Socioeconomic Profile and Gender Characteristics in Relation to Camel Management Practices in the Pastoral Communities of Ethiopia

Pastoralism was one of the oldest forms of organized human society in providing sustainable livelihood opportunities. However, this way of life is increasingly under threat due to a number of reasons. Today’s political, legal, social and economic policies and laws are not taking into consideration the needs of pastoral populations specially women and children. An attempt has been made to evaluate the socio-economic conditions among the pastoral households of Eastern and Southern parts of Ethiopia. The study involved three major pastoral areas of Ethiopia, namely, Somali, Afar and Oromiya regional states. The findings of this study revealed that lacking of formal education except limited religious education for male children, girl children are excluded from any type of literacy. Population size in the study areas reflects above national average, due to custom of polygon. Regionally there has been a variation in decision making on the issues like intensity of production, breeding, camel herding, milking, marketing and other related activities. In general this study observed that there has been a dominant role played by men in most of the revenue generating activities except in few areas of districts other than economic activities. Hence, different types of social and policy intervention should be made. Keywords: Pastoralism, education, Polygon, intensity of production, Breeding

Time and length scales of autocrine signals in three dimensions

A model of autocrine signaling in cultures of suspended cells is developed on the basis of the effective medium approximation. The fraction of autocrine ligands, the mean and distribution of distances traveled by paracrine ligands before binding, as well as the mean and distribution of the ligand lifetime are derived. Interferon signaling by dendritic immune cells is considered as an illustration.Comment: 15 page

Longitudinal MRI evidence for decreased survival among periventricular glioblastoma

While the prognosis of patients with glioblastoma (GBM) remains poor despite recent therapeutic advances, variable survival times suggest wide variation in tumor biology and an opportunity for stratified intervention. We used volumetric analysis and morphometrics to measure the spatial relationship between subventricular zone (SVZ) proximity and survival in a cohort of 39 newly diagnosed GBM patients. We collected T2-weighted and gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) at pre-operative, post-operative, pre-radiation therapy, and post-radiation therapy time points, measured tumor volumes and distances to the SVZ, and collected clinical data. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression showed that tumors involving the SVZ and tumor growth rate during radiation therapy were independent predictors of shorter progression-free and overall survival. These results suggest that GBMs in close proximity to the ependymal surface of the ventricles convey a worse prognosis-an observation that may be useful for stratifying treatment

Molecular imaging of drug transit through the blood-brain barrier with MALDI mass spectrometry imaging

Drug transit through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is essential for therapeutic responses in malignant glioma. Conventional methods for assessment of BBB penetrance require synthesis of isotopically labeled drug derivatives. Here, we report a new methodology using matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI MSI) to visualize drug penetration in brain tissue without molecular labeling. In studies summarized here, we first validate heme as a simple and robust MALDI MSI marker for the lumen of blood vessels in the brain. We go on to provide three examples of how MALDI MSI can provide chemical and biological insights into BBB penetrance and metabolism of small molecule signal transduction inhibitors in the brain – insights that would be difficult or impossible to extract by use of radiolabeled compounds

Maintenance Therapy With Tumor-Treating Fields Plus Temozolomide vs Temozolomide Alone for Glioblastoma: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

IMPORTANCE: Glioblastoma is the most devastating primary malignancy of the central nervous system in adults. Most patients die within 1 to 2 years of diagnosis. Tumor-treating fields (TTFields) are a locoregionally delivered antimitotic treatment that interferes with cell division and organelle assembly. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of TTFields used in combination with temozolomide maintenance treatment after chemoradiation therapy for patients with glioblastoma. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: After completion of chemoradiotherapy, patients with glioblastoma were randomized (2:1) to receive maintenance treatment with either TTFields plus temozolomide (n = 466) or temozolomide alone (n = 229) (median time from diagnosis to randomization, 3.8 months in both groups). The study enrolled 695 of the planned 700 patients between July 2009 and November 2014 at 83 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, and South Korea. The trial was terminated based on the results of this planned interim analysis. INTERVENTIONS: Treatment with TTFields was delivered continuously (>18 hours/day) via 4 transducer arrays placed on the shaved scalp and connected to a portable medical device. Temozolomide (150-200 mg/m2/d) was given for 5 days of each 28-day cycle. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary end point was progression-free survival in the intent-to-treat population (significance threshold of .01) with overall survival in the per-protocol population (n = 280) as a powered secondary end point (significance threshold of .006). This prespecified interim analysis was to be conducted on the first 315 patients after at least 18 months of follow-up. RESULTS: The interim analysis included 210 patients randomized to TTFields plus temozolomide and 105 randomized to temozolomide alone, and was conducted at a median follow-up of 38 months (range, 18-60 months). Median progression-free survival in the intent-to-treat population was 7.1 months (95% CI, 5.9-8.2 months) in the TTFields plus temozolomide group and 4.0 months (95% CI, 3.3-5.2 months) in the temozolomide alone group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.62 [98.7% CI, 0.43-0.89]; P = .001). Median overall survival in the per-protocol population was 20.5 months (95% CI, 16.7-25.0 months) in the TTFields plus temozolomide group (n = 196) and 15.6 months (95% CI, 13.3-19.1 months) in the temozolomide alone group (n = 84) (HR, 0.64 [99.4% CI, 0.42-0.98]; P = .004). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this interim analysis of 315 patients with glioblastoma who had completed standard chemoradiation therapy, adding TTFields to maintenance temozolomide chemotherapy significantly prolonged progression-free and overall survival. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00916409

Induction of Inflammation by West Nile virus Capsid through the Caspase-9 Apoptotic Pathway

West Nile virus (WNV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family of vector-borne pathogens. Clinical signs of WNV infection include neurologic symptoms, limb weakness, and encephalitis, which can result in paralysis or death. We report that the WNV-capsid (Cp) by itself induces rapid nuclear condensation and cell death in tissue culture. Apoptosis is induced through the mitochondrial pathway resulting in caspase-9 activation and downstream caspase-3 activation. Capsid gene delivery into the striatum of mouse brain or interskeletal muscle resulted in cell death and inflammation, likely through capsid-induced apoptosis in vivo. These studies demonstrate that the capsid protein of WNV may be responsible for aspects of viral pathogenesis through induction of the apoptotic cascade

Treatment of atypical central neurocytoma in a child with high dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell rescue

The authors describe a 9 month old female with recurrent atypical central neurocytoma and leptomeningeal spread treated with high dose chemotherapy, autologous stem cell rescue, and adjuvant therapy. She had a complete response to therapy and was disease free at 4 years of age until a recurrence 6 months later. The use of intensive chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell rescue for atypical neurocytoma may be considered as an adjunct to surgical therapy in young patients with atypical neurocytoma not amenable to radiation therapy

Influence of packing density and surface roughness of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes on adhesive properties of gecko-inspired mimetics.

We have systematically studied the macroscopic adhesive properties of vertically aligned nanotube arrays with various packing density and roughness. Using a tensile setup in shear and normal adhesion, we find that there exists a maximum packing density for nanotube arrays to have adhesive properties. Too highly packed tubes do not offer intertube space for tube bending and side-wall contact to surfaces, thus exhibiting no adhesive properties. Likewise, we also show that the surface roughness of the arrays strongly influences the adhesion properties and the reusability of the tubes. Increasing the surface roughness of the array strengthens the adhesion in the normal direction, but weakens it in the shear direction. Altogether, these results allow progress toward mimicking the gecko's vertical mobility.The authors acknowledge funding from the EC project Technotubes.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/am507822b