and niosomal formulation. The present study suggested that topical niosomal gel formulations provide sustained and prolonged delivery of drug.

  3. Inhibition of Corneal Neovascularization by Topical and Subconjunctival Tigecycline

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sertan Goktas

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. To investigate the effects of topical and subconjunctival tigecycline on the prevention of corneal neovascularization. Materials and Methods. Following chemical burn, thirty-two rats were treated daily with topical instillation of 1 mg/mL tigecycline (group 1 or subconjunctival instillation of 1 mg/mL tigecycline (group 3 for 7 days. Control rats received topical (group 2 or subconjunctival (group 4 0.9% saline. Digital photographs of the cornea were taken on the eighth day after treatment and analyzed to determine the percentage area of the cornea covered by neovascularization. Corneal sections were analyzed histopathologically. Results. The median percentages of corneal neovascularization in groups 1 and 3 were 48% (95% confidence interval (CI, 44.2–55.8% and 33.5% (95% CI, 26.6–39.2%, respectively. The median percentages of corneal neovascularization of groups 1 and 3 were significantly lower than that of the control group (P=0.03 and P<0.001, resp.. Histologic examination of samples from groups 1 and 3 showed lower vascularity than that of control groups. Conclusion. Topical and subconjunctival administration of tigecycline seems to be showing promising therapeutic effects on the prevention of corneal neovascularization. Furthermore, subconjunctival administration of tigecycline is more potent than topical administration in the inhibition of corneal neovascularization.

  4. Impact Factors and Prediction of Popular Topics in a Journal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, M B; Seitz, K.

    2016-01-01

    been on peripheral nerves 23. Surprisingly many good scientific papers on obstetrics/fetal US and musculoskeletal US have low citation rates 24 25 26. Our predictions for 2016 based on the topics of submitted articles in the last 12 months are that CEUS and elastography will continue to be popular...... topics.It is also worth mentioning that there can be a discrepancy between which titles are cited and which are accessed online. In addition to international guidelines, our CME articles are usually popular according to online access. CME articles are well established educational papers...... and recommendations is important to UIM/EJU. Although we see popular topics like CEUS and elastography, it is not possible to predict which articles will be read or even cited based on the topic, with multicenter studies being the exception....

  5. Geology and mineral technology of the grants uranium region 1979

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rautman, C.A.

    1980-01-01

    Forty six papers which were presented at the 1979 Symposium on the Geology of the Grants Uranium Region plus three more are included in this Proceedings. The papers cover the geology of the Grants region with discussions of exploration history and methods, individual deposits, petrographic investigations, field studies mining and experimental studies. Other topics such as ground water hydrology and severence taxes are also included. All papers have been abstracted and all but four have been indexed

  6. Topical therapies in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis: an evidence-based review with recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudmik, Luke; Hoy, Monica; Schlosser, Rodney J; Harvey, Richard J; Welch, Kevin C; Lund, Valerie; Smith, Timothy L

    2013-04-01

    Topical therapies have become an integral component in the management plan for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Several topical therapy strategies have been evaluated, but a formal comprehensive evaluation of the evidence has never been performed. The purpose of this article is to provide an evidence-based approach for the utilization of topical therapies in the management of CRS. A systematic review of the literature was performed and the guidelines for development of an evidence-based review with recommendations were followed. Study inclusion criteria were: adult population >18 years old; chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) based on published diagnostic criteria; and clearly defined primary clinical end-point. We focused on reporting higher-quality studies (level 2b or higher), but reported on lower-level studies if the topic contained insufficient evidence. We excluded drug-eluting spacer and stent therapy from this review. This review identified and evaluated the literature on 5 topical therapy strategies for CRS: saline irrigation, topical steroid, topical antibiotic, topical antifungal, and topical alternatives (surfactant, manuka honey, and xylitol irrigations). Based on the available evidence, sinonasal saline irrigation and standard topical nasal steroid therapy are recommended in the topical treatment of CRS. Nonstandard (off-label) topical sinonasal steroid therapies can be an option for managing CRS. The evidence recommends against the use of topical antifungal therapy and topical antibiotic therapy delivered using nebulized and spray techniques in routine cases of CRS. There is insufficient clinical research to provide recommendations for alternative therapies or topical antibiotic therapy delivered using other delivery methods (eg, irrigations). © 2013 ARS-AAOA, LLC.

  7. Gastrointestinal Bleeding: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... are many possible causes of GI bleeding, including hemorrhoids , peptic ulcers , tears or inflammation in the esophagus, ... blood Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Hemorrhoids Peptic Ulcer National Institutes of Health The primary ...

  8. Update on the Systemic Risks of Superpotent Topical Steroids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Mio; Abrouk, Michael; Zhu, Henry; Farahnik, Benjamin; Koo, John; Bhutani, Tina

    2017-07-01

    INTRODUCTION: The potential for systemic effects due to percutaneous absorption of superpotent topical steroids has been a longstanding concern. The Food and Drug Administration currently recommends limiting the use of superpotent topical steroids to 50g per week for 2 or 4 consecutive weeks depending on the formulation, which is mostly based on the exact duration with which phase 3 clinical trials were allowed to be conducted per the FDA. This article reviews all published clinical incidence of adrenal adverse effects in the medical literature, specifically Cushing's syndrome (CS) and pathologic adrenal suppression (PAAS), to try to ascertain a more realistic limit for the safe use of superpotent topical steroids as it pertains to its potential systemic effects. METHODS: Literature search was conducted using PubMed. Only cases of CS and PAAS secondary to the use of Class I superpotent topical steroids were included. Pediatric cases and full articles unavailable in English were excluded. RESULTS: There were a total of 14 cases of CS and 5 cases of subsequent PAAS found in the current literature. DISCUSSION: From our review of these cases, if the amount used per week is within FDA guidelines, it appears that patients needed to use superpotent topical steroids for far greater than 2 or 4 weeks to develop CS or PAAS. CS did not necessarily predict occurrence of PAAS, but in all cases CS appeared to be a prerequisite for developing PAAS. All cases of CS and all but one case of PAAS were reversible. If excessive amount of greater than 50g per week is avoided, it appears that superpotent topical steroids may be safe to use consecutively for months, perhaps even years, without causing systemic effects. J Drugs Dermatol. 2017;16(7):643-648..

  9. Immigration, Cultural-Linguistic Diversity, and Topics in Language Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Li-Rong Lilly

    2010-01-01

    This article summarizes 4 topics contributed by the author over the last 30 years of "Topics in Language Disorders" that address the issues of immigration, migration, and refugees. The focus is on the historical perspectives on evolution of terminologies from limited English proficient to English language learner and English as a new language.…

  10. Topical combinations aimed at treating microvascular dysfunction reduce allodynia in rat models of CRPS-I and neuropathic pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragavendran, J Vaigunda; Laferrière, André; Xiao, Wen Hua; Bennett, Gary J; Padi, Satyanarayana S V; Zhang, Ji; Coderre, Terence J

    2013-01-01

    Growing evidence indicates that various chronic pain syndromes exhibit tissue abnormalities caused by microvasculature dysfunction in the blood vessels of skin, muscle, or nerve. We tested whether topical combinations aimed at improving microvascular function would relieve allodynia in animal models of complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS-I) and neuropathic pain. We hypothesized that topical administration of either α(2)-adrenergic (α(2)A) receptor agonists or nitric oxide (NO) donors combined with either phosphodiesterase (PDE) or phosphatidic acid (PA) inhibitors would effectively reduce allodynia in these animal models of chronic pain. Single topical agents produced significant dose-dependent antiallodynic effects in rats with chronic postischemia pain, and the antiallodynic dose-response curves of PDE and PA inhibitors were shifted 2.5- to 10-fold leftward when combined with nonanalgesic doses of α(2)A receptor agonists or NO donors. Topical combinations also produced significant antiallodynic effects in rats with sciatic nerve injury, painful diabetic neuropathy, and chemotherapy-induced painful neuropathy. These effects were shown to be produced by a local action, lasted up to 6 hours after acute treatment, and did not produce tolerance over 15 days of chronic daily dosing. The present results support the hypothesis that allodynia in animal models of CRPS-I and neuropathic pain is effectively relieved by topical combinations of α(2)A or NO donors with PDE or PA inhibitors. This suggests that topical treatments aimed at improving microvascular function may reduce allodynia in patients with CRPS-I and neuropathic pain. This article presents the synergistic antiallodynic effects of combinations of α(2)A or NO donors with PDE or PA inhibitors in animal models of CRPS-I and neuropathic pain. The data suggest that effective clinical treatment of chronic neuropathic pain may be achieved by therapies that alleviate microvascular dysfunction in affected

  11. Hot Topics in Science Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ediger, Marlow

    2018-01-01

    There are vital topics in science teaching and learning which are mentioned frequently in the literature. Specialists advocate their importance in the curriculum as well as science teachers stress their saliency. Inservice education might well assist new and veteran teachers in knowledge and skills. The very best science lessons and units of…

  12. Regional cooperation in RWM in the AO countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ya-anant, N.; Thiangtrongjit, S.

    2011-01-01

    Regional cooperation in radioactive waste management (RWM) in the Asian and Oceanic countries has been successfully developing for more than 20 y. At present, the Asian and Oceanic countries recognise that there are several projects under the regional cooperation, such as the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA), the Asian Nuclear Safety Network (ANSN) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regional projects. The FNCA on Radiation Safety and RWM is an effective mechanism for enhancing socio-economic development through active regional partnership in the peaceful and safe utilisation of nuclear technology. The ANSN Topical Group on RWM is established for exchanging, pooling, and sharing knowledge in the field of nuclear safety. For IAEA regional cooperation on RWM, such as IAEA-regional project RAS/3/009 Strengthening Infrastructure of RWM can provide and support Asian and Oceanic countries for national work plan, fellowships and scientific visits as well as expert services. (authors)

  13. Public information - Northwest region of Russian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saiapina, A.

    2001-01-01

    Regional Center of Public Information in Northwest region of Russian Federation is a part of the State Regional Educational Center of Ministry of the Russian Federation for atomic energy in St.-Petersburg, Russia (http://graph.runnet.ru/). This Center of Public Information (CPI) provides a wide range of information dealing with the nuclear power. The objectives of the CPI are: to conduct informational and educational activities so as to form a positive attitude toward atomic energy and nuclear technologies; to provide the population with a means reliable information about objects of potential risk; to organize an active exchange of the information with enterprises using nuclear technologies in the region. The main topics of informational support are these: electricity production, the ground of nuclear power, new Russian nuclear reactors, nuclear safety, nuclear power and environment, radioactivity, Leningrad nuclear power plant, responsibilities in nuclear engineering. (author)

  14. Regionalism and Economic Processes with Global Impact

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina TABAC

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Regionalism has become one of the most discussed topics at the moment, in recent years and become one of the central challenges of the future in the modern system of international relations. Finally, in the XIX-XX centuries, scientists have expressed it a worldwide phenomenon through a process of radical change "external environment" and significant internal changes. It can be expressed in the world in one way or another, even if it has not been shown modest form until recently. Currently, regionalism and regional integration are considered as key indicators of international developments in the research of foreign policy and international relations. Theory followed the end of the era of "Cold War" and entered the post-bipolar world, multi-faceted development stage. The attention of researchers has grown to regionalization and regional integration by increasing the role and activities of regional organizations such as the EU, ASEAN, APEC and NAFTA, which coordinates the process of decision-making at supranational level, as well as issues of international regulation.

  15. Ocular pharmacokinetics and availability of topically applied baicalein in rabbits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Li; Zhang, Junjie; Wang, Liya; Xia, Huiyun

    2009-04-01

    To evaluate the ocular pharmacokinetics and availability of baicalein following topical application. Hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta -CD) was used to formulate an aqueous eye drop to improve aqueous solubility of baicalein. A single dose of either baicalein suspension (1%) (Bai-SP) or baicalein (1%)/HP-beta-CD (10%) solution (Bai-CD) was topically applied to rabbits. Aqueous humor and cornea were collected after 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min. Baicalein concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after extraction. After topically applying Bai-CD, the baicalein concentrations in aqueous humor were significantly increased at 20-120 min except at 90 min compared with those of Bai-SP (p cornea (56.53 +/- 17.02 microg/g) was achieved within 5 min after topical application of Bai-CD and 4.5 times higher than that of Bai-SP at the same timepoint. The baicalein levels in corneas obtained after application of Bai-CD were all much higher than those obtained by Bai-SP (p < 0.01), whereas the drug levels became undetectable 30 min after topical application of Bai-SP. Bai-CD formulation is superior to Bai-SP for increasing ocular bioavailability.

  16. Web Enabled DROLS Verity TopicSets

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Tong, Richard

    1999-01-01

    The focus of this effort has been the design and development of automatically generated TopicSets and HTML pages that provide the basis of the required search and browsing capability for DTIC's Web Enabled DROLS System...

  17. LNG (liquefied natural gas) in the Asia-Pacific region: Twenty years of trade and outlook for the future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kiani, B.

    1990-01-01

    This report discusses the following topics: the current status of LNG trade in the Asia-Pacific region; present structure and projected demand in the Asia-Pacific region; prospective and tentative projects; and LNG contracts: stability versus flexibility.

