Product Liability: The Potential Liability of the Advertising Agency

In the typical products liability action, there is generally a solvent manufacturer or seller from whom the injured party may recover. One could speculate that this is the major reason why no agency has ever been joined -but should not the agency be called to account where there is no other solvent defendant, or where other reasons prevent an effective action against the principals, or where justice demands a proper sharing of liability? The authors believe that this must be answered affirmatively, and that the potential for advertising agency liability does in fact exist

The application of structural retinal biomarkers to evaluate the effect of intravitreal ranibizumab and dexamethasone intravitreal implant on treatment of diabetic macular edema

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the therapeutic effect of intravitreal treatment with ranibizumab and dexamethasone using specific swept-source optical coherence tomography retinal biomarkers in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). Methods: 156 treatment-naïve patients with DME were divided in two groups: 75 patients received 3 monthly intravitreal injections of ranibizumab 0.5 mg (Lucentis®) (Group 1) and 81 patients received an intravitreal implant of dexamethasone 0.7 mg (Ozurdex®) (Group 2). Patients were evaluated at baseline (V1), at three months post-treatment in Group 1, and at two months post-treatment in Group 2 (V2). Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and swept source-OCT were recorded at each interval. Changes between V1 and V2 were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test and differences between the two groups of treatment were assessed using the Mann-Whitney test. Multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the possible OCT biomarker (CRT, ICR, CT, SND, HRS) as predictive factors for final visual acuity improvement. Results: In both groups, BCVA improved (p-value < 0.0001), and a significant reduction in central retinal thickness, intra-retinal cysts, red dots, hyper-reflective spots (HRS), and serous detachment of neuro-epithelium (SDN) was observed. A superiority of dexamethasone over ranibizumab in reducing the SDN height (p-value = 0.03) and HRS (p-value = 0.01) was documented. Conclusions: Ranibizumab and dexamethasone are effective in the treatment of DME, as demonstrated by functional improvement and morphological biomarker change. DME associated with SDN and HRS represents a specific inflammatory pattern for which dexamethasone appears to be more effective

Epidemiology of herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2 in Italy: a seroprevalence study over 15 years

Introduction: Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are among the most widespread causative agents of human viral infections. HSV-2 is one of the commonest causes of genital disease, while HSV-1 is associated primarily with orolabial ulceration; however, recent changes in HSV epidemiology showed an increase in genital and neonatal herpes particularly caused by HSV-1. The main purpose of this study was to assess the seroprevalence of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in a random population in Siena (central Italy) in 2000, 2005 and 2013-2014 and in Bari (southern Italy) in 2005. Moreover, a preliminary study was conducted to investigate the spread of HSV infection in a population of pregnant women and infants in Bari in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Methods: Human serum samples were tested for the presence of specific anti-HSV-1 and anti-HSV-2 IgG antibodies using a commercially available ELISA test. Results and conclusions: For the primary purpose, seroprevalence rates observed in Siena were compared over the years sampled and with the seroprevalence rate found in Bari. Results of seroprevalence in Siena show a decreased trend for both viruses, especially in adolescents and young adults; moreover, HSV-2 seroprevalence rates found in the two cities suggest geographical differences. For the secondary purpose, prevalence rates among pregnant women were compared with the seroprevalence found in women of the general population. No significant difference in prevalence rates were found among pregnant women, while results indicate both viruses are a source of infection in infants

Effects of milk, pasteurized milk, and milk replacer on health and productivity of dairy calves

Our objectives were to determine the health and blood parameters before, during, and after weaning of 114 Holstein heifers fed either accelerated milk replacer (MR; 28% CP, 18% fat) or non-saleable milk (3.59 ± 0.28% true protein; 4.12 ± 0.37% fat) that was either pasteurized (PM) or raw (RM; refrigerated and fed \u3c24 h after collection). Calves were randomly assigned to feeding treatments at birth. Colostrum (1 L) was fed less than 14 hours after birth (MR and PM = pasteurized colostrum; RM = raw colostrum). All calves were bottle-fed 1.8 ± 0.20 L, 3 times daily; all calves were provided fresh water and grain ad libitum throughout the experiment. Calves began step-down weaning at age 5 weeks and completed weaning at age 6 weeks. Blood samples were collected at ages 3, 5, and 7 weeks and were analyzed for complete blood counts (CBC) using a Procyte Idexx Analyzer (IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Westbrook, ME). Fecal scores were observed twice daily, on a 1 to 3 scale (FS1 = normal, FS2 = loose, FS3 = scours). Results showed that MR-fed calves had more (P \u3c 0.01) observations (%obs) with FS \u3e 2 than the PM- and RM-fed calves (2.3 vs. 1.6 and 1.7 ± 0.2 %obs, respectively). In addition, there were no differences in body weight or shoulder or hip height between treatments, but a treatment x week interaction (P = 0.05) occurred for grain consumed, with a noticeably higher increase between 6 and 7 weeks of age for MR calves. When CBC was considered, there were no differences in blood cell types, but MR-fed calves had greater mean corpuscular volume (MCV) than the other calves (P \u3c 0.01), leading to higher resistance for iron deficiency anemia. In conclusion, these findings suggest that calf performance and feed intake are not affected by the administration of raw milk, pasteurized milk, or milk replacer. Moreover, CBC health parameters showed no significant changes due to administration of the different types of milk sources.; Dairy Day, 2014, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 2014; Dairy Research, 2014 is known as Dairy Day, 201

