Optimum Land Allocation for Species Protection and Military Training on DoD Installations

Replaced with revised version of poster 8/11/10.Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Treatment results and prognostic factors in primary thyroid lymphoma patients: a Rare Cancer Network study

Background: This study analyzed prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of primary thyroid lymphoma. Patients and Methods: Data were retrospectively collected for 87 patients (53 stage I and 34 stage II) with median age 65 years. Fifty-two patients were treated with single modality (31 with chemotherapy alone and 21 with radiotherapy alone) and 35 with combined modality treatment. Median follow-up was 51 months. Results: Sixty patients had aggressive lymphoma and 27 had indolent lymphoma. The 5- and 10-year overall survival (OS) rates were 74% and 71%, respectively, and the disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 68% and 64%. Univariate analysis revealed that age, tumor size, stage, lymph node involvement, B symptoms, and treatment modality were prognostic factors for OS, DFS, and local control (LC). Patients with thyroiditis had significantly better LC rates. In multivariate analysis, OS was influenced by age, B symptoms, lymph node involvement, and tumor size, whereas DFS and LC were influenced by B symptoms and tumor size. Compared with single modality treatment, patients treated with combined modality had better 5-year OS, DFS, and LC. Conclusions: Combined modality leads to an excellent prognosis for patients with aggressive lymphoma but does not improve OS and LC in patients with indolent lymphom

Breakdown Mechanism of Different Sulphur Hexafluoride Gas Mixtures

Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) gas and SF6 gas mixtures are widely used in gas-insulated systems (GIS) because they have good dielectric and thermal properties. Among the various gas mixtures investigated so far, SF6-air, SF6-CO2, and SF6-N2 are most used gas mixtures. Also, these mixtures have much technical superiority in GIS. These are nontoxic and nonflammable gases, and they have less sensitivity to nonuniformities and higher liquefaction temperature at high pressure. GIS, switchgears, circuit breakers, and substations are systems that work with alternating current and have nonuniform electric fields. For this reason, in this study the breakdown mechanisms of 0.125, 0.5, 1, and 20% SF6 gas mixtures with rod-plane configuration under AC voltage are investigated and explained breakdown mechanism

New Mediterranean biodiversity records (March 2016)

In this Collective Article on “New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records”, we present additional records of species found in the Mediterranean Sea. These records refer to eight different countries mainly throughout the northern part of the basin, and include 28 species, belonging to five Phyla. The findings per country include the following species: Spain: Callinectes sapidus and Chelidonura fulvipunctata; Monaco: Aplysia dactylomela; Italy: Charybdis (Charybdis) feriata, Carcharodon carcharias, Seriola fasciata, and Siganus rivulatus; Malta: Pomacanthus asfur; Croatia: Lagocephalus sceleratus and Pomadasys incisus; Montenegro: Lagocephalus sceleratus; Greece: Amathia (Zoobotryon) verticillata, Atys macandrewii, Cerithium scabridum, Chama pacifica, Dendostrea cf. folium, Ergalatax junionae, Septifer cumingii, Syphonota geographica, Syrnola fasciata, Oxyu- richthys petersi, Scarus ghobban, Scorpaena maderensis, Solea aegyptiaca and Upeneus pori; Turkey: Lobotes surinamensis, Ruvettus pretiosus and Ophiocten abyssicolum. In the current article, the presence of Taractes rubescens (Jordan & Evermann, 1887) is recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean from Italy. The great contribution of citizen scientists in monitoring biodiversity records is reflected herein, as 10% of the authors are citizen scientists, and contributed 37.5% of the new findings.peer-reviewe

Design, fabrication and control of soft robots

Conventionally, engineers have employed rigid materials to fabricate precise, predictable robotic systems, which are easily modelled as rigid members connected at discrete joints. Natural systems, however, often match or exceed the performance of robotic systems with deformable bodies. Cephalopods, for example, achieve amazing feats of manipulation and locomotion without a skeleton; even vertebrates such as humans achieve dynamic gaits by storing elastic energy in their compliant bones and soft tissues. Inspired by nature, engineers have begun to explore the design and control of soft-bodied robots composed of compliant materials. This Review discusses recent developments in the emerging field of soft robotics.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant IIS-1226883

Antigen-Displaying Lipid-Enveloped PLGA Nanoparticles as Delivery Agents for a Plasmodium vivax Malaria Vaccine

The parasite Plasmodium vivax is the most frequent cause of malaria outside of sub-Saharan Africa, but efforts to develop viable vaccines against P. vivax so far have been inadequate. We recently developed pathogen-mimicking polymeric vaccine nanoparticles composed of the FDA-approved biodegradable polymer poly(lactide-co-glycolide) acid (PLGA) “enveloped” by a lipid membrane. In this study, we sought to determine whether this vaccine delivery platform could be applied to enhance the immune response against P. vivax sporozoites. A candidate malaria antigen, VMP001, was conjugated to the lipid membrane of the particles, and an immunostimulatory molecule, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA), was incorporated into the lipid membranes, creating pathogen-mimicking nanoparticle vaccines (VMP001-NPs). Vaccination with VMP001-NPs promoted germinal center formation and elicited durable antigen-specific antibodies with significantly higher titers and more balanced Th1/Th2 responses in vivo, compared with vaccines composed of soluble protein mixed with MPLA. Antibodies raised by NP vaccinations also exhibited enhanced avidity and affinity toward the domains within the circumsporozoite protein implicated in protection and were able to agglutinate live P. vivax sporozoites. These results demonstrate that these VMP001-NPs are promising vaccines candidates that may elicit protective immunity against P. vivax sporozoites.United States. Dept. of Defense (contract W911NF-07-D-0004)Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvar