Droplet shapes on structured substrates and conformal invariance

We consider the finite-size scaling of equilibrium droplet shapes for fluid adsorption (at bulk two-phase co-existence) on heterogeneous substrates and also in wedge geometries in which only a finite domain $\Lambda_{A}$ of the substrate is completely wet. For three-dimensional systems with short-ranged forces we use renormalization group ideas to establish that both the shape of the droplet height and the height-height correlations can be understood from the conformal invariance of an appropriate operator. This allows us to predict the explicit scaling form of the droplet height for a number of different domain shapes. For systems with long-ranged forces, conformal invariance is not obeyed but the droplet shape is still shown to exhibit strong scaling behaviour. We argue that droplet formation in heterogeneous wedge geometries also shows a number of different scaling regimes depending on the range of the forces. The conformal invariance of the wedge droplet shape for short-ranged forces is shown explicitly.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. (Submitted to J.Phys.:Cond.Mat.

A Lightweight Authentication Scheme for Transport System Farecards

Proximity Integrated Circuit Cards (PICC) are widely used for public transport fare collection. The stored contents in the card can only be accessed or modified after the card is able to authenticate the Proximity Coupling Device (PCD) or reader using a shared secret key. We propose a new authentication scheme that is not based on shared secret keys. Instead, authentication is based on the card and reader being able to compute an identical pairwise key using their own private keying material obtained from the same source. The computation is done off-line and does not require the participation of a third party. It uses simple modular arithmetic operations over a small binary extension field, achieving fast computation speed using the limited resources in cards. In addition, should the keys be stolen from the cards or readers, the security of the other parts of the system cannot be compromised

The Contribution of Therapist Effects to Patient Dropout and Deterioration in the Psychological Therapies

BACKGROUND: In the psychological therapies, patient outcomes are not always positive. Some patients leave therapy prematurely (dropout), while others experience deterioration in their psychological well-being. METHODS: The sample for dropout comprised patients (n = 10 521) seen by 85 therapists, who attended at least the initial session of one-to-one therapy and completed a Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) at pre-treatment. The subsample for patient deterioration comprised patients (n = 6405) seen by the same 85 therapists but who attended two or more sessions, completed therapy and returned a CORE-OM at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Multilevel modelling was used to estimate the extent of therapist effects for both outcomes after controlling for patient characteristics. RESULTS: Therapist effects accounted for 12.6% of dropout variance and 10.1% of deterioration variance. Dropout rates for therapists ranged from 1.2% to 73.2%, while rates of deterioration ranged from 0% to 15.4%. There was no significant correlation between therapist dropout rate and deterioration rate (Spearman's rho = 0.07, p = 0.52). CONCLUSIONS: The methods provide a reliable means for identifying therapists who return consistently poorer rates of patient dropout and deterioration compared with their peers. The variability between therapists and the identification of patient risk factors as significant predictors has implications for the delivery of safe psychological therapy services. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE: Therapists play an important role in contributing to patient dropout and deterioration, irrespective of case mix. Therapist effects on patient dropout and deterioration appear to act independently. Being unemployed as a patient was the strongest predictor of both dropout and deterioration. Patient risk to self or others was also an important predictor

An Anti-C1s Monoclonal, TNT003, Inhibits Complement Activation Induced by Antibodies Against HLA.

Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) of solid organ transplants (SOT) is characterized by damage triggered by donor-specific antibodies (DSA) binding donor Class I and II HLA (HLA-I and HLA-II) expressed on endothelial cells. While F(ab')2 portions of DSA cause cellular activation and proliferation, Fc regions activate the classical complement cascade, resulting in complement deposition and leukocyte recruitment, both hallmark features of AMR. We characterized the ability of an anti-C1s monoclonal antibody, TNT003, to inhibit HLA antibody (HLA-Ab)-induced complement activation. Complement deposition induced by HLA-Ab was evaluated using novel cell- and bead-based assays. Human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) were cultured with HLA-Ab and human complement; production of activated complement proteins was measured by flow cytometry. Additionally, C3d deposition was measured on single antigen beads (SAB) mixed with HLA-Ab and human complement. TNT003 inhibited HLA-Ab mediated complement deposition on HAEC in a concentration-dependent manner; C3a, C4a and C5a anaphylatoxin production was also diminished by TNT003. Finally, TNT003 blocked C3d deposition induced by Class I (HLAI-Ab)- and Class II (HLAII-Ab)-specific antibodies on SAB. These data suggest TNT003 may be useful for modulating the effects of DSA, as TNT003 inhibits complement deposition and split product formation generated by HLA-I/II-Ab in vitro

Tissue-specific co-expression and in vitro heteropolymer formation of the two small Branchiostoma intermediate filament proteins A3 and B2

The two small intermediate filament (IF) proteins A3 and B2 of the cephalochordate Amphioxus were investigated. Blot overlays indicated a heterotypic interaction pattern of the recombinant proteins. While the individual proteins formed only aggregates, the stoichiometric mixture formed obligatory heteropolymeric filaments. Mutant proteins with a single cysteine residue in equivalent positions gave rise to filaments that oxidize to the disulfide-linked heterodimer, which can again form IF. Thus the A3/B2 filaments, which are expressed in the intestinal epithelium, are based on a hetero coiled coil. This keratin- like assembly process of A3 plus B2 was unexpected, since previous evolutionary tree calculations performed by two laboratories on the various Amphioxus IF proteins identified keratin I and II orthologs but left the A/B group as a separate branch. We discuss obvious evolutionary aspects of the Amphioxus IF multigene family, including the previously made observation that B1, the closest relative of B2, forms homopolymeric IF in vitro and is, like vertebrate type III proteins, expressed in mesodermally derived tissues. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd

Does particulate matter modify the short-term association between heat waves and hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases in greater Sydney, Australia?

