Increased neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio is a poor prognostic factor in patients with primary operable and inoperable pancreatic cancer

Background: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been proposed as an indicator of systemic inflammatory response. Previous findings from small-scale studies revealed conflicting results about its independent prognostic significance with regard to different clinical end points in pancreatic cancer (PC) patients. Therefore, the aim of our study was the external validation of the prognostic significance of NLR in a large cohort of PC patients. Methods: Data from 371 consecutive PC patients, treated between 2004 and 2010 at a single centre, were evaluated retrospectively. The whole cohort was stratified into two groups according to the treatment modality. Group 1 comprised 261 patients with inoperable PC at diagnosis and group 2 comprised 110 patients with surgically resected PC. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) was assessed using the Kaplan–Meier method. To evaluate the independent prognostic significance of the NLR, the modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) and the platelet-lymphocyte ratio univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were applied. Results: Multivariate analysis identified increased NLR as an independent prognostic factor for inoperable PC patients (hazard ratio (HR)=2.53, confidence interval (CI)=1.64–3.91, P<0.001) and surgically resected PC patients (HR=1.61, CI=1.02–2.53, P=0.039). In inoperable PC patients, the mGPS was associated with poor CSS only in univariate analysis (HR=1.44, CI=1.04–1.98). Conclusion: Risk prediction for cancer-related end points using NLR does add independent prognostic information to other well-established prognostic factors in patients with PC, regardless of the undergoing therapeutic modality. Thus, the NLR should be considered for future individual risk assessment in patients with PC

Influence of strenuous exercise on albumin excretion

Renal albumin excretion rate was 7.3 mg/24 h (SEM 0.5, range 0.6-21.0) in 66 healthy subjects. This rate increased markedly during and shortly after strenuous exercise on a bicycle ergometer (before: 5.5 +/- 0.6 micrograms/min; during and just after: 16.9 +/- 2.2 micrograms/min; P less than 0.001; n = 30). However, albumin excretion/24 h was not significantly higher during 24 h with a period of strenuous exercise than during 24 h without such exercise (10.3 +/- 0.9 mg/24 h vs 8.5 +/- 0.7 mg/24 h)

Seeking String Theory in the Cosmos

We review the existence, formation and properties of cosmic strings in string theory, the wide variety of observational techniques that are being employed to detect them, and the constraints that current observations impose on string theory models.Comment: 25 pages; contribution for String Cosmology issue of Classical and Quantum Gravity. References added and other improvements. Matches journal versio

Reduced Apaf-1 expression in human cutaneous melanomas

Malignant melanoma is a life-threatening skin cancer due to its highly metastatic character and resistance to radio- and chemotherapy. It is believed that the ability to evade apoptosis is the key mechanism for the rapid growth of cancer cells. However, the exact mechanism for failure in the apoptotic pathway in melanoma cells is unclear. p53, the most frequently mutated tumour suppressor gene in human cancers, is a key apoptosis inducer. However, p53 mutation is only found in 15–20% of melanoma biopsies. Recently, it was found that Apaf-1, a downstream target of p53, is inactivated in metastatic melanoma. Specifically, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the Apaf-1 gene was found in 40% of metastatic melanoma. To determine if loss of Apaf-1 expression is indeed involved in melanoma progression, we employed the tissue microarray technology and examined Apaf-1 expression in 70 human primary malignant melanoma biopsies by immunohistochemistry. Our data showed that Apaf-1 expression is significantly reduced in melanoma cells compared with normal nevi (χ2=6.02, P=0.014). Our results also revealed that loss of Apaf-1 was not associated with the tumour thickness, ulceration or subtype, patient's gender, age and 5-year survival. In addition, our in vitro apoptosis assay revealed that overexpression of Apaf-1 can sensitise melanoma cells to anticancer drug treatment. Taken together, our data indicate that Apaf-1 expression is significantly reduced in human melanoma and that Apaf-1 may serve as a therapeutic target in melanoma

Marker-free image registration of electron tomography tilt-series

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tilt series are commonly used in electron tomography as a means of collecting three-dimensional information from two-dimensional projections. A common problem encountered is the projection alignment prior to 3D reconstruction. Current alignment techniques usually employ gold particles or image derived markers to correctly align the images. When these markers are not present, correlation between adjacent views is used to align them. However, sequential pairwise correlation is prone to bias and the resulting alignment is not always optimal.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper we introduce an algorithm to find regions of the tilt series which can be tracked within a subseries of the tilt series. These regions act as landmarks allowing the determination of the alignment parameters. We show our results with synthetic data as well as experimental cryo electron tomography.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our algorithm is able to correctly align a single-tilt tomographic series without the help of fiducial markers thanks to the detection of thousands of small image patches that can be tracked over a short number of images in the series.</p

Impacts of urban drainage systems on stormwater hydrology: Rocky Branch Watershed, Columbia, South Carolina

[[abstract]]Abstract Increases in impervious surfaces and land-use changes associated with urbanization have long been the focus of urban hydrological research. However, studies and calculations that consider impervious surfaces alone do not encompass all factors that influence urban hydrologic response, as alternative urban structures may have a substantial effect on stormflow. This study examines several descriptors to improve estimations of hydrologic impacts of urbanization in small watersheds. Configurations of drainage densities that include storm sewers were computed for the highly urbanized Rocky Branch Watershed. Storm sewer configurations resulted in an approximate tripling of the drainage density. In addition, rainfall and stormflow data were analyzed to compare the hydrologic response of two subcatchments with varying percentages of impervious areas and drainage densities. The subcatchment with a higher percentage of impervious area produced significantly (p < .01) higher runoff volumes with an average runoff coefficient of 0.446, while the subcatchment with higher storm sewer densities displayed significantly shorter lag times of 9 min. In this case, the percentage of impervious area increased the volume of runoff but, storm sewer densities accelerated hydrologic responses, suggesting that hydrologically relevant metrics should be considered to accurate assess flood risk alternatives.[[sponsorship]]McCormick Taylor, Inc., Grant/Award Number: 13540‐16‐41674; Office of the Vice President for Research, University of South Carolina, Grant/Award Number: 13540‐16‐41303[[notice]]補正完