Novel Method to Process Cystic Fibrosis Sputum for Determination of Oxidative State

Background: Induced sputum is the most commonly used method to analyze airway inflammation in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients ex vivo. Due to the complex matrix of the sample material, precise and reliable analysis of sputum constituents depends critically on preanalytical issues. Objectives: Here we compared the commonly used method for sputum processing by dithiothreitol (DTT) with a novel mechanical method in regard to basal cellular parameters, neutrophil markers and glutathione (GSH) levels. Methods: Sputum samples from CF patients were processed in parallel with or without the use of DTT. The key improvement of the mechanical method was the processing in many very small aliquots. Cellular and humoral markers were assessed and compared according to Bland-Altman. Results: Total cell count, cell viability, differential cell count, neutrophil elastase levels and flow cytometrically analyzed neutrophil markers (CD63, CD11b, DHR) did not differ between the two methods. Intracellular and extracellular GSH levels were significantly higher in DTT-treated samples (p = 0.002). Conclusion: The mechanical sputum-processing method presented had a similar yield of cells and fluids as the conventional DTT method and the advantage of omitting the introduction of reducing agents. This method allows a more reliable analysis of redox-dependent airway inflammation in sputum cells and fluid from CF patients than methods utilizing DTT. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

Magnetic phase diagram of a spin-1 condensate in two dimensions with dipole interaction

Several new features arise in the ground-state phase diagram of a spin-1 condensate trapped in an optical trap when the magnetic dipole interaction between the atoms is taken into account along with confinement and spin precession. The boundaries between the regions of ferromagnetic and polar phases move as the dipole strength is varied and the ferromagnetic phases can be modulated. The magnetization of the ferromagnetic phase perpendicular to the field becomes modulated as a helix winding around the magnetic field direction, with a wavelength inversely proportional to the dipole strength. This modulation should be observable for current experimental parameters in $^{87}$Rb. Hence the much-sought supersolid state, with broken continuous translation invariance in one direction and broken global U(1) invariance, occurs generically as a metastable state in this system as a result of dipole interaction. The ferromagnetic state parallel to the applied magnetic field becomes striped in a finite system at strong dipolar coupling.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures;published versio

Acquired Elliptocytosis as a Manifestation of Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Ring Sideroblasts and Multilineage Dysplasia.

Acquired elliptocytosis is a known but rarely described abnormality in the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Here we report the case of an elderly male who was admitted to the hospital with chest pain, dyspnea, and fatigue and was found to be anemic with an elliptocytosis that had only recently been noted on peripheral smears of his blood. After bone marrow biopsy he was diagnosed with MDS with ring sideroblasts and multilineage dysplasia and acquired elliptocytosis. Here we report a rare case of acquired elliptocytosis cooccurring with MDS with ring sideroblasts and multilineage dysplasia

Fast rate estimation of an unitary operation in SU(d)

We give an explicit procedure based on entangled input states for estimating a $SU(d)$ operation $U$ with rate of convergence $1/N^2$ when sending $N$ particles through the device. We prove that this rate is optimal. We also evaluate the constant $C$ such that the asymptotic risk is $C/N^2$. However other strategies might yield a better const ant $C$.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure Rewritten version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. A. The introduction is richer, the "tool section" on group representations has been suppressed, and a section proving that the 1/N^2 rate is optimum has been adde

Full Carbon Account for Russia.

