A machine learning approach towards assessing consistency and reproducibility: an application to graft survival across three kidney transplantation eras.

Background: In South Africa, between 1966 and 2014, there were three kidney transplant eras defined by evolving access to certain immunosuppressive therapies defined as Pre-CYA (before availability of cyclosporine), CYA (when cyclosporine became available), and New-Gen (availability of tacrolimus and mycophenolic acid). As such, factors influencing kidney graft failure may vary across these eras. Therefore, evaluating the consistency and reproducibility of models developed to study these variations using machine learning (ML) algorithms could enhance our understanding of post-transplant graft survival dynamics across these three eras. Methods: This study explored the effectiveness of nine ML algorithms in predicting 10-year graft survival across the three eras. We developed and internally validated these algorithms using data spanning the specified eras. The predictive performance of these algorithms was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC), supported by other evaluation metrics. We employed local interpretable model-agnostic explanations to provide detailed interpretations of individual model predictions and used permutation importance to assess global feature importance across each era. Results: Overall, the proportion of graft failure decreased from 41.5% in the Pre-CYA era to 15.1% in the New-Gen era. Our best-performing model across the three eras demonstrated high predictive accuracy. Notably, the ensemble models, particularly the Extra Trees model, emerged as standout performers, consistently achieving high AUC scores of 0.95, 0.95, and 0.97 across the eras. This indicates that the models achieved high consistency and reproducibility in predicting graft survival outcomes. Among the features evaluated, recipient age and donor age were the only features consistently influencing graft failure throughout these eras, while features such as glomerular filtration rate and recipient ethnicity showed high importance in specific eras, resulting in relatively poor historical transportability of the best model. Conclusions: Our study emphasises the significance of analysing post-kidney transplant outcomes and identifying era-specific factors mitigating graft failure. The proposed framework can serve as a foundation for future research and assist physicians in identifying patients at risk of graft failure.

AerialIRGAN: unpaired aerial visible-to-infrared image translation with dual-encoder structure.

Due to the high cost of equipment and the constraints of shooting conditions, obtaining aerial infrared images of specific targets is very challenging. Most methods using Generative Adversarial Networks for translating visible images to infrared greatly depend on registered data and struggle to handle the diversity and complexity of scenes in aerial infrared targets. This paper proposes a one side end-to-end unpaired aerial visible-to-infrared image translation algorithm, termed AerialIRGAN. AerialIRGAN introduces a dual-encoder structure, where one encoder is designed based on the Segment Anything Model to extract deep semantic features from visible images, and the other encoder is designed based on UniRepLKNet to capture small-scale patterns and sparse patterns from visible images. Subsequently, AerialIRGAN constructs a bridging module to deeply integrate the features of both encoders and their corresponding decoders. Finally, AerialIRGAN proposes a structural appearance consistency loss to guide the synthetic infrared images to maintain the structure of the source image while possessing distinct infrared characteristics. The experimental results show that compared to the existing typical infrared image generation algorithms, the proposed method can generate higher-quality infrared images and achieve better performance in both subjective visual description and objective metric evaluation.

Applied experimental research on in-situ online monitoring instrument for soil radon in fault zone.

As an emerging method for seismic precursory signals in underground fluid, the reliability and stability of in-situ online monitoring devices for soil radon are crucial performance indicators that are directly related to the successful implementation of continuous monitoring of soil radon in seismic areas. This study conducted laboratory testing and field applications of a new in-situ online monitoring instrument for seismic soil radon, utilizing the experimental testing conditions provided by the radon monitoring instrument detection platform of the China Earthquake Administration and the natural experimental site at Xianshuihe Fault Zone in the China Seismic Experimental Site. The results indicate that laboratory measurement repeatability of the instrument is 5.53%, the relative intrinsic error of radon volume response activity is 1.53%, and the response capability of hourly sampling at high radon volume response activity (greater than 1.0 × 105 Bq/m3) lags behind the standard instrument by 2 h, essentially meeting the requirements for seismic observation. Under field conditions, the instruments exhibit good synchronization in response at different depths at the same location. However, further improvements are needed to enhance the consistency of long-term operation in the field, as well as the adaptability to outdoor self-powering, data transmission, and environmental conditions.

