Concomitant t(8;21) and trisomy 4 in a patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

The t(8;21)(q22;q22) is a frequently occurring aberration in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (18-20%) and usually correlate with French-America-British (FAB) M2 subtype. Several studies showed that patients carrying this abnormality demonstrated good response to standard chemotherapy but also have a high incidence of disease relapse. Trisomy 4 is a rare and specific chromosomal abnormality occurring in AML M2 or M4 of the FAB subtypes. We report a case of a 33-year-old female with an apparently clinical and hematologic diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in whom cytogenetic analysis revealed an abnormal karyotype with trisomy 4, in addition to t(8;21). Trisomy 4 and t(8;21) in a patient with AML is rare. The significance of t(8;21) with trisomy 4 in AML are unclear but patients bearing this abnormality are associated with a poor prognosis

Strong Electron-Phonon Interaction and Colossal Magnetoresistance in EuTiO3_3

At low temperatures, EuTiO$_3$ system has very large resistivities and exhibits colossal magnetoresistance. Based on a first principle calculation and the dynamical mean-field theory for small polaron we have calculated the transport properties of EuTiO$_3$. It is found that due to electron-phonon interaction the conduction band may form a tiny subband which is close to the Fermi level. The tiny subband is responsible for the large resistivity. Besides, EuTiO$_3$ is a weak antiferromagnetic material and its magnetization would slightly shift the subband via exchange interaction between conduction electrons and magnetic atoms. Since the subband is close to the Fermi level, a slight shift of its position gives colossal magnetoresistance.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Tailoring asthma treatment on eosinophilic markers (exhaled nitric oxide or sputum eosinophils): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Asthma guidelines guide health practitioners to adjust treatments to the minimum level required for asthma control. As many people with asthma have an eosinophilic endotype, tailoring asthma medications based on airway eosinophilic levels (sputum eosinophils or exhaled nitric oxide, FeNO) may improve asthma outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To synthesise the evidence from our updated Cochrane systematic reviews, for tailoring asthma medication based on eosinophilic inflammatory markers (sputum analysis and FeNO) for improving asthma-related outcomes in children and adults. DATA SOURCES: Cochrane reviews with standardised searches up to February 2017. STUDY SELECTION: The Cochrane reviews included randomised controlled comparisons of tailoring asthma medications based on sputum analysis or FeNO compared with controls (primarily clinical symptoms and/or spirometry/peak flow). RESULTS: The 16 included studies of FeNO-based management (seven in adults) and 6 of sputum-based management (five in adults) were clinically heterogeneous. On follow-up, participants randomised to the sputum eosinophils strategy (compared with controls) were significantly less likely to have exacerbations (62 vs 82/100 participants with ≥1 exacerbation; OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.62). For the FeNO strategy, the respective numbers were adults OR 0.60 (95% CI 0.43 to 0.84) and children 0.58 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.75). However, there were no significant group differences for either strategy on daily inhaled corticosteroids dose (at end of study), asthma control or lung function. CONCLUSION: Adjusting treatment based on airway eosinophilic markers reduced the likelihood of asthma exacerbations but had no significant impact on asthma control or lung function

Locality of not-so-weak coloring

Many graph problems are locally checkable: a solution is globally feasible if it looks valid in all constant-radius neighborhoods. This idea is formalized in the concept of locally checkable labelings (LCLs), introduced by Naor and Stockmeyer (1995). Recently, Chang et al. (2016) showed that in bounded-degree graphs, every LCL problem belongs to one of the following classes: - "Easy": solvable in $O(\log^* n)$ rounds with both deterministic and randomized distributed algorithms. - "Hard": requires at least $\Omega(\log n)$ rounds with deterministic and $\Omega(\log \log n)$ rounds with randomized distributed algorithms. Hence for any parameterized LCL problem, when we move from local problems towards global problems, there is some point at which complexity suddenly jumps from easy to hard. For example, for vertex coloring in $d$-regular graphs it is now known that this jump is at precisely $d$ colors: coloring with $d+1$ colors is easy, while coloring with $d$ colors is hard. However, it is currently poorly understood where this jump takes place when one looks at defective colorings. To study this question, we define $k$-partial $c$-coloring as follows: nodes are labeled with numbers between $1$ and $c$, and every node is incident to at least $k$ properly colored edges. It is known that $1$-partial $2$-coloring (a.k.a. weak $2$-coloring) is easy for any $d \ge 1$. As our main result, we show that $k$-partial $2$-coloring becomes hard as soon as $k \ge 2$, no matter how large a $d$ we have. We also show that this is fundamentally different from $k$-partial $3$-coloring: no matter which $k \ge 3$ we choose, the problem is always hard for $d = k$ but it becomes easy when $d \gg k$. The same was known previously for partial $c$-coloring with $c \ge 4$, but the case of $c < 4$ was open

