Designing hollow nano gold golf balls.

Hollow/porous nanoparticles, including nanocarriers, nanoshells, and mesoporous materials have applications in catalysis, photonics, biosensing, and delivery of theranostic agents. Using a hierarchical template synthesis scheme, we have synthesized a nanocarrier mimicking a golf ball, consisting of (i) solid silica core with a pitted gold surface and (ii) a hollow/porous gold shell without silica. The template consisted of 100 nm polystyrene beads attached to a larger silica core. Selective gold plating of the core followed by removal of the polystyrene beads produced a golf ball-like nanostructure with 100 nm pits. Dissolution of the silica core produced a hollow/porous golf ball-like nanostructure

Development of a Core Outcome Set for Clinical Trials in Non-infectious Uveitis of the Posterior Segment

Purpose: To develop an agreed upon set of outcomes known as a “core outcome set” (COS) for noninfectious uveitis of the posterior segment (NIU-PS) clinical trials. Design: Mixed-methods study design comprising a systematic review and qualitative study followed by a 2-round Delphi exercise and face-to-face consensus meeting. Participants: Key stakeholders including patients diagnosed with NIU-PS, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals involved in decision-making for patients with NIU-PS, including ophthalmologists, nurse practitioners, and policymakers/commissioners. Methods: A long list of outcomes was developed based on the results of (1) a systematic review of clinical trials of NIU-PS and (2) a qualitative study of key stakeholders including focus groups and interviews. The long list was used to generate a 2-round Delphi exercise of stakeholders rating the importance of outcomes on a 9-point Likert scale. The proportion of respondents rating each item was calculated, leading to recommendations of “include,” “exclude,” or “for discussion” that were taken to a face-to-face consensus meeting of key stakeholders at which they agreed on the final COS. Main Outcome Measure: Items recommended for inclusion in the COS for NIU-PS. Results: A total of 57 outcomes grouped in 11 outcome domains were presented for evaluation in the Delphi exercise, resulting in 9 outcomes directly qualifying for inclusion and 15 outcomes being carried forward to the consensus meeting, of which 7 of 15 were agreed on for inclusion. The final COS contained 16 outcomes organized into 4 outcome domains comprising visual function, health-related quality of life, treatment side effects, and disease control. Conclusions: This study builds on international work across the clinical trials community and our qualitative research to construct the world's first COS for NIU-PS. The COS provides a list of outcomes that represent the priorities of key stakeholders and provides a minimum set of outcomes for use in all future NIU-PS clinical trials. Adoption of this COS can improve the value of future uveitis clinical trials and reduce noninformative research. Some of the outcomes identified do not yet have internationally agreed upon methods for measurement and should be the subject of future international consensus development

GOLPH2 expression may serve as diagnostic marker in seminomas

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: GOLPH2 (Golgi phosphoprotein 2) is a novel Golgi membrane protein. Despite its unknown physiologic function, however, it has been proposed as a biomarker for hepatocellular and prostate carcinoma due to its upregulation in those cancer entities. Whether the overexpression of GOLPH2 is tumour specific or a generic parameter of malignancy and whether this finding is true for additional carcinomas has not been determined. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression pattern of GOLPH2 in testicular seminomas, the most common histologic subtype of testicular neoplasm. METHODS: GOLPH2 protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 69 testicular seminomas and compared to the expression rates in matching normal testicular tissue and intratubular germ cell neoplasia of unclassified type (IGCNU). In addition, a subset of Leydig cell tumours was analyzed accordingly. RESULTS: GOLPH2 was consistently overexpressed (89.9%) in seminomas. Matching non-neoplastic tissue showed weak or negative staining. The observed differences between non-neoplastic and neoplastic tissue were statistically highly significant (p < 0.001). There were no significant associations with tumour status. Interestingly, GOLPH2 was also highly expressed in the intertubular Leydig cells as well as in Leydig cell tumours. CONCLUSIONS: GOLPH2 protein is highly expressed in seminomas and in Leydig cell tumours. This study fosters the association of GOLPH2 with malignant neoplastic processes. The staining pattern is easily assessable and consistent which is a favourable property especially in clinical settings. GOLPH2 could be a novel immunohistochemical marker for the assessment of testicular neoplasms, especially against the background that in analogy to hepatocellular carcinomas complementary GOLPH2 serum levels might be helpful in detecting metastases or recurrent tumour. Therefore serum studies and analyses of GOLPH2 expression in non-seminomatous germ cell tumours are strongly warranted

Collecting the Data

AbstractThis chapter discusses aspects related to data collection. It focuses, firstly, on sampling issues and, secondly, on the survey mode. Sampling issues include sample size and the type of sampling that enable precise estimates to be obtained. Regarding the survey mode, discrete choice experiments can be implemented by mail, telephone, face-to-face or web surveys. Each of these survey modes has its advantages and shortcomings. They are described and compared in the course of this chapter, addressing an important decision in the planning process of a discrete choice experiment

