The Effect of Glucocorticosteroids on Th2 cells

The abundance of Th2 cells in both the airways and circulation associates with asthma severity. Activation of CRTh2 expressed by Th2 cells mediates production of Th2 cytokines and inhibits apoptosis. Glucocorticosteroid effects occur through suppression of Th2 cytokines and induction of apoptosis. However, recent evidence shows that the total daily dose of inhaled glucocorticosteroids was positively correlated with the percentage of circulating Th2 cells. As such, we chose to examine regulation of Th2 cells by glucocorticosteroids. We used CCRF-CEM cells as a Th2 cell model and in vitro differentiated primary Th2 cells to study the effect of dexamethasone. Low dose dexamethasone treatment reduced IL-13 but surprisingly increased CRTh2, while only high dose induced apoptosis. Interestingly, T cell activation reduced glucocorticosteroid receptor signaling genes FKBP5 and GR transcript levels. Our results suggest that glucocorticosteroids at insufficient doses to trigger apoptosis may sustain CRTh2+ Th2 cells and thereby maintain inflammation

Power minimization and optimum ONU placements in integrated wireless optical access networks

The deployment of optical fibre in place of copper cable in access networks has experienced remarkable growth over the past several years due to a wide range of benefits. A major benefit of optical fibre over copper cable is that it is more secure and immune to electromagnetic interferences. Optical fibre has also provided the capability of handling higher throughputs for longer distances, and experiences no crosstalk between other fibre optic cables. However, the last mile reach to end-users with optical fibre is very costly. This alternative replacement results in increased costs for manual labour and energy consumption in the access network. The current demand in all areas of telecommunications, and especially access networks, is greener networking. In order to offset the high costs of optical access implementations and to satisfy this demand, an investigation into integrated wireless optical access networks (IWOAN) is warranted. The proliferation of wireless devices has also motivated the interest in IWOAN as it combines the flexibility and efficiency of wireless with the security and stability provided by optical. With the emergence of smart phones and tablets, wireless access networks are now supporting an increasing amount of traffic volume with improved throughput and accessibility. We employ a Passive Optical Network (PON) infrastructure from the central office to the customer, traced from the Optical Line Terminal (OLT) to the customer premises devices known as Optical Network Units (ONUs) for IWOAN. At the ONU, the optical fibre is terminated and wireless communication is implemented. The ONU acts as a wireless access point/gateway for wireless Base Stations (BS) serving different coverage areas in point-to-point topology. With recent trends of advanced wireless technologies, premium rich applications such as multimedia streaming, interactive gaming and cloud computing are delivered in a satisfactory and economic way. This wireless-optical integration aims to reduce and solve the cost of replacing copper cables. However, another issue is raised with increased costs in energy consumption due to the integration of wireless and optical communication. Typically a large number of ONUs need to be deployed in order to serve many wireless BSs located in different coverage areas. As a result, any cost savings gained by the integration process is exhausted with the increased cost of power consumption

Recruiting and Retaining for IT SME : An Employee Perspective

Businesses these days are competing at a breakneck speed. Having that competitive advantage can allow a company to stay a step ahead of its competitors. For small and medium enterprise (SME) owners, specifically those in the information technology (IT) sector, acquiring these employees may not be that easy. They would have to compete with not only others of their kind but large IT based organization that can offer a multitude of benefits. Therefore, it is crucial that IT SME owners discover factors that can attract potential candidates to join their company. Additionally, these owners would also need to identify factors that can assist them in retaining those valuable employees. The purpose of this paper is to explore three objectives. The first is to discover factors that can attract candidates to join an IT SME. Secondly, to identify factors that can assist in retaining those employees and finally,uncovering factors that can cause an employee to leave. The context of this study was conducted within the IT SME industry in Malaysia. Twenty respondents from six different IT SMEs participated in this qualitative study.The findings of this paper do suggest that there are four factors that IT SME owners could focus on. They are “financial rewards”, “job content”, ”company culture” and “career opportunity”. Each of these factors has yielded interesting outcomes however the preferences and impact of these factors varies between different demographics. Therefore it could be proposed that owners could focus on these factors in order to assist them in attracting and retaining these employees however they would need to first identify the demographic that they would like to target before applying these factors. Finally this paper also proposes a simple framework that owners could possibly use to kick-start the attraction of potential candidates and retention of employees within their company

Status of the PICASSO Project

The Picasso project is a dark matter search experiment based on the superheated droplet technique. Preliminary runs performed at the Picasso Lab in Montreal have showed the suitability of this detection technique to the search for weakly interacting cold dark matter particles. In July 2002, a new phase of the project started. A batch of six 1-liter detectors with an active mass of approximately 40g was installed in a gallery of the SNO observatory in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada at a depth of 6,800 feet (2,070m). We give a status report on the new experimental setup, data analysis, and preliminary limits on spin-dependent neutralino interaction cross section.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the TAUP 2003 conference, 5-9 September, 2003, University of Washington, Seattle, US

Acellular Dermal Matrix (Permacol®) for Heterologous Immediate Breast Reconstruction after Skin-Sparing Mastectomy in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Single-Institution Experience and a Review of the Literature.

OBJECTIVE Skin-sparing mastectomy (SSM) with immediate heterologous reconstruction is a safe oncological option in surgical therapy of early breast cancer. Permacol® is an acellular dermal matrix (ADM) placed between the implant and the skin to improve lower pole projection and implant coverage. The aim of our study was to evaluate the outcome with a focus on patient satisfaction after 6 months and to analyze physical changes of ADM. METHODS 10 patients who underwent SSM with Permacol® were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were followed using a satisfaction questionnaire and an ultrasound evaluation of the tissue thickness of the pectoralis muscle and the Permacol®. RESULTS No intraoperative complications were observed. One patient required removal of the implant for necrosis after 3 months. Half of the patients underwent secondary corrective surgery. A statistically significant thinning of the pectoralis muscle was observed, compared to the thickening of the Permacol®. A majority of the patients were satisfied with the operation, and we found a correlation between lower body mass index and patient satisfaction. CONCLUSION In our small case series Permacol®-assisted immediate reconstruction is shown to be an option for selected cases. Physical changes of Permacol® result in a symmetrical coverage of the implant, which may improve cosmetic outcome

The impact of maternal BMI status on pregnancy outcomes with immediate short-term obstetric resource implications : a meta-analysis.

Obesity is rising in the obstetric population, yet there is an absence of services and guidance for the management of maternal obesity. This systematic review aimed to investigate relationships between obesity and impact on obstetric care. Literature was systematically searched for cohort studies of pregnant women with anthropometric measurements recorded within 16-weeks gestation, followed up for the term of the pregnancy, with at least one obese and one comparison group. Two researchers independently data-extracted and quality-assessed each included study. Outcome measures were those that directly or indirectly impacted on maternity resources. Primary outcomes included instrumental delivery, caesarean delivery, duration of hospital stay, neonatal intensive care, neonatal trauma, haemorrhage, infection and 3rd/4th degree tears. Meta-analysis shows a significant relationship between obesity and increased odds of caesarean and instrumental deliveries, haemorrhage, infection, longer duration of hospital stay and increased neonatal intensive care requirement. Maternal obesity significantly contributes to a poorer prognosis for mother and baby during delivery and in the immediate post-partum period. National clinical guidelines for management of obese pregnant women, and public health interventions to help safeguard the health of mothers and their babies are urgently required