A False Start in the Race Against Doping in Sport: Concerns With Cycling’s Biological Passport

Professional cycling has suffered from a number of doping scandals. The sport’s governing bodies have responded by implementing an aggressive new antidoping program known as the biological passport. Cycling’s biological passport marks a departure from traditional antidoping efforts, which have focused on directly detecting prohibited substances in a cyclist’s system. Instead, the biological passport tracks biological variables in a cyclist’s blood and urine over time, monitoring for fluctuations that are thought to indirectly reveal the effects of doping. Although this method of indirect detection is promising, it also raises serious legal and scientific concerns. Since its introduction, the cycling community has debated the reliability of indirect biological-passport evidence and the clarity, consistency, and transparency of its use in proving doping violations. Such uncertainty undermines the legitimacy of finding cyclists guilty of doping based on this indirect evidence alone. Antidoping authorities should address these important concerns before continuing to pursue doping sanctions against cyclists solely on the basis of their biological passports

Novel Method for Differentiating Histological Types of Gastric Adenocarcinoma by Using Confocal Raman Microspectroscopy

[[abstract]]Gastric adenocarcinoma, a single heterogeneous disease with multiple epidemiological and histopathological characteristics, accounts for approximately 10% of cancers worldwide. It is categorized into four histological types: papillary adenocarcinoma (PAC), tubular adenocarcinoma (TAC), mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC), and signet ring cell adenocarcinoma (SRC). Effective differentiation of the four types of adenocarcinoma will greatly improve the treatment of gastric adenocarcinoma to increase its five-year survival rate. We reported here the differentiation of the four histological types of gastric adenocarcinoma from the molecularly structural viewpoint of confocal Raman microspectroscopy. In total, 79 patients underwent laparoscopic or open radical gastrectomy during 2008–2011: 21 for signet ring cell carcinoma, 21 for tubular adenocarcinoma, 14 for papillary adenocarcinoma, 6 for mucinous carcinoma, and 17 for normal gastric mucosas obtained from patients underwent operation for other benign lesions. Clinical data were retrospectively reviewed from medical charts, and Raman data were processed and analyzed by using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Two-dimensional plots of PCA and LDA clearly demonstrated that the four histological types of gastric adenocarcinoma could be differentiated, and confocal Raman microspectroscopy provides potentially a rapid and effective method for differentiating SRC and MAC from TAC or PAC[[notice]]補正完

Primjena i kompozicija individualiziranih zaštitnih elemenata linijske grafike u projektiranju novčanica

Proces stvaranja novčanica je dugotrajan i složen, što rezultira kompleksnim rješenjima koja predstavljaju pravo remek djelo grafike. Novčanice su prožete brojnim detaljima i prenose različite informacije koje se analiziraju u teorijskom dijelu rada. Prvotno se postavljaju kriteriji po kojima se izrađuje detaljna analiza velikog broja zaštitnih i konceptualnih elemenata na primjerima novčanica. Time je prikazan okvirni povijesni pregled razvoja novčanica i utjecaji kojima je bio izložen. Analizira se međuovisnost dizajna o sigurnosnim značajkama, te se ispituje razina informiranosti javnosti o zaštitama na novčanicama. Zaključuje se koje metode zaštite su najučinkovitije, te kako šira javnost najčešće provjerava autentičnost novčanica. U eksperimentalnom dijelu rada se na temelju donesenih zaključaka iz teorijskog dijela izrađuje prototip novčanice koja je u najvećoj mjeri prožeta individualiziranim PostScript programskim rješenjima elemenata linijske grafike (rozete, mikrotekst, zaštitne linije, brojevi apoena), a od ostalih zaštita modeliran je individualizirani raster transformacijom matematičkog izraza u PostScript programski kod. Sve ostale zaštite tipične za novčanice simulirane su alatima za rastersku i vektorsku grafiku. U radu se ispituje utjecaj kompozicije zaštitnih elemenata na prepoznavanje autentičnosti novčanica, te efikasnost samih individualiziranih programskih rješenja

Human adenovirus type 8 epidemic keratoconjunctivitis with large corneal epithelial full-layer detachment: an endemic outbreak with uncommon manifestations

Yueh-Chang Lee,1 Nancy Chen,1 I-Tsong Huang,2–4 Hui-Hua Yang,2 Chin-Te Huang,1 Li-Kuang Chen,2–5 Min-Muh Sheu1,6,7 1Department of Ophthalmology, 2Taiwan CDC Collaborating Laboratories of Virology, 3Department of Laboratory Medicine, Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan; 4Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, 5Department of Laboratory Diagnosis, 6Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tzu-Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan; 7Department of Ophthalmology, Mennonite Christian Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan Abstract: Epidemic viral conjunctivitis is a highly contagious disease that is encountered year-round. The causative agents are mainly adenoviruses and enteroviruses. It occurs most commonly upon infection with subgroup D adenoviruses of types 8, 19, or 37. For common corneal involvement of human adenovirus type 8 epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, full-layer epithelial detachment is rarely seen. Herein, we report three cases of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis during an outbreak which manifested as large corneal epithelial full-layer detachment within a few days. The lesions healed without severe sequelae under proper treatment. The unique manifestation of this outbreak may indicate the evolution of human adenovirus type 8. Keywords: EKC, HAdV-8, cornea, virology, epidemic viral conjunctiviti