AIMS Compare vaginal resting pressure (VRP), pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength, and endurance in women with and without diastasis recti abdominis at gestational week 21 and at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum. Furthermore, to compare prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in the two groups at the same assessment points. METHODS This is a prospectiv...

BACKGROUND A precise experimental identification of transcription factor binding motifs (TFBMs), accurate to a single base pair, is time-consuming and diffcult. For several databases, TFBM annotations are extracted from the literature and stored 5' --> 3' relative to the target gene. Mixing the two possible orientations of a motif results in poor information content of subsequently computed pos...

Rehabilitation therapies to treat female stress urinary incontinence focus on the reactivation of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) activity. An objective measure is essential to assess a subject’s improvement in PFM capabilities and increase the success rate of the therapy. In order to provide such a measure, we propose a method for the discrimination of healthy subjects with strong PFM and post-partu...

A dynamic flow model, which maps carrier gas pressures and carrier gas flow rates through the first dimension separation column, the modulator sample loop, and the second dimension separation column(s) in a pulsed-flow modulation comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (PFM-GCxGC) system is described. The dynamic flow model assists design of a PFM-GCxGC modulator and leads to rapid det...

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by recurrent self-limited attacks of fever accompanied by peritonitis, pleuritis, and arthritis. The disease is predominantly seen in Mediterranean populations (Jews, Armenians, Arabs, Turks). Several types of vasculitis are associated with FMF: Polyarteritis Nodosa (PAN) and Henoch-Schonlein Purpura (HSP) are th...

We report a novel event-driven correlated double sampling (CDS) technique for pulse-frequencymodulation (PFM) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). PFM-ADCs are promising for pixel-parallel 3-D integrated image sensors with excellent imaging performance. The developed ADC with CDS consists of comparators, capacitors, and timing control logic circuits that are designed to generate the triggered c...

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Studies concerning the effects of post-core design and ferrule on the fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth remain controversial. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate in vitro the effects of post-core design and ferrule on the fracture resistance of root canal treated human maxillary central incisors restored with metal ceramic crowns. MATE...

In order to determine the origin of image contrast in piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), analytical descriptions of the complex interactions between a small tip and ferroelectric surface are derived for several sets of limiting conditions. Image charge calculations are used to determine potential and field distributions at the tip-surface junction between a spherical tip and an anisotropic d...

We propose a CMOS vision chip, an image sensor with pixel-level signal processing, to serve as a replacement for degenerated photoreceptor cells in the retina. In our approach, a vision chip is implanted underneath the retina (the subretinal space). For efficient electric stimulation, we utilize a pulse frequency modulation (PFM). Each pixel consists of a photosensor and a signal processor. Eac...

Scientists, engineers, knowledge workers and others need help managing their personal data files and the programs that manipulate their data. The current generation of software for supporting their needs, which we call Personal File Managers (PFMs), is not adequate. We propose five requirements that a next generation PFM should satisfy. We have created a mockup of a PFM which satisfies these re...