Reduced Lean Mass in Early Alzheimer Disease and Its Association With Brain Atrophy

This is the published version. Copyright American Medical AssociationObjective: To examine body composition in individuals with early AD and without dementia and its relation to cognition and brain volume. Design: Cross-sectional case-control study. Participants: Individuals without dementia (Clinical Dementia Rating, 0; n=70) and with early-stage AD (Clinical Dementia Rating, 0.5 or 1; n=70) in the Alzheimer and Memory Program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Main Outcome Measures: Participants were evaluated with brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), neuropsychological testing, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to determine whole-body fat and lean masses. Body mass index was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Results: Lean mass was reduced in persons with early AD compared with controls without dementia (F=7.73; P=.006) after controlling for sex. Whole-brain volume (=.20; P.001), white matter volume (=.19; P.001), and global cognitive performance (=.12; P=.007) were associated with lean mass (dependent variable) when controlling for age and sex. The total body fat and percentage of body fat values were not different across groups or related to cognition and brain volume. Conclusion: Loss of lean mass is accelerated in AD and is associated with brain atrophy and cognitive performance, perhaps as a direct or indirect consequence of AD pathophysiology or through shared mechanisms common to both AD and sarcopenia

Actor-Critic Policy Learning in Cooperative Planning

In this paper, we introduce a method for learning and adapting cooperative control strategies in real-time stochastic domains. Our framework is an instance of the intelligent cooperative control architecture (iCCA)[superscript 1]. The agent starts by following the "safe" plan calculated by the planning module and incrementally adapting its policy to maximize the cumulative rewards. Actor-critic and consensus-based bundle algorithm (CBBA) were employed as the building blocks of the iCCA framework. We demonstrate the performance of our approach by simulating limited fuel unmanned aerial vehicles aiming for stochastic targets. In one experiment where the optimal solution can be calculated, the integrated framework boosted the optimality of the solution by an average of %10, when compared to running each of the modules individually, while keeping the computational load within the requirements for real-time implementation.Boeing Scientific Research LaboratoriesUnited States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-08-1-0086

