Methods and compositions for stimulating T-lymphocytes

Disclosed are methods, compositions, antibodies, and therapeutic kits for use in stimulating cytotoxic T-lymphocytes and generating immune responses against epitopes of protooncogenes. Novel peptides are described which have been shown to stimulate cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, and act as antigens in generation of oncogenic epitope-recognizing antibodies. Methods are disclosed for use in treating various proliferative disorders, and diagnosing HER-2/neu-containing cells; also disclosed are therapeutic kits useful in the treatment of cancer and production of potential anti-cancer vaccines.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

A coupled finite-volume CFD solver for two-dimensional elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication problems with particular application to rolling element bearings

This paper describes a new computational fluid dynamics methodology for modelling elastohydrodynamic contacts. A finite-volume technique is implemented in the ‘OpenFOAM’ package to solve the Navier-Stokes equations and resolve all gradients in a lubricated rolling-sliding contact. The method fully accounts for fluid-solid interactions and is stable over a wide range of contact conditions, including pressures representative of practical rolling bearing and gear applications. The elastic deformation of the solid, fluid cavitation and compressibility, as well as thermal effects are accounted for. Results are presented for rolling-sliding line contacts of an elastic cylinder on a rigid flat to validate the model predictions, illustrate its capabilities, and identify some example conditions under which the traditional Reynolds-based predictions deviate from the full CFD solution

Regression quantiles with errors-in-variables

In a lot of situations, variables are measured with errors. While this problem has been previously studied in the kontext of kernel regression, no work has been done in quantile regression. To estimate this function we use deconvoluting kernel estimators. The asymptotic behaviour of these estimators depends on the smoothness of the noise distribution

Consciousness and its Measures: Joint Workshop for COST Actions NeuroMath and Consciousness

The main goals of COST Action NeuroMath are the same as those of the open access journal Nonlinear Biomedical Physics to show how new methods that are being developed in physical disciplines can shed new light on biological phenomena and their medical applications and to bridge the gaps between specialists in physics and biomedical specialists who use these methods in practice. Medical doctors and biologists rather avoid reading physical journals because the articles published there contain 'heavy' mathematics; on the other hand, physicists and engineers rarely read biological and medical journals because articles there are mostly descriptive. Both COST NeuroMath Action with its workshops and the journal Nonlinear Biomedical Physics were created to enable these groups to meet together. In this Supplement to Nonlinear Biomedical Physics we publish the best papers based on the presentations shown during the joint workshop for COST Actions NeuroMath (BM0601) and Consciousness (BM0605) 'Consciousness and its Measures' that took place in Limassol, Cyprus, 29 November 01 December, 2009. The papers present the newest interdisciplinary achievements in both applied and theoretical research on brain and consciousness. Transient process and synchrony of cortical activity [1], different patterns of cortical activity [2] and assessment of different conscious states [3] are presented. Neurodynamics is studied based on fMRI [4] and on high-resolution EEG signals [5]. Mutual Information is used to study yoking of eyes during saccadic movements [6] and MEG around saccades is analyzed for non-invasive characterization of the human eye fields [7]. Parameter selection for cortical potential imaging [8], and classification of ADHD patients based on independent ERP components [9] are discussed. Language processing by human brain using fMRI [10] and the influence of noise due to electromagnetic interference on processing of visual information [11] are studied. We thank the Authors and the Reviewers for the great job they all have done. We also thank Dr. Kalliopi Kostelidou, Science Officer, BMBS Domain, COST Office, Brussels, and Isobel Peters, Senior Project Manager as well as The Independent Editorial Production Team of BioMed Central, London, for their invaluable assistance in publishing this Supplement to Nonlinear Biomedical Physics

Cyprus' image—a sun and sea destination—as a detrimental factor to seasonal fluctuations. Exploration into motivational factors for holidaying in Cyprus

Cyprus is established as a summer destination. To aid the destination in developing its winter season as well, this research uses a qualitative inductive approach to explore the tourists’ current image of the island and their motivations of visiting it. The research indicates that the current image, which essentially portrays Cyprus as a sun-and-sea destination is thought to dissuade tourists from perceiving the island as a year-round destination. Nonetheless, increasing the pull factors of the destination through the development of unique special interest products can help in extending the tourism season as well as broaden its narrow image

MRI monitoring of lesions created at temperature below the boiling point and of lesions created above the boiling point using high intensity focused ultrasound

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was utilized to monitor lesions created at temperature below the boiling point and lesions created at temperature above the boiling point using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in freshly excised kidney, liver and brain and in vivo rabbit kidney and brain. T2-weighted fast spin echo (FSE) was proven as an excellent MRI sequence that can detect lesions with temperature above the boiling point in kidney. This advantage is attributed to the significant difference in signal intensity between the cavity and the thermal lesion. In liver the MRI sequence of Proton Density is recommended to detect lesions above boiling. In brain T1-W FSE was the optimum pulse sequence to detect lesions of either type. In order to monitor the temperature elevation during a HIFU exposure, T1-weighted fast spoiled gradient (FSPGR) was used. The shape of the focal temperature distribution was uniform with the absence of boiling, whereas with an exposure affected by boiling, the temperature distribution could be of irregular shape, demonstrating the drastic effects taking place during boiling. In order to confirm that boiling occurred, the temperature was estimated using the widely used method of Proton Resonance Frequency (PRF) shift

Evaluation of fast spin echo MRI sequence for an MRI guided high intensity focused ultrasound system for in vivo rabbit liver ablation

The effectiveness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor thermal lesions created by High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in rabbit liver in vivo is investigated. The MRI sequences of T1-weighted, and T2-weighted fast spin echo (FSE) were evaluated. The main goal in this paper was to find the range of repetition time (TR) and range of echo time (TE) which maximizes the contrast to noise ratio (CNR). An ultrasonic transducer operating at 2 MHz was used, which is navigated using a positioning device. With T1W FSE the range of TR under which CNR is maximized ranges from 400 to 900 ms. The maximum contrast measured is approximately 25. With T2W FSE the range of TE that establishes maximum contrast is between 40 ms and 80 ms, with CNR of approximately 14. T1W FSE is much better than T2W FSE in detecting thermal lesions in liver. Both T1W and T2 W FSE were proven successful to image thermal lesions created by HIFU in rabbit liver in vivo