An Upgraded Transverse Electromagnetic Parallel Plates for Dielectric Measurement

A new version of transverse electromagnetic parallel plates with irregular plates’ width and plate separation has been developed for dielectric measurement. The separations between the plates are supported by four rectangular Teflon block and 1 mm of groove is proposed at the center of the upper plate to maintain the measurement repeatability. The groove enables the samples which are slightly higher than 2 cm to be fitted well between the plates without introducing extra force to the plates. Theperformance of both parallel plates has been compared in the frequency range from 100 MHz to 1.1 GHz. It is found that the upgraded parallel plate offers better return loss and insertion loss above 500 MHz compared to the previous parallel plate. It is reported from this work that the return loss of the parallel plate must be lower than -15 dB in order to achieve accurate dielectric constant. However, the insertion loss of the parallel plates does not influence the real permeability significantly. The upgraded TEM parallel plateproduces a consistent reading with a standard deviation of less than 0.05 above frequency 200 MHz. The dielectric measurement of Polypropylene (PP) has proven the capability of this upgraded TEM parallelplate

Thermal Performance of Oil Palm Fibre and Paper Pulp as the Insulation Materials

Energy consumption for residential use in Malaysia is keep increasing yearly in order to maintain the internal thermal comfort of the building. Roof insulation material plays a vital role in improving the thermal comforts of the building while reduce the cooling load of the building. Oil palm industry in Malaysia had grown aggressively over the past few decades. Tons of oil palm waste had produced during the process such as empty fruit bunch fiber. Another waste material that available and easy to obtain is paper. Paper is a valuable material that can be recycled. Waste paper comes from different sources such as newspaper, office and printing papers. This study will take advantage of the available resources which could contribute to reduce the environment impact. The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal performance of roof insulation materials using mixture of oil palm fiber and paper pulp with different ratio and thickness. This study found that the thermal performance of the paper pulp is slightly better compare to the oil palm fiber. Thermal conductivity of the particle board reduces around 4.1% by adding the 10% of paper pulp into the total density of the particle board. By adding 75% of paper pulp, the thermal conductivity of the particle board could be reduced to 24.6% compare to the oil palm fiber board under the similar condition. Therefore, from this study, it could be concluded that paper pulp has high potential to be used as a building insulation material

From START to FINISH : the influence of osmotic stress on the cell cycle

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cost-Effectiveness of Gene-Specific Prevention Strategies for Ovarian and Breast Cancer.

IMPORTANCE: Pathogenic variants (PVs) in BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D, and BRIP1 cancer susceptibility genes (CSGs) confer an increased ovarian cancer (OC) risk, with BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, and RAD51D PVs also conferring an elevated breast cancer (BC) risk. Risk-reducing surgery, medical prevention, and BC surveillance offer the opportunity to prevent cancers and deaths, but their cost-effectiveness for individual CSGs remains poorly addressed. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of prevention strategies for OC and BC among individuals carrying PVs in the previously listed CSGs. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this economic evaluation, a decision-analytic Markov model evaluated the cost-effectiveness of risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) and, where relevant, risk-reducing mastectomy (RRM) compared with nonsurgical interventions (including BC surveillance and medical prevention for increased BC risk) from December 1, 2022, to August 31, 2023. The analysis took a UK payer perspective with a lifetime horizon. The simulated cohort consisted of women aged 30 years who carried BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D, or BRIP1 PVs. Appropriate sensitivity and scenario analyses were performed. EXPOSURES: CSG-specific interventions, including RRSO at age 35 to 50 years with or without BC surveillance and medical prevention (ie, tamoxifen or anastrozole) from age 30 or 40 years, RRM at age 30 to 40 years, both RRSO and RRM, BC surveillance and medical prevention, or no intervention. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated as incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. OC and BC cases and deaths were estimated. RESULTS: In the simulated cohort of women aged 30 years with no cancer, undergoing both RRSO and RRM was most cost-effective for individuals carrying BRCA1 (RRM at age 30 years; RRSO at age 35 years), BRCA2 (RRM at age 35 years; RRSO at age 40 years), and PALB2 (RRM at age 40 years; RRSO at age 45 years) PVs. The corresponding ICERs were -£1942/QALY (-$2680/QALY), -£89/QALY (-$123/QALY), and £2381/QALY ($3286/QALY), respectively. RRSO at age 45 years was cost-effective for RAD51C, RAD51D, and BRIP1 PV carriers compared with nonsurgical strategies. The corresponding ICERs were £962/QALY ($1328/QALY), £771/QALY ($1064/QALY), and £2355/QALY ($3250/QALY), respectively. The most cost-effective preventive strategy per 1000 PV carriers could prevent 923 OC and BC cases and 302 deaths among those carrying BRCA1; 686 OC and BC cases and 170 deaths for BRCA2; 464 OC and BC cases and 130 deaths for PALB2; 102 OC cases and 64 deaths for RAD51C; 118 OC cases and 76 deaths for RAD51D; and 55 OC cases and 37 deaths for BRIP1. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated both RRSO and RRM were most cost-effective in 96.5%, 89.2%, and 84.8% of simulations for BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 PVs, respectively, while RRSO was cost-effective in approximately 100% of simulations for RAD51C, RAD51D, and BRIP1 PVs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cost-effectiveness study, RRSO with or without RRM at varying optimal ages was cost-effective compared with nonsurgical strategies for individuals who carried BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D, or BRIP1 PVs. These findings support personalizing risk-reducing surgery and guideline recommendations for individual CSG-specific OC and BC risk management