  18. Topic extraction from adverbial clauses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Rubio Alcalá

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper offers new data to support findings about Topic extraction from adverbial clauses. Since such clauses are strong islands, they should not allow extraction of any kind, but we show here that if the appropriate conditions are met, Topics of the CLLD kind in Romance can move out of them. We propose that two conditions must be met for such movement to be possible: the first is that the adverbial clause must have undergone topicalisation in the first place; the second is that the adverbial clause is inherently topical from a semantic viewpoint. Contrast with other language families (Germanic, Quechua and Japanese is provided and the semantic implications of the proposal are briefly discussed. Keywords: topicalisation; Clitic Left Dislocation; syntactic islands; adverbial clauses Este artículo ofrece nuevos datos sobre la extracción de Tópicos desde oraciones subordinadas adverbiales. Dado que dichas oraciones son islas fuertes, no deberían permitir extracción de ningún tipo, pero mostramos que si se dan las condiciones apropiadas, los Tópicos del tipo CLLD en lenguas románicas pueden desplazarse fuera de ellas. Proponemos que se deben cumplir dos condiciones para que ese movimiento sea posible: la primera es que la propia subordinada adverbial se haya topicalizado en primer lugar; la segunda es que la subordinada adverbial sea inherentemente un Tópico desde el punto de vista semántico. Proporcionamos también algunos contrastes con otras familias lingüísticas (germánica, quechua y japonés y se discuten brevemente las implicaciones semánticas de la propuesta. Palabras clave: topicalización; dislocación a la izquierda con clítico; islas sintácticas; oraciones adverbiales

  19. Topical action of Buriti oil (Mauritia flexuosa L.) in myositis induced in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbosa, Marília Ursulino; Silva, Marcello de Alencar; Barros, Esmeralda Maria Lustosa; Barbosa, Margarida Ursulino; Sousa, Rayssilane Cardoso de; Lopes, Mateus Aguiar da Costa; Coelho, Nayana Pinheiro Machado de Freitas

    2017-11-01

    To analyze the topical effects of Buriti oil (Mauritia flexuosa L.) in induced myositis in rats. Thirty six male rats divided into three groups: Control group (C), induced myositis group (MI) and induced myositis group reated with Mauritia flexuosa L. (MT). After inducing myositis with 1% acetic acid, was topically applied 0.5 ml of Mauritia flexuosa L.extract on the posterior region of the right gastrocnemius muscle in animals belonging to group MT, for 7 and 14 days. The neutrophil number there was statistically significant difference, after 7 and 14 days, between groups C and MI (p <0.001) (p<0.01). The group MT there was a significant difference in relation to MI group in both experimental times with (p<0.001). The number of fibroblasts in the 14 days showed that when comparing the groups M and MT the differences were also significant (p<0.001). As for the DLL, in 7 days, there was a significant difference between group C and MI group (p <0.001). When considering the MT group, there was a significant difference in relation to the MI group (p <0.001). The extract of Mauritia flexuosa L. leaves lessened acute and chronic inflammation, increased fibroblast proliferation and reduced macroscopically edema.

  20. Tracking Multiple Topics for Finding Interesting Articles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pon, R K; Cardenas, A F; Buttler, D J; Critchlow, T J

    2008-01-03

    We introduce multiple topic tracking (MTT) for iScore to better recommend news articles for users with multiple interests and to address changes in user interests over time. As an extension of the basic Rocchio algorithm, traditional topic detection and tracking, and single-pass clustering, MTT maintains multiple interest profiles to identify interesting articles for a specific user given user-feedback. Focusing on only interesting topics enables iScore to discard useless profiles to address changes in user interests and to achieve a balance between resource consumption and classification accuracy. iScore is able to achieve higher quality results than traditional methods such as the Rocchio algorithm. We identify several operating parameters that work well for MTT. Using the same parameters, we show that MTT alone yields high quality results for recommending interesting articles from several corpora. The inclusion of MTT improves iScore's performance by 25% in recommending news articles from the Yahoo! News RSS feeds and the TREC11 adaptive filter article collection. And through a small user study, we show that iScore can still perform well when only provided with little user feedback.

  1. The role of quantum information in thermodynamics—a topical review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goold, John; Huber, Marcus; Riera, Arnau; Skrzypczyk, Paul; Rio, Lídia del

    2016-01-01

    This topical review article gives an overview of the interplay between quantum information theory and thermodynamics of quantum systems. We focus on several trending topics including the foundations of statistical mechanics, resource theories, entanglement in thermodynamic settings, fluctuation theorems and thermal machines. This is not a comprehensive review of the diverse field of quantum thermodynamics; rather, it is a convenient entry point for the thermo-curious information theorist. Furthermore this review should facilitate the unification and understanding of different interdisciplinary approaches emerging in research groups around the world. (topical review)

  2. 2011 annual meeting on nuclear technology. Pt. 4. Topical sessions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schoenfelder, Christian; Dams, Wolfgang

    2011-01-01

    Summary report on the Topical Session of the Annual Conference on Nuclear Technology held in Berlin, 17 to 19 May 2011: - Nuclear Competence in Germany and Europe. The Topical Session: - Sodium Cooled Fast Reactors -- will be covered in a report in a further issue of atw. The reports on the Topical Sessions: - CFD-Simulations for Safety Relevant Tasks; and - Final Disposal: From Scientific Basis to Application; - Characteristics of a High Reliability Organization (HRO) Considering Experience Gained from Events at Nuclear Power Stations -- have been covered in atw 7, 8/9, and 10 (2011). (orig.)

  3. Topical ketoconazole therapy in a recalcitrant case of seborrhoeic dermatitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baishya B

    1996-01-01

    Full Text Available Ketoconazole 2% cream and 2% shampoo were found to be effective in controlling seborrhoeic dermatitis in a recalcitrant case. This topical ketoconazole therapy seems to be better than other conventional topical preparations prescribed in seborrhoeic dermatitis.

  4. Film forming systems for topical and transdermal drug delivery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kashmira Kathe

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Skin is considered as an important route of administration of drugs for both local and systemic effects. The effectiveness of topical therapy depends on the physicochemical properties of the drug and adherence of the patient to the treatment regimen as well as the system's ability to adhere to skin during the therapy so as to promote drug penetration through the skin barrier. Conventional formulations for topical and dermatological administration of drugs have certain limitations like poor adherence to skin, poor permeability and compromised patient compliance. For the treatment of diseases of body tissues and wounds, the drug has to be maintained at the site of treatment for an effective period of time. Topical film forming systems are such developing drug delivery systems meant for topical application to the skin, which adhere to the body, forming a thin transparent film and provide delivery of the active ingredients to the body tissue. These are intended for skin application as emollient or protective and for local action or transdermal penetration of medicament for systemic action. The transparency is an appreciable feature of this polymeric system which greatly influences the patient acceptance. In the current discussion, the film forming systems are described as a promising choice for topical and transdermal drug delivery. Further the various types of film forming systems (sprays/solutions, gels and emulsions along with their evaluation parameters have also been reviewed.

  5. Solid-State Lighting 2017 Suggested Research Topics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None, None

    2017-09-29

    A 2017 update to the Solid-State Lighting R&D Plan that is divided into two documents. The first document describes a list of suggested SSL priority research topics and the second document provides context and background, including information drawn from technical, market, and economic studies. Widely referenced by industry and government both here and abroad, these documents reflect SSL stakeholder inputs on key R&D topics that will improve efficacy, reduce cost, remove barriers to adoption, and add value for LED and OLED lighting solutions over the next three to five years, and discuss those applications that drive and prioritize the specific R&D.

  6. Topical corticosteroid-induced rosacea-like dermatitis: A clinical study of 110 cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjay K Rathi

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Prolonged and continuous use of topical steroids leads to rosacea-like dermatitis with variable clinical presentations. Aims: To study the various clinical presentations of patients with topical corticosteroid-induced rosacea-like dermatitis (TCIRD, who had a history of prolonged and repeated use of topical steroids for reasons other than the known disease entities. Methods: A total of 110 patients were enrolled for the study over a period of 2 years, excluding all those with the known disease entity in which topical steroids were commonly used. Detailed history which also included the source and the type of topical steroid use was taken along with clinical examination. Results: There were 12 males and 98 females with their age ranging from 18 to 54 years. The duration of topical steroid use ranged from 4 months to 20 years. The most common clinical presentation was diffuse erythema of the face. Most of the patients had rebound phenomenon on discontinuation of the steroid. The most common topical steroid used was Betamethasone valerate, which could be due to its easy availability and low cost. Conclusion: Varied clinical presentations are seen with prolonged and continuous use of topical steroids. The treatment of this dermatitis is difficult, requiring complete cessation of the offending steroid, usually done in a tapering fashion.

  7. Color preferences for different topics in connection to personal characteristics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bakker, I.C.; van der Voordt, Theo; Vink, P.; de Boon, J; Bazley, C

    2015-01-01

    Studies on color preferences are dependent on the topic and the relationships with personal characteristics, particularly personality, but these are seldom studied in one population. Therefore a questionnaire was collected from 1095 Dutch people asking for color preferences about different topics

  8. The first clinical experience on efficacy of topical flutamide on melasma compared with topical hydroquinone: a randomized clinical trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adalatkhah H

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Hassan Adalatkhah,1 Homayoun Sadeghi-Bazargani2,3 1Department of Dermatology, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran; 2Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 3Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden Background: Treatment of melasma is unsatisfactory most of the times. Hormonal role is shown to exist in pathogenesis of the melasma, and sex-hormone related drugs may have an effect on melasma.Aim: To investigate efficacy of 1% flutamide cream versus 4% hydroquinone cream on melasma.Methods: In a parallel randomized clinical trial, 74 women with melasma were allocated to receive a sunscreen along with 4% hydroquinone cream or 1% flutamide cream. Melasma Area and Severity Index (MASI, mexameter melanin assay, and patient satisfaction were investigated.Results: Mean age of the participants was 33.8 years. Mean length of time suffering from Melasma was 96.3 months. The subjects reported in average 1.1 hours per day of exposure to sunlight. Mean standardized total patient satisfaction score was 28.8 (standard deviation [SD] 17.2 in flutamide group patients versus 18 (SD 15.5 in control group (P<0.01. Regardless of treatment group, the skin darkness assessed upon MASI scales was reduced over the treatment course (P<0.001. Using mixed effects, longitudinal modeling showed better treatment efficacy based on MASI scale for flutamide group compared to the hydroquinone group (P<0.05. However, longitudinal analysis of mexameter scores did not reveal any significant difference in melanin measurements between flutamide and hydroquinone.Conclusion: Topical flutamide appeared as effective as topical hydroquinone in treating melasma using mexameter assessment but with a better MASI improvement trend and higher patient satisfaction in flutamide treatment versus topical hydroquinone. As the present study is possibly the

  9. Birth Weight: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... growth restriction Large for gestational age (LGA) Neonatal weight gain and nutrition Small for gestational age (SGA) Related Health Topics Fetal Health and Development Premature Babies Uncommon Infant and Newborn Problems National Institutes of Health The primary NIH ...

  10. Resources for Topics in Nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riordan, Dale B.

    This guide is intended to help the user become familiar with a selected group of reference tools and resources which are useful in nursing education and practice. It is important for students to use the correct medical or scientific terminology, understand the scope of a topic, and then utilize the tools necessary to research subjects of interest.…

  11. Seven topics in perturbative QCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buras, A.J.

    1980-09-01

    The following topics of perturbative QCD are discussed: (1) deep inelastic scattering; (2) higher order corrections to e + e - annihilation, to photon structure functions and to quarkonia decays; (3) higher order corrections to fragmentation functions and to various semi-inclusive processes; (4) higher twist contributions; (5) exclusive processes; (6) transverse momentum effects; (7) jet and photon physics

  12. Selected topics in nuclear structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stachura, Z.

    1984-09-01

    19. winter school in Zakopane was devoted to selected topics in nuclear structure such as: production of spin resonances, heavy ions reactions and their applications to the investigation of high spin states, octupole deformations, excited states and production of new elements etc. The experimental data are ofen compared with theoretical predictions. Report contains 28 papers. (M.F.W.)

  13. Topic Map for Authentic Travel

    OpenAIRE

    Wandsvik, Atle; Zare, Mehdi

    2007-01-01

    E-business is a new trend in Internet use. Authentic travel is an approach to travel and travel business which helps the traveler experience what is authentic in the travel destination. But how can the traveler find those small authentic spots and organize them together to compose a vacation? E-business techniques, combined withTopic Maps, can help.

  14. Current status of topical antiretroviral chemoprophylaxis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Damme, Lut; Szpir, Michael

    2012-11-01

    Recent studies suggest that the vaginal delivery of antiretroviral (ARV) agents - such as tenofovir, dapivirine and UC781 - may be a promising way to reduce the high rates of HIV infection among women in developing countries. This review examines these developments. The Microbicide Trials Network 003 study, a large phase IIb trial, was unable to show that daily dosing with 1% tenofovir vaginal gel was effective for HIV prevention. Nevertheless, preclinical and early-phase clinical trials suggest that ARV drugs - formulated in vaginal gels, rings, films, tablets and diaphragms - could be effective for HIV chemoprophylaxis. Investigations of topical chemoprophylaxis methods have seen mixed results in the past 12-18 months. Product adherence may prove to be one of the field's greatest challenges. Phase II and III trials continue to explore different dosing strategies for topical products that contain one or more ARV agents.

  15. Regulatory cross-cutting topics for fuel cycle facilities.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Denman, Matthew R.; Brown, Jason; Goldmann, Andrew Scott; Louie, David

    2013-10-01

    This report overviews crosscutting regulatory topics for nuclear fuel cycle facilities for use in the Fuel Cycle Research & Development Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening study. In particular, the regulatory infrastructure and analysis capability is assessed for the following topical areas: Fire Regulations (i.e., how applicable are current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and/or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fire regulations to advance fuel cycle facilities) Consequence Assessment (i.e., how applicable are current radionuclide transportation tools to support risk-informed regulations and Level 2 and/or 3 PRA) While not addressed in detail, the following regulatory topic is also discussed: Integrated Security, Safeguard and Safety Requirement (i.e., how applicable are current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations to future fuel cycle facilities which will likely be required to balance the sometimes conflicting Material Accountability, Security, and Safety requirements.)

