Information may be lost in transition impacting skills and expertise long-term. Conclusion Roles and responsibilities between the therapist, the assistants and the computerized training system need to be clearly defined. A Cognitive Training Alliance model is being proposed which takes into consideration the challenges of delegating training responsibility to computer systems and non-professional assistants. © 2020 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Obesity is one of the primary causes of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).  https://www.selleckchem.com/mTOR.html  To better understand how obesity impairs glucose-insulin homeostasis, we tracked fasting blood glucose and insulin levels and the key components of glucose-insulin homeostasis for 7 months in high fat diet (HFD; 45% fat) fed mice (n = 8). Every 2 weeks we measured body weight, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, and estimated 5 key rate constants of glucose-insulin homeostasis using the methods established previously (Heliyon 3 e00310, 2017). Mice gained weight steadily, more than doubling their weights after 7 months (23.6 ± 0.5 to 52.3 ± 1.4 g). Fasting (basal) insulin levels were elevated (221.3 ± 16.7 to 1043.1 ± 90.5 pmol l-1) but fasting blood glucose levels unexpectedly returned to the baseline levels (152.8 ± 7.0 to 152.0 ± 7.2 mg/dl) despite significantly elevated levels (216.8 ± 44.9 mg/dl, average of 3 highest values for 8 mice) during the experimental period. After 7 months of HFD feeding, the rate constants for insulin secretion (k1), insulin-independent glucose uptake (k3), and insulin concentration where liver switches from glucose uptake to release (Ipi) were significantly elevated. Insulin-dependent glucose uptake (k2) and rate constant of liver glucose transfer (k4) were lowered but no statistical significance was reached. The novel and key finding of this study is the wide range of fluctuations of the rate constants during the course of obesity, reflecting the body's compensatory responses against metabolic alterations caused by obesity. © 2020 The Authors.Single Tube Nested PCR (ST-nPCR) is of value to clinical laboratories with limited settings for the detection of fastidious microorganisms. The detection sensitivity of ST-nPCR is dependent on ensuring minimal leftovers of outer primers during the second round of the reaction. In this work, we investigated various approaches to optimize the performance of outer primers, including decreasing outer primer concentrations; using antisense oligonucleotides to block outer primers; using chemically modified inner primers; and using Q5 Taq polymerase that lacks 5'-3' exonuclease and strand displacement capabilities. These solutions were tested on C. abortus and C. psittaci, which are both fastidious intracellular bacteria that are difficult to diagnose. The best obtained result was by using Q5 Taq polymerase. A detection limit with a range between 0.1 and 1 ag was achieved, which corresponds to a range between 0.2 and 2 copies of the plasmid positive control. This level of sensitivity is comparable or even better than the sensitivity achieved by TaqMan probe based real-time PCR assays. The assay was validated using 70 veterinary clinical samples from small ruminant abortions and 10% of these samples gave positive results. In conclusion, sensitivity of ST-nPCR to detect fastidious microorganisms can be improved by using Taq polymerases that lacks 5'-3' exonuclease. The proposed assay is affordable and applicable to a wide range of fastidious pathogens and can be suitable for laboratories with limited settings. © 2020 The Author(s).In this paper, a Wavelet transform-based approach for estimation of multipitch in music signal has been proposed. Among the Morlet Wavelet (MW), Mexican hat, and Shannon wavelet that belong to the widely used wavelets in different applications, the Morlet wavelet performs well for estimation of pitch in polyphonic music signals. This is why a method involving modification of the Morlet wavelet has been proposed for achieving better accuracy in estimation of multiple pitches in polyphonic music. Performance of the Modified Morlet Wavelet (MMW) based Multipitch Estimation (MPE) scheme has been compared with that of a method based on Fast Fourier Transform and another based on the original Morlet Wavelet, in terms of percentage Gross Pitch Error (GPE). Piano chord data base and Standard music IOWA data base have been used for performance evaluation of the proposed scheme. Simulation results show that percentage error in pitch (described by the fundamental frequency) is minimum for the proposed i.e. MMW-based method. © 2020 The Author(s).This paper shows the design of a radio-frequency transceiver coil for landmine detection in Colombia by nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR). The radio-frequency transceiver coil is of great importance as it is responsible for exciting the target explosive and for picking up the weak NQR signal; however, little detail is found on the literature about its design. The strategy followed on this work consisted on constructing and experimentally comparing five different radio-frequency transceiver coils, whose dimensions were selected according to four design parameters noise rejection, magnetic flux density, coil sensitivity, and quality factor; taking into account the characteristics of landmines in Colombia, the second country most affected by anti-personnel mines in the world. The constructed coils were experimentally compared using a portable system and with three of them, the system was capable of detecting 200 g ammonium nitrate (the main substance used in Colombian landmines) up to 3 cm from the coil within 12 s, with a steady-state free precession pulse sequence. Conclusions from this work could help to guide RF coil design in other works that apply NQR for remote detection of substances in non-shielded environments and to direct future research about landmine detection in Colombia. © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.Introduction Primary hypertension can be masked and be responsible of a severe impact on the target bodies. The purpose of this study was to see if Phenobarbital at low dose is able to decrease the sympathetic hyperactivity assessed by cardiovascular autonomic reflexes in patients with masked hypertension. Materials and methods This prospective study was conducted on a total of 91 patients with masked hypertension (average age 52.1 ± 10.3 years old). The cardiovascular autonomic tests performed in this group, before and after 3 months of daily oral administration of Phenobarbital, included deep breathing, hand-grip, mental stress and orthostatic tests. Statistical analysis was done using the Student's t-test, Univariate and Multivariate logistic regression analysis; p is significant if less then 0.05. Results Cardiovascular autonomic reflexes responses before and after 3 months of Phenobarbital oral administration were as follows Vagal response (XDB) obtained on deep breathing test was of 32.6 ± 5.4% VS 30.