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Background: Subtle progressive changes in speech motor function and cognition begin prior to diagnosis of Huntington’s disease (HD). Objective: To determine the nature of listener-rated speech differences in premanifest and early-stage HD (i.e., PreHD and EarlyHD), compared to neurologically healthy controls. Methods: We administered a speech battery to 60 adults (16 people with PreHD, 14 with EarlyHD, and 30 neurologically healthy controls), and conducted a cognitive test of processing speed/visual attention, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) on participants with HD. Voice recordings were rated by expert listeners and analyzed for acoustic and perceptual speech features. Results: Listeners perceived subtle differences in the speech of PreHD compared to controls, including abnormal pitch level and speech rate, reduced loudness and loudness inflection, altered voice quality, hypernasality, imprecise articulation, and reduced naturalness of speech. Listeners detected abnormal speech rate in PreHD compared to healthy speakers on a reading task, which correlated with slower speech rate from acoustic analysis and a lower cognitive performance score. In early-stage HD, continuous speech was characterized by longer pauses, a higher proportion of silence, and slower rate. Conclusion: Differences in speech and voice acoustic features are detectable in PreHD by expert listeners and align with some acoustically-derived objective speech measures. Slower speech rate in PreHD suggests altered oral motor control and/or subtle cognitive deficits that begin prior to diagnosis. Speakers with EarlyHD exhibited more silences compared to the PreHD and control groups, raising the likelihood of a link between speech and cognition that is not yet well characterized in HD.

Chinese University of Hong Kong ‐ University of Exeter Joint Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Resilience (ENSURE)

The pathophysiological and clinical significance of microvascular dysfunction (MVD) in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains uncertain.The aim of this study was to use cardiovascular magnetic resonance to: 1) quantify coronary microvascular function; 2) examine the relationship between perfusion and fibrosis; and 3) evaluate the impact of MVD and fibrosis on long-term clinical outcomes.In a prospective, observational study, patients with HFpEF and control subjects underwent multiparametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance (comprising assessment of left ventricular volumetry, perfusion, and fibrosis [focal by late gadolinium enhancement and diffuse by extracellular volume]). The primary endpoint was the composite of death or hospitalization with heart failure.One hundred and one patients with HFpEF (mean age 73 ± 9 years, mean ejection fraction 56% ± 5%) and 43 control subjects (mean age 73 ± 5 years, mean ejection fraction 58% ± 5%) were studied. Myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) was lower in patients with HFpEF versus control subjects (1.74 ± 0.76 vs 2.22 ± 0.76; P = 0.001). MVD (defined as MPR 2.0) was present in 70% of patients with HFpEF (vs 48% of control subjects; P = 0.014). There was no significant linear correlation between MPR and diffuse fibrosis (r = -0.10; P = 0.473) and no difference in MPR between those with and without focal fibrosis (mean difference -0.03; 95% CI: -0.37 to 0.30). In the HFpEF group, during median follow-up of 3.1 years, there were 45 composite events. MPR was independently predictive of clinical outcome following adjustment for clinical, blood, and imaging parameters (1 SD increase: HR: 0.673 [95% CI: 0.463 to 0.978; P = 0.038]; HR: 0.694 [95% CI: 0.491 to 0.982; P = 0.039]; and HR: 0.690 [95% CI: 0.489 to 0.973; P = 0.034], respectively).MVD is highly prevalent among patients with HFpEF and is an independent predictor of prognosis. The lack of correlation between MVD and fibrosis may challenge the assertion of a direct causal link between these entities. (Developing Imaging and Plasma Biomarkers in Describing Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction [DIAMONDHFpEF]; NCT03050593).

