Voxtel (United States)

This article presents the development of an ecosystem for creating and updating maps in real time using data obtained from dashcam devices based on an SDK provided by Navmii. The proposed solution makes it possible to automatically recognize road sign

Abdominal fat is increasingly linked to brain health. A total of 10,001 healthy participants were scanned on 1.5T MRI with a short whole-body MR imaging protocol. Deep learning with FastSurfer segmented 96 brain regions. Separate models segmented visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat. Regression analyses of abdominal fat types and normalized brain volumes were evaluated, controlling for age and sex. Logistic regression models determined the risk of brain total gray and white matter volume loss from the highest quartile of visceral fat and lowest quartile of these brain volumes. This cohort had an average age of 52.9 ± 13.1 years with 52.8% men and 47.2% women. Segmented visceral abdominal fat predicted lower volumes in multiple regions including: total gray matter volume (r = -.44, p<.001), total white matter volume (r =-.41, p<.001), hippocampus (r = -.39, p< .001), frontal cortex (r = -.42, p<.001), temporal lobes (r = -.44, p<.001), parietal lobes (r = -.39, p<.001), occipital lobes (r =-.37, p<.001). Women showed lower brain volumes than men related to increased visceral fat. Visceral fat predicted increased risk for lower total gray matter (age 20-39: OR = 5.9; age 40-59, OR = 5.4; 60-80, OR = 5.1) and low white matter volume: (age 20-39: OR = 3.78; age 40-59, OR = 4.4; 60-80, OR = 5.1). Higher subcutaneous fat is related to brain volume loss. Elevated visceral and subcutaneous fat predicted lower brain volumes and may represent novel modifiable factors in determining brain health.

Abstract Working memory, which accounts for the ability to process information in the face of interference, is critical to second language acquisition (SLA) and use. The interaction of working memory capacity (WMC) with specific pedagogical interventions is a logical place for empirical SLA research, both to examine the cognitive processes underpinning second language performance and to identify instructional treatments that may serve learners differently based on their WMC. This study considers WMC along with two different types of pre-task planning time (guided and unguided) as predictors of the attempted accuracy and fluency of learners’ discourse. Seventy-two intermediate ESL students from seven classes at a community college participated by completing two different working memory span tasks, as well as two different “There-and-Then” oral story-telling tasks. The treatment condition of the story-telling tasks was manipulated so that learners’ performance could be considered in terms of provision of pre-task planning (+/− planning), type of planning (guided vs. unguided), and order of planning (planning first or planning second). Task order had a clear effect on learners’ production, regardless of the provision of planning time. Guided planning time promoted a focus on attempted accuracy and unguided planning time fostered fluency. Finally, this study indicates that task conditions can affect high- and low-WMC learners in different ways: the former are more likely to comply with complex story-telling instructions, requiring them to focus on grammatical form at the expense of fluency, whereas the latter are less likely to comply with the same instructions.

As improved treatments have increased survival rates for pediatric brain tumor patients, there is an urgent need to study the long-term sequelae of treatment. Central nervous system (CNS) germ cell tumors constitute a form of neoplasm that is normally treated with chemotherapy and/or cranial radiation therapy (CRT). Starting from an MRI dataset of patients with such tumors at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, we aim to understand the morphological effects of CRT on brain structures. The current study examines the long-term effects of radiation dosage on the brainstem, corpus callosum, and ventricles post- radiation therapy. The results of the analysis showed a significant association among brain structure areas and radiation dosage received. These preliminary findings point to deleterious effects of radiation treatment on brain anatomy.

Abstract Working memory, which accounts for the ability to process information in the face of interference, is critical to second language acquisition (SLA) and use. The interaction of working memory capacity (WMC) with specific pedagogical interventions is a logical place for empirical SLA research, both to examine the cognitive processes underpinning second language performance and to identify instructional treatments that may serve learners differently based on their WMC. This study considers WMC along with two different types of pre-task planning time (guided and unguided) as predictors of the attempted accuracy and fluency of learners’ discourse. Seventy-two intermediate ESL students from seven classes at a community college participated by completing two different working memory span tasks, as well as two different “There-and-Then” oral story-telling tasks. The treatment condition of the story-telling tasks was manipulated so that learners’ performance could be considered in terms of provision of pre-task planning (+/− planning), type of planning (guided vs. unguided), and order of planning (planning first or planning second). Task order had a clear effect on learners’ production, regardless of the provision of planning time. Guided planning time promoted a focus on attempted accuracy and unguided planning time fostered fluency. Finally, this study indicates that task conditions can affect high- and low-WMC learners in different ways: the former are more likely to comply with complex story-telling instructions, requiring them to focus on grammatical form at the expense of fluency, whereas the latter are less likely to comply with the same instructions.

The Voxtel VX-798 is a prototype X-ray pixel array detector (PAD) featuring a silicon sensor photodiode array of 48 × 48 pixels, each 130 µm × 130 µm × 520 µm thick, coupled to a CMOS readout application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The first synchrotron X-ray characterization of this detector is presented, and its ability to selectively count individual X-rays within two independent arrival time windows, a programmable energy range, and localized to a single pixel is demonstrated. During our first trial run at Argonne National Laboratory's Advance Photon Source, the detector achieved a 60 ns gating time and 700 eV full width at half-maximum energy resolution in agreement with design parameters. Each pixel of the PAD holds two independent digital counters, and the discriminator for X-ray energy features both an upper and lower threshold to window the energy of interest discarding unwanted background. This smart-pixel technology allows energy and time resolution to be set and optimized in software. It is found that the detector linearity follows an isolated dead-time model, implying that megahertz count rates should be possible in each pixel. Measurement of the line and point spread functions showed negligible spatial blurring. When combined with the timing structure of the synchrotron storage ring, it is demonstrated that the area detector can perform both picosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction and fluorescence spectroscopy measurements.

The relationship between the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) and sunlight’s ultraviolet radiation was proved. Oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenic traits of MS. Melatonin possesses antioxidative properties and regulates circadian rhythms. Sleep disturbances in MS patients are common and contribute to daytime fatigue. The aim of study was to evaluate 5 mg daily melatonin supplementation over 90 days on serum total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and its influence on sleep quality and depression level of MS patients. A case–control prospective study was performed on 102 MS patients and 20 controls matched for age and sex. The Kurtzke’s Expanded Disability Status Scale, magnetic resonance imaging examinations, Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Beck Depression Inventory questionnaires were completed. Serum TOS and TAC levels were measured. We observed higher serum levels of TOS in all MS groups, while after melatonin treatment the TOS levels significantly decreased. The TAC level was significantly lower only in mitoxantrone-treated group and it increased after melatonin supplementation. A strong positive correlation between T1Gd(+) number lesions and TAC level in interferon-beta-1A group was observed. AIS group mean score above 6 defining insomnia were observed in interferon-beta-1B-group, glatiramer acetate-group and mitoxantrone-group: 6.62 ± 2.88, 8.45 ± 2.07, 11.1 ± 3.25, respectively. After melatonin treatment the AIS mean scores decrease in glatiramer acetate-group and mitoxantrone-group achieving 5.25 ± 1.14 and 7.08 ± 2.39, respectively (p < 0.05). Finding from our study suggest that melatonin can act as an antioxidant and improves reduced sleep quality in MS patients.