Bus accident severity and passenger injury: evidence from Denmark

Purpose Bus safety is a concern not only in developing countries, but also in the U.S. and Europe. In Denmark, disentangling risk factors that are positively or negatively related to bus accident severity and injury occurrence to bus passengers can contribute to promote safety as an essential principle of sustainable transit and advance the vision “every accident is one too many”. Methods Bus accident data were retrieved from the national accident database for the period 2002–2011. A generalized ordered logit model allows analyzing bus accident severity and a logistic regression enables examining occurrence of injury to bus passengers. Results Bus accident severity is positively related to (i) the involvement of vulnerable road users, (ii) high speed limits, (iii) night hours, (iv) elderly drivers of the third party involved, and (v) bus drivers and other drivers crossing in yellow or red light. Occurrence of injury to bus passengers is positively related to (i) the involvement of heavy vehicles, (ii) crossing intersections in yellow or red light, (iii) open areas, (iv) high speed limits, and (v) slippery road surface. Conclusions The findings of the current study provide a comprehensive picture of the bus safety situation in Denmark and suggest the necessity of further research into bus drivers’ attitudes and perceptions of risks and road users’ perceptions of bus operations. Moreover, these findings suggest the need for further training into bus drivers’ hazard recognition skills and infrastructural solutions to forgive possible driving errors

Assessment of Biodiesel Fuel Potentials of Seed Crude Oil Extracts of Balanites aegyptiaaca (L.) Del

Study on assessmentof biodiesel fuel potentials of seed crude oil extracts of Balanites aegyptiaaca (L.) Del was carriedout. Standard methods of the Association of Official and Analytical Chemist (AOAC) were adopted to evaluate the proximate, physico-chemical properties and fatty acid compositions of crude seed oil extracts of the test plant. The proximate constituents of the crude seed oil extract gave crude protein (22.09%), crude fat (56.75%), moisturecontent (1.35%), ash (4.70%), crudefiber (12.75%) and carbohydrate (2.36%). The crude oil physicochemical properties included saponification value(216.439mgKOH/g), peroxide value(4.84meq/kg), acid value(2.18mgKOH/g), iodine value(77.08g/100g), viscosity value(150.3@30\ub0C) and cetane number(54.08), refractive index(1.487 @30\ub0C), relative density (0.949g/cm3) while calorific value was 39.03(MJ/kg). The fatty acids composition of crude kernel oil extract of B. aegyptiaca indicated the presence of four (4) fatty acids, with relative percentage abundance (RPA) in the order of 67.17% (9,12-Octadecanoic acid (C19H3402)) > 16.22% (Pentadecanoic acid (C17H3402)) > 11.8kg% (Heptacosanoic acid (C28H5602)) > 4.72% (Oleic acid(C18H3402)). These properties conferred relative prospects on the crude oil of the test plant as a suitable potential biodiesel substrate and consequently, large scale aforestation efforts be renewed, to guarantee ready availability of the raw materials

Fulvestrant: an oestrogen receptor antagonist with a novel mechanism of action

Due to their favourable tolerability profiles, endocrine therapies have long been considered the treatment of choice for hormone-sensitive metastatic breast cancer. However, the oestrogen agonist effects of the available selective oestrogen receptor modulators, such as tamoxifen, and the development of cross-resistance between endocrine therapies with similar modes of action have led to the need for new treatments that act through different mechanisms. Fulvestrant (‘Faslodex’) is the first of a new type of endocrine treatment – an oestrogen receptor (ER) antagonist that downregulates the ER and has no agonist effects. This article provides an overview of the current understanding of ER signalling and illustrates the unique mode of action of fulvestrant. Preclinical and clinical study data are presented in support of the novel mechanism of action of this new type of ER antagonist

Bond percolation on isoradial graphs: criticality and universality

In an investigation of percolation on isoradial graphs, we prove the criticality of canonical bond percolation on isoradial embeddings of planar graphs, thus extending celebrated earlier results for homogeneous and inhomogeneous square, triangular, and other lattices. This is achieved via the star-triangle transformation, by transporting the box-crossing property across the family of isoradial graphs. As a consequence, we obtain the universality of these models at the critical point, in the sense that the one-arm and 2j-alternating-arm critical exponents (and therefore also the connectivity and volume exponents) are constant across the family of such percolation processes. The isoradial graphs in question are those that satisfy certain weak conditions on their embedding and on their track system. This class of graphs includes, for example, isoradial embeddings of periodic graphs, and graphs derived from rhombic Penrose tilings.Comment: In v2: extended title, and small changes in the tex

Primary Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Diagnostics of Extramediastinal Lesions and Treatment Opportunities

