Dynamic routing model and solution methods for fleet management with mobile technologies

Author name used in this publication: K. L. ChoyAuthor name used in this publication: Wenzhong Shi2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Antigen spreading-induced CD8+T cells confer protection against the lethal challenge of wild-type malignant mesothelioma by eliminating myeloid-derived suppressor cells

published_or_final_versio

Development of specific PCR assays for the detection of Cryptocaryon irritans

Cryptocaryon irritans is one of the most important protozoan pathogens of marine fish, causing the “white spot” disease and posing a significant problem to marine aquaculture. In the present study, a C. irritans-specific reverse primer (S15) was designed based on the published sequence of the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of C. irritans and used together with the conserved forward primer P1 to develop a specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for direct, rapid, and specific detection of C. irritans. The specificity of these primers was tested with both closely and distantly related ciliates (Pseudokeroronpsis rubra, Pseudokeroronpsis carnae, Euplotes sp. 1, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Pseudourostyla cristata, and Paramecium caudaium), and only C. irritans was detected and no product was amplified from any other ciliates examined in this study using the specific primer set P1-S15. The specific PCR assay was able to detect as low as 45 pg of C. irritans DNA and a nested PCR assay using two primer sets (P1/NC2, P1/S15) increased the sensitivity, allowing the detection of a single C. irritans. The species-specific PCR assays should provide useful tools for the diagnosis, prevention, and molecular epidemiological investigations of C. irritans infection in marine fish

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection in a young man - Case report

A 31 year old man with a 17-year-history of drug abuse (heroine and cannabis) was admitted with recurrent chest pain over a period of about three weeks. Chest discomfort severely worsened during the 5 hours before hospital admission. Electrocardiography revealed poor R-wave progression and non specific repolarization abnormalities. Echocardiography showed extensive left ventricular anterior and apical wall motion abnormalities and a ventricular thrombus located at the apex of the left ventricle was present. Subsequently, a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome was made. Coronary angiography revealed spontaneous coronary artery dissection of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery with Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow 2 to 3. We managed the patient conservatively. The clinical course was uneventful and repeated angiography on day 4 demonstrated spontaneous healing of large parts of the dissection with TIMI 3 flow in the LAD

The elusive MAESTRO gene: Its human reproductive tissue-specific expression pattern

published_or_final_versio

Direct Mediation and Metastable Supersymmetry Breaking for SO(10)

We examine a metastable $\mathcal{N}=1$ Macroscopic SO(N) SQCD model of Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih (ISS). We introduce various baryon and meson deformations, including multitrace operators and explore embedding an SO(10) parent of the standard model into two weakly gauged flavour sectors. Direct fundamental messengers and the symmetric pseudo-modulus messenger mediate SUSY breaking to the MSSM. Gaugino and sfermion masses are computed and compared for each deformation type. We also explore reducing the rank of the magnetic quark matrix of the ISS model and find an additional fundamental messenger.Comment: 43 pages, Latex. Version to appear in JHEP

The KCNJ11 E23K Polymorphism and Progression of Glycaemia in Southern Chinese: A Long-Term Prospective Study

Context: The KCNJ11 E23K variant is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in cross-sectional studies, but conflicting findings have been reported from prospective studies. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether the E23K variant could predict glycaemic progression in a Southern Chinese population. Methods/Principal Findings: We performed a long-term prospective study on 1912 subjects from the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factors Prevalence Study (CRISPS). The KCNJ11 E23K variant was associated with the progression to prediabetes after a median interval of 12 years on multinomial logistic regression analysis, even after adjustment for traditional risk factors (OR 1.29, P age, sex, BMI and fasting plasma glucose [FPG] adjusted = 0.02). Based on Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, the E23K variant also predicted incident prediabetes (HR 1.18, P age, sex, BMI and FPG adjusted = 0.021). However, E23K was not associated with the progression to T2DM in either multinomial or Cox regression analysis, and the association of E23K with glycaemic progression to either prediabetes or T2DM was significant only in unadjusted Cox regression analysis (P = 0.039). In a meta-analysis of eight prospective studies including our own, involving 15680 subjects, the E23K variant was associated with incident T2DM (fixed effect: OR 1.10, P = 4×10 -3; random effect: OR 1.11, P = 0.035). Conclusions: Our study has provided supporting evidence for the role of the E23K variant in glycaemic progression in Chinese, with its effect being more evident in the early stage of T2DM, as the subjects progressed from normal glucose tolerance to prediabetes. © 2011 Cheung et al.published_or_final_versio

Aspects of Non-minimal Gauge Mediation

A large class of non-minimal gauge mediation models, such as (semi-)direct gauge mediation, predict a hierarchy between the masses of the supersymmetric standard model gauginos and those of scalar particles. We perform a comprehensive study of these non-minimal gauge mediation models, including mass calculations in semi-direct gauge mediation, to illustrate these features, and discuss the phenomenology of the models. We point out that the cosmological gravitino problem places stringent constraints on mass splittings, when the Bino is the NLSP. However, the GUT relation of the gaugino masses is broken unlike the case of minimal gauge mediation, and an NLSP other than the Bino (especially the gluino NLSP) becomes possible, relaxing the cosmological constraints. We also discuss the collider signals of the models.Comment: 56 pages, 8 figures; v2:minor corrections, references added; v3:minor correction

Surgical treatment of scoliosis: a review of techniques currently applied

In this review, basic knowledge and recent innovation of surgical treatment for scoliosis will be described. Surgical treatment for scoliosis is indicated, in general, for the curve exceeding 45 or 50 degrees by the Cobb's method on the ground that