Efficacy and Safety of Bacillus coagulans LBSC in Drug Induced Constipation Associated With Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Interventional, Parallel, Controlled Trial a Clinical Study on Bacillus coagulans LBSC for Drug Induced Constipation Associated With FGIDs.

Background: Active drugs and nutraceutical supplements commonly induce various gastrointestinal illnesses, and constipation is a major gastrointestinal symptom accompanied with functional gastrointestinal disorders. Drug-induced imbalance in gut microbiota may play critical role in such physiological disturbances. Probiotics have been known for resuming normal and healthy gut microbiome. Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of Bacillus coagulans LBSC in the treatment of drug induced constipation associated with functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) symptoms. Methods: A prospective, interventional, randomized, double-blind, parallel, multi-arm, controlled trial with 168 patients experiencing drug induced constipation associated with FGID symptoms (DICAWFGID) screened through Rome IV criteria were randomized into 2 arms, i.e. placebo arm (n = 28) and atorvastatin, atenolol, metformin, amitriptyline, and calcium in test arm (n = 28/arm). Patients in both arms received similar dosages (1 g sachet, 3 times a day) for 35 days. The occurrence of constipation using Bristol Stool Form Scale, assessment of degree of constipation on 4-point Likert scale, occurrence of hard stool and degree of stool expulsion on 3-point scale, and defecation frequency were primary endpoints. While, secondary outcomes consisted of the changes in severity of FGID symptoms, visual analogue scale and tolerance to IP, along with reports of adverse events (AEs) and severe adverse events (SAEs). Results: There was a significant reduction in occurrence of constipation (≥98.6% and P-value <0.05) in test arm over the placebo arm. Assessment of co-primary endpoints showed significant improvements in degree of stool consistency (P-value 0.0232; CI: 0.1870, 1.1629), borderline significantly superior in degree of stool expulsion (P-value 0.0553; CI: 0.0378, -0.4939), while the other co-primary efficacy endpoints displayed considerably improved advancement (non-significant, P-value ≥0.05). The intra group analysis of symptoms at start of treatment (SOT) and end of treatment (EOT) revealed a significant reduction in scores for occurrence of constipation and degree of constipation, whereas significant improvement in the scores for degree of stool consistency and degree of stool expulsion (P-value <0.001) after the intervention period. In secondary endpoints, the processed responses clearly signified a considerable positive improvement (non-significant, P-value ≥0.05) in other symptoms of constipation associated with FGIDs as determined by the changes in the EOT-SOT score. The study data also highlighted the safety of Bacillus coagulans LBSC at the studied dose. No AEs and/or SAEs were documented during the investigation. Conclusion: At the studied dose, Bacillus coagulans LBSC was safe for oral consumption and effective in the management of the drug induced constipation associated with FGIDs symptoms.

Multilevel network for large deformation image registration based on feature consistency and flow normalization.

BACKGROUND: Deformable image registration is an essential technique of medical image analysis, which plays important roles in several clinical applications. Existing deep learning-based registration methods have already achieved promising performance for the registrations with small deformations, while it is still challenging to deal with the large deformation registration due to the limits of the image intensity-similarity-based objective function. PURPOSE: To achieve the image registration with large-scale deformations, we proposed a multilevel network architecture FCNet to gradually refine the registration results based on semantic feature consistency constraint and flow normalization (FN) strategy. METHODS: At each level of FCNet, the architecture is mainly composed to a FeaExtractor, a FN module, and a spatial transformation module. FeaExtractor consists of three parallel streams which are used to extract the individual features of fixed and moving images, as well as their joint features, respectively. Using these features, the initial deformation field is estimated, which passes through a FN module to refine the deformation field based on the difference map of deformation filed between two adjacent levels. This allows the FCNet to progressively improve the registration performance. Finally, a spatial transformation module is used to get the warped image based on the deformation field. Moreover, in addition to the image intensity-similarity-based objective function, a semantic-feature consistency constraint is also introduced, which can further promote the alignments by imposing the similarity between the fixed and warped image features. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compared our method with the state-of-the-art methods on three different datasets. In EMPIRE10 dataset, 20, 3, and 7 fixed and moving 3D computer tomography (CT) image pairs were used for training, validation, and testing respectively; in IXI dataset, atlas to individual image registration task was performed, with 3D MR images of 408, 58, and 115 individuals were used for training, validation, and testing respectively; in the in-house dataset, patient to atlas registration task was implemented, with the 3D MR images of 94, 3, and 15 individuals being training, validation, and testing sets, respectively. RESULTS: The qualitative and quantitative comparison results demonstrated that the proposed method is beneficial for handling large deformation image registration problems, with the DSC and ASSD improved by at least 1.0% and 25.9% on EMPIRE10 dataset. The ablation experiments also verified the effectiveness of the proposed feature combination strategy, feature consistency constraint, and FN module. CONCLUSIONS: Our proposed FCNet enables multiscale registration from coarse to fine, surpassing existing SOTA registration methods and effectively handling long-range spatial relationships.

