Some identities on derangement and degenerate derangement polynomials

In combinatorics, a derangement is a permutation that has no fixed points. The number of derangements of an n-element set is called the n-th derangement number. In this paper, as natural companions to derangement numbers and degenerate versions of the companions we introduce derangement polynomials and degenerate derangement polynomials. We give some of their properties, recurrence relations and identities for those polynomials which are related to some special numbers and polynomials.Comment: 12 page

Plant characteristics associated with widespread variation in eelgrass wasting disease

Seagrasses are ecosystem engineers of essential marine habitat. Their populations are rapidly declining worldwide. One potential cause of seagrass population declines is wasting disease, which is caused by opportunistic pathogens in the genus Labyrinthula. While infection with these pathogens is common in seagrasses, theory suggests that disease only occurs when environmental stressors cause immunosuppression of the host. Recent evidence suggests that host factors may also contribute to disease caused by opportunistic pathogens. In order to quantify patterns of disease, identify risk factors, and investigate responses to infection, we surveyed shoot density, shoot length, epiphyte load, production of plant defenses (phenols), and wasting disease prevalence in eelgrass Zostera marina across 11 sites in the central Salish Sea (Washington state, USA), a region where both wasting disease and eelgrass declines have been documented. Wasting disease was diagnosed by the presence of necrotic lesions, and Labyrinthula cells were identified with histology. Disease prevalence among sites varied from 6 to 79%. The probability of a shoot being diseased was higher in longer shoots, in patches of higher shoot density, and in shoots with higher levels of biofouling from epiphytes. Phenolic concentration was higher in diseased leaves. We hypothesize that this results from the induction of phenols during infection. Additional research is needed to evaluate whether phenols are an adaptive defense against Labyrinthula infection. The high site-level variation in disease prevalence emphasizes the potential for wasting disease to be causing some of the observed decline in eelgrass beds

Do Interventions Designed to Support Shared Decision-Making Reduce Health Inequalities? : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Copyright: © 2014 Durand et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Increasing patient engagement in healthcare has become a health policy priority. However, there has been concern that promoting supported shared decision-making could increase health inequalities. Objective: To evaluate the impact of SDM interventions on disadvantaged groups and health inequalities. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies.Peer reviewe

Intercultural New Media Studies: The Next Frontier in intercultural Communication

New media (ICT\u27s) are transforming communication across cultures. Despite this revolution in cross cultural contact, communication researchers have largely ignored the impact of new media on intercultural communication. This groundbreaking article defines the parameters of a new field of inquiry called Intercultural New Media Studies (INMS), which explores the intersection between ICT\u27s and intercultural communication. Composed of two research areas—(1) new media and intercultural communication theory and (2) culture and new media—INMS investigates new digital theories of intercultural contact as well as refines and expands twentieth-century intercultural communication theories, examining their salience in a digital world. INMS promises to increase our understanding of intercultural communication in a new media age and is the next frontier in intercultural communication

Extensin network formation in Vitis vinifera callus cells is an essential and causal event in rapid and H2O2-induced reduction in primary cell wall hydration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Extensin deposition is considered important for the correct assembly and biophysical properties of primary cell walls, with consequences to plant resistance to pathogens, tissue morphology, cell adhesion and extension growth. However, evidence for a direct and causal role for the extensin network formation in changes to cell wall properties has been lacking.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Hydrogen peroxide treatment of grapevine (<it>Vitis vinifera </it>cv. Touriga) callus cell walls was seen to induce a marked reduction in their hydration and thickness. An analysis of matrix proteins demonstrated this occurs with the insolubilisation of an abundant protein, GvP1, which displays a primary structure and post-translational modifications typical of dicotyledon extensins. The hydration of callus cell walls free from saline-soluble proteins did not change in response to H₂O₂, but fully regained this capacity after addition of extensin-rich saline extracts. To assay the specific contribution of GvP1 cross-linking and other wall matrix proteins to the reduction in hydration, GvP1 levels in cell walls were manipulated <it>in vitro </it>by binding selected fractions of extracellular proteins and their effect on wall hydration during H₂O₂incubation assayed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This approach allowed us to conclude that a peroxidase-mediated formation of a covalently linked network of GvP1 is essential and causal in the reduction of grapevine callus wall hydration in response to H₂O₂. Importantly, this approach also indicated that extensin network effects on hydration was only partially irreversible and remained sensitive to changes in matrix charge. We discuss this mechanism and the importance of these changes to primary wall properties in the light of extensin distribution in dicotyledons.</p

