Genetic analyses of Bantam and selected low-weight White Plymouth Rock chickens and their crosses. I. Growth, immunoresponsiveness and carcass characteristics

International audienc

Thyroid hormones and antibody response to sheep erythrocytes of dwarf and normal chickens selected for juvenile body weight

International audienc

Expression of Drug Targets in Patients Treated with Sorafenib, Carboplatin and Paclitaxel

Introduction: Sorafenib, a multitarget kinase inhibitor, targets members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and VEGFR kinases. Here we assessed the association between expression of sorafenib targets and biomarkers of taxane sensitivity and response to therapy in pre-treatment tumors from patients enrolled in ECOG 2603, a phase III comparing sorafenib, carboplatin and paclitaxel (SCP) to carboplatin, paclitaxel and placebo (CP). Methods: Using a method of automated quantitative analysis (AQUA) of in situ protein expression, we quantified expression of VEGF-R2, VEGF-R1, VEGF-R3, FGF-R1, PDGF-Rβ, c-Kit, B-Raf, C-Raf, MEK1, ERK1/2, STMN1, MAP2, EB1 and Bcl-2 in pretreatment specimens from 263 patients. Results: An association was found between high FGF-R1 and VEGF-R1 and increased progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in our combined cohort (SCP and CP arms). Expression of FGF-R1 and VEGF-R1 was higher in patients who responded to therapy ((CR+PR) vs. (SD+PD+ un-evaluable)). Conclusions: In light of the absence of treatment effect associated with sorafenib, the association found between FGF-R1 and VEGF-R1 expression and OS, PFS and response might reflect a predictive biomarker signature for carboplatin/paclitaxel-based therapy. Seeing that carboplatin and pacitaxel are now widely used for this disease, corroboration in another cohort might enable us to improve the therapeutic ratio of this regimen. © 2013 Jilaveanu et al

Logarithmic Corrections to Extremal Black Hole Entropy from Quantum Entropy Function

We evaluate the one loop determinant of matter multiplet fields of N=4 supergravity in the near horizon geometry of quarter BPS black holes, and use it to calculate logarithmic corrections to the entropy of these black holes using the quantum entropy function formalism. We show that even though individual fields give non-vanishing logarithmic contribution to the entropy, the net contribution from all the fields in the matter multiplet vanishes. Thus logarithmic corrections to the entropy of quarter BPS black holes, if present, must be independent of the number of matter multiplet fields in the theory. This is consistent with the microscopic results. During our analysis we also determine the complete spectrum of small fluctuations of matter multiplet fields in the near horizon geometry.Comment: LaTeX file, 52 pages; v2: minor corrections, references adde

The stellar halo of the Galaxy

Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the most ubiquitous component of galaxies, independently of their Hubble type. This review focuses on our current understanding of the spatial structure, the kinematics and chemistry of halo stars in the Milky Way. In recent years, we have experienced a change in paradigm thanks to the discovery of large amounts of substructure, especially in the outer halo. I discuss the implications of the currently available observational constraints and fold them into several possible formation scenarios. Unraveling the formation of the Galactic halo will be possible in the near future through a combination of large wide field photometric and spectroscopic surveys, and especially in the era of Gaia.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures. References updated and some minor changes. Full-resolution version available at http://www.astro.rug.nl/~ahelmi/stellar-halo-review.pd

Health care utilization among Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibles: a count data analysis

BACKGROUND: Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibles are the beneficiaries of both Medicare and Medicaid. Dual eligibles satisfy the eligibility conditions for Medicare benefit. Dual eligibles also qualify for Medicaid because they are aged, blind, or disabled and meet the income and asset requirements for receiving Supplement Security Income (SSI) assistance. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between dual eligibility and health care utilization among Medicare beneficiaries. METHODS: The household component of the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 1996–2000 is used for the analysis. Total 8,262 Medicare beneficiaries are selected from the MEPS data. The Medicare beneficiary sample includes individuals who are covered by Medicare and do not have private health insurance during a given year. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model is used to analyse the count data regarding health care utilization: office-based physician visits, hospital inpatient nights, agency-sponsored home health provider days, and total dental visits. RESULTS: Dual eligibility is positively correlated with the likelihood of using hospital inpatient care and agency-sponsored home health services and the frequency of agency-sponsored home health days. Frequency of dental visits is inversely associated with dual eligibility. With respect to racial differences, dually eligible Afro-Americans use more office-based physician and dental services than white duals. Asian duals use more home health services than white duals at the 5% statistical significance level. The dual eligibility programs seem particularly beneficial to Afro-American duals. CONCLUSION: Dual eligibility has varied impact on health care utilization across service types. More utilization of home healthcare among dual eligibles appears to be the result of delayed realization of their unmet healthcare needs under the traditional Medicare-only program rather than the result of overutilization in response to the expanded benefits of the dual eligibility program. The dual eligibility program is particularly beneficial to Asian and Afro-American duals in association with the provision of home healthcare and dental benefits

Ab Initio Identification of Novel Regulatory Elements in the Genome of Trypanosoma brucei by Bayesian Inference on Sequence Segmentation

Background: The rapid increase in the availability of genome information has created considerable demand for both comparative and ab initio predictive bioinformatic analyses. The biology laid bare in the genomes of many organisms is often novel, presenting new challenges for bioinformatic interrogation. A paradigm for this is the collected genomes of the kinetoplastid parasites, a group which includes Trypanosoma brucei the causative agent of human African trypanosomiasis. These genomes, though outwardly simple in organisation and gene content, have historically challenged many theories for gene expression regulation in eukaryotes. Methodology/Principle Findings: Here we utilise a Bayesian approach to identify local changes in nucleotide composition in the genome of T. brucei. We show that there are several elements which are found at the starts and ends of multicopy gene arrays and that there are compositional elements that are common to all intergenic regions. We also show that there is a composition-inversion element that occurs at the position of the trans-splice site. Conclusions/Significance: The nature of the elements discovered reinforces the hypothesis that context dependant RN

Inheritance of fertility in broiler chickens

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