HLA-DPB1 matching status has significant implications for recipients of unrelated donor stem cell transplants.

Studies in unrelated donor (UD) hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (HSCT) show an effect of the matching status of HLA-DPB1 on complications. We analyzed 423 UD-HSCT pairs. Most protocols included T-cell depletion (TCD). All pairs had high-resolution tissue typing performed for 6 HLA loci. Two hundred eighty-two pairs were matched at 10 of 10 alleles (29% were DPB1 matched). In 141 HILA-mismatched pairs, 28% were matched for DPB1. In the 10 of 10 matched pairs (n = 282), the 3-year probability of relapse was 61%. This was significantly higher in DPB1-matched pairs (74%) as compared with DPB1-mismatched pairs (56%) (log rank, P = .001). This finding persisted in multivariate analysis. In the group overall (n = 423), relapse was also significantly increased if DPB1 was matched (log rank; P < .001). These results were similar in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML; P < .001) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL; P = .013). In ALL, DPB1-matched pairs had a significantly worse overall survival (log rank; P = .025). Thus, in recipients of TCD UD-HSCT, a match for DPB1 is associated with a significantly increased risk of disease relapse, irrespective of the matching status for the other HILA molecules. It is possible that this effect is especially apparent following TCD transplantations and invites speculation about the function of DPB1 within the immune system

Innovation and safety in critical care: should we collaborate with the industry? Yes

As clinicians we all want to improve care for our patients. We can do that in two ways. We can do what we currently do better, or we can do new things (better). The development of large clinical academic trials groups and networks has enabled clinicians to understand what particular clinical care leads to better patient-centred outcomes. Ironically, we have learnt that many of our “usual” interventions either provided no benefit or were even harmful. Thus, clinicians, can improve the safety and effectiveness of critical care practice. But when it comes to innovation - new therapeutics and novel diagnostics - then it is hard to imagine that we could achieve this without input from or partnership with industry. Furthermore, a brief walk around an ICU illustrates cogently the vast number of devices used and drugs being infused, all of which originated in industry, some with much and some with little clinician scientist input. We argue herein that such collaboration is not only acceptable, it is necessary and can be done ethically, using established guidelines and conflict of interest disclosure

The color of smiling: computational synaesthesia of facial expressions

This note gives a preliminary account of the transcoding or rechanneling problem between different stimuli as it is of interest for the natural interaction or affective computing fields. By the consideration of a simple example, namely the color response of an affective lamp to a sensed facial expression, we frame the problem within an information- theoretic perspective. A full justification in terms of the Information Bottleneck principle promotes a latent affective space, hitherto surmised as an appealing and intuitive solution, as a suitable mediator between the different stimuli.Comment: Submitted to: 18th International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing (ICIAP 2015), 7-11 September 2015, Genova, Ital

Microbial contamination of food refrigeration equipment

Refrigeration systems in chilled rooms in 15 plants processing a variety of foods were studied. These included plants processing raw meat and salads, Chinese ready meals, dairy products, slicing and packing of cooked meats and catering establishments. An initial survey of total numbers of microbes at a total of 891 sites on evaporators, drip trays and chilled room walls was followed up with a more detailed examination of 336 sites with high counts, selecting for Listeria spp., coliforms, enterococci, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. Temperatures (particularly air on and air off, maximum and near defrost heaters) relative humidity, airflow, layout and cleaning regimes were surveyed. In general, no correlation could be found between any of the physical measurements and the numbers and types of bacteria detected. Maximum mean temperatures in the chilled rooms varied from -1 to +16.9 °C and few chilled units were regularly cleaned. Twenty five percent of sites examined had more than 105 colony-forming units per cm2, although, very few pathogens or faecal indicator bacteria were detected. Listeria spp. were not found and coliforms were found only once, in low numbers. Low numbers of S. aureus or B. cereus were present in 9 of the 15 plants, B. cereus was found on evaporators and associated drip trays in two catering plants and two plants processing cooked meat. Enterococci and S. aureus were found most frequently in a raw red meat slaughterhouse (always in low numbers). In general, microbial contamination was lower in rooms where wrapped rather than unwrapped products were stored. The type of product also affected the degree of contamination, with raw red meat and poultry or dry ingredients giving highest counts, and raw vegetables and cooked products lowest. The work demonstrated that bacteria were present on evaporator cooling coils in all factory cold rooms visited. Although evaporator-cleaning procedures were carried out in some factories as part of routine maintenance these were not shown to be effective at maintaining low levels of bacteria on evaporators. To maintain evaporator hygiene it is suggested that more regular cleaning procedures, possibly by means of automated cleansing systems, should be considered. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A supersonic crowdion in mica: Ultradiscrete kinks with energy between 40^{40}K recoil and transmission sputtering