Every author has erroneously been assigned to the affiliation “62”. The affiliation 62 belongs to the author Graham Casey. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Genome-wide association studies have reported 56 independently associated colorectal cancer (CRC) risk variants, most of which are non-coding and believed to exert their effects by modulating gene expression. The computational method PrediXcan uses cis-regulatory variant predictors to impute expression and perform gene-level association tests in GWAS without directly measured transcriptomes. In this study, we used reference datasets from colon (n = 169) and whole blood (n = 922) transcriptomes to test CRC association with genetically determined expression levels in a genome-wide analysis of 12,186 cases and 14,718 controls. Three novel associations were discovered from colon transverse models at FDR ≤ 0.2 and further evaluated in an independent replication including 32,825 cases and 39,933 controls. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, we found statistically significant associations using colon transcriptome models with TRIM4 (discovery P = 2.2 × 10− 4, replication P = 0.01), and PYGL (discovery P = 2.3 × 10− 4, replication P = 6.7 × 10− 4). Interestingly, both genes encode proteins that influence redox homeostasis and are related to cellular metabolic reprogramming in tumors, implicating a novel CRC pathway linked to cell growth and proliferation. Defining CRC risk regions as one megabase up- and downstream of one of the 56 independent risk variants, we defined 44 non-overlapping CRC-risk regions. Among these risk regions, we identified genes associated with CRC (P < 0.05) in 34/44 CRC-risk regions. Importantly, CRC association was found for two genes in the previously reported 2q25 locus, CXCR1 and CXCR2, which are potential cancer therapeutic targets. These findings provide strong candidate genes to prioritize for subsequent laboratory follow-up of GWAS loci. This study is the first to implement PrediXcan in a large colorectal cancer study and findings highlight the utility of integrating transcriptome data in GWAS for discovery of, and biological insight into, risk loci. © 2019, The Author(s).

This chapter discusses migration from China to Hong Kong since the beginning of the last century. The main focus of the discussion, however, is migration since 1997. We highlight the fact that migrants from China with different socio-economic resources were recruited in Hong Kong through different schemes. We also discuss the boundaries that emerged between local residents and recent migrants. We suggest possible reasons for this emergence of group boundaries.

Aim To provide an overview of evidence on the experiences and needs of adults living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Background Many research have studied the impact of RA on one's quality of life, but no reviews have examined the overall experiences of patients living with RA. Methods An integrative review was performed to synthesize the experiences and/or needs of adult patients with RA based on articles retrieved from databases of CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science, and published between January 2003 and March 2014 in English. Results A total of 38 studies were reviewed. RA has adverse effects on patients' quality of life due to its negative impacts in their physical and psychosocial aspects of health. Patients with RA cope with these impacts using various methods and are frequent users of healthcare services. However, few studies have evaluated patients' further needs in coping or the effectiveness of their coping mechanisms, and patients' experiences with health care. Conclusion This review provides evidence for healthcare professionals to gain a better understanding of RA patients' experiences and needs. Future studies can explore interventions that will enhance the quality of current healthcare practices and ultimately improve patients' quality of life. Implications for nursing and health policy Establishing a positive healthcare professional–patient relationship is crucial and healthcare professionals are in a position to provide greater informational and emotional support to patients. Policy makers and healthcare organizations need to look into ways to enhance the healthcare services to better suit RA patients' needs.

This paper presents an experimental study of a hand-drawn cart designed for measuring the bridge frequencies. The technique presented herein is considered as an indirect approach for bridge frequency measurement, in that the vibration sensor is mounted indirectly on the moving cart, rather than on the bridge, as is the case with the conventional direct approach. The idea of developing a hand-drawn test cart is that it allows us to measure the bridge frequencies in a human-controlled, efficient, and mobile way. The dynamic characteristics of a test cart are crucial to the successful identification of the frequencies of the bridge using the test cart. In this study, focus is placed mainly on two issues: the elastic properties of the cart wheels and the reliability of bridge frequencies extracted from the test cart. Various tests are conducted under various operating conditions, including the ambient vibration test, free vibration test, ground dynamic test, and field test. It is demonstrated that the hand-drawn cart presented herein can be reliably used in the field for measuring the bridge frequencies. Furthermore, some qualitative guidelines that are crucial to the development of feasible test vehicles are drawn from the test studies presented herein.

We present a diagnostic conundrum with a case of a young woman presenting with an acute myocardial infarction in cardiogenic shock who was found to have an occluded left main stem (LMS). Despite ballooning the LMS, multiple re-occlusions in the same area warranted stent deployment. There was a filling defect in the left aortic sinus which was evaluated further with a CT scan and transoesophageal echocardiogram, confirming a mass consistent with a papillary fibroelastoma. The patient went on to have an left ventricular assist device and died while awaiting a heart transplant, but the mass was never found at surgery.