Long term disease-free survival and T cell and antibody responses in women with high-risk Her2+ breast cancer following vaccination against Her2

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The HER2-inhibiting antibody trastuzumab, in combination with chemotherapy, significantly improves survival of women with resected, HER2-overexpressing breast cancers, but is associated with toxicities including a risk of cardiomyopathy. Additionally, the beneficial effect of trastuzumab is expected to decrease once the drug is discontinued. We proposed to address these concerns by using cancer vaccines to stimulate HER2 intracellular domain (ICD)-specific T cell and antibody responses.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects with stage II (≥ 6 +LN), III, or stage IV breast cancerwith > 50% HER2 overexpressing tumor cells who were disease-free after surgery and adjuvant therapy were eligible. Vaccines consisted of immature, cultured DC (n = 3), mature cultured DC (n = 3), or mature Flt3-ligand mobilized peripheral blood DC (n = 1) loaded with ICD, or tetanus toxoid, keyhole limpet hemocyanin or CMV peptide as controls, and were administered intradermally/subcutaneously four times at 3 week intervals. ICD-specific T cell and antibody responses were measured. Cardiac function was determined by MUGA or ECHO; long term disease status was obtained from patient contact.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All seven patients successfully underwent DC generation and five received all 4 immunizations. There were no toxicities greater than grade 1 or ejection fraction decrements below normal. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions at the injection site occurred in 6/7 patients and HER2 specificity was detected by cytokine flow cytometry or ELISPOT in 5 patients. At more than 5 years of follow-up, 6/7 had detectable anti-ICD antibodies. One patient experienced a pulmonary recurrence at 4 years from their study immunizations. This recurrence was resected and they are without evidence of disease. All patients are alive and disease-free at 4.6–6.7 years of follow-up.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although this was a small pilot study, the well-tolerated nature of the vaccines, the lack of cardiac toxicity, significant immunogenicity, and a 100% 4.5-year survival rate suggest that vaccination with HER2 ICD protein-containing DC is appropriate for further study in this population.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00005956</p

New insight into the formation of structural defects in poly(vinyl chloride)

The monomer conversion dependence of the formation of the various types of defect structures in radical suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride was examined via both H-1 and C-13 NMR spectrometry. The rate coefficients for model propagation and intra- and intermolecular hydrogen abstraction reactions were obtained via high-level ab initio molecular orbital calculations. An enormous increase in the formation of both branched and internal unsaturated structures was observed at conversions above 85%, and this is mirrored by a sudden decrease in stability of the resulting PVC polymer. Above this threshold-conversion, the monomer is depleted from the polymer-rich phase, and the propagation rate is thus substantially reduced, thereby allowing the chain-transfer processes to compete more effectively. In contrast to the other defects, the chloroallylic end groups were found to decrease at high conversions. On the basis of the theoretical and experimental data obtained in this study, this decrease was attributed to copolymerization and abstraction reactions that are expected to be favored at high monomer conversions. Finally, a surprising increase in the concentration of the methyl branches was reported. Although a definitive explanation for this behavior is yet to be obtained, the involvement of transfer reactions of an intra- or intermolecular nature seems likely, and (in the latter case) these could lead to the presence of tertiary chlorine in these defects

