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We use the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic Legacy Survey (SWIRE) to explore the specific star-formation activity of galaxies and their evolution near the peak of the cosmic far-infrared (FIR) background at 70 and 160um. We use a stacking analysis to determine the mean FIR properties of well defined subsets of galaxies at flux levels well below the FIR catalogue detection limits of SWIRE and other Spitzer surveys. We tabulate the contribution of different subsets of galaxies to the FIR background at 70um and 160um. These long wavelengths provide a good constraint on the bolometric, obscured emission. The large area provides good constraints at low z and in finer redshift bins than previous work. At all redshifts we find that the specific FIR Luminosity (sLFIR) decreases with increasing mass, following a trend L_FIR/M* propto M_* ^beta with beta =-0.38\pm0.14. This is a more continuous change than expected from the {Delucia2007} semi-analytic model suggesting modifications to the feedback prescriptions. We see an increase in the sLFIR by about a factor of ~100 from 0, v2 Update doesn't change the content of the paper, but now includes data files for the plots Fig 5-13 (all.plotdat, spi.plotdat and ell.plotdat on arXiv package)

The relative sensitivity of side-by-side and sequential monadic consumer liking protocols was compared. In the side-by-side evaluation, all samples were presented at once and evaluated together 1 characteristic at a time. In the sequential monadic evaluation, 1 sample was presented and evaluated on all characteristics, then returned before panelists received and evaluated another sample. Evaluations were conducted on orange juice, frankfurters, canned chili, potato chips, and applesauce. Five commercial brands, having a broad quality range, were selected as samples for each product category to assure a wide array of consumer liking scores. Without their knowledge, panelists rated the same 5 retail brands by 1 protocol and then 3 wk later by the other protocol. For 3 of the products, both protocols yielded the same order of overall liking. Slight differences in order of overall liking for the other 2 products were not significant. Of the 50 pairwise overall liking comparisons, 44 were in agreement. The different results obtained by the 2 protocols in order of liking and significance of paired comparisons were due to the experimental variation and differences in sensitivity. Hedonic liking scores were subjected to statistical power analyses and used to calculate minimum number of panelists required to achieve varying degrees of sensitivity when using side-by-side and sequential monadic protocols. In most cases, the side-by-side protocol was more sensitive, thus providing the same information with fewer panelists. Side-by-side protocol was less sensitive in cases where sensory fatigue was a factor.

Rationale: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease that affects about 50,000 Americans and an estimated one million people worldwide. This disorder affects any or all systems of the human body. Epilepsy is one of the leading conditions affecting individuals with TSC - up to 90%. TSC has the distinction of providing researchers with an opportunity to study co-morbid conditions in a disease with a known gene mutation on chromosome 9 and 16 (TSC1 and TSC2 respectively). A need was identified to develop a central repository of medical information that would expand the understanding of how TSC affects individuals at different times in their lives. The Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance launched the first ever comprehensive database in 2006 to meet this goal. Methods: The TSC Database Project Group is a network of TSC Clinics with institutional review board or ethics committee approval to enter medical information about individuals with TSC into a password-protected, relational database maintained on a secure server at Tesuji, Inc. (Denver, CO). The database system uses a platform-neutral interface that relies only on standard web-related communication protocols (e.g. http, https) to reduce the possibility that its use would conflict with firewalls or other security measures in place at the participating TSC Clinics. The system creates a unique ID for each participant, which contains no personal identifiers. Authorized TSC Clinic personnel enter retrospective (i.e. initial data entry) and prospective information (i.e. follow-up over the course of a participant's life-time) about conditions affecting the following areas: cardiac, dental, dermatological, liver, neurological, ophthalmological, psychological, pulmonary, renal, and reproductive. The database system enables authorized database users to generate summary reports about the contents of the database and to search for participants who match a search criteria selection. The database may also be queried using Structured Query Languageto provide researchers with information about a single condition or co-morbid conditions affecting individuals with TSC. Results: As of May 25, 2009, fifteen TSC Clinics (14 in the U.S. and one in Europe) were consenting individuals with TSC to participate in the database project, with initial data entered on 95% of the 781 participants. Queries of the study participants to identify those with a diangosis of epilepsy revealed that 607/781 (78%) have epilepsy, 236/607 (39%) had infantile spasms, and 343/607 (57%) have a diagnosis of complex partial seizures. Detailed analysis of seizure and surgery types will be presented. Conclusions: The TSC Natural History Database provides a functional tool for collecting clinical information about individuals with TSC over their lifespan from multiple clinic sites in the USA and in Europe. The majority of study participants have a diagnosis of epilepsy and the clinical information collected over their lifespan provides valuable information about the natural history and treatments for epilepsy in this population.