Correlates of Complete Childhood Vaccination in East African Countries.

Despite the benefits of childhood vaccinations, vaccination rates in low-income countries (LICs) vary widely. Increasing coverage of vaccines to 90% in the poorest countries over the next 10 years has been estimated to prevent 426 million cases of illness and avert nearly 6.4 million childhood deaths worldwide. Consequently, we sought to provide a comprehensive examination of contemporary vaccination patterns in East Africa and to identify common and country-specific barriers to complete childhood vaccination. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, we looked at the prevalence of complete vaccination for polio, measles, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and DTwPHibHep (DTP) as recommended by the WHO among children ages 12 to 23 months. We conducted multivariable logistic regression within each country to estimate associations between complete vaccination status and health care access and sociodemographic variables using backwards stepwise regression. Vaccination varied significantly by country. In all countries, the majority of children received at least one dose of a WHO recommended vaccine; however, in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda less than 50% of children received a complete schedule of recommended vaccines. Being delivered in a public or private institution compared with being delivered at home was associated with increased odds of complete vaccination status. Sociodemographic covariates were not consistently associated with complete vaccination status across countries. Although no consistent set of predictors accounted for complete vaccination status, we observed differences based on region and the location of delivery. These differences point to the need to examine the historical, political, and economic context of each country in order to maximize vaccination coverage. Vaccination against these childhood diseases is a critical step towards reaching the Millennium Development Goal of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015 and thus should be a global priority

Prevalence and Correlates of Common Mental Disorders among Mothers of Young Children in Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania.

Although poor maternal mental health is a major public health problem, with detrimental effects on the individual, her children and society, information on its correlates in low-income countries is sparse. This study investigates the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD) among at-risk mothers, and explores its associations with sociodemographic factors. This population-based survey of mothers of children aged 0-36 months used the 14-item Shona Symptom Questionnaire (SSQ). Mothers whose response was "yes" to 8 or more items on the scale were defined as "at risk of CMD." Of the 1,922 mothers (15-48 years), 28.8% were at risk of CMD. Risk of CMD was associated with verbal abuse, physical abuse, a partner who did not help with the care of the child, being in a polygamous relationship, a partner with low levels of education, and a partner who smoked cigarettes. Cohabiting appeared to be protective. Taken together, our results indicate the significance of the quality of relations with one's partner in shaping maternal mental health. The high proportion of mothers who are at risk of CMD emphasizes the importance of developing evidence-based mental health programmes as part of the care package aimed at improving maternal well-being in Tanzania and other similar settings

Measurement of the eta-Meson Mass using psi(2S) --> eta J/psi

We measure the mass of the eta meson using psi(2S) --> eta J/psi events acquired with the CLEO-c detector operating at the CESR e+e- collider. Using the four decay modes eta --> gamma gamma, 3pi0, pi+pi-pi0, and pi+pi-gamma, we find M(eta)=547.785 +- 0.017 +- 0.057 MeV, in which the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This result has an uncertainty comparable to the two most precise previous measurements and is consistent with that of NA48, but is inconsistent at the level of 6.5sigma with the much smaller mass obtained by GEM.Comment: 10 pages postscript,also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/2007/, Submitted to PR

