Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Functional verification”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Computer management of oligonucleotide synthesis on cellulose filters.

A computer program, OLIGO, is described which was designed to manage projects involving the synthesis of large numbers of oligonucleotide fragments using cellulose discs as immobilizing support. The program performs the functions of data entry, verification, analysis and modification; the sorting of filters before each step and project status updating after each reaction step; output of the project status at any point and storage of the finalized project data in a permanent reference file.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed2001

Verification of improved patient outcomes with a partially implantable hearing aid, The SOUNDTEC direct hearing system.

INTRODUCTION: Partially implantable hearing devices have been developed to address some of the user-perceived shortcomings of standard amplification systems. Partially implantable devices are purported to provide improved sound quality as a result of decreased occlusion, decreased feedback, and enhanced clarity resulting from increased high-frequency gain. Such improvements may result in greater user satisfaction. To justify selection of a partially implantable device and undergoing a minor surgical procedure, verification techniques must be used to document user improvement or increased satisfaction over conventional amplification. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate patient satisfaction with the SOUNDTEC direct hearing system. STUDY DESIGN: Within-subjects repeated measures design. METHODS: Objective and subjective evaluation pre- and post-implantation with the SOUNDTEC device. Verification techniques included tonal functional gain measures with traditional amplification and the SOUNDTEC device, word recognition in quiet (NU-6) and in noise (SPIN), the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB), and the Hough Ear Institute Profile (HEIP). RESULTS: Although there was no significant difference between optimal traditional amplification and the SOUNDTEC device for speech perception measures, the SOUNDTEC device yielded statistically significant increased high-frequency functional gain. Subjective reports indicated that the SOUNDTEC device provides a cleaner, more natural sound without feedback than traditional amplification. CONCLUSIONS: Partially implantable hearing aids may address some of the limitations of traditional amplification systems.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Development, implementation, and validation of the Canadian Intercollegiate Sport Injury Registry.

PURPOSE: To outline the development and implementation of the Canadian Intercollegiate Sport Injury Registry (CISIR), to examine its validity, including the data collection forms, the recording of athlete exposure, and the mechanism of injury, and to determine the ability of the CISIR to meet its stated objectives of assessing rates and risk of injury. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Canadian intercollegiate athletics. SUBJECTS: 344 varsity football players from five western Canadian universities. ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS AND OUTCOME MEASURES: Three data collection instruments were developed to capture the principle types of information forming the cornerstones of the CISIR: a medical form for preseason assessment of risk factors, a weekly exposure sheet (WES) for the documentation of daily individual athlete participation, and an individual injury report form (IIRF) for collection of injury-related information. Design and implementation input was provided by therapists and physicians through initial meetings, pilot testing, site visits, questionnaire, and final consensus meeting. The completeness of injury reporting was assessed through cross-referencing with participation time loss data. An item analysis was conducted on the principal elements of the IIRF. The categorization of participation itself was also examined, as was the diagnostic agreement between the therapists and physicians involved in data collection. The recorded mechanism of injury was compared with that noted through a video analysis for game-related injuries. Lastly, a test analysis was conducted to extract data and compute rates and risks of injury. RESULTS: This developmental phase was successful, with 99.7% subject enrollment, high therapist satisfaction, and good flow of data. A relational database, incorporating dual-entry data verification, was designed and functioned well. The collection process revealed that 100% of the WESs were submitted, and the data therein was 99.7% complete. The injuries resulting in participation time loss were recorded on an IIRF 97.9% of the time. The exposure (participation) codes were thought to be overly precise, and a simplification of these categories is suggested. The diagnostic agreement between physicians and therapists was 70%. It was possible to validate game exposures, but no standard was identified to permit validation of the categories of exposure. Likewise, the mechanism of injury as recorded by the therapists was thought to be more precise than the video analysis. After two modifications in the table structure of the relational database, it was possible to extract data relating to rates and risks of injury. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a high degree of validity for many elements of the CISIR. One limitation was that no reference standard existed for some components, limiting some aspects of validity assessment. With the suggested revisions, the CISIR represents the current standard in athletic injury reporting in terms of individual injury risk assessment. This system will be used in the future to explore the prediction and prevention of sport injuries.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Evaluation of a surgical procedure to measure drug biliary excretion of rats in regulatory safety studies.

