Holographic Vitrification

We establish the existence of stable and metastable stationary black hole bound states at finite temperature and chemical potentials in global and planar four-dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. We determine a number of features of their holographic duals and argue they represent structural glasses. We map out their thermodynamic landscape in the probe approximation, and show their relaxation dynamics exhibits logarithmic aging, with aging rates determined by the distribution of barriers.Comment: 100 pages, 25 figure

Age at quitting smoking as a predictor of risk of cardiovascular disease incidence independent of smoking status, time since quitting and pack-years

Background: Risk prediction for CVD events has been shown to vary according to current smoking status, pack-years smoked over a lifetime, time since quitting and age at quitting. The latter two are closely and inversely related. It is not known whether the age at which one quits smoking is an additional important predictor of CVD events. The aim of this study was to determine whether the risk of CVD events varied according to age at quitting after taking into account current smoking status, lifetime pack-years smoked and time since quitting. Findings. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to evaluate the risk of developing a first CVD event for a cohort of participants in the Framingham Offspring Heart Study who attended the fourth examination between ages 30 and 74 years and were free of CVD. Those who quit before the median age of 37 years had a risk of CVD incidence similar to those who were never smokers. The incorporation of age at quitting in the smoking variable resulted in better prediction than the model which had a simple current smoker/non-smoker measure and the one that incorporated both time since quitting and pack-years. These models demonstrated good discrimination, calibration and global fit. The risk among those quitting more than 5 years prior to the baseline exam and those whose age at quitting was prior to 44 years was similar to the risk among never smokers. However, the risk among those quitting less than 5 years prior to the baseline exam and those who continued to smoke until 44 years of age (or beyond) was two and a half times higher than that of never smokers. Conclusions: Age at quitting improves the prediction of risk of CVD incidence even after other smoking measures are taken into account. The clinical benefit of adding age at quitting to the model with other smoking measures may be greater than the associated costs. Thus, age at quitting should be considered in addition to smoking status, time since quitting and pack-years when counselling individuals about their cardiovascular risk

Chromogenic in situ hybridization to detect EGFR gene copy number in cell blocks from fine-needle aspirates of non small cell lung carcinomas and lung metastases from colo-rectal cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several studies demonstrated that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene copy number (GCN) correlates to the response to tyrosine kinase inhibitors in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). In the presence of lung nodules, cytology is often the only possible diagnostic approach. Chromogenic <it>in situ </it>hybridization (CISH) is an alternative technique to fluorescence <it>in situ </it>hybridization (FISH), but its feasibility in detecting EGFR GCN in cell blocks from fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of lung nodules has not yet been established.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We evaluated the feasibility of CISH on 33 FNAC from 20 primary NSCLC (5 squamous carcinomas, 8 large cell carcinomas and 7 adenocarcinomas) and 13 lung metastases from CRC.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 33 FNAC analyzed by CISH, 27 (82%) presented a balanced increase in EGFR gene and chromosome 7 number: 10 cases (30%) showed a low polysomy, 15 (45%) a high polysomy and 2 (6%) NSCLC were amplified. No significant differences between NSCLC and CRC lung metastases were found in relation to disomic or polysomic status. In addition, no correlation between EGFR GCN and EGFR immunohistochemical overexpression was found. Furthermore, we compared CISH results with those obtained by FISH on the same samples and we found 97% overall agreement between the two assays (k = 0.78, p < 0.0001). Two cases were amplified with both assays, whereas 1 case of NSCLC was amplified by FISH only. CISH sensitivity was 67%, the specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) was 100%, and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 97%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study shows that CISH is a valid method to detect EGFR GCN in cell blocks from FNAC of primary NSCLC or metastatic CRC to the lung.</p

Efficacy of the combination of long-acting release octreotide and tamoxifen in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomised multicentre phase III study

