There is convincing evidence that, in humans, discrete sleep stages are important for daytime brain function, but whether any particular sleep stage has functional significance for the rest of the body is not known. Deep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep (SWS), is thought to be the most "restorative" sleep stage, but beneficial effects of SWS for physical well b...

ODESWS is a development environment to design Semantic Web Services (SWS) at the knowledge level. ODESWS describe the service following a problem-solving approach in which the SWS are modelled using tasks, to represent the SWS functional features, and methods, to describe the SWS internal structure. In this paper, we describe the ODESWS graphical interface (called SWSDesinger). This interface e...

Semantic Web Services (SWS) aim at the automated discovery and orchestration of Web services on the basis of comprehensive, machineinterpretable semantic descriptions. In that, SWS strive for automated interoperability and reusability of heterogeneous services through matchmaking of semantic capability and interface descriptions. However, to do so, established SWS reference models build on the ...

Conventional ultrasound cannot satisfactorily distinguish malignant and benign thyroid nodules. Shear-wave elastography (SWE) can evaluate tissue stiffness and complement conventional ultrasound in diagnosing malignant nodules. However, calcification of nodules may affect the results of SWE. The purposes of this study are to compare the differences of shear-wave speed (SWS) measurement among di...

STUDY OBJECTIVES Slow wave sleep (SWS) plays a critical role in body restoration and promotes brain plasticity; however, it markedly declines across the lifespan. Despite its importance, effective tools to increase SWS are rare. Here we tested whether a hypnotic suggestion to "sleep deeper" extends the amount of SWS. DESIGN Within-subject, placebo-controlled crossover design. SETTING Sleep ...

Web Services (WS) are software modules that perform operations that are network-accessible through XML messaging. Web Services in the Semantic Web, that is, Semantic Web Services (SWS), should describe semantically their structure and capabilities to enable its automatic discovery, invocation and composition. In this work we present a development environment to design SWS in a language-independ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of dual-head lithotripsy on renal function and morphology in a pig model of shockwave (SW) injury, as lithotripters with two shock heads are now available for treating patients, but little information is available with which to judge the safety of treatment with dual pulses. MATERIALS AND METHODS A dual-head electrohydraulic lithotripter (Duet, Direx Corp., Nati...

BACKGROUND Slow wave sleep (SWS) has been theorized as reflecting a homeostatic sleep process and is considered a state of recuperation. SWS is reduced in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients, but SWS has not been specifically studied in respiratory failure patients. The aim of this study is to investigate SWS in predominantly hypercapnic respiratory failure patients. METHODS We analyzed sl...