Correlation of Urinary Engrailed-2 Levels to Tumour Volume and Pathological Stage in Men Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy

yesThe aim of this study was to assess the relationship between pre-prostatectomy urinary Engrailed-2 (EN2), a transcription factor secreted by prostate cancer cells, with tumour volume and pathological characteristics in resected prostate specimens. First pass urine samples (10 ml) without prior prostatic massage were collected and stored at –80°C. EN2 levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay. Tumour volume in the prostatectomy specimens was determined histologically. 57 men undergoing RP in one urological cancer network were evaluated. EN2 was detected in 85% of RP patients. EN2 correlated with tumour volume (but not total prostatic volume) in a linear regression analysis, with increasing pathological T stage and margin positivity. Using three “cutoff levels” of tumour volume (0.5 ml, 1.3 ml and 2.5 ml) to define “significant disease”, men with “significant disease” had markedly higher levels of urinary EN2 (p < 0.001 for each cut off level). Levels of urinary EN2 may be useful in predicting tumour volume in men with prostate cancer by potentially identifying men with small volume “insignificant” disease. This study justifies a larger multicentre evaluation of urinary EN2 levels as a biomarker of PC significance using cancer volume, pathological and PSA criteria

Role of Scalar Meson Resonances in $K_{L}^{0} \rightarrow \pi^{0} \gamma \gamma Decay

Corrections to $K_{L}^{0}\rightarrow \pi^{0} \gamma \gamma$ decay induced by scalar meson exchange are studied within chiral perturbation theory. In spite of bad knowledge of scalar-mesons parameters, the calculated branching ratio can be changed by a few percent.Comment: 18 pages of text, 2 figures (available upon request); preprint IJS-TP-16-94 , TUM-T31-63-94

A review of the discovery reach of directional Dark Matter detection

Cosmological observations indicate that most of the matter in the Universe is Dark Matter. Dark Matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) can be detected directly, via its elastic scattering off target nuclei. Most current direct detection experiments only measure the energy of the recoiling nuclei. However, directional detection experiments are sensitive to the direction of the nuclear recoil as well. Due to the Sun’s motion with respect to the Galactic rest frame, the directional recoil rate has a dipole feature, peaking around the direction of the Solar motion. This provides a powerful tool for demonstrating the Galactic origin of nuclear recoils and hence unambiguously detecting Dark Matter. Furthermore, the directional recoil distribution depends on the WIMP mass, scattering cross section and local velocity distribution. Therefore, with a large number of recoil events it will be possible to study the physics of Dark Matter in terms of particle and astrophysical properties. We review the potential of directional detectors for detecting and characterizing WIMPs

Scientific Highlights of the HETE-2 Mission

The HETE-2 mission has been highly productive. It has observed more than 250 GRBs so far. It is currently localizing 25 - 30 GRBs per year, and has localized 43 GRBs to date. Twenty-one of these localizations have led to the detection of X-ray, optical, or radio afterglows, and as of now, 11 of the bursts with afterglows have known redshifts. HETE-2 has confirmed the connection between GRBs and Type Ic supernovae, a singular achievement and certainly one of the scientific highlights of the mission so far. It has provided evidence that the isotropic-equivalent energies and luminosities of GRBs are correlated with redshift, implying that GRBs and their progenitors evolve strongly with redshift. Both of these results have profound implications for the nature of GRB progenitors and for the use of GRBs as a probe of cosmology and the early universe. HETE-2 has placed severe constraints on any X-ray or optical afterglow of a short GRB. It is also solving the mystery of "optically dark' GRBs, and revealing the nature of X-ray flashes.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, to appear in proc. "The Restless High-Energy Universe", Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam; revised text, added ref

