J. R. Hicks and R. O. Leary to J. E. Davis, 9 May

Regarding medical supplies and services from Dr. E.G. Banks for part of the year 1863. Includes undated envelope.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ciwar_corresp/1050/thumbnail.jp

Review: Grass-based dairy systems, data and precision technologies

Precision technologies and data have had relatively modest impacts in grass-based livestock ruminant production systems compared with other agricultural sectors such as arable. Precision technologies promise increased efficiency, reduced environmental impact, improved animal health, welfare and product quality. The benefits of precision technologies have, however, been relatively slow to be realised on pasture based farms. Though there is significant overlap with indoor systems, implementing technology in grass-based dairying brings unique opportunities and challenges. The large areas animals roam and graze in pasture based systems and the associated connectivity challenges may, in part at least, explain the comparatively lower adoption of such technologies in pasture based systems. With the exception of sensor and Bluetooth-enabled plate metres, there are thus few technologies designed specifically to increase pasture utilisation. Terrestrial and satellite-based spectral analysis of pasture biomass and quality is still in the development phase. One of the key drivers of efficiency in pasture based systems has thus only been marginally impacted by precision technologies. In contrast, technological development in the area of fertility and heat detection has been significant and offers significant potential value to dairy farmers, including those in pasture based systems. A past review of sensors in health management for dairy farms concluded that although the collection of accurate data was generally achieved, the processing, integration and presentation of the resulting information and decision-support applications were inadequate. These technologies' value to farming systems is thus unclear. As a result, it is not certain that farm management is being sufficiently improved to justify widespread adoption of precision technologies currently. We argue for a user need-driven development of technologies and for a focus on how outputs arising from precision technologies and associated decision support applications are delivered to users to maximise their value. Further cost/benefit analysis is required to determine the efficacy of investing in specific precision technologies, potentially taking account of several yet to ascertained farm specific variables

Thermodynamics of C incorporation on Si(100) from ab initio calculations

We study the thermodynamics of C incorporation on Si(100), a system where strain and chemical effects are both important. Our analysis is based on first-principles atomistic calculations to obtain the important lowest energy structures, and a classical effective Hamiltonian which is employed to represent the long-range strain effects and incorporate the thermodynamic aspects. We determine the equilibrium phase diagram in temperature and C chemical potential, which allows us to predict the mesoscopic structure of the system that should be observed under experimentally relevant conditions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Bevacizumab for newly diagnosed ovarian cancers: Best candidates among high-risk disease patients (icon-7)

Bevacizumab is approved as a maintenance treatment in first-line setting in advanced-stage III-IV ovarian cancers, because GOG-0218 and ICON-7 phase III trials demonstrated progression-free survival benefits. However, only the subgroup of patients with high-risk diseases (stage IV, and incompletely resected stage III) derived an overall survival (OS) gain in the ICON-7 trial (4.8 months). The modeled CA-125 elimination rate constant K (KELIM) parameter, based on the longitudinal CA- 125 kinetics during the first 100 days of chemotherapy, is a potential indicator of the tumor primary chemo-sensitivity. In the ICON-7 trial dataset, the OS of patients within the low- and high-risk disease groups was assessed according to treatment arms and KELIM. Among the patients with high-risk diseases, those with favorable standardized KELIM of at least 1.0 (n=214, 46.7%) had no survival benefit from bevacizumab, whereas those with unfavorable KELIM less than 1.0 (n=244, 53.2%) derived the highest OS benefit (absolute difference = 9.1 months, 2-sided log-rank P=.10; Cox hazard ratio = 0.78, 95% confidence interval = 0.58 to 1.04, 2-sided P=.09)

ret/PTC-1 expression alters the immunoprofile of thyroid follicular cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hashimoto Thyroiditis (H.T.) is a destructive autoimmune thyroid condition whose precise molecular pathogenesis remains unclear. <it>ret</it>/PTC-1 is a chimeric transcript which has been described in autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and thyroid neoplasia. The purpose of this study was to observe the immunogenic effect exposure to H.T. and control lymphocyte supernatant would have on normal (Nthy-ori) and <it>ret</it>/PTC-1 (TPC-1) expressing thyroid cell line models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A 2 × 2 matrix comprising Nthy-ori and TPC-1 cell lines and H.T. and control lymphocyte supernatant was designed and utilised as follows; activated lymphocytic supernatant from a H.T. and normal control were co-cultured with a cell line derived from normal thyroid (Nthy-ori) and also a cell line derived from a papillary thyroid carcinoma that endogenously expresses <it>ret</it>/PTC-1 (TPC-1). The co-cultures were harvested at 0, 6 and 18 hour time points. Gene expression analysis was performed on RNA extracted from thyrocytes using TaqMan^®Immune profiling Low-Density Arrays (Applied Biosystems, CA, USA) comprising gene expression markers for 93 immune related targets plus 3 endogenous controls.</p> <p>Stimulation of the normal thyroid cell line model with activated T cell supernatant from the H.T. donor yielded global up-regulation of immune targets when compared with control supernatant stimulation. In particular, a cohort of targets (granzyme B, CD3, CD25, CD152, CD45) associated with cytotoxic cell death; T cell receptor (TCR) and T cell signaling were up-regulated in the normal cell line model. When the <it>ret</it>/PTC-1 expressing thyroid cell line was co-cultured with H.T. lymphocyte supernatant, in comparison to control supernatant stimulation, down-regulation of the same subset of immune targets was seen.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Co-culturing H.T. lymphocyte supernatant with a normal thyroid cell line model leads to over-expression of a subset of targets which could contribute to the pathogenesis of H.T. via cytotoxic cell death and TCR signalling. Stimulation of the <it>ret</it>/PTC-1 positive cell line with the same stimulus led to a down-regulated shift in the gene expression pattern of the cohort of immune targets. We hypothesize that <it>ret</it>/PTC-1 activation may dampen immunogenic responses in the thyroid, which could possibly facilitate papillary thyroid carcinoma development.</p