Validation of the Athens Insomnia Scale Among Young Chinese Male Population in a High-Altitude Situation.

Purpose: The Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) is a widely used and authorized questionnaire for evaluating insomnia symptoms. However, its reliability and validity at high altitudes are uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to confirm the validity and reliability of AIS during a 3658 m altitude exposure. Patients and Methods: A total of 387 young Chinese males were enlisted in the acute high-altitude exposure group. They flew for about two hours, climbing from 400 m to 3658 m. The high-altitude-acclimated group consisted of 86 young Chinese men who had lived at least six months at 3658 m altitude. The sleep quality of the acute high-altitude exposure group was evaluated using the AIS before the ascent and after exposure to 3658 m for 24 hours, and one week. The sleep quality of the high-altitude-acclimated group was also assessed. The AIS's internal consistency, reliability, and validity were evaluated. Results: The respondents' quality of sleep significantly decreased after being exposed to 3658 m as opposed to 400 m. Two factors comprised the AIS, according to an exploratory factor analysis: "sleep problem" (items 1-5) and "daytime dysfunction" (items 6-8). The Cronbach's α internal consistency coefficients exceeded 0.8, and the corrected item-total correlations were all greater than 0.5 when the subjects were exposed to 3658 m. The model fit index was well within the criterion. The average variance extracted and composite reliability were all higher than 0.5 and 0.7, respectively. The interclass correlation coefficient was deemed "fair to good" at 0.482, which is greater than the 0.4 threshold. The AIS has satisfactory discriminant validity, as shown by the Fornell-Larcker criterion and cross-loading results. The daytime dysfunction R-square values (>0.33) show that the frameworks have considerable predictive accuracy. Conclusion: The AIS exhibits strong consistency, reliability, and validity. The AIS's features and simplicity make it an essential psychometric tool for high-altitude sleep research.

Terminal sequence consistency verification method for small diameter abreast optical fibers based on computer vision.

In a kind of precision industrial equipment, small diameter abreast optical fibers are used for high-speed communication among functional nodes. The arrangement order at both terminals of the abreast optical fibers need to comply with communication protocols. In this paper, we propose an automatic terminal sequence consistency verification method based on computer vision. The Hue Saturation Value (HSV) color space is used for improving the image feature extraction capability. An abreast optical fiber sequence dictionary which converts the protocol logic into an input-output mapping table is provided to follow protocol confidentiality and improve inspecting speed. A light control baffle position adaptive algorithm is designed for improving the accuracy of optical fiber incident light control. The experimental results show that the method can achieve the conductivity inspection of 1 optical fiber every 50 seconds, and the inspection accuracy is over 96.5%, which generally improves the inspection efficiency by 45% compared with manual inspection.

Visualizing the assumptions of network meta-analysis.

Network meta-analysis (NMA) incorporates all available evidence into a general statistical framework for comparing multiple treatments. Standard NMAs make three major assumptions, namely homogeneity, similarity, and consistency, and violating these assumptions threatens an NMA's validity. In this article, we suggest a graphical approach to assessing these assumptions and distinguishing between qualitative and quantitative versions of these assumptions. In our plot, the absolute effect of each treatment arm is plotted against the level of effect modifiers, and the three assumptions of NMA can then be visually evaluated. We use four hypothetical scenarios to show how violating these assumptions can lead to different consequences and difficulties in interpreting an NMA. We present an example of an NMA evaluating steroid use to treat septic shock patients to demonstrate how to use our graphical approach to assess an NMA's assumptions and how this approach can help with interpreting the results. We also show that all three assumptions of NMA can be summarized as an exchangeability assumption. Finally, we discuss how reporting of NMAs can be improved to increase transparency of the analysis and interpretability of the results.

