At what age do patients no longer need colorectal cancer screening?

Good evidence supports fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) for patients up to age 75 (grade of recommendation: A, based on systematic review of randomized controlled trials). There is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against colorectal cancer (CRC) screening after age 75 (grade of recommendation: D, based on expert opinion). CRC screening may be discontinued between ages 75 and 80, preferably after at least 1 negative screening examination result. Unusually healthy individuals may choose to continue screening until a later age

Amyloid Oligomers as Blood Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

Oligomeric forms of the peptide, β-amyloid, (Aβ) are known to be toxic to human and rodent neurones, and have been identified as possible causative agents in the loss of cognitive function in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). An ELISA assay has been developed capable of detecting oligomeric forms of Aβ in biological fluids, but not detecting monomeric species. The ELISA has been validated with a number of synthetic variant sequences of Aβ and the effects of known inhibitors of Aβ oligomer formation. Significantly raised levels of oligomers were detected in sera samples from AD patients, compared to age-matched control sera

Different Power Sharing Techniques for Converter-Interfaced DERs in an Autonomous Microgrid

A three-level hierarchical control system is considered for microgrids. The microgrid central controller receives the desired ratio for the output power of the available distributed generation units (DG) from the network tertiary controller. It then passes this information to the primary controller of each DG in the form of setpoints. In addition, the central controller receives some information from the DGs or the network and considers them to adjust the setpoints for the DGs. In this paper, the effect of the data transfer delays in the communication system of future microgrids is investigated on the dynamic operation of the distributed energy resources

Lineage tree analysis of immunoglobulin variable-region gene mutations in autoimmune diseases: chronic activation, normal selection

Autoimmune diseases show high diversity in the affected organs, clinical manifestations and disease dynamics. Yet they all share common features, such as the ectopic germinal centers found in many affected tissues. Lineage trees depict the diversification, via somatic hypermutation (SHM), of immunoglobulin variable-region (IGV) genes. We previously developed an algorithm for quantifying the graphical properties of IGV gene lineage trees, allowing evaluation of the dynamical interplay between SHM and antigen-driven selection in different lymphoid tissues, species, and disease situations. Here, we apply this method to ectopic GC B cell clones from patients with Myasthenia Gravis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Sjögren’s Syndrome, using data scaling to minimize the effects of the large variability due to methodological differences between groups. Autoimmune trees were found to be significantly larger relative to normal controls. In contrast, comparison of the measurements for tree branching indicated that similar selection pressure operates on autoimmune and normal control clones

Mutational patterns along different evolution paths of follicular lymphoma

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent disease, characterized by a median life expectancy of 18-20 years and by intermittent periods of relapse and remission. FL frequently transforms into the more aggressive diffuse large B cell lymphoma (t-FL). In previous studies, the analysis of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IgHV) genes in sequential biopsies from the same patient revealed two different patterns of tumor clonal evolution: direct evolution, through acquisition of additional IgHV mutations over time, or divergent evolution, in which lymphoma clones from serial biopsies independently develop from a less-mutated common progenitor cell (CPC). Our goal in this study was to characterize the somatic hypermutation (SHM) patterns of IgHV genes in sequential FL samples from the same patients, and address the question of whether the mutation mechanisms (SHM targeting, DNA repair or both), or selection forces acting on the tumor clones, were different in FL samples compared to healthy control samples, or in late relapsed/transformed FL samples compared to earlier ones. Our analysis revealed differences in the distribution of mutations from each of the nucleotides when tumor and non-tumor clones were compared, while FL and transformed FL (t-FL) tumor clones displayed similar mutation distributions. Lineage tree measurements suggested that either initial clone affinity or selection thresholds were lower in FL samples compared to controls, but similar between FL and t-FL samples. Finally, we observed that both FL and t-FL tumor clones tend to accumulate larger numbers of potential N-glycosylation sites due to the introduction of new SHM. Taken together, these results suggest that transformation into t-FL, in contrast to initial FL development, is not associated with any major changes in DNA targeting or repair, or the selection threshold of the tumor clone

Temporal stochasticity leads to nondeterministic chaos in a model for blood cell production

All types of blood cells are formed by differentiation from a small population of pluripotent stem cells in the bone marrow. This population should maintain the balance between self-renewal and differentiation, even under severe perturbations, e.g. the massive cell death caused by chemotherapy or irradiation. The authors constructed a cellular-automata model for bone marrow dynamics, which retrieves its homeostatic capabilities even under periodic perturbations with constant or random amplitude. However, temporally stochastic perturbations result in a chaotic-like behavior. Several methods of analysis failed to distinguish between the time series in this case and a chaotic time series, although the chaotic-like behavior has no deterministic source

Density and dry weight of pigweed by various weed control methods and various resources of nitrogen fertilizer in corn forage farm

This study evaluates effects of various weeds control methods and nitrogen fertilizer resources on density and dry weight of pigweed and the performance of corn forage as factorial in full random block design with 3 repetitions in research farm of Ferdowsi Mashhad University in 2014. The test treatments include weed control methods such as chemical control, compound (mechanical+ chemical) control, and no control and types of nitrogen fertilizer including (urea, sulfate ammonium, nitrate calcium, nitrate ammonium, and nonusing fertilizer). Density and dry weight of pigweed was measured four times in growing season to determine changes procedure. In the Corn primary stage, the performance of wet forage was also measured. The obtained results from test showed that forage performance at the end of growing season, and density and dry weight of pigweed after 60 days of planting were significantly influenced by control methods, type of nitrogen fertilizer, and interaction of control methods and type of nitrogen fertilizer. (P>0.01) the highest forage performance was obtained in compound control method and nitrate calcium fertilizer treatment with approximate weight of 12072kg/hec.In no control and studied fertilizers treatment in test, the pigweed density has stayed constant with soft descending slope 20 days after planting so on, and its weight increased until 60 days of planting and then decreased until the growing season.Keywords: Compound Control, Nitrogen Fertilizer Resource, Pigweed, Corn Forag

Activity of Daily Living Trajectories Surrounding Acute Hospitalization of Long‐Stay Nursing Home Residents

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101804/1/jgs12511.pd

Transition of the Swiss Phosphorus System towards a Circular Economy-Part 1: Current State and Historical Developments

Current phosphorus (P) use in European countries is highly dependent on mineral P imports and not sustainably managed. In order to identify and implement measures for sustainable P management, a comprehensive understanding of national P flows and stocks and their temporal dynamics is essential. We conduct a substance flow analysis (SFA) of the Swiss P system of the year 2015, and study the dynamics of the national P system by looking into its development since 1989. Furthermore, we investigate how political-legislative interventions affected the P system during this period. The results show that between 1989 and 2015, the P efficiency in Swiss agriculture increased from 59% to 94%, mainly due to a considerable reduction of fertilization in the agricultural subsystem. At the same time, Switzerland's P import dependency decreased from 33% to 24% between 1989 and 2002 because of a reduction of mineral fertilizer import and use. Between 2002 and 2015, the import dependency stagnated because further improvements in P use efficiency in agriculture were outweighed by a decrease of P recycling and an increase of P losses in the waste management system. By embedding these temporal dynamics in their political-legislative context, we found that top-down interventions such as incentives for a balanced nutrient budget in agriculture, restrictions of the use of animal by-products in the agri-food system or the ban of direct sewage sludge recycling in agriculture significantly affected and shaped the national P system. Our analysis provides profound quantitative and qualitative insights into past and present P management in Switzerland and is followed by part 2 of the paper, where we analyze possible future pathways of P management