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Little is known about the potential interactive effects of heat waves and ambient particulate matter on cardiovascular morbidity. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used to examine whether particulate matter (PM10) modifies the association between heat waves and emergency hospital admissions for six cardiovascular diseases in Greater Sydney, Australia during the warm season for 2001–2013. We estimated and compared the effect of heat waves on high- and low-level PM10 days at lag0–lag2, adjusting for dew-point temperature, ambient ozone, ambient nitrogen dioxide, and public holidays. We also investigated the susceptibility of both younger (0– 64 years) and older populations (65 years and above), and tested the sensitivity of three heat wave definitions. Stronger heat wave effects were observed on high- compared to low-level PM10 days for emergency hospital admissions for cardiac arrest for all ages combined, 0–64 years and 65 years and above; conduction disorders for 0–64 years; and hypertensive diseases for all ages combined and 0– 64 years. Overall, we found some evidence to suggest that PM10 may modify the association between heat waves and hospital admissions for certain cardiovascular diseases, although our findings largely differed across disease, age group, lag, and heat wave definition

Distributing the burdens of climate change

Global climate change raises many questions for environmental political theorists. This article focuses on the question of identifying the agents that should bear the financial burden of preventing dangerous climate change. Identifying in a fair way the agents that should take the lead in climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as the precise burdens that these parties must bear, will be a key aspect of the next generation of global climate policies. After a critical review of a number of rival approaches to burden sharing, the paper argues that only a principled and philosophically robust reconciliation of three approaches to burden sharing (‘contribution to problem’, ‘ability to pay’ and ‘beneficiary pays’) can generate a satisfactory mix of theoretical coherence and practical application

Effectiveness of autologous chondrocyte transplantation for hyaline cartilage defects in knees: a rapid and systematic review.

Background \ud \ud Proposed service Autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) is a novel surgical approach used to treat full-thickness cartilage defects in knee joints. Small grafts of normal cartilage removed from the patient’s diseased joint are treated in a laboratory to obtain cartilage cells. These cells are cultured to expand the cell population and reimplanted a few weeks later into areas where cartilage is denuded by disease. The aim of this procedure is to restore normal cartilage to the ends of bones and thereby restore normal joint function. \ud \ud Epidemiology \ud \ud There are no reliable estimates of the prevalence of cartilage defects in the knee. Lesions are most likely to arise in sportsmen and women as a result of injury. Up to 20% of individuals sustaining a haemarthrosis following a knee injury may have cartilage damage. \ud \ud Objectives \ud \ud This systematic review of the available evidence was performed to: \ud \ud 1. Describe the types of knee disease for which ACT has been applied, the natural history and epidemiology of these conditions, and alternative treatment options \ud 2. Determine long-term clinical outcomes following ACT and other surgical procedures for knee cartilage defects \ud 3. Examine the economic evidence and consider the economic gains resulting from ACT. \ud \ud Methods \ud \ud To analyse the effectiveness of treatment and the resultant economic impact, a systematic review of the literature, involving a range of databases, was performed. In addition, contact was made with leading researchers and industry. Full details are described in the main report. \ud \ud Results \ud \ud Number and quality of studies and direction of evidence Of 46 identified reports, 17 met the criteria for inclusion in this review. Eight of the included reports were available as abstracts only. At least 2600 patients appear to have been treated with ACT. All included reports were case series with a variable length of follow-up. With one exception, all the studies reported improvement in patient status, usually over a follow-up period of less than 2 years. \ud \ud Summary of benefits \ud \ud The outcome of ACT surgery was rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by approximately 70% of patients 2 years after treatment. Approximately 16% of patients required further arthroscopic surgical procedures during follow-up, and treatment was judged to have failed in 3–7% of patients. For comparator treatments, the outcome was rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ in 10–95% of patients 2 years after treatment. \ud \ud Economic review \ud \ud The reports of two studies, one based in the USA and the other in Sweden, included economic data. Neither study compared ACT with other treatments. Using data from these studies and other sources, it was estimated that ACT performed in the UK would cost £4667 or £8167 for cell culture and surgery, depending on which service provider was used for cell culture. Incremental cost over 2 years, when set against comparator treatments, was estimated to be £3771 or £7271 (base case) for cell culture, surgery and rehabilitation. Using the OsCell facility for cell culture (Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital NHS Trust), this figure would be £3167. \ud \ud Conclusions \ud \ud The reported literature on ACT and comparators is subject to bias because of the inherent weaknesses of case series. In addition, the long-term impact of conventional surgical treatments or no surgical treatment is poorly documented. The cost-effectiveness analysis is similarly limited by the poverty of the effectiveness data on both ACT and comparators, the lack of long-term follow-up and the lack of empirical data for some of the parameters in the model used. \ud \ud Recommendations for research \ud \ud Further studies are required to: \ud \ud 1. Provide more accurate data on the occurrence of hyaline cartilage defects, including defects that arise acutely and those that are secondary to other types of knee injuries \ud 2. Clarify the relationship of cartilage defects to clinical symptoms \ud 3. Evaluate in detail the natural history of cartilage defects diagnosed by modern arthroscopic methods \ud 4. Compare ACT with other treatments deemed appropriate, based on randomised trials currently in progress or planned \ud 5. Examine, in prospective randomised trials, issues such as differences in outcome in patient subgroups (e.g. the suggested poor outcomes in patients with patellar defects), with patients followed for as long as possible \ud 6. Address the deficiencies in evaluating the clinical outcomes of knee injury and incorporate measures of general health status \ud 7. Consider study designs, other than randomised trials, that might be used to assess complex interventions such as those required in complex knee injuries