Pulse Rate Derivation and Its Correlation with Heart Rate

[[abstract]]Pulse rate has been proposed to be a surrogate for heart rate. In this study, we investigate the correlation of three pulse rate derivation methods to heart rate. Both pulse and ECG signals were measured simultaneously. Three pulse rate extraction algorithms: moving average (MA) filter, template matching (TM) and traditional maximum peak (MP) detection algorithms were used. Mean absolute error (MAE) between gold-standard heart rate and pulse rate was used to measure the algorithms' performances. Results showed that MA had lowest MAE while MP demanded the least computation time. Optimal MA filter order between one-tenth and two-tenths of sampling frequency value is also suggested. This study opens a way to derive heart rate from pulse rate with a simple assessment which can be applied to home-care vital sign monitoring systems

Leg Crossing Posture on Pulse Transit Time and Heart Rate Variability

[[abstract]]Full-lotus or half-lotus leg crossing postures may aid in regulating cardiovascular functions and improving health. This study used heart rate variability (HRV) and pulse transit time (PTT) as tools to investigate the effects of leg crossing on cardiovascular function. Fourteen volunteers participated in the study. Pulse signals from their limbs and one ECG signal were recorded for five minutes for the stretched leg posture and the half-lotus leg crossing posture. Results showed that the leg crossing posture yielded a longer PTT (p<0.01), and PTT-related parameters, specifically Standard deviation of all RR[n] intervals (SDNN) (p<0.05), SD2 (p<0.05), and high frequency (HF) in the PTT spectrum (p<0.05), were significantly different between the two postures. These results indicate that PTT is a more sensitive method for detecting cardiovascular function in response to leg crossing postures than HRV; therefore, this noninvasive and simple method may be useful for further studying the effects of posture on cardiovascular function

Portable Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening System Using Overnight ECG and a PDA-Based Wireless Transmission System

[[abstract]]Sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are now regarded as an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The increasing demands for home-based sleep monitoring have prompted studies to develop devices that monitor sleep using fewer sensors. This paper proposes an electrocardiogram (ECG)-based sleep monitoring system that uses a personal digital assistant to display signals and a wireless transmission system. An OSA detection algorithm based only on the overnight-ECG-derived heart-rate-variability low-frequency component (0.02-0.04 Hz) exhibited detection sensitivity of 68.97% and specificity of 100%. This system could meet the future demands of home-based sleep monitoring and thereby reduce the current considerable burdens on hospital sleep centers

The pioneer cohort of curriculum reform: Guinea pigs or trail-blazers?

With curriculum reform, whether we admit it or not, the first cohort of students will be 'test-driving' the new programme. Not only are they the pioneers of a new curriculum, but as they progress through their studies, they experience each year of the innovation for the first time. As curriculum designers, we learn from their experiences and their feedback to improve the programme content and delivery, invariably for subsequent cohorts. A considerable onus therefore rests with this pioneer group, and their contribution to curriculum design, evaluation and programme revision should be valued

Reduced cytotoxicity of insulin-immobilized CdS quantum dots using PEG as a spacer

Cytotoxicity is a severe problem for cadmium sulfide nanoparticles (CSNPs) in biological systems. In this study, mercaptoacetic acid-coated CSNPs, typical semiconductor Q-dots, were synthesized in aqueous medium by the arrested precipitation method. Then, amino-terminated polyethylene glycol (PEG) was conjugated to the surface of CSNPs (PCSNPs) in order to introduce amino groups to the surface. Finally, insulin was immobilized on the surface of PCSNPs (ICSNPs) to reduce cytotoxicity as well as to enhance cell compatibility. The presence of insulin on the surface of ICSNPs was confirmed by observing infrared absorptions of amide I and II. The mean diameter of ICSNPs as determined by dynamic light scattering was about 38 nm. Human fibroblasts were cultured in the absence and presence of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles to evaluate cytotoxicity and cell compatibility. The results showed that the cytotoxicity of insulin-immobilized cadmium sulfide nanoparticles was significantly suppressed by usage of PEG as a spacer. In addition, cell proliferation was highly facilitated by the addition of ICSNPs. The ICSNPs used in this study will be potentials to be used in bio-imaging applications

Modeling and Validating Chronic Pharmacological Manipulation of Circadian Rhythms

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/1/psp4201334-sup-0010.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/2/psp4201334-sup-0009.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/3/psp4201334-sup-0011.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/4/psp4201334-sup-0008.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/5/psp4201334-sup-0005.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/6/psp4201334-sup-0012.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/7/psp4201334-sup-0006.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/8/psp4201334-sup-0013.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/9/psp4201334.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/10/psp4201334-sup-0007.pd