In this chapter we analyze in detail the behaviour and properties of the kinks found in an one dimensional model for the close packed rows of potassium ions in mica muscovite. The model includes realistic potentials obtained from the physics of the problem, ion bombardment experiments and molecular dynamics fitted to experiments. These kinks are supersonic and have an unique velocity and energy. They are ultradiscrete involving the translation of an interstitial ion, which is the reason they are called 'crowdions'. Their energy is below the most probable source of energy, the decay of the $^{40}$K isotope and above the energy needed to eject an atom from the mineral, a phenomenon that has been observed experimentallyComment: 28 pages, 15 figure

The Effects of Narrative Online Advertising on Attitude and Purchase Intention

This study examines the effects of narrative online advertising on a consumer’s attitude toward a product and his/her purchase intention, and the moderating effects of advertising, product and purchase involvement on the (aforementioned) relationships. The results indicate that the four narrative online advertising elements (interactivity, vividness, entertainment, self-referencing) have a positive effect on attitude (interactivity and entertainment did not), and attitude has a positive effect on purchase intention. The former relationship is positively moderated (enhanced) by advertising involvement but on only vividness and self-referencing while the latter by only product involvement. The data do not support purchase involvement as a moderator

A Study Of Travel Agency Collaboration And Co-Creation In The Tourism Industry

This study explores the dynamics of collaboration between travel agencies and their suppliers in co-creating value with their customers. It examines the relationship among six collaboration elements (co-creation dynamics), service innovation, competitive advantage, technology adoption and environmental change, and the moderating effect of trust on the co-creation elements and service innovation. The effects of technology adoption and environmental changes on the six elements were also examined. Results indicate that all the above effects are significant, and trust enhances the effect of the elements on innovation for Taiwan travel agencies. However, technology adoption and trust differed for the Malaysian travel agencies

Influence of expressive speech on ASR performances: application to elderly assistance in smart home

International audienceSmart homes are discussed as a win-win solution for maintaining the Elderly at home as a better alternative to care homes for dependent elderly people. Such Smart homes are characterized by rich domestic commands devoted to elderly safety and comfort. The vocal command has been identified as an efficient , well accepted, interaction way, it can be directly addressed to the "habitat", or through a robotic interface. In daily use, the challenges of vocal commands recognition are the noisy environment but moreover the reformulation and the expressive change of the strictly authorized commands. This paper focuses (1) to show, on the base of elicited corpus, that expressive speech, in particular distress speech, strongly affects generic state of the art ASR systems (20 to 30%) (2) how interesting improvement thanks to ASR adaptation can regulate (15%) this degradation. We conclude on the necessary adaptation of ASR system to expressive speech when they are designed for person's assistance

Vertical structure of near-bed cross-shore flow velocities in the swash zone of a dissipative beach

Cross-shore velocity profiles are measured at 0.001m vertical resolution and at 100Hz over the lower 0.02-0.07m of the water column in the mid swash zone on a dissipative, macrotidal beach. Swash motion is predominantly at infragravity frequencies and forced by significant wave heights exceeding 1.5m and peak wave periods over 15s. Observations of long duration (> 14s) swashes during two rising tides are used to quantify the vertical structure of cross-shore flow velocities and estimate corresponding bed shear stress and friction coefficients. Analysis is performed on an individual swash event to an elevation of 0.07 m and an ensemble event made up of 24 individual swash events to an elevation of 0.02m. Cross-shore velocities exceed 2 m s-1 and are of a similar magnitude during both the uprush and the backwash. Changes in velocity with elevation indicate that the swash zone boundary layer extends to 0.07m during the strongest flows and is well-represented by the logarithmic model applied to this elevation, except near flow reversal. Maximum bed shear stresses estimated using the logarithmic model are 22 N m-2 and 10 N m-2 for the individual event and ensemble event respectively and mean values are larger during the backwash than the uprush. Mean friction coefficients estimated from equating the logarithmic model and the quadratic drag law are 0.018 and 0.019 for the individual event and ensemble event respectively. Bed shear stress may be underestimated if the logarithmic model is fit to a velocity profile that is only part boundary layer, emphasising the need for high resolution velocity profiles close to the bed for accurate bed shear stress predictions in the swash zone