Antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine A as combination therapy for low-risk non-sideroblastic myelodysplastic syndromes

The present study evaluated the combination of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) and cyclosporine A (CsA) in patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. Twenty patients (17 with refractory anemia and 3 with refractory anemia with excess blasts) received treatment with rabbit-ATG plus CsA. The overall response rate was 30% (6/20); three of the six responders had a complete response. The responses lasted 2-58 months, with two patients still being in complete remission at 42 and 58 months. Short-lasting cytogenetic remissions were achieved in two patients. ATG was poorly tolerated in patients over 70 years of age. Four out of 20 patients progressed to acute myeloid leukemia within a year. We conclude that immunosuppressive treatment may be a therapeutic option for selected patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

ARE CHINESE STOCK MARKETS INCREASING INTEGRATION WITH OTHER MARKETS IN THE GREATER CHINA REGION AND OTHER MAJOR MARKETS?

This paper investigates the cointegrating and long-term causal relationships between the Shanghai A and B-share market, and between these two markets and the Hong Kong, the Taiwanese, the Japanese and the US market of two sub periods between July 1993 and March 2007. On the basis of a new Granger non-causality test procedure developed by Toda-Yamamoto (1995) and Johansen's (1988) cointegration test, my results suggest that a long-term equilibrium relationship measured by cointegration has been merged between the Chinese A-share market and the other markets in greater China region as well as the US market during the post-crisis period which covers the period since Chinese A-share market was opened to the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) in 2002. I also found that the Shanghai A-share market uni-directionally Granger-causes the other regional markets after the Asian financial crisis, while the A-share market and Hong Kong H-share market have had a significant feedback relationship since then. However, I found no evidence there has been cointegrating relationship between Shanghai B-share market and any other market ever since the B-share market was opened to the local retail investors in 2001. Copyright 2007 The Author Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University .

Self-understanding and self-extension: a systems and representational approach

There are many different approaches to building a system that can engage in autonomous mental development. In this paper we present an approach based on what we term em self-understanding, by which we mean the use of explicit representation of and reasoning about what a system does and doesn't know, and how that understanding changes under action. We present a coherent architecture and a set of representations used in two robot systems that exhibit a limited degree of autonomous mental development, what we term em self-extension. The contributions include: representations of gaps and uncertainty for specific kinds of knowledge, and a motivational and planning system for setting and achieving learning goal