  16. Advanced topics in the arithmetic of elliptic curves

    CERN Document Server

    Silverman, Joseph H

    1994-01-01

    In the introduction to the first volume of The Arithmetic of Elliptic Curves (Springer-Verlag, 1986), I observed that "the theory of elliptic curves is rich, varied, and amazingly vast," and as a consequence, "many important topics had to be omitted." I included a brief introduction to ten additional topics as an appendix to the first volume, with the tacit understanding that eventually there might be a second volume containing the details. You are now holding that second volume. it turned out that even those ten topics would not fit Unfortunately, into a single book, so I was forced to make some choices. The following material is covered in this book: I. Elliptic and modular functions for the full modular group. II. Elliptic curves with complex multiplication. III. Elliptic surfaces and specialization theorems. IV. Neron models, Kodaira-Neron classification of special fibers, Tate's algorithm, and Ogg's conductor-discriminant formula. V. Tate's theory of q-curves over p-adic fields. VI. Neron's theory of can...

  17. Pharmacokinetics of bevacizumab after topical and intravitreal administration in human eyes

    OpenAIRE

    Moisseiev, Elad; Waisbourd, Michael; Ben-Artsi, Elad; Levinger, Eliya; Barak, Adiel; Daniels, Tad; Csaky, Karl; Loewenstein, Anat; Barequet, Irina S.

    2013-01-01

    Background Topical bevacizumab is a potential treatment modality for corneal neovascularization, and several recent studies have demonstrated its efficacy. No previous study of the pharmacokinetics of topical bevacizumab has been performed in human eyes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pharmacokinetics of topical administration of bevacizumab in human eyes, and also to compare the pharmacokinetics of intravitreal bevacizumab injections with previously reported data. Methods Tw...

  18. Relative efficacy of topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and topical capsaicin in osteoarthritis: Protocol for an individual patient data meta-analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Persson, M.S.M. (Monica); Fu, Y. (Yu); Bhattacharya, A. (Archan); Goh, S.-L. (Siew-Li); Middelkoop, Marienke; Bierma-Zeinstra, Sita; Walsh, D. (David); Doherty, Michael; Zhang, Weiya

    2016-01-01

    Background Pain is the most troubling issue to patients with osteoarthritis (OA), yet current pharmacological treatments offer only small-to-moderate pain reduction. Current guidelines therefore emphasise the need to identify predictors of treatment response. In line with these recommendations, an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis will be conducted. The study aims to investigate the relative treatment effects of topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and topical caps...

  19. Topical macrolide immunomodulators: a role in the treatment of vitiligo?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tjioe, M.; Vissers, W.H.P.M.; Gerritsen, M.J.P.

    2006-01-01

    Recently, topical macrolide immunomodulators have been successfully introduced in the treatment of atopic dermatitis. With the growing interest in this new line of topical immunosuppressants, research into the efficacy of these medicines in other T-cell-mediated skin diseases, such as psoriasis,

  20. What Patients Can Tell Us: Topic Analysis for Social Media on Breast Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tapi Nzali, Mike Donald; Bringay, Sandra; Lavergne, Christian; Mollevi, Caroline; Opitz, Thomas

    2017-07-31

    Social media dedicated to health are increasingly used by patients and health professionals. They are rich textual resources with content generated through free exchange between patients. We are proposing a method to tackle the problem of retrieving clinically relevant information from such social media in order to analyze the quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Our aim was to detect the different topics discussed by patients on social media and to relate them to functional and symptomatic dimensions assessed in the internationally standardized self-administered questionnaires used in cancer clinical trials (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 [QLQ-C30] and breast cancer module [QLQ-BR23]). First, we applied a classic text mining technique, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), to detect the different topics discussed on social media dealing with breast cancer. We applied the LDA model to 2 datasets composed of messages extracted from public Facebook groups and from a public health forum (cancerdusein.org, a French breast cancer forum) with relevant preprocessing. Second, we applied a customized Jaccard coefficient to automatically compute similarity distance between the topics detected with LDA and the questions in the self-administered questionnaires used to study quality of life. Among the 23 topics present in the self-administered questionnaires, 22 matched with the topics discussed by patients on social media. Interestingly, these topics corresponded to 95% (22/23) of the forum and 86% (20/23) of the Facebook group topics. These figures underline that topics related to quality of life are an important concern for patients. However, 5 social media topics had no corresponding topic in the questionnaires, which do not cover all of the patients' concerns. Of these 5 topics, 2 could potentially be used in the questionnaires, and these 2 topics corresponded to a total of 3.10% (523

  1. Tropical cyclone genesis in the Southern Hemisphere and its relationship with the ENSO

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuleshov, Y.; Qi, L. [Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, VIC (Australia). National Climate Centre; Chane Ming, F.; Chouaibou, I.; Hoareau, C. [UMR CNRS-Meteo-France-Univ. de la Reunion, La Reunion (France). Lab. de l' Atmosphere et des Cyclones; Roux, F. [Paul Sabatier Univ., CNRS, Toulouse (France). Lab. d' Aerologie

    2009-07-01

    Tropical cyclogenesis climatology over the South Indian and South Pacific Oceans has been developed using a new tropical cyclone (TC) archive for the Southern Hemisphere, and changes in geographical distribution of areas favourable for TC genesis related to changes in the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases have been investigated. To explain these changes, large-scale environmental variables which influence TC genesis and development such as sea surface temperatures (SSTs), relative humidity in mid-troposphere, vertical wind shear and lower tropospheric vorticity have been examined. In the South Indian Ocean, reduction of TC genesis in the western part of the basin and its increase in the eastern part as well as displacement of the area favourable for TC genesis further away from the equator during La Nina events compared to El Nino events can be explained by changes in geographical distribution of relative humidity and vorticity across the basin as primary contributors; positive anomalies of SSTs observed during La Nina seasons in the eastern part of the basin additionally contribute to enhanced cyclogenesis near the Western Australia. In the South Pacific Ocean, changes in geographical distribution of relative humidity and vorticity appear to be the key large-scale environmental factors responsible for enhanced TC genesis in the eastern (western) part of the basin as well as for the northeast (southwest) shift of points of cyclogenesis during El Nino (La Nina) events, with vertical wind shear and SSTs as additional contributing large-scale environmental variables. (orig.)

  2. LDA-Based Unified Topic Modeling for Similar TV User Grouping and TV Program Recommendation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pyo, Shinjee; Kim, Eunhui; Kim, Munchurl

    2015-08-01

    Social TV is a social media service via TV and social networks through which TV users exchange their experiences about TV programs that they are viewing. For social TV service, two technical aspects are envisioned: grouping of similar TV users to create social TV communities and recommending TV programs based on group and personal interests for personalizing TV. In this paper, we propose a unified topic model based on grouping of similar TV users and recommending TV programs as a social TV service. The proposed unified topic model employs two latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) models. One is a topic model of TV users, and the other is a topic model of the description words for viewed TV programs. The two LDA models are then integrated via a topic proportion parameter for TV programs, which enforces the grouping of similar TV users and associated description words for watched TV programs at the same time in a unified topic modeling framework. The unified model identifies the semantic relation between TV user groups and TV program description word groups so that more meaningful TV program recommendations can be made. The unified topic model also overcomes an item ramp-up problem such that new TV programs can be reliably recommended to TV users. Furthermore, from the topic model of TV users, TV users with similar tastes can be grouped as topics, which can then be recommended as social TV communities. To verify our proposed method of unified topic-modeling-based TV user grouping and TV program recommendation for social TV services, in our experiments, we used real TV viewing history data and electronic program guide data from a seven-month period collected by a TV poll agency. The experimental results show that the proposed unified topic model yields an average 81.4% precision for 50 topics in TV program recommendation and its performance is an average of 6.5% higher than that of the topic model of TV users only. For TV user prediction with new TV programs, the average

  3. Similar response patterns to topical minoxidil foam 5% in frontal and vertex scalp of men with androgenetic alopecia: a microarray analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirmirani, P; Consolo, M; Oyetakin-White, P; Baron, E; Leahy, P; Karnik, P

    2015-06-01

    There are regional variations in the scalp hair miniaturization seen in androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Use of topical minoxidil can lead to reversal of miniaturization in the vertex scalp. However, its effects on other scalp regions have been less well studied. To determine whether scalp biopsies from men with AGA show variable gene expression before and after 8 weeks of treatment with minoxidil topical foam 5% (MTF) vs. placebo. A placebo-controlled double-blinded prospective pilot study of MTF vs. placebo was conducted in 16 healthy men aged 18-49 years with Hamilton-Norwood type IV-V thinning. The subjects were asked to apply the treatment (active drug or placebo) to the scalp twice daily for 8 weeks. Stereotactic scalp photographs were taken at the baseline and final visits, to monitor global hair growth. Scalp biopsies were taken at the leading edge of hair loss from the frontal and vertex scalp before and after treatment with MTF and placebo, and microarray analysis was performed using the Affymetrix GeneChip HG U133 Plus 2.0. Global stereotactic photographs showed that MTF induced hair growth in both the frontal and vertex scalp of patients with AGA. Regional differences in gene expression profiles were observed before treatment. However, MTF treatment induced the expression of hair keratin-associated genes and decreased the expression of epidermal differentiation complex and inflammatory genes in both scalp regions. These data suggest that MTF is effective in the treatment of both the frontal and vertex scalp of patients with AGA. © 2014 British Association of Dermatologists.

  4. Sixth meeting of the ITPA Topical Group on Diagnostics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donne, A.J.H.; Costley, A.E.

    2004-01-01

    The Sixth Meeting of the International Tokamak Physics Activities (ITPA) Topical Group (TG) on Diagnostics was held at JAERI, Naka from 19-21 February 2004. This meeting was combined with a Progress Meeting on ITER/BPX (burning plasma experiment) relevant diagnostic developments on-going in Japan. For the first time, ITPA members from China, as well as observers from South Korea, attended. In addition, an associated sub-meeting was held at General Atomics, San Diego, 23-24 April, immediately after the 15th Topical Conference on High Temperature Plasma Diagnostics. At the sub-meeting a special one-day session was devoted to issues related to beam-aided spectroscopy. In total more than 50 participants attended the meetings and all ITER partners were represented. The key topics reviewed and discussed at the TG meeting were: (i) the overall status of diagnostics developments for ITER, (ii) the progress in the research on the designated high priority topics, (iii) the progress with some key ITER/BPX-relevant diagnostic developments ongoing in the ITPA participant laboratories, (iv) the progress and plans for the work of the specialist working groups, (v) the status and plans for the International Diagnostic Database

  5. Topical review of the Finnish forest sector 1996

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuuluvainen, K.

    1996-01-01

    The present report is e review of the Finnish forest sector, made by several authors. The topics reviewed are: Economic trends of forest sector; The operational conditions of the forest sector; Development of the forest sector; Conjuncture reviews; Special topics including the certification of the forests, the forest reserves in Finland, the financial support forest economy, export prices of sawn timber and cellulose, raw-wood markets, forests and forest industry shares as targets for investments, recreational use of the state owned areas. (8 refs.)

  6. Weight Control: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... loss medications Show More Show Less Related Health Topics Body Weight Diets Eating Disorders Exercise and Physical Fitness Nutrition Obesity Weight Loss Surgery National Institutes of Health The primary NIH organization for research on Weight Control is the National Institute of ...

  7. [Endoscopic endonasal detection of cerebrospinal fluid leakage with topical fluorescein].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Taku; Kishida, Yugo; Watanabe, Tadashi; Tani, Akiko; Tada, Yasuhiro; Tamura, Takamitsu; Ichikawa, Masahiro; Sakuma, Jun; Omori, Koichi; Saito, Kiyoshi

    2013-08-01

    We evaluated the effectiveness of intraoperative topical application of fluorescein to detect the leakage point of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF)rhinorrhea. Three patients with CSF rhinorrhea were treated with an endoscopic endonasal technique. Ten percent fluorescein was topically used for intraoperative localization of the leak site. A change of the fluorescein color from brown to green due to dilation of CSF were recognized as evidence of CSF rhinorrhea. We repeated the procedure to detect any small defects. All CSF rhinorrheas were successfully repaired by this endoscopic endonasal approach. Topical application of fluorescein is simple and sensitive for identifying intraoperative CSF rhinorrhea.

  8. Topical sirolimus for the treatment of angiofibromas in tuberous sclerosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salih Levent Cinar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The skin is one of the most affected organs in tuberous sclerosis complex and angiofibromas are seen in almost 80% of such patients. These benign tumors impose a great psycho-social burden on patients. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of topical sirolimus for facial angiofibromas in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex. Methods: This was a prospective, single-blinded, cross-over study which involved twelve patients. We investigated the effect and safety of topical 0.1% sirolimus, which was obtained by crushing sirolimus tablets and mixing it with petrolatum. The patients were asked to apply the cream to one side of their face, and vaseline to the other side. The effect of topical sirolimus was evaluated using the “facial angiofibroma severity index.” Results: There was a significant improvement in the redness and extension of the tumors on the sides to which the active ingredient was applied. Some side effects such as itching and irritation occurred in three patients, which were treated with topical hydrocortisone cream. Conclusion: Topical sirolimus appears to be a promising, fairly well tolerated treatment for facial angiofibromas in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex. Although its efficacy diminishes with time, repetitive usage is effective.

