Signs and signals: The conception of communication in U.S. telecommunications rhetoric.

The thesis at hand will investigate communication and its changing conditions with respect to the thinking of the political community in the United States. The central aim is to deliberate upon the relationship between communication and specific telecommunication systems during the period ranging from the telegraph to computer networks. Together with related discourses and practices, systems of communication have formed an environment wherein "communication" as such has become thought about. That is, taken as both the object and the means of administrative practices, communication has come to be regarded as communication. It is in these practices that the inherent relationship between communication and control can be found, which makes them the main focus for an administrative history of communication and a history of the administration of communication. Thus, we will analyze the relationship between historical forms of communication and the ontology of communication to the extent that this relationship is built up through socially institutionalized communication systems and related discourses

Vastasyntyneiden kohtausoireet

Vastasyntyneiden kohtausoireet ovat yleisiä. Ne voivat olla neurologinen hätätilanne tai ei-epileptinen, harmiton oire. Nykyisillä tutkimusmenetelmillä päästään yhä tarkempaan diagnostiikkaan. Kohtausoireiden yksityiskohtainen kuvaus ja niiden yhteys EEG:n poikkeavuuksiin ovat diagnostiikan kulmakiviä. Hoito on kehittynyt hitaasti, mutta uudemmat epilepsialääkkeet voivat tulevaisuudessa auttaa. Toistaiseksi näyttöön perustuvia tutkimustuloksia ei ole, ja lisäksi tiedot uusien lääkkeiden pitkäaikaisvaikutuksista puuttuvat. Entistä tärkeämmäksi on tullut kohtausoireiden erotusdiagnostiikka. English summary: Seizures in newborn infant Seizures in newborn infants are common. The may constitute a neurologic emergency or a nonepileptic, harmless symptom. Diagnostics is becoming more spesific with current methodologies. Detailed description of seizures and their connection with EEG abnormalities are the diagnostic cornerstones. The treatment has made slow progress, but newer antiepileptic drugs may aid in the treatment of epileptic seizures in newborn infants in the future. For the time being, evidence-based research results for them are lacking, as well as data on long-term effects. Differential diagnosis of seizures has become increasingly important

Preclinical efficacy of hK2 targeted [177Lu]hu11B6 for prostate cancer theranostics

