Reversal of Hartmann's procedure through the stomal side: A new even more minimal invasive technique

Background: Several minimal invasive, mainly laparoscopic-assisted, techniques for reversal of Hartmann's procedure (HP) have been published. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess a minimal invasive procedure through the stomal site that may compare favorably with open or laparoscopic-assisted procedures in terms of operative time, hospital stay and postoperative complications. Methods: HP reversal through the stomal side was attempted in 13 consecutive patients. Lysis of intra-abdominal adhesions was done manually through an incision at the formal stoma side, without direct vision between thumb and index finger. The rectal stump was identified intra-abdominally using a transanal rigid club. A manually controlled stapled end-to-end colorectal anastomosis was created. Results: Mean duration of operation was 81 min (range 58-109 min); mean hospital stay was 4.2 days (range 2-7 days). In two patients the procedure was converted because of strong adhesions in the lower pelvic cavity around the rectal stump that could not be lysed manually safely. No complications occurred in the patients in whom reversal was completely done through the stomal site. Conclusions: In our opinion, restoration of intestinal continuity through the stomal side after HP is a feasible operation, without need for additional incisions. In the hands of a specialist gastrointestinal surgeon this technique can be attempted in all patients, as conversion to a laparoscopic-assisted or an open procedure can be performed when necessary

The Effects of Twitter Sentiment on Stock Price Returns

Social media are increasingly reflecting and influencing behavior of other complex systems. In this paper we investigate the relations between a well-know micro-blogging platform Twitter and financial markets. In particular, we consider, in a period of 15 months, the Twitter volume and sentiment about the 30 stock companies that form the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index. We find a relatively low Pearson correlation and Granger causality between the corresponding time series over the entire time period. However, we find a significant dependence between the Twitter sentiment and abnormal returns during the peaks of Twitter volume. This is valid not only for the expected Twitter volume peaks (e.g., quarterly announcements), but also for peaks corresponding to less obvious events. We formalize the procedure by adapting the well-known "event study" from economics and finance to the analysis of Twitter data. The procedure allows to automatically identify events as Twitter volume peaks, to compute the prevailing sentiment (positive or negative) expressed in tweets at these peaks, and finally to apply the "event study" methodology to relate them to stock returns. We show that sentiment polarity of Twitter peaks implies the direction of cumulative abnormal returns. The amount of cumulative abnormal returns is relatively low (about 1-2%), but the dependence is statistically significant for several days after the events

Ethanol Distribution, Dispensing, and Use: Analysis of a Portion of the Biomass-to-Biofuels Supply Chain Using System Dynamics

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 targets use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels per year by 2022. Achieving this may require substantial changes to current transportation fuel systems for distribution, dispensing, and use in vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory designed a system dynamics approach to help focus government action by determining what supply chain changes would have the greatest potential to accelerate biofuels deployment. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed the Biomass Scenario Model, a system dynamics model which represents the primary system effects and dependencies in the biomass-to-biofuels supply chain. The model provides a framework for developing scenarios and conducting biofuels policy analysis. This paper focuses on the downstream portion of the supply chain–represented in the distribution logistics, dispensing station, and fuel utilization, and vehicle modules of the Biomass Scenario Model. This model initially focused on ethanol, but has since been expanded to include other biofuels. Some portions of this system are represented dynamically with major interactions and feedbacks, especially those related to a dispensing station owner’s decision whether to offer ethanol fuel and a consumer’s choice whether to purchase that fuel. Other portions of the system are modeled with little or no dynamics; the vehicle choices of consumers are represented as discrete scenarios. This paper explores conditions needed to sustain an ethanol fuel market and identifies implications of these findings for program and policy goals. A large, economically sustainable ethanol fuel market (or other biofuel market) requires low end-user fuel price relative to gasoline and sufficient producer payment, which are difficult to achieve simultaneously. Other requirements (different for ethanol vs. other biofuel markets) include the need for infrastructure for distribution and dispensing and widespread use of high ethanol blends in flexible-fuel vehicles