A surgical procedure was evaluated to allow bile collection from the freely moving male Sprague-Dawley rats for the assessment of drug biliary excretion during regulatory safety studies. A catheter was implanted into the bile duct to divert the bile flow via an exteriorized loop. Following recovery from the surgery and verification of normal hepatic function, the exteriorized catheter was sectioned to allow collection of the bile and replacement with a commercial bile salt solution. Approximately 80% of the catheterized animals (10 females and 10 males) had normal serum liver enzyme levels 2 days after surgery. Then, the effect of acute or repeated administrations of the immunosuppressant tacrolimus on the biliary excretion of 14C diazepam was studied to validate the technique. A first group of 12 rats received an intravenous injection of 10 mg/kg 14C-diazepam and the total and sequential amounts of diazepam excreted in the bile were measured over 72 h. Biliary excretion accounted for 80% of diazepam elimination. These rats were then given an oral administration of 3 mg/kg tacrolimus on days 7 and 8 followed by the same intravenous dose of 14C-diazepam. Another group of 10 catheterized rats was given 21 daily oral doses of 3 mg/kg tacrolimus followed by a single intravenous administration of 14C-diazepam. No significant changes in diazepam biliary excretion were observed following either acute or repeated administration of tacrolimus. This study demonstrates the feasibility of drug biliary excretion investigations under Good Laboratory Practices conditions as a complement to regulatory acute or repeated dose safety studies.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Reliability of an automatic sensing test with beat-to-beat display of the signal amplitude.

In contrast to testing of the capture threshold, the reliability of sensing tests has been little studied. This study was performed to test the automatic sensing algorithm included in the Biotronik pacing systems. The automatic measurements made by the devices were compared with the direct manual measurements made of 271 atrial (72%) or ventricular (28%) electrograms recorded in ten patients. A high correlation (r = 0.995, P < 0.0001) was found between the two types of measurements. The use of this function should facilitate the verification of accurate sensing during the long-term follow-up of pacemaker patients, and offers a tool to analyze the variations in amplitude of intracardiac signals.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1989

Diagnostic reasoning.

Research in cognitive science, decision sciences, and artificial intelligence has yielded substantial insights into the nature of diagnostic reasoning. Many elements of the diagnostic process have been identified, and many principles of effective clinical reasoning have been formulated. Three reasoning strategies are considered here: probabilistic, causal, and deterministic. Probabilistic reasoning relies on the statistical relations between clinical variables and is frequently used in formal calculations of disease likelihoods. Probabilistic reasoning is especially useful in evoking diagnostic hypotheses and in assessing the significance of clinical findings and test results. Causal reasoning builds a physiologic model and assesses a patient's findings for coherency and completeness against the model; it functions especially effectively in verification of diagnostic hypotheses. Deterministic reasoning consists of sets of compiled rules generated from routine, well-defined practices. Much human problem solving may derive from activation and implementation of such rules. A deeper understanding of clinical cognition should enhance clinical teaching and patient care.

Cognition↗
PubMed2004

[The human OCTN2 carnitine transporter and its mutations].

