451 research outputs found
Adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes following treatment of adolescent and young adult cancer: A population-based cohort study
Objective - To investigate obstetric and perinatal outcomes among female survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancers and their offspring. Methods - Using multivariate analysis of statewide linked data, outcomes of all first completed pregnancies (nâ=â1894) in female survivors of AYA cancer diagnosed in Western Australia during the period 1982â2007 were compared with those among females with no cancer history. Comparison pregnancies were matched by maternal age-group, parity and year of delivery. Results - Compared with the non-cancer group, female survivors of AYA cancer had an increased risk of threatened abortion (adjusted relative risk 2.09, 95% confidence interval 1.51â2.74), gestational diabetes (2.65, 2.08â3.57), pre-eclampsia (1.32, 1.04â1.87), post-partum hemorrhage (2.83, 1.92â4.67), cesarean delivery (2.62, 2.22â3.04), and maternal postpartum hospitalization>5 days (3.01, 1.72â5.58), but no excess risk of threatened preterm delivery, antepartum hemorrhage, premature rupture of membranes, failure of labor to progress or retained placenta. Their offspring had an increased risk of premature birth (<37 weeks: 1.68, 1.21â2.08), low birth weight (<2500 g: 1.51, 1.23â2.12), fetal growth restriction (3.27, 2.45â4.56), and neonatal distress indicated by low Apgar score (<7) at 1 minute (2.83, 2.28â3.56), need for resuscitation (1.66, 1.27â2.19) or special care nursery admission (1.44, 1.13â1.78). Congenital abnormalities and perinatal deaths (intrauterine or â€7 days of birth) were not increased among offspring of survivors. Conclusion - Female survivors of AYA cancer have moderate excess risks of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes arising from subsequent pregnancies that may require additional surveillance or intervention
Pay progression in routinised service sector work: navigating the internal labour market in a fast food multinational company
The United Kingdom's widespread use of lowâskill, lowâpaid employment has been well documented. It has been argued internal labour markets (ILMs) benefit such workers, affording them with opportunities for progression. Relatively little is known, however, about the impact of ILMs on entry level workers undertaking routinised service sector work. Drawing on qualitative data, this article explores the prospects on offer in a market leading, fast food multinational company. Potential enabling features include onâtheâjob training, a transparent and integrated pay structure and a professed culture of progression. Occupational movements to positions above the lowâpay threshold are, however, relatively rare. We conjecture this contradiction is the result of the business context in which the firm operates. The findings suggest that in sectors where price leadership strategies dominate, escape from low pay is likely to be exceptional, even within large organisations featuring some of the classic characteristics of âpureâ or strong ILMs
Brain Vital Signs: Expanding From the Auditory to Visual Modality
The critical need for rapid objective, physiological evaluation of brain function at point-of-care has led to the emergence of brain vital signsâa framework encompassing a portable electroencephalography (EEG) and an automated, quick test protocol. This framework enables access to well-established event-related potential (ERP) markers, which are specific to sensory, attention, and cognitive functions in both healthy and patient populations. However, all our applications to-date have used auditory stimulation, which have highlighted application challenges in persons with hearing impairments (e.g., aging, seniors, dementia). Consequently, it has become important to translate brain vital signs into a visual sensory modality. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: 1) demonstrate the feasibility of visual brain vital signs; and 2) compare and normalize results from visual and auditory brain vital signs. Data were collected from 34 healthy adults (33 ± 13 years) using a 64-channel EEG system. Visual and auditory sequences were kept as comparable as possible to elicit the N100, P300, and N400 responses. Visual brain vital signs were elicited successfully for all three responses across the group (N100: F = 29.8380, p < 0.001; P300: F = 138.8442, p < 0.0001; N400: F = 6.8476, p = 0.01). Initial auditory-visual comparisons across the three components showed attention processing (P300) was found to be the most transferrable across modalities, with no group-level differences and correlated peak amplitudes (rho = 0.7, p = 0.0001) across individuals. Auditory P300 latencies were shorter than visual (p < 0.0001) but normalization and correlation (r = 0.5, p = 0.0033) implied a potential systematic difference across modalities. Reduced auditory N400 amplitudes compared to visual (p = 0.0061) paired with normalization and correlation across individuals (r = 0.6, p = 0.0012), also revealed potential systematic modality differences between reading and listening language comprehension. This study provides an initial understanding of the relationship between the visual and auditory sequences, while importantly establishing a visual sequence within the brain vital signs framework. With both auditory and visual stimulation capabilities available, it is possible to broaden applications across the lifespan
Spiral cracks in drying precipitates
We investigate the formation of spiral crack patterns during the desiccation
of thin layers of precipitates in contact with a substrate. This
symmetry-breaking fracturing mode is found to arise naturally not from torsion
forces, but from a propagating stress front induced by the fold-up of the
fragments. We model their formation mechanism using a coarse-grain model for
fragmentation and successfully reproduce the spiral cracks. Fittings of
experimental and simulation data show that the spirals are logarithmic,
corresponding to constant deviation from a circular crack path. Theoretical
aspects of the logarithmic spirals are discussed. In particular we show that
this occurs generally when the crack speed is proportional to the propagating
speed of stress front.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, RevTe
Can quantum fractal fluctuations be observed in an atom-optics kicked rotor experiment?