The Forestry Project (FOR) at IIASA has produced a full carbon account (FCA) for Russia for 1990, together with scenarios for 2010. Currently, there are rather big question marks regarding the existing carbon accounts for Russia, and Russia is critical to the global carbon balance due to its size. IIASA is in a position to perform solid analysis of Russia because of the databases that the Institute has built over the years. FOR based this work on a comprehensive geographic information system comprising georeferenced descriptions of the environment and land of Russia, which in turn are based on a number of thematic, digitized maps and databases. For the Russian energy sector and other industrial sectors (except the forest industry), the project used emissions estimates from the recent IIASA study "Global Energy Perspectives" (1998). The project carried out a separate substudy for the Russian forest industry sector. According to FOR's estimate, the total fluxes (including energy and industry sectors) in Russia were a net source of 527 teragrams of carbon (Tg C) in 1990. To illustrate the possible development of the carbon pools and fluxes over the next 10 years, FOR developed three different scenarios for the period 1990-2010, reflecting different assumptions regarding Russia's GDP growth. According to these scenarios, Russia will continue to be a net source of carbon to the atmosphere with 156-385 Tg C in 2010, including the emissions from energy and other industrial sectors. However, analysis of the FCA also shows considerable uncertainties involved in the carbon accounting. These uncertainties exceed the calculated changes in the full flux balance for the period 1990-2010. At present, this raises grave questions regarding the reliability of any accounting system used to measure terrestrial ecosystems for compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.

The role of housing in labor reallocation

This paper builds a dynamic general equilibrium model of cities and uses it to analyze the role of local housing markets and moving costs in determining the character and extent of labor reallocation in the US economy. Labor reallocation in the model is driven by idiosyncratic city-specific productivity shocks, which we measure using a dataset that we compile using more than 350 U.S. cities for the years 1984 to 2008. Based on this measurement, we find that our model is broadly consistent with the city-level evidence on net and gross population flows, employment, wages and residential investment. We also find that the location-specific nature of housing is more important than moving costs in determining labor reallocation. Absent this quasi-fixity of housing, and under various assumptions governing population flows, population and employment would be much more volatile than observed.Housing - Econometric models ; Labor market

Issues Relevant to C-H Activation at Platinum(II): Comparative Studies between Cationic, Zwitterionic, and Neutral Platinum(II) Compounds in Benzene Solution

Cationic late metal systems are being highly scrutinized due to their propensity to mediate so-called electrophilic C-H activation reactions. This contribution compares the reactivity of highly reactive cationic platinum(II) systems with structurally related but neutral species. Our experimental design exploits isostructural neutral and cationic complexes supported by bis(phosphine) ligands amenable to mechanistic examination in benzene solution. The data presented herein collectively suggests that neutral platinum complexes can be equally if not more reactive towards benzene than their cationic counter-parts. Moreover, a number of unexpected mechanistic distinctions between the two systems arise that help to explain their respective reactivity

Preparatory Signal Detection for the EU-25 Member States Under EU Burden Sharing - Advanced Monitoring Including Uncertainty (1990-2003)

