Search

Background: Our center implemented the Trima Automated Collection system to better utilize the current whole blood and apheresis donor base by collecting multiple components based on the donor's specific blood type. In our facility, the collection staff is cross-trained to perform whole blood as well as apheresis' collections, and is skilled in the recruitment of whole blood donors to automated collections during the interview process. Our approach has been to recruit donors for the automated collection process, but not to a specific component donation. The donors are then supportive of any automated donation as the component demands change on a daily basis. We report the results Of five months of routine automated collections in our center, using 3 Trima systems. Methods: Donors selected for automated collections are chosen based on daily blood inventory needs of our patients. The automated procedures are determined based on the donor's blood type: type O and B donors are targeted for RBC collections, type AB and A donors are targeted for Plasma collections, and Platelets are collected from all donor blood types. Results: 788 procedures have been performed over a 5 month period beginning on 11/1/00 through 3/30/2001 producing a total of 1817 transfusible products. Procedure details are summarized in the table below. On average, 2.3 components were collected per procedure. The average run time was 55 minutes, and 90% of the procedures were completed within 80 minutes. Overall RBC production was high, with an average of 51 RBC units collected from every 100 automated donations performed. Conclusion: The use of Trima system for automated collections has increased our blood center's productivity, and has decreased blood-type specific blood component shortages by better utilizing our current donor base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to recognize someone's voice spans a broad spectrum with phonagnosia on the low end and super-recognition at the high end. Yet there is no standardized test to measure an individual's ability of learning and recognizing newly learned voices with samples of speech-like phonetic variability. We have developed the Jena Voice Learning and Memory Test (JVLMT), a 22-min test based on item response theory and applicable across languages. The JVLMT consists of three phases in which participants (1) become familiarized with eight speakers, (2) revise the learned voices, and (3) perform a 3AFC recognition task, using pseudo-sentences devoid of semantic content. Acoustic (dis)similarity analyses were used to create items with various levels of difficulty. Test scores are based on 22 items which had been selected and validated based on two online studies with 232 and 454 participants, respectively. Mean accuracy in the JVLMT is 0.51 (SD = .18) with an empirical (marginal) reliability of 0.66. Correlational analyses showed high and moderate convergent validity with the Bangor Voice Matching Test (BVMT) and Glasgow Voice Memory Test (GVMT), respectively, and high discriminant validity with a digit span test. Four participants with potential super recognition abilities and seven participants with potential phonagnosia were identified who performed at least 2 SDs above or below the mean, respectively. The JVLMT is a promising research and diagnostic screening tool to detect both impairments in voice recognition and super-recognition abilities., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Recent electrophysiological evidence suggests a rapid acquisition of novel speaker representations during intentional voice learning. We investigated effects of learning intention on voice recognition, using a variant of the directed forgetting paradigm. In an old/new recognition task following voice learning, we compared performance and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) for studied voices, half of which had been prompted to be remembered (TBR) or forgotten (TBF). Furthermore, to assess incidental encoding of episodic information, participants indicated for each recognized test voice the ear of presentation during study. During study, TBR voices elicited more positive ERPs than TBF voices (from ∼250 ms), possibly reflecting deeper voice encoding. In parallel, subsequent recognition performance was higher for TBR than for TBF voices. Importantly, above-chance recognition for both learning conditions nevertheless suggested a degree of non-intentional voice learning. In a surprise episodic memory test for voice location, above-chance performance was observed for TBR voices only, suggesting that episodic memory for ear of presentation depended on intentional voice encoding. At test, a left posterior ERP OLD/NEW effect for both TBR and TBF voices (from ∼500 ms) reflected recognition of studied voices under both encoding conditions. By contrast, a right frontal ERP OLD/NEW effect for TBF voices only (from ∼800 ms) possibly reflected additional elaborative retrieval processes. Overall, we show that ERPs are sensitive 1) to strategic voice encoding during study (from ∼250 ms), and 2) to voice recognition at test (from ∼500 ms), with the specific pattern of ERP OLD/NEW effects partly depending on previous encoding intention., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Berberine (4) is responsible for the activity of an extract of a commercial root sample of Hydrastis canadensis against multiply drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Two new quinic acid feruloyl esters, compounds 2 and 3, have been isolated from the same source along with canadine (1c), 8-oxotetrahydrothalifendine (1), and beta-hydrastine (5). These were found to be inactive. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated from spectral (1H, 13C, HMQC, HMBC, and H-H COSY) and chemical evidences.