The DiSC assay - A cost-effective guide to treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia?

The differential staining cytotoxicity (DISC) assay involves in vitro drug panel testing against patient tumor cells to identify optimal therapy. This observational study investigated whether DISC assay guided treatment could improve outcome in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. A cohort of 178 patients were categorized either as sensitive to drugs in vitro and receiving a sensitive drug in vivo, sensitive in vitro but not treated with a sensitive drug, or having disease resistant to all drugs tested in vitro. Response and survival for these patient categories were compared using multivariate regression techniques. Patients receiving a sensitive drug, compared with those who though having sensitivity did not, had a higher remission rate (odds ratio, 6.5; 95% CI, 2.91-14.53) and reduced death rate (hazard ratio, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.16-0.53). Having adjusted for all known confounding factors, the results suggest that in vitro drug sensitivity is an important independent prognostic variable to include in future trials, and that the DiSC assay may be a cost-effective use of health resources: the estimated incremental cost-effectiveness was $1,470 per life-year gained. A randomized controlled trial is required to confirm the benefit and estimate reliably the potential impact of assay-guided choice of therapy

A cross-correlation of WMAP and ROSAT

We cross-correlate the recent CMB WMAP 1 year data with the diffuse soft X-ray background map of ROSAT. We look for common signatures due to galaxy clusters (SZ effect in CMB, bremsstrahlung in X-rays) by cross-correlating the two maps in real and in Fourier space. We do not find any significant correlation and we explore the different reasons for this lack of correlation. The most likely candidates are the possibility that we live in a low $\sigma _8$ universe ($\sigma_8 < 0.9$) and/or systematic effects in the data especially in the diffuse X-ray maps which may suffer from significant cluster signal subtraction during the point source removal process.Comment: To appear in New Astronomy Reviews, Proceedings of the CMBNET Meeting, 20-21 February, 2003, Oxford, U

A Q-methodology study of parental understandings of infant immunisation: Implications for health-care advice

This study used Q-methodology to explore systematically parental judgements about infant immunisation. A total of 45 parents completed a 31-statement Q-sort. Data were collected after vaccination in general practitioner practices or a private day nursery. Q factor analysis revealed four distinct viewpoints: a duty to immunise based on medical benefits, child-orientated protection based on parental belief, concern and distress and surprise at non-compliance. Additionally, there was a common view among parents that they did not regret immunising their children. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of health-care policy and future research

Antioxidant Therapy Does Not Reduce Pain in Patients with Chronic Pancreatitis: The ANTICIPATE Study

Background & Aims: We investigated whether antioxidant therapy reduces pain and improves quality of life in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Methods: We performed a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial that compared the effects of antioxidant therapy with placebo in 70 patients with chronic pancreatitis. Patients provided 1 month of baseline data and were followed up for 6 months while receiving either Antox version 1.2 (Pharma Nord, Morpeth, UK) or matched placebo (2 tablets, 3 times/d). The primary analysis was baseline-adjusted change in pain score at 6 months, assessed by an 11-point numeric rating scale. Secondary analyses included alternative analyses of clinic and diary pain scores, scores on quality-of-life tests (the EORTC-QLQ-C30, QLQ-PAN28, EuroQOL EQ-5D, and EQ visual analog score), levels of antioxidants, use of opiates, and adverse events. Analyses, reported by intention to treat, were prospectively protocol-defined. Results: After 6 months, pain scores reported to the clinic were reduced by 1.97 from baseline in the placebo group and by 2.33 in the antioxidant group but were similar between groups (−0.36; 95% confidence interval, −1.44 to 0.72; P = .509). Average daily pain scores from diaries were also similar (3.05 for the placebo group, 2.93 for the antioxidant group, a difference of 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–0.82; P = .808). Measures of quality of life were similar between groups, as was opiate use and number of hospital admissions and outpatient visits. Blood levels of vitamin C and E, β-carotene, and selenium were increased significantly in the antioxidant group. Conclusi1ons: In patients with painful chronic pancreatitis of predominantly alcoholic origin, antioxidant therapy did not reduce pain or improve quality of life, despite causing a sustained increase in blood levels of antioxidants. Trial registration: ISRCTN-21047731

Delicate Debates on Islam. Policymakers and Academics Speaking with Each Other: an Introduction

Rule of Law and Development: Formation, Implementation and Improvement of Law and Governance in Developing Countrie

Superconductor-Insulator Transition in a Capacitively Coupled Dissipative Environment

We present results on disordered amorphous films which are expected to undergo a field-tuned Superconductor-Insulator Transition.The addition of a parallel ground plane in proximity to the film changes the character of the transition.Although the screening effects expected from "dirty-boson" theories are not evident,there is evidence that the ground plane couples a certain type of dissipation into the system,causing a dissipation-induced phase transition.The dissipation due to the phase transition couples similarly into quantum phase transition systems such as superconductor-insulator transitions and Josephson junction arrays.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Relationship between incommensurability and superconductivity in Peierls distorted charge-density-wave systems

We study the pairing potential induced by fluctuations around a charge-density wave (CDW) with scattering vector Q by means of the Froehlich transformation. For general commensurability M, defined as |k+M*Q>=|k>, we find that the intraband pair scattering within the M subbands scales with M whereas the interband pair scattering becomes suppressed with increasing CDW order parameter. As a consequence superconductivity is suppressed when the Fermi energy is located between the subbands as it is usually the case for nesting induced CDW's, but due to the vertex renormalization it can be substantially enhanced when the chemical potential is shifted sufficiently inside one of the subbands. The model can help to understand the experimentally observed dependence of the superconducting transition temperature from the stripe phase incommensurability in the lanthanum cuprates.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Proof of the MHV vertex expansion for all tree amplitudes in N=4 SYM theory

We prove the MHV vertex expansion for all tree amplitudes of N=4 SYM theory. The proof uses a shift acting on all external momenta, and we show that every N^kMHV tree amplitude falls off as 1/z^k, or faster, for large z under this shift. The MHV vertex expansion allows us to derive compact and efficient generating functions for all N^kMHV tree amplitudes of the theory. We also derive an improved form of the anti-NMHV generating function. The proof leads to a curious set of sum rules for the diagrams of the MHV vertex expansion.Comment: 40 pages, 7 figure

Sustainability impact assessment of forest management alternatives in Europe: an introductory background and framework

Adaptation of forest management practices in the context of rapid climatic and socioeconomic changes is a global concern. Stakeholders in the forest-based sector as well as policy makers need improved methods and tools to assess potential impacts of changes in management on sustainability indicators. In this special feature, we introduce a methodological framework for classification of forest management approaches in European forestry and explore how changes in forest management might affect the delivery of various ecosystem goods and services and appropriate sustainability indicators over time and space from local to continental scales. The complementary papers in this special feature explore different aspects of sustainability and risks in representative European forest systems as affected by forest management. We show how a common framework plus supporting growth models and indicators can be used to examine the effects of management on ecosystem services and so provide a first step toward the development of a more integrated approach for strategic forest planning and sustainable use of forest ecosystems