The gene currently known as SLC22A5 was already sequenced in the Human Genome project, and it was annotated as the gene of the high affinity carnitine transporter (OCTN2) in 1998. After the verification of the real function of the OCTN2 several disease related mutations of the gene have been identified, albeit the entity of the primary carnitine deficiency syndrome (OMIM 212140) was separated earlier. Besides the description of the biochemical characteristics of the transporter the present review gives a summary on the mutation spectrum and the developing phenotypes according to the literature available on the Medline and to own observations. The disease spectrum includes the involvement of the cardiac muscle and the liver primarily, however, a relatively wide phenotype variability has been observed even with the same mutations. Metabolic crisis or cardiac arrest can develop in homozygotes. Since the carnitine plays a regulatory role in the mitochondrial oxidation of the long chain fatty acids, loss of OCTN2 function lead to severe impairment of the intracellular metabolism at biochemical level, which can explain the development of a severe, even life threatening condition. The cardiac symptoms can be well influenced by carnitine administration. There are indications that cardiac manifestations can develop even in heterozygotes probably in association with the gene-dose relationship; in the laboratory of the author a heterozygous C-->T transition at the 15 np of the exon V of the OCTN2 in a patient with mild cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart disease was verified. This results in a serine 280 phenylalanine (S280F) exchange affecting thereby one of the putative protein C kinase dependent phosphorylation sites.

Carnitine↗
PubMed1995

Automatic exposure control in retinal laser therapy.

Retinal laser spots are often over- or underexposed due to inhomogeneities of fundus pigmentation or variations in the radiation power impinging on the retina. We developed a method to control the exposure time of each individual spot of retinal laser photocoagulation in real time. The laser light reflected from the spot area is recorded by a detector. The intensity of this light increases during the exposure due to bleaching of the retinal pigment. If the reflected light reaches a predefined level, the laser apparatus is immediately stopped by a computer, which controls the whole process. The procedure was tested in enucleated porcine eyes. After verification of the proper function, a pilot study in a small collective of 19 patients (20 eyes, 25 sessions) with clear optical media was performed. In all cases, the apparatus worked safely. Visible indications for overexposed spots, particularly bleeding in extreme cases, did not occur. However, about 2%-5% of the spots were underexposed, mainly due to eye movements of the patient during the coagulation. Large variations in the automatically controlled exposure time confirm the difficulty in properly adjusting this parameter without such an automatic device. However, to be applicable to patients with opaque optical media, the method must be improved.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A research database for improved data management and analysis in longitudinal studies.

We developed a research database for a five-year prospective investigation of the medical, social, and developmental correlates of chronic lung disease during the first three years of life. We used the Ingres database management system and the Statit statistical software package. The database includes records containing 1300 variables each, the results of 35 psychological tests, each repeated five times (providing longitudinal data on the child, the parents, and behavioral interactions), both raw and calculated variables, and both missing and deferred values. The four-layer menu-driven user interface incorporates automatic activation of complex functions to handle data verification, missing and deferred values, static and dynamic backup, determination of calculated values, display of database status, reports, bulk data extraction, and statistical analysis.

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia↗
PubMed1989

Factor V: a prototype pro-cofactor for vitamin K-dependent enzyme complexes in blood clotting.

The relative abundance of factor V, factor X and prothrombin has enabled detailed analyses of the prothrombinase complex. Determination of the primary structure for factor V has provided the basis for examination of structure-function relationships. The imminent in vitro expression of recombinant factor V will provide the opportunity for site-specific mutagenesis and a verification of these structure-function relationships. A comparison of the physical properties and primary structures for factors V and VIII has revealed extensive similarities in these two cofactor proteins. This observation indicates that a direct application of the technology developed for the analysis of prothrombinase will lead to an equal understanding of the factor Xase complex. Whether similar relationships exist for other blood coagulation enzyme complexes remains to be determined.

Factor V↗
PubMed2002

A genomic view of alternative splicing.

Recent genome-wide analyses of alternative splicing indicate that 40-60% of human genes have alternative splice forms, suggesting that alternative splicing is one of the most significant components of the functional complexity of the human genome. Here we review these recent results from bioinformatics studies, assess their reliability and consider the impact of alternative splicing on biological functions. Although the 'big picture' of alternative splicing that is emerging from genomics is exciting, there are many challenges. High-throughput experimental verification of alternative splice forms, functional characterization, and regulation of alternative splicing are key directions for research. We recommend a community-based effort to discover and characterize alternative splice forms comprehensively throughout the human genome.