Di-electron Widths of the Upsilon(1S,2S,3S) Resonances

We determine the di-electron widths of the Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S), and Upsilon(3S) resonances with better than 2% precision by integrating the cross-section of e+e- -> Upsilon over the e+e- center-of-mass energy. Using e+e- energy scans of the Upsilon resonances at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring and measuring Upsilon production with the CLEO detector, we find di-electron widths of 1.354 +- 0.004 (stat) +- 0.020 (syst) keV, 0.619 +- 0.004 +- 0.010 keV, and 0.446 +- 0.004 +- 0.007 keV for the Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S), and Upsilon(3S), respectively.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/2005/, published in PRL; corrected numerical values in abstrac

An Immune Gene Expression Signature Associated With Development of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Identifies Mice That Respond to Chemopreventive Agents

Program (HEPCAR, reference no. 667273-2); US Department of Defense(CA150272P3); an Accelerator Award (CRUCK, AECC, AIRC) (HUNTER,reference no. C9380/A26813), NCI Cancer Center Support Grant, National Cancer Institute; Tisch Cancer Institute (P30-CA196521); Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation; Spanish National Health Institute (SAF2016-76390); and the Generalitat de Catalunya/AGAUR (SGR-1358). Agrin Moeini is supported by Spanish National Health Institute. Sara Torrecilla and Judit Peix are funded by Centro de Investigación Biomedica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (Ciberehd-ISCIII). Carla Montironi is a recipient of Josep Font grant. Carmen Andreu-Oller is supported by "la Caixa" INPhINIT Fellowship Grant (LCF/BQ/IN17/11620024). Roser Pinyol is supported by HEPCAR and AECC. Daniela Sia is supported by the Gilead Sciences Research Scholar Program in Liver Disease. Scott L. Friedman is supported by the National Institutes of Health Research project grant (R01,DK5662) and US Department of Defense (CA150272P3). Mathias Heikenwälder was supported by an ERC Consolidator grant (HepatoMetaboPath), the SFBTR 209, 1335 and SFBTR179.Background & Aims: Cirrhosis and chronic inflammation precede development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in approximately 80% of cases. We investigated immune-related gene expression patterns in liver tissues surrounding early-stage HCCs and chemopreventive agents that might alter these patterns to prevent liver tumorigenesis. Methods: We analyzed gene expression profiles of nontumor liver tissues from 392 patients with early-stage HCC (training set, N = 167 and validation set, N = 225) and liver tissue from patients with cirrhosis without HCC (N = 216, controls) to identify changes in expression of genes that regulate the immune response that could contribute to hepatocarcinogenesis. We defined 172 genes as markers for this deregulated immune response, which we called the immune-mediated cancer field (ICF). We analyzed the expression data of liver tissues from 216 patients with cirrhosis without HCC and investigated the association between this gene expression signature and development of HCC and outcomes of patients (median follow-up, 10 years). Human liver tissues were also analyzed by histology. C57BL/6J mice were given a single injection of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) followed by weekly doses of carbon tetrachloride to induce liver fibrosis and tumorigenesis. Mice were then orally given the multiple tyrosine inhibitor nintedanib or vehicle (controls); liver tissues were collected and histology, transcriptome, and protein analyses were performed. We also analyzed transcriptomes of liver tissues collected from mice on a choline-deficient high-fat diet, which developed chronic liver inflammation and tumors, orally given aspirin and clopidogrel or the anti-inflammatory agent sulindac vs mice on a chow (control) diet. Results: We found the ICF gene expression pattern in 50% of liver tissues from patients with cirrhosis without HCC and in 60% of nontumor liver tissues from patients with early-stage HCC. The liver tissues with the ICF gene expression pattern had 3 different features: increased numbers of effector T cells; increased expression of genes that suppress the immune response and activation of transforming growth factor β signaling; or expression of genes that promote inflammation and activation of interferon gamma signaling. Patients with cirrhosis and liver tissues with the immunosuppressive profile (10% of cases) had a higher risk of HCC (hazard ratio, 2.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-4.80). Mice with chemically induced fibrosis or diet-induced steatohepatitis given nintedanib or aspirin and clopidogrel down-regulated the ICF gene expression pattern in liver and developed fewer and smaller tumors than mice given vehicle. Conclusions: We identified an immune-related gene expression pattern in liver tissues of patients with early-stage HCC, called the ICF, that is associated with risk of HCC development in patients with cirrhosis. Administration of nintedanib or aspirin and clopidogrel to mice with chronic liver inflammation caused loss of this gene expression pattern and development of fewer and smaller liver tumors. Agents that alter immune regulatory gene expression patterns associated with carcinogenesis might be tested as chemopreventive agents in patients with cirrhosis