An analysis of gene expression profiles obtained from cervical cancers was performed to find those genes most aberrantly expressed. Total RNA was prepared from 29 samples of cervical squamous cell carcinoma and 18 control samples, and hybridized to Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays with probe sets complementary to over 20,000 transcripts. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the expression data readily distinguished normal cervix from cancer. Supervised analysis of gene expression data identified 98 and 139 genes that exhibited >2-fold upregulation and >2-fold downregulation, respectively, in cervical cancer compared to normal cervix. Several of the genes that were differentially regulated included SPP1 (Osteopontin), CDKN2A (p16), RPL39L, Clorf1, MAL, p11, ARS and NICE-1. These were validated by quantitative RT-PCR on an independent set of cancer and control specimens. Gene Ontology analysis showed that the list of differentially expressed genes included ones that were involved in multiple biological processes, including cell proliferation, cell cycle and protein catabolism. Immunohistochemical staining of cancer specimens further confirmed differential expression of SPP1 in cervical cancer cells vs. nontumor cells. In addition, 2 genes, CTGF and RGS1 were found to be upregulated in late stage cancer compared to early stage cancer, suggesting that they might be involved in cancer progression. The pathway analysis of expression data showed that the SPP1, VEGF, CDC2 and CKS2 genes were coordinately differentially regulated between cancer and normal. The present study is promising and provides potential new insights into the extent of expression differences underlying the development and progression of cervical squamous cell cancer. This study has also revealed several genes that may be highly attractive candidate molecular markers/targets for cervical cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

We report four cases of multiple symmetric lipomatosis in the Chinese population. We believe that multiple symmetric lipomatosis in the Chinese is not uncommon and may be related to the increasing incidence of alcoholism. The ultrasound appearances of these lipomatous masses are presented for the first time. Heterogeneous echogenic masses with fine fibrous strands that insinuate around fascial planes, lymph nodes and vascular tissues are typical findings. Unlike diseases affecting the Western population, multiple symmetric lipomatosis in the Chinese appears to be limited to the head and neck.

Results on the measurement of inclusive K s o , Λ and Λ production cross sections and rapidity distributions for antiproton interactions on lead, copper and carbon nuclear targets at beam momenta of 5.2, 7.0 and 8.8 GeV/c are reported. Simulations employing a conventional Intra-nuclear cascade model were able to reproduce the experimental results. Hence, no compelling evidence for the formation of exotic quark-gluon states of matter was found.

We present the first measurement at AGS energies of the rapidity and transverse mass distributions for Λ production with Au beam on Au target. The measurements cover the rapidity region of 2.0–3.2 and transverse momenta of 0.0–1.4 GeV/c. The results are compared with the predictions of two models.

The cross sections for {phi}{phi} and {phi}{ital K}{sup +}{ital K}{sup {minus}} production were measured with 8 GeV/{ital c} pion and kaon beams to examine the OZI suppression of the reaction {pi}{sup {minus}}{ital p}{r_arrow}{phi}{phi}{ital n}. The measured cross section ratios indicate that this reaction is not suppressed for {phi}{phi} invariant masses up to 2.5 GeV/{ital c}{sup 2}. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

We present the measurement of low ${\mathit{m}}_{\mathit{tK}\mathit{s}}^{0}$ production in the rapidity range 2.2y2.6 with silicon beams on a lead target. We have selected central events with a cross section of approximately 280 mb and compare with a low kaon ${\mathit{m}}_{\mathit{t}}$ enhancement as reported earlier.

We present H 0 candidate events, where the H 0 is observed through the decay H 0 → Σ − p . These decays are reconstructed in the three TPC modules of E810 while triggering on central Si Pb events at 14.6 × A GeV/c Si beam.

Charged particle multiplicities, inclusive Λ, Λ , and K s o production cross sections and rapidity distributions have been measured for p interactions on targets of C, Cu, and Pb at 5, 7, and 9 GeV/c. Preliminary results are presented.