To assess the efficacy of the combination of long-acting release (LAR) octreotide and tamoxifen (TMX) for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 109 patients with advanced HCC were randomised to receive octreotide LAR combined with TMX (n=56) (experimental treatment group) or TMX alone (n=53; control group). The clinical, biological and tumoural parameters were recorded every 3 months until death. Primary end point was patient survival; secondary end points were the impact of therapy on tumour response, quality of life and variceal bleeding episodes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for assessment of specific prognostic factors. The median survival was 3 months (95% CI 1.4–4.6) for the experimental treatment group and 6 months (CI 95% 2–10) for the control group (P=0.609). There was no difference in terms of α-foetoprotein (α-FP) decrease, tumour regression, improvement of quality of life and prevention of variceal bleeding between the two groups. Variables associated with a better survival in the multivariate analysis were: presence of cirrhosis, α-FP level <400 ng ml−1 and Okuda stage I. The combination of octreotide LAR and TMX does not influence survival, tumour progression or quality of life in patients with advanced HCC

Novel Allelic Variants in the Canine Cyclooxgenase-2 (Cox-2) Promoter Are Associated with Renal Dysplasia in Dogs

Renal dysplasia (RD) in dogs is a complex disease with a highly variable phenotype and mode of inheritance that does not follow a simple Mendelian pattern. Cox-2 (Cyclooxgenase-2) deficient mice have renal abnormalities and a pathology that has striking similarities to RD in dogs suggesting to us that mutations in the Cox-2 gene could be the cause of RD in dogs. Our data supports this hypothesis. Sequencing of the canine Cox-2 gene was done from clinically affected and normal dogs. Although no changes were detected in the Cox-2 coding region, small insertions and deletions of GC boxes just upstream of the ATG translation start site were found. These sequences are putative SP1 transcription factor binding sites that may represent important cis-acting DNA regulatory elements that govern the expression of Cox-2. A pedigree study of a family of Lhasa apsos revealed an important statistical correlation of these mutant alleles with the disease. We examined an additional 22 clinical cases from various breeds. Regardless of the breed or severity of disease, all of these had one or two copies of the Cox-2 allelic variants. We suggest that the unusual inheritance pattern of RD is due to these alleles, either by changing the pattern of expression of Cox-2 or making Cox-2 levels susceptible to influences of other genes or environmental factors that play an unknown but important role in the development of RD in dogs

Accelerometer-based physical activity in a large observational cohort - study protocol and design of the activity and function of the elderly in Ulm (ActiFE Ulm) study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A large number of studies have demonstrated a positive effect of increased physical activity (PA) on various health outcomes. In all large geriatric studies, however, PA has only been assessed by interview-based instruments which are all subject to substantial bias. This may represent one reason why associations of PA with geriatric syndromes such as falls show controversial results. The general aim of the Active-Ulm study was to determine the association of accelerometer-based physical activity with different health-related parameters, and to study the influence of this standardized objective measure of physical activity on health- and disability-related parameters in a longitudinal setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We have set up an observational cohort study in 1500 community dwelling older persons (65 to 90 years) stratified by age and sex. Addresses have been obtained from the local residents registration offices. The study is carried out jointly with the IMCA - Respiratory Health Survey in the Elderly implemented in the context of the European project IMCA II. The study has a cross-sectional part (1) which focuses on PA and disability and two longitudinal parts (2) and (3). The primary information for part (2) is a prospective 1 year falls calendar including assessment of medication change. Part (3) will be performed about 36 months following baseline. Primary variables of interest include disability, PA, falls and cognitive function. Baseline recruitment has started in March 2009 and will be finished in April 2010.</p> <p>All participants are visited three times within one week, either at home or in the study center. Assessments included interviews on quality of life, diagnosed diseases, common risk factors as well as novel cognitive tests and established tests of physical functioning. PA is measured using an accelerometer-based sensor device, carried continuously over a one week period and accompanied by a prospective activity diary.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The assessment of PA using a high standard accelerometer-based device is feasible in a large population-based study. The results obtained from cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses will shed light on important associations between PA and various outcomes and may provide information for specific interventions in older people.</p

Initial validation of the mindful eating scale

Published Mindfulness, 2013, 5(6), pp. 719-729. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0227-5Self-report scales for mindfulness are now widely used in applied settings, and have made a contribution to research, for instance in demonstrating mediation effects. To date there are no convincing data as to whether mindfulness skills generalise fully across life domains, and so some researchers have developed mindfulness scales for particular domains of behaviour. We present the development of a self-report scale to measure mindfulness with respect to eating behaviours