A solar food dryer, previously developed for personal and small community use, was the object of this optimization study. Based on previous research of convective solar food dehydrators, several dryer parameters were identified for this study. Chimney height and dryer product load were two factors tested in a central composite experimental design. Dryer product load was found to produce a maximum efficiency of the dryer when fifteen product-filled trays were inserted in the dryer. Maximum efficiency was observed at the maximum chimney height tested. Post-optimization configuration compared with pre-optimization configuration resulted in a 40% increase in final dry product production per hour of dehydration time.

Rationale: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease that affects about 50,000 Americans and an estimated one million people worldwide. This disorder affects any or all systems of the human body. Epilepsy is one of the leading conditions affecting individuals with TSC - up to 90%. TSC has the distinction of providing researchers with an opportunity to study co-morbid conditions in a disease with a known gene mutation on chromosome 9 and 16 (TSC1 and TSC2, respectively). A need was identified to develop a central repository of medical information that would expand the understanding of how TSC affects individuals at different times in their lives. The Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance launched the first ever comprehensive database in 2006 to meet this goal.

A BAE Systems /UK EPSRC funded project Flaviir, is investigating the design and manufacture of low cost carbon fibre composite airframe structures. Novel binder coated unidirectional fibre tapes and tows were developed to enable the design of optimised primary structures. The RTM technique was applied to mould net shape sections of spar components. Various designs of wing attachment lugs were manufactured with a range of reinforcement materials, including non crimp fabric, novel binder coated tapes and conventional unidirectional prepreg. Alongside these, a novel technique termed optimised tow lay up (OTL) was used to reduce the weight. Binder coated carbon fibre tow is placed around the structure in the principal stress directions to increase both bearing strength and overall component stiffness. The novel materials, manufacturing technique and initial element test results are presented.

The Department of Medical Sociology as part of the Medical Faculty of the University of Hamburg has developed a teaching concept focussing on doctor-patient-communication. Elements of the framework for implementing the concept are: 12 hours for the whole course, teaching has to be provided for 20 groups per year, continuous evaluation by students. Each student has to conduct an interview with an (ex-)patient on "patient's view of illness and health care". There is one teaching session about 4 hours for preparation, and another one for discussion of experiences with and results of the interviews.The concept takes into consideration the requirements both of the official curriculum for medical sociology and the new national regulations for physicans' examinations (Ärztliche Appprobationsordnung). In conclusion, a teaching model which is based on having the first experience of a structured patient interview is feasible for about 400 students in their first semester. The concept and in particular the interview are well accepted and positively evaluated by the students. In the last term, mean of overall satisfaction is about 5 on a 6-point agreement scale. The concept of the course in medical sociology (conducting a patient interview) can be applied in other universities. However, transferability depends on a time frame of about 0,75 hours per week during the semester. Im Institut für Medizin-Soziologie der Medizinischen Fakultät Hamburg wurde ein Kurskonzept für das erste Semester entwickelt, das die Arzt-Patienten-Interaktion ins Zentrum stellt. Rahmenbedingungen für die Umsetzung sind: 0,8 Semesterwochenstunden (= ca. 12 Untersichtsstunden), 20 Kurs-Gruppen jährlich einmal im Wintersemester, kontinuierliche studentische Evaluationen.Als Kernelement des Kurses wird von jedem Studierenden ein Interview mit einem (Ex-)Patienten geführt. In je einem Zeitblock von ca. 4 Unterrichtsstunden wird das Interview vor- und nachbereitet. Als Hilfestellung dient ein Skript zum Thema des Kurses "Kranksein und Krankenbehandlung aus Patientensicht". Das Konzept berücksichtigt sowohl den Gegenstandskatalog der Medizinischen Soziologie als auch die Forderung der Approbationsordnung nach stärkeren klinischen Bezügen im Abschnitt Medizin 1.Als Schlussfolgerungen lassen sich festhalten: Ein Kursmodell für ca. 400 Studierende, in dessen Zentrum die erste Erfahrung eines strukturierten Gesprächs mit (Ex-)Patienten steht, ist machbar. Die Ergebnisse der studentischen Evaluation zeigen, dass der Kurs im Verlauf von vier Semestern zunehmend positiv bewertet wird. Im letzten Wintersemester 2005/2006 wird ein Wert von knapp 5 auf einer 6-stufigen Zustimmungsskala im Hinblick auf verschiedene Merkmale der Prozess- und Ergebnisqualität erreicht. Das Konzept ist mit Anpassungen an andere Rahmenbedingungen auch andernorts verwendbar.

