Determination of boundaries of cloudiness

Cloud boundary determinations based upon adiabatic flo

Evolutionary Aspects of Depression, Stress and Subordination

An evolutionary approach to depression, aims to understand psychopathological phenomena that arise from evolved molecules, emotional value systems, brain structure, and social strategies, interacting with the modern social world. I hope to show how this approach may help us, to make sense of the differing symptoms and forms of major depression and make valid empirical predictions. This suggests that core depressive symptomatology may be rooted in emotional systems, evolved to nurture, dominate, adapt to loss and defeat and be sensitive to threats and safety. It focuses on the consequences of failure to turn off the threat/defence system (HPA- axis) as the final common pathway to depression. The key role of serotonin in these processes is explored. Finally this paper offers suggestions for therapeutic interventions, based on an understanding of these interactions.South African Psychiatry Review - August 200

Videos of sipuleucel-T programmed T cells lysing cells that express prostate cancer target antigens

Sipuleucel-T, an autologous cellular immunotherapy, was approved to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in 2010 in the United States. Treatment with sipuleucel-T primes the immune system to target prostate acid phosphatase, which is expressed by prostate cancer cells, potentially leading to lysis of cancer cells. Expanding on previously reported indirect evidence of cell killing with sipuleucel-T treatment, we sought to provide direct evidence of cell lysis through visualization. We used advanced video technology and available samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from subjects enrolled in the STAMP trial (NCT01487863). Isolated CD8+ T cells were used as effector cells and cocultured with autologous monocytes pulsed with control or target antigens. Differentially stained effector and target cells were then video recorded during coculture. Here, we present video recordings and analyses of T cells from sipuleucel-T-treated subjects showing-for the first time-direct lysis of cells that express prostate cancer target antigens, prostate acid phosphatase, or prostate-specific antigen

Paediatric trauma care

Paediatric trauma care varies in different countries. In South Africa injury is the leading cause of death in the 5 - 14-yearold age group - 1,5 - 3,8 times higher than in the USA. In 1978 the Child Safety Centre was established and prospectively collected data on paediatric injuries. The various types of injuries are discussed. Trauma is responsible for the highest percentage of years of life lost but the least amount of money is being spent on research and prevention of injuries. The Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa has been constituted to research, prevent and reduce the risk factors of the injuries and to improve facilities for the injured child

The Possibility of Emersion of the Outer Layers in a Massive Star Simultaneously with Iron-Core Collapse: A Hydrodynamic Model

We analyze the behavior of the outer envelope in a massive star during and after the collapse of its iron core into a protoneutron star (PNS) in terms of the equations of one-dimensional spherically symmetric ideal hydrodynamics. The profiles obtained in the studies of the evolution of massive stars up to the final stages of their existence, immediately before a supernova explosion (Boyes et al. 1999), are used as the initial data for the distribution of thermodynamic quantities in the envelope.We use a complex equation of state for matter with allowances made for arbitrary electron degeneracy and relativity, the appearance of electron-positron pairs, the presence of radiation, and the possibility of iron nuclei dissociating into free nucleons and helium nuclei. We performed calculations with the help of a numerical scheme based on Godunov's method. These calculations allowed us to ascertain whether the emersion of the outer envelope in a massive star is possible through the following two mechanisms: first, the decrease in the gravitational mass of the central PNS through neutrino-signal emission and, second, the effect of hot nucleon bubbles, which are most likely formed in the PNS corona, on the envelope emersion. We show that the second mechanism is highly efficient in the range of acceptable masses of the nucleon bubbles ($\leq 0.01M_\odot$) simulated in our hydrodynamic calculations in a rough, spherically symmetric approximation.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

One-year urinary and sexual outcome trajectories among prostate cancer patients treated by radical prostatectomy: A prospective study

BACKGROUND: To examine one-year trajectories of urinary and sexual outcomes, and correlates of these trajectories, among prostate cancer patients treated by radical prostatectomy (RP). METHODS: Study participants were recruited from 2011 to 2014 at two US institutions. Self-reported urinary and sexual outcomes were measured at baseline before surgery, and 5 weeks, 6 months and 12 months after surgery, using the modified Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite-50 (EPIC-50). Changes in EPIC-50 scores from baseline were categorized as improved (beyond baseline), maintained, or impaired (below baseline), using previously-reported minimum clinically important differences. RESULTS: Of the 426 eligible participants who completed the baseline survey, 395 provided data on at least one EPIC-50 sub-scale at 5 weeks and 12 months, and were analyzed. Although all mean EPIC-50 scores declined markedly 5 weeks after surgery and then recovered to near (incontinence-related outcomes) or below (sexual outcomes) baseline levels by 12 months post-surgery, some men experienced improvement beyond their baseline levels on each sub-scale (3.3-51% depending on the sub-scale). Having benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) at baseline (prostate size ≥ 40 g; an International Prostate Symptom Index Score ≥ 8; or using BPH medications) was associated with post-surgical improvements in voiding dysfunction-related bother at 5 weeks (OR = 3.9, 95% CI: 2.1-7.2) and 12 months (OR = 3.3, 95% CI: 2.0-5.7); and in sexual bother at 5 weeks (OR = 5.7, 95% CI:1.7-19.3) and 12 months (OR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.2-7.1). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide additional support for considering baseline BPH symptoms when selecting the best therapy for early-stage prostate cancer