Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Liver Disease: Diagnostic Assessment and Therapeutic Perspectives

Abstract non disponibil

Effects of Autonomy on Worker Performance

Having autonomy can produce positive effects on an individual’s well-being as well as overall job-satisfaction. Research has shown that background music influences listener attention and is associated with the listeners fondness of the music (Huang & Shih, 2011). This study investigates the effects that autonomy may also have on performance levels in the workplace. Specifically, the effects of listening to music of preference and the effects it has on attention, concentration, and enjoyment of task. In this study worker autonomy is operationally defined as preferred genre of music. Performance will be measured by participants score on a recall task that mimics a medical scenario where a healthcare worker would have to recall specific patient information. We hypothesize that participants autonomy preferred background music will have a positive effect on worker performance. If the predicted results are found, this research could be beneficial to companies that are considering implementing new policies to encourage autonomy and in turn produce greater success in the workplace

EGFR-Mutationsanalyse beim nichtkleinzelligen Lungenkarzinom: Erfahrungen aus der Routinediagnostik

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Einige Patienten mit einem nichtkleinzelligem Lungenkarzinom (NSCLC) sprechen hervorragend auf Tyrosinkinase-Hemmer (TKI) an. Eine somatische Mutation im epidermalen Wachstumsfaktor-Rezeptor (EGFR) gilt dabei als wichtiger prädikativer Faktor. Patienten und Methode: Wir untersuchten 307 NCSLC auf EGFR-Mutationen (Exone 18-21) und überprüften deren Assoziation mit klinisch-pathologischen Parametern. Ergebnisse: Unter 178 histologischen und 129 zytologischen Tumorproben fanden sich 25 (8,1%) relevante EGFR-Mutationen. Am häufigsten waren Deletionen in Exon19 (50%), gefolgt von der Punktmutation L858R in Exon21 (12,5%). EGFR-Mutationen waren bei Frauen im Vergleich zu Männern (16,8% vs. 2,7%; p<0,001) und in Adenokarzinomen im Vergleich zu den übrigen Karzinomen (11,4% vs. 3,8%; p=0,017) gehäuft. Mutierte NSCLC waren zu 96% TTF-1-positiv. Schlussfolgerung: Therapierelevante EGFR-Mutationen kommen in <10% der mitteleuropäischen NSCLC-Patienten vor und sind gehäuft bei Frauen und TTF-1-positiven Adenokarzinomen. Histologische und zytologische Proben aus der Routinediagnostik sind in gleichem Maße für eine Mutationsanalyse geeigne

anomalyDetection: Implementation of Augmented Network Log Anomaly Detection Procedures

As the number of cyber-attacks continues to grow on a daily basis, so does the delay in threat detection. For instance, in 2015, the Office of Personnel Management discovered that approximately 21.5 million individual records of Federal employees and contractors had been stolen. On average, the time between an attack and its discovery is more than 200 days. In the case of the OPM breach, the attack had been going on for almost a year. Currently, cyber analysts inspect numerous potential incidents on a daily basis, but have neither the time nor the resources available to perform such a task. anomalyDetection aims to curtail the time frame in which anomalous cyber activities go unnoticed and to aid in the efficient discovery of these anomalous transactions among the millions of daily logged events by i) providing an efficient means for pre-processing and aggregating cyber data for analysis by employing a tabular vector transformation and handling multicollinearity concerns; ii) offering numerous built-in multivariate statistical functions such as Mahalanobis distance, factor analysis, principal components analysis to identify anomalous activity, iii) incorporating the pipe operator (%\u3e%) to allow it to work well in the tidyverse workflow. Combined, anomalyDetection offers cyber analysts an efficient and simplified approach to break up network events into time-segment blocks and identify periods associated with suspected anomalies for further evaluation

Cyber Anomaly Detection: Using Tabulated Vectors and Embedded Analytics for Efficient Data Mining