Flamingo Vol. III N 2

Anonymous. Cover. Picture. 0. Anonymous. Untitled. Picture. 4. Price, John M. Dada--Esthetic Nihilism. Prose. 5. G.C. Tolerance. Poem. 6. G.W.B. The Castaway. Poem. 6. G.W.B. Cinquains. Poem. 7. Holt, K. HORATI CARMINA, Liber I, ix. Prose. 7. W.A.V. Untitled. Poem. 7. A.E.R. Moods. Poem. 7. G.W.B. Some Say The Moon. Poem. 7. A.E.R. On Quoting The Night Has A Thousand Eyes . Poem. 7. Anonymous. Chapel Cherubs. Prose. 8. E.B. Untitled. Picture. 8. E.B. Untitled. Picture. 8. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 9. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 9. Anonymous. FLIP— MIGHT I ASK YOU FOR THIS DANCE? FLAP— PLEASE DO, I\u27VE BEEN DYING TO REFUSE YOU ALL EVENING. . Picture. 9. Anonymous. HUSBAND (SAVAGELY)— MARIA, WHERE\u27S MY CLOTHES? MARIA— GOOD HEAVENS, DEAR, I WONDER IF I USED THEM IN THE SALAD. Picture. 9. Anonymous. Our Log Table. Prose. 9. Anonymous. Approved Vocabulary For Fans. Prose. 9. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 9.; Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 9. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 9. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 9. Anonymous. Only Too True! Prose. 10. F.T. GEORGE TOLD ME ALL THE SECRETS OF HIS PAST LAST NIGHT. REALLY! WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THEM? OH, I THOUGHT THEY WERE HORRIBLY DISAPPOINTING. Picture. 10. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 10. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 10. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 10. Howard, Lillis. The Engaged Homo. Poem. 10. Anonymous. Before and After. Poem. 11. Anonymous. Untitled. Poem. 11. Ubersax. AS OTHERS MIGHT SEE US—CLEVELAND HALL TO A CUBIST. Picture. 11. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 11. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 11. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 11. Anonymous. SECOND FROM THE RIGHT— WHAT\u27S THAT DESERTED OLD BUILDING OVER THERE? DITTO LEFT— MUST BE WHERE THEY USED TO MAKE HAIRPINS. Picture. 11. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 11. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 11. E.T.B. Broadway Bizarre. Prose. 12. E.B. Untitled. Picture. 13. E.B. The First One. Picture. 13. Anonymous. It\u27s done. Prose. 14. W.G.M. Mother. Prose. 15. Anonymous. Our Daily Mud. Prose. 15. G.C. Optimism. Poem. 15. Bridge. Denison Comics. Picture. 16. Anonymous. Our Asinetic Appreciation Corner. Prose. 18. Anonymous. STILL LIFE OF A NEAR-BEER AT THE TURNING POINT. Picture. 18. Rine, Russell. Stewed and Hashed. Poem. 18. Anonymous. Untitled. Poem. 18. Anonymous. Untitled. Poem. 19. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Mercer, Hod. OUR OWN IDEA OF SOMETHING AESTHETIC. Picture. 19. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Anonymous. Such Is Life. Poem. 19. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 19. Grayce. THE FLIGHT IS ON—THE FESTIVAL IS HERE. Picture. 20. W.G.K. Eutopia Regained. Prose. 20. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 20. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 20. Anonymous. Oh You Nine Weeks. Poem. 20. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 20. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 20. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 20. Anonymous. THAT MAUSOLEUM HAS BEEN CONDEMNED BY THE BUILDING INSPECTOR. WHAT\u27S WRONG WITH IT? IT HASN\u27T ANY FIRE ESCAPES. Picture. 20. Jester. Untitled. Prose. 24. Anonymous. Untitled. Prose. 24. Panther. Untitled. Prose. 24. Octopus. Untitled. Prose. 24. Mugwump. Untitled. Prose. 24. Reel, Virginia. Untitled. Prose. 24. Garber, Jock. Kows and Why Not. Prose. 25. Texas Scalper. Untitled. Prose. 25. Lord Jeff. Untitled. Prose. 28. Lampoon. Cut Rates. Prose. 28. Malteaser. Untitled. Prose. 28. Sun Dodger. Untitled. Prose. 28. Beanpot. Untitled. Prose. 28. Malteaser. Untitled. Prose. 28. Gargoyle. Putting It Fairly. Prose. 29. Malteaser. Untitled. Prose. 29. Gargoyle. Untitled. Prose. 29. Sun Dial. Untitled. Prose. 29. Gargoyle. Untitled. Prose. 30. Malteaser. Untitled. Prose. 30. Panther. Untitled. Prose. 30. Sun Dial. The Stuffed Kind. Prose. 30. Student Life. Untitled. Prose. 30. Malteaser. Heard in EC. Class. Prose. 30. Nashville Tennessean. Untitled. Prose. 30. Lemon Punch. Untitled. Prose. 31. Sun Dial. Untitled. Prose. 31. Gargoyle. Two is a Crowd. Prose. 31. Phoenix. Untitled. Prose. 31

Independent evaluation of a simple clinical prediction rule to identify right ventricular dysfunction in patients with shortness of breath

BACKGROUND: Many patients have unexplained persistent dyspnea after negative computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA). We hypothesized that many of these patients have isolated right ventricular (RV) dysfunction from treatable causes. We previously derived a clinical decision rule (CDR) for predicting RV dysfunction consisting of persistent dyspnea and normal CTPA, finding that 53% of CDR-positive patients had isolated RV dysfunction. Our goal is to validate this previously derived CDR by measuring the prevalence of RV dysfunction and outcomes in dyspneic emergency department patients. METHODS: A secondary analysis of a prospective observational multicenter study that enrolled patients presenting with suspected PE was performed. We included patients with persistent dyspnea, a nonsignificant CTPA, and formal echo performed. Right ventricular dysfunction was defined as RV hypokinesis and/or dilation with or without moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation. RESULTS: A total of 7940 patients were enrolled. Two thousand six hundred sixteen patients were analyzed after excluding patients without persistent dyspnea and those with a significant finding on CTPA. One hundred ninety eight patients had echocardiography performed as standard care. Of those, 19% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14%-25%) and 33% (95% CI, 25%-42%) exhibited RV dysfunction and isolated RV dysfunction, respectively. Patients with isolated RV dysfunction or overload were more likely than those without RV dysfunction to have a return visit to the emergency department within 45 days for the same complaint (39% vs 18%; 95% CI of the difference, 4%-38%). CONCLUSION: This simple clinical prediction rule predicted a 33% prevalence of isolated RV dysfunction or overload. Patients with isolated RV dysfunction had higher recidivism rates and a trend toward worse outcomes

