James Nicholson

Gain of Chromosome Arm 17q and Adverse Outcome in Patients with Neuroblastoma

BACKGROUNDnGain of genetic material from chromosome arm 17q (gain of segment 17q21-qter) is the most frequent cytogenetic abnormality of neuroblastoma cells. This gain has been associated with advanced disease, patients who are > or =1 year old, deletion of chromosome arm 1p, and amplification of the N-myc oncogene, all of which predict an adverse outcome. We investigated these associations and evaluated the prognostic importance of the status of chromosome 17.nnnMETHODSnWe compiled molecular cytogenetic analyses of chromosome 17 in primary neuroblastomas in 313 patients at six European centers. Clinical and survival information were collected, along with data on 1p, N-myc, and ploidy.nnnRESULTSnUnbalanced gain of segment 17q21-qter was found in 53.7 percent of the tumors, whereas the chromosome was normal in 46.3 percent. The gain of 17q was characteristic of advanced tumors and of tumors in children > or =1 year of age and was strongly associated with the deletion of 1p and amplification of N-myc. No tumor showed amplification of N-myc in the absence of either deletion of 1p or gain of 17q. Gain of 17q was a significant predictive factor for adverse outcome in univariate analysis. Among the patients with this abnormality, overall survival at five years was 30.6 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 21 to 40 percent), as compared with 86.0 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 78 to 91 percent) among those with normal 17q status. in multivariate analysis, gain of 17q was the most powerful prognostic factor, followed by the presence of stage 4 disease and deletion of 1p (hazard ratios, 3.4, 2.3, and 1.9, respectively).nnnCONCLUSIONSnGain of chromosome segment 17q21-qter is an important prognostic factor in children with neuroblastoma.

Comprehensive Genetic and Histopathologic Study Reveals Three Types of Neuroblastoma Tumors

PURPOSEnTo determine the relationship between multiple genetic features, tumor morphology, and prognosis in neuroblastoma.nnnPATIENTS AND METHODSnThe genetic alterations and morphologic features that underpin three histopathologic risk classifications were analyzed in 108 neuroblastoma patients. Tumors were subdivided into four groups based on the three most frequent and prognostically significant genetic alterations (17q gain, 1p deletion, and MYCN amplification), and all other genetic, morphologic, and clinical data were analyzed with respect to these groups.nnnRESULTSnOur analyses identify three nonoverlapping tumor types with distinct genetic and morphologic features, defined here as types 1, 2, and 3. Type 1 tumors show none of the three significant genetic alterations and have good prognosis. Both type 2 (17q gain only or 17q gain and 1p del) and type 3 (17q gain, 1p del, and MYCN amplification) tumors progress. However, these tumor types are distinguished clinically by having significantly different median age at diagnosis and median progression-free survival (PFS). Multivariate analysis indicates that 17q gain is the only independent prognostic factor among all genetic, histopathologic, and clinical factors analyzed. Among histopathologic risk systems, the International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification was the best predictor of PFS.nnnCONCLUSIONnOur results indicate that specific combinations of genetic changes in neuroblastoma tumors contribute to distinct morphologic and clinical features. Furthermore, the identification of two genetically and morphologically distinct types of progressing tumors suggests that possibilities for different therapeutic regimens should be investigated.

Securing passfaces for description

One common practice in relation to alphanumeric passwords is to write them down or share them with a trusted friend or colleague. Graphical password schemes often claim the advantage that they are significantly more secure with respect to both verbal disclosure and writing down. We investigated the reality of this claim in relation to the Passfaces graphical password scheme. By collecting a corpus of naturalistic descriptions of a set of 45 faces, we explored participants ability to associate descriptions with faces across three conditions in which the decoy faces were selected: (1) at random; (2) on the basis of their visual similarity to the target face; and (3) on the basis of the similarity of the verbal descriptions of the decoy faces to the target face. Participants were found to perform significantly worse when presented with visual and verbally grouped decoys, suggesting that Passfaces can be further secured for description. Subtle differences in both the nature of male and female descriptions, and male and female performance were also observed.

Endocarditis caused by a Pasteurella-Like Organism: Report of Four Cases.

NUMEROUS bacterial species have been described as etiologic agents in endocarditis.1 This report is to implicate, as a previously unrecognized cause of subacute bacterial endocarditis, a closely related group of bacteria currently designated as group II-D by the Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, Georgia. The strains involved are gram-negative pleomorphic bacteria that grow optimally in an elevated carbon dioxide atmosphere (Fig. 1). Isolation of the organisms in the 4 cases†† that make up this report occurred within a ten-month period and over a wide geographic area, suggesting that this organism is widespread and the cause of endocarditis in a small but .xa0.xa0.