  9. Bibliographic analysis of scientific research on selected topics in public health nutrition in West Africa: Review of articles published from 1998 to 2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aaron, Grant J; Wilson, Shelby E; Brown, Kenneth H

    2010-01-01

    Few countries in West Africa have the capacity for carrying out advanced training in nutrition and public health. To provide additional information on current regional applied nutrition research capacity and productivity, we analysed peer-reviewed articles on key public health nutrition topics that were published from 1998 to 2008. Using MEDLINE/PubMed, the following terms were searched: 'breast feeding', 'infant nutrition physiology' (comprising complementary feeding and weaning), 'protein energy malnutrition', 'nutrition and infection', 'vitamin A', 'iodine', 'zinc' and 'overweight', each linked with the term 'Western Africa'. In total, 412 unique articles (37±6 articles per year) were identified. Most research focused on infant and young child feeding practices, selected micronutrient deficiencies, and the emerging problem of overweight and obesity. The primary author of nearly half (46%) the publications was located in an institution outside of West Africa. Most articles were published in English (90%), and nearly half of all articles (41%) were cross-sectional studies. Our findings indicate that few peer-reviewed research studies are being published on key public health topics in the West African region, considering the magnitude of nutrition problems in this region. New approaches are needed to encourage and support research capacity and output in West Africa.

  10. Nanocrystal: a novel approach to overcome skin barriers for improved topical drug delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Viral; Sharma, Om Prakash; Mehta, Tejal

    2018-04-01

    Skin is an important route of drug delivery for the treatment of various dermatological conditions. The advent of nanotechnology is paving the roadmaps for topical drug delivery by providing sustained release as well as maintaining a localized effect, outweighing the toxicity concern. Area covered: This review highlighted the morphology of skin, its barrier nature as well as drug penetration pathways after topical application of formulations. The existing methods to improve topical drug delivery, by infringing or permeating the skin barriers, are discussed. This context concretes the foundation to accentuate the need for the development of nanocrystal-based topical formulation. The mechanism of drug release, immediate as well as sustained release, after topical administration of drug nanocrystals is also elaborated. The special emphasis is given on the breakthrough achieved, in topical drug delivery using drug nanocrystals, so far in the plethora of literature, patents, and products, under clinical trial as well as in the market. Expert opinion: The current research on nanocrystals for topical drug delivery is highlighting the breakthroughs achieved so far. The output of these research envisages that topical nanocrystals based formulations can be a novel strategy for the drugs which are facing solubility, bioavailability and toxicity concerns.

  11. GLOBALIZATION & REGIONALIZATION IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramona Frunză

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The concept of globalization refers to the growing interdependence of countries, resulting from the increasing integration of trade, finance, investments, labor markets and ideas in one globalmarketplace. The most important elements of this process are the international trade and the cross-border investment flows. Economic globalization has increased the specialization of workers, while the companies compete in global markets. Even globalization has recently become a common topic in academic discourse, many economists focused, from the 1980s and 1990s, in addition to globalization, on regionalization - the growth of networks of interdependence within multinational regions of the world. The recent decades arecharacterized by the fact that the world trade grew faster than world output, which implies that an increasing share of world GDP crosses international borders. The trend is explained, mostly, by thesubstantially declining of the trade barriers during the same period, as a result of successive trade negotiation rounds under the auspices of the GATT/WTO, unilateral trade liberalization and regional tradeagreements. Even there are global connections between all the countries, the strongest political and economic integration is being created within a few specific regions of the world: Europe, North America and East Asia.

  12. The Effectiveness of Topical Pimecrolimus in the Treatment of Oral Lichen Planus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Kamil Mülayim

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Oral lichen planus (OLP is a chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology that affects the skin and the mucosa, especially the oral mucosa. Several therapeutic agents have been investigated for the treatment of OLP. All agents used in the OLP therapy are palliative. Potent topical steroids are used as the conventional therapy for OLP. Since side-effects or steroid resistance may be encountered, alternative treatments may be necessary. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the topical pimecrolimus in the treatment of OLP. Methods: Seventeen patients with OLP were recruited into this study. Topical pimecrolimus 1% cream was applied twice a day to the affected areas. Patients were followed up for 3-6 months. Photographs of the lesions were taken and analyzed for areas of ulceration, erythema, and reticulation in every clinical examination. Results: We found that topical pimecrolimus 1% cream was an effective treatment for OLP. Two patients could not complete the treatment protocol because of the side effects such as local irritation and nausea. Conclusion: Topical pimecrolimus may be a valuable second treatment choice for patients with steroid-related side-effects or steroid-resistant OLP. However further randomized controlled studies have to be conducted to compare conventional treatment of topical corticosteroid with topical pimecrolimus.

  13. Nanoparticles and nanofibers for topical drug delivery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goyal, Ritu; Macri, Lauren K.; Kaplan, Hilton M.; Kohn, Joachim

    2016-01-01

    This review provides the first comprehensive overview of the use of both nanoparticles and nanofibers for topical drug delivery. Researchers have explored the use of nanotechnology, specifically nanoparticles and nanofibers, as drug delivery systems for topical and transdermal applications. This approach employs increased drug concentration in the carrier, in order to increase drug flux into and through the skin. Both nanoparticles and nanofibers can be used to deliver hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs and are capable of controlled release for a prolonged period of time. The examples presented provide significant evidence that this area of research has—and will continue to have — a profound impact on both clinical outcomes and the development of new products. PMID:26518723

  14. Familiar communication partners' facilitation of topic management in conversations with individuals with dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Karinna; Lind, Christopher; Young, Jessica A; Okell, Elise; van Steenbrugge, Willem

    2018-05-01

    Language and memory impairments affect everyday interactions between individuals with dementia and their communication partners. Impaired topic management, which compromises individuals' construction of relevant, meaningful discourse, is commonly reported amongst individuals with dementia. Currently, limited empirical evidence describes the sequential patterns of behaviour comprising topic-management practices in everyday conversation between individuals with dementia and their communication partners. To describe the sequential patterns of behaviour relating to the manifestation of topic-management impairments and facilitative behaviours in everyday interactions between individuals with dementia and their familiar communication partners (FCPs). Three 20-min conversations between individuals with moderate to severe dementia and their FCPs were recorded. Conversation Analysis was used to examine sequences in which topic-management appeared to be impaired. Conversational behaviours that reflected a difficulty in contributing on-topic talk were pervasive in the talk of the three individuals with dementia. FCPs responded to these conversational difficulties by using two categories of facilitative behaviours. The first involved responding to an individual with dementia's explicit repair-initiation by performing repair. In the second category, explicit repair-initiation was absent; instead, the distance of the conversational difficulty from the prior topic-shifting turn mediated the form and outcome of the FCPs' facilitative behaviours. Each category successfully facilitated the individual with dementia to contribute on-topic talk. The findings contribute to a growing understanding of topic-management abilities in everyday interactions involving individuals with dementia. Individuals with dementia took a proactive role in eliciting topic-management support. The FCPs responded with turns that facilitated the individuals with dementia to talk on-topic. Clinically, the

  15. Topical ganciclovir in the treatment of acute herpetic keratitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khalid F Tabbara

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Khalid F Tabbara1,2,3, Noorjehan Al Balushi11The Eye Center and The Eye Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology, Riyadh, 2Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3The Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USAAbstract: Herpetic keratitis is caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV and is a common cause of corneal blindness. Following a primary ocular herpetic infection, latency of the virus occurs, followed by subsequent recurrences of herpetic keratitis. Such recurrences may lead to structural damage of the cornea. Recurrent herpetic keratitis is a common indication for corneal transplantation. Recurrences of herpetic keratitis in the corneal graft may lead to corneal graft rejection. Several antiviral agents for HSV are available, including the thymidine analogs. Prolonged use of thymidine analogs may lead to toxicity of the ocular surface, including epithelial keratitis, corneal ulcers, follicular conjunctivitis, and punctal occlusions. Availability of topical antiviral agents that are safe and effective in the treatment and prophylaxis of herpetic keratitis is highly desirable. Ganciclovir is a potent inhibitor of members of the herpes virus family. The drug has been used systemically for the treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV retinitis. Its hematologic toxicity secondary to systemic administration led to its limited use in herpetic infections. On the other hand, topical ganciclovir has been shown to be as safe and effective as acyclovir in the treatment of herpetic epithelial keratitis. Furthermore, topical ganciclovir can reach therapeutic levels in the cornea and aqueous humor following topical application. Several clinical trials have shown that topical ganciclovir 0.15% ophthalmic gel is safe and effective in the treatment and prophylaxis of herpetic epithelial disease. Long-term use of ganciclovir ophthalmic

  16. Quark-gluon plasma (Selected Topics)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zakharov, V. I.

    2012-01-01

    Introductory lectures to the theory of (strongly interacting) quark-gluon plasma given at the Winter School of Physics of ITEP (Moscow, February 2010). We emphasize theoretical issues highlighted by the discovery of the low viscosity of the plasma. The topics include relativistic hydrodynamics, manifestations of chiral anomaly in hydrodynamics, superfluidity, relativistic superfluid hydrodynamics, effective stringy scalars, holographic models of Yang-Mills theories.

  17. The Prosody of Topic Transition in Interaction: Pitch Register Variations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riou, Marine

    2017-12-01

    In conversation, speakers can mobilize a variety of prosodic cues to signal a switch in topics. This paper uses a mixed-methods approach combining Conversation Analysis and Instrumental Prosody to investigate the prosody of topic transition in American English, and analyzes the ways in which speakers can play on register level and on register span. A cluster of three prosodic parameters was found to be predictive of transitions: a higher maximum fundamental frequency (F0), a higher median F0 (key), and an expanded register span. Relative to speakers' habitual profiles, the mobilization of such prosodic cues corresponds to a marked upgraded prosodic design. This finding is consistent with the general assumption that continuation constitutes the norm in conversation, and that departing from it, as in the case of a topic transition, requires a marked action and marked linguistic design. The disjunctive action of opening a new topic corresponds to the use of a marked prosodic cue.

  18. Mining FDA drug labels using an unsupervised learning technique--topic modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisgin, Halil; Liu, Zhichao; Fang, Hong; Xu, Xiaowei; Tong, Weida

    2011-10-18

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug labels contain a broad array of information, ranging from adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to drug efficacy, risk-benefit consideration, and more. However, the labeling language used to describe these information is free text often containing ambiguous semantic descriptions, which poses a great challenge in retrieving useful information from the labeling text in a consistent and accurate fashion for comparative analysis across drugs. Consequently, this task has largely relied on the manual reading of the full text by experts, which is time consuming and labor intensive. In this study, a novel text mining method with unsupervised learning in nature, called topic modeling, was applied to the drug labeling with a goal of discovering "topics" that group drugs with similar safety concerns and/or therapeutic uses together. A total of 794 FDA-approved drug labels were used in this study. First, the three labeling sections (i.e., Boxed Warning, Warnings and Precautions, Adverse Reactions) of each drug label were processed by the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) to convert the free text of each label to the standard ADR terms. Next, the topic modeling approach with latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was applied to generate 100 topics, each associated with a set of drugs grouped together based on the probability analysis. Lastly, the efficacy of the topic modeling was evaluated based on known information about the therapeutic uses and safety data of drugs. The results demonstrate that drugs grouped by topics are associated with the same safety concerns and/or therapeutic uses with statistical significance (P<0.05). The identified topics have distinct context that can be directly linked to specific adverse events (e.g., liver injury or kidney injury) or therapeutic application (e.g., antiinfectives for systemic use). We were also able to identify potential adverse events that might arise from specific

  19. Corneal neurotoxicity due to topical benzalkonium chloride.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkar, Joy; Chaudhary, Shweta; Namavari, Abed; Ozturk, Okan; Chang, Jin-Hong; Yco, Lisette; Sonawane, Snehal; Khanolkar, Vishakha; Hallak, Joelle; Jain, Sandeep

    2012-04-06

    The aim of this study was to determine and characterize the effect of topical application of benzalkonium chloride (BAK) on corneal nerves in vivo and in vitro. Thy1-YFP+ neurofluorescent mouse eyes were treated topically with vehicle or BAK (0.01% or 0.1%). Wide-field stereofluorescence microscopy was performed to sequentially image the treated corneas in vivo every week for 4 weeks, and changes in stromal nerve fiber density (NFD) and aqueous tear production were determined. Whole-mount immunofluorescence staining of corneas was performed with antibodies to axonopathy marker SMI-32. Western immunoblot analyses were performed on trigeminal ganglion and corneal lysates to determine abundance of proteins associated with neurotoxicity and regeneration. Compartmental culture of trigeminal ganglion neurons was performed in Campenot devices to determine whether BAK affects neurite outgrowth. BAK-treated corneas exhibited significantly reduced NFD and aqueous tear production, and increased inflammatory cell infiltration and fluorescein staining at 1 week (P reduction in neurites occurred after BAK addition to compartmental cultures of dissociated trigeminal ganglion cells. Although both BAK doses (0.0001% and 0.001%) reduced nerve fiber length, the reduction was significantly more with the higher dose (P < 0.001). Topical application of BAK to the eye causes corneal neurotoxicity, inflammation, and reduced aqueous tear production.

  20. Increasing topical anesthetic efficacy with microneedle application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buhsem, Ömer; Aksoy, Alper; Kececi, Yavuz; Sir, Emin; Güngör, Melike

    2016-10-01

    Since topical anesthetics alone seldom provide adequate analgesia for laser resurfacing procedures, injectable forms of anesthesia are often required. However, their application is uncomfortable for the patient. In this study, it is investigated whether microneedle application would enhance the efficacy of topical anesthetics. Forty-seven patients participated in the study. Topical anesthetic agent EMLA was applied to the whole face of the patients. Microneedle treatment was applied to one side of the face with a roller-type device. Whole-face carbon dioxide laser resurfacing therapy was carried out then. The pain that patients experienced was assessed by using visual analog scale (VAS) method. VAS scores of two sides of the face were compared by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The mean of VAS score of the microneedle treated side was 2.1 ± 1.1 while that of the untreated side was 5.9 ± 0.9 and this difference was statistically significant (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the Z-value is - 5.9683 and the p-value is < 0.001). This study revealed that microneedle application, with a roller-type device, is a safe and easy procedure in providing sufficient anesthesia for facial laser resurfacing without the need for supplementary nerve blocks or injections.

