Care of older people living with cancer: The role of the specialist nurse and alied health profesionals

Older people with cancer have unique physiological, psychological and social needs. This article has identified several key actions that can readily be integrated into existing cancer care services to improve care outcomes for older people referred for cancer treatment, namely: embedding an integrated assessment into the initial visit to ensure early identification of symptoms and unmet needs; monitoring the effectiveness of cancer treatment and changing needs; optimising function through early and appropriate referral; maintaining GP contact; ensuring the provision of well-coordinated care; addressing psychosocial, emotional and financial needs; and minimising caregiver burden

A Buffer Stocks Model for Stabilizing Price of Staple Food with Considering the Expectation of Non Speculative Wholesaler

This paper is a study of price stabilization in the staple food distribution system. All stakeholders experience market risks due to some possibility causes of price volatility. Many models of price stabilization had been developed by employing several approaches such as floor-ceiling prices, buffer funds, export or import taxes, and subsidies. In the previous researches, the models were expanded to increase the purchasing price for producer and decrease the selling price for consumer. Therefore, the policy can influence the losses for non-speculative wholesaler that is reflected by the descending of selling quantity and ascending of the stocks. The objective of this model is not only to keep the expectation of both producer and consumer, but also to protect non-speculative wholesaler from the undesirable result of the stabilization policy. A nonlinear programming model was addressed to determine the instruments of intervention program. Moreover, the result shows that the wholesaler behavior affects the intervention costs. Index Terms Buffer stocks, Price stabilization, Nonlinear programming, Wholesaler behavior

A scalable analytical framework for spatio-temporal analysis of neighborhood change: A sequence analysis approach

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. Spatio-temporal changes reflect the complexity and evolution of demographic and socio-economic processes. Changes in the spatial distribution of population and consumer demand at urban and rural areas are expected to trigger changes in future housing and infrastructure needs. This paper presents a scalable analytical framework for understanding spatio-temporal population change, using a sequence analysis approach. This paper uses gridded cell Census data for Great Britain from 1971 to 2011 with 10-year intervals, creating neighborhood typologies for each Census year. These typologies are then used to analyze transitions of grid cells between different types of neighborhoods and define representative trajectories of neighborhood change. The results reveal seven prevalent trajectories of neighborhood change across Great Britain, identifying neighborhoods which have experienced stable, upward and downward pathways through the national socioeconomic hierarchy over the last four decades

Elevated surface chlorophyll associated with natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico

Natural hydrocarbon seeps occur on the sea floor along continental margins, and account for up to 47% of the oil released into the oceans. Hydrocarbon seeps are known to support local benthic productivity, but little is known about their impact on photosynthetic organisms in the overlying water column. Here we present observations with high temporal and spatial resolution of chlorophyll concentrations in the northern Gulf of Mexico using in situ and shipboard flow-through fluorescence measurements from May to July 2012, as well as an analysis of ocean-colour satellite images from 1997 to 2007. All three methods reveal elevated chlorophyll concentrations in waters influenced by natural hydrocarbon seeps. Temperature and nutrient profiles above seep sites suggest that nutrient-rich water upwells from depth, which may facilitate phytoplankton growth and thus support the higher chlorophyll concentrations observed. Because upwelling occurs at natural seep locations around the world, we conclude that offshore hydrocarbon seeps, and perhaps other types of deep ocean vents and seeps at depths exceeding 1,000 m, may influence biogeochemistry and productivity of the overlying water column

TITUS: the Tokai Intermediate Tank for the Unoscillated Spectrum

68 pages.38 figures68 pages.38 figures68 pages.38 figures70 pages, 41 figuresThe TITUS, Tokai Intermediate Tank for Unoscillated Spectrum, detector, is a proposed Gd-doped Water Cherenkov tank with a magnetised muon range detector downstream. It is located at J-PARC at about 2 km from the neutrino target and it is proposed as a potential near detector for the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment. Assuming a beam power of 1.3 MW and 27.05 x 10^{21} protons-on-target the sensitivity to CP and mixing parameters achieved by Hyper-Kamiokande with TITUS as a near detector is presented. Also, the potential of the detector for cross sections and Standard Model parameter determination, supernova neutrino and dark matter are shown

Genome-Wide Identification of R2R3-MYB Genes and Expression Analyses During Abiotic Stress in

The R2R3-MYB is one of the largest families of transcription factors, which have been implicated in multiple biological processes. There is great diversity in the number of R2R3-MYB genes in different plants. However, there is no report on genome-wide characterization of this gene family in cotton. In the present study, a total of 205 putative R2R3-MYB genes were identified in cotton D genome (Gossypium raimondii), that are much larger than that found in other cash crops with fully sequenced genomes. These GrMYBs were classified into 13 groups with the R2R3-MYB genes from Arabidopsis and rice. The amino acid motifs and phylogenetic tree were predicted and analyzed. The sequences of GrMYBs were distributed across 13 chromosomes at various densities. The results showed that the expansion of the G. Raimondii R2R3-MYB family was mainly attributable to whole genome duplication and segmental duplication. Moreover, the expression pattern of 52 selected GrMYBs and 46 GaMYBs were tested in roots and leaves under different abiotic stress conditions. The results revealed that the MYB genes in cotton were differentially expressed under salt and drought stress treatment. Our results will be useful for determining the precise role of the MYB genes during stress responses with crop improvement

Clinical Utility of Random Anti–Tumor Necrosis Factor Drug–Level Testing and Measurement of Antidrug Antibodies on the Long-Term Treatment Response in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective: To investigate whether antidrug antibodies and/or drug non-trough levels predict the long-term treatment response in a large cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with adalimumab or etanercept and to identify factors influencing antidrug antibody and drug levels to optimize future treatment decisions.  Methods: A total of 331 patients from an observational prospective cohort were selected (160 patients treated with adalimumab and 171 treated with etanercept). Antidrug antibody levels were measured by radioimmunoassay, and drug levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 835 serial serum samples obtained 3, 6, and 12 months after initiation of therapy. The association between antidrug antibodies and drug non-trough levels and the treatment response (change in the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints) was evaluated.  Results: Among patients who completed 12 months of followup, antidrug antibodies were detected in 24.8% of those receiving adalimumab (31 of 125) and in none of those receiving etanercept. At 3 months, antidrug antibody formation and low adalimumab levels were significant predictors of no response according to the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria at 12 months (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.71 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.57, 0.85]). Antidrug antibody–positive patients received lower median dosages of methotrexate compared with antidrug antibody–negative patients (15 mg/week versus 20 mg/week; P = 0.01) and had a longer disease duration (14.0 versus 7.7 years; P = 0.03). The adalimumab level was the best predictor of change in the DAS28 at 12 months, after adjustment for confounders (regression coefficient 0.060 [95% CI 0.015, 0.10], P = 0.009). Etanercept levels were associated with the EULAR response at 12 months (regression coefficient 0.088 [95% CI 0.019, 0.16], P = 0.012); however, this difference was not significant after adjustment. A body mass index of ≥30 kg/m2 and poor adherence were associated with lower drug levels.  Conclusion: Pharmacologic testing in anti–tumor necrosis factor–treated patients is clinically useful even in the absence of trough levels. At 3 months, antidrug antibodies and low adalimumab levels are significant predictors of no response according to the EULAR criteria at 12 months