A Biliary Endoprosthesis Functioning After Six Years

The functional lifetime for biliary endoprostheses has typically been 7 months. When combined with sphincterotomy for common bile duct stones, it affords an alternative to surgery in high risk patients. Biliary endoprostheses often require replacement in these patients, though recent reports suggest they are functioning longer. We present an 85-year-old asymptomatic woman with a 6-year-old biliary endoprosthesis, believed to be the longest functioning stent reported in the literature

Impact of Donor Milk on Short- and Long-Term Growth of Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Mother’s own milk (MOM) reduces the risk of morbidities in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. When MOM is unavailable, donor breastmilk (DM) is used, with unclear impact on short- and long-term growth. This retrospective analysis compared anthropometric data at six time points from birth to 20–24 months corrected age in VLBW infants who received MOM supplements of preterm formula (n = 160) versus fortified DM (n = 161) during neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization. The cohort was 46% female; mean birth weight and gestational age (GA) were 998 g and 27.3 weeks. Multilevel linear growth models assessed changes in growth z-scores short-term (to NICU discharge) and long-term (post-discharge), controlling for amount of DM or formula received in first 28 days of life, NICU length of stay (LOS), birth GA, and sex. Z-scores for weight and length decreased during hospitalization but increased for all parameters including head circumference post-discharge. Short-term growth was positively associated with LOS and birth GA. A higher preterm formula proportion, but not DM proportion, was associated with slower rates of decline in short-term growth trajectories, but feeding type was unrelated to long-term growth. In conclusion, controlling for total human milk fed, DM did not affect short- or long-term growth

Robust processor allocation for independent tasks when dollar cost for processors is a constraint

Includes bibliographical references (pages 9-10).In a distributed heterogeneous computing system, the resources have different capabilities and tasks have different requirements. Different classes of machines used in such systems typically vary in dollar cost based on their computing efficiencies. Makespan (defined as the completion time for an entire set of tasks) is often the performance feature that is optimized. Resource allocation is often done based on estimates of the computation time of each task on each class of machines. Hence, it is important that makespan be robust against errors in computation time estimates. The dollar cost to purchase the machines for use can be a constraint such that only a subset of the machines available can be purchased. The goal of this study is to: (1) select a subset of all the machines available so that the cost constraint for the machines is satisfied, and (2) find a static mapping of tasks so that the robustness of the desired system feature, makespan, is maximized against the errors in task execution time estimates. Six heuristic techniques to this problem are presented and evaluated

Part 2. Comparison of emergency washing solutions in 70% hydrofluoric acid-burned human skin in an established ex vivo explants model

Background: Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is a small and partially dissociated acid (pKa 3.2), able to deeply penetrate into human skin in addition to the corrosiveness of the hydrogen ion (H+) and the toxicity of the fluoride ion (F-). However, there has been a lack of experimental studies to objectively characterize the results of human HF skin exposure decontamination

Analytical construction of a nonperturbative vacuum for the open bosonic string

Using analytical methods, a nonpertubative vacuum is constructed recursively in the field theory for the open bosonic string. Evidence suggests it corresponds to the Lorentz-invariant endpoint of tachyon condensation on a D25-brane. The corresponding string field is a twisted squeezed state.Comment: 15 pages, minor corrections and clarifications, accepted in Physical Review

Chromosomal-level assembly of the Asian Seabass genome using long sequence reads and multi-layered scaffolding

We report here the ~670 Mb genome assembly of the Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer), a tropical marine teleost. We used long-read sequencing augmented by transcriptomics, optical and genetic mapping along with shared synteny from closely related fish species to derive a chromosome-level assembly with a contig N50 size over 1 Mb and scaffold N50 size over 25 Mb that span ~90% of the genome. The population structure of L. calcarifer species complex was analyzed by re-sequencing 61 individuals representing various regions across the species' native range. SNP analyses identified high levels of genetic diversity and confirmed earlier indications of a population stratification comprising three clades with signs of admixture apparent in the South-East Asian population. The quality of the Asian seabass genome assembly far exceeds that of any other fish species, and will serve as a new standard for fish genomics

Effects of magnolol on UVB-induced skin cancer development in mice and its possible mechanism of action

Background Magnolol, a plant lignan isolated from the bark and seed cones of Magnolia officinalis, has been shown to have chemopreventive effects on chemically-induced skin cancer development. The objectives of this investigation are to study the anticarcinogenic effects of magnolol on UVB-induced skin tumor development in SKH-1 mice, a model relevant to humans, and determine the possible role of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest involved in the skin tumor development. Methods UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis model in SKH-1 mice was used for determining the preventive effects of magnolol on skin cancer development. Western blottings and flow cytometric analysis were used to study the effects of magnolol on apoptosis and cell cycle. Results Magnolol pretreated groups (30, 60 μ g) before UVB treatments (30 mJ/cm2, 5 days/week) resulted in 27-55% reduction in tumor multiplicity as compared to control group in SKH-1 mice. Magnolol pretreatment increased the cleavage of caspase-8 and poly-(-ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), increased the expression of p21, a cell cycle inhibitor, and decreased the expression of proteins involved in the G2/M phase of cell cycle in skin samples from SKH-1 mice. Treatment of A431 cells with magnolol decreased cell viability and cell proliferation in a concentration dependent manner. Magnolol induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in A431 cells at 12 h with a decreased expression of cell cycle proteins such as cyclin B1, cyclin A, CDK4, Cdc2 and simultaneous increase in the expression of Cip/p21, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor. Magnolol induced apoptosis in vivo and in vitro with an increased cleavage of caspase-8 and PARP. Phospho-signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Tyr705), B-Raf, p-MEK, and p-AKT were down-regulated, whereas phosphorylation of ERK was induced by magnolol in A431 cells. Conclusions Magnolol pretreatments prevent UVB-induced skin cancer development by enhancing apoptosis, causing cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, and affecting various signaling pathways. Magnolol could be a potentially safe and potent anticarcinogenic agent against skin cancer