Poor compliance and increased mortality, depression and healthcare costs in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Objectives To evaluate risks of depression and all-cause mortality, healthcare utilisation costs, and treatment adherence in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in the UK. Design and Methods A retrospective, matched-cohort study using UK primary-care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink linked to hospital and death-certification data. Patients diagnosed with CAH and having ≥1 corticosteroid prescription were matched 1:10 to reference subjects. Risk of death and lifetime prevalence of depression were compared using Cox regression models. Direct financial costs were estimated for healthcare contacts. Treatment adherence was measured by medical possession ratio (MPR). Results 605 patients with CAH were identified; 562 were matched. 270 CAH patients (2,700 controls) were linkable to death-certificate data, with adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality 5.17 (95%CI 2.81 to 9.50). Mean (SD) age at death in CAH patients was 54.8 (23.9) versus 72.8 (18.0) years in control patients. The prevalence ratio of depression in CAH versus control patients was 1.28 (95%CI 1.13 to 1.45). Mean (SD) annual healthcare costs were higher in CAH than controls: at age 0-6 years, £7,038 (£14,846) versus £2,879 (£13,972, p<0.001); 7-17 years, £3,766 (£7,494) versus £1,232 (£2,451, p<0.001); 18-40 years, £1,539 (£872) versus £1,344 (£1,620, p=0.007); and ≥41 years, £4,204 (£4,863) versus £1,651 (£2,303, p<0.001). Treatment adherence was lowest in adults, with 141 (36%) of 396 eligible patients having an MPR <80%. Conclusions This first analysis of CAH in routine UK healthcare suggests that patients with CAH have increased mortality, depression, and healthcare utilisation, and low treatment adherence

The institutional shaping of management: in the tracks of English individualism

Globalisation raises important questions about the shaping of economic action by cultural factors. This article explores the formation of what is seen by some as a prime influence on the formation of British management: individualism. Drawing on a range of historical sources, it argues for a comparative approach. In this case, the primary comparison drawn is between England and Scotland. The contention is that there is a systemic approach to authority in Scotland that can be contrasted to a personal approach in England. An examination of the careers of a number of Scottish pioneers of management suggests the roots of this systemic approach in practices of church governance. Ultimately this systemic approach was to take a secondary role to the personal approach engendered by institutions like the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but it found more success in the different institutional context of the USA. The complexities of dealing with historical evidence are stressed, as is the value of taking a comparative approach. In this case this indicates a need to take religious practice as seriously as religious belief as a source of transferable practice. The article suggests that management should not be seen as a simple response to economic imperatives, but as shaped by the social and cultural context from which it emerges

Early phonological and sociocognitive skills as predictors of later language and social communication outcomes

Background:  Previous studies of outcome for children with early language delay have focused on measures of early language as predictors of language outcome. This study investigates whether very early processing skills (VEPS) known to underpin language development will be better predictors of specific language and social communication outcomes than measures of language itself. Method:  Participants were 163 children referred to clinical services with concerns about language at 2;6–3;6 years and followed up at 4–5 years. Novel assessments of phonological and sociocognitive processing were administered at Time 1 (T1), together with a standardised test of receptive and expressive language, and parental report of expressive vocabulary. The language test was re-administered at Time 2 (T2), together with assessments of morphosyntax and parental reports of social communication. Results:  Intercorrelations at and between T1 and T2 were high, and dissociations were rare. Ordinal regressions were run, entering predictors singly and simultaneously. With the exception of the phonological task, every early measure on its own was significantly predictive of most outcomes, and receptive language was the strongest all-round predictor. Results of simultaneous entry, controlling for the effect of other predictors, showed that early language was the strongest predictor of general language outcome, but early phonology was the strongest predictor of a measure of morphosyntax, and early sociocognition the strongest predictor of social communication. Conclusions:  Language measures which draw on a wide range of skills were the strongest overall predictors of general language outcomes. However, our VEPS measures were stronger predictors of specific outcomes. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

Aquatic food security:insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment

Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand

Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather

The Sun's outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal heating and the acceleration of the ambient solar wind. We also discuss where the community stands in its ability to forecast how variations in the solar wind (i.e., fast and slow wind streams) impact the Earth. Although the last few decades have seen significant progress in observations and modeling, we still do not have a complete understanding of the relevant physical processes, nor do we have a quantitatively precise census of which coronal structures contribute to specific types of solar wind. Fast streams are known to be connected to the central regions of large coronal holes. Slow streams, however, appear to come from a wide range of sources, including streamers, pseudostreamers, coronal loops, active regions, and coronal hole boundaries. Complicating our understanding even more is the fact that processes such as turbulence, stream-stream interactions, and Coulomb collisions can make it difficult to unambiguously map a parcel measured at 1 AU back down to its coronal source. We also review recent progress -- in theoretical modeling, observational data analysis, and forecasting techniques that sit at the interface between data and theory -- that gives us hope that the above problems are indeed solvable.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Special issue connected with a 2016 ISSI workshop on "The Scientific Foundations of Space Weather." 44 pages, 9 figure