  1. A bibliometric model for identifying emerging research topics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Qi

    2018-01-01

    –1843, 2015), the most serious problems are the lack of an acknowledged definition of emergence and incomplete elaboration of the linkages between the definitions that are used and the indicators that are created. With these issues in mind, this study first adjusts the definition of an emerging technology...... that Rotolo et al. (2015) have proposed to accommodate the analysis. Next, a set of criteria for the identification of emerging topics is proposed according to the adjusted definition and attributes of emergence. Using two sets of parameter values, several emerging research topics are identified. Finally...

  2. Sexual Orientation Topics in Educational Leadership Programmes across the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Todd

    2012-01-01

    This investigation examines the inclusion of sexual orientation topics within the formal curriculum of 55 public college and university educational administration/leadership programmes across the USA. The findings indicate that programmes place a low priority upon sexual orientation compared to other diversity topics and that 59.5% of programmes…

  3. Topics in CP violation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, H. R.

    1993-02-01

    Given the varied backgrounds of the members of this audience this talk will be a grab bag of topics related to the general theme of CP Violation. I do not have time to dwell in detail on any of them. First, for the astronomers and astrophysicists among you, I want to begin by reviewing the experimental status of evidence for CP violation in particle processes. There is only one system where this has been observed, and that is in the decays of neutral K mesons.

  4. Topics in Nonlinear Dynamics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mosekilde, Erik

    Through a significant number of detailed and realistic examples this book illustrates how the insights gained over the past couple of decades in the fields of nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory can be applied in practice. Aomng the topics considered are microbiological reaction systems, ecological...... food-web systems, nephron pressure and flow regulation, pulsatile secretion of hormones, thermostatically controlled radiator systems, post-stall maneuvering of aircrafts, transfer electron devices for microwave generation, economic long waves, human decision making behavior, and pattern formation...... in chemical reaction-diffusion systems....

  5. Topics in CP violation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quinn, H.R.

    1993-02-01

    Given the varied backgrounds of the members of this audience this talk will be a grab bag of topics related to the general theme of CP Violation. I do not have time to dwell in detail on any of them. First, for the astronomers and astrophysicists among you, I want to begin by reviewing the experimental status of evidence for CP violation in particle processes. There is only one system where this has been observed, and that is in the decays of neutral K mesons

  6. Experimental models in predicting topical antifungal efficacy: practical aspects and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, J; Maibach, H I

    2009-01-01

    What are efficient screening models for improved topical antifungals? The use of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) as one such parameter is discussed; we focus on the use of animal membranes for in vitro testing while highlighting the pros and cons of each model, exploring alternatives and discussing the importance of data transferability to humans and the influence of penetration kinetics in topical antifungal efficacy. Ultimately, the gold standard of testing is in vivo in humans; however, initiating with human testing, especially for novel topical antifungal agents, may be impractical, which is why we seek the ideal experimental model that most closely mimics human skin. We conclude that the pig may be an appropriate model membrane for topical antifungal testing based on its similarities in anatomical structure, physiology and permeation to human skin. Most importantly, pig and human skins appear equally permeable to several antifungals in prior in vitro and in vivo work. We do not discuss all prior work but highlight important issues in designing the protocol and parameters of the ideal experimental model for topical antifungals. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  7. Effect of Topical Tacrolimus on Vitiligo in Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Ziaur Rahman Bhuiyan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Considering safe treatment modalities for children with vitiligo, search for newer therapeutic agents continues. Hence, new immunomodulatory agents such as calcineurinantagonists, frequently referred to as topical immunomodulators (TIMs have recently been introduced as new promising tools to treat acquired hypopigmentary disorders. Tacrolimus is safe in treating children due to lack of skin atrophy and less data are available on effect of topical tacrolimus on vitiligo. Objective: To see the effect of topical tacrolimus on vitiligo in children. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was done in outpatient department of Dermatology and Venereology, Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH, Bangladesh. Clinically diagnosed vitiligo patients of up to 12 years age visiting Skin & VD OPD, CMCH during study period were the study population (total 30. The study was carried out from November 2007 to April 2008. Results: A total of 30 patients, 13 (43.33% males and 17 (56.66% females with focal, segmental or generalized vitiligo were studied. Seventy percent of study subjects were from 7–12 years of age. Topical tacrolimus 0.03% ointment was administered twice daily for 12 weeks to each patient. Repigmentation was complete (>75% in 43.33% cases (13/30, was moderate (50–75% in 33.33% (10/30, mild (<50% in 13.33% (4/30. Clinical adverse effects were noted in 6.67% (2/30 of cases where pruritus was in 3.33% (1/30 and burning in 3.33% (1/30. None of the reactions was severe, all were mild and well-tolerated and most occurred within the first month of initiation of treatment and resolved with continued use of drug and completely cured after the treatment completed. Nobody had to discontinue the therapy for side effects. Conclusion: In conclusion, tacrolimus ointment may be a rapidly efficacious and safe option for the treatment of vitiligo in children. The ease of topical self-administration with minimal side effects makes this novel

  8. Topics in gravitation and gauge fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leen, T.K.

    1982-01-01

    The theoretical studies presented here address three distinct topics. The first deals with quantum-mechanical effects of classical gravitational radiation. Specifically, the use of the interstellar medium itself as a remote quantum-mechanical detector of gravitational waves is investigated. This study is motivated by the presumed existence of atomic hydrogen in the vicinity of astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation. Space-time curvature produces uniquely identifiable shifts in atomic hydrogen energy levels. The oscillating level shifts induced by a passing gravitational wave could conceivably be detected spectroscopically. Accordingly the level shifts for both low-lying and highly excited states of single electron atoms immersed in gravitational radiation have been studied. The second two topics deal with the theory of quantized fields on curved space-times. In the first of these studies, a naive model of cosmological baryon synthesis is examined. The model incorporates a hard CP violation as well as a baryon (and lepton) non-conserving interaction and is thus capable of generating an excess of matter over antimatter. The time dependent background geometry of the early universe drives the interaction producing net excess of baryon/lepton pairs. In the final topic, the question of renormalizability of non-Abelian gauge fields theories in a general curved space-time is addressed. All modern theories of elementary particle physics are gauge theories and one would like to know if their perturbative expansions continue to be well defined (i.e. renormalizable) on curved backgrounds. In general, one is interested in knowing if field theories renormalizable in Minkowski space remain so in a general curved space-time

  9. Effects on topic familiarity on online search behaviour and use of relevance criteria

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wen, Lei; Ruthven, Ian; Borlund, Pia

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents an experimental study on the effect of topic familiarity on the assessment behaviour of online searchers. In particular we investigate the effect of topic familiarity on the resources and relevance criteria used by searchers. Our results indicate that searching on an unfamiliar...... topic leads to use of more generic and fewer specialised resources and that searchers employ different relevance criteria when searching on less familiar topics....

  10. PhenoLines: Phenotype Comparison Visualizations for Disease Subtyping via Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glueck, Michael; Naeini, Mahdi Pakdaman; Doshi-Velez, Finale; Chevalier, Fanny; Khan, Azam; Wigdor, Daniel; Brudno, Michael

    2018-01-01

    PhenoLines is a visual analysis tool for the interpretation of disease subtypes, derived from the application of topic models to clinical data. Topic models enable one to mine cross-sectional patient comorbidity data (e.g., electronic health records) and construct disease subtypes-each with its own temporally evolving prevalence and co-occurrence of phenotypes-without requiring aligned longitudinal phenotype data for all patients. However, the dimensionality of topic models makes interpretation challenging, and de facto analyses provide little intuition regarding phenotype relevance or phenotype interrelationships. PhenoLines enables one to compare phenotype prevalence within and across disease subtype topics, thus supporting subtype characterization, a task that involves identifying a proposed subtype's dominant phenotypes, ages of effect, and clinical validity. We contribute a data transformation workflow that employs the Human Phenotype Ontology to hierarchically organize phenotypes and aggregate the evolving probabilities produced by topic models. We introduce a novel measure of phenotype relevance that can be used to simplify the resulting topology. The design of PhenoLines was motivated by formative interviews with machine learning and clinical experts. We describe the collaborative design process, distill high-level tasks, and report on initial evaluations with machine learning experts and a medical domain expert. These results suggest that PhenoLines demonstrates promising approaches to support the characterization and optimization of topic models.

  11. Satellite DNA: An Evolving Topic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrido-Ramos, Manuel A

    2017-09-18

    Satellite DNA represents one of the most fascinating parts of the repetitive fraction of the eukaryotic genome. Since the discovery of highly repetitive tandem DNA in the 1960s, a lot of literature has extensively covered various topics related to the structure, organization, function, and evolution of such sequences. Today, with the advent of genomic tools, the study of satellite DNA has regained a great interest. Thus, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), together with high-throughput in silico analysis of the information contained in NGS reads, has revolutionized the analysis of the repetitive fraction of the eukaryotic genomes. The whole of the historical and current approaches to the topic gives us a broad view of the function and evolution of satellite DNA and its role in chromosomal evolution. Currently, we have extensive information on the molecular, chromosomal, biological, and population factors that affect the evolutionary fate of satellite DNA, knowledge that gives rise to a series of hypotheses that get on well with each other about the origin, spreading, and evolution of satellite DNA. In this paper, I review these hypotheses from a methodological, conceptual, and historical perspective and frame them in the context of chromosomal organization and evolution.

  12. Pain Relievers: MedlinePlus Health Topic

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Health) ClinicalTrials.gov: Narcotics (National Institutes of Health) Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National ... Concentration Before Giving Acetaminophen to Infants (Food and Drug Administration) ... Related Health Topics Chronic Pain Medicines Opioid Abuse and Addiction Over-the-Counter Medicines Pain Other ...

  13. Topics in cement and concrete research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brouwers, Jos; Russel, M.I.; Basheer, P.A.M.

    2007-01-01

    The present paper addresses several topics in regard to the sustainable design and use of concrete. First, major features concerning the sustainable aspects of the material concrete are summarised. Then the major constituent, from an environmental point of view, cement is discussed in detail,

  14. Business networking for SMEs as a means to promote regional competitiveness: A Theoretical Framework

    OpenAIRE

    Vitor Braga

    2004-01-01

    The competitiveness of regions, as a means of promoting the competitiveness of a country as a whole, has been one of the main topics on the agenda of policy makers over the last decades. Several attempts at promoting competitiveness have been made with different degrees of success. In most cases, public investment in the regions was perceived as the solution to promote regional competitiveness and top-down policies were implemented. However, competitiveness also has an important dimension tha...

  15. Supporting inter-topic entity search for biomedical Linked Data based on heterogeneous relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zong, Nansu; Lee, Sungin; Ahn, Jinhyun; Kim, Hong-Gee

    2017-08-01

    The keyword-based entity search restricts search space based on the preference of search. When given keywords and preferences are not related to the same biomedical topic, existing biomedical Linked Data search engines fail to deliver satisfactory results. This research aims to tackle this issue by supporting an inter-topic search-improving search with inputs, keywords and preferences, under different topics. This study developed an effective algorithm in which the relations between biomedical entities were used in tandem with a keyword-based entity search, Siren. The algorithm, PERank, which is an adaptation of Personalized PageRank (PPR), uses a pair of input: (1) search preferences, and (2) entities from a keyword-based entity search with a keyword query, to formalize the search results on-the-fly based on the index of the precomputed Individual Personalized PageRank Vectors (IPPVs). Our experiments were performed over ten linked life datasets for two query sets, one with keyword-preference topic correspondence (intra-topic search), and the other without (inter-topic search). The experiments showed that the proposed method achieved better search results, for example a 14% increase in precision for the inter-topic search than the baseline keyword-based search engine. The proposed method improved the keyword-based biomedical entity search by supporting the inter-topic search without affecting the intra-topic search based on the relations between different entities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Topical video object discovery from key frames by modeling word co-occurrence prior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Gangqiang; Yuan, Junsong; Hua, Gang; Yang, Jiong

    2015-12-01

    A topical video object refers to an object, that is, frequently highlighted in a video. It could be, e.g., the product logo and the leading actor/actress in a TV commercial. We propose a topic model that incorporates a word co-occurrence prior for efficient discovery of topical video objects from a set of key frames. Previous work using topic models, such as latent Dirichelet allocation (LDA), for video object discovery often takes a bag-of-visual-words representation, which ignored important co-occurrence information among the local features. We show that such data driven co-occurrence information from bottom-up can conveniently be incorporated in LDA with a Gaussian Markov prior, which combines top-down probabilistic topic modeling with bottom-up priors in a unified model. Our experiments on challenging videos demonstrate that the proposed approach can discover different types of topical objects despite variations in scale, view-point, color and lighting changes, or even partial occlusions. The efficacy of the co-occurrence prior is clearly demonstrated when compared with topic models without such priors.

  17. Strategies of persuasion in offers to participate in cancer clinical trials I: Topic placement and topic framing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Ellen; Eggly, Susan; Winckles, Andrew; Albrecht, Terrance L

    2014-01-01

    Clinical trials are the gold standard in medical research evaluating new treatments in cancer care; however, in the United States, too few patients enroll in trials, especially patients from minority groups. Offering patients the option of a clinical trial is an ethically-charged communicative event for oncologists. One particularly vexed ethical issue is the use of persuasion in trial offers. Based on a corpus of 22 oncology encounters with Caucasian-American (n = 11) and African-American (n = 11) patients, this discourse analysis describes oncologists' use of two persuasive strategies related to the linguistic structure of trial offers: topic placement and topic framing. Findings are presented in total and by patient race, and discussed in terms of whether these strategies may constitute ethical or unethical persuasion, particularly with respect to the ethical issue of undue influence and the social issue of underrepresentation of minorities in cancer clinical trials.

  18. Absorption of topically applied hydrocortisone from the eye of the rhesus monkey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oehman, L.; Johansson, E.D.B.; Edqvist, L.-E.