Firewalls, especially at large organizations, process high velocity internet traffic and flag suspicious events and activities. Flagged events can be benign, such as misconfigured routers, or malignant, such as a hacker trying to gain access to a specific computer. Confounding this is that flagged events are not always obvious in their danger and the high velocity nature of the problem. Current work in firewall log analysis is manual intensive and involves manpower hours to find events to investigate. This is predominantly achieved by manually sorting firewall and intrusion detection/prevention system log data. This work aims to improve the ability of analysts to find events for cyber forensics analysis. A tabulated vector approach is proposed to create meaningful state vectors from time-oriented blocks. Multivariate and graphical analysis is then used to analyze state vectors in human–machine collaborative interface. Statistical tools, such as the Mahalanobis distance, factor analysis, and histogram matrices, are employed for outlier detection. This research also introduces the breakdown distance heuristic as a decomposition of the Mahalanobis distance, by indicating which variables contributed most to its value. This work further explores the application of the tabulated vector approach methodology on collected firewall logs. Lastly, the analytic methodologies employed are integrated into embedded analytic tools so that cyber analysts on the front-line can efficiently deploy the anomaly detection capabilities

Anti-HBs re-seroconversion after liver transplantation in a patient with past HBV infection receiving a HBsAg positive graft

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Multicenter phase II trial of gefitinib first-line therapy followed by chemotherapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): SAKK protocol 19/03

Background: Gefitinib is active in patients with pretreated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We evaluated the activity and toxicity of gefitinib first-line treatment in advanced NSCLC followed by chemotherapy at disease progression. Patients and methods: In all, 63 patients with chemotherapy-naive stage IIIB/IV NSCLC received gefitinib 250 mg/day. At disease progression, gefitinib was replaced by cisplatin 80 mg/m2 on day 1 and gemcitabine 1250 mg/m2 on days 1, 8 for up to six 3-week cycles. Primary end point was the disease stabilization rate (DSR) after 12 weeks of gefitinib. Results: After 12 weeks of gefitinib, the DSR was 24% and the response rate (RR) was 8%. Median time to progression (TtP) was 2.5 months and median overall survival (OS) 11.5 months. Never smokers (n = 9) had a DSR of 56% and a median OS of 20.2 months; patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation (n = 4) had a DSR of 75% and the median OS was not reached after the follow-up of 21.6 months. In all, 41 patients received chemotherapy with an overall RR of 34%, DSR of 71% and median TtP of 6.7 months. Conclusions: First-line gefitinib monotherapy led to a DSR of 24% at 12 weeks in an unselected patients population. Never smokers and patients with EGFR mutations tend to have a better outcome; hence, further trials in selected patients are warrante

HOX D13 expression across 79 tumor tissue types.

HOX genes control normal development, primary cellular processes and are characterized by a unique genomic network organization. Locus D HOX genes play an important role in limb generation and mesenchymal condensation. Dysregulated HOXD13 expression has been detected in breast cancer, melanoma, cervical cancer and astrocytomas. We have investigated the epidemiology of HOXD13 expression in human tissues and its potential deregulation in the carcinogenesis of specific tumors. HOXD13 homeoprotein expression has been detected using microarray technology comprising more than 4,000 normal and neoplastic tissue samples including 79 different tumor categories. Validation of HOXD13 expression has been performed, at mRNA level, for selected tumor types. Significant differences are detectable between specific normal tissues and corresponding tumor types with the majority of cancers showing an increase in HOXD13 expression (16.1% normal vs. 57.7% cancers). In contrast, pancreas and stomach tumor subtypes display the opposite trend. Interestingly, detection of the HOXD13 homeoprotein in pancreas-tissue microarrays shows that its negative expression has a significant and adverse effect on the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer independent of the T or N stage at the time of diagnosis. Our study provides, for the first time, an overview of a HOX protein expression in a large series of normal and neoplastic tissue types, identifies pancreatic cancer as one of the most affected by the HOXD13 hoemoprotein and underlines the way homeoproteins can be associated to human cancerogenesis