Bevacizumab for Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancers: Best Candidates Among High-Risk Disease Patients (ICON-7)

Bevacizumab is approved as a maintenance treatment in first-line setting in advanced-stage III-IV ovarian cancers, because GOG-0218 and ICON-7 phase III trials demonstrated progression-free survival benefits. However, only the subgroup of patients with high-risk diseases (stage IV, and incompletely resected stage III) derived an overall survival (OS) gain in the ICON-7 trial (4.8 months). The modeled CA-125 elimination rate constant K (KELIM) parameter, based on the longitudinal CA-125 kinetics during the first 100 days of chemotherapy, is a potential indicator of the tumor primary chemo-sensitivity. In the ICON-7 trial dataset, the OS of patients within the low- and high-risk disease groups was assessed according to treatment arms and KELIM. Among the patients with high-risk diseases, those with favorable standardized KELIM of at least 1.0 (n = 214, 46.7%) had no survival benefit from bevacizumab, whereas those with unfavorable KELIM less than 1.0 (n = 244, 53.2%) derived the highest OS benefit (absolute difference = 9.1 months, 2-sided log-rank P = .10; Cox hazard ratio = 0.78, 95% confidence interval = 0.58 to 1.04, 2-sided P = .09)

New Tetrahedral Global Minimum for the 98-atom Lennard-Jones Cluster

A new atomic cluster structure corresponding to the global minimum of the 98-atom Lennard-Jones cluster has been found using a variant of the basin-hopping global optimization algorithm. The new structure has an unusual tetrahedral symmetry with an energy of -543.665361, which is 0.022404 lower than the previous putative global minimum. The new LJ_98 structure is of particular interest because its tetrahedral symmetry establishes it as one of only three types of exceptions to the general pattern of icosahedral structural motifs for optimal LJ microclusters. Similar to the other exceptions the global minimum is difficult to find because it is at the bottom of a narrow funnel which only becomes thermodynamically most stable at low temperature.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, revte

Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal cavity:A descriptive analysis of cases from the Head and Neck 5000 study

OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to provide contemporary epidemiological data on squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the nasal cavity, which represents a rare type of head and neck cancer.DESIGN, SETTING &amp; PARTICIPANTS: A descriptive analysis of people with nasal cavity SCC treated with curative intent from the Head and Neck 5000 study; a multicentre clinical cohort study of people from the UK with head and neck cancer. People with tumours of the nasopharynx, paranasal sinuses and other sub-sites of the head and neck were excluded.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic data and treatment details are presented for all participants. The main outcomes were overall survival and survival according to categories of characteristics (e.g. smoker vs non-smoker); these were explored using Kaplan-Meier plots.RESULTS: Thirty people with nasal cavity SCC were included in the study, of which most were male (67%) and current or ex-smokers (70%). The majority (70%) presented with early stage (T1/2, N0) tumours. Cervical lymph node metastases at presentation were rare, occurring in only one person. Nine people died during the follow up period (30%). Worse survival outcomes were seen in people with moderate or severe co-morbidities.CONCLUSIONS: This paper provides epidemiological data on nasal cavity SCC in the UK. Patterns of disease and survival outcomes are described, identifying high-risk groups. Further studies should explore whether primary treatment modality alters survival. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.</p

Meeting Report: GBIF hackathon-workshop on Darwin Core and sample data (22-24 May 2013)

The workshop-hackathon was convened by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) at its secretariat in Copenhagen over 22-24 May 2013 with additional support from several projects (RCN4GSC, EAGER, VertNet, BiSciCol, GGBN, and Micro B3). It assembled a team of experts to address the challenge of adapting the Darwin Core standard for a wide variety of sample data. Topics addressed in the workshop included 1) a review of outstanding issues in the Darwin Core standard, 2) issues relating to publishing of biodiversity data through Darwin Core Archives, 3) use of Darwin Core Archives for publishing sample and monitoring data, 4) the case for modifying the Darwin Core Text Guide specification to support many-to-many relations, and 5) the generalization of the Darwin Core Archive to a "Biodiversity Data Archive". A wide variety of use cases were assembled and discussed in order to inform further developments

Meeting Report: GBIF hackathon-workshop on Darwin Core and sample data (22-24 May 2013)

The workshop-hackathon was convened by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) at its secretariat in Copenhagen over 22-24 May 2013 with additional support from several projects (RCN4GSC, EAGER, VertNet, BiSciCol, GGBN, and Micro B3). It assembled a team of experts to address the challenge of adapting the Darwin Core standard for a wide variety of sample data. Topics addressed in the workshop included 1) a review of outstanding issues in the Darwin Core standard, 2) issues relating to publishing of biodiversity data through Darwin Core Archives, 3) use of Darwin Core Archives for publishing sample and monitoring data, 4) the case for modifying the Darwin Core Text Guide specification to support many-to-many relations, and 5) the generalization of the Darwin Core Archive to a "Biodiversity Data Archive". A wide variety of use cases were assembled and discussed in order to inform further developments