Do Airports green cities? : Von der Airport City zur nachhaltigen Region ; Flughafenstrategien und Regionalentwicklung

Multivariate pattern recognition approaches have become a prominent tool in neuroimaging data analysis. These methods enable the classification of groups of participants (e.g. controls and patients) on the basis of subtly different patterns across the whole brain. This study demonstrates that these methods can be used, in combination with automated morphometric analysis of structural MRI, to determine with great accuracy whether a single subject has been engaged in regular mental training or not. The proposed approach allowed us to identify with 94.87% accuracy (p<0.001) if a given participant is a regular meditator (from a sample of 19 regular meditators and 20 non-meditators). Neuroimaging has been a relevant tool for diagnosing neurological and psychiatric impairments. This study may suggest a novel step forward: the emergence of a new field in brain imaging applications, in which participants could be identified based on their mental experience

A novel HLA-B18 restricted CD8+ T cell epitope is efficiently cross-presented by dendritic cells from soluble tumor antigen

NY-ESO-1 has been a major target of many immunotherapy trials because it is expressed by various cancers and is highly immunogenic. In this study, we have identified a novel HLA-B*1801-restricted CD8&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;T cell epitope, NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;88–96&lt;/sub&gt; (LEFYLAMPF) and compared its direct- and cross-presentation to that of the reported NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;157–165&lt;/sub&gt; epitope restricted to HLA-A*0201. Although both epitopes were readily cross-presented by DCs exposed to various forms of full-length NY-ESO-1 antigen, remarkably NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;88–96&lt;/sub&gt; is much more efficiently cross-presented from the soluble form, than NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;157–165&lt;/sub&gt;. On the other hand, NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;157–165&lt;/sub&gt; is efficiently presented by NY-ESO-1-expressing tumor cells and its presentation was not enhanced by IFN-γ treatment, which induced immunoproteasome as demonstrated by Western blots and functionally a decreased presentation of Melan A&lt;sub&gt;26–35&lt;/sub&gt;; whereas NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;88–96&lt;/sub&gt; was very inefficiently presented by the same tumor cell lines, except for one that expressed high level of immunoproteasome. It was only presented when the tumor cells were first IFN-γ treated, followed by infection with recombinant vaccinia virus encoding NY-ESO-1, which dramatically increased NY-ESO-1 expression. These data indicate that the presentation of NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;88–96&lt;/sub&gt; is immunoproteasome dependent. Furthermore, a survey was conducted on multiple samples collected from HLA-B18+ melanoma patients. Surprisingly, all the detectable responses to NY-ESO-1&lt;sub&gt;88–96&lt;/sub&gt; from patients, including those who received NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX™ vaccine were induced spontaneously. Taken together, these results imply that some epitopes can be inefficiently presented by tumor cells although the corresponding CD8&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;T cell responses are efficiently primed in vivo by DCs cross-presenting these epitopes. The potential implications for cancer vaccine strategies are further discussed

Deficits in visual working-memory capacity and general cognition in African Americans with psychosis

On average, patients with psychosis perform worse than controls on visual change-detection tasks, implying that psychosis is associated with reduced capacity of visual working memory (WM). In the present study, 79 patients diagnosed with various psychotic disorders and 166 controls, all African Americans, completed a change-detection task and several other neurocognitive measures. The aims of the study were to (1) determine whether we could observe a between-group difference in performance on the change-detection task in this sample; (2) establish whether such a difference could be specifically attributed to reduced WM capacity (k); and (3) estimate k in the context of the general cognitive deficit in psychosis. Consistent with previous studies, patients performed worse than controls on the change-detection task, on average. Bayesian hierarchical cognitive modeling of the data suggested that this between-group difference was driven by reduced k in patients, rather than differences in other psychologically meaningful model parameters (guessing behavior and lapse rate). Using the same modeling framework, we estimated the effect of psychosis on k while controlling for general intellectual ability (g, obtained from the other neurocognitive measures). The results suggested that reduced k in patients was stronger than predicted by the between-group difference in g. Moreover, a mediation analysis suggested that the relationship between psychosis and g (i.e., the general cognitive deficit) was mediated by k. The results were consistent with the idea that reduced k is a specific deficit in psychosis, which contributes to the general cognitive deficit

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: improved distance measurements to z = 1 with reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature

We present significant improvements in cosmic distance measurements from the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, achieved by applying the reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature technique. We show using both data and simulations that the reconstruction technique can often be effective despite patchiness of the survey, significant edge effects and shot-noise. We investigate three redshift bins in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1, and in all three find improvement after reconstruction in the detection of the baryonic acoustic feature and its usage as a standard ruler. We measure model-independent distance measures DV(rsfid/rs) of 1716 ± 83, 2221 ± 101, 2516 ± 86 Mpc (68 per cent CL) at effective redshifts z = 0.44, 0.6, 0.73, respectively, where DV is the volume-averaged distance, and rs is the sound horizon at the end of the baryon drag epoch. These significantly improved 4.8, 4.5 and 3.4 per cent accuracy measurements are equivalent to those expected from surveys with up to 2.5 times the volume of WiggleZ without reconstruction applied. These measurements are fully consistent with cosmologies allowed by the analyses of the Planck Collaboration and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We provide the DV(rsfid/rs) posterior probability distributions and their covariances. When combining these measurements with temperature fluctuations measurements of Planck, the polarization of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 9, and the 6dF Galaxy Survey baryonic acoustic feature, we do not detect deviations from a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. Assuming this model, we constrain the current expansion rate to H₀ = 67.15 ± 0.98 km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹. Allowing the equation of state of dark energy to vary, we obtain wDE = −1.080 ± 0.135. When assuming a curved ΛCDM model we obtain a curvature value of ΩK = −0.0043 ± 0.0047

