Social Phobia symptoms across the adult lifespan

Background: This study investigated symptom patterns that might distinguish between individuals with and without a diagnosis of Social Phobia (SP) across the adult lifespan

Type 1 invariant natural killer T cells in chronic inflammation and tissue fibrosis

Chronic tissue inflammation often results in fibrosis characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix components remodeling normal tissue architecture and function. Recent studies have suggested common immune mechanisms despite the complexity of the interactions between tissue-specific fibroblasts, macrophages, and distinct immune cell populations that mediate fibrosis in various tissues. Natural killer T (NKT) cells recognizing lipid antigens bound to CD1d molecules have been shown to play an important role in chronic inflammation and fibrosis. Here we review recent data in both experimental models and in humans that suggest a key role of type 1 invariant NKT (iNKT) cell activation in the progression of inflammatory cascades leading to recruitment of neutrophils and activation of the inflammasome, macrophages, fibroblasts, and, ultimately, fibrosis. Emerging evidence suggests that iNKT-associated mechanisms contribute to type 1, type 2 and type 3 immune pathways mediating tissue fibrosis, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Thus, targeting a pathway upstream of these immune mechanisms, such as the inhibition of iNKT activation, may be important in modulating various fibrotic conditions

Novel Mast Cell-Stabilising Amine Derivatives of 3,4 Dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-One and 6,7,8,9-Tetrahydro-5H-benzo[7]annulen-5-one

In an investigation of 4-amino-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-ones as novel modulators of allergic and inflammatory phenomena, we have investigated a series of cyclic analogues. Tertiary amines of structural types 9, 10, 20 and 21 were synthesised and evaluated for mast cell stabilising activity. In vitro and in vivo studies showed that of these compounds, the cyclohexenylamino derivatives of tetralone and benzosuberone of series 20 and 21 exhibited interesting activity both in vitro and in vivo

Exploring the Potential of Feature Selection Methods in the Classification of Urban Trees Using Field Spectroscopy Data

Mapping of vegetation at the species level using hyperspectral satellite data can be effective and accurate because of its high spectral and spatial resolutions that can detect detailed information of a target object. Its wide application, however, not only is restricted by its high cost and large data storage requirements, but its processing is also complicated by challenges of what is known as the Hughes effect. The Hughes effect is where classification accuracy decreases once the number of features or wavelengths passes a certain limit. This study aimed to explore the potential of feature selection methods in the classification of urban trees using field hyperspectral data. We identified the best feature selection method of key wavelengths that respond to the target urban tree species for effective and accurate classification. The study compared the effectiveness of Principal Component Analysis Discriminant Analysis (PCA-DA), Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) and Guided Regularized Random Forest (GRRF) in feature selection of the key wavelengths for classification of urban trees. The classification performance of Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) algorithms were also compared to determine the importance of the key wavelengths selected for the detection of the target urban trees. The feature selection methods managed to reduce the high dimensionality of the hyperspectral data. Both the PCA-DA and PLS-DA selected 10 wavelengths and the GRRF algorithm selected 13 wavelengths from the entire dataset (n = 1523). Most of the key wavelengths were from the short-wave infrared region (1300-2500 nm). SVM outperformed RF in classifying the key wavelengths selected by the feature selection methods. The SVM classifier produced overall accuracy values of 95.3%, 93.3% and 86% using the GRRF, PLS-DA and PCA-DA techniques, respectively, whereas those for the RF classifier were 88.7%, 72% and 56.8%, respectively

the role of cetuximab in converting initially unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases for resection

Abstract In patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) predominantly confined to the liver, whether a patient undergoes potentially curative resection of the liver lesions is a well-established principal determinant of long-term survival. There are a number of different agents, both chemotherapeutic and targeted biologic agents, which can aid in shrinking liver tumors, which would have otherwise been unresectable, allowing for potentially curative resection. The aim of this review article is to summarize the available evidence regarding optimal therapeutic strategies for converting initially unresectable metastases for potentially curative resection; we do not discuss patients who present with initially resectable disease. We have taken the approach to review trials that included R0 resection rates as one of the principal study endpoints and specifically enrolled patients with liver-limited disease. Primary tumor location has recently emerged as a putative prognostic and predictive factor in patients with mCRC; however, presently, there is a lack of resectability outcomes differentiating tumor location–defined subgroups, and several ongoing trials and retrospective analyses are anticipated to guide insights in the future. In conclusion, in patients with RAS wild-type mCRC, the data support preferential use of the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody cetuximab when combined with standard-of-care infusional doublet chemotherapy regimens (FOLFOX or FOLFIRI) for the conversion of initially unresectable metastases for potentially curative resection. Furthermore, we discuss data involving intensified chemotherapy regimens (i.e., 3-drug backbones such as FOLFOXIRI with or without a targeted biologic agent) to promote the conversion of initially unresectable metastases for potentially curative resection

