Patient reported upper gastro-intestinal symptoms associated with fractionated image-guided conformal radiotherapy for metastatic spinal cord compression

Background and purpose Palliative radiotherapy is given to sustain or improve quality of life for patients with advanced cancer. Radiotherapy may however result in symptomatic side effects, which may affect the patient negatively. This prospective longitudinal study of 30 patients aimed at investigating the incidence and severity of early toxicity, particularly focusing on dysphagia, esophagitis and mucositis, following fractionated radiotherapy for cervical and thoracic metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC), as well as determining the relationship between esophageal dose and early upper gastro-intestinal symptoms. Materials and methods Thirty patients receiving radiotherapy of 3Gyx10 for MSCC were included in the study. Patients were assessed for a total of 7 weeks from onset of radiotherapy using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) questionnaire. Upper gastro-intestinal symptoms and severity were assessed from the tenth and eleventh question section of the ESAS questionnaire of “other problems” and how much this affected them. The relationships between the mean and maximum esophageal doses and incidence of dysphagia, esophagitis or mucositis were estimated and dose response curves determined. Results Eleven patients reported esophageal symptoms (average duration eleven days, range 1–18 days). Incidence of esophageal toxicity in patients treated at Th8 or above was 79 percent, while no patients treated below Th8 reported any symptoms (p < 0.001). Furthermore, 2 out of 3 patients irradiated at the cervical region reported substantial changes in taste sensation. Risk of symptoms correlated with both mean and maximum esophageal dose and may be a useful tool in planning radiotherapy for MSCC, potentially reducing early upper gastro-intestinal toxicity

Freshwater flux to Sermilik Fjord, SE Greenland

Terrestrial inputs of freshwater flux to Sermilik Fjord, SE Greenland, were estimated, indicating ice discharge to be the dominant source of freshwater. A freshwater flux of 40.4 &amp;plusmn; 4.9&amp;times;10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt; m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; y&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; was found (1999–2008), with an 85% contribution originated from ice discharge (65% alone from Helheim Glacier), 11% from terrestrial surface runoff (from melt water and rain), 3% from precipitation at the fjord surface area, and 1% from subglacial geothermal and frictional melting due to basal ice motion. The results demonstrate the dominance of ice discharge as a primary mechanism for delivering freshwater to Sermilik Fjord. Time series of ice discharge for Helheim Glacier, Midgård Glacier, and Fenris Glacier were calculated from satellite-derived average surface velocity, glacier width, and estimated ice thickness, and fluctuations in terrestrial surface freshwater runoff were simulated based on observed meteorological data. These simulations were compared and bias corrected against independent glacier catchment runoff observations. Modeled runoff to Sermilik Fjord was variable, ranging from 2.9 &amp;plusmn; 0.4&amp;times;10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt; m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; y&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; in 1999 to 5.9 &amp;plusmn; 0.9&amp;times;10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt; m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; y&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; in 2005. The sub-catchment runoff of the Helheim Glacier region accounted for 25% of the total runoff to Sermilik Fjord. The runoff distribution from the different sub-catchments suggested a strong influence from the spatial variation in glacier coverage, indicating high runoff volumes, where glacier cover was present at low elevations

In-medium modifications of the ππ\pi\pi interaction in photon-induced reactions

Differential cross sections of the reactions $(\gamma,\pi^\circ\pi^\circ)$ and $(\gamma,\pi^\circ\pi^++\pi^\circ\pi^-)$ have been measured for several nuclei ($^1$H,$^{12}$C, and $^{\rm nat}$Pb) at an incident-photon energy of $E_{\gamma}$=400-460 MeV at the tagged-photon facility at MAMI-B using the TAPS spectrometer. A significant nuclear-mass dependence of the $\pi\pi$ invariant-mass distribution is found in the $\pi^\circ\pi^\circ$ channel. This dependence is not observed in the $\pi^\circ\pi^{+/-}$ channel and is consistent with an in-medium modification of the $\pi\pi$ interaction in the $I$=$J$=0 channel. The data are compared to $\pi$-induced measurements and to calculations within a chiral-unitary approach

The C-Type Lectin of the Aggrecan G3 Domain Activates Complement

Excessive complement activation contributes to joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis during which cartilage proteins are fragmented and released into the synovial fluid. Some of these proteins and fragments activate complement, which may sustain inflammation. The G3 domain of large cartilage proteoglycan aggrecan interacts with other extracellular matrix proteins, fibulins and tenascins, via its C-type lectin domain (CLD) and has important functions in matrix organization. Fragments containing G3 domain are released during normal aggrecan turnover, but increasingly so in disease. We now show that the aggrecan CLD part of the G3 domain activates the classical and to a lesser extent the alternative pathway of complement, via binding of C1q and C3, respectively. The complement control protein (CCP) domain adjacent to the CLD showed no effect on complement initiation. The binding of C1q to G3 depended on ionic interactions and was decreased in D2267N mutant G3. However, the observed complement activation was attenuated due to binding of complement inhibitor factor H to CLD and CCP domains. This was most apparent at the level of deposition of terminal complement components. Taken together our observations indicate aggrecan CLD as one factor involved in the sustained inflammation of the joint

Tourists as Mobile Gamers: Gamification for Tourism Marketing

Gaming as a cutting-edge concept has recently been used by some innovative tourism sectors as a marketing tool and as a method of deeper engagement with visitors. This research aims to explore the gamification trend and its potential for experience development and tourism marketing. Using a focus group, this paper discusses gaming and tourism, and explores what drives tourists to play games. The results suggest tourists’ game playing motivation is multidimensional. Players tend to start with purposive information seeking, then move on to an intrinsic stimulation. Socialization is also an important dimension. The research demonstrates several implications for tourism marketing

Integration of gene expression data with prior knowledge for network analysis and validation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reconstruction of protein-protein interaction or metabolic networks based on expression data often involves in silico predictions, while on the other hand, there are unspecific networks of in vivo interactions derived from knowledge bases.</p> <p>We analyze networks designed to come as close as possible to data measured in vivo, both with respect to the set of nodes which were taken to be expressed in experiment as well as with respect to the interactions between them which were taken from manually curated databases</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A signaling network derived from the TRANSPATH database and a metabolic network derived from KEGG LIGAND are each filtered onto expression data from breast cancer (SAGE) considering different levels of restrictiveness in edge and vertex selection.</p> <p>We perform several validation steps, in particular we define pathway over-representation tests based on refined null models to recover functional modules. The prominent role of the spindle checkpoint-related pathways in breast cancer is exhibited. High-ranking key nodes cluster in functional groups retrieved from literature. Results are consistent between several functional and topological analyses and between signaling and metabolic aspects.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This construction involved as a crucial step the passage to a mammalian protein identifier format as well as to a reaction-based semantics of metabolism. This yielded good connectivity but also led to the need to perform benchmark tests to exclude loss of essential information. Such validation, albeit tedious due to limitations of existing methods, turned out to be informative, and in particular provided biological insights as well as information on the degrees of coherence of the networks despite fragmentation of experimental data.</p> <p>Key node analysis exploited the networks for potentially interesting proteins in view of drug target prediction.</p