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Survey Design and First Data Release

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey is a survey of 240,000 emission line galaxies in the distant universe, measured with the AAOmega spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). The target galaxies are selected using ultraviolet photometry from the GALEX satellite, with a flux limit of NUV<22.8 mag. The redshift range containing 90% of the galaxies is 0.2<z<1.0. The primary aim of the survey is to precisely measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) imprinted on the spatial distribution of these galaxies at look-back times of 4-8 Gyrs. Detailed forecasts indicate the survey will measure the BAO scale to better than 2% and the tangential and radial acoustic wave scales to approximately 3% and 5%, respectively. This paper provides a detailed description of the survey and its design, as well as the spectroscopic observations, data reduction, and redshift measurement techniques employed. It also presents an analysis of the properties of the target galaxies, including emission line diagnostics which show that they are mostly extreme starburst galaxies, and Hubble Space Telescope images, which show they contain a high fraction of interacting or distorted systems. In conjunction with this paper, we make a public data release of data for the first 100,000 galaxies measured for the project.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; this has some figures in low resolution format. Full resolution PDF version (7MB) available at http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/mjd/pub/wigglez1.pdf The WiggleZ home page is at http://wigglez.swin.edu.au

MicroRNAs control neurobehavioral development and function in zebrafish

microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as regulators of a broad spectrum of neurodevelopmental processes, including brain morphogenesis, neuronal differentiation, and survival. While the role of miRNAs in establishing and maintaining the developing nervous system is widely appreciated, the developmental neurobehavioral role of miRNAs has yet to be defined. Here we show that transient disruption of brain morphogenesis by ethanol exposure results in behavioral hyperactivity in larval zebrafish challenged with changes in lighting conditions. Aberrations in swimming activity persist in juveniles that were developmentally exposed to ethanol. During early neurogenesis, multiple gene expression profiling studies revealed widespread changes in mRNA and miRNA abundance in ethanol-exposed embryos. Consistent with a role for miRNAs in neurobehavioral development, target prediction analyses identified multiple miRNAs misexpressed in the ethanol-exposed cohorts that were also predicted to target inversely expressed transcripts known to influence brain morphogenesis. In vivo knockdown of miR9/9* or miR-153c persistently phenocopied the effect of ethanol on larval and juvenile swimming behavior. Structural analyses performed on adults showed that repression of miR-153c during development impacts craniofacial skeletal development. Together, these data support an integral role for miRNAs in the establishment of vertebrate neurobehavioral and skeletal systems.-Tal, T. L., Franzosa, J. A., Tilton, S. C., Philbrick, K. A., Iwaniec, U. T., Turner, R. T., Waters, K. M., Tanguay, R. L. MicroRNAs control neurobehavioral development and function in zebrafish. FASEB J. 26, 1452-1461 (2012). www.fasebj.orgKeywords: Brain, Morphogenesis, Alcohol, Conditional loss, Osteoblast differentiation, Gene expression, Microarray data, Neural progenitors, Ethanol exposure, Larval zebrafis

Transitional Care for Young People with Movement Disorders: Consensus-Based Recommendations from the MDS Task Force on Pediatrics

Background: The International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society (MDS) set up a working group on pediatric movement disorders (MDS Task Force on Pediatrics) to generate recommendations to guide the transition process from pediatrics to adult health care systems in patients with childhood-onset movement disorders. / Methods: To develop recommendations for transitional care for childhood onset movement disorders, we used a formal consensus development process, using a multi-round, web-based Delphi survey. The Delphi survey was based on the results of the scoping review of the literature and the results of a survey of MDS members on transition practices. Through iterative discussions, we generated the recommendations included in the survey. The MDS Task Force on Pediatrics were the voting members for the Delphi survey. The task force members comprise 23 child and adult neurologists with expertise in the field of movement disorders and from all regions of the world. / Results: Fifteen recommendations divided across four different areas were made pertaining to: (1) team composition and structure, (2) planning and readiness, (3) goals of care, and (4) administration and research. All recommendations achieved consensus with a median score of 7 or greater. / Conclusion: Recommendations on providing transitional care for patients with childhood onset movement disorders are provided. Nevertheless several challenges remain in the implementation of these recommendations, related to health infrastructure and the distribution of health resources, and the availability of knowledgeable and interested practitioners. Research on the influence of transitional care programs on outcomes in childhood onset movement disorders is much needed

Plasma Levels of Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor αSignificance: Associations With Clinical Cardiovascular Events and Genome-Wide Association Scan

Interleukin-2 receptor subunit alpha (IL-2Rα) regulates lymphocyte activation, which plays an important role in atherosclerosis. Associations between soluble IL-2Rα and cardiovascular disease (CVD) have not been widely studied and little is known about the genetic determinants of sIL-2Rα levels