Adult mesenchymal stem cell therapy for myelin repair in Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system (CNS). It is the most frequent neurological disease in young adults and affects over 2 million people worldwide. Current treatments reduce the relapse rate and the formation of inflammatory lesions in the CNS, but with only temporary and limited success. Despite the presence of endogenous oligodendroglial progenitors (OPCs) and of spontaneous remyelination, at least in early MS its levels and its qualities are apparently insufficient for a sustained endogenous functional repair. Therefore, novel MS therapies should consider not only immunemodulatory but also myelin repair activities. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent an attractive alternative to develop a cell-based therapy for MS. MSCs display stromal features and exert bystander immunemodulatory and neuroprotective activities. Importantly, MSCs induce oligodendrocyte fate decision and differentiation/maturation of adult neural progenitors, suggesting the existence of MSC-derived remyelination activity. Moreover, transplanted MSCs promote functional recovery and myelin repair in different MS animal models. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on endogenous mechanisms for remyelination and proposed autologous MSC therapy as a promising strategy for MS treatment

Prevention in Schools: Examining School Personnel’s Attitudes and Knowledge of Mandated Reporting

This study examined the factors that may affect school personnel’s implementation of mandated reporter procedures after student disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA), with a focus on how school personnel think, reason, and act after a student discloses suspected CSA. Children spend most of their time in school, therefore, school personnel have significant roles in protecting children by being mandated reporters of child abuse. This study used a quantitative research design to examine school personnel’s attitudes and knowledge regarding mandated reporting child sexual abuse after student disclosure. The study used a cross-sectional survey methodology that included a single survey instrument. A cross-sectional study was chosen because participants were selected based on the inclusion criteria of this study. One hundred school personnel who are currently employed by educational institutions serving students between kindergarten and 12th grade participated in this study by completing an online survey pertaining to this topic. Results indicate that teachers with training had more confidence recognizing indicators of abuse, were more knowledgeable about their reporting responsibilities, and were better prepared to follow reporting procedures. The majority of respondents also reported that their institutions had a child abuse reporting policy of which they were aware. This would suggest that educational institutions with a formal policy may impact school personnel\u27s decision to report child sexual abuse, ensuring that they report child sexual abuse. Findings also suggest that school personnel\u27s attitudes toward their commitment to the reporting role are closely aligned with mandated reporter standards and expectations

Evaluations of topological Tutte polynomials

We find new properties of the topological transition polynomial of embedded graphs, $Q(G)$. We use these properties to explain the striking similarities between certain evaluations of Bollob\'as and Riordan's ribbon graph polynomial, $R(G)$, and the topological Penrose polynomial, $P(G)$. The general framework provided by $Q(G)$ also leads to several other combinatorial interpretations these polynomials. In particular, we express $P(G)$, $R(G)$, and the Tutte polynomial, $T(G)$, as sums of chromatic polynomials of graphs derived from $G$; show that these polynomials count $k$-valuations of medial graphs; show that $R(G)$ counts edge 3-colourings; and reformulate the Four Colour Theorem in terms of $R(G)$. We conclude with a reduction formula for the transition polynomial of the tensor product of two embedded graphs, showing that it leads to additional relations among these polynomials and to further combinatorial interpretations of $P(G)$ and $R(G)$.Comment: V2: major revision, several new results, and improved expositio

Shot noise in the chaotic-to-regular crossover regime

We investigate the shot noise for phase-coherent quantum transport in the chaotic-to-regular crossover regime. Employing the Modular Recursive Green's Function Method for both ballistic and disordered two-dimensional cavities we find the Fano factor and the transmission eigenvalue distribution for regular systems to be surprisingly similar to those for chaotic systems. We argue that in the case of regular dynamics in the cavity, diffraction at the lead openings is the dominant source of shot noise. We also explore the onset of the crossover from quantum to classical transport and develop a quasi-classical transport model for shot noise suppression which agrees with the numerical quantum data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Organized Current Patterns in Disordered Conductors

We present a general theory of current deviations in straight current carrying wires with random imperfections, which quantitatively explains the recent observations of organized patterns of magnetic field corrugations above micron-scale evaporated wires. These patterns originate from the most efficient electron scattering by Fourier components of the wire imperfections with wavefronts along the $\pm 45^{\circ}$ direction. We show that long range effects of surface or bulk corrugations are suppressed for narrow wires or wires having an electrically anisotropic resistivity

Imaging geometry through dynamics: the observable representation

For many stochastic processes there is an underlying coordinate space, $V$, with the process moving from point to point in $V$ or on variables (such as spin configurations) defined with respect to $V$. There is a matrix of transition probabilities (whether between points in $V$ or between variables defined on $V$) and we focus on its ``slow'' eigenvectors, those with eigenvalues closest to that of the stationary eigenvector. These eigenvectors are the ``observables,'' and they can be used to recover geometrical features of $V$

Beyond Clotting: A Role of Platelets in CNS Repair?

This work was supported by the State Government of Salzburg, Austria, (Stifungsprofessur, and 20204-WISS/80/199-2014), through funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreements n° HEALTH-F2-2011-278850 (INMiND), n° HEALTH-F2-2011-279288 (IDEA), n° FP7-REGPOT-316120 (GlowBrain), the Austrian Science Fund FWF Special Research Program (SFB) F44 (F4413-B23) “Cell Signaling in Chronic CNS Disorders,” by the research funds from the Paracelsus Medical University PMU-FFF (Long-Term Fellowship L-12/01/001-RIV to FR and Stand Alone grant 2058).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Frontiers via http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2015.00511

Long-Range Order in Electronic Transport through Disordered Metal Films

Ultracold atom magnetic field microscopy enables the probing of current flow patterns in planar structures with unprecedented sensitivity. In polycrystalline metal (gold) films we observe long-range correlations forming organized patterns oriented at +/- 45 deg relative to the mean current flow, even at room temperature and at length scales orders of magnitude larger than the diffusion length or the grain size. The preference to form patterns at these angles is a direct consequence of universal scattering properties at defects. The observed amplitude of the current direction fluctuations scales inversely to that expected from the relative thickness variations, the grain size and the defect concentration, all determined independently by standard methods. This indicates that ultracold atom magnetometry enables new insight into the interplay between disorder and transport

Plantar Erythrodysesthesia Caused by Antiretroviral Treatment: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Palmoplantar erythrodysesthesia is an uncommon localised cutaneous reaction to certain chemotherapeutic agents and characterized by painful palmoplantar erythema and dysesthesia. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first case of plantar erythrodysesthesia in a 40-year-old male patient receiving an antiretroviral combination therapy for HIV