Changes in life-style after liver transplantation

Sixty-five pediatric patients who received liver transplants between May 1981 and May 1984 were observed for as many as 5 years and examined for changes in life-style. Children were less frequently hospitalized, spent less time hospitalized, required fewer medications, and generally had excellent liver and renal function after hepatic transplantation as compared with their pretransplantation status. Most children were in age-appropriate and standard school classes or were only 1 year behind. Cognitive abilities remained unchanged. Children improved in gross motor function and patients' behavior significantly improved according to parents' perceptions. Enuresis was more prevalent, however, than in the population of children who had not received liver transplants. Parental divorce rates were no greater than those reported for other families with chronically ill children. Overall, objective changes in life-style as well as parents' perceptions of behavior of children appear to be improved after liver transplantation

Experience in hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer: Analysis of clinical and pathologic risk factors

Background. The selection of patients for resective therapy of hepatic colorectal metastases remains controversial. A number of clinical and pathologic prognostic risk factors have been variably reported to influence survival. Methods. Between January 1981 and December 1991, 204 patients underwent curative hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer. Fourteen clinical and pathologic determinants previously reported to influence outcome were examined retrospectively. This led to a proposed TNM staging system for metastatic colorectal cancer (mTNM). Results. No operative deaths occurred (death within 1 month). Overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survivals were 91%, 43%, and 32%, respectively. Gender, Dukes' classification, site of primary colorectal cancer, histologic differentiation, size of metastatic tumor, and intraoperative blood transfusion requirement were not statistically significant prognostic factors (p > 0.05). Age of 60 years or more, interval of 24 months or less between colorectal and hepatic resection, four or more gross tumors, bilobar involvement, positive resection margin, lymph node involvement, and direct invasion to adjacent organs were significant poor prognostic factors (p < 0.05). In the absence of nodal disease or direct invasion, patients with unilobar solitary tumor of any size, or unilobar multiple tumors of 2 cm or smaller (stages I and II) had the highest survival rates of 93% at 1 year, 68% at 3 years, and 61% at 5 years. Unilobar disease with multiple lesions greater than 2 cm (stage III) resulted in 1-, 3-, and 5-year survivals of 98%, 45%, and 28%, respectively. Patients with bilobar involvement (multiple tumors, any size, or a single large metastasis) (stage IVA) had survival rates of 88% at 1 year, 28% at 3 years, and 20% at 5 years (p < 0.00001). Patients with nodal involvement or extrahepatic disease (stage IVB) experienced the poorest outcome with 1-, 3- , and 5-year survivals of 80%, 12%, and 0%, respectively (p < 0.00001). Conclusions. The proposed mTNM staging system appears to be useful in predicting the outcomes after hepatic resection of metastatic colorectal tumors

Conscious attention and demonstrative thought

This thesis is concerned with the relation between attention and demonstrative thought. It focuses on John Campbell’s view of this relation which he defends in his book Reference and Consciousness and some other work. Campbell’s view is that conscious perceptual attention to an object explains how we are able to think perceptual demonstrative thoughts about that object. I will label this view ‘Campbell’s Thesis’. The main aim of this thesis is to assess Campbell’s Thesis by identifying the issues upon which the question of whether we should accept or reject it turns, and by revealing some of the commitments that must be taken on by those who wish to reject it. The first main claim of this thesis is that Campbell’s own arguments for his thesis are not entirely successful (largely because of his reliance on his notion of ‘knowledge of reference’). The second main claim is whether we should accept or reject Campbell’s Thesis really turns upon: (i) whether conscious perceptual attention is a unified psychological phenomena (I’ll argue there is a strong argument for Campbell’s thesis if this is so); (ii) whether it is acceptable to deny conscious perceptual experience of objects has an explanatory role with respect to our capacities to think perceptual demonstrative thoughts about objects (I’ll argue those who reject Campbell’s Thesis are committed to denying this). I won’t claim to have settled the question of whether we should accept or reject Campbell’s Thesis here. However I will claim to have clarified the issues upon which this question turns and revealed some of the commitments that must be taken on by those who wish to reject Campbell’s Thesis

Computer verification of the Ankeny-Artin-Chowla conjecture for all primes less than 100,000,000,000100,000,000,000

An error in the program for verifying the Ankeny-Artin-Chowla (AAC) conjecture is reported. As a result, in the case of primes p which are ≡ 5 mod 8, the AAC conjecture has been verified using a different multiple of the regulator of the quadratic field ℚ(Formula Presented) than was meant. However, since any multiple of this regulator is suitable for this purpose, provided that it is smaller than 8p, the main result that the AAC conjecture is true for all the primes ≡ 1 mod 4 which are 1011, remains valid. As an addition, we have verified the AAC conjecture for all the primes ≡ 1 mod 4 between 1011 and 2 × 1011, with the corrected program

