3,059 research outputs found
Disparities among 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) hospital admissions: A mixed methods analysis - Illinois, April-December 2009
During late April 2009, the first cases of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) (pH1N1) in Illinois were reported. On-going, sustained local transmission resulted in an estimated 500,000 infected persons. We conducted a mixed method analysis using both quantitative (surveillance) and qualitative (interview) data; surveillance data was used to analyze demographic distribution of hospitalized cases and follow-up interview data was used to assess health seeking behavior. Invitations to participate in a telephone interview were sent to 120 randomly selected Illinois residents that were hospitalized during April-December 2009. During April-December 2009, 2,824 pH1N1 hospitalizations occurred in Illinois hospitals; median age (interquartile range) at admission was 24 (range: 6-49) years. Hospitalization rates/100,000 persons for blacks and Hispanics, regardless of age or sex were 2-3 times greater than for whites (blacks, 36/100,000 (95% Confidence Interval ([95% CI], 33-39)); Hispanics, 35/100,000 [95%CI,32-37] (; whites, 13/100,000[95%CI, 12-14); p<0.001). Mortality rates were higher for blacks (0.9/100,000; p<0.09) and Hispanics (1/100,000; p<0.04) when compared with the mortality rates for whites (0.6/ 100,000). Of 33 interview respondents, 31 (94%) stated that they had heard of pH1N1 before being hospitalized, and 24 (73%) did not believed they were at risk for pH1N1. On average, respondents reported experiencing symptoms for 2 days (range: 1-7) before seeking medical care. When asked how to prevent pH1N1 infection in the future, the most common responses were getting vaccinated and practicing hand hygiene. Blacks and Hispanics in Illinois experienced disproportionate pH1N1 hospitalization and mortality rates. Public health education and outreach efforts in preparation for future influenza pandemics should include prevention messaging focused on perception of risk, and ensure community wide access to prevention messages and practices
The immunomodulator PSK induces in vitro cytotoxic activity in tumour cell lines via arrest of cell cycle and induction of apoptosis
Background
Protein-bound polysaccharide (PSK) is derived from the CM-101 strain of the fungus Coriolus versicolor and has shown anticancer activity in vitro and in in vivo experimental models and human cancers. Several randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that PSK has great potential in adjuvant cancer therapy, with positive results in the adjuvant treatment of gastric, esophageal, colorectal, breast and lung cancers. These studies have suggested the efficacy of PSK as an immunomodulator of biological responses. The precise molecular mechanisms responsible for its biological activity have yet to be fully elucidated.Methods
The in vitro cytotoxic anti-tumour activity of PSK has been evaluated in various tumour cell lines derived from leukaemias, melanomas, fibrosarcomas and cervix, lung, pancreas and gastric cancers. Tumour cell proliferation in vitro was measured by BrdU incorporation and viable cell count. Effect of PSK on human peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) proliferation in vitro was also analyzed. Studies of cell cycle and apoptosis were performed in PSK-treated cells.Results
PSK showed in vitro inhibition of tumour cell proliferation as measured by BrdU incorporation and viable cell count. The inhibition ranged from 22 to 84%. Inhibition mechanisms were identified as cell cycle arrest, with cell accumulation in G0/G1 phase and increase in apoptosis and caspase-3 expression. These results indicate that PSK has a direct cytotoxic activity in vitro, inhibiting tumour cell proliferation. In contrast, PSK shows a synergistic effect with IL-2 that increases PBL proliferation.Conclusion
These results indicate that PSK has cytotoxic activity in vitro on tumour cell lines. This new cytotoxic activity of PSK on tumour cells is independent of its previously described immunomodulatory activity on NK cells.AGL was supported by FIS Postdoctoral Research Contract CP03/00111. Studies were partially supported by a grant from Kureha Chemical Industry (Japan)
The Little Review on Leptogenesis
This is a brief review on the scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis.