    1982-01-01

    Blood samples were collected from anaesthetized monkeys during one h a) afer topical application of an eyedrop of hydrocortisone acetate suspension, b) after topical application of a drop of the vehicle alone, and c) after no application at all. Radioimmunoassay (RIA) showed a rapid and similar increase of hydrocortisone plasma levels in all 3 kinds of experiments. RIA revealed that in monkeys the anaesthetic procedure alone was sufficient to cause a considerable increase of endogenous hydrocortisone levels overshadowing any systemic absorption of topical hydrocortisone. Using tritiated hydrocortisone instead a rapid increase of systemic absorption after topical application was found. A plasma concentration of 1% of the dose was found one min after topical instillation incresing to a maximum of 6-7% at 30 min. The half time of the slow phase of elimination was about 19 h. (author)

  19. Microblog sentiment analysis using social and topic context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Xiaomei; Yang, Jing; Zhang, Jianpei

    2018-01-01

    Analyzing massive user-generated microblogs is very crucial in many fields, attracting many researchers to study. However, it is very challenging to process such noisy and short microblogs. Most prior works only use texts to identify sentiment polarity and assume that microblogs are independent and identically distributed, which ignore microblogs are networked data. Therefore, their performance is not usually satisfactory. Inspired by two sociological theories (sentimental consistency and emotional contagion), in this paper, we propose a new method combining social context and topic context to analyze microblog sentiment. In particular, different from previous work using direct user relations, we introduce structure similarity context into social contexts and propose a method to measure structure similarity. In addition, we also introduce topic context to model the semantic relations between microblogs. Social context and topic context are combined by the Laplacian matrix of the graph built by these contexts and Laplacian regularization are added into the microblog sentiment analysis model. Experimental results on two real Twitter datasets demonstrate that our proposed model can outperform baseline methods consistently and significantly.

  20. Topical diclofenac in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niklas Schuelert

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Niklas Schuelert, Fiona A Russell, Jason J McDougallDepartment of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, CanadaAbstract: Osteoarthritis (OA is a common disease that affects millions of people worldwide. As there is no cure for OA, drug treatment to relieve symptoms is the main form of management. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs such as diclofenac are the most commonly used drugs to treat knee OA pain. Unfortunately, these agents are associated with gastrointestinal and cardiovascular risks, which limit their chronic use. Topical NSAIDs are emerging as a viable alternative for managing OA pain. Because a pharmacologically effective dose can be restricted to the site of pain, there is superfluous systemic absorption, and the risk of related adverse effects is minimized. This article reviews the currently available preclinical and clinical information on topical diclofenac for the treatment of OA pain, including data from recently published randomized controlled trials regarding the efficacy and safety of topical diclofenac. Most studies confirm topical diclofenac to be as effective as oral diclofenac with significantly reduced side effects; however, the efficacy of NSAIDs is far from optimal, and more research needs to be done to investigate the underlying mechanisms of OA in order to improve treatment options, especially for patients with NSAID-resistant OA pain.Keywords: osteoarthritis, topical diclofenac, NSAID, joint pain 

  1. Effect of topical vitamin E on ethanol-induced corneal epithelial apoptosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilgihan, Kamil; Konuk, Onur; Hondur, Ahmet; Akyürek, Nalan; Ozogul, Candan; Hasanreisoglu, Berati

    2005-01-01

    Ethanol is used to loosen the corneal epithelium before photoablation in laser subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK). In this study, the apoptotic index of corneal epithelium after ethanol exposure and the effects of topical vitamin E were evaluated. The study was performed on 28 rabbit eyes in four groups. Group 1 comprised the controls. In group 2, 20% ethanol was applied topically for 20 seconds. In group 3, topical vitamin E was applied following 20% ethanol application. In group 4, only topical vitamin E was applied. Apoptosis was evaluated with TUNEL assay and transmission electron microscopy. Epithelial apoptosis was detected in all specimens in group 2. No apoptosis was detected in other groups except for one eye in group 1. The apoptotic index in group 2 was statistically higher than other groups (P < .001).

  2. Regional Development of Eastern Slovakia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Hergezelová

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose and Originality: The aim of the work is to provide an overview of regional development in Eastern Slovakia, where are Košice and Prešov Region. The originality of the work lies in the work of enriching the SWOT analysis from the author Eve Rajčáková, which is given in the book deals with the issue of Regional development and regional policy of the European Union and Slovakia. Research question: The conditions of life of people in eastern Slovakia. Method: For writing this contribution will be used method of analysis and statistics. Knowledge on this subject have been looking on the internet and in books and sources of information publicly available. Using the data collected, we dealt with the issue of regional development in the Košice and Prešov regions. Results: The topic was the beginning focused on the overall characteristics of eastern Slovakia. Furthermore, we are at work we dealt with social and economic phenomena in both regions of eastern Slovakia. We focused on GDP, unemployment and tourism, which is in the region is widespread. Society: It is well known that there are obviously different living conditions in eastern Slovakia as in other parts of Slovakia. People are forced to, mainly because of employment, leave their region to move or commute to work to the west. The paper point out the right of this negative phenomenon that is quite visible - high unemployment. Limitations: The limits of work are limited by problems of regional development in eastern Slovakia, mainly focusing on economic and social phenomena in the society.

  3. Gellan gum fluid gels for topical administration of diclofenac.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahdi, Mohammed H; Conway, Barbara R; Mills, Thomas; Smith, Alan M

    2016-12-30

    Diclofenac topical formulations are often preferred for drug administration to patients who experience serious GIT problems. Absorption of the drug through the skin, however, can be challenging due to the natural protective feature of the stratum corneum (SC). In this article, fluid gels prepared from gellan gum were explored as a topical drug delivery vehicle. Rheological analysis of the formulations showed that it was possible to produce a topical gel with a viscosity and the mechanical strength similar to that of the commercially available Voltaren ® gel using 1% w/w of a 50:50 low acyl/high acyl (LA/HA) gellan blend. Soft-tribology was used to assess the lubrication properties of gellan fluid gels. The lubrication of the gellan gum fluid gel formulations at high rubbing speeds was similar to the lubrication of the Voltaren ® gel. The use of gellan gum dramatically increased skin permeation of diclofenac when compared with the commercially available formulation and could be controlled by changing the gellan gum concentration and/or sodium ion concentration in the formulation. This study highlights the potential use of fluid gels that can be easily tuned to have physical properties suitable for topical formulations with the added advantage of increasing drug permeation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. The Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry Learning for Comparison Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asnidar; Khabibah, S.; Sulaiman, R.

    2018-01-01

    This research aims at producing a good quality learning device using guided inquiry for comparison topics and describing the effectiveness of guided inquiry learning for comparison topics. This research is a developmental research using 4-D model. The result is learning device consisting of lesson plan, student’s worksheet, and achievement test. The subjects of the study were class VII students, each of which has 46 students. Based on the result in the experimental class, the learning device using guided inquiry for comparison topics has good quality. The learning device has met the valid, practical, and effective aspects. The result, especially in the implementation class, showed that the learning process with guided inquiry has fulfilled the effectiveness indicators. The ability of the teacher to manage the learning process has fulfilled the criteria good. In addition, the students’ activity has fulfilled the criteria of, at least, good. Moreover, the students’ responses to the learning device and the learning activities were positive, and the students were able to complete the classical learning. Based on the result of this research, it is expected that the learning device resulted can be used as an alternative learning device for teachers in implementing mathematic learning for comparison topics.

  5. EMaCC: FY-1978 topical area report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-04-01

    Materials research and development in the energy program are briefly described. Topics reviewed include joining of materials, elastomers, catalysts and catalytic effect, radiation effects, superconductivity, cement, concrete, and alternate materials

  6. Successful treatment of Fusarium keratitis with cornea transplantation and topical and systemic voriconazole.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klont, R.R.; Eggink, C.A.; Rijs, A.J.M.M.; Wesseling, P.; Verweij, P.E.

    2005-01-01

    A case of invasive Fusarium keratitis in a previously healthy male patient was treated successfully with cornea transplantation and systemic and topical voriconazole after treatment failure with topical amphotericin B and systemic itraconazole. Topical voriconazole was well tolerated, and, in

  7. Selected Topics in MicroNano-robotics for Biomedical Applications

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    Selected Topics in Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications features a system approach and incorporates modern methodologies in autonomous mobile robots for programmable and controllable micro/nano-robots aiming at biomedical applications. The book provides chapters of instructional materials and cutting-edge research results in micro/nanorobotics for biomedical applications. The book presents new sensing technology on nanofibers, new power supply techniques including miniature fuel cells and energy harvesting devices, and manipulation techniques including AFM-based nano-robotic manipulation, robot-aided optical tweezers, and robot-assisted catheter surgery systems. It also contains case studies on using micro/nano-robots in biomedical environments and in biomedicine, as well as a design example to conceptually develop a Vitamin-pill sized robot to enter human’s gastrointestinal tract. Each chapter covers a different topic of the highly interdisciplinary area. Bring together the selected topics into ...

  8. Essay Prompts and Topics: Minimizing the Effect of Mean Differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, James Dean; And Others

    1991-01-01

    Investigates whether prompts and topic types affect writing performance of college freshmen taking the Manoa Writing Placement Examination (MWPE). Finds that the MWPE is reliable but that responses to prompts and prompt sets differ. Shows that differences arising in performance on prompts or topics can be minimized by examining mean scores and…

  9. Topics in mathematical and applied statistics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pas, van der S.L.

    2017-01-01

    This thesis is composed of papers on four topics: Bayesian theory for the sparse normal means problem, specifically for the horseshoe prior (Chapters 1-3), Bayesian theory for community detection (Chapter 4), nested model selection (Chapter 5), and the application of competing risk methods in the

  10. Selected Topics in International Special Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Nancy

    2002-01-01

    This article provides information on special education topics on the international front. Information is presented on projects that evaluated early intervention programs, a life-centered career education program in the Philippines, a Peruvian vocational program for individuals with severe disabilities, and special classes for children with…

  11. Baltic Earth - Earth System Science for the Baltic Sea Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Markus; Rutgersson, Anna; Lehmann, Andreas; Reckermann, Marcus

    2014-05-01

    The Baltic Sea region, defined as its river catchment basin, spans different climate and population zones, from a temperate, highly populated, industrialized south with intensive agriculture to a boreal, rural north. It encompasses most of the Scandinavian Peninsula in the west; most of Finland and parts of Russia, Belarus, and the Baltic states in the east; and Poland and small parts of Germany and Denmark in the south. The region represents an old cultural landscape, and the Baltic Sea itself is among the most studied sea areas of the world. Baltic Earth is the new Earth system research network for the Baltic Sea region. It is the successor to BALTEX, which was terminated in June 2013 after 20 years and two successful phases. Baltic Earth stands for the vision to achieve an improved Earth system understanding of the Baltic Sea region. This means that the research disciplines of BALTEX continue to be relevant, i.e. atmospheric and climate sciences, hydrology, oceanography and biogeochemistry, but a more holistic view of the Earth system encompassing processes in the atmosphere, on land and in the sea as well as in the anthroposphere shall gain in importance in Baltic Earth. Specific grand research challenges have been formulated, representing interdisciplinary research questions to be tackled in the coming years. A major means will be scientific assessments of particular research topics by expert groups, similar to the BACC approach, which shall help to identify knowledge gaps and develop research strategies. Preliminary grand challenges and topics for which Working Groups have been installed include: • Salinity dynamics in the Baltic Sea • Land-Sea biogeochemical feedbacks in the Baltic Sea region • Natural hazards and extreme events in the Baltic Sea region • Understanding sea level dynamics in the Baltic Sea • Understanding regional variability of water and energy exchange • Utility of Regional Climate Models • Assessment of Scenario Simulations

  12. Topics in field theory

    CERN Document Server

    Karpilovsky, G

    1989-01-01

    This monograph gives a systematic account of certain important topics pertaining to field theory, including the central ideas, basic results and fundamental methods.Avoiding excessive technical detail, the book is intended for the student who has completed the equivalent of a standard first-year graduate algebra course. Thus it is assumed that the reader is familiar with basic ring-theoretic and group-theoretic concepts. A chapter on algebraic preliminaries is included, as well as a fairly large bibliography of works which are either directly relevant to the text or offer supplementary material of interest.

  13. Topics in Operator Theory

    CERN Document Server

    Ball, Joseph A; Helton, JWilliam; Rodman, Leiba; Spitkovsky, Iiya

    2010-01-01

    This is the first volume of a collection of original and review articles on recent advances and new directions in a multifaceted and interconnected area of mathematics and its applications. It encompasses many topics in theoretical developments in operator theory and its diverse applications in applied mathematics, physics, engineering, and other disciplines. The purpose is to bring in one volume many important original results of cutting edge research as well as authoritative review of recent achievements, challenges, and future directions in the area of operator theory and its applications.

  14. Topics from the theory of numbers

    CERN Document Server

    Grosswald, Emil

    1984-01-01

    Many of the important and creative developments in modern mathematics resulted from attempts to solve questions that originate in number theory. The publication of Emil Grosswald’s classic text presents an illuminating introduction to number theory. Combining the historical developments with the analytical approach, Topics from the Theory of Numbers offers the reader a diverse range of subjects to investigate, including: * divisibility * congruences * the Riemann zeta function * Diophantine equations and Fermat’s conjecture * the theory of partitions Comprehensive in nature, Topics from the Theory of Numbers is an ideal text for advanced undergraduates and graduate students alike. "In my opinion it is excellent. It is carefully written and represents clearly a work of a scholar who loves and understands his subject. One can only wish more authors would take such pains and would be as good and honest expositors as Grosswald." — Marc Kac "This book is designed for use in a first course in number theory at...

  15. Abbreviated bibliography on energy development—A focus on the Rocky Mountain Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montag, Jessica M.; Willis, Carolyn J.; Glavin, Levi W.