Alternative Splicing↗
PubMed2026

MIF Promoter Variant rs755622 (-173G/C) in Younger and Older Turkish Adults: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Genetic and in Silico Analysis.

Age-associated immune-inflammatory remodeling may be influenced by regulatory variation in the macrophage migration inhibitory factor gene (MIF). We conducted an exploratory cross-sectional comparison to assess whether MIF rs755622 (-173G/C) genotype distributions differ between predefined younger and older age groups in a Turkish population and to characterize the observed pattern using genetic-model and in silico analyses. We evaluated 368 individuals: 245 older adults aged 65-102 years and 123 younger controls aged 20-46 years. None of the 26 main association tests remained statistically significant after global multiplicity correction (minimum FDR q = 0.062; minimum Bonferroni-adjusted p = 0.108). Before correction, GC frequency was higher in the older group and increased across the ordered age categories, and sex-adjusted analyses yielded concordant nominal estimates. However, these nominal patterns were sensitive to younger-control genotype reclassification and were not supported by an allele-level or additive association. Younger controls showed Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (p < 0.001), without sequencing confirmation, and deterministic and scenario-based Monte Carlo genotype-reclassification analyses indicated sensitivity of the nominal signal to uncertainty in control genotype classification. GTEx data provide C-allele-oriented expression context but do not validate function in this cohort. These preliminary findings warrant independent genotype verification, ancestry-matched replication, and direct functional investigation in future studies.

Humans↗
PubMed1990

Cyclosporin A: new insights for cell biologists and biochemists.

Cyclosporin A (CSA) is well known for its potent immunosuppressive properties. Until recently, most of the research on the mechanism of action of CSA focused on its effects on cytokine transcription by T lymphocytes. However, CSA inhibits a variety of other cellular functions. An intracellular CSA-binding protein, called cyclophilin, has been purified and characterized. This protein is found in nearly all mammalian cells, which suggests that it is involved in highly conserved cellular functions. The current concept is that CSA mediates its effect via cyclophilin. Cyclophilin is actually a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase), an enzyme proposed to catalyze protein folding. Because the binding of CSA to cyclophilin/PPIase in vitro inhibits the isomerase activity, it is thought that this may account for the inhibitory effects of CSA on the cellular functions described above. To add to the puzzle, a new immunosuppressive drug, FK-506, has recently been shown to bind to an intracellular protein similar to, but distinct from, cyclophilin. The FK-506 binding protein also has a PPIase activity, and this activity is inhibited by FK-506. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that CSA and FK-506 mediate their effects on cellular functions by inhibiting an isomerase activity required for protein folding. This hypothesis poses several interesting questions. For example, how is this protein folding step involved in such diverse cellular functions as gene transcription and granule exocytosis? Verification of the role of CSA and PPIase in cellular functions awaits the identification of the substrates for the isomerases.

Amino Acid Isomerases↗
PubMed2002

Synthesis of longitudinal coherence functions by spatial modulation of an extended light source: a new interpretation and experimental verifications.

Giving a new physical interpretation to the principle of longitudinal coherence control, we propose an improved method for synthesizing a spatial coherence function along the longitudinal axis of light propagation. By controlling the irradiance of an extended quasi-monochromatic spatially incoherent source with a spatial light modulator, we generated a special optical field that exhibits high coherence selectively for a specific pair of points at specified locations along the axis of beam propagation. This function of longitudinal coherence control provides new possibilities for dispersion-free measurements in optical tomography and profilometry. A quantitative experimental proof of principle is presented.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Studies on the psychosomatic functioning of ill-health according to Eastern and Western medicine. 4. The verification of possible links between ill-health, lifestyle illness and stress-related disease.