This paper investigates the low cycle fatigue and fracture behavior of cast-then-hot-extruded 6061 aluminum reinforced with alumina particles. The effect of heat treatment and volume percentages of the particle (0–20%) on the axial fatigue behavior and fracture toughness was investigated. Cyclic hardening of the under-aged and the peak-aged samples was observed while cyclic softening of the over-aged specimens was recorded. Although fatigue data follow the Coffin-Manson's model, the fatigue resistance of the composites was lower than that of the matrix alloy regardless of aging and percentage of the reinforcement. Plane strain condition was marginally achieved due to insufficient sample thickness. The measured fracture toughness for these composites however was low compared with that of the matrix alloy and decreased with increasing reinforcement content. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that a crack starts at a machine defect and propagates through or avoids a particle depending on the relative position of the crack front and the particle. Three failure modes were found for this advanced material: cleavage fracture of a particle, cohesive delamination between matrix and particle and void coalescence in the matrix.

The current study tested the mood-as-input hypothesis account of perseverative rumination in 25 participants with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and 25 healthy controls. It also examined the factors underlying mood changes within a bout of rumination and their relations with trait rumination and metacognitive beliefs about rumination. A structured rumination interview was used to facilitate participants' reflection on two previous depressive incidents while deploying a specific stop-rule for the task (either a goal-guided or feeling-guided stop-rule). As predicted by the mood-as-input hypothesis, perseveration exhibited by depressed participants was affected by the interaction between diagnosis and stop-rule, with levels of perseveration being greatest when depressed participants used the goal-guided stop-rule. Increases in negative mood over the rumination interview were shown to be influenced only by participants' diagnostic status, regardless of their stop-rule. Compared to healthy controls, depressed participants also reported a preferential use of the goal-guided stop-rule in response to negative mood states in their daily lives. The findings about the dependence of rumination on stop-rule use within the depressed sample support the use of metacognitive treatment approaches in which patients are encouraged to challenge negative beliefs about the controllability of rumination.

We report the first observation of Ξ − in heavy ion collisions at the AGS. The lifetime of Ξ − measured agrees very well with the particle data group value. We present the observed Ξ − effective mass spectrum and the rapidity distribution after acceptance correction. In the measured rapidity region (1.4−2.9) for 14.6 GeV/ c Si on Pb, we obtained a yield of 0.25 ± 0.04 Ξ − per central event and a ratio of N ( Ξ − )/ N ( Λ ) = 0.12 ± 0.02 using a fireball + model (a model which includes a fireball plus a term simulating a cascade) for acceptance correction (see text for systematic error). This result is larger than any cascade model prediction so far.

We present the results of Λ and K05 production from a Si target with a 14.6 × A GeV c Si beam. The measured rapidity distribution and transverse mass exponential slopes are presented and compared with models. We also present a measurement of Ξ− production from a Pb target with the same beam. The rapidity distribution is measured along with a model comparison. Finally we have searched for strangelets which decay in our TPC volume. From a Monte Carlo study with a plasma production model, we have established a upper limit on a given strangelet production cross section.

A phase shifted digital projection system has been developed for shape measurement. The projection grating is computer generated. The profile and pitch of the grating can be readily varied using software. Gratings of sinusoidal, square and triangular intensity distributions with different pitches were generated to study the effects of grating pitch and profile on the performance of the system.

Phase shifting was traditionally developed for application to sinusoidal intensity distributions. With the growing need for analysing non-sinusoidal intensity distribution as in moire and grid methods, the applicability of phase shift equations are examined for triangular, square and step-triangular wave intensity profiles. Simulated studies show that the same expression as for sinusoidal distribution can also be used for other intensity profiles.

Antiproton beams of 5, 7 and 9 GeV/c were used to interact with C, Al, Cu, Sn and Pb nuclear targets. Charged particle multiplicity distributions, strange parade production cross sections and rapidity distributions were measured. The charged particle multiplicities are reported in this paper.

The TPC's (Time Projection Chamber) used in E-810 at the AGS (Alternating Gradient Synchroton) were exposed to silicon ion fluxes equivalent to more than 10{sup 7} minimum ionizing particles per second to measure the distortion of the electric field caused by positive ions in the drift region. Results of these tests are presented and the consequences for the TPC based experiment at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) are discussed.