Examining Periodic Solar Wind Density Structures Observed in the SECCHI Heliospheric Imagers

We present an analysis of small-scale, periodic, solar-wind density enhancements (length-scales as small as \approx 1000 Mm) observed in images from the Heliospheric Imager (HI) aboard STEREO A. We discuss their possible relationship to periodic fluctuations of the proton density that have been identified at 1 AU using in-situ plasma measurements. Specifically, Viall, Kepko, and Spence (2008) examined 11 years of in-situ solar-wind density measurements at 1 AU and demonstrated that not only turbulent structures, but also non-turbulent periodic density structures exist in the solar wind with scale sizes of hundreds to one thousand Mm. In a subsequent paper, Viall, Spence, and Kasper (2009) analyzed the {\alpha} to proton solar-wind abundance ratio measured during one such event of periodic density structures, demonstrating that the plasma behavior was highly suggestive that either temporally or spatially varying coronal source plasma created those density structures. Large periodic density structures observed at 1 AU, which were generated in the corona, can be observable in coronal and heliospheric white-light images if they possess sufficiently high density contrast. Indeed, we identify such periodic density structures as they enter the HI field of view and follow them as they advect with the solar wind through the images. The smaller periodic density structures that we identify in the images are comparable in size to the larger structures analyzed in-situ at 1 AU, yielding further evidence that periodic density enhancements are a consequence of coronal activity as the solar wind is formed.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Transplantation of Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor-Expressing Adult Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells Promotes Remyelination and Functional Recovery after SpinalCord Injury

Demyelination contributes to the dysfunction after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). We explored whether the combination of neurotrophic factors and transplantation of adult rat spinal cord oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) could enhance remyelination and functional recovery after SCI. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was the most effective neurotrophic factor to promote oligodendrocyte (OL) differentiation and survival of OPCs in vitro. OPCs were infected with retroviruses expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) or CNTF and transplanted into the contused adult thoracic spinal cord 9 d after injury. Seven weeks after transplantation, the grafted OPCs survived and integrated into the injured spinal cord. The survival of grafted CNTF-OPCs increased fourfold compared with EGFP-OPCs. The grafted OPCs differentiated into adenomatus polyposis coli (APC+) OLs, and CNTF significantly increased the percentage of APC+ OLs from grafted OPCs. Immunofluorescent and immunoelectron microscopic analyses showed that the grafted OPCs formed central myelin sheaths around the axons in the injured spinal cord. The number of OL-remyelinated axons in ventrolateral funiculus (VLF) or lateral funiculus (LF) at the injured epicenter was significantly increased in animals that received CNTF-OPC grafts compared with all other groups. Importantly, 75% of rats receiving CNTF-OPC grafts recovered transcranial magnetic motor-evoked potential and magnetic interenlargement reflex responses, indicating that conduction through the demyelinated axons in VLF or LF, respectively, was partially restored. More importantly, recovery of hindlimb locomotor function was significantly enhanced in animals receiving grafts of CNTF-OPCs. Thus, combined treatment with OPC grafts expressing CNTF can enhance remyelination and facilitate functional recovery after traumatic SCI

Measles virus causes immunogenic cell death in human melanoma

Oncolytic viruses (OV) are promising treatments for cancer, with several currently undergoing testing in randomised clinical trials. Measles virus (MV) has not yet been tested in models of human melanoma. This study demonstrates the efficacy of MV against human melanoma. It is increasingly recognised that an essential component of therapy with OV is the recruitment of host anti-tumour immune responses, both innate and adaptive. MV-mediated melanoma cell death is an inflammatory process, causing the release of inflammatory cytokines including type-1 interferons and the potent danger signal HMGB1. Here, using human in vitro models, we demonstrate that MV enhances innate antitumour activity, and that MV-mediated melanoma cell death is capable of stimulating a melanoma-specific adaptive immune response