Do teams of strangers create health care dangers? The effect of OR team consistency on operative times in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

PURPOSE: Teamwork and communication are important components of any surgical team. This study uses a simple, reproducible, and quantitative "team consistency score" and a nodal-based model for examining prior interactions amongst team members to represent and quantify the regularity of an OR team for a specific surgical case. METHODS: The electronic medical record (EMR) at our institution was queried for pediatric patients undergoing spinal surgery from January 2021 through December 2023. The number of prior interactions between individuals filling distinct roles in the OR for each case was recorded. A metric coined the consistency score was developed representing the sum total of these prior interactions standardized to a reference case. Spearman's Correlation as well as the Mann-Whitney comparison test were used to analyze the associations between case team consistency score and efficiency measures. RESULTS: 154 cases were included for analysis. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between case consistency score and both anesthesia time (rho = -0.159; p < 0.05) and patient preparation time (rho = -0.218; p < 0.01). When looking at the consistent (above median consistency score of 0.46) vs. inconsistent cohorts, the inconsistent cohort had a higher mean patient preparation time (53.3 ± 14.0 min vs. 49.0 ± 9.3 min; p < 0.05), as well as a higher overall mean case length (336.6 ± 47.4 min vs. 321.9 ± 42.4 min; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that increased team consistency, as measured by a "team consistency score" metric, is related to heightened efficiency and reduced intraoperative times.

Lumbar Radicular Pain in the Eyes of Artificial Intelligence: Can You 'Imagine' What I 'Feel'?

AIM: Pain is a complex sensory and emotional experience that significantly impacts individuals' well-being. Lumbar radicular pain (LRP) is a prevalent neuropathic pain affecting 9.9% to 25% of the population annually. Accurate identification of pain patterns in LRP is essential for diagnosis and management. Artificial intelligence has potential in healthcare but faces challenges in reliably and accuracy. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy and consistency of LRP patterns demonstrated by ChatGPT-4o. METHODS: The study was conducted at Üsküdar State Hospital from June 1 to June 30, 2024, utilizing the GPT-4o language model. ChatGPT-4o was prompted to generate and mark LRP patterns for L4, L5, and S1 radiculopathies on an anatomical model. The process was repeated after two weeks to assess consistency. The markings by ChatGPT were compared with those by two experienced specialists using OpenCV for analysis. Statistical tests, including the Mann-Whitney U-Test, were conducted. RESULTS: ChatGPT's initial and follow-up markings of L4, L5, and S1 radiculopathy pain patterns were statistically significantly different from each other and from the specialists' markings (p<0.001 for all comparisons). CONCLUSION: ChatGPT currently lacks the capacity to accurately and consistently represent LRP patterns. AI tools in healthcare require further refinement, validation, and regulation to ensure reliability and safety. Future research should involve multiple AI platforms and broader medical conditions to enhance generalizability.

The prediction of occupational health risks of n-Hexane in small and micro enterprises within China's printing industry using five occupational health risk assessment models.

Background: Chronic n-Hexane poisoning is prevalent among workers in small and micro printing industries in China. Despite this, there is limited research on occupational health risk assessment in these sectors. Conducting comprehensive risk assessments at key positions and proposing effective countermeasures are essential. Methods: Data were collected from 84 key positions across 32 small and micro-sized printing enterprises. Air samples were tested for n-Hexane exposure levels in accordance with Chinese standards. Five risk assessment models were employed: COSHH, EPA, MOM, ICMM, and Technical Guide GBZ/T 289-2017 of China. The consistency of results across these models was analyzed. Results: Workers in 84 job positions were categorized into four exposure groups, with exposure to n-Hexane for 8-10 h daily, 5-6 days weekly. Most positions operated with low automation levels (96.9% in printing, 5.9% in oil blending, and 42.9% in pasting), while others were manual. Localized ventilation rates were notably low in oil blending (23.5%), cleaning (14.3%), and pasting (9.5%) groups. n-Hexane concentrations exceeded Chinese occupational limits in 15.6% of printing, 17.7% of oil blending, and 21.4% of cleaning groups. Risk assessment models identified over 60% of work groups as high risk. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found among the seven risk assessment methods. Consistency analysis revealed moderate agreement between the Chinese synthesis index and exposure index methods (k = 0.571, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The Chinese synthesis and exposure index methods from Technical Guide GBZ/T 289-2017 are practical and reliable for assessing n-Hexane exposure risks in small and micro printing enterprises. Cleaning and printing roles were found to be at the highest risk for n-Hexane exposure. These findings provide valuable insights for targeted risk management strategies to protect workers' health in the industry.