Androgen ablating drugs increase life expectancy in men with metastatic prostate cancer, but resistance inevitably develops. In a majority of these recurrent tumors, the androgen axis is reactivated in the form of increased androgen receptor (AR) expression. Targeting proteins that are expressed as a down-stream effect of AR activity is a promising rationale for management of this disease. The humanized IgG1 antibody hu11B6 internalizes into prostate and prostate cancer (PCa) cells by binding to the catalytic cleft of human kallikrein 2 (hK2), a prostate specific enzyme governed by the AR-pathway. In a previous study, hu11B6 conjugated with Actinium-225 (225Ac), a high linear energy transfer (LET) radionuclide, was shown to generate an AR-upregulation driven feed-forward mechanism that is believed to enhance therapeutic efficacy. We assessed the efficacy of hu11B6 labeled with a low LET beta-emitter, Lutetium-177 (177Lu) and investigated whether similar tumor killing and AR-enhancement is produced. Moreover, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of 177Lu is quantitatively accurate and can be used to perform treatment planning. [177Lu]hu11B6 therefore has significant potential as a theranostic agent. Materials and Methods: Subcutaneous PCa xenografts (LNCaP s.c.) were grown in male mice. Biokinetics at 4-336 h post injection and uptake as a function of the amount of hu11B6 injected at 72 h were studied. Over a 30 to 120-day treatment period the therapeutic efficacy of different activities of [177Lu]hu11B6 were assessed by volumetric tumor measurements, blood cell counts, molecular analysis of the tumor as well as SPECT/CT imaging. Organ specific mean absorbed doses were calculated, using a MIRD-scheme, based on biokinetic data and rodent specific S-factors from a modified MOBY phantom. Tumor tissues of treated xenografts were immunohistochemically (IHC) stained for Ki-67 (proliferation) and AR, SA-β-gal activity (senescence) and analyzed by digital autoradiography (DAR). Results: Organ-to-blood and tumor-to-blood ratios were independent of hu11B6 specific activity except for the highest amount of antibody (150 µg). Tumor accumulation of [177Lu]hu11B6 peaked at 168 h with a specific uptake of 29 ± 9.1 percent injected activity per gram (%IA/g) and low accumulation in normal organs except in the submandibular gland (15 ± 4.5 %IA/g), attributed to a cross-reaction with mice kallikreins in this organ, was seen. However, SPECT imaging with therapeutic amounts of [177Lu]hu11B6 revealed no peak in tumor accumulation at 7 d, probably due to cellular retention of 177Lu and decreasing tumor volumes. For [177Lu]hu11B6 treated mice, tumor decrements of up to 4/5 of the initial tumor volume and reversible myelotoxicity with a nadir at 12 d were observed after a single injection. Tumor volume reduction correlated with injected activity and the absorbed dose. IHC revealed retained expression of AR throughout treatment and that Ki-67 staining reached a nadir at 9-14 d which coincided with high SA- β-gal activity (14 d). Quantification of nuclei staining showed that Ki-67 expression correlated negatively with activity uptake. AR expression levels in cells surviving therapy compared to previous timepoints and to controls at 30 d were significantly increased (p = 0.017). Conclusions: This study shows that hu11B6 labeled with the low LET beta-emitting radionuclide 177Lu can deliver therapeutic absorbed doses to prostate cancer xenografts with transient hematological side-effects. The tumor response correlated with the absorbed dose both on a macro and a small scale dosimetric level. Analysis of AR staining showed that AR protein levels increased late in the study suggesting a therapeutic mechanism, a feed forward mechanism coupled to AR driven response to DNA damage or clonal lineage selection, similar to that reported in high LET alpha-particle therapy using 225Ac labeled hu11B6, however emerging at a later timepoint

Education and employment among patients with childhood-onset epilepsy in adulthood : A population-based cohort study

Objective: This study explored the association of childhood-onset epilepsy (COE) with educational attainment, adulthood employment, and income. Methods: A population-based cohort of 312 children with COE was identified from Tampere University Hospital, Finland. Population Register Center formed a matched random population sample of 1248 children without COE as a reference cohort. The two cohorts were linked to the Statistics Finland database to obtain information on educational attainment, employment status, and income. Fisher's exact test was used to compare employment and graduation. Independent samples t-test was used for analyzing graduation grades and the Mann-Whitney test was used for analyzing yearly income. Results were stratified by sex and disability. Results: During a follow-up of 25 years, a substantially higher proportion of the patients never entered the workforce, 37 % (109/312) compared with 4 % (44/1248) for the referents without COE (p < 0.001). A two-fold difference was observed for COE patients without other disabilities (7.7 %, 13/169, p = 0.01). No clear difference was found in long-term employment between the COE without disabilities and the referents (67 %, 114/169 versus 74 %, 920/1248, p = 0.087). The patients with COE had worse lower secondary school graduation grade averages (7.36 vs 7.6, p = 0.004) and graduation rates (64 % vs 98 %, p < 0.001), the patients without disabilities had similar results to referents (7.43, p = 0.07, 98 %). Of the patients with COE, 18 % graduated from college compared to 38 % of the referents (p < 0.001). The median income was lower in males and females with COE of all ages compared to the referents. The COE patients without additional mental or physical disabilities had income comparable to the healthy referents. 143 patients (46 %) had additional disabilities. Significance: Patients with COE have lower educational attainment, stable employment, and income. Patients without disabilities also have an increased risk of unemployment, but those capable of entering the workforce have stable careers with earnings comparable to the rest of the population.Peer reviewe

Video-EEG epilepsian diagnostiikassa - milloin ja miksi?

