Combination chemotherapy with anticancer agents and OK-432

Antitumor effects of the combination chemotherapy with hemolytic streptococcus preparation, OK-432, and various anticancer agents were observed on experimental tumors and human cancers. Experimental studies revealed that combined use of OK-432 with Mitomycin C, Nitrogen mustard N-Oxide or Bleomycin was remarkably effective on rodent transplantable tumors such as Ehrlich carcinoma, sarcoma-lOO and rat ascitic hepatoma AH-66. As for the mode of action of OK-432, besides a direct action on cancer cells, a host-mediated action appears to be also involved. Clinical trials were made on 14 cases with various advanced cancers, and favorable response was obtained in 5 with lung cancer. Fever was the major side effect of OK-432 and there was no evidence of bone marrow suppression.</p

Galois Structure and De Rhan Invariants of Elliptic Curves

Let K be a number field with ring of integers OK. Suppose a finite group G acts numerically tamely on a regular scheme X over OK. One can then define a de Rham invariant class in the class group Cl(OK[G]), which is a refined Euler characteristic of the de Rham complex of X. Our results concern the classification of numerically tame actions and the de Rham invariant classes. We first describe how all Galois etale G-covers of a K-variety may be built up from finite Galois extensions of K and from geometric covers. When X is a curve of positive genus, we show that a given etale action of G on X extends to a numerically tame action on a regular model if and only if this is possible on the minimal model. Finally, we characterize the classes in Cl(OK[G]) which are realizable as the de Rham invariants for minimal models of elliptic curves when G has prime order

Central Management of Local Performance: A Comparison of England and Korea

The author analyses performance measurement in the public sector and empirically tests the validity, legitimacy and functionality of Comprehensive Performance Assessment in England and Joint Performance Assessment in Korea on the basis of comparative methodology.Since the 1980s, New Public Management (NPM) has deeply influenced the public sector across the world, and thus measuring or managing performance has become a principal element of government reform. In terms of borrowing models and techniques from the private sector, performance measurement has been significantly extended into government, but differences between the two sectors have led to difficulties and criticism of this practice with a wide inconsistent variety of different theoretical explanations about it. In this context, this thesis investigates the effectiveness of performance measurement and theoretical explanations of conditions for its success in the public sector. It focuses through a comparative methodology on Comprehensive Performance Assessment and Joint Performance Assessment that have recently been introduced between the levels of government in England and Korea for the improvement of local government performance and accountability. Extensive analysis of literature and case studies have allowed the thesis to find firstly, that the introduction of such unique assessment systems, by which the centre assesses localities, was deeply affected by the environmental commonalities of both countries such as centralisation in inter-governmental relations and enthusiasm for NPM. Second, the empirical evaluation of both tools shows that they have in practice been valid for accurate assessment, and directly functional for improvement and indirectly for accountability to the public. Their high validity and functionality proved to be mainly attributable to two characteristics. One was institutionally that both frameworks were based on a balanced approach to performance and the disclosure of assessment results to the public for facilitating competition between localities. The other was that both had impacted on internal management of local government which led to change in organisational culture with more focus on performance. However, it identified a necessity for local authorities to participate in the development process of those tools to ensure legitimacy of central management of local performance since they enjoy their own electorally based political support. The research has also found the importance of assessors’ expertise for accurate assessment and a possibility that performance measurement can contribute to the resolution of political tension and cooperation between central and local government when it focuses more on outcomes than input and process. A deeper theoretical and practical understanding of these successful experiences and important policy elements in contemporary public management contributes significantly to knowledge in the three settings of evaluation of policy instruments, comparison between countries and central-local relations. Finally, the study assists each country and others to draw lessons from each other

Choquet OK?

There is a large theoretical literature in both economics and psychology on decision making under ambiguity (as distinct from risk) and many preference functionals proposed in this literature for describing behaviour in such contexts. However, the empirical literature is scarce and largely confined to testing between various proposed functionals. Using a new design, in which we create genuine ambiguity in the laboratory and can control the amount of ambiguity, we generate data which enables us to estimate several of the proposed preference functionals. In particular, we fit Subjective Expected Utility, Prospect Theory, Choquet Expected Utility, Maximin, Maximax, and Minimum Regret preference functionals, and examine how the fit changes when we vary the ambiguity. We find that the Choquet formulation performs best overall, though it is clear that different decision makers have different functionals. We also identify new decision rules which are not explicitly modelled in the literature.Ambiguity, Subjective Expected Utility, Prospect Theory, Choquet Expected Utility, Decision Making, Maximin, Maximax, Minimum Regret, Bingo Blower

Cellular responses of Candida albicans to phagocytosis and the extracellular activities of neutrophils are critical to counteract carbohydrate starvation, oxidative and nitrosative stress

Acknowledgments We thank Alexander Johnson (yhb1D/D), Karl Kuchler (sodD/D mutants), Janet Quinn (hog1D/D, hog1/cap1D/D, trx1D/D) and Peter Staib (ssu1D/D) for providing mutant strains. We acknowledge helpful discussions with our colleagues from the Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms Department, Fungal Septomics and the Microbial Biochemistry and Physiology Research Group at the Hans Kno¨ll Institute (HKI), specially Ilse D. Jacobsen, Duncan Wilson, Sascha Brunke, Lydia Kasper, Franziska Gerwien, Sea´na Duggan, Katrin Haupt, Kerstin Hu¨nniger, and Matthias Brock, as well as from our partners in the FINSysB Network. Author Contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: PM HW IMB AJPB OK BH. Performed the experiments: PM CD HW. Analyzed the data: PM HW IMB AJPB OK BH. Wrote the paper: PM HW OK AJPB BH.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Quantile regression with varying coefficients

Quantile regression provides a framework for modeling statistical quantities of interest other than the conditional mean. The regression methodology is well developed for linear models, but less so for nonparametric models. We consider conditional quantiles with varying coefficients and propose a methodology for their estimation and assessment using polynomial splines. The proposed estimators are easy to compute via standard quantile regression algorithms and a stepwise knot selection algorithm. The proposed Rao-score-type test that assesses the model against a linear model is also easy to implement. We provide asymptotic results on the convergence of the estimators and the null distribution of the test statistic. Empirical results are also provided, including an application of the methodology to forced expiratory volume (FEV) data.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000000966 in the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Anomaly-corrected supersymmetry algebra and supersymmetric holographic renormalization

We present a systematic approach to supersymmetric holographic renormalization for a generic 5D $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauged supergravity theory with matter multiplets, including its fermionic sector, with all gauge fields consistently set to zero. We determine the complete set of supersymmetric local boundary counterterms, including the finite counterterms that parameterize the choice of supersymmetric renormalization scheme. This allows us to derive holographically the superconformal Ward identities of a 4D superconformal field theory on a generic background, including the Weyl and super-Weyl anomalies. Moreover, we show that these anomalies satisfy the Wess-Zumino consistency condition. The super-Weyl anomaly implies that the fermionic operators of the dual field theory, such as the supercurrent, do not transform as tensors under rigid supersymmetry on backgrounds that admit a conformal Killing spinor, and their anticommutator with the conserved supercharge contains anomalous terms. This property is explicitly checked for a toy model. Finally, using the anomalous transformation of the supercurrent, we obtain the anomaly-corrected supersymmetry algebra on curved backgrounds admitting a conformal Killing spinor.Comment: 51 pages; v2: two references added, typos corrected, a discussion about the 2-dimensional super-Weyl anomaly added in section