We present the first measurement at AGS energies of rapidity distributions of K s 0 and Λ production with silicon beams on silicon and lead targets. The measurements cover the rapidity region of 2.0 y K s 0 's and 1.4 y Λ 's.

A large-angle multiplicity detector (LAMD) system has been developed and used in the BNL experiment E854, relating to antiproton-nucleus interactions. The purpose of the BNL experiment E854 was to search for the predicted formation of hot hadronic matter by energetic antiproton absorption on a range of nuclei. This experiment probed the high-temperature-low-density region of the nuclear matter phase diagram. The LAMD system performed well with an energetic antiproton beam. Charged particle multiplicity distributions from p annihilations were measured. The design and performance of the LAMD system are outlined. >

TPCs (time projection chambers) used in E-810 at the AGS (alternating gradient synchrotron) were exposed to fluxes equivalent to more than 10/sup 7/ minimum ionizing particles per second to find if such high fluxes cause high changes or distortions of the electric field. Initial results of these and other tests are presented and the consequences for the RHIC (relativistic heavy ion collider) TPC-based experiments are discussed. Measurements of distortions due to ion loading in the E-810 TPCs have been measured to be small even at very high effective particle fluxes. This results supports the use of TPCs at RHIC, even at the highest planned luminosity. In addition, measurement of two-vertex resolution and reconstruction efficiency at high track density showed that a TPC is an excellent detector for the RHIC. >

I discuss data from E-810 including K 0 and Λ production, the rise in production of negative particles at small m ⊥ , and the rapidity distributions. The data are compared to various models; in particular they do not agree with a model indicating large nuclear transparency.

A measurement of the transverse momentum spectrum of negatively charged tracks from AGS energy silicon ion collisions is presented. The spectrum has a different shape than that of nucleon-nucleon collisions at approximately the same energy. The transverse mass spectrum is well represented by a sum of two exponentials with different slopes and may be reasonably well accounted for by a model of pion production in interacting nuclear matter that includes resonance production and decay.

The effect of experimentally-induced hypertension on the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity in the endothelium and smooth muscle cum adventitia of the Sprague Dawley rats was investigated. The ACE activity in both tissues of the 1-clip 2-kidney renovascular hypertensive rats and the deoxycorticosterone acetate/salt hypertensive rats were significantly higher than those of the normotensive control. These findings (i) support the suggestion that the 1-clip 2-kidney renovascular hypertensive rat represents a model of renin- and angiotensin-dependent hypertension and that the increased vascular ACE activity could play a role in the maintenance of hypertension (ii) provide new information regarding the association of increased vascular ACE activity and hypertension in the mineralocorticoid/salt treated hypertensive rats which may account for the finding by others that captopril is effective in preventing the development of hypertension in this low renin model of hypertension. On the other hand, the data also bring forth the possibility that the observed increase in vascular ACE activity could be the result of hypertension.

The tracking detector of AGS Experiment 810 is a three-piece Time Projection Chamber (TPC) which measures all charged tracks in the forward hemisphere of the nucleon-nucleon center of mass system, i. e. forward of 20 degrees in the lab. Each module of the TPC contains twelve rows of short anode wires which give 3-D space points on each track, but no dE/dx information useable for particle identification. The MPS magnet provides a uniform 5 kG field on the TPC volume. The TPC was operated in a beam of 14.6 × A GeV/c silicon ions at the end of June 1989. This talk reports the results of analysis of the gold and copper target data from that run. The trigger was quite simple, requiring a large pulse height in a Cerenkov counter in the incident beam indicating an incident silicon ion, a small pulse height in a scintillation counter centered on the beam behind the TPC corresponding to less ionization than a surviving carbon ion would produce, and a substantial signal in each of two scintillators located above and below the beam just in front of the TPC. The targets were thin, 0.0076 radiation lengths of gold, 0.0089 radiation lengths of copper, to reduce contamination of the events by electron tracks from converted π0 photons. A cut at multiplicity 50 was used to select more central collisions, yielding 2291 events from the gold sample, 2170 from the copper. This corresponds to cross sections of 0.59 and 0.20 barns, respectively, defining the “central” sample for the charged particle distributions presented here.