Leptogenesis is an appealing scenario that may relate the observed baryon
asymmetry in the Universe to the low-energy neutrino data. In this review talk,
particular emphasis is put on recent developments on the field, such as the
flavourdynamics of leptogenesis and resonant leptogenesis near the electroweak
phase transition. It is illustrated how these recent developments enable the
modelling of phenomenologically predictive scenarios that can directly be
tested at the LHC and indirectly in low-energy experiments of lepton-number and
lepton-flavour violation.Comment: 15 pages, based on a plenary presentation given at the DISCRETE'08
Symposium, 11-16 December 2008, Valencia, Spai
Recommended from our members
RESIDUAL STRESS AND DEFORMATION ANALYSIS OF INCONEL 718 ACROSS VARYING OVERHANGS IN LASER POWDER BLOWN DIRECTED ENERGY DEPOSITION
Any metal that is subjected to rapid heat and cooling will undergo the development of
residual stresses. As they experience intense temperature fluctuations, this will consequently alter
the way the material will behave. This issue proves to be of great concern within additive
manufacturing. That said, the presence of temperature fluctuations is more prominent in Directed
energy deposition (DED), whereas other methods of manufacturing are more prominent in the
pre- or post- printing process. This in turn means the deformation, as well as the redistribution of
the residual stresses within pieces, are subject to variance by several process parameters set
during a print. By using the Inconel 718 alloy feedstock in RPMI’s Laser Powder Directed
Energy Deposition (LP-DED) printer, a series of coupons with four different overhang angles
and laser power outputs will determine how these changes thermo-mechanically affect the prints
through the use of FEA simulations and scans.Mechanical Engineerin
Phenomenology of the nMSSM from colliders to cosmology
Low energy supersymmetric models provide a solution to the hierarchy problem
and also have the necessary ingredients to solve two of the most outstanding
issues in cosmology: the origin of dark matter and baryonic matter. One of the
most attractive features of this framework is that the relevant physical
processes are related to interactions at the weak scale and therefore may be
tested in collider experiments in the near future. This is true for the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as well as for its extension with the
addition of one singlet chiral superfield, the so-called nMSSM. It has been
recently shown that within the nMSSM an elegant solution to both the problem of
baryogenesis and dark matter may be found, that relies mostly on the mixing of
the singlet sector with the Higgs sector of the theory. In this work we review
the nMSSM model constraints from cosmology and present the associated collider
phenomenology at the LHC and the ILC. We show that the ILC will efficiently
probe the neutralino, chargino and Higgs sectors, allowing to confront
cosmological observations with computations based on collider measurements. We
also investigate the prospects for a direct detection of dark matter and the
constraints imposed by the current bounds of the electron electric dipole
moment in this model.Comment: 44 pp, 10 figures; Fig.9 replaced; discussion on CP violation
extended and references added; few minor additions in text about details of
the cut
A Feasibility Study of Quantifying Longitudinal Brain Changes in Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Encephalitis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Stereology.
OBJECTIVES: To assess whether it is feasible to quantify acute change in temporal lobe volume and total oedema volumes in herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis as a preliminary to a trial of corticosteroid therapy. METHODS: The study analysed serially acquired magnetic resonance images (MRI), of patients with acute HSV encephalitis who had neuroimaging repeated within four weeks of the first scan. We performed volumetric measurements of the left and right temporal lobes and of cerebral oedema visible on T2 weighted Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) images using stereology in conjunction with point counting. RESULTS: Temporal lobe volumes increased on average by 1.6% (standard deviation (SD 11%) in five patients who had not received corticosteroid therapy and decreased in two patients who had received corticosteroids by 8.5%. FLAIR hyperintensity volumes increased by 9% in patients not receiving treatment with corticosteroids and decreased by 29% in the two patients that had received corticosteroids. CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown it is feasible to quantify acute change in temporal lobe and total oedema volumes in HSV encephalitis and suggests a potential resolution of swelling in response to corticosteroid therapy. These techniques could be used as part of a randomized control trial to investigate the efficacy of corticosteroids for treating HSV encephalitis in conjunction with assessing clinical outcomes and could be of potential value in helping to predict the clinical outcomes of patients with HSV encephalitis
Neonatal infrared thermography images in the hypothermic ruminant model: Anatomical-morphological-physiological aspects and mechanisms for thermoregulation
Hypothermia is one factor associated with mortality in newborn ruminants due to the drastic temperature change upon exposure to the extrauterine environment in the first hours after birth. Ruminants are precocial whose mechanisms for generating heat or preventing heat loss involve genetic characteristics, the degree of neurodevelopment at birth and environmental aspects. These elements combine to form a more efficient mechanism than those found in altricial species. Although the degree of neurodevelopment is an important advantage for these species, their greater mobility helps them to search for the udder and consume colostrum after birth. However, anatomical differences such as the distribution of adipose tissue or the presence of type II muscle fibers could lead to the understanding that these species use their energy resources more efficiently for heat production. The introduction of unconventional ruminant species, such as the water buffalo, has led to rethinking other characteristics like the skin thickness or the coat type that could intervene in the thermoregulation capacity of the newborn. Implementing tools to analyze species-specific characteristics that help prevent a critical decline in temperature is deemed a fundamental strategy for avoiding the adverse effects of a compromised thermoregulatory function. Although thermography is a non-invasive method to assess superficial temperature in several non-human animal species, in newborn ruminants there is limited information about its application, making it necessary to discuss the usefulness of this tool. This review aims to analyze the effects of hypothermia in newborn ruminants, their thermoregulation mechanisms that compensate for this condition, and the application of infrared thermography (IRT) to identify cases with hypothermia
Leptogenesis from Soft Supersymmetry Breaking (Soft Leptogenesis)
Soft leptogenesis is a scenario in which the cosmic baryon asymmetry is
produced from a lepton asymmetry generated in the decays of heavy sneutrinos
(the partners of the singlet neutrinos of the seesaw) and where the relevant
sources of CP violation are the complex phases of soft supersymmetry-breaking
terms. We explain the motivations for soft leptogenesis, and review its basic
ingredients: the different CP-violating contributions, the crucial role played
by thermal corrections, and the enhancement of the efficiency from lepton
flavour effects. We also discuss the high temperature regime GeV in
which the cosmic baryon asymmetry originates from an initial asymmetry of an
anomalous -charge, and soft leptogenesis reembodies in -genesis.Comment: References updated. Some minor corrections to match the published
versio
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