CD40 is constitutively expressed on platelets and provides a novel mechanism for platelet activation

CD40 is a 48-kDa phosphorylated transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to the TNF receptor superfamily. CD40 has been demonstrated on a range of cell types, and it has an important role in adaptive immunity and inflammation. CD40 has recently been described on platelets but platelet activation by CD40 has not been described. In the present study, we use flow cytometry and immunoblotting to confirm that platelets constitutively express surface CD40. CD40 mRNA was undetectable, suggesting that the protein is synthesized early in platelet differentiation by megakaryocytes. Ligation of platelet CD40 with recombinant soluble CD40L trimer (sCD40LT) caused increased platelet CD62P expression, -granule and dense granule release, and the classical morphological changes associated with platelet activation. CD40 ligation also caused ß3 integrin activation, although this was not accompanied by platelet aggregation. These actions were abrogated by the CD40L blocking antibody TRAP-1 and the CD40 blocking antibodies M2 and M3, showing that activation was mediated by CD40L binding to platelet CD40. ß3 integrin blockade with eptifibatide had no effect, indicating that outside-in signaling via IIbß3 was not contributing to these CD40-mediated effects. CD40 ligation led to enhanced platelet-leukocyte adhesion, which is important in the recruitment of leukocytes to sites of thrombosis or inflammation. Our results support a role for CD40-mediated platelet activation in thrombosis, inflammation, and atherosclerosis

Cd4 count levels and pattern of respiratory complications in hiv seropositive patients in calabar, Nigeria.

A prospective observational study was carried out to describe the pattern of pulmonary complications in hospitalized patients with Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) infection at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar between January 2005 to December 2006. One hundred and twenty-four patients which consists 60 males and 64 females, aged between 20 – 60 who met the inclusion criteria formed the subjects for the study. The mean age of the subjects was 34.60+1.2 years. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain the demographic data, clinical information and CD4 lymphocyte count. Radiological analysis of chest was done with the chest X-ray of each subject. Chronic productive cough topped the list of respiratory symptoms (89%) followed by chest pain (74%) and dyspnea (62%). Lung consolidation was the commonest respiratory sign as seen in 44% of the cases. Hilar lymphadenopathy was seen in (35%), Pleural effusion (32%), lung fibrosis (21%) and finger clubbing (15%). The clinical and radiological pattern of most patients with chronic cough washighly suggestive of mycobacterial infection such as tuberculosis, although only 40% of cases had positive Acid Fast Baccilli. The mean CD4 lymphocyte count level was 174.8 + 5.4 cells/l and thismay be responsible for the respiratory findings as opportunistic lung infections are said to be commoner at CD4 count levels below 200 cells/l. However, four patients had mediasternal masseswhich may suggest neoplasms. Concerted efforts and continuous evaluation of these patients are needed to determine the spectrum of respiratory illnesses among HIV positive patients in Calabar

Reanalysis of two eclipsing binaries: EE Aqr and Z Vul

We study the radial-velocity and light curves of the two eclipsing binaries EE Aqr and Z Vul. Using the latest version of the Wilson & Van Hamme (2003) model, absolute parameters for the systems are determined. We find that EE Aqr and Z Vul are near-contact and semi-detached systems, respectively. The primary component of EE Aqr fills about 96% of its 'Roche lobe', while its secondary one appears close to completely filling this limiting volume. In a similar way, we find fill-out proportions of about 72 and 100% of these volumes for the primary and secondary components of Z Vul respectively. We compare our results with those of previous authors.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 10 table

The role of data visualization in Railway Big Data Risk Analysis

Big Data Risk Analysis (BDRA) is one of the possible alleys for the further development of risk models in the railway transport. Big Data techniques allow a great quantity of information to be handled from different types of sources (e.g. unstructured text, signaling and train data). The benefits of this approach may lie in improving the understanding of the risk factors involved in railways, detecting possible new threats or assessing the risk levels for rolling stock, rail infrastructure or railway operations. For the efficient use of BDRA, the conversion of huge amounts of data into a simple and effective display is particularly challenging. Especially because it is presented to various specific target audiences. This work reports a literature review of risk communication and visualization in order to find out its applicability to BDRA, and beyond the visual techniques, what human factors have to be considered in the understanding and risk perception of the infor-mation when safety analysts and decision-makers start basing their decisions on BDRA analyses. It was found that BDRA requires different visualization strategies than those that have normally been carried out in risk analysis up to now