Computer verification of the Ankeny-Artin-Chowla conjecture for all primes less than 100 000 000 000

Let $p$ be a prime congruent to 1 modulo~4 and let $t, u$ be rational integers such that (t+usqrt{p,)/2 is the fundamental unit of the real quadratic field {mathbb Q(sqrt{p,). The Ankeny-Artin-Chowla Conjecture (AACC) asserts that $p$ will not divide $u$. This is equivalent to the assertion that $p$ will not divide B_{(p-1)/2, where B_{n denotes the n^{th Bernoulli number. Although first published in 1952, this conjecture still remains unproved today. Indeed, it appears to be most difficult to prove. Even testing the conjecture can be quite challenging because of the size of the numbers $t, u$; for example, when $p = 40,094,470,441$, then both $t$ and $u$ exceed 10^{330000. In 1988 the AAC conjecture was verified by computer for all p < 10^{9. In this paper we describe a new technique for testing the AAC conjecture and we provide some results of a computer run of the method for all primes $p$ up to 10^{11

Challenges in Developing Applications for Aging Populations

Elderly individuals can greatly benefit from the use of computer applications, which can assist in monitoring health conditions, staying in contact with friends and family, and even learning new things. However, developing accessible applications for an elderly user can be a daunting task for developers. Since the advent of the personal computer, the benefits and challenges of developing applications for older adults have been a hot topic of discussion. In this chapter, the authors discuss the various challenges developers who wish to create applications for the elderly computer user face, including age-related impairments, generational differences in computer use, and the hardware constraints mobile devices pose for application developers. Although these challenges are concerning, each can be overcome after being properly identified

Harnessing the Therapeutic Potential of Th17 Cells

Th17 cells provide protective immunity to infections by fungi and extracellular bacteria as well as cancer but are also involved in chronic inflammation. The cells were first identified by their ability to produce interleukin 17A (IL-17A) and, subsequently, associated with chronic inflammation and autoimmunity. Th17 cells have some gene profile similarity with stem cells and can remain dormant in mucosal tissues for long periods. Indeed, recent studies suggest that functionally distinct subsets of pro- and anti-inflammatory Th17 cells can interchange phenotype and functions. For development, Th17 cells require activation of the transcription factors STAT3 and RORγt while RUNX1, c-Maf, and Aiolos are involved in changes of phenotype/functions. Attempts to harness Th17 cells against pathogens and cancer using vaccination strategies are being explored. The cells gain protective abilities when induced to produce interferon γ (IFNγ). In addition, treatment with antibodies to IL-17 is effective in treating patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and refectory rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, since RORγt is a nuclear receptor, it is likely to be a potential future drug target for modulating Th17 functions. This review explores pathways through which Th17 subsets are induced, the molecular basis of their plasticity, and potential therapeutic strategies for their modulation in diseases

Dietary garlic and hip osteoarthritis: evidence of a protective effect and putative mechanism of action

Background Patterns of food intake and prevalent osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee were studied using the twin design to limit the effect of confounding factors. Compounds found in associated food groups were further studied in vitro. Methods Cross-sectional study conducted in a large population-based volunteer cohort of twins. Food intake was evaluated using the Food Frequency Questionnaire; OA was determined using plain radiographs. Analyses were adjusted for age, BMI and physical activity. Subsequent in vitro studies examined the effects of allium-derived compounds on the expression of matrix-degrading proteases in SW1353 chondrosarcoma cells. Results Data were available, depending on phenotype, for 654-1082 of 1086 female twins (median age 58.9 years; range 46-77). Trends in dietary analysis revealed a specific pattern of dietary intake, that high in fruit and vegetables, showed an inverse association with hip OA (p = 0.022). Consumption of 'non-citrus fruit' (p = 0.015) and 'alliums' (p = 0.029) had the strongest protective effect. Alliums contain diallyl disulphide which was shown to abrogate cytokine-induced matrix metalloproteinase expression. Conclusions Studies of diet are notorious for their confounding by lifestyle effects. While taking account of BMI, the data show an independent effect of a diet high in fruit and vegetables, suggesting it to be protective against radiographic hip OA. Furthermore, diallyl disulphide, a compound found in garlic and other alliums, represses the expression of matrix-degrading proteases in chondrocyte-like cells, providing a potential mechanism of action