Background: The importance of evaluation is increasing, not only in medical education. Apart from giving feedback to the teachers the results of evaluations can be used for allocation of educational funds. At the medical faculty of the University of Hamburg the evaluation of medical education has been performed since ten years.Results: An analysis of the Hamburg experience in the standardized evaluation of medical education shows a series of problems. 1. The cumulative evaluation of curriculum parts tends to turn out different than the detailed evaluation of its consisting parts. 2. Theoretical courses tend to be assessed worse than clinical courses - irrespective of their real quality. The reason for this "handicap" of theoretical courses is that students tend to rate their benefit for clinical practice lower. 3. There are differences between prompt and delayed assessments of the same courses. 4. Students' assessment also depends on the stage of their training and on the didactic type of the evaluated course.Conclusion: Ranking of courses should be performed with caution. To improve reliability and validity of results the following suggestions are made: 1. Results of cumulative evaluation of curriculum parts should be interpreted with care. 2. Unequal opportunities of theoretical and clinical courses to gain good results should be considered. 3. Repeated assessments and longitudinal comparisons are essential. 4. Comparisons should be made only between similar didactical types of courses. 5. Results should be analysed with respect to their possible causes, preferably by mixed evaluation commissions. 6. It is recommended to evaluate aspects of process quality rather than of result quality. Hintergrund: Die Evaluation von Lehrveranstaltungen und curricularen Abschnitten durch Studierende nimmt nicht nur in der ärztlichen Ausbildung zu. Neben der Rückmeldung an die Dozenten können die Ergebnisse eine wichtige Basis für budgetäre Allokationsentscheidungen in der Lehre bilden. An der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Hamburg wurden seit zehn Jahren Erfahrungen mit der Evaluation von Lehrveranstaltungen gesammelt.Ergebnisse: Eine Analyse der Hamburger Erfahrungen zeigt, dass die Ergebnisse standardisierter Evaluationen der ärztlichen Ausbildung eine Reihe von Problemen in sich bergen: 1. Die Gesamtbeurteilung eines Studienabschnitts scheint anders auszufallen als die Beurteilung der darin enthaltenen einzelnen Veranstaltungen. 2. Theoretische bzw. patientenferne Fächer werden - in der Regel unabhängig von deren tatsächlicher Qualität - insgesamt negativer beurteilt als klinische Fächer. Grund dafür ist wahrscheinlich der als geringer eingeschätzte Nutzen der patientenfernen Fächer für die klinische Berufstätigkeit. 3. Es zeigen sich Unterschiede zwischen zeitnahen und zeitfernen Veranstaltungsevaluationen. 4. Die Bewertung durch Studierende ist weiterhin abhängig von deren Studiendauer sowie von der Veranstaltungsform.Schlussfolgerung: Beim Ranking von Fächern und Veranstaltungen ist Vorsicht geboten. Zur Verbesserung der Interpretationssicherheit können folgende Empfehlungen gegeben werden: 1. Aus Gesamtbeurteilungen sollte nur mit Vorsicht auf die einzelnen Veranstaltungen geschlossen werden. 2. Beim Ranking sind "Handicaps" der theoretischen bzw. patientenfernen Fächer zu bedenken.3. Mehrfachmessungen und Längsschnittvergleiche sind unerlässlich. 4. Vergleiche sollten nur bei vergleichbaren Einheiten (z.B. Veranstaltungstypen) vorgenommen werden. 5. Empirisch gefundene Unterschiede sind immer auf ihre Ursachenbündel zu untersuchen, am besten von gemischten Evaluationskommissionen. 6. Erhebungen zur Prozessqualität von Veranstaltungen sind brauchbarer als solche zur Ergebnisqualität.

We have identified an optimized peptide inhibitor that can be used to develop potent anthrax toxin therapeutics. Anthrax toxin, an essential virulence factor of Bacillus anthracis, elicits many of the symptoms associated with the disease, and is responsible for death. The toxin is composed of a cell-binding component, protective antigen, and two enzymatic components, edema factor and lethal factor. The three proteins are secreted individually by the bacterium and then assemble into functional complexes on the surface of mammalian cells. These complexes are endocytosed, and the enzymatic components are translocated into the cytosol, where they exert their activities. We screened a phage display library for peptides that can bind the heptameric cell-binding subunit of anthrax toxin, and identified a novel peptide that can block toxin assembly. We made a series of mutant peptides and attached these peptides to polymer backbones to assess their inhibitory activities in vitro. This series of truncated peptide mutants was used to identify a minimal peptide sequence, TYWWLD, that can be used to develop potent polyvalent inhibitors of anthrax toxin.