Manageable creativity

This article notes a perception in mainstream management theory and practice that creativity has shifted from being disruptive or destructive to 'manageable'. This concept of manageable creativity in business is reflected in a similar rhetoric in cultural policy, especially towards the creative industries. The article argues that the idea of 'manageable creativity' can be traced back to a 'heroic' and a 'structural' model of creativity. It is argued that the 'heroic' model of creativity is being subsumed within a 'structural' model which emphasises the systems and infrastructure around individual creativity rather than focusing on raw talent and pure content. Yet this structured approach carries problems of its own, in particular a tendency to overlook the unpredictability of creative processes, people and products. Ironically, it may be that some confusion in our policies towards creativity is inevitable, reflecting the paradoxes and transitions which characterise the creative process

Statistical Theory of Spin Relaxation and Diffusion in Solids

A comprehensive theoretical description is given for the spin relaxation and diffusion in solids. The formulation is made in a general statistical-mechanical way. The method of the nonequilibrium statistical operator (NSO) developed by D. N. Zubarev is employed to analyze a relaxation dynamics of a spin subsystem. Perturbation of this subsystem in solids may produce a nonequilibrium state which is then relaxed to an equilibrium state due to the interaction between the particles or with a thermal bath (lattice). The generalized kinetic equations were derived previously for a system weakly coupled to a thermal bath to elucidate the nature of transport and relaxation processes. In this paper, these results are used to describe the relaxation and diffusion of nuclear spins in solids. The aim is to formulate a successive and coherent microscopic description of the nuclear magnetic relaxation and diffusion in solids. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation is considered and the Gorter relation is derived. As an example, a theory of spin diffusion of the nuclear magnetic moment in dilute alloys (like Cu-Mn) is developed. It is shown that due to the dipolar interaction between host nuclear spins and impurity spins, a nonuniform distribution in the host nuclear spin system will occur and consequently the macroscopic relaxation time will be strongly determined by the spin diffusion. The explicit expressions for the relaxation time in certain physically relevant cases are given.Comment: 41 pages, 119 Refs. Corrected typos, added reference

Absorptive capacity and market orientation in public service provision

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journal of Strategic Marketing on 05.04.2012, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0965254X.2011.643915The application of market orientation to public organisations does not adequately account for the unique features of this context. Drawing on absorptive capacity literature, this is the first study to examine the role of the organisation's learning environment on the market orientation-performance interface for two opposing public management contexts. The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1060 internal and external public leisure service providers in England. Empirical testing through structural equation modelling revealed that not all dimensions of market orientation are universally positive and marketing scholars should seek to examine and understand market orientation in the context of the organisation and its learning mechanisms, as absorptive capacity has clear and different moderation effects under different management contexts. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Long-term follow-up of chronic central serous chorioretinopathy after successful treatment with photodynamic therapy or micropulse laser

Purpose To describe the treatment outcomes and recurrence risk of chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (cCSC) in patients who had complete resolution of subretinal fluid (SRF) after either primary half-dose photodynamic therapy (PDT) or high-density subthreshold micropulse laser (HSML) in the PLACE trial.Methods This multicentre prospective follow-up study evaluated cCSC patients at 1 year after completion of the PLACE trial. Outcomes included: complete resolution of SRF on OCT, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters, retinal sensitivity on microperimetry and a visual function questionnaire (NEI-VFQ25).Results Twenty-nine out of 37 patients who received half-dose PDT and 15 out of 17 patients who received HSML could be evaluated at final visit. At final visit, 93% of the patients treated with half-dose PDT had complete resolution of SRF, compared with 53% of HSML-treated patients (p = 0.006). At final visit, the mean estimate increase in the PDT group compared with the HSML group was + 2.1 ETDRS letters, +0.15 dB for the retinal sensitivity and + 5.1 NEI-VFQ25 points (p = 0.103, p = 0.784 and p = 0.071, respectively). The mean estimated central retinal thickness in the half-dose PDT group was -7.0 mu m compared with the HSML group (p = 0.566). The mean estimated subfoveal choroidal thickness in the half-dose PDT group was -16.6 mu m compared with the HSML group (p = 0.359).Conclusion At 20 months after treatment, cCSC patients successfully treated with half-dose PDT are less likely to have recurrences of SRF compared with those successfully treated with HSML. However, functional outcomes did not differ.Development and application of statistical models for medical scientific researc