This paper presents the development of a novel air-gliding (hovering) ldquoskateboardrdquo (or ldquoskim-boardrdquo) which operates based on an aerodynamic principle that distributes airflow uniformly between the board and a flat surface to provide an effective air-bearing for air-gliding. Experiments were parametrically conducted to understand the aerodynamic hovering principle as well as to characterize the performance of the hovering system. We have built several prototypes of the hovering system and showed that it is possible for a board with surface area of ~1 mtimes0.3 m (weighing ~5 Kg) to glide in air with a rider of ~50 Kg on top of it. Besides the obvious fun application of using this hovering board as a skateboard that requires no wheels, another example of applications is to use it as an dasiaair-skimmingpsila board - when a rider takes a running start and jump onto the board, the board is able to glide with the rider on top of it for several meters. This dasiaair-skimmingpsila board concept is similar to skim-boarding on a thin-sheet of water that is popular with young adults in many parts of the world. The basic design methodology and performance characteristics of this novel land transport system are described in this paper.

This paper presents a successful methodology for TEM sample preparation on indium pre-form thermal interface material (TIM), which is currently used in high-performance microprocessor product. Experimental results show that FIB related artifacts are greatly reduced, thus enables phase morphology study of inter-metallic compound (IMC) layers between TIM and IC chip.

We report a 2-year-old girl with a rare benign tumour: an inflammatory pseudotumour of the liver. The clinical, investigative and radiological features are described. The role of percutaneous fine needle aspiration and core biopsy are discussed.

We present a technique to realistically simulate the movements of human fingers. The technique utilises a hierarchical approach having real anatomical basis. With the dynamic simulation built upon the real human hand anatomy, not only physical correctness but also kinematics and biological correctness, which are often more important in human modelling, are guaranteed. The hierarchical approach here uses four layers of abstraction: anatomical, physical, geometry and image. The use of the hierarchical approach allows the animator to specify the hand motion without the knowledge of the underlying representations and computations. Since dynamic correctness alone is insufficient to guarantee realism in simulating human hand motion, we combine dynamics and kinematics computation to achieve naturalness. There are dependencies among motion of different fingers and realistic simulation cannot be achieved without taking the dependencies into consideration. We addressed this issue by using a mesh-based physical model of flesh around the lumbricales which simulates flesh deformation incurred in finger motion and activates execution of motion dependencies. A user interface is developed to facilitate changing of input parameters and visualisation of results.

We have measured the rapidity distributions for charged particles produced in SiAu collisions at 14.6× A GeV/ c . No evidence is seen for enhanced production of protons at high rapidity as recently postulated based on fits to earlier data.

As regional diaphragmatic microvascular blood flow varies widely, the aim in this study was to estimate the number of repeated measurements, obtained by Laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF), required to achieve a standard level of precision. In 40 urethane-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats, computer-aided LDF scanning coupled with a microscope generated diaphragmatic blood flow (Qdi) ranging between 94 and 944 mV with the frequency histogram displaying non-Gaussian distributions. A sampling technique was used to assess the number of measuring sites required for valid estimates of the regional diaphragmatic microvascular flow. From a total of 1,000 Qdi values, random samples of sizes between 5 and 100 were repeatedly drawn to estimate the variability of median flow. Our data shows that the 95th percentile decreased gradually, from a +30% error at n = 5 down to +20% at n = 15-20, remained between +20 and +15% up to n = 35, and reached +10% at n = 50. Moreover, by expressing the precision level of measurements as the length of a 95% confidence interval (beta), a linear relationship between beta values obtained either by the sampling method or repeated measures analysis of variance can be shown (r = 0.902, p0.001); beta values by either method were within +/-20% error of the mean values at sample sizes above n = 15. It is therefore recommended that for microscope-guided LDF scanning in the assessment of the distribution of diaphragmatic microvascular blood flow, at least 15 repeated measurements should be done to reach an acceptable standard level of precision. However, facing with clinical situations where 'blind' LDF scanning inevitably includes measurements over large vessels, the minimal sample sizes required to represent tissue perfusion demand further exploration.