Automated murmurs: the social mobile tourist application

The popularity of mobile devices and their increased computing power has given rise to surge in mobile computing technologies. Users are increasingly turning to mobile devices for information relating to their activities and location while on the move. Independent of this, the world has seen a huge uptake in the social web, which has fueled the production of applications where users are the sole providers of valuable information. In this work we present a mobile platform which leverages the popularity of mobile and social computing to produce a location sensitive messaging system which delivers user generated content to the public in the context of their physical location

Sperm storage in a family-living lizard, the Tree Skink (Egernia striolata)

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC DP130102998 grant to MJW and RWB), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (scholarship to JLR), the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behavior, the Australian Museum, and Macquarie University (scholarship to JLR).The ability to produce viable offspring without recently mating, either through sperm storage or parthenogenesis, can provide fitness advantages under a suite of challenging ecological scenarios. Using genetic analysis, we demonstrate that three wild-caught female Tree Skinks (Egernia striolata) reproduced in captivity with no access to males for over a year, and that this is best explained by sperm storage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time female sperm storage has been documented in any monogamous family-living reptile, including social Australian egerniine skinks (from the subfamily Egerniinae). Furthermore, by using paternal reconstruction of genotypes we show that captive-born offspring produced by the same females in the preceding year, presumably without sperm storage, were sired by different males. We qualitatively compared aspects of these females' mates and offspring between years. The parents of each litter were unrelated, but paternal and offspring genotypes from litters resulting from stored sperm were more heterozygous than those inferred to be from recent matings. Family-living egerniine skinks generally have low rates of multiple paternity, yet our study suggests that female sperm storage, potentially from outside social partners, offers the real possibility of benefits. Possible benefits include increasing genetic compatibility of mates and avoiding inbreeding depression via cryptic female choice. Sperm storage in Tree Skinks, a family-living lizard with a monogamous mating system, suggests that females may bet-hedge through extra-pair copulation with more heterozygous males, reinforcing the idea that females could have more control on reproductive outcomes than previously thought.PostprintPeer reviewe

Improved Performance of Near infrared Excitation Raman Spectroscopy Using Reflective Thin-film Gold on Glass Substrates for Cytology Samples

Confocal near-infrared Raman spectroscopy has been shown to have applications in the area of clinical biology. A source wavelength in the near infrared is preferred over visible wavelengths for inspecting biological samples due to superior wave number resolution and reduced photo damage. However, these excitation sources have a number of drawbacks when compared to lasers in the visible wavelength region, including the requirement to use expensive highly pure crystal substrates such as Raman grade calcium fluoride as well as long acquisition times due to the lower Raman scattering efficiency. This paper investigates the use of a reflective substrate comprising a low cost 100 nm thin-film gold on glass substrate, as an alternative. Similar to recent work that used stainless steel substrates, it is demonstrated that the thin-film gold coated substrates, which are relatively inexpensive, produce cell spectra with 1.65 times the signal to noise ratio when compared with spectra obtained from calcium fluoride under identical conditions, with no apparent background signal in the fingerprint region. Two prostate cell lines are examined having been deposited on glass, calcium fluoride, and thin-film gold on glass substrates using the Thin Prep standard. Background spectra from, and cell adhesion on, these three substrates are compared. A comparison of the intensities and signal to noise ratios of the resulting spectra, and their viability for classification using principle components analysis is performed, which further demonstrates the benefit of reflective substrates

Computational Tracking of Shear-Mediated Platelet Interactions with von Willebrand Factor

The imaging of shear-mediated dynamic platelet behavior interacting with surface-immobilized von Willebrand factor (vWF) has tremendous potential in characterizing changes in platelet function for clinical diagnostics purposes. However, the imaging output, a series of images representing platelets adhering and rolling on the surface, poses unique, non-trivial challenges for software algorithms that reconstruct the positional trajectories of platelets. We report on an algorithm that tracks platelets using the output of such flow run experiments, taking into account common artifacts encountered by previously-published methods, and we derive seven key metrics of platelet dynamics that can be used to characterize platelet function. Extensive testing of our method using simulated platelet flow run data was carried out to validate our tracking method and derived metrics in capturing key platelet-vWF interaction-dynamics properties. Our results show that while the number of platelets present on the imaged area is the leading cause of errors, flow run data from two experiments using whole blood samples showed that our method and metrics can detect platelet property changes/differences that are concordant with the expected biological outcome, such as inhibiting key platelet receptors such as P2Y1, glycoprotein (GP)Ib and GPIIb/IIIa. These findings support the use of our methodologies to characterize platelet function among a wide range of healthy and disease cohorts