Reliability generalization Meta-Analysis and psychometric review of the Gaming Disorder test (GDT): Evaluating internal consistency.

Gaming disorder (GD) is a growing public health issue requiring reliable screening and diagnostic tools. A commonly used tool for assessing GD is the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT). The GDT assesses GD based on International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) criteria; however, its psychometric testing has been conducted across studies but yet snythesized. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize psychometric data regarding the GDT globally. Adhering to pre-registration, a comprehensive search across databases identified 17 eligible studies (n=22,000) in 14 languages reporting on the psychometric properties of the GDT, especially its Cronbach's alpha. The pooled Cronbach's alpha was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.83-0.89), indicating excellent internal consistency. Although significant heterogeneity was observed (I2= 98.54%), prediction intervals suggested true outcomes likely shared a positive direction. No moderating effects were found regarding sample characteristics, study quality, or geographical location. The meta-analysis provides robust and quantitative evidence supporting the internal consistency of the GDT across diverse populations. Moreover, qualitative synthesis indicates that the GDT has strong psychometric properties without risk of bias across the analyzed studies, indicating the GDT's ability to assess GD globally. However, the heterogeneity suggests cautious interpretation of the reliability estimates.

Concordance between four PD-L1 immunohistochemical assays and 22C3 pharmDx assay in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in a multicenter study.

Background: The prediction of response to immunotherapy mostly depends on the programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunohistochemistry (IHC) status, and the 22C3 pharmDx assay has been approved in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, the widespread use of the 22C3 pharmDx assay is limited due to its availability. Thus, alternative PD-L1 assays are needed. We aimed to investigate the analytical and clinical diagnostic performances of four PD-L1 assays and to compare their concordances with the 22C3 pharmDx assay. Methods: The PD-L1 22C3 pharmDx assay was performed on the Dako Autostainer Link 48 platform, three testing assays (PD-L1 E1L3N XP antibody [Ab], PD-L1 BP6099 Ab and PD-L1 CST E1L3N Ab) on the Leica BOND-MAX/III platform, and one testing assay (PD-L1 MXR006 Ab) on the Roche VENTANA Benchmark Ultra platform. A total of 218 ESCC cases from four centers were included in this retrospective study. Professionals from each center stained and read the IHC slides independently and determined the combined positive score (CPS) and the tumor proportion score (TPS). Results: Regarding analytical performance, the four testing assays demonstrated good correlations with the 22C3 pharmDx assay when evaluated by the TPS or CPS (ρ > 0.8 for all four assays). Regarding diagnostic performance (CPS ≥ 10 was used as the cutoff), the four testing assays showed moderate concordances with the 22C3 pharmDx assay (kappa > 0.7 for all four assays). The overall percent agreements between each testing assay and the 22C3 pharmDx assay was at least 87.2 %. Conclusion: This study provides insight into the potential interchangeability of the four PD-L1 assays with the 22C3 pharmDx assay.

Individual timing consistency across long-distance songbird migrations.