Social exchange:Relations and networks

In this short paper, I review the literature on social exchange networks, with specific attention to theoretical and experimental research. I indicate how social exchange theory is rooted in general social theory and mention a few of its main links to social network analysis and empirical network research. The paper provides an accessible entry into the literature on social exchange

Prevalence of challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities, correlates, and association with mental health

Purpose of Review To summarise findings about the prevalence and correlates of challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities from robust research. We also describe findings on the interplay between challenging behaviour and mental health. Recent Findings Recent studies that have utilised psychometrically evaluated tools, with clear operational definitions, show similar findings on the prevalence of challenging behaviour of about 1 in every 5–6 adults known to services. We describe common correlates identified such as communication impairments, severity of intellectual disability, and living in institutional settings or congregate care. We also describe the complex and multifaceted relationship between challenging behaviour and mental health. Summary Based on recent studies, we propose a revised framework model to help understand challenging behaviour. We propose a number of areas where more research is required, particularly the development of risk tools clinicians can utilise in practice

Rapid motion adaptation reveals the temporal dynamics of spatiotemporal correlation between ON and OFF pathways

At the early stages of visual processing, information is processed by two major thalamic pathways encoding brightness increments (ON) and decrements (OFF). Accumulating evidence suggests that these pathways interact and merge as early as in primary visual cortex. Using regular and reverse-phi motion in a rapid adaptation paradigm, we investigated the temporal dynamics of within and across pathway mechanisms for motion processing. When the adaptation duration was short (188 ms), reverse-phi and regular motion led to similar adaptation effects, suggesting that the information from the two pathways are combined efficiently at early-stages of motion processing. However, as the adaption duration was increased to 752 ms, reverse-phi and regular motion showed distinct adaptation effects depending on the test pattern used, either engaging spatiotemporal correlation between the same or opposite contrast polarities. Overall, these findings indicate that spatiotemporal correlation within and across ON-OFF pathways for motion processing can be selectively adapted, and support those models that integrate within and across pathway mechanisms for motion processing

Prevalence of Trachoma in Unity State, South Sudan: Results from a Large-Scale Population-Based Survey and Potential Implications for Further Surveys

Large parts of South Sudan are thought to be trachoma endemic but baseline data, required to initiate interventions, are few. District-by-district surveys, currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), are often not financially or logistically viable. We therefore adapted existing WHO guidelines and combined eight counties (equivalent to districts) of Unity State into one survey area, randomly sampling 40 villages using a population-based survey design. This decision was based on a trachoma risk map and a trachoma rapid assessment, both identifying the state as likely to be highly endemic. The survey confirmed trachoma as being hyperendemic throughout Unity State, meaning that large-scale intervention should be initiated now. Simulation studies were conducted to determine the likely outcome if fewer (n = 20) or more (n = 60) villages had been sampled, confirming that precision decreased or increased, respectively. Importantly, simulation results also showed that all three sample sizes would have led to the same conclusion, namely the need for large-scale intervention. This finding suggests that district-by-district surveys may not be required for areas where trachoma is suspected to be highly prevalent but that are lacking baseline data; instead districts may be combined into a larger survey area

Population genomics reveals that within-fungus polymorphism is common and maintained in populations of the mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are symbionts of most plants, increasing plant growth and diversity. The model AM fungus Rhizophagus irregularis (isolate DAOM 197198) exhibits low within-fungus polymorphism. In contrast, another study reported high within-fungus variability. Experiments with other R. irregularis isolates suggest that within-fungus genetic variation can affect the fungal phenotype and plant growth, highlighting the biological importance of such variation. We investigated whether there is evidence of differing levels of within-fungus polymorphism in an R. irregularis population. We genotyped 20 isolates using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing and developed novel approaches for characterizing polymorphism among haploid nuclei. All isolates exhibited higher within-isolate poly-allelic single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) densities than DAOM 197198 in repeated and non-repeated sites mapped to the reference genome. Poly-allelic SNPs were independently confirmed. Allele frequencies within isolates deviated from diploids or tetraploids, or that expected for a strict dikaryote. Phylogeny based on poly-allelic sites was robust and mirrored the standard phylogeny. This indicates that within-fungus genetic variation is maintained in AM fungal populations. Our results predict a heterokaryotic state in the population, considerable differences in copy number variation among isolates and divergence among the copies, or aneuploidy in some isolates. The variation may be a combination of all of these hypotheses. Within-isolate genetic variation in R. irregularis leads to large differences in plant growth. Therefore, characterizing genomic variation within AM fungal populations is of major ecological importance