DNA vaccination for prostate cancer, from preclinical to clinical trials - where we stand?

Development of various vaccines for prostate cancer (PCa) is becoming an active research area. PCa vaccines are perceived to have less toxicity compared with the available cytotoxic agents. While various immune-based strategies can elicit anti-tumour responses, DNA vaccines present increased efficacy, inducing both humoural and cellular immunity. This immune activation has been proven effective in animal models and initial clinical trials are encouraging. However, to validate the role of DNA vaccination in currently available PCa management paradigms, strong clinical evidence is still lacking. This article provides an overview of the basic principles of DNA vaccines and aims to provide a summary of preclinical and clinical trials outlining the benefits of this immunotherapy in the management of PCa

Simple Vortex States in Films of Type-I Ginzburg-Landau Superconductor

Sufficiently thin films of type-I superconductor in a perpendicular magnetic field exhibit a triangular vortex lattice, while thick films develop an intermediate state. To elucidate what happens between these two regimes, precise numerical calculations have been made within Ginzburg-Landau theory at $\kappa=0.5$ and 0.25 for a variety of vortex lattice structures with one flux quantum per unit cell. The phase diagram in the space of mean induction and film thickness includes a narrow wedge in which a square lattice is stable, surrounded by the domain of stability of the triangular lattice at thinner films/lower fields and, on the other side, rectangular lattices with continuously varying aspect ratio. The vortex lattice has an anomalously small shear modulus within and close to the square lattice phase.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

Climate Change Risk for Irish Timber Power Pole Networks

The latest IPCC report states that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and this warming may lead to increased risk of breakdown of infrastructure networks due to extreme weather. Before appropriate action can be taken for power infrastructure in this regard, we must first understand existing risk, and then try to predict potential climate related changes in risk. The work described in this paper examines both existing vulnerability, and potential future vulnerability, for a notional network of Irish timber power poles. These power pole networks represent important critical infrastructure assets, both nationally, and internationally. There are currently approximately two million timber power poles in service in Ireland, five million timber power poles in service in Australia, worth over $10 billion, and approximately 200 million treated power poles in service in the United States. The impacts of climate change on Irish power poles will be examined herein using a Monte-Carlo event-based sequential model, which incorporates structural reliability, deterioration, climatic effects and network maintenance. The hazards of interest are storm winds and timber decay - both of which may worsen due to a changing climate.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Irish Environmental Protection Agency who funded this research. The authors would also like to acknowledge Fergus Sweeney and Kevin OConnor, of the Irish Electricity Supply Board, for their invaluable expertise and support in developing appropriate model parameters

Fiscal Year 2006

This report summarizes the earthquake activity at the Hanford Site a vicinty that occurred during FY 200

Third Quater Seismic Report for Fiscal Year 2007

The Hanford Seismic Assessment Program (HSAP) provides an uninterrupted collection of high-quality raw and processed seismic data from the Hanford Seismic Network for the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. The Hanford Seismic Assessment Team locates and identifies sources of seismic activity and monitors changes in the historical pattern of seismic activity at the Hanford Site. The data are compiled, archived, and published for use by the Hanford Site for waste management, Natural Phenomena Hazards assessments, and engineering design and construction. In addition, the seismic monitoring organization works with the Hanford Site Emergency Services Organization to provide assistance in the event of a significant earthquake on the Hanford Site. The Hanford Seismic Network and the Eastern Washington Regional Network consist of 41 individual sensor sites and 15 radio relay sites maintained by the Hanford Seismic Assessment Team. For the Hanford Seismic Network, 16 local earthquakes were recorded during the third quarter of fiscal year 2007. The largest event (magnitude 2.0) occurred on April 16, 2007 and was located 4 km southwest of the 400 Area in the Columbia River basalts at a depth of approximately 3 km. Stratigraphically, 7 earthquakes occurred in the Columbia River basalts (approximately 0-5 km depth), 1 earthquake in the pre-basalt sediments (approximately 5-10 km depth), and 8 earthquakes in the crystalline basement (approximately 10-25 km depth). Geographically, 8 earthquakes occurred in swarm areas, and 8 earthquakes were classified as random events. The Hanford SMA network was triggered on the 300 Area and the 400 Area SMA by the 2.0 Mc seismic event that occurred on April 16, 2007. The maximum vertical acceleration was 0.07 % g and the maximum horizontal acceleration was 0.05% g at the 300 Area SMA, 13.5 km from the event. At the 400 Area SMA, only 5.2 km from the event, the maximum vertical acceleration was 0.25 % g and the maximum horizontal acceleration was 0.23% g. These are the first recordings of a small local earthquake on the SMA network. The reportable action level of 2% g for Hanford facilities is approximately 8 times larger than the peak accelerations observed at the 400 Area and no action was required

First Quarter Seismic Report for Fiscal Year 2006

This report describes the earthquake data collected from October 2005 to December 2005 from the Hanford Seismic Networ

Fiscal Year 2005

This reports on earthquakes recorded in the Hanford Seismic Network during Fiscal Year 2005

Fiscal Year 2007

This annual report documents the locations, magnitudes, and geologic interpretations of earthquakes recorded for the Hanford monitoring region of south-central Washington in fiscal year 2007 (October 2006 through September 2007). The report provides summaries of seismic events recorded during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2007 and contains a more comprehensive discussion of seismic events for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year