3,138 research outputs found
Inertia based microfluidic capture and characterisation of circulating tumour cells for the diagnosis of lung cancer
Background: Routine clinical application of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) for blood based diagnostics is yet to be established. Despite growing evidence of their clinical utility for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring, the efficacy of a robust platform and universally accepted diagnostic criteria remain uncertain. We evaluate the diagnostic performance of a microfluidic CTC isolation platform using cytomorphologic criteria in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery.
Methods: Blood was processed from 51 patients undergoing surgery for known or suspected lung cancer using the ClearBridge ClearCell FX systemTM (ClearBridge Biomedics, Singapore). Captured cells were stained on slides with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and independently assessed by two pathologist teams. Diagnostic performance was evaluated against the pathologists reported diagnosis of cancer from surgically obtained specimens. Results: Cancer was diagnosed in 43.1% and 54.9% of all cases. In early stage primary lung cancer, between the two reporting teams, a positive diagnosis of CTCs was made for 50% and 66.7% of patients. The agreement between the reporting teams was 80.4%, corresponding to a kappa-statistic of 0.61±0.11 (P<0.001), indicating substantial agreement. Sensitivity levels for the two teams were calculated as 59% (95% CI, 41–76%) and 41% (95% CI, 24–59%), with a specificity of 53% for both.
Conclusions: The performance of the tested microfluidic antibody independent device to capture CTCs using standard cytomorphological criteria provides the potential of a diagnostic blood test for lung cancer
HCMV carriage in the elderly diminishes anti-viral functionality of the adaptive immune response resulting in virus replication at peripheral sites.
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection and periodic reactivation is, generally, well controlled by adaptative immune responses in the healthy. In older people, overt HCMV disease is rarely seen despite the association of HCMV with increased risk of mortality; evidence from studies of unwell aged populations suggest that HCMV seropositivity is an important co-morbidity factor. HCMV genomes have been detected in urine from older donors, suggesting that the immune response prevents systemic disease but possibly immunomodulation due to lifelong viral carriage may alter its efficacy at peripheral tissue sites. Previously we have demonstrated that there were no age-related expansions of T cell responses to HCMV or increase in latent viral carriage with age and these T cells produced anti-viral cytokines and viremia was very rarely detected. To investigate the efficacy of anti-HCMV responses with increasing age, we used an in vitro Viral Dissemination Assay (VDA) using autologous dermal fibroblasts to determine the anti-viral effector capacity of total PBMC, as well as important subsets (T cells, NK cells). In parallel we assessed components of the humoral response (antibody neutralization) and combined this with qPCR detection of HCMV in blood, saliva and urine in a cohort of young and old donors. Consistent with previous studies, we again show HCMV specific cIL-10, IFNγ and TNFα T cell responses to peptides did not show an age-related defect. However, assessment of direct anti-viral cellular and antibody-mediated adaptive immune responses using the VDA shows that older donors are significantly less able to control viral dissemination in an in vitro assay compared to young donors. Corroborating this observation, we detected viral genomes in saliva samples only from older donors, these donors had a defect in cellular control of viral spread in our in vitro assay. Phenotyping of fibroblasts used in this study shows expression of a number of checkpoint inhibitor ligands which may contribute to the defects observed. The potential to therapeutically intervene in checkpoint inhibitor pathways to prevent HCMV reactivation in the unwell aged is an exciting avenue to explore
A Universal Model of Global Civil Unrest
Civil unrest is a powerful form of collective human dynamics, which has led
to major transitions of societies in modern history. The study of collective
human dynamics, including collective aggression, has been the focus of much
discussion in the context of modeling and identification of universal patterns
of behavior. In contrast, the possibility that civil unrest activities, across
countries and over long time periods, are governed by universal mechanisms has
not been explored. Here, we analyze records of civil unrest of 170 countries
during the period 1919-2008. We demonstrate that the distributions of the
number of unrest events per year are robustly reproduced by a nonlinear,
spatially extended dynamical model, which reflects the spread of civil disorder
between geographic regions connected through social and communication networks.