This study follows up IIASA Interim Report IR-04-024 (Jonas et al., 2004a), which addresses the preparatory detection of uncertain greenhouse gas (GHG) emission changes (also termed emission signals) under the Kyoto Protocol. The question probed was how well do we need to know net emissions if we want to detect a specified emission signal after a given time? The authors used the Protocol's Annex I countries as net emitters and referred to all Kyoto GHGs (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6) excluding CO2 emissions/removals due to land-use change and forestry (LUCF). They motivated the application of preparatory signal detection in the context of the Kyoto Protocol as a necessary measure that should have been taken prior to/in negotiating the Protocol. The authors argued that uncertainties are already monitored and are increasingly made available but that monitored emissions and uncertainties are still dealt with in isolation. A connection between emission and (total) uncertainty estimates for the purpose of an advanced country evaluation has not yet been established. The authors developed four preparatory signal detection techniques and applied these to the Annex I countries under the Kyoto Protocol. The frame of reference for preparatory signal detection is that Annex I countries comply with their committed emission targets in 2008-2012. The emissions path between the base year and commitment year/period is generally assumed to be a straight line, and the path of historical emissions is not taken into consideration. This study applies the strictest of these techniques, the combined undershooting and verification time (Und&VT) concept to advance the monitoring of the GHG emissions reported by the old and new Member States of the European Union (EU). In contrast to the earlier study, the Member States' committed emission targets under the EU burden sharing in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol are taken into account, however, still assuming that only domestic measures will be used (i.e., excluding Kyoto mechanisms). The Und&VT concept is applied in a standard mode, i.e., with reference to the Member States' committed emission targets in 2008-2012, and in a new mode, i.e., with reference to linear path emission targets between base year and commitment year. Here, the intermediate year of reference is 2003. To advance the reporting of the EU, uncertainty and its consequences are taken into consideration, i.e., (i) the risk that a Member State's true emissions in the commitment year/period are above its true emission limitation or reduction commitment; and (ii) the detectability of its target. Undershooting the committed EU target or EU-compatible, but detectable, target can decrease this risk. The Member States' linear path undershooting targets for the year 2003 are contrasted with their actual emission situation in that year, for which the distance-to-target indicator (DTI) is employed that has been introduced by the European Environment Agency. In 2003 eleven EU-25 Member States exhibit a negative DTI and thus appear as potential sellers: Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia and the UK. However, expecting that all of the EU Member States will eventually exhibit relative uncertainties in the range of 5-10% and above rather than below excluding LUCF and Kyoto mechanisms, the Member States require considerable undershooting of their EU-compatible, but detectable, targets if one wants to keep the said risk low that the Member States' true emissions in the commitment year/period are above their true EU reference lines. As of 2003, these conditions can only be met by seven new and two old Member States (ranked in terms of credibility): Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom, while two old Member States, France and Sweden, can only act as potential high-risk sellers. The other EU-25 Member States do not meet their linear path (base year--commitment year) undershooting targets in 2003, or do not have Kyoto targets at all (Cyprus and Malta). The relative uncertainty, with which countries report their emissions, matters. For instance, with relative uncertainty increasing from 5 to 10%, the linear path 2008/12 emission signal of the old EU-15 as a whole (which has jointly approved, as a Party, an 8% emission reduction under the Kyoto Protocol) switches from detectable to nondetectable, indicating that the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol were imprudent because they did not take uncertainty and its consequences into account. It is anticipated that the evaluation of emission signals in terms of risk and detectability will become standard practice and that these two qualifiers will be accounted for in pricing GHG emission permits

Contribution to a Carbon Consistent Database for Austria

Andreas Geisler participated in IIASA's 1999 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) and this paper summarizes his research. He was supervised by Matthias Jonas, research scholar in IIASA's Forestry (FOR) Project. Geisler's YSSP research task contributes to IIASA's research on Full Carbon Accounting and to the "Database for Assessment of Carbon Balance Modeling in Austria" study, work that commenced in June, 1999. The boundary conditions in setting up the Austrian carbon database are that it: is carbon consistent; satisfies the needs of Austria's carbon modeling community; and is consistent with FOR's existing database on Russia. The objective of the three-month YSSP task were to: create a database framework; fill the database with national data sets; track down carbon inconsistensies; and discuss options on how these can be overcome. However, the first objective had to be slightly changed during the course of the work, since available data sources posed some problems in creating the database setting. Therefore, after discussions with the research institutions employed with building the "Austrian Carbon Balance Model" (which are: Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf; Institute for Industrial Ecology, St. Poelten; and Joanneum Research, Graz), as well as with other Austrian research institutions and experts (see Acknowledgments) the objective was changed towards trying to obtain consistency of the relevant carbon flows on a national level. Therefore, as a first step, some Austrian wood related carbon flows were quantified with regard to consistency principles and the underlying options to overcome inconsistencies are very well reported. The carbon consistent database will be completed by mid 2001 and will put Austria a step forward in Full Carbon Accounting

Optimizing survival outcomes with post-remission therapy in acute myeloid leukemia.

Optimization of post-remission therapies to maintain complete remission and prevent relapse is a major challenge in treating patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Monitoring patients for measurable residual disease (MRD) is helpful to identify those at risk for relapse. Hypomethylating agents are being investigated as post-remission therapy. Identification of recurrent genetic alterations that drive disease progression has enabled the design of new, personalized approaches to therapy for patients with AML. Emerging data suggest that targeted post-remission therapy, alone or in combination with chemotherapy, may improve outcomes. Results of ongoing clinical trials will further define potential clinical benefits