The need for chemoselective bond formation within complex biological systems has driven much research in chemical biology and chemical medicine and has allowed control over the structure and biological properties of a range of chemical entities. Reactions that are highly biocompatible, selective and occur at low concentration are classified as being bioorthogonal. Although bioorthogonal reactions have been successfully applied to bioconjugation and imaging in living systems, only a few examples exist of bioorthogonal reactions being utilised for the activation of prodrugs. The tetrazine mediated inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction is characterized by excellent reaction rates and high biocompatibility in both in vitro and in vivo applications. To date, this chemistry has found only limited application in prodrug activation or drug release strategies. Herein, a series of tetrazine-trigger systems are reported in which an active drug is liberated from its inactive form upon triggering with tetrazine. It is shown that the release of encapsulated and conjugated drugs from polymeric nanoparticles can be triggered by tetrazines providing an on-demand release within biological systems. In a totally new approach that fully complies with the principle of bioorthogonality by avoiding the generation of any by-products, tetrazine was utilised as a prodrug scaffold leading to symbiotic and traceless dyadic prodrug activation. The simultaneous formation of two active drugs (here the anticancer drug camptothecin and a known micro RNA inhibitor) was confirmed and validated within a biological environment. The use of tetrazines as a trigger to activate or release an active drug will open new directions in the field of chemical biology/medicine.

The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part contains information about anatomy of the trapezius muscle and its myofascial pathology. Author further discusses trigger points, their histopathology and diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities. A significant section of the theoretical part explains the physical principle of ultrasound therapy and laser phototherapy, including clinical aspects and their use in the treatment of trigger points. The practical part is focused on comparing the efficacy and relative effectiveness of two methods of physical therapy - ultrasound therapy and laser phototherapy, where myofascial trigger points treatment effect can be expected. Research group is made up of 47 patients divided into two groups. These patients have a doctor confirmed trigger point in the upper portion of trapezius muscle. The first group of patients is treated by exactly parametrically defined ultrasound therapy. The second group of patients is treated by specifically defined laser phototherapy. The aim of this thesis is to compare the above mentioned physical procedures in terms of subjective and objective efficacy in the treatment of trigger points and also to compare their relative effectiveness.

Despite a paucity of experimental evidence, clinical opinion remains that though LTrPs allow pain-free movement, they are primarily associated with deleterious motor effects and occur commonly in 'healthy' muscles. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effects of LTrPs on the muscle activation patterns (MAPs) of key shoulder girdle muscles during scapular plane elevation of the arm in the unloaded, loaded and fatigued states. In connection with the main aim, a preliminary study was carried out to examine the frequency with which LTrPs occur in the scapular positioning muscles in a group of normal subjects. After establishing intra-examiner reliability for the clinical examination process, 154 healthy subjects volunteered to be screened for normal shoulder girdle function, then undergo a physical examination for LTrPs in the trapezius, rhomboids, levator scapulae, serratus anterior and the pectoralis minor muscles bilaterally. Of these 'healthy' subjects, 89.8% had at least one LTrP in the scapular positioning muscles (mean=10.65 ± 6.8, range=1-27), with serratus anterior and upper trapezius harbouring the most LTrPs on average (2.46 ± 1.8 and 2.36 ± 1.3 respectively). Consistent with clinical opinion, this study found that LTrPs occur commonly in the scapular positioning muscles. To investigate the motor effects of LTrPs, surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to measure the timing of muscle activation of the upper and lower trapezius and serratus anterior (upward scapular rotators), the infraspinatus (rotator cuff) and middle deltoid (arm abductor). These studies found that LTrPs housed in the scapular upward rotator muscles affected the timing of activation and increased the variability of the activation times of this muscle group and were also associated with altered timing of activation in the functionally related but LTrP-free infraspinatus and middle deltoid. Compared with the control group (all muscles LTrP-free), the MAPs of the LTrP group appeared to be sub-optimal, particularly in relation to preserving the subacromial space and the loading of the rotator cuff muscles. After the initial sEMG evaluations, the LTrP subjects were randomly assigned to one of two interventions: superficial dry needling (SDN) followed by post-isometric relaxation (PIR) stretching to remove LTrP s or sham ultrasound, to act as a placebo treatment where LTrPs remained. Where LTrPs were removed, a subsequent sEMG evaluation found MAPs to be similar to the control group in most of the experimental conditions investigated. Of particular note, when LTrPs had been treated and the subjects repeated the fatiguing protocol, the resultant MAP showed no significant difference with that of the control group in the rested state, suggesting treating LTrPs was associated with an improved response to fatigue induced by repetitive overhead movements. In conclusion, the findings indicate that LTrPs commonly occur in scapular positioning muscles and have deleterious effects on MAPs employed to perform scapular plane elevation and thus affect motor control mechanisms. Treating LTrPs with SDN and PIR stretching increases pressure-pain thresholds, removes associated taut bands and at least transiently optimises the MAP during scapular plane elevation. Discussion includes possible neuromuscular pathophysiology that might explain these results.

