AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PROPOSED NEW RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

The purpose of this assessment as outlined in the terms of reference is: "To obtain an assessment by an independent third party of the expected performance of the proposed new business risk management program's proposed New NISA and production insurance relative to the current set of risk management programming, including NISA, CFIP, crop insurance and companion programs." Within this context, the specific mandate and scope is to assess "the extent to which the current and proposed programs meet the objectives set out by Agriculture Ministers for business risk management programming, as follows: · to ensure programs are responsive to demand and that government dollars are directed to areas of need with respect to income stabilization, disaster mitigation, insurance coverage and investment; · to provide equal treatment for farmers across Canada facing similar risk situations; · to minimize the distortion of farmers' production and marketing decisions; · to focus on management of risks related to the stability of the entire farm and to avoid duplication of payments; · to be relatively simple and easy to understand; and · to facilitate long term planning by farmers."Risk and Uncertainty,

Fatigue states after cancer treatment occur both in association with, and independent of, mood disorder: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: Persistent fatigue is recognised as one of the most common, ongoing symptoms reported by patients following cancer treatment and may have profound effects on the quality of life. However, recent cross-sectional studies also highlight the close relationship between cancer related fatigue (CRF) and diagnoses of depression or anxiety disorder. There is currently limited information about the relationships between these conditions over time. We sought to examine the longitudinal relationships between fatigue and mood disorder in women treated with adjuvant therapy for early stage breast cancer. METHODS: Women who had recently completed adjuvant therapy for Stage I or II breast cancer (n = 212) were sent a questionnaire with established case thresholds for clinically-significant fatigue and psychological disorder, as well as a questionnaire assessing disability. Potentially relevant variables linked to fatigue states, including age, treatment modality, menopausal status, and hematological indices were recorded. The illness outcomes were assessed over 48 months of follow-up. RESULTS: The 176 women who responded to the questionnaire (84%) had a mean age of 55 (range 24–83) years and had completed adjuvant treatment on average 10 (range 4.7 – 16.3) months previously. Radiotherapy had been administered, either alone (50% of women) or in combination with chemotherapy (36%). Responses from 87 women (48%) indicated a significant fatigue state (termed here post-cancer fatigue; PCF), and from 59 women (33%) responses indicated significant psychological distress. Thirty-four women (19%) were cases of fatigue alone (i.e. unaccompanied by psychological disorder), whereas 52 (30%) were cases of both disorders. Multivariate analysis did not reveal any association between demographic, clinical or laboratory variables, and caseness for PCF. Self-reported functional disability was significantly associated with fatigue. Follow-up at 24, 36 and 48 months revealed high rates of ongoing PCF in conjunction with psychological distress, despite falling rates of psychological distress alone and fatigue alone. CONCLUSION: Post-cancer fatigue was prevalent and sustained on follow-up. Concurrent psychological disorder was evident in the majority, but not all, cases of PCF and tended to be sustained over time. Further prospective cohort studies to define the longitudinal co-morbid relationships between fatigue, mood disorder, and ongoing disability after cancer treatment are indicated

Apelin receptor (version 2019.4) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database

The apelin receptor (nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on the apelin receptor [68]) responds to apelin, a 36 amino-acid peptide derived initially from bovine stomach. apelin-36, apelin-13 and [Pyr1]apelin-13 are the predominant endogenous ligands which are cleaved from a 77 amino-acid precursor peptide (APLN, Q9ULZ1) by a so far unidentified enzymatic pathway [80]. A second family of peptides discovered independently and named Elabela [11] or Toddler, that has little sequence similarity to apelin, is present, and functional at the apelin receptor in the adult cardiovascular system [87, 67]. Structure-activity relationship Elabela analogues have been described [61]

Apelin receptor (version 2019.4) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database

The apelin receptor (nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on the apelin receptor [68]) responds to apelin, a 36 amino-acid peptide derived initially from bovine stomach. apelin-36, apelin-13 and [Pyr1]apelin-13 are the predominant endogenous ligands which are cleaved from a 77 amino-acid precursor peptide (APLN, Q9ULZ1) by a so far unidentified enzymatic pathway [80]. A second family of peptides discovered independently and named Elabela [11] or Toddler, that has little sequence similarity to apelin, is present, and functional at the apelin receptor in the adult cardiovascular system [87, 67]. Structure-activity relationship Elabela analogues have been described [61]

Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Infection – Is the Course Set in the Acute Phase?

