Search results for "Enhancement."
showing 10 items of 557 documents
Pharmacological Neuroenhancement: Substances and Epidemiology
2013
Pharmacological neuroenhancement (PN) refers to the general use of psychoactive substances with the purpose of cognitive enhancement (e.g. enhancement of vigilance, concentration, memory or mood) by healthy subjects. Substances for PN include Over-the-Counter- (OTC-) substances such as coffee, caffeinated drinks/energy drinks, caffeine tablets and Ginkgo biloba as well as prescription drugs and illicit drugs (e.g. (psycho-) stimulants). “Brain doping” refers to the illicit use of a subcategory of these substances. On the one hand, this subcategory includes prescription drugs for the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s disease and depres…
Reduction of spherical-aberration impact in microscopy by wavefront coding
2009
In modern high-NA optical scanning instruments, like scanning microscopes, the refractive-index mismatch between the sample and the immersion medium introduces a significant amount of spherical aberration when imaging deep inside the specimen, spreading out the impulse response. Since such aberration depends on the focalization depth, it is not possible to achieve a static global compensation for the whole 3D sample in scanning microscopy. Therefore a depth-variant impulse response is generated. Consequently, the design of pupil elements that increase the tolerance to this aberration is of great interest. In this paper we report a hybrid technique that provides a focal spot that remains alm…
Image enhancement in simple fingerprint minutiae extraction algorithm using crossing number on valley structure
2007
In fingerprint recognition system, fingerprint feature extraction algorithm requires good quality fingerprint images to produce good results. Therefore, one step in the preprocessing stage is image enhancement to improve the quality of poor fingerprint image, so the minutiae points can be detected with good results. In this paper, we present how this enhancement process in simple minutiae detection algorithm using crossing number on valley structure improves detection of true minutiae.
Granulocyte–Colony Stimulating Factor plus Plerixafor in Patients with β-thalassemia Major Results in the Effective Mobilization of Primitive CD34+ C…
2017
Successful gene therapy for β-thalassemia requires optimal numbers of autologous gene-transduced hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) with high repopulating capacity. Previous studies suggested superior mobilization in these patients by the combination of granulocyte–colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) plus plerixafor over single agents. We mobilized four adult patients using G-CSF+plerixafor to assess the intra-individual variation of the circulating CD34+ cells number and subtypes preand post-plerixafor administration. The procedure was well-tolerated and the target cell dose of ≥8×10 6 CD34+ cells/kg was achieved in three of them with one apheresis procedure. The addition of ple…
A surgical model for isolating the pig liver in vivo for gene therapy.
2013
Several studies report results that suggest the need of vascularization blocking for efficient gene transfer to the liver, especially in nonviral gene therapy. In this study, we describe a surgical strategy for in vivo isolation of the pig liver, resulting in a vascular watertight organ that allows the evaluation of several gene injection conditions. The hepatic artery and portal, suprahepatic and infrahepatic cava veins were dissected. Then, liver vascularization was excluded for 5-7 min. In that time, we first injected 200 ml saline solution containing the p3c-eGFP plasmid (20 µg/ml) simultaneously through two different catheters placed in the portal and cava veins, respectively. Vital co…
Boolean operations mediated by an ion-pair receptor of a multi-readout molecular logic gate
2013
A heteroditopic BODIPY dye that performs all basic Boolean operations with a cation (K+) and an anion (F-) as inputs and absorption, transmission and fluorescence as outputs is described. The molecular logic gate can also act as a digital comparator between the inputs.
2019
Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is a well-described phenomenon with a short half-life (~28 s) that enhances muscle force production at submaximal levels of calcium saturation (i.e., submaximal levels of muscle activation). It has been largely explained by an increased myosin light chain phosphorylation occurring in type II muscle fibers, and its effects have been quantified in humans by measuring muscle twitch force responses to a bout of muscular activity. However, enhancements in (sometimes maximal) voluntary force production detected several minutes after high-intensity muscle contractions are also observed, which are also most prominent in muscles with a high proportion of type II fi…
Persistence of Human Bocavirus 1 in Tonsillar Germinal Centers and Antibody-Dependent Enhancement of Infection
2021
Human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1), a common pediatric respiratory pathogen, can persist in airway secretions for months hampering diagnosis. It also persists in tonsils, providing potential reservoirs for airway shedding, with the exact location, host cell types, and virus activity unknown.
2017
For the last decades, nanocomposites materials have been widely studied in the scientific literature as they provide substantial properties enhancements, even at low nanoparticles content. Their performance depends on a number of parameters but the nanoparticles dispersion and distribution state remains the key challenge in order to obtain the full nanocomposites’ potential in terms of, e.g., flame retardance, mechanical, barrier and thermal properties, etc., that would allow extending their use in the industry. While the amount of existing research and indeed review papers regarding the formulation of nanocomposites is already significant, after listing the most common applications, this r…
Near-Field Enhancement Optimization by Tapering Terahertz Gold Nanoantennas
We will present the simulation, fabrication and characterization of gold tapered nanoantennas, whose structure is optimized for terahertz near-field enhancement.