667 research outputs found
Unifying low-level mechanistic and high-level Bayesian explanations of bistable perceptions: neuronal adaptation for cortical inference
Homeostasis causes hallucinations in a hierarchical generative model of the visual cortex: the Charles Bonnet Syndrome
Caspofungin Use in Daily Clinical Practice for Treatment of Invasive Aspergillosis: Results of a Prospective Observational Registry
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A prospective observational registry assessed real world experience with caspofungin monotherapy or combination therapy for the initial or salvage treatment of proven or probable invasive aspergillosis (IA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected from April 2006 to September 2007 for patients treated with caspofungin for a single episode of IA. Clinical effectiveness was categorized as favorable (complete or partial) or unfavorable (stable disease or failure) at the end of caspofungin therapy (EOCT).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Consecutive patients (n = 103) with proven or probable IA (per EORTC/MSG criteria) were identified from 11 countries. Malignancy (76.7%), neutropenia (64.1%), allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT, 22.3%), solid organ transplantation (8.7%), autologous HSCT (4.9%), and HIV/AIDS (2.9%) were the most common underlying conditions. Most patients (84.5%) had pulmonary IA. <it>Aspergillus fumigatus </it>was the most frequently isolated species. The majority of patients received caspofungin monotherapy (82.5%) primarily as salvage therapy (82.4%). The main reason for switching to salvage therapy was clinical failure of the first-line therapy (69%). A favorable response at EOCT was seen in 56.4% (57/101) of patients overall, including 56.5% (48/85) and 56.3% (9/16) of patients receiving caspofungin monotherapy and combination therapy, respectively. Favorable response rates in clinically relevant subgroups were: malignancy, 51.9% (41/79); allogeneic HSCT, 56.5% (13/23); and neutropenia at time of hospitalization, 53.0% (35/66). There was a 72.3% (73/101) survival at 7 days after EOCT. Serious adverse events related to caspofungin were reported in 4 cases (3.9%); 3 patients (2.9%) discontinued treatment due to an adverse event related to caspofungin.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Caspofungin was both effective and well tolerated among high-risk patient groups such as those with neutropenia and active malignancies.</p
Effects of Combinatorial Treatment with Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Peptide and Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Spinal Cord Tissue Repair
The aim of this study is to understand if human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and neuropeptide pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) have synergistic protective effect that promotes functional recovery in rats with severe spinal cord injury (SCI). To evaluate the effect of delayed combinatorial therapy of PACAP and hMSCs on spinal cord tissue repair, we used the immortalized hMSCs that retain their potential of neuronal differentiation under the stimulation of neurogenic factors and possess the properties for the production of several growth factors beneficial for neural cell survival. The results indicated that delayed treatment with PACAP and hMSCs at day 7 post SCI increased the remaining neuronal fibers in the injured spinal cord, leading to better locomotor functional recovery in SCI rats when compared to treatment only with PACAP or hMSCs. Western blotting also showed that the levels of antioxidant enzymes, Mn-superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and peroxiredoxin-1/6 (Prx-1 and Prx-6), were increased at the lesion center 1 week after the delayed treatment with the combinatorial therapy when compared to that observed in the vehicle-treated control. Furthermore, in vitro studies showed that co-culture with hMSCs in the presence of PACAP not only increased a subpopulation of microglia expressing galectin-3, but also enhanced the ability of astrocytes to uptake extracellular glutamate. In summary, our in vivo and in vitro studies reveal that delayed transplantation of hMSCs combined with PACAP provides trophic molecules to promote neuronal cell survival, which also foster beneficial microenvironment for endogenous glia to increase their neuroprotective effect on the repair of injured spinal cord tissue
Study of decays to the final state and evidence for the decay
A study of decays is performed for the first time
using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0
collected by the LHCb experiment in collisions at centre-of-mass energies
of and TeV. Evidence for the decay
is reported with a significance of 4.0 standard deviations, resulting in the
measurement of
to
be .
Here denotes a branching fraction while and
are the production cross-sections for and mesons.
An indication of weak annihilation is found for the region
, with a significance of
2.4 standard deviations.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and
additional information, are available at
https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-022.html,
link to supplemental material inserted in the reference
Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
Pseudonocardia hispaniensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from industrial wastewater activated sludge
A novel actinomycete, designated PA3T, was isolated from an oil refinery wastewater treatment plant, located in Palos de la frontera, Huelva, Spain, and characterized taxonomically by using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolate formed a distinct subclade in the Pseudonocardia tree together with Pseudonocardia asaccharolytica DSM 44247T. The chemotaxonomic properties of the isolate, for example, the presence of MK-8 (H4) as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C16:0 as the major fatty acid are consistent with its classification in the genus Pseudonocardia. DNA:DNA pairing experiments between the isolate and the type strain of P. asaccharolytica DSM 44247T showed that they belonged to separate genomic species. The two strains were readily distinguished using a combination of phenotypic properties. 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