Cog

In the surgical management of cholesteatoma, one can opt for a closed technique (simple mastoidectomy) or open surgery (radical mastoidectomy). Open mastoidectomy with reconstruction of the posterior wall and the middle ear in a single surgery combines the advantages of both techniques, namely, adequate surgical exposure, eradication of cholesteatoma, and anatomical reconstruction of the middle ear structures. To evaluate the surgical results in the management of cholesteatoma through the technique of open mastoidectomy with reconstruction of the posterior wall and the middle ear in a single surgery. Prospective analytical observational study conducted between 2009 and 2012 with patients undergoing this surgical technique in the Hospital Universitario del Valle [University Hospital of Valle], performing preoperative clinical monitoring and quarterly postoperative tomography with previous assessments of hearing and pre- and postoperative audiometry. Forty-five patients were studied. ...

Vanicek N, Strike S, McNaughton L, Polman R. Postural responses to dynamic perturbations in amputee fallers versus nonfallers: a comparative study with able-bodied subjects.To quantify postural responses in amputee fallers versus nonfallers by using computerized dynamic posturography.All participants completed standard protocols on the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and Motor Control Test (MCT) of the NeuroCom Equitest.Human performance laboratory in a university in the United Kingdom.Transtibial amputees (n=9) and able-bodied subjects (n=9) (all categorized into fallers and nonfallers according to their falls history in the previous 9mo).Not applicable.Equilibrium and strategy scores on the SOT. Postural response latency and weight distribution on the MCT.Equilibrium scores were highest when somatosensory information was accurate, but there were no differences between the groups. Strategy scores were lower when visual cues and somatosensory information were inaccurate, and the fallers and nonfallers used a combination of ankle and hip strategies to prevent a loss of balance. The amputee nonfallers indicated they had a greater reliance on visual input even when it was inaccurate compared with the amputee fallers, whereas the control fallers used the hip strategy significantly more compared with the control nonfallers (SOT condition 6: 56±22 vs 72±10, P=.01). Weight distribution symmetry showed that the amputee nonfallers bore significantly more weight through their intact limb compared with the amputee fallers during backward and forward translations (P<.05).The SOT and MCT appeared to be population specific and therefore did not reliably identify fallers among transtibial amputees or distinguish between community-dwelling control fallers and nonfallers. Amputee and control fallers can prevent a fall during challenging static and dynamic conditions by adapting their neuromuscular responses. The results from this study have important implications for amputee gait rehabilitation, falls prevention, and treatment programs.

Modern biology is experiencing a rapid increase in data volumes that challenges our analytical skills and existing cyberinfrastructure. Exponential expansion of the Protein Sequence Universe (PSU), the protein sequence space, together with the costs and complexities of manual curation creates a major bottleneck in life sciences research. Existing resources lack scalable visualization tools that are instrumental for functional annotation. Here, we describe a multidimensional scaling (MDS) implementation to create ...

Protein sequence space is vast compared to protein fold space. This raises important questions about how structures adapt to evolutionary changes in protein sequences. A growing trend is to regard protein fold space as a continuum rather than a series of discrete structures. From this perspective, homologous protein structures within the same functional classification should reveal a constant rate of structural drift relative to sequence changes. The clusters of orthologous groups (COG) classification system was used to annotate homologous bacterial protein structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The structures and sequences of proteins within each COG were compared against each other to establish their relatedness. As expected, the analysis demonstrates a sharp structural divergence between the bacterial phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Additionally, each COG had a distinct sequence/structure relationship, indicating that different evolutionary pressures affect the degree of...

Grid application developers utilize Commodity Grid (CoG) toolkits to access Globus Grid services. Existing CoG toolkits are language-specific and have, for example, been developed for Java, Python and the Matlab scripting environment. In this paper we describe MyCoG.NET, a CoG toolkit supporting multi-language programmability under the Microsoft .NET framework. MyCoG.NET provides a set of classes and APIs to access Globus Grid services from languages supported by the .NET Common Language Runtime. We demonstrate its programmability using FORTRAN, C++, C# and Java, and discuss its performance over LAN and WAN infrastructures. We present a Grid application, in the field of experimental aerodynamics, as a case study to show how MyCoG.NET can be exploited. We demonstrate how scientists and engineers can create and use domain-specific workflow activity sets for rapid application development using Windows Workflow Foundation. We also show how users can easily extend and customize these activities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper is aimed to help Disabled Persons to do their daily routine work without seeking assistance from others. It works in the domain of Humans Computer Interaction (HCI) and image processing, which are key areas of research in computer history. System developers have used different ways to interact with the computer. Hand gestures are very popular because there are number of different gestures that can be use to achieve different tasks and can also be use to communicate with computer systems. Detection of a hand gesture in a real time environment is a critical task where time and memory are important issues. The systems consists of two parts one is the detection of the performed gesture from the live feed, while the other is taking decision on the basis of detected gestures with the help of control hardware. Solution suggested by us has the ability to detect large number of gestures; it is also very intelligent and can be made to learn gestures at run time for user support.

The occurrence of bacteria with a reduced genome, such as that found in Mycoplasmas, raises the question as to which genes should be enough to guarantee the genomic stability indispensable for the maintenance of life. The aim of this work was to compare nine Mycoplasma ...

Grid application developers utilize Commodity Grid (CoG) toolkits to access Globus Grid services. Existing CoG toolkits are language-specific and have, for example, been developed for Java, Python and the Matlab scripting environment. In this paper we describe MyCoG.NET, a CoG toolkit supporting multi-language programmability under the Microsoft .NET framework. MyCoG.NET provides a set of classes and APIs to access Globus Grid services from languages supported by the .NET Common Language Runtime. We demonstrate its programmability using FORTRAN, C++, C# and Java, and discuss its performance over LAN and WAN infrastructures. We present a Grid application, in the field of experimental aerodynamics, as a case study to show how MyCoG.NET can be exploited. We demonstrate how scientists and engineers can create and use domain-specific workflow activity sets for rapid application development using Windows Workflow Foundation. We also show how users can easily extend and customize these activities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Leptospirosis, a widespread zoonosis, is a re-emerging infectious disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira species. In Taiwan, Leptospira santarosai serovar Shermani is the most frequently isolated serovar, causing both renal and systemic infections. This study aimed to generate a L. santarosai serovar Shermani genome sequence and categorize its hypothetical genes, particularly those associated with virulence. The genome sequence consists of 3,936,333 nucleotides and 4033 predicted genes. Additionally, 2244 coding sequences could be placed into clusters of orthologous groups and the number of genes involving cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis and defense mechanisms was higher than that of other Leptospira spp. Comparative genetic analysis based on BLASTX data revealed that about 73% and 68.8% of all coding sequences have matches to pathogenic L. interrogans and L. borgpetersenii, respectively, and about 57.6% to saprophyte L. biflexa. Among the hypothetical proteins, 421 have a transmembrane region, 172 have a signal peptide and 17 possess a lipoprotein signature. According to PFAM prediction, 32 hypothetical proteins have properties of toxins and surface proteins mediated bacterial attachment, suggesting they may have roles associated with virulence. The availability of the genome sequence of L. santarosai serovar Shermani and the bioinformatics re-annotation of leptospiral hypothetical proteins will facilitate further functional genomic studies to elucidate the pathogenesis of leptospirosis and develop leptospiral vaccines.

The felling of the oak trees used to build the Karschau ship took place in or around the AD 1140s. The tree-ring curves from the oak planks from the Karschau Ship match best with site-means from Odense, a medieval town on the island of Funen, Denmark. New ...