In our previous reports on the same general topic, we exploited research in Oriental psychosomatic medicine to obtain diagnoses through visual observation of the sublingual vein (useful for the early detection of vital energy stagnation and blood stasis) from a computerized color analysis of the tongue proper, its coating, and the sublingual vein. This led us to develop the concept of the anxiety-affinitive constitution, based on unbalanced qi, blood, and body fluid in ill-health as a causative factor for stress-related diseases and lifestyle illnesses. As a development of this research, the present report examines the verification of possible links of ill-health, lifestyle illness, and stress-related disease through the diagnosis and treatment of functional subclinical psychosomatic disorders detected as a clinical expression of the anxiety-affinitive constitution. First, a diagnosis of functional subclinical psychosomatic disorders (ill-health) in 197 medical school students, including 156 first-year students at medical and nursing schools made it clear that the trait anxiety forming the core of the anxiety-affinitive constitution is linked to Dr. Lester Breslow's seven good health habits, and the manner of respiration. Second, it was revealed during the treatment of functional subclinical psychosomatic disorders in eight medical students that kampo medication and relaxation training (RT) produce lowered scores for STAI trait anxiety, and transform respiration from thoracic pattern to a balanced thoracic and abdominal respiratory pattern. This was particularly true for RT. Finally, we concluded that a high score for trait anxiety correlates to the formation of inappropriate health habits, and the habituation of inadequate respiration (thoracic pattern). Therefore, lifestyle illness or stress-related diseases will develop unless an anxiety-affinitive constitution is improved with kampo medication and/or RT.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Functional networks in emotional moral and nonmoral social judgments.

Reading daily newspaper articles often evokes opinions and social judgments about the characters and stories. Social and moral judgments rely on the proper functioning of neural circuits concerned with complex cognitive and emotional processes. To examine whether dissociable neural systems mediate emotionally charged moral and nonmoral social judgments, we used a visual sentence verification task in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that a network comprising the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the temporal pole and the superior temporal sulcus of the left hemisphere was specifically activated by moral judgments. In contrast, judgment of emotionally evocative, but non-moral statements activated the left amygdala, lingual gyri, and the lateral orbital gyrus. These findings provide new evidence that the orbitofrontal cortex has dedicated subregions specialized in processing specific forms of social behavior.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Presentation and experimental verification of a physico-mathematical model describing the migration across functional barrier layers into foodstuffs.

For several years there has been an ongoing controversial scientific discussion about the so-called functional barrier concept which, although mostly connected with the re-use of recycled plastics for food packaging, has general relevance and is principally applicable to any type of multilayer structure. Concerning the definition of the efficiency of a functional barrier there exists different understandings, ranging from the absolute physical barrier requirement over the acceptance of toxicologically insignificant migration to a completely lag time-related definition. The starting point of this work was the fact that functional barriers are in most cases already in-situ-contaminated due to the thermally extreme coextrusion conditions of the manufacturing process. As a consequence, middle layer contaminants may already have penetrated the functional barrier of a food package and may provide direct contact with the foodstuff at the time when the package is filled. Nevertheless, depending on the individual food package parameters, the remaining functional barrier efficiency can still prevent inadmissible migration. To meet this real-life situation and to describe the underlying migration process a theoretical migration model was developed and experimentally verified in this work using artificially-contaminated multilayer HIPS sheets with different functional barrier thicknesses. An important result of this study was the finding that compared with the interdiffusion between the package's layers in situ during their formation in the coextrusion process, the interdiffusion at ambient temperature until the filling time point of the package is able to be neglected.

Chlorobenzenes↗
PubMed2004

Text-independent speaker verification using Minimal Resource Allocation Networks.

This paper presents a text-independent speaker verification system based on an online Radial Basis Function (RBF) network referred to as Minimal Resource Allocation Network (MRAN). MRAN is a sequential learning RBF, in which hidden neurons are added or removed as training progresses. LP-derived cepstral coefficients are used as feature vectors during training and verification phases. The performance of MRAN is compared with other well-known RBF and Elliptical Basis Function (EBF) based speaker verification methods in terms of error rates and computational complexity on a series of speaker verification experiments. The experiments use data from 258 speakers from the phonetically balancedcontinuous speech corpus TIMIT. The results show that MRAN produces comparable error rates to other methods with much less computational complexity.

Algorithms↗