The results also expose the similarity between global social instability and
the dynamics of natural hazards and epidemics.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Laser Cooling of Optically Trapped Molecules
Calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules are loaded into an optical dipole trap
(ODT) and subsequently laser cooled within the trap. Starting with
magneto-optical trapping, we sub-Doppler cool CaF and then load CaF
molecules into an ODT. Enhanced loading by a factor of five is obtained when
sub-Doppler cooling light and trapping light are on simultaneously. For trapped
molecules, we directly observe efficient sub-Doppler cooling to a temperature
of . The trapped molecular density of
cm is an order of magnitude greater than in the initial sub-Doppler
cooled sample. The trap lifetime of 750(40) ms is dominated by background gas
collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Photodynamic therapy in chronic central serous chorioretinopathy with subretinal fluid outside the fovea
A cross-sectional study of Victorian mobile intensive care ambulance paramedics knowledge of the Valsalva manoeuvre
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Valsalva Manoeuvre (VM) is a primary measure for terminating haemodynamically stable supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) in the emergency care setting. The clinical use and termination success of the VM in the prehospital setting has not been investigated to date. The objective of this study was to determine Melbourne Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) Paramedic knowledge of the VM, and to compare this understanding with an evidence-based model of VM performance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study in the form of a face-to-face interview was used to determine Melbourne MICA Paramedic understanding of VM instruction between January and February, 2008. The results were then compared with an evidence-based model of VM performance to ascertain compliance with the three criteria of position, pressure and duration. Ethics approval was granted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 28 participants (60.9%) who elected a form of supine posturing, some 23 participants (50%) selected the syringe method of pressure generation, with 16 participants (34.8%) selecting the "as long as you can" option for duration. On comparison, one out of 46 MICA Paramedics correctly identified the three evidence-based criteria.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The formal education of Melbourne's MICA Paramedics would benefit from the introduction of an evidence based model of VM performance, which would impact positively on patient care and may improve reversion success in the prehospital setting. The results of this study also demonstrate that an opportunity exists to promote the evidence-based VM criteria across the primary emergency care field.</p
Anyonic interferometry and protected memories in atomic spin lattices
Strongly correlated quantum systems can exhibit exotic behavior called
topological order which is characterized by non-local correlations that depend
on the system topology. Such systems can exhibit remarkable phenomena such as
quasi-particles with anyonic statistics and have been proposed as candidates
for naturally fault-tolerant quantum computation. Despite these remarkable
properties, anyons have never been observed in nature directly. Here we
describe how to unambiguously detect and characterize such states in recently
proposed spin lattice realizations using ultra-cold atoms or molecules trapped
in an optical lattice. We propose an experimentally feasible technique to
access non-local degrees of freedom by performing global operations on trapped
spins mediated by an optical cavity mode. We show how to reliably read and
write topologically protected quantum memory using an atomic or photonic qubit.
Furthermore, our technique can be used to probe statistics and dynamics of
anyonic excitations.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Acaricidal and oviposition deterring effects of santalol identified in sandalwood oil against two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)
Thirty-four plant essential oils were screened for their acaricidal and oviposition deterrent activities against two-spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), in the laboratory using a leaf-dip bioassay. From initial trials, sandalwood and common thyme oils were observed to be the most effective against TSSM adult females. Subsequent trials confirmed that only sandalwood oil was significantly active (87.2 ± 2.9% mortality) against TSSM adult females. Sandalwood oil also demonstrated oviposition deterring effects based on a 89.3% reduction of the total number of eggs on leaf disks treated with the oil. GC–MS analysis revealed that the main components of the sandalwood oil were α-santalol (45.8%), β-santalol (20.6%), β-sinensal (9.4%), and epi-β-santalol (3.3%). A mixture of α- and β-santalol (51.0:22.9, respectively) produced significantly higher mortality (85.5 ± 2.9%) and oviposition deterrent effects (94.7% reduction in the number of eggs) than the control. Phytotoxicity was not shown on rose shoots to which a 0.1% solution of sandalwood oil was applied
The predictive and prognostic potential of plasma telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) RNA in rectal cancer patients
Background: Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by surgery is the standard care for locally advanced rectal cancer,
but tumour response to CRT and disease outcome are variable. The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of plasma
telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) levels in predicting tumour response and clinical outcome.
Methods: 176 rectal cancer patients were included. Plasma samples were collected at baseline (before CRT\ubcT0), 2 weeks after
CRT was initiated (T1), post-CRT and before surgery (T2), and 4\u20138 months after surgery (T3) time points. Plasma TERT mRNA levels
and total cell-free RNA were determined using real-time PCR.
Results: Plasma levels of TERT were significantly lower at T2 (Po0.0001) in responders than in non-responders. Post-CRT TERT
levels and the differences between pre- and post-CRT TERT levels independently predicted tumour response, and the prediction
model had an area under curve of 0.80 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.73\u20130.87). Multiple analysis demonstrated that patients with
detectable TERT levels at T2 and T3 time points had a risk of disease progression 2.13 (95% CI 1.10\u20134.11)-fold and 4.55 (95% CI
1.48\u201313.95)-fold higher, respectively, than those with undetectable plasma TERT levels.
Conclusions: Plasma TERT levels are independent markers of tumour response and are prognostic of disease progression in rectal
cancer patients who undergo neoadjuvant therapy
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