Occupancy monitoring using environmental & context sensors and a hierarchical analysis framework

Saving energy in residential and commercial buildings is of great interest due to diminishing resources. Heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, and electric lighting are responsible for a significant share of energy usage, which makes it desirable to optimise their operations while maintaining user comfort. Such optimisation requires accurate occupancy estimations. In contrast to current, often invasive or unreliable methods we present an approach for accurate occupancy estimation using a wireless sensor network (WSN) that only collects non-sensitive data and a novel, hierarchical analysis method. We integrate potentially uncertain contextual information to produce occupancy estimates at different levels of granularity and provide confidence measures for effective building management. We evaluate our framework in real-world deployments and demonstrate its effectiveness and accuracy for occupancy monitoring in both low- and high-traffic area scenarios. Furthermore, we show how the system is used for analysing historical data and identify effective room misuse and thus a potential for energy saving.

Invisible design: exploring insights and ideas through ambiguous film scenarios

Invisible Design is a technique for generating insights and ideas with workshop participants in the early stages of concept development. It involves the creation of ambiguous films in which characters discuss a technology that is not directly shown. The technique builds on previous work in HCI on scenarios, persona, theatre, film and ambiguity. The Invisible Design approach is illustrated with three examples from unrelated projects; Biometric Daemon, Panini and Smart Money. The paper presents a qualitative analysis of data from a series of workshops where these Invisible Designs were discussed. The analysis outlines responses to the films in terms of; existing problems, concerns with imagined technologies and design speculation. It is argued that Invisible Design can help to create a space for critical and creative dialogue during participatory concept development.

Age-related performance issues for PIN and face-based authentication systems

Graphical authentication systems typically claim to be more usable than PIN or password-based systems, but these claims often follow limited, single-stage paradigm testing on a young, student population. We present a more demanding test paradigm in which multiple codes are learned and tested over a three-week period. We use this paradigm with two user populations, comparing the performance of younger and older adults. We first establish baseline performance in a study in which populations of younger and older adults learn PIN codes and we follow this with a second study in which younger and older adults use two face-based graphical authentication systems employing young faces vs. old faces as code components. As expected, older adults show relatively poor performance when compared to younger adults, irrespective of the authentication material, but this age-related deficit can be markedly reduced by the introduction of age-appropriate faces. We conclude firstly that this paradigm provides a good basis for the future evaluation of memory-based authentication systems and secondly that age-appropriate face-based authentication is viable in the security marketplace.

Panopticon: a parallel video overview system

Panopticon is a video surrogate system that displays multiple sub-sequences in parallel to present a rapid overview of the entire sequence to the user. A novel, precisely animated arrangement slides thumbnails to provide a consistent spatiotemporal layout while allowing any sub-sequence of the original video to be watched without interruption. Furthermore, this output can be generated offline as a highly efficient repeated animation loop, making it suitable for resource-constrained environments, such as web-based interaction. Two versions of Panopticon were evaluated using three different types of video footage with the aim of determining the usability of the proposed system. Results demonstrated an advantage over another surrogate with surveillance footage in terms of search times and this advantage was further improved with Panopticon 2. Eye tracking data suggests that Panopticons advantage stems from the animated timeline that users heavily rely on.

Location tracking: views from the older adult population

BACKGROUNDnthere has been a rise in the use of social media applications that allow people to see where friends, family and nearby services are located. Yet while uptake has been high for younger people, adoption by older adults is relatively slow, despite the potential health and social benefits. In this paper, we explore the barriers to acceptance of location-based services (LBS) in a community of older adults.nnnOBJECTIVEnto understand attitudes to LBS technologies in older adults.nnnMETHODSneighty-six older adults used LBS for 1-week and completed pre- and post-use questionnaires. Twenty available volunteers from the first study also completed in-depth interviews after their experience using the LBS technology.nnnRESULTSnthe pre-use questionnaire identified perceptions of usefulness, individual privacy and visibility as predictive of intentions to use a location-tracking service. Post-use, perceived risk was the only factor to predict intention to use LBS. Interviews with participants revealed that LBS was primarily seen as an assistive technology and that issues of trust and privacy were important.nnnCONCLUSIONnthe findings from this study suggest older adults struggle to see the benefits of LBS and have a number of privacy concerns likely to inhibit future uptake of location-tracking services and devices.

Faces and Pictures: Understanding age differences in two types of graphical authentications

Recall of knowledge-based authentication codes such as passwords and PINs can be problematic, particularly for older adults given the known memory decline associated with ageing. We explored the extent to which recognition-based Graphical Authentication Systems were effective alternatives to PINs and passwords in a study in which users were asked to commit several different codes to memory and recall them at different time periods. Populations of younger and older adults were given face-based and picture-based authentication codes to remember over the course of three weeks. Results show a pronounced age effect, with younger participants outperforming older participants. Older participants fared better with the face-based system over the picture-based system while younger participants exhibited the opposite effect. A significant performance drop was observed for older participants over time, as additional codes were introduced.