Immigrant Entrepreneurs in the Massachusetts Biotechnology Industry (2007)

Immigrant entrepreneurs are co-founders in 25.7 percent of Massachusetts Biotechnology firms. In 2006, these immigrant-founded biotechnology companies produced over $7.6 billion dollars in sales and employed over 4,000 workers. The foreign-born founders came from across the globe but in larger numbers from Europe, Canada or Asia. Their firms specialize in the most complex, risky, life science-intensive aspects of biotechnology to seek knowledge directly applicable to human health. Biotechnology is a crucial industry for Massachhusetts and the evidence strongly suggests that immigrants have been key contributors to this industry by establishing new businesses as well as bringing intellectual capital and thereby contributing significantly to the overall economic growth of the Commonwealth

Dressed projectile charge state dependence of differential electron emission from Ne atom

We study the projectile charge state dependence of doubly differential electron emission cross section (DDCS) in ionization of Ne under the impact of dressed and bare oxygen ions. Experimental DDCS results measured at different angles are compared with the calculations based on a CDW-EIS approximation using the GSZ model potential to describe projectile active-electron interaction. This prescription gives an overall very good agreement. In general a deviation from the q2-law was observed in the DDCS. The observations crudely identify the dominance of different projectile electron loss mechanisms at certain electron energy range.Fil: Biswas, S.. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; IndiaFil: Monti, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Rivarola, Roberto Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Tribedi, L. C.. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Indi

A Mesmerizing Book

HYPNOSIS IN THE RELIEF OF PAIN Ernest R. Hilgard and Josephine R. Hilgard Brunner/Maze!, Inc., New York 1994, paperback, $28 .95, 294 pgs

Complementary medicine in chronic cancer care

Although advancements in cancer care have led to increased cure rates and survival times, those coping with the long-term sequelae of a cancer diagnosis often report high levels of distress, poor health-related quality of life, and unmet psychosocial needs. The shortcomings of the conventional biomedical system at sufficiently addressing these chronic illness issues are a primary reason that many patients turn to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Although patients usually use such treatments in addition to conventional care, they often do not discuss doing so with their conventional physicians, who are perceived as being unreceptive to the topic. Physicians may feel uninformed about CAM treatments, especially given the relatively small amount of data on the topic available in the medical literature. This article reviews a few CAM modalities commonly used by cancer survivors and those with chronic cancer illness, with a particular focus on familiarizing physicians with treatments that may potentially complement regular oncologic care by decreasing stress and enhancing health-related quality of life

Retrospective Evaluation of Clinical Experience With Intravenous Ascorbic Acid in Patients With Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Intravenous ascorbic acid (IV AA) has been used extensively in cancer patients throughout the United States. Currently, there are limited data on the safety and clinical effects of IV AA. The purpose of this study was to expand the current literature using a retrospective analysis of adverse events and symptomatic changes of IV AA in a large sample of cancer patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all patients receiving IV AA for cancer at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital over a 7-year period. We assessed all reports of adverse events, laboratory findings, and hospital or emergency department admissions. We also reviewed quality-of-life data, including fatigue, nausea, pain, appetite, and mood. RESULTS: There were 86 patients who received a total of 3034 doses of IV AA ranging from 50 to 150g. In all, 32 patients received only ascorbic acid as part of their cancer management (1197 doses), whereas 54 patients received ascorbic acid in conjunction with chemotherapy (1837 doses). The most common adverse events related to ascorbic acid were temporary nausea and discomfort at the injection site. All events reported in the ascorbic acid alone group were associated with less than 3% of the total number of infusions. Patients, overall, reported improvements in fatigue, pain, and mood while receiving ascorbic acid. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this retrospective analysis support the growing evidence that IV AA is generally safe and well tolerated in patients with cancer, and may be useful in symptom management and improving quality of life

Characterization of DNA methylation as a function of biological complexity via dinucleotide inter-distances

We perform a statistical study of the distances between successive occurrencies of a given dinucleotide in the DNA sequence for a number of organisms of different complexity. Our analysis highlights peculiar features of the dinucleotide CG distribution in mammalian DNA, pointing towards a connection with the role of such dinucleotide in DNA methylation. While the CG distributions of mammals exhibit exponential tails with comparable parameters, the picture for the other organisms studied (e.g., fish, insects, bacteria and viruses) is more heterogeneous, possibly because in these organisms DNA methylation has different functional roles. Our analysis suggests that the distribution of the distances between dinucleotides CG provides useful insights in characterizing and classifying organisms in terms of methylation functionalities.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. To be published in the Philosophical Transactions A theme issue "DNA as information

Electron emission in ionization of He and Ne by fast dressed oxygen ions and projectile-charge-state dependence

The double-differential cross sections (DDCS) of low-energy electrons emitted at forward, backward, and perpendicular directions are reported for collisions of 3.75 MeV/u Oq+ (q=5, 6, 7, 8) projectiles with He and Ne targets. The measured DDCS are found to be deviating from the q2 dependence throughout the entire energy region. The effect of projectile electrons, for the dressed ions, as a function of the impact parameter is clearly noticeable for large as well as low-impact parameter collisions. We also present a theoretical calculation based on the prior form of the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state approximation, in which the projectile-active electron interaction is modeled with the Green-Sellin-Zachor potential. This particular representation of the potential has been proven to give good qualitative results for projectiles with residual electrons. In addition to the total DDCS, the individual contributions from target ionization, projectile electron loss, and simultaneous ionization processes are also calculated. The total DDCS obtained from these calculations are shown to be in excellent agreement with the experimental observations.Fil: Biswas, Shubhadeep. International Centre Of Theoretical Science. Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research; EspañaFil: Kasthurirangan, S.. International Centre Of Theoretical Science. Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research; España. Institute of Chemical Technology; IndiaFil: Misra, D.. International Centre Of Theoretical Science. Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research; EspañaFil: Monti, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Rivarola, Roberto Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Fainstein, Pablo Daniel. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Tribedi, L.C.. International Centre Of Theoretical Science. Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research; Españ

Nonlinear finite element analysis of strengthened masonry buildings subject to seismic action

Masonry structures are always used from the past until modern times but due to material degradation, imposed displacements, and structural alterations some members need strengthening to re-establish their performances. In this frame, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in the form of bonded laminates applied to the external surface are an effective solution [1,2]. Despite research efforts in the last years, for the seismic analysis of the strengthened masonry system, there is still lack of numerical models, which have the advantages of accurate, high-efficiency and good-convergence [3,4]. In the first part of this paper, numerical approaches to model FRP strengthened masonry structures are discussed and in particular a material model suitable for micro-modelling of the interfacial behaviour FRP-masonry implemented in the Diana finite element (FE) program using a user subroutine is presented [5,6,7]. This micro-modelling approach based on interface elements is then used to develop and validate the global behaviour of a different type of FE that was implemented in the Opensees finite element framework. This new element is extremely effective for the seismic analysis of masonry buildings because of the significant advantage of drastically reducing the number of DOF of the FEM model [8,9,10]. Numerical results are validated by comparison with experimental results from tests performed at the University of Pavia and the Georgia Institute of technology. In particular, it shows a satisfactory degree of accuracy to analyse complex assemblages of masonry buildings including cyclic loads effects and FRP strengthening influence.- (undefined