Background. Current diagnostic methods and the introduction of molecular investigations into clinical practice allow to improve the understanding of classical primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL). Aim. To investigate clinical characteristics of PMBCL patients with extramediastinal lesions. Materials & Methods. The study was performed from 2007 to 2017 in the National Medical Hematology Research Center and included 157 PMBCL patients. The data of 16 (10.2 %; 4 men and 12 women) patients with extramediastinal lesions were analyzed; the median age was 27 years (range 23–69). Results. The extramediastinal lesions were found in pancreas (6; 37.5 %), kidneys (5; 31.2 %), ovaries (3; 18.7 %), liver (3; 18.7 %), bone marrow (3; 18.7 %), and breasts (2; 12 %); the lesions in stomach, bones, soft tissues, spleen, adrenals, and small pelvis were observed each in a single case. In 15 of 16 cases extramediastinal lesions were accompanied by involvement of superior mediastinum, and only 1 patient had an isolated lesion in thoracic soft tissues without mediastinal involvement. The samples of 8 out of 16 patients were analyzed using PCR. In all samples overexpression of 2 or more genes (JAK2, TRAF1, MAL, PDL1, PDL2) was determined which allowed to confirm, and in some cases to revise the diagnosis of PMBCL. Overall 5-year survival (93 %) of patients with classical PMBCL with thoracic involvement was similar to the cohort with extramediastinal lesions. All unfavourable events (progression/relapse) were identified at an early stage, i.e. within a year after the completion of therapy. Conclusion. PMBCL patients can have not only superior mediastinum involvement, but extramediastinal lesions as well, including bone marrow. The spreading of the disease beyond superior mediastinum should be differentiated from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma using standard evaluation methods, and molecular analysis in some cases

Six weeks' sebacic acid supplementation improves fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c and glucose tolerance in db/db mice

Aim: To investigate the impact of chronic ingestion of sebacic acid (SA), a 10-carbon medium-chain dicarboxylic acid, on glycaemic control in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes (T2D)

A longitudinal examination of plasma neurofilament light and total tau for the clinical detection and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease

We examined baseline and longitudinal associations between plasma neurofilament light (NfL) and total tau (t-tau), and the clinical presentation of Alzheimer's disease (AD). A total of 579 participants (238, normal cognition [NC]; 185, mild cognitive impairment [MCI]; 156, AD dementia) had baseline blood draws; 82% had follow-up evaluations. Plasma samples were analyzed for NfL and t-tau using Simoa technology. Baseline plasma NfL was higher in AD dementia than MCI (standardized mean difference = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.37–0.73) and NC (standardized mean difference = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.49–0.88), corresponded to Clinical Dementia Rating scores (OR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.35–2.79]), and correlated with all neuropsychological tests (r's = 0.13–0.42). Longitudinally, NfL did not predict diagnostic conversion but predicted decline on 3/10 neuropsychological tests. Baseline plasma t-tau was higher in AD dementia than NC with a small effect (standardized mean difference = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.10–0.57) but not MCI. t-tau did not statistically significant predict any longitudinal outcomes. Plasma NfL may be useful for the detection of AD dementia and monitoring of disease progression. In contrast, there was minimal evidence in support of plasma t-tau

The Comparison of De Novo Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma and Transformed Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma: Own Data

Background. Grade 3 follicular lymphoma (FL) is a heterogenetic group of tumors. The selections of patients with similar characteristics of the tumor process is important for classification 3 grade forms of FL and risk stratification, as well as for the development of new therapeutic approaches. Different morphological, immunohistochemical and cytogenetical characteristics of the tumor result in different clinical forms of the disease. Aim. To describe the clinical, morphological, immunohistochemical and cytogenetical characteristics of grade 3 FL and evaluate their prognostic value for R-CHOP-21 chemotherapy. Materials & Methods. We performed retrospective and prospective analysis of morphological, immunohistochemical and genetical characteristics of 93 primary patients with grade 3 FL (21–78 years, median 53 years, women to men — 1:1.4) admitted to National Medical Hematology Research Center from years 2001 to 2016. Morphological and immunohistochemical assessment of the affected lymph nodes and bone marrow biopsy material was performed. Data obtained from the standard cytogenetic and FISH assessment were compared to identify the BCL2 rearrangement. Results. We proposed an algorithm for differential diagnosis of the 2 types of grade 3 FL: de novo FL (n = 22) and transformed FL (n = 21). De novo grade 3 FL had the immunophenotype of CD10– in 19 (86 %) cases, MUM1++ (monomorphically) in 19 (90 %), and BCL-2 in 5 (22 %). It was characterized by the absence of the BCL2 rearrangement (n = 22, 100 %) and bone marrow involvement (n = 14, 67 %) and/or bone marrow involvement (n = 7, 100 %). Third grade FL transformed from grades 1 or 2 had was CD10+ (n = 19, 90 %), MUM1+ (heterogeneously, n = 16, 76 %) or MUM1– (n = 4, 19 %), BCL-2+ (n = 20, 95 %) and had BCL2 rearrangement (n = 19, 90 %). Small cell bone marrow involvement was observed in 71 % of cases, whereas large cell involvement was seen predominantly in de novo FL (p = 0.06). The analysis showed that 5-year relapse-free survival in patients with grade 3 de novo FL after R-CHOP-21 therapy was 87 % compared to 16 % with transformed FL (p = 0.06) for the median 41 months of follow up. Conclusion. We described the morphological, immunohistochemical and cytogenetical characteristics of grade 3 de novo FL and grade 3 FL, transformed from grades 1 or 2. The described variants show different sensitivity to immunochemotherapy