Preparation of Single-Cell RNA-Seq Libraries for Next Generation Sequencing

For the past several decades, due to technical limitations, the field of transcriptomics has focused on population-level measurements that can mask significant differences between individual cells. With the advent of single-cell RNA-Seq, it is now possible to profile the responses of individual cells at unprecedented depth and thereby uncover, transcriptome-wide, the heterogeneity that exists within these populations. This unit describes a method that merges several important technologies to produce, in high-throughput, single-cell RNA-Seq libraries. Complementary DNA (cDNA) is made from full-length mRNA transcripts using a reverse transcriptase that has terminal transferase activity. This, when combined with a second “template-switch” primer, allows for cDNAs to be constructed that have two universal priming sequences. Following preamplification from these common sequences, Nextera XT is used to prepare a pool of 96 uniquely indexed samples ready for Illumina sequencing.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science 1P50HG006193-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Pioneer Award DP1OD003958-01)Broad Institute of MIT and HarvardHoward Hughes Medical InstituteKlarman Cell Observator

Effects of milk, pasteurized milk, and milk replacer on health and productivity of dairy calves

Dairy Research, 2014 is known as Dairy Day, 2014Our objectives were to determine the health and blood parameters before, during, and after weaning of 114 Holstein heifers fed either accelerated milk replacer (MR; 28% CP, 18% fat) or non-saleable milk (3.59 ± 0.28% true protein; 4.12 ± 0.37% fat) that was either pasteurized (PM) or raw (RM; refrigerated and fed <24 h after collection). Calves were randomly assigned to feeding treatments at birth. Colostrum (1 L) was fed less than 14 hours after birth (MR and PM = pasteurized colostrum; RM = raw colostrum). All calves were bottle-fed 1.8 ± 0.20 L, 3 times daily; all calves were provided fresh water and grain ad libitum throughout the experiment. Calves began step-down weaning at age 5 weeks and completed weaning at age 6 weeks. Blood samples were collected at ages 3, 5, and 7 weeks and were analyzed for complete blood counts (CBC) using a Procyte Idexx Analyzer (IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Westbrook, ME). Fecal scores were observed twice daily, on a 1 to 3 scale (FS1 = normal, FS2 = loose, FS3 = scours). Results showed that MR-fed calves had more (P < 0.01) observations (%obs) with FS > 2 than the PM- and RM-fed calves (2.3 vs. 1.6 and 1.7 ± 0.2 %obs, respectively). In addition, there were no differences in body weight or shoulder or hip height between treatments, but a treatment × week interaction (P = 0.05) occurred for grain consumed, with a noticeably higher increase between 6 and 7 weeks of age for MR calves. When CBC was considered, there were no differences in blood cell types, but MR-fed calves had greater mean corpuscular volume (MCV) than the other calves (P < 0.01), leading to higher resistance for iron deficiency anemia. In conclusion, these findings suggest that calf performance and feed intake are not affected by the administration of raw milk, pasteurized milk, or milk replacer. Moreover, CBC health parameters showed no significant changes due to administration of the different types of milk sources

On the tree-transformation power of XSLT

XSLT is a standard rule-based programming language for expressing transformations of XML data. The language is currently in transition from version 1.0 to 2.0. In order to understand the computational consequences of this transition, we restrict XSLT to its pure tree-transformation capabilities. Under this focus, we observe that XSLT~1.0 was not yet a computationally complete tree-transformation language: every 1.0 program can be implemented in exponential time. A crucial new feature of version~2.0, however, which allows nodesets over temporary trees, yields completeness. We provide a formal operational semantics for XSLT programs, and establish confluence for this semantics

Electron spin coherence in semiconductors: Considerations for a spin-based solid state quantum computer architecture

We theoretically consider coherence times for spins in two quantum computer architectures, where the qubit is the spin of an electron bound to a P donor impurity in Si or within a GaAs quantum dot. We show that low temperature decoherence is dominated by spin-spin interactions, through spectral diffusion and dipolar flip-flop mechanisms. These contributions lead to 1-100 $\mu$s calculated spin coherence times for a wide range of parameters, much higher than former estimates based on $T_{2}^{*}$ measurements.Comment: Role of the dipolar interaction clarified; Included discussion on the approximations employed in the spectral diffusion calculation. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Div-Seq: Single-nucleus RNA-Seq reveals dynamics of rare adult newborn neurons

Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) provides rich information about cell types and states. However, it is difficult to capture rare dynamic processes, such as adult neurogenesis, because isolation of rare neurons from adult tissue is challenging and markers for each phase are limited. Here, we develop Div-Seq, which combines scalable single-nucleus RNA-Seq (sNuc-Seq) with pulse labeling of proliferating cells by 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) to profile individual dividing cells. sNuc-Seq and Div-Seq can sensitively identify closely related hippocampal cell types and track transcriptional dynamics of newborn neurons within the adult hippocampal neurogenic niche, respectively. We also apply Div-Seq to identify and profile rare newborn neurons in the adult spinal cord, a noncanonical neurogenic region. sNuc-Seq and Div-Seq open the way for unbiased analysis of diverse complex tissues.National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant U01MH105960)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant 5DP1-MH100706)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant 1R01-MH110049