Aivosähkötoimintaa mittaava EEG on epilepsian spesifinen tutkimus. Video-EEG:llä (V-EEG) tarkoitetaan EEG:n ja videokuvan samanaikaista tallennusta. Valtaosa epilepsiapotilaista joudutaan diagnosoimaan ilman V-EEG:tä, varsinkin jos kohtauksia on esiintynyt vain muutama. Kohtausten toistuessa tavoite on päästä kohtauksenaikaiseen V-EEG-rekisteröintiin. V-EEG:n käyttöaiheista tärkein on epilepsian diagnostiikka ja erotusdiagnostiikka. V-EEG:llä pystytään erottamaan epileptiset kohtaukset esimerkiksi sydänperäisistä kohtauksista, liikehäiriöistä ja toiminnallisista kohtauksista. Keskeisiä kliinisiä käyttöaiheita ovat epilepsioiden tarkempi luokittelu, hoitovasteen arviointi ja epilepsialeikkausta edeltävä kohtauspesäkkeen paikannus. V-EEG voidaan rekisteröidä kaikenikäisiltä. Tutkimuksen kesto vaihtelee kliinisen tarpeen mukaan muutamista tunneista useaan vuorokauteen. V-EEG:stä hyötyvät kaikki tutkimukseen ohjatut potilaat, vaikka vain osa etenee esimerkiksi epilepsian kirurgiseen hoitoon. English summary: Video-EEG in epilepsy diagnostics - when and why? Video-EEG (V-EEG) refers to the recording of video picture simultaneously with EEG. A major part of epilepsy patients have to be diagnosed without V-EEG. For a patient having recurrent seizures, the aim is to accomplish V-EEG recording during a seizure. Of the indications of V-EEG, the most important one is diagnosis and differential diagnosis of epilepsy. V-EEG is able to differentiate epileptic seizures from cardiogenic seizures, motor disorders or functional seizures, for example. Essential clinical indications include a more exact classification of epilepsies, evaluation of therapeutic response, and localization of the seizure focus prior to epilepsy surgery

Options to Reform the European Union Legislation on GMOs: Scope and Definitions

We discuss options to reform the EU genetically modified organisms (GMO) regulatory framework, make risk assessment and decision-making more consistent with scientific principles, and lay the groundwork for international coherence. The first in a three-part series, this article focuses on reform options related to the scope of the legislation and the GMO definition.</p

Detailed diesel exhaust characteristics including particle surface area and lung deposited dose for better understanding of health effects in human chamber exposure studies.

Several diesel exhaust (DE) characteristics, comprising both particle and gas phase, recognized as important when linking with health effects, are not reported in human chamber exposure studies. In order to understand effects of DE on humans there is a need for better characterization of DE when performing exposure studies. The aim of this study was to determine and quantify detailed DE characteristics during human chamber exposure. Additionally to compare to reported DE properties in conducted human exposures. A wide battery of particle and gas phase measurement techniques have been used to provide detailed DE characteristics including the DE particles (DEP) surface area, fraction and dose deposited in the lungs, chemical composition of both particle and gas phase such as NO, NO2, CO, CO2, volatile organic compounds (including aldehydes, benzene, toluene) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Eyes, nose and throat irritation effects were determined. Exposure conditions with PM1 (<1 mm) mass concentration 280 mg m3, number concentration 4 105 cm3 and elemental to total carbon fraction of 82% were generated from a diesel vehicle at idling. When estimating the lung deposited dose it was found that using the size dependent effective density (in contrast to assuming unity density) reduced the estimated respiratory dose by 132% by mass. Accounting for agglomerated structure of DEP prevented underestimation of lung deposited dose by surface area by 37% in comparison to assuming spherical particles. Comparison of DE characteristics reported in conducted chamber exposures showed that DE properties vary to a great extent under the same DEP mass concentration and engine load. This highlights the need for detailed and standardized approach for measuring and reporting of DE properties. Eyes irritation effects, most probably caused by aldehydes in the gas phase, as well as nose irritation were observed at exposure levels below current occupational exposure limit values given for exhaust fumes. Reporting detailed DE characteristics that include DEP properties (such as mass and number concentration, size resolved information, surface area, chemical composition, lung deposited dose by number, mass and surface) and detailed gas phase including components known for their carcinogenic and irritation effect (e.g. aldehydes, benzene, PAHs) can help in determination of key parameters responsible for observed health effects and comparison of chamber exposure studies