Migration timing in long-distance migratory birds plays an essential role in individual survival and fitness and is thought to be driven by circannual routines cued by photoperiod with some plasticity to environmental conditions. We examined the individual order of migration timing in purple martins (Progne subis), a neotropical migratory songbird that travels between breeding sites throughout eastern North America and nonbreeding sites in Brazil. Migration timing data were collected for 295 different individual purple martins over 9 years using light-level geolocators deployed at breeding sites across the range. We used linear mixed-effect models to examine the influence of the rank order of individual departure dates in one season on the rank order of four subsequent migration events while controlling for the effects of breeding latitude, sex, and age. Overall, we found evidence for consistent individual timing that can extend across 8 months and 12,000-24,000 km of migration. Individual rank order of migration timing in purple martins was generally conserved across migrations with consistent timings between fall departure dates from, and spring arrival dates to the breeding site the following year (0.28 ± 0.03, 95% CI 0.22-0.34), as well as at a finer scale across fall migration (0.33 ± 0.05, 95% CI 0.23-0.43), over the stationary nonbreeding period (0.39 ± 0.04, 95% CI 0.31-0.47), and across spring migration (0.03 ± 0.001, 95% CI 0.028-0.032). These results demonstrate that purple martins exhibit consistency in individual migration timing throughout the annual cycle that is likely driven by inherent individual circannual schedules. We additionally found that migration distance played a significant role, as the consistency of individual timing lessened over longer distances. Understanding how individual birds time migrations and if individuals are consistent between events can provide insight into how birds respond to shifts in their environment with climate change.

A comparison of conventional and resampled personal reliability in detecting careless responding.

Detecting careless responding in survey data is important to ensure the credibility of study findings. Of several available detection methods, personal reliability (PR) is one of the best-performing indices. Curran, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 4-19, (2016) proposed a resampled version of personal reliability (RPR). Compared to the conventional PR or even-odd consistency, in which just one set of scale halves is used, RPR is based on repeated calculation of PR across several randomly rearranged sets of scale halves. RPR should therefore be less affected than PR by random errors that may occur when a specific set of scale half pairings is used for the PR calculation. In theory, RPR should outperform PR, but it remains unclear whether it in fact does, and under what conditions the potential gain in detection accuracy is the most pronounced. We conducted two studies: a simulation study examined the performance of the conventional PR and RPR in detecting simulated careless responding, and a real data example study analyzed their performance when detecting human-generated careless responding. In both studies, RPR turned out to be a significantly better careless response indicator than PR. The results also revealed that using 25 resamples for the RPR computation is sufficient to obtain the expected gain in detection accuracy over the conventional PR. We therefore recommend using RPR instead of the conventional PR when screening questionnaire data for careless responding.

Socioeconomic prerequisites determine national long-term biomonitoring efforts.

In the current anthropogenic era characterised by human-induced environmental changes, long-term biomonitoring has become a crucial component for understanding ecological patterns and detecting shifts in biodiversity. However, spatiotemporal inconsistencies in biomonitoring efforts hinder transboundary progress in understanding and mitigating global environmental change effectively. The International Long-Term Ecosystem Research (ILTER) network is one of the largest standardised biomonitoring initiatives worldwide, encompassing 44 countries globally, including 26 European countries that are part of the European Long-Term Ecosystem Research network (eLTER). To better understand the establishment and development of such long-term biomonitoring efforts, we analysed spatial and temporal trends within the eLTER network. Additionally, we evaluated the environmental, social, and economic factors influencing engagement in biomonitoring activities within this European network. Our findings reveal a spatial imbalance, with biomonitoring efforts concentrated in Central and Western European countries, where monitoring initiatives have typically been established for a longer duration. Furthermore, our analyses underscore the complex interplay of economic, geographic, and cultural factors in the development of long-term ecological research infrastructures. Countries with greater geographic connectivity, slower economic growth, and higher research activity are more likely to be involved in the eLTER network. The intensity of biomonitoring significantly increased with greater research investments, economic growth, and elevated levels of tourism. In contrast, it decreased in countries that are more inward-facing and exhibit a belief in their ability to control environmental outcomes independently. Addressing spatial gaps in monitoring necessitates enhanced support and funding to ensure comprehensive ecological monitoring over extended time periods. This is essential for achieving transboundary sustainability and effective biodiversity conservation in the face of global change drivers.

Individual differences in the consistency of neural and behavioural responses to speech sounds.