    2011-01-01

    Energy development of all types continues to grow in the Rocky Mountain Region of the western United States. Federal resource managers increasingly need to balance energy demands, effects on the natural landscape and public perceptions towards these issues. To assist in efficient access to valuable information, this abbreviated bibliography provides citations to relevant information for myriad of issues for which resource managers must contend. The bibliography is organized by seven large topics with various sup-topics: broad energy topics (energy crisis, conservation, supply and demand, etc.); energy sources (fossil fuel, nuclear, renewable, etc.); natural landscape effects (climate change, ecosystem, mitigation, restoration, and reclamation, wildlife, water, etc.); human landscape effects (attitudes and perceptions, economics, community effects, health, Native Americans, etc.); research and technology; international research; and, methods and modeling. A large emphasis is placed on the natural and human landscape effects.

  16. Improving Calculus II and III through the Redistribution of Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, C. Yousuf; Koetz, Matt; Lewis, Heather A.

    2016-01-01

    Three years ago our mathematics department rearranged the topics in second and third semester calculus, moving multivariable calculus to the second semester and series to the third semester. This paper describes the new arrangement of topics, and how it could be adapted to calculus curricula at different schools. It also explains the benefits we…

  17. Topical amitriptyline and ketamine for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercadante, Sebastiano

    2015-01-01

    A neuropathy is a disturbance of function or pathological change in nerves. In some cases, peripheral neuropathic pain may occur due to a lesion or disease of the peripheral somatosensory nervous system. Efficacy of different agents for peripheral neuropathic pain conditions is less than optimal. The administration of topical analgesics might be an option, due to the potential of reduced adverse effects and increased patient compliance. There is major interest in compounding topical analgesics for peripheral neuropathic pain, but several challenges remain for this approach. Topical analgesics have the potential to be a valuable additional approach for the management of peripheral neuropathic pain. Topical amitriptyline-ketamine combination (AK) is a promising agent for peripheral neuropathic pain conditions. Some studies have shown its efficacy in neuropathic pain conditions. However, this data was not uniformely obtained and its role remains still controversial. Efficacy may depend on many factors, including the choice of the vehicle, the concentration, the pain site, and specific diseases. More studies are necessary to support the use of AK in clinical practice.

  18. Proceedings of the topical session on stakeholder involvement in decommissioning projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santiago, Juan Luis; Chandler, Steve; Metcalfe, Doug; Le Bars, Yves

    2006-01-01

    Set up by the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC), the WPDD brings together senior representatives of national organisations who have a broad overview of Decommissioning and Dismantling (D and D) issues through their work as regulators, implementers, R and D experts or policy makers. These include representatives from regulatory authorities, industrial decommissioners from the NEA Co-operative Programme on Exchange of Scientific and Technical Information on Nuclear Installation Decommissioning Projects (CPD), and cross-representation from the other NEA Committees. The EC is a member of the WPDD and the IAEA is participating as an observer. This broad participation provides good possibilities for the co-ordination efforts amongst activities in the international programmes. At its sixth meeting, in Paris, 14-16 November 2005, the WPDD held a topical session on the 'Stakeholder Involvement in Decommissioning Projects'. The topical session was jointly planned and run with members of the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC). This report documents the topical session. The main text summarises the lessons learnt and includes the rapporteurs reports. Appendix 1 and 2 provide the agenda of the topical session and all contributed papers respectively. The Topical session also provided a stimuli to review all the contributions in the area of stakeholder involvement that the WPDD has received since its inception. A list of references is provided in Appendix 3. The topical session was meant to provide an exchange of information and experience on the following issues: - Views from Stakeholders Regarding Stakeholder Involvement and Their Own Role. - Case Studies on Stakeholders Confidence. At the end of each session time was allotted for a plenary discussion. The Rapporteur reviewed the main points and the lessons learnt at the end of the whole Topical Session. (authors)

  19. Topic modeling for cluster analysis of large biological and medical datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Weizhong; Zou, Wen; Chen, James J

    2014-01-01

    The big data moniker is nowhere better deserved than to describe the ever-increasing prodigiousness and complexity of biological and medical datasets. New methods are needed to generate and test hypotheses, foster biological interpretation, and build validated predictors. Although multivariate techniques such as cluster analysis may allow researchers to identify groups, or clusters, of related variables, the accuracies and effectiveness of traditional clustering methods diminish for large and hyper dimensional datasets. Topic modeling is an active research field in machine learning and has been mainly used as an analytical tool to structure large textual corpora for data mining. Its ability to reduce high dimensionality to a small number of latent variables makes it suitable as a means for clustering or overcoming clustering difficulties in large biological and medical datasets. In this study, three topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, are proposed and tested on the cluster analysis of three large datasets: Salmonella pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) dataset, lung cancer dataset, and breast cancer dataset, which represent various types of large biological or medical datasets. All three various methods are shown to improve the efficacy/effectiveness of clustering results on the three datasets in comparison to traditional methods. A preferable cluster analysis method emerged for each of the three datasets on the basis of replicating known biological truths. Topic modeling could be advantageously applied to the large datasets of biological or medical research. The three proposed topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, yield clustering improvements for the three different data types. Clusters more efficaciously represent truthful groupings and subgroupings in the data than traditional methods, suggesting

  20. Immunomodulation and safety of topical calcineurin inhibitors for the treatment of atopic dermatitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hultsch, Thomas; Kapp, Alexander; Spergel, Jonathan

    2005-01-01

    Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic or chronically relapsing inflammatory skin condition that primarily affects children. Topical corticosteroids have been the mainstay of treatment since the late 1950s. While providing excellent short-term efficacy, topical corticosteroid usage is limited by potential adverse effects, including impairment of the function and viability of Langerhans cells/dendritic cells. The recently introduced topical calcineurin inhibitors pimecrolimus cream 1% (Elidel) and tacrolimus ointment 0.03 and 0.1% (Protopic) exhibit a more selective mechanism of action and do not affect Langerhans cells/dendritic cells. For the immune system of young children 'learning' to mount a balanced Th1/Th2 response, this selective effect has particular benefits. In clinical experience, topical calcineurin inhibitors have been shown to be a safe and effective alternative to topical corticosteroids in almost 7 million patients (>5 million on pimecrolimus; >1.7 million on tacrolimus). Topical pimecrolimus is primarily used in children with mild and moderate AD, whereas tacrolimus is used preferentially in more severe cases. None of the topical calcineurin inhibitors have been associated with systemic immunosuppression-related malignancies known to occur following long-term sustained systemic immunosuppression with oral immunosuppressants (e.g., tacrolimus, cyclosporine A, and corticosteroids) in transplant patients. Preclinical and clinical data suggest a greater skin selectivity and larger safety margin for topical pimecrolimus. (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

  1. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TOPICAL MOMETASONE FUROATE 0.1%, TOPICAL 0.03% TACROLIMUS, TOPICAL BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR (bFGF IN CHILDHOOD VITILIGO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kavitha S. B

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND Vitiligo, the commonest of all pigmentary disorders, is an idiopathic, acquired cutaneous achromia, characterised by circumscribed, chalky white macules. It may also involve the pigment epithelium of the eyes, the inner ear and the leptomeninges. Although, vitiligo can begin at any age, it develops before the age of 20 years in 50% of the patients and before the age of 10 years in 25% of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted for a period of one year with 6 months active intervention. A group of 60 consecutive children attending the outpatient Department of Dermatology were included in this study. The same patients were acting as controls. RESULTS Grade 4 response was seen in 12 cases (60% who were on mometasone (VV-20%, focal-30%, segmental-10%, in 10 cases (50% on tacrolimus (VV-20%, focal-30% and in 4 cases (20% on bFGF (focal. Lesions on the face and neck showed grade 4 response in 16 cases (mometasone-8, tacrolimus-6 and bFGF-2, extremities in 6 cases. On the whole grade, 4 response was observed more with mometasone (60% followed by tacrolimus (50%. Grade 3 response was observed with bFGF (30%. CONCLUSION Topical mometasone was very effective among the 3 drugs used in childhood vitiligo showing grade 4 repigmentation in all types of vitiligo except mucosal vitiligo. Tacrolimus proved almost as effective as mometasone to restore skin colour in lesions of vitiligo in children. Because it does not produce atrophy or other adverse effects, tacrolimus may be very useful for younger patients, and for sensitive areas of the skin such as eyelids, it should be considered in other skin disorders currently treated with topical steroids for prolonged periods. Topical basic fibroblast growth factor though less effective than mometasone and tacrolimus, but can be tried as initial therapy in resistant cases such as segmental vitiligo as initial therapy of small vitiligo patches when physicians may not like to initiate high risk

  2. Database of Literature on Guided Imagery and Music and Related Topics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bonde, Lars Ole

    2015-01-01

    A March 2015 update of the largest international database on literature on Guided Imagery and Music and related topics.......A March 2015 update of the largest international database on literature on Guided Imagery and Music and related topics....

  3. Selected topics from classical bacterial genetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raleigh, Elisabeth A; Elbing, Karen; Brent, Roger

    2002-08-01

    Current cloning technology exploits many facts learned from classical bacterial genetics. This unit covers those that are critical to understanding the techniques described in this book. Topics include antibiotics, the LAC operon, the F factor, nonsense suppressors, genetic markers, genotype and phenotype, DNA restriction, modification and methylation and recombination.

  4. Topic Correlation Analysis for Bearing Fault Diagnosis Under Variable Operating Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chao; Shen, Fei; Yan, Ruqiang

    2017-05-01

    This paper presents a Topic Correlation Analysis (TCA) based approach for bearing fault diagnosis. In TCA, Joint Mixture Model (JMM), a model which adapts Probability Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA), is constructed first. Then, JMM models the shared and domain-specific topics using “fault vocabulary” . After that, the correlations between two kinds of topics are computed and used to build a mapping matrix. Furthermore, a new shared space spanned by the shared and mapped domain-specific topics is set up where the distribution gap between different domains is reduced. Finally, a classifier is trained with mapped features which follow a different distribution and then the trained classifier is tested on target bearing data. Experimental results justify the superiority of the proposed approach over the stat-of-the-art baselines and it can diagnose bearing fault efficiently and effectively under variable operating conditions.

  5. The Influence of Topic Status on Written and Spoken Sentence Production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowles, H. Wind; Ferreira, Victor S.

    2012-01-01

    Four experiments investigate the influence of topic status and givenness on how speakers and writers structure sentences. The results of these experiments show that when a referent is previously given, it is more likely to be produced early in both sentences and word lists, confirming prior work showing that givenness increases the accessibility of given referents. When a referent is previously given and assigned topic status, it is even more likely to be produced early in a sentence, but not in a word list. Thus, there appears to be an early mention advantage for topics that is present in both written and spoken modalities, but is specific to sentence production. These results suggest that information-structure constructs like topic exert an influence that is not based only on increased accessibility, but also reflects mapping to syntactic structure during sentence production. PMID:22408281

  6. Ring Keratitis Associated With Topical Abuse of a Dilute Anesthetic After Refractive Surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-Chih Hou

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Anesthetic toxic keratitis is rare and presents as a ring keratitis, which is often misdiagnosed as Acanthamoeba keratitis. Here, we report an unusual case of toxic keratitis caused by topical abuse of a dilute anesthetic. A 26-year-old woman presented with bilateral corneal edema, ring infiltrates, pigmented keratic precipitate, Descemet's membrane folding, and strong anterior chamber reactions 2 weeks after laser subepithelial keratomileusis surgery. Tracing back her medical history, topical dilute 0.1% proparacaine was prescribed and frequently used for 1 month. Toxic keratitis was suspected. After discontinuation of the topical anesthetic and initiation of treatment with topical 20% autologous serum, complete corneal epithelialization was achieved within 1 week. Corneal infiltrates and anterior chamber reaction gradually subsided. Vision improved from finger counting to 20/20 in the right eye and 20/25 in the left eye, but confocal microscopy showed decreased corneal endothelial cells. Topical abuse of a dilute topical anesthetic can cause severe toxic keratitis and endothelial cell loss. The physician must be aware of the signs of topical anesthetic abuse and should not prescribe even a dilute anesthetic for long-term use. Autologous serum can help in the recovery of toxic keratitis.

  7. PREFACE: CEWQO Topical Issue CEWQO Topical Issue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozic, Mirjana; Man'ko, Margarita

    2009-09-01

    by Adam et al. In the paper by V Man'ko et al the diagonal representation of the density operator (usually called P-function of Glauber-Sudarshan) is related to the star-product quantization method and to the tomographic-probability representation of quantum states. Laskowski et al suggest an elegant geometrical criterion for the separability, which is based on the local correlation measurements readily available in the laboratory. Mizrahi describes a method to derive the Pauli-Schrödinger equation starting from a simple model of a qubit carried by a massive particle. By analyzing unavoidable quantum losses as they appear in neutron phase-echo and spin rotation experiments, Rauch concludes that basic quantum irreversibility exists in neutron interferometry. Rauch also shows how entanglement effects in a single particle system demonstrate quantum contextuality, and then argues that a quantum system carries much more information than is usually extracted. Kupczynski advocates various statistical tests which could be used to search for a fine structure in experimental data in order to answer the question: is quantum theory predictably complete? For an ion confined within a Paul trap, Mihalcea constructs an invariant operator based on the Lews and Riesenfeld approach and determines the spectrum of the quasienergy operator. Popov et al construct pair-coherent states of the Barut-Girardello kind for two noninteracting subsystems of pseudoharmonic oscillators and examine their statistical properties in different regions of parameters. The property of entanglement, considered to be the most intriguing property of composite quantum systems, has been an important research subject in recent years. It is considered to be a possible resource for quantum computation and communication. Therefore, a substantial number of papers in this topical issue is devoted to entanglement. Leon et al write that two-photon emission from two atoms initially excited in a common electromagnetic

  8. Peringkasan Tweet Berdasarkan Trending Topic Twitter Dengan Pembobotan TF-IDF dan Single Linkage AngglomerativeHierarchical Clustering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annisa Annisa

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Trending topic is a feature provided by twitter that informs something widely discussed by users in a particular time. The form of a trending topic is a hashtag and can be selected by clicking. However, the number of tweets for each trending topics can be very large, so it will be difficult if we want to know all the contents. So, in order to make easy when reading the topic, a small number of tweets can be selected as the main idea of the topic. In this study, we applied the Agglomerative Single Linkage Hierarchical Clustering by calculating the TF-IDF value for each word in advance. We used 100 trending topics, where each topic consists of 50 tweets in Indonesian. For testing, we provided 30 trending topics which consist of 2 until 9 sub-topics. The result is that each trending topics can be summarized into shorter text contains 2 until 9 tweets. We were able to summarize 1 trending topics exactly same as the topic summarized by human expert. However, the rest of topics corresponded partially with human expert.