<p>De triggers som idag används i Autoliv BKIs laboratorium har till uppgift att synkronisera signalerna vid simulering av krock som en intern kvalitetskontroll av produktionen. De sköter utösning av airbags och start av höghastighetskameror.</p><p>Då Autoliv har flera modeller av krockkuddar används idag olika triggers och man har därför som önskemål att utveckla ett nytt system som skulle kunna ersätta de nuvarande systemen och som kan användas vid samtliga kvalitetstest.</p><p>Projektet resulterade i en testad prototyp som inkluderar hårdvara, mjukvara, samt CAD-ritningar till en färdig produkt.</p>

A decade of heightened awareness concerning safety issues in healthcare since the Institute of Medicine’s awakening call has resulted in a string of counteroffensive measures. The pace of improvement has been slow and not altogether clear. Rates of patient harm are in general now measured by voluntary reporting and indicator measurements. The use of triggers or clues in random nurse-based reviews to enable identification of patient harm is a more effective method for measuring the overall rate of harm in a health care organisation. Measured actual overall rates of patient harm, their variations and patterns during delivery in the south-east health-care region of Sweden are not previously known. Measurement is important to patient safety improvement, as a foundation for accountability, effort selection and keeping track of results. The patient’s voice must also be much clearer in quality and safety improvement efforts in healthcare. The Institute of Healthcare Improvements Global Trigger Tool for measuring adverse events was used to review 1137 deliveries during 2011 in the seven departments (10% of all cases). Mother and new-born were both evaluated. Thirty eight patient harm events per 1000 patient days were identified, correlating to 13% of admissions. Presupposed rates among staff were double this value. Current patient safety indicators are half this value. One third of patient harm events at birth affected the new-born. Twenty different categories of harm were found. This study shows significantly higher rates of patient harm than previously reported. The nurse reviewers defined the method as valuable and a useful method for measuring harm at delivery. Limitations at this stage are no observed changes in health care delivery or clinical outcomes and that value assessment is based entirely on the judgement of the data-abstractors.

<p>När ett nytt databassystem ska tas fram och införas i en organisation ska funktioner och krav på systemet identifieras och analyseras i en designprocess. Ett krav på ett databassystem kan vara att systemet ska uppvisa en viss prestanda. Designprocessen leder så småningom fram till fysisk design av databasen och dess applikationer. Det kan finnas flera olika lösningar för fysisk design av databasen och dess applikationer som tillgodoser kraven och funktionerna som ska finnas i systemet. Dessa olika lösningsalternativ ger olika prestanda. Detta arbete ger en inblick i att fysisk design av en databas och dess applikationer påverkar prestanda och att det finns strategier för när olika lösningar kan vara lämpliga att använda för prestandaoptimering.</p><p>Nyckelord: Fysisk design, SQL, index, trigger, lagrad procedur, denormalisering.</p>

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / Background: Myofascial pain is a disorder, characterized by the presence of trigger points (MTrP). It is recognised by unique features which include a tender point in a taut band of muscle, a local twitch response (LTR), a characteristic referred pain pattern, and the reproduction of the patient’s usual pain upon examination. A debate exists as to the precise diagnostic criteria used in identifying trigger points. This has hampered the standardized assessment and treatment of Myofascial Pain Syndrome and has led to contradictory findings being reported by various authors due to the lack of a reliable diagnostic tool. Objectives: The first objective was to determine the inter-examiner reliability of palpation of MTrPs in the trapezius and gluteus medius muscles. The second objective was to determine whether training and standardization in palpation techniques would improve inter-examiner reliability of palpation of MTrPs. Methods: This study was designed as a quantitative pre and post intervention interexaminer reliability study. Three examiners (one qualified Chiropractor, one senior chiropractic intern from the CDC and the researcher) were used to examine sixty patients (thirty symptomatic and thirty asymptomatic) for MTrPs. This study was conducted in two phases. During the myofascial examination of patients examiners were required to determine whether a MTrP was present or absent, differentiate whether the MTrP was active or latent and determine the presence or absence of the five characteristics of MTrP (tender point in a taut band of muscle, a local twitch response (LTR), a pain characteristic referred pain pattern, the reproduction of the patient’s usual pain and a jump sign) however, in phase one the researchers were blinded to the characteristics being investigated. Subsequent to phase one, examiners had to attend two, one hour discussion sessions to reduce individual variation in the application of palpation techniques. Results: Inter-examiner reliability was assessed using Fleiss Kappa statistic, percentage agreement and confidence intervals. The results show that three examiners are able to attain acceptable agreement in the palpation of MTrPs, since the features (described above) were shown to improve considerably in phase two after the training session in which standardization of techniques was emphasized. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence that MTrP palpation is reliable and therefore, useful diagnostic tool in the identification of MTrPs and the diagnosis of Myofascial Pain Syndrome.

Thesis (MS)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brock LaMeres. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-66).

The study deals with production technology of “revolver trigger“. Final assembly is short firearm ALFA Steel and its model series of ALFA-PROJ, Ltd company. Introduction submits an explanation of trigger technology suitability. The following analysis describes current manufacturing process, which has manufacturing inaccuracy problem. Furthermore rootcause of manufacturing inaccuracy was determined and analysis of suggestions for changes (including modifications of technological process) was realized. Based on experiment dimensions were measured on provided samples of suggest production in Technical Control Department. Dimensions of triggers manufactured by current production were verified during the experiment too. Results were compared according to the rejects of production. In the final phase of the study manufacturing labor costs were compared for the one piece of trigger with the new suggested technology.

The goal of this project is to design a signal and data logger, which captures analog and digital signals with very long record time. The device supports multichannel complex triggering, a real-time oscilloscope-like mode and an offline mode for analyzing of previously sampled data. This project contains detailed analysis of the topic, description of hardware and software solutions and used methods. The thesis also contains verification tests and measurements. This device will be mainly used for hardware debugging of microprocessor based applications.