There are documented individual differences among adults in the consistency of speech sound processing, both at neural and behavioural levels. Some adults show more consistent neural responses to speech sounds than others, as measured by an event-related potential called the frequency-following response (FFR); similarly, some adults show more consistent behavioural responses to native speech sounds than others, as measured by two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) and visual analog scaling (VAS) tasks. Adults also differ in how successfully they can perceive non-native speech sounds. Interestingly, it remains unclear whether these differences are related within individuals. In the current study, native English-speaking adults completed native phonetic perception tasks (2AFC and VAS), a non-native (German) phonetic perception task, and an FFR recording session. From these tasks, we derived measures of the consistency of participants' neural and behavioural responses to native speech as well as their non-native perception ability. We then examined the relationships among individual differences in these measures. Analysis of the behavioural measures revealed that more consistent responses to native sounds predicted more successful perception of unfamiliar German sounds. Analysis of neural and behavioural data did not reveal clear relationships between FFR consistency and our phonetic perception measures. This multimodal work furthers our understanding of individual differences in speech processing among adults, and may eventually lead to individualized approaches for enhancing non-native language acquisition in adulthood.

Development of a monoclonal antibody sandwich ELISA for the quality control of human and animal tetanus vaccines.

Antigen identity, quantity and integrity are key factors to be evaluated as part of consistency testing of tetanus vaccines. Here we have developed a mAb sandwich ELISA to measure the relative amount and quality of tetanus toxoid (TTxd) in human and animal tetanus vaccines. The ELISA is highly specific, has good dilutional linearity and is suitable for detecting TTxd in a range of different products. We have demonstrated the ability of the assay to discriminate between batches of different content, using vaccine batches that had been prepared to contain differing amounts of TTxd, and of different quality, using samples of non-adjuvanted TTxd that had been exposed to sonication and final lot vaccines that had been exposed to heat or oxidative stress. We have also demonstrated successful transfer of the method to other laboratories and have shown that different tetanus antigen materials may be able to serve as a reference antigen for standardisation of the method. The results show this test has the potential to play a key role in a control strategy no longer including an in vivo potency test.

Tetanus vaccines help to protect against tetanus infection. Currently, animal tests are used to ensure the potency of such vaccines. Since these tests were first introduced, there have been improvements in non-animal technologies that can be used to ensure consistent production of potent vaccine batches. To demonstrate that a new batch of tetanus vaccine is consistent with a previous batch of known potency, the quality and amount of the component that stimulates the immune response upon vaccination must be assessed in comparison. We have developed an assay that can measure the quality of a range of different tetanus vaccine product types. The assay is very specific and reliable, and different laboratories obtained comparable results, showing that the assay is suited for routine use. Once validated by manufacturers and accepted by regulators, this assay will greatly reduce the number of animals needed for batch release of tetanus vaccines.

Consistency and stability of individualized cortical functional networks parcellation at 3.0 T and 5.0 T MRI.

Background: Individualized cortical functional networks parcellation has been reported as highly reproducible at 3.0 T. However, in view of the complexity of cortical networks and the greatly increased sensitivity provided by ultra-high field 5.0 T MRI, the parcellation consistency between different magnetic fields is unclear. Purpose: To explore the consistency and stability of individualized cortical functional networks parcellation at 3.0 T and 5.0 T MRI based on spatial and functional connectivity analysis. Materials and methods: Thirty healthy young participants were enrolled. Each subject underwent resting-state fMRI at both 3.0 T and 5.0 T in a random order in less than 48 h. The individualized cortical functional networks was parcellated for each subject using a previously proposed iteration algorithm. Dice coefficient was used to evaluate the spatial consistency of parcellated networks between 3.0 T and 5.0 T. Functional connectivity (FC) consistency was evaluated using the Euclidian distance and Graph-theory metrics. Results: A functional cortical atlas consisting of 18 networks was individually parcellated at 3.0 T and 5.0 T. The spatial consistency of these networks at 3.0 T and 5.0 T for the same subject was significantly higher than that of inter-individuals. The FC between the 18 networks acquired at 3.0 T and 5.0 T were highly consistent for the same subject. Positive cross-subject correlations in Graph-theory metrics were found between 3.0 T and 5.0 T. Conclusion: Individualized cortical functional networks at 3.0 T and 5.0 T showed consistent and stable parcellation results both spatially and functionally. The 5.0 T MR provides finer functional sub-network characteristics than that of 3.0 T.