A comparison of the hypoglycemic effect of insulin with systemic venous and portal venous administration

The hyperglycemic effect of insulin by prolonged intraportal and systemic infusion was measured in unanesthetized dogs with a modified portacaval transposition. There was no significant difference in response with the two routes of administration. The relation of these results to research directed to surgical therapy of diabetes is discussed. © 1963 W. B. Saunders Company

Comparison of dimensional accuracies of stereolithography and powder binder printing

This paper presents a comparative experimental investigation of the dimensional accuracies of two widely used rapid prototyping (RP) processes: stereolithography (SLA) and powder binder printing (PBP). Four replicates of a purpose-designed component using each RP process were fabricated, and the measurements of the internal and external features of all surfaces were performed using a general-purpose coordinate measurement machine. The results showed that in both cases, the main cause of dimensional variations was the volumetric change inherent in the process. The precision of SLA was far better than that of PBP. The dimensional accuracy of SLA was better in the z direction, whereas PBP produced better dimensional accuracy in the x–y plane. In both RP processes, the height error consisted of two components: constant error and cumulative error. The constant error component was equal to the datum surface error. SLA yielded an average datum surface error that was 68 % higher than in PBP. The height error of SLA improved with the increase in nominal height, whereas it deteriorated in PBP

Fifteen new risk loci for coronary artery disease highlight arterial-wall-specific mechanisms

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although 58 genomic regions have been associated with CAD thus far, most of the heritability is unexplained, indicating that additional susceptibility loci await identification. An efficient discovery strategy may be larger-scale evaluation of promising associations suggested by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Hence, we genotyped 56,309 participants using a targeted gene array derived from earlier GWAS results and performed meta-analysis of results with 194,427 participants previously genotyped, totaling 88,192 CAD cases and 162,544 controls. We identified 25 new SNP-CAD associations (P < 5 × 10(-8), in fixed-effects meta-analysis) from 15 genomic regions, including SNPs in or near genes involved in cellular adhesion, leukocyte migration and atherosclerosis (PECAM1, rs1867624), coagulation and inflammation (PROCR, rs867186 (p.Ser219Gly)) and vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation (LMOD1, rs2820315). Correlation of these regions with cell-type-specific gene expression and plasma protein levels sheds light on potential disease mechanisms

Programmed Chemotherapy for Patients with Metastatic Unresectable Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND: Recent advances in the treatment of metastatic unresectable gastric cancers (MGC) include the development of new antitumor drugs and new regimens for their use. However, the selection of individually designed regimens by gastric cancer (GC) subtype remains problematic. Here, we investigated the clinical usefulness of programmed chemotherapy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: MGC patients were classified into three groups by clinical condition. We implemented a chemotherapy program consisting of S-1 combination regimens. Median survival time (MST) of level 1 patients was 416 days (95% CI: 313-506 days), with an overall response rate of 47%. MSTs of level 2 and 3 patients were 208 (95% CI: 153-287 days) and 95 days (95% CI: 28-136 days), respectively. Grade 3-4 toxicities were neutropenia in 12% and anorexia in 6%. All treatment- related toxicities were resolved, and no treatment-related deaths occurred. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This program provided reasonable selection of case-matching regimens and may improve the survival of patients with MGC. Further, it may represent the first clinical tool to provide efficient chemotherapy course selection for MGC. Ongoing analysis of newly developed drugs and regimens will allow the efficacy of this chemotherapy program to be improved

Expression QTLs Mapping and Analysis: A Bayesian Perspective.

The aim of expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL) mapping is the identification of DNA sequence variants that explain variation in gene expression. Given the recent yield of trait-associated genetic variants identified by large-scale genome-wide association analyses (GWAS), eQTL mapping has become a useful tool to understand the functional context where these variants operate and eventually narrow down functional gene targets for disease. Despite its extensive application to complex (polygenic) traits and disease, the majority of eQTL studies still rely on univariate data modeling strategies, i.e., testing for association of all transcript-marker pairs. However these "one at-a-time" strategies are (1) unable to control the number of false-positives when an intricate Linkage Disequilibrium structure is present and (2) are often underpowered to detect the full spectrum of trans-acting regulatory effects. Here we present our viewpoint on the most recent advances on eQTL mapping approaches, with a focus on Bayesian methodology. We review the advantages of the Bayesian approach over frequentist methods and provide an empirical example of polygenic eQTL mapping to illustrate the different properties of frequentist and Bayesian methods. Finally, we discuss how multivariate eQTL mapping approaches have distinctive features with respect to detection of polygenic effects, accuracy, and interpretability of the results