Biodiversity Loss and the Taxonomic Bottleneck: Emerging Biodiversity Science

Human domination of the Earth has resulted in dramatic changes to global and local patterns of biodiversity. Biodiversity is critical to human sustainability because it drives the ecosystem services that provide the core of our life-support system. As we, the human species, are the primary factor leading to the decline in biodiversity, we need detailed information about the biodiversity and species composition of specific locations in order to understand how different species contribute to ecosystem services and how humans can sustainably conserve and manage biodiversity. Taxonomy and ecology, two fundamental sciences that generate the knowledge about biodiversity, are associated with a number of limitations that prevent them from providing the information needed to fully understand the relevance of biodiversity in its entirety for human sustainability: (1) biodiversity conservation strategies that tend to be overly focused on research and policy on a global scale with little impact on local biodiversity; (2) the small knowledge base of extant global biodiversity; (3) a lack of much-needed site-specific data on the species composition of communities in human-dominated landscapes, which hinders ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation; (4) biodiversity studies with a lack of taxonomic precision; (5) a lack of taxonomic expertise and trained taxonomists; (6) a taxonomic bottleneck in biodiversity inventory and assessment; and (7) neglect of taxonomic resources and a lack of taxonomic service infrastructure for biodiversity science. These limitations are directly related to contemporary trends in research, conservation strategies, environmental stewardship, environmental education, sustainable development, and local site-specific conservation. Today’s biological knowledge is built on the known global biodiversity, which represents barely 20% of what is currently extant (commonly accepted estimate of 10 million species) on planet Earth. Much remains unexplored and unknown, particularly in hotspots regions of Africa, South Eastern Asia, and South and Central America, including many developing or underdeveloped countries, where localized biodiversity is scarcely studied or described. ‘‘Backyard biodiversity’’, defined as local biodiversity near human habitation, refers to the natural resources and capital for ecosystem services at the grassroots level, which urgently needs to be explored, documented, and conserved as it is the backbone of sustainable economic development in these countries. Beginning with early identification and documentation of local flora and fauna, taxonomy has documented global biodiversity and natural history based on the collection of ‘‘backyard biodiversity’’ specimens worldwide. However, this branch of science suffered a continuous decline in the latter half of the twentieth century, and has now reached a point of potential demise. At present there are very few professional taxonomists and trained local parataxonomists worldwide, while the need for, and demands on, taxonomic services by conservation and resource management communities are rapidly increasing. Systematic collections, the material basis of biodiversity information, have been neglected and abandoned, particularly at institutions of higher learning. Considering the rapid increase in the human population and urbanization, human sustainability requires new conceptual and practical approaches to refocusing and energizing the study of the biodiversity that is the core of natural resources for sustainable development and biotic capital for sustaining our life-support system. In this paper we aim to document and extrapolate the essence of biodiversity, discuss the state and nature of taxonomic demise, the trends of recent biodiversity studies, and suggest reasonable approaches to a biodiversity science to facilitate the expansion of global biodiversity knowledge and to create useful data on backyard biodiversity worldwide towards human sustainability

Centralized Modularity of N-Linked Glycosylation Pathways in Mammalian Cells

Glycosylation is a highly complex process to produce a diverse repertoire of cellular glycans that are attached to proteins and lipids. Glycans are involved in fundamental biological processes, including protein folding and clearance, cell proliferation and apoptosis, development, immune responses, and pathogenesis. One of the major types of glycans, N-linked glycans, is formed by sequential attachments of monosaccharides to proteins by a limited number of enzymes. Many of these enzymes can accept multiple N-linked glycans as substrates, thereby generating a large number of glycan intermediates and their intermingled pathways. Motivated by the quantitative methods developed in complex network research, we investigated the large-scale organization of such N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells. The N-linked glycosylation pathways are extremely modular, and are composed of cohesive topological modules that directly branch from a common upstream pathway of glycan synthesis. This unique structural property allows the glycan production between modules to be controlled by the upstream region. Although the enzymes act on multiple glycan substrates, indicating cross-talk between modules, the impact of the cross-talk on the module-specific enhancement of glycan synthesis may be confined within a moderate range by transcription-level control. The findings of the present study provide experimentally-testable predictions for glycosylation processes, and may be applicable to therapeutic glycoprotein engineering