Tribimaximal Neutrino Mixing and a Relation Between Neutrino- and Charged Lepton-Mass Spectra

Brannen has recently pointed out that the observed charged lepton masses satisfy the relation m_e +m_\mu +m_\tau = {2/3} (\sqrt{m_e}+\sqrt{m_\mu}+\sqrt{m_\tau})^2, while the observed neutrino masses satisfy the relation m_{\nu 1} +m_{\nu 2} +m_{\nu 3} = {2/3} (-\sqrt{m_{\nu 1}}+\sqrt{m_{\nu 2}}+\sqrt{m_{\nu 3}})^2. It is discussed what neutrino Yukawa interaction form is favorable if we take the fact pointed out by Brannen seriously.Comment: 13 pages, presentation modifie

Social media and sensemaking patterns in new product development: demystifying the customer sentiment

Artificial intelligence by principle is developed to assist but also support decision making processes. In our study, we explore how information retrieved from social media can assist decision-making processes for new product development (NPD). We focus on consumers’ emotions that are expressed through social media and analyse the variations of their sentiments in all the stages of NPD. We collect data from Twitter that reveal consumers’ appreciation of aspects of the design of a newly launched model of an innovative automotive company. We adopt the sensemaking approach coupled with the use of fuzzy logic for text mining. This combinatory methodological approach enables us to retrieve consensus from the data and to explore the variations of sentiments of the customers about the product and define the polarity of these emotions for each of the NPD stages. The analysis identifies sensemaking patterns in Twitter data and explains the NPD process and the associated steps where the social interactions from customers can have an iterative role. We conclude the paper by outlining an agenda for future research in the NPD process and the role of the customer opinion through sensemaking mechanisms

Intravesical Treatments of Bladder Cancer: Review

For bladder cancer, intravesical chemo/immunotherapy is widely used as adjuvant therapies after surgical transurethal resection, while systemic therapy is typically reserved for higher stage, muscle-invading, or metastatic diseases. The goal of intravesical therapy is to eradicate existing or residual tumors through direct cytoablation or immunostimulation. The unique properties of the urinary bladder render it a fertile ground for evaluating additional novel experimental approaches to regional therapy, including iontophoresis/electrophoresis, local hyperthermia, co-administration of permeation enhancers, bioadhesive carriers, magnetic-targeted particles and gene therapy. Furthermore, due to its unique anatomical properties, the drug concentration-time profiles in various layers of bladder tissues during and after intravesical therapy can be described by mathematical models comprised of drug disposition and transport kinetic parameters. The drug delivery data, in turn, can be combined with the effective drug exposure to infer treatment efficacy and thereby assists the selection of optimal regimens. To our knowledge, intravesical therapy of bladder cancer represents the first example where computational pharmacological approach was used to design, and successfully predicted the outcome of, a randomized phase III trial (using mitomycin C). This review summarizes the pharmacological principles and the current status of intravesical therapy, and the application of computation to optimize the drug delivery to target sites and the treatment efficacy

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Combined with Tissue Fusion Technology Promoted Wound Healing in Porcine Bowel Anastomosis

Objective. To evaluate the possible biological effect of allogenic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) combined with tissue fusion technology on the anastomosis. Methods. Sixteen pigs were divided into a 7 d group and 14 d group, each of which was further subdivided into an MSC-treated group and a control group. Five anastomoses per animal were established using LigaSure ForceTriad (Covidien, MA, USA), a tissue sealing system. Cell migration and tissue-specific differentiation potency, in addition to potential cytokine and genetic changes, were investigated. Results. There were no significant between-group differences in postoperative complications and anastomosis burst pressure. The number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen- (PCNA-) positive cells was significantly higher in the MSC-treated group as compared with that in the control group (P=0.021). Labeled MSCs were found in the mucosal layer, villus, and lamina propria, as well as in the lamina muscularis mucosae, where they exhibited characteristics of smooth muscle cells. Conclusions. Grafted MSCs significantly promoted epithelial and connective cell proliferation and maintained their cell migration capacity and differentiation potential in the fused anastomotic tissues, without causing severe postoperative complications

Cells Detection and Segmentation in ER-IHC Stained Breast Histopathology Images

In this paper, we present our recent work on cells detection and segmentation in estrogen receptor immunohistochemistry (ER-IHC)-stained breast carcinoma images. The proposed cell detection and segmentation is very useful in the predictive scoring of hormone receptor status in ER-IHC stained whole-slide images, which helps pathologists to decide whether a patient should be offered hormonal therapy or other treatments. The proposed method is based on deep convolutional neural network, followed by watershed-based post-processing. The cell detection results are compared and evaluated objectively against the ground truth provided by our collaborating pathologists. The cell segmentation results, on the other hand, are evaluated visually by overlaying the computer segmented boundaries on the ER-IHC images for comparison. The automated cell detection algorithm recorded precision and recall rates of 95% and 91% respectively. The very promising performances for both the detection and segmentation paves the way for an automated system for hormone receptor scoring in ER-IHC stained whole-slide breast carcinoma image

Visual correction and occupational social class

PURPOSE: To determine whether types of optical correction for refractive error are associated with sex, social class, and occupational group in the working population. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among employees in Catalonia (Spain) aged 16 to 65 years who underwent the Asepeyo Prevention Society health examination in 2009 (86,831 participants: 59,397 men and 27,421 women). The type and purpose of refractive correction used were self-reported, as were sociodemographic variables; visual acuity with habitual correction was also measured. We performed descriptive and logistic regression analyses to evaluate the prevalence and type of correction used for refractive error as a function of age, sex, social class, and occupational group. RESULTS: Forty-six percent (95% confidence interval [CI] = 45.6 to 46.3) of individuals in this sample were users of optical correction for refractive error. Use of optical correction was more common among women than among men (54.8 and 41.9%, respectively) and especially among women aged 55 to 64 years (91.8%). Nonmanual (class I) workers were three times more likely to use optical correction than manual (class V) workers (odds ratio = 3.02; 95% CI = 2.82 to 3.24). Individuals in technical, administrative, or intellectual occupations were more likely to wear optical correction than unskilled professionals. CONCLUSIONS: The use of visual correction is more prevalent among women than among men, especially in older individuals. The use of optical correction is more common among more advantaged social groups and is associated with particular occupations