Hanford Radiological Protection Support Services Annual Report for 1999

During calendar year (CY) 1999, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) performed its customary radiological protection support services in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Richland Operations Office (RL) and the Hanford contractors. These services included: (1) external dosimetry, (2) internal dosimetry, (3) in vivo measurements, (4) radiological records, (5) instrument calibration and evaluation, and (6) calibration of radiation sources traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The services were provided under a number of programs as summarized here. Along with providing site-wide nuclear accident and environmental dosimetry capabilities, the Hanford External Dosimetry Program (HEDP) supports Hanford radiation protection programs by providing external radiation monitoring capabilities for all Hanford workers and visitors to help ensure their health and safety. Processing volumes decreased in CY 1999 relative to prior years for all types of dosimeters, with an overall decrease of 19%. During 1999, the HEDP passed the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) performance testing criteria in 15 different categories. HEDP computers and processors were tested and upgraded to become Year 2000 (Y2K) compliant. Several changes and improvements were made to enhance the interpretation of dosimeter results. The Hanford Internal Dosimetry Program (HIDP) provides for the assessment and documentation of occupational dose from intakes of radionuclides at the Hanford Site. Performance problems carried over from CY 1998 continued to plague the in vitro bioassay contractor. A new contract was awarded for the in vitro bioassay program. A new computer system was put into routine operation by the in vivo bioassay program. Several changes to HIDP protocols were made that were related to bioassay grace periods, using field data to characterize the amount of alpha activity present and using a new default particle size. The number of incidents and high routine investigations that required follow-up were lower compared with 1998. Also, the number of excreta analyses performed decreased compared with CY 1998. The In Vivo Monitoring Program for Hanford (formerly the Hanford Whole Body Counting Project) provides the in vivo counting services for Hanford Site radiation workers. New computer hardware and software were put into routine operation to acquire, analyze, and store the measurement data. The technical procedures were revamped to reflect operational changes implemented with the new computer system. The U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory Accreditation Program (DOELAP) accreditation was extended to include two additional categories. New detectors were purchased for wound counting applications. The 8,085 in vivo measurements performed in 1999 represent a 2% decrease from 1998. Several high-purity germanium detectors were repaired at the In Vivo Radioassay and Research Facility, thereby saving out-of-service time and money compared with returning the detectors to the vendor. There were 11 phantom loans made through the DOE Phantom Library in 1999, including 2 international loans

V600E BRAF mutations are alternative early molecular events in a subset of KIT/PDGFRA wild-type gastrointestinal stromal tumours

Background: A small subset (10–15%) of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) lack mutations in KIT and PDGFRA (wild-type GIST). Recently, a novel BRAF exon 15 mutation (V600E) was detected in imatinib-naive wild-type high-risk intestinal GISTs (4%). However, the frequency and distribution of BRAF mutations within the spectrum of GISTs, and whether they might represent secondary events acquired during tumour progression, remain unknown. Methods: 69 GISTs (39 KIT mutants, 2 PDGFRA mutants and 28 wild-type) were analysed for mutations in BRAF exon 15 and KRAS exon 2. To assess the stage at which these mutations might occur in GIST, a considerable number of incidental gastric (n = 23) and intestinal (n = 2) tumours were included. Results: BRAF mutations (V600E) were detected in 2 of 28 wild-type GISTs (7%), but in none of the 41 KIT/PDGFRA mutants. No KRAS mutation was detected. The two BRAF-mutated GISTs measured 4 mm in diameter and originated in the gastric body and the jejunum in two men (mean age, 76 years). Both tumours were mitotically inactive KIT-positive spindle-cell GISTs that were indistinguishable histologically from their more common KIT-mutated counterparts. Conclusion: BRAF mutations represent an alternative molecular pathway in the early tumorigenesis of a subset of KIT/PDGFRA wild-type GISTs and are per se not associated with a high risk of malignancy. Mutations in KIT, PDGFRA and BRAF were mutually exclusive in this study. Results from this and a previous study indicate that BRAF-mutated GISTs show a predilection for the small bowel (four of five tumours), but this needs further evaluation in larger studies