CD4 T lymphocyte autophagy is upregulated in the salivary glands of primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients and correlates with focus score and disease activity

Background: Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a common chronic autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of exocrine glands and peripheral lymphocyte perturbation. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the possible pathogenic implication of autophagy in T lymphocytes in patients with pSS. Methods: Thirty consecutive pSS patients were recruited together with 20 patients affected by sicca syndrome a nd/or chronic sialoadenitis and 30 healthy controls. Disease activity and damage were evaluated according to SS disease activity index, EULAR SS disease activity index, and SS disease damage index. T lymphocytes were analyzed for the expression of autophagy-specific markers by biochemical, molecular, and histological assays in peripheral blood and labial gland biopsies. Serum interleukin (IL)-23 and IL-21 levels were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Our study provides evidence for the first time that autophagy is upregulated in CD4+ T lymphocyte salivary glands from pSS patients. Furthermore, a statistically significant correlation was detected between lymphocyte autophagy levels, disease activity, and damage indexes. We also found a positive correlation between autophagy enhancement and the increased salivary gland expression of IL-21 and IL-23, providing a further link between innate and adaptive immune responses in pSS. Conclusions: These findings suggest that CD4+ T lymphocyte autophagy could play a key role in pSS pathogenesis. Additionally, our data highlight the potential exploitation of T cell autophagy as a biomarker of disease activity and provide new ground to verify the therapeutic implications of autophagy as an innovative drug target in pSS

Rottlerin stimulates apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells through interactions with proteins of the Bcl-2 family

Rottlerin is a polyphenolic compound derived from Mallotus philipinensis. In the present study, we show that rottlerin decreased tumor size and stimulated apoptosis in an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer with no effect on normal tissues in vivo. Rottlerin also induced apoptosis in pancreatic cancer (PaCa) cell lines by interacting with mitochondria and stimulating cytochrome c release. Immunoprecipitation results indicated that rottlerin disrupts complexes of prosurvival Bcl-xL with Bim and Puma. Furthermore, siRNA knockdown showed that Bim and Puma are necessary for rottlerin to stimulate apoptosis. We also showed that rottlerin and Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL inhibitor BH3I-2' stimulate apoptosis through a common mechanism. They both directly interact with mitochondria, causing increased cytochrome c release and mitochondrial depolarization, and both decrease sequestration of BH3-only proteins by Bcl-xL. However, the effects of rottlerin and BH3I-2' on the complex formation between Bcl-xL and BH3-only proteins are different. BH3I-2' disrupts complexes of Bcl-xL with Bad but not with Bim or Puma, whereas rottlerin had no effect on the Bcl-xL interaction with Bad. Also BH3I-2', but not rottlerin, required Bad to stimulate apoptosis. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that rottlerin has a potent proapoptotic and antitumor activity in pancreatic cancer, which is mediated by disrupting the interaction between prosurvival Bcl-2 proteins and proapoptotic BH3-only proteins. Thus rottlerin represents a promising novel agent for pancreatic cancer treatment

A cardinal role for cathepsin D in co-ordinating the host-mediated apoptosis of macrophages and killing of pneumococci

The bactericidal function of macrophages against pneumococci is enhanced by their apoptotic demise, which is controlled by the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1. Here, we show that lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) and cytosolic translocation of activated cathepsin D occur prior to activation of a mitochondrial pathway of macrophage apoptosis. Pharmacological inhibition or knockout of cathepsin D during pneumococcal infection blocked macrophage apoptosis. As a result of cathepsin D activation, Mcl-1 interacted with its ubiquitin ligase Mule and expression declined. Inhibition of cathepsin D had no effect on early bacterial killing but inhibited the late phase of apoptosis-associated killing of pneumococci in vitro. Mice bearing a cathepsin D-/- hematopoietic system demonstrated reduced macrophage apoptosis in vivo, with decreased clearance of pneumococci and enhanced recruitment of neutrophils to control pulmonary infection. These findings establish an unexpected role for a cathepsin D-mediated lysosomal pathway of apoptosis in pulmonary host defense and underscore the importance of apoptosis-associated microbial killing to macrophage function

Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost four hundred thousand polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around 250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the populations of western and far eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in Europe, ~8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers appeared in Germany, Hungary, and Spain, different from indigenous hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ~24,000 year old Siberian6 . By ~6,000-5,000 years ago, a resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry had occurred throughout much of Europe, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European hunter-gatherers, but from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and Eastern Europe came into contact ~4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced ~3/4 of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least ~3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for the theory of a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe

Data Stream Clustering for Real-Time Anomaly Detection: An Application to Insider Threats

Insider threat detection is an emergent concern for academia, industries, and governments due to the growing number of insider incidents in recent years. The continuous streaming of unbounded data coming from various sources in an organisation, typically in a high velocity, leads to a typical Big Data computational problem. The malicious insider threat refers to anomalous behaviour(s) (outliers) that deviate from the normal baseline of a data stream. The absence of previously logged activities executed by users shapes the insider threat detection mechanism into an unsupervised anomaly detection approach over a data stream. A common shortcoming in the existing data mining approaches to detect insider threats is the high number of false alarms/positives (FPs). To handle the Big Data issue and to address the shortcoming, we propose a streaming anomaly detection approach, namely Ensemble of Random subspace Anomaly detectors In Data Streams (E-RAIDS), for insider threat detection. E-RAIDS learns an ensemble of p established outlier detection techniques [Micro-cluster-based Continuous Outlier Detection (MCOD) or Anytime Outlier Detection (AnyOut)] which employ clustering over continuous data streams. Each model of the p models learns from a random feature subspace to detect local outliers, which might not be detected over the whole feature space. E-RAIDS introduces an aggregate component that combines the results from the p feature subspaces, in order to confirm whether to generate an alarm at each window iteration. The merit of E-RAIDS is that it defines a survival factor and a vote factor to address the shortcoming of high number of FPs. Experiments on E-RAIDS-MCOD and E-RAIDS-AnyOut are carried out, on synthetic data sets including malicious insider threat scenarios generated at Carnegie Mellon University, to test the effectiveness of voting feature subspaces, and the capability to detect (more than one)-behaviour-all-threat in real-time. The results show that E-RAIDS-MCOD reports the highest F1 measure and less number of false alarm = 0 compared to E-RAIDS-AnyOut, as well as it attains to detect approximately all the insider threats in real-time

Light pollution: The possible consequences of excessive illumination on retina

Light is the visible part of the electromagnetic radiation within a range of 380-780 nm; (400-700 on primates retina). In vertebrates, the retina is adapted to capturing light photons and transmitting this information to other structures in the central nervous system. In mammals, light acts directly on the retina to fulfill two important roles: (1) the visual function through rod and cone photoreceptor cells and (2) non-image forming tasks, such as the synchronization of circadian rhythms to a 24 h solar cycle, pineal melatonin suppression and pupil light reflexes. However, the excess of illumination may cause retinal degeneration or accelerate genetic retinal diseases. In the last century human society has increased its exposure to artificial illumination, producing changes in the Light/Dark cycle, as well as in light wavelengths and intensities. Although, the consequences of unnatural illumination or light pollution have been underestimated by modern society in its way of life, light pollution may have a strong impact on people's health. The effects of artificial light sources could have direct consequences on retinal health. Constant exposure to different wavelengths and intensities of light promoted by light pollution may produce retinal degeneration as a consequence of photoreceptor or retinal pigment epithelium cells death. In this review we summarize the different mechanisms of retinal damage related to the light exposure, which generates light pollution.Fil: Contin, Maria Ana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Benedetto, María Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Quinteros Quintana, María Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Guido, Mario Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; Argentin