  9. Topical therapy for facial allergic dermatoses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. S. Kondratyeva

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The research goal is to assess clinical dynamics and morphofunctional skin parameters of patients with facial allergic dermatoses on the background of combined topical therapy. Materials and methods. 45 patients with various facial allergic dermatoses in dry and sensitive skin took part in the research. The methods included anamnesis taking, poll, objective examination and assessment of morphofunctional parameters of skin, as well as estimation of life quality dynamic index (LQDI. Main results. After a course of treatment with 0,05% solution of alclometasone dipropionate inflammation of dermatosis ceased in 45 (100% patients, itching and pains in 39 (86,7% patients, but complaints about dryness and peeling of facial skin remained in 41 (91,1% and 40 (88,8% patients respectively. On the background of therapy including emollient Aflocream the above mentioned symptoms did not appear in 43 (95,6% patients, wherein maximum effect was achieved in patients with allergic contact dermatitis - 14 (93,3%. After a course of topical therapy all patients showed statistically significant increase of epidermal moisture level, alongside with reduction of skin relief and degree of keratinization. During the assessment of LQDI a tendency to reduction of proportion of patients on whom the disease has a strong and extremely strong impact was noted in 10 patients (i.e. 22,2%, moderate influence - in 5 of them (11,45%, insignificant influence or its absence - in 30 (66,7% people. Conclusion. Combined therapy including the use of a topical corticosteroid Afloderm and an emollient Aflocream showed good clinical efficiency in patients with facial allergic dermatoses. The efficiency is also confirmed with improvements in morphofunctional characteristics of patients’ skin on the background of therapy.

  10. Managment of superficial infantile capillary hemangiomas with topical timolol maleate solution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rizvi, Syed Ali Raza; Yusuf, Faraz; Sharma, Rajeev; Rizvi, Syed Wajahat Ali

    2015-01-01

    Capillary hemangioma is the most common benign tumor of eyelids and orbit in children. Recently, a topical beta blocker has been reported as an effective treatment for superficial capillary hemangiomas. We present a case report of two children having large capillary hemangiomas who responded well to topical treatment by 0.5% timolol maleate solution. After 12 months of treatment, the lesion has significantly reduced in size, thickness, and color in both cases. Thus, we conclude that long-term use of topical 0.5% timolol maleate solution is safe and effective in treating superficial capillary hemangiomas.

  11. Topics in the Foundations of General Relativity and Newtonian Gravitation Theory

    CERN Document Server

    Malament, David B

    2012-01-01

    In Topics in the Foundations of General Relativity and Newtonian Gravitation Theory, David B. Malament presents the basic logical-mathematical structure of general relativity and considers a number of special topics concerning the foundations of general relativity and its relation to Newtonian gravitation theory. These special topics include the geometrized formulation of Newtonian theory (also known as Newton-Cartan theory), the concept of rotation in general relativity, and Gödel spacetime. One of the highlights of the book is a no-go theorem that can be understood to show that there is

  12. Understanding the Correlations between Social Attention and Topic Trends of Scientific Publications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianlei Dong

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: We propose and apply a simplified nowcasting model to understand the correlations between social attention and topic trends of scientific publications. Design/methodology/approach: First, topics are generated from the obesity corpus by using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA algorithm and time series of keyword search trends in Google Trends are obtained. We then establish the structural time series model using data from January 2004 to December 2012, and evaluate the model using data from January 2013. We employ a state-space model to separate different non-regression components in an observational time series (i.e. the tendency and the seasonality and apply the “spike and slab prior” and stepwise regression to analyze the correlations between the regression component and the social media attention. The two parts are combined using Markov-chain Monte Carlo sampling techniques to obtain our results. Findings: The results of our study show that (1 the number of publications on child obesity increases at a lower rate than that of diabetes publications; (2 the number of publication on a given topic may exhibit a relationship with the season or time of year; and (3 there exists a correlation between the number of publications on a given topic and its social media attention, i.e. the search frequency related to that topic as identified by Google Trends. We found that our model is also able to predict the number of publications related to a given topic. Research limitations: First, we study a correlation rather than causality between topics' trends and social media. As a result, the relationships might not be robust, so we cannot predict the future in the long run. Second, we cannot identify the reasons or conditions that are driving obesity topics to present such tendencies and seasonal patterns, so we might need to do “field” study in the future. Third, we need to improve the efficiency of our model by finding more efficient

  13. Recent topics in nonlinear PDE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mimura, Masayasu; Nishida, Takaaki

    1984-01-01

    The meeting on the subject of nonlinear partial differential equations was held at Hiroshima University in February, 1983. Leading and active mathematicians were invited to talk on their current research interests in nonlinear pdes occuring in the areas of fluid dynamics, free boundary problems, population dynamics and mathematical physics. This volume contains the theory of nonlinear pdes and the related topics which have been recently developed in Japan. (Auth.)

  14. Stochastic Analysis and Related Topics

    CERN Document Server

    Ustunel, Ali

    1988-01-01

    The Silvri Workshop was divided into a short summer school and a working conference, producing lectures and research papers on recent developments in stochastic analysis on Wiener space. The topics treated in the lectures relate to the Malliavin calculus, the Skorohod integral and nonlinear functionals of white noise. Most of the research papers are applications of these subjects. This volume addresses researchers and graduate students in stochastic processes and theoretical physics.

  15. Efficacy of combination of glycolic acid peeling with topical regimen in treatment of melasma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhary, Savita; Dayal, Surabhi

    2013-10-01

    Various treatment modalities are available for management of melasma, ranging from topical and oral to chemical peeling, but none is promising alone. Very few studies are available regarding efficacy of combination of topical treatment with chemical peeling. Combination of chemical peeling and topical regimen can be a good treatment modality in the management of this recalcitrant disorder. To assess the efficacy of combination of topical regimen (2% hydroquinone, 1% hydrocortisone and 0.05% tretinoin) with serial glycolic acid peeling in the treatment of melasma in Indian patients. Forty Indian patients of moderate to severe epidermal variety melasma were divided into two groups of 20 each. One Group i.e. peel group received topical regimen (2% hydroquinone, 1% hydrocortisone and 0.05% tretinoin) with serial glycolic acid peeling and other group i.e. control group received topical regimen (2% hydroquinone, 1% hydrocortisone, 0.05% tretinoin). There was an overall decrease in MASI from baseline in 24 weeks of therapy in both the groups (P value peel with topical regimen showed early and greater improvement than the group which was receiving topical regimen only. This study concluded that combining topical regimen (2% hydroquinone, 1% hydrocortisone and 0.05% tretinoin) with serial glycolic acid peeling significantly enhances the therapeutic efficacy of glycolic acid peeling. The combination of glycolic acid peeling with the topical regimen is a highly effective, safe and promising therapeutic option in treatment of melasma.

  16. Topical anesthetic versus lidocaine infiltration in arteriovenous fistula cannulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anisha George

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: End stage renal disease (ESRD patients on maintenance hemodialysis undergo arterio-venous fistula (AVF cannulation prior to each hemodialysis session for blood access. Prior to cannulation lidocaine infiltration is done, which is often perceived as painful. Eutectic mixture of local anesthetic (EMLA has been found to significantly reduce pain associated with radial artery cannulation compared with lidocaine infiltration. Aims: To evaluate the efficacy of EMLA compared to infiltration of lidocaine in hemodialysis patients for AVF cannulation. Materials and Methods: A single-centre, crossover study of patients with an AVF on regular maintenance hemodialysis was performed in the dialysis unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital. The site of AVF, number of attempts for AVF cannulation and cannula insertion time were recorded. The patients were asked about the acceptability of application of the anesthetic, delay between anesthetic and cannulation and to score the pain on cannulation. Results: Fifty patients were included in the study. With the visual analog scale, pain score on infiltration was 4.8. Pain score on cannulation after topical application was 2.9 and after infiltration, 2.0. The number of attempts for cannulation and the cannula insertion time were similar. Anesthesia was more stressful in the injectable group rather than the topical group (P < 0.001. Delay between anesthetic and cannulation was unacceptable in the topical group (P < 0.001. Patient compliance was better during infiltration compared to topical (P < 0.005. Mean pain score during infiltration of anesthetic was significantly higher than cannulation pain after either anesthetic, although pain on cannulation was higher in the topical group (P < 0.001. Conclusions: EMLA offers a suitable alternative to lidocaine infiltration for patients using AVF for blood access.

  17. Topical tacrolimus solution in autoimmune polyglandular syndrome-1-associated keratitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shoughy, Samir S; Tabbara, Khalid F

    2017-09-01

    To evaluate the efficacy of topical tacrloimus eye drops in the treatment of keratitis associated with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS)-1. This is a retrospective review of 10 patients with APS-1. The patients were treated with topical tacrolimus 0.01% solution at The Eye Center, between 1 March 2012 and 30 April 2016. The outcome measures included improvement in visual acuity, photophobia and keratitis following treatment. Clinical assessment was carried out before, during and on the last visit following initiation of therapy. A total of 10 patients were included. There were five male and five female patients. The mean age was 11 years with age range of 3-42 years. The mean duration of treatment with topical tacrolimus was 26 months (range 8-46 months). There was improvement of photophobia in 7 out of 10 patients following therapy with topical tacrolimus. In three patients, the photophobia was persistent. There was no clinically detectable improvement in the severity of keratitis in all patients. The mean best corrected visual acuity was 0.1 before and following therapy. Topical tacrolimus is effective in reducing the photophobia in patients with APS-1-associated keratitis, but showed no effects on the severity of keratitis. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  18. Role of regional policies in promoting networking and innovation activity of firms

    OpenAIRE

    Kirsi Mukkala; Jari Ritsilä

    2004-01-01

    The success of firms and regions is increasingly defined by their innovation and learning capabilities. It has been emphasized in several studies that a local operational environment may have a positive impact on innovation activity of firms. From policy point of view, the relationship between firms and their local environment is an important research topic. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether there is a demand for regional policy makers in promoting innovative and networking acti...

  19. MODELS OF TOURIST DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Borma Afrodita

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Third year PhD candidate at the University of Oradea, under the guidance of Professor Mrs. Alina Bădulescu in the doctoral research project entitled: "Doctoral studies and Ph.D. candidates for competitive research on a knowledge based society", a co-financed project by the European Social Fund through the Sectoral Operational Program for Human Resources Development 2007 - 2013, Priority Axis 1. "Education and training in support for growth and development of a knowledge based society" I chose to present this subject in order to demonstrate the connection that exists between tourism and regional development. Having as research topic "Tourism and development in the Euro regional context” I felt it would be appropriate to devote a subchapter in presenting the impact of tourism in regional development. Thus I have analysed a number of specialised papers found at national and international level in order to achieve a synthesis on the approached topic. Authors such as Williams and Shaw (1991, Sharma (2004, Keskin and Cansiz (2010 were concerned with presenting the positive aspects of tourism in regional development. Condes (2004 presents on one hand the secrets regarding success in matter of tourist development, and on the other side he presents the possible risks that follow the development of tourism in a country / region (Condes 2004. Following the gathered information we found that indeed tourism plays an important role in regional development. The used research methodology consisted in using specialised literature in order to identify some models that illustrate the potential success of tourism in regional development. The space-temporal development model of tourism proposed by Opperman (1993, although it was developed at national level represents a useful tool in illustrating the potential success of tourism in regional development. Miossec's model (Sharma 2004:300 describes the structural evolution of touristic regions in

  20. Developing topic-specific search filters for PubMed with click-through data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, J; Lu, Z

    2013-01-01

    Search filters have been developed and demonstrated for better information access to the immense and ever-growing body of publications in the biomedical domain. However, to date the number of filters remains quite limited because the current filter development methods require significant human efforts in manual document review and filter term selection. In this regard, we aim to investigate automatic methods for generating search filters. We present an automated method to develop topic-specific filters on the basis of users' search logs in PubMed. Specifically, for a given topic, we first detect its relevant user queries and then include their corresponding clicked articles to serve as the topic-relevant document set accordingly. Next, we statistically identify informative terms that best represent the topic-relevant document set using a background set composed of topic irrelevant articles. Lastly, the selected representative terms are combined with Boolean operators and evaluated on benchmark datasets to derive the final filter with the best performance. We applied our method to develop filters for four clinical topics: nephrology, diabetes, pregnancy, and depression. For the nephrology filter, our method obtained performance comparable to the state of the art (sensitivity of 91.3%, specificity of 98.7%, precision of 94.6%, and accuracy of 97.2%). Similarly, high-performing results (over 90% in all measures) were obtained for the other three search filters. Based on PubMed click-through data, we successfully developed a high-performance method for generating topic-specific search filters that is significantly more efficient than existing manual methods. All data sets (topic-relevant and irrelevant document sets) used in this study and a demonstration system are publicly available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/downloads/CQ_filter/