Contrasts in Vital Rates: Madras and Punjab in the Colonial Period

It is well known that there have been persistent differences in demographic rates between northern and southern areas in post-independence India: in the north marital fertility is higher, infant mortality higher and life expectancy shorter than in the south. As Tim Dyson has shown for infant mortality, this probably has pre-independence origins. In this paper the post-WWII contrasts in demographic performances between north and south India will be traced back to the colonial period. By choosing Madras and Punjab, by selecting districts whose registration statistics are reasonably usable in each province (Madras: Coimbatore, Salem, North Arcot, South Arcot, and Tilnelvelli; Punjab: Gurdaspur, Jallundur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepore, and Ambala, Karnal and Rohtak), and then by adopting W. Brass's relational Gompertz fertility model, logit life-table system and growth balance method, as exemplified by Dyson's seminal work on Berar, we estimate annual series of e0 and TFR for both provinces. The series clearly show that even in the colonial period both fertility and mortality were higher in the north than in the south, which will have wider implications in historical contexts.

Rule Extraction by Genetic Programming with Clustered Terminal Symbols

When Genetic Programming (GP) is applied to rule extraction from databases, the attributes of the data are often used for the terminal symbols. However, in the case of the database with a large number of attributes, the search space becomes vast because the size of the terminal set increases. As a result, the search performance declines. For improving the search performance, we propose new methods for dealing with the large-scale terminal set. In the methods, the terminal symbols are clustered based on the similarities of the attributes. In the beginning of search, by reducing the number of terminal symbols, the rough and rapid search is performed. In the latter stage of search, by using the original attributes for terminal symbols, the local search is performed. By comparison with the conventional GP, the proposed methods showed the faster evolutional speed and extracted more accurate classification rules

Clinical and histopathological analysis of parotid gland tumors

Orientadores: Luiz Paulo Kowalski, Oslei Paes de AlmeidaTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de PiracicabaResumo: Os tumores de glândulas salivares são raros, registrando-se cerca de 0,4 a 13,5 casos por 100000 pessoas por ano. A maioria desses tumores acometem a glândula parótida, representando de 64% a 80% dos casos, com predomínio de tumores benignos. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram avaliar as principais características clínicas e histopatológicas de tumores de parótida, selecionando todos os pacientes com tumor primário de parótida atendidos no Departamento de Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço e Otorrinolaringologia do Hospital A. C. Camargo de São Paulo, entre 1953 e 2003. Os pacientes já tratados previamente em outra instituição ou com falta de informações clínicas ou histológicas nos prontuários hospitalares foram excluídos deste estudo. Um total de 600 casos foram selecionados, sendo 369 benignos e 231 malignos. Dentre os tumores benignos o adenoma pleomorfo foi o mais comum, correspondendo a 66,5% dos casos seguido pelo Tumor de Warthin com 25%. Dos malignos o mais comum foi o carcinoma mucoepidermóide. Dezenove casos (3,16%) correspondiam a tumores mesenquimais não linfóides, sendo 15 benignos e 4 malignos. A principal modalidade de tratamento para os tumores de parótida, tanto benignos como malignos, foi a ressecção cirúrgica, incluindo parotidectomias parciais, totais ou ampliadas. Em alguns casos de tumores malignos, terapias adjuvantes, principalmente a radioterapia, foram aplicadas. Os índices de recorrência local, regional e à distância dos tumores malignos foram de 10%, 8% e 9%, respectivamente. A análise multivariada indicou que a invasão clínica da pele, disfunção do nervo facial e o crescimento perineural foram os fatores mais significativos para a sobrevida livre de doença dos pacientes com carcinomas de parótida. Testando dois scores de prognóstico previamente publicados por Vander Poorten et al. (1999) e Carrillo et al. (2007), observamos uma melhor distinção do grupo de pacientes com pior prognóstico, e o melhor score foi o apresentado por CarrilloAbstract: Salivary gland tumors are rare, with an annual incidence of about 0,4 to 13,5 cases per 100000 people. Most of the cases affect the parotid gland, representing 64% to 80% of the cases and the majority is benign. The aim of this study was to analyze the main clinical and histopathological features of parotid gland tumors. We select all the patients with primary parotid tumors referred to the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Otorhinolaryngology from A. C. Camargo Hospital from 1953 to 2003. The patients previously treated at another institution or with incomplete histological or clinical information were excluded. A total of 600 cases were selected, being 369 benign and 231 malignant. Pleomorphic adenoma was the most frequent benign tumor, corresponding to 66,5% of the cases followed by Warthin tumor with 25%. From the malignant tumors, the most common was the mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Nineteen cases (3,16%) were nonlymphoid mesenchymal tumors, being 15 benign and 4 malignant. The main treatment modality for the parotid tumors was the partial, total or extended parotidectomy. In some malignant cases, adjuvant therapies, mainly radiotherapy, were applied. The incidence of local, regional and distant recurrences were 10%, 8% e 9%, respectively. The multivariate analysis indicated clinical skin invasion, facial nerve dysfunction and perineural growth as the most significant recurrent disease-related prognostic factors for patients with parotid carcinoma. Testing two prognostic scores previously published by Vander Poorten et al. (1999) and Carrillo et al. (2007), the group with worse prognosis can be well characterized using both scores, but the best prognostic score was the presented by CarrilloDoutoradoSemiologiaDoutor em Estomatopatologi

Specific impact of β5t on proteasome subunit composition in cortical thymic epithelial cells

β5t is a cortical thymic epithelial cell (cTEC)-specific component of the thymoproteasome, which is essential for the optimal production of functionally competent CD8+ T cells. Our recent analysis showed a specific impact of β5t on proteasome subunit composition in cTECs, supporting the possibility that the thymoproteasome optimizes CD8+ T cell development through the production of MHC-I-associated unique self-peptides in cTECs. However, a recent article reports that β5t regulates the expression of hundreds of cTEC genes and affects both CD4+ and CD8+ thymocytes by causing oxidative stress in thymocytes. The authors further analyze our published data and describe that they confirm their conclusions. Here, we examine the issues that they raise and conclude that, rather than regulating hundreds of genes in cTECs, β5t has a highly specific impact in cTECs on proteasome subunit composition

Central and peripheral mechanisms of narcotic antitussives: codeine-sensitive and -resistant coughs

Narcotic antitussives such as codeine reveal the antitussive effect primarily via the μ-opioid receptor in the central nervous system (CNS). The κ-opioid receptor also seems to contribute partly to the production of the antitussive effect of the drugs. There is controversy as to whether δ-receptors are involved in promoting an antitussive effect. Peripheral opioid receptors seem to have certain limited roles. Although narcotic antitussives are the most potent antitussives at present, certain types of coughs, such as chronic cough, are particularly difficult to suppress even with codeine. In guinea pigs, coughs elicited by mechanical stimulation of the bifurcation of the trachea were not able to be suppressed by codeine. In gupigs with sub-acute bronchitis caused by SO2 gas exposure, coughing is difficult to inhibit with centrally acting antitussives such as codeine. Some studies suggest that neurokinins are involved in the development of codeine-resistant coughs. However, evidence supporting this claim is still insufficient. It is very important to characterize opiate-resistant coughs in experimental animals, and to determine which experimentally induced coughs correspond to which types of cough in humans. In this review, we describe the mechanisms of antitussive effects of narcotic antitussives, addressing codeine-sensitive and -resistant coughs, and including our own results