Identifying early predictors of infection outcome is important for the clinical management of HIV infection, and both viral load and CD4+ T cell level have been found to be useful predictors of subsequent disease progression. Very high viral load or extensively depleted CD4+ T cells in the acute phase often result in failure of immune control, and a fast progression to AIDS. It is usually assumed that extensive loss of CD4+ T cells in the acute phase of HIV infection prevents the establishment of robust T cell help required for virus control in the chronic phase. We tested this hypothesis using viral load and CD4+ T cell number of SHIV-infected rhesus macaques. In acute infection, the lowest level of CD4+ T cells was a good predictor of later survival; animals having less than 3.3% of baseline CD4+ T cells progressed to severe disease, while animals with more than 3.3% of baseline CD4+ T cells experienced CD4+ T cell recovery. However, it is unclear if the disease progression was caused by early depletion, or was simply a result of a higher susceptibility of an animal to infection. We derived a simple relationship between the expected number of CD4+ T cells in the acute and chronic phases for a constant level of host susceptibility or resistance. We found that in most cases, the depletion of CD4+ T cells in chronic infection was consistent with the prediction from the acute CD4+ T cell loss. However, the animals with less than 3.3% of baseline CD4 T cells in the acute phase were approximately 20% more depleted late in the infection than expected based on constant level of virus control. This suggests that severe acute CD4 depletion indeed impairs the immune response

Quantization and Compressive Sensing

Quantization is an essential step in digitizing signals, and, therefore, an indispensable component of any modern acquisition system. This book chapter explores the interaction of quantization and compressive sensing and examines practical quantization strategies for compressive acquisition systems. Specifically, we first provide a brief overview of quantization and examine fundamental performance bounds applicable to any quantization approach. Next, we consider several forms of scalar quantizers, namely uniform, non-uniform, and 1-bit. We provide performance bounds and fundamental analysis, as well as practical quantizer designs and reconstruction algorithms that account for quantization. Furthermore, we provide an overview of Sigma-Delta ($\Sigma\Delta$) quantization in the compressed sensing context, and also discuss implementation issues, recovery algorithms and performance bounds. As we demonstrate, proper accounting for quantization and careful quantizer design has significant impact in the performance of a compressive acquisition system.Comment: 35 pages, 20 figures, to appear in Springer book "Compressed Sensing and Its Applications", 201

Self‐injurious behaviour: limbic dysregulation and stress effects in an animal model

Background  Self‐injurious behaviour (SIB) is prevalent in neurodevelopmental disorders, but its expression is highly variable within, and between diagnostic categories. This raises questions about the factors that contribute to aetiology and expression of SIB. Expression of SIB is generally described in relation to social reinforcement. However, variables that predispose vulnerability have not been as clearly characterised. This study reports the aetiology and expression of self‐injury in an animal model of pemoline‐induced SIB. It describes changes in gross neuronal activity in selected brain regions after chronic treatment with pemoline, and it describes the impact that a history of social defeat stress has on the subsequent expression of SIB during pemoline treatment. Methods  Experiment 1 – Male Long‐Evans rats were injected on each of five consecutive days with pemoline or vehicle, and the expression of SIB was evaluated using a rating scale. The brains were harvested on the morning of the sixth day, and were assayed for expression of cytochrome oxidase, an index of sustained neuronal metabolic activity. Experiment 2 – Male Long‐Evans rats were exposed to a regimen of 12 daily sessions of social defeat stress or 12 daily sessions of handling (i.e. controls). Starting on the day after completion of the social defeat or handling regimen, each rat was given five daily injections of pemoline. The durations of self‐injurious oral contact and other stereotyped behaviours were monitored, and the areas of tissue injury were quantified. Results  Experiment 1 – Neuronal metabolic activity was significantly lower in a variety of limbic and limbic‐associated brain structures in the pemoline‐treated rats, when compared with activity in the same regions of vehicle‐treated controls. In addition, neuronal activity was low in the caudate–putamen, and in subfields of the hypothalamus, but did not differ between groups for a variety of other brain regions, including nucleus accumbens, substantia nigra, ventral tegmentum, thalamus, amygdala, and cortical regions. Experiment 2 – All the pemoline‐treated rats exhibited SIB, and whereas the social defeat regimen did not alter the total amount of self‐injurious oral contact or other stereotyped behaviours, it significantly increased the severity of tissue injury. Conclusions  A broad sampling of regional metabolic activity indicates that the pemoline regimen produces enduring changes that are localised to specific limbic, hypothalamic and striatal structures. The potential role of limbic function in aetiology of SIB is further supported by the finding that pemoline‐induced self‐injury is exacerbated by prior exposure to social defeat stress. Overall, the results suggest brain targets that should be investigated further, and increase our understanding of the putative role that stress plays in the pathophysiology of SIB.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91181/1/j.1365-2788.2011.01485.x.pd