We investigate the parametric fluctuations in the quantum survival
probability of an open version of the delta-kicked rotor model in the deep
quantum regime. Spectral arguments [Guarneri I and Terraneo M 2001 Phys. Rev. E
vol. 65 015203(R)] predict the existence of parametric fractal fluctuations
owing to the strong dynamical localisation of the eigenstates of the kicked
rotor. We discuss the possibility of observing such dynamically-induced
fractality in the quantum survival probability as a function of the kicking
period for the atom-optics realisation of the kicked rotor. The influence of
the atoms' initial momentum distribution is studied as well as the dependence
of the expected fractal dimension on finite-size effects of the experiment,
such as finite detection windows and short measurement times. Our results show
that clear signatures of fractality could be observed in experiments with cold
atoms subjected to periodically flashed optical lattices, which offer an
excellent control on interaction times and the initial atomic ensemble.Comment: 18 pp, 7 figs., 1 tabl
The Viscous Nonlinear Dynamics of Twist and Writhe
Exploiting the "natural" frame of space curves, we formulate an intrinsic
dynamics of twisted elastic filaments in viscous fluids. A pair of coupled
nonlinear equations describing the temporal evolution of the filament's complex
curvature and twist density embodies the dynamic interplay of twist and writhe.
These are used to illustrate a novel nonlinear phenomenon: ``geometric
untwisting" of open filaments, whereby twisting strains relax through a
transient writhing instability without performing axial rotation. This may
explain certain experimentally observed motions of fibers of the bacterium B.
subtilis [N.H. Mendelson, et al., J. Bacteriol. 177, 7060 (1995)].Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
The MyD88+ phenotype is an adverse prognostic factor in epithelial ovarian cancer
The prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer is poor in part due to the high frequency of chemoresistance. Recent evidence points to the Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4), and particularly its adaptor protein MyD88, as one potential mediator of this resistance. This study aims to provide further evidence that MyD88 positive cancer cells are clinically significant, stem-like and reproducibly detectable for the purposes of prognostic stratification. Expression of TLR4 and MyD88 was assessed immunohistochemically in 198 paraffin-embedded ovarian tissues and in an embryonal carcinoma model of cancer stemness. In parallel, expression of TLR4 and MyD88 mRNA and regulatory microRNAs (miR-21 and miR-146a) was assessed, as well as in a series of chemosensitive and resistant cancer cells lines. Functional analysis of the pathway was assessed in chemoresistant SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells. TLR4 and MyD88 expression can be reproducibly assessed via immunohistochemistry using a semi-quantitative scoring system. TLR4 expression was present in all ovarian epithelium (normal and neoplastic), whereas MyD88 was restricted to neoplastic cells, independent of tumour grade and associated with reduced progression-free and overall survival, in an immunohistological specific subset of serous carcinomas, p<0.05. MiR-21 and miR-146a expression was significantly increased in MyD88 negative cancers (p<0.05), indicating their participation in regulation. Significant alterations in MyD88 mRNA expression were observed between chemosensitive and chemoresistant cells and tissue. Knockdown of TLR4 in SKOV-3 ovarian cells recovered chemosensitivity. Knockdown of MyD88 alone did not. MyD88 expression was down-regulated in differentiated embryonal carcinoma (NTera2) cells, supporting the MyD88+ cancer stem cell hypothesis. Our findings demonstrate that expression of MyD88 is associated with significantly reduced patient survival and altered microRNA levels and suggest an intact/functioning TLR4/MyD88 pathway is required for acquisition of the chemoresistant phenotype. Ex vivo manipulation of ovarian cancer stem cell (CSC) differentiation can decrease MyD88 expression, providing a potentially valuable CSC model for ovarian cancer
The Cyprinodon variegatus genome reveals gene expression changes underlying differences in skull morphology among closely related species
Genes in durophage intersection set at 15 dpf. This is a comma separated table of the genes in the 15 dpf durophage intersection set. Given are edgeR results for each pairwise comparison. Columns indicating whether a gene is included in the intersection set at a threshold of 1.5 or 2 fold are provided. (CSV 13ĂÂ kb
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