A model for bidirectional traffic of cytoskeletal motors

We introduce a stochastic lattice gas model including two particle species and two parallel lanes. One lane with exclusion interaction and directed motion and the other lane without exclusion and unbiased diffusion, mimicking a micotubule filament and the surrounding solution. For a high binding affinity to the filament, jam-like situations dominate the system's behaviour. The fundamental process of position exchange of two particles is approximated. In the case of a many-particle system, we were able to identify a regime in which the system is rather homogenous presenting only small accumulations of particles and a regime in which an important fraction of all particles accumulates in the same cluster. Numerical data proposes that this cluster formation will occur at all densities for large system sizes. Coupling of several filaments leads to an enhanced cluster formation compared to the uncoupled system, suggesting that efficient bidirectional transport on one-dimensional filaments relies on long-ranged interactions and track formation.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure

Managing menopausal symptoms and associated clinical issues in breast cancer survivors

Objective: Review evidence to guide management of menopausal signs and symptoms in women after breast cancer and make recommendations accordingly. Evidence: Randomized controlled clinical trials, observational studies, evidence-based guidelines, and expert opinion from professional societies. Background: Symptoms and clinical problems associated with estrogen depletion—sleep disorders, vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA), vasomotor symptoms (VMS), mood changes, depressive symptoms, cardiovascular disease, osteopenia, and osteoporosis—confront the estimated 9.3 million breast cancer survivors globally. Recommendations: Following breast cancer, women should not generally be treated with menopausal hormone therapy or tibolone but should optimize lifestyle. Women with moderate to severe symptoms may benefit from mind–brain behavior or nonhormone, pharmacologic therapy. The selective serotonin/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors and gabapentenoid agents improve VMS and quality of life. For osteoporosis, nonhormonal agents are available. Treatment of VVA remains an area of unmet need. Low-dose vaginal estrogen is absorbed in small amounts with blood levels remaining within the normal postmenopausal range but could potentially stimulate occult breast cancer cells, and although poorly studied, is not generally advised, particularly for those on aromatase inhibitors. Intravaginal dehydroepiandrosterone and oral ospemiphene have been approved to treat dyspareunia, but safety after breast cancer has not been established. Vaginal laser therapy is being used for VVA but efficacy from sham-controlled studies is lacking. Therapies undergoing development include lasofoxifene, neurokinin B inhibitors, stellate ganglion blockade, vaginal testosterone, and estetrol. Conclusions: Nonhormone options and therapies are available for treatment of estrogen depletion symptoms and clinical problems after a diagnosis of breast cancer. Individualization of treatment is essential

Treatment of symptoms of the menopause: an endocrine society clinical practice guideline

Objective: The objective of this document is to generate a practice guideline for the management and treatment of symptoms of the menopause. Participants: The Treatment of Symptoms of the Menopause Task Force included six experts, a methodologist, and a medical writer, all appointed by The Endocrine Society. Evidence: The Task Force developed this evidenced-based guideline using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to describe the strength of recommendations and the quality of evidence. The Task Force commissioned three systematic reviews of published data and considered several other existing meta-analyses and trials. Consensus Process: Multiple e-mail communications, conference calls, and one face-to-face meeting determined consensus. Committees of The Endocrine Society, representatives from endorsing societies, and members of The Endocrine Society reviewed and commented on the drafts of the guidelines. The Australasian Menopause Society, the British Menopause Society, European Menopause and Andropause Society, the European Society of Endocrinology, and the International Menopause Society (co-sponsors of the guideline) reviewed and commented on the draft. Conclusions: Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is the most effective treatment for vasomotor symptoms and other symptoms of the climacteric. Benefits may exceed risks for the majority of symptomatic postmenopausal women who are under age 60 or under 10 years since the onset of menopause. Health care professionals should individualize therapy based on clinical factors and patient preference. They should screen women before initiating MHT for cardiovascular and breast cancer risk and recommend the most appropriate therapy depending on risk/benefit considerations. Current evidence does not justify the use of MHT to prevent coronary heart disease, breast cancer, or dementia. Other options are available for those with vasomotor symptoms who prefer not to use MHT or who have contraindications because these patients should not use MHT. Low-dose vaginal estrogen and ospemifene provide effective therapy for the genitourinary syndrome of menopause, and vaginal moisturizers and lubricants are available for those not choosing hormonal therapy. All postmenopausal women should embrace appropriate lifestyle measures

Asymmetric simple exclusion process in one-dimensional chains with long-range links

We study the boundary-driven asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) in a one-dimensional chain with long-range links. Shortcuts are added to a chain by connecting $pL$ different pairs of sites selected randomly where $L$ and $p$ denote the chain length and the shortcut density, respectively. Particles flow into a chain at one boundary at rate $\alpha$ and out of a chain at the other boundary at rate $\beta$, while they hop inside a chain via nearest-neighbor bonds and long-range shortcuts. Without shortcuts, the model reduces to the boundary-driven ASEP in a one-dimensional chain which displays the low density, high density, and maximal current phases. Shortcuts lead to a drastic change. Numerical simulation studies suggest that there emerge three phases; an empty phase with $\rho = 0$, a jammed phase with $\rho = 1$, and a shock phase with $0<\rho<1$ where $\rho$ is the mean particle density. The shock phase is characterized with a phase separation between an empty region and a jammed region with a localized shock between them. The mechanism for the shock formation and the non-equilibrium phase transition is explained by an analytic theory based on a mean-field approximation and an annealed approximation.Comment: revised version (16 pages and 6 eps figures

Evaluation of Herbicide Efficacy, Injury, and Yield in White Lupin (Lupinus albus L.)

White lupin is of increasing interest in the southeastern United States (US) as a winter legume cover crop or as mid-winter forage for ruminants. White lupins are poor weed competitors during early establishment, making effective weed control necessary; however, only three herbicides are currently registered for use in lupin. An experiment was conducted at two Alabama sites in 2007 and 2008 to evaluate herbicide efficacy provided by ten preemergence (PRE) and nine postemergence (POST) herbicides as well as lupin injury and yield. Overall, PRE applied herbicides, particularly imazethapyr, linuron, and flumioxazin, caused less crop injury than POST herbicides while providing ≥ 86% control of annual bluegrass, corn spurry, heartwing sorrel, henbit, and lesser swinecress six weeks after application. Grass-active herbicides, fluazifop and sethoxydim, provided greater than 95% of annual bluegrass control without causing unrecoverable lupin damage. Imazethapyr applied POST controlled shepherd’s purse (96% to 98%), cutleaf evening-primrose (81% to 96%), and wild radish (71% to 99%) without lupin injury. POST-directed spray applications of glyphosate and flumioxazin provided good weed control of corn spurry (80% to 98%) and winter vetch (71% to 95%) but caused significant crop injury due to drift. In general, grain yields were only reduced with the use of chlorimuron, diclosulam, glyphosate, and thifensulfuron. This research suggests there are several herbicides not currently registered that could be beneficial for use in US lupin production