Meningococcal Disease in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: A Review of Cases Reported Through Active Surveillance in the United States, 2000-2008.

BackgroundAlthough human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is an established risk factor for several bacterial infections, the association between HIV infection and meningococcal disease remains unclear.MethodsExpanded chart reviews were completed on persons with meningococcal disease and HIV infection reported from 2000 through 2008 from 9 US sites participating in an active population-based surveillance system for meningococcal disease. The incidence of meningococcal disease among patients meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) surveillance criteria was estimated using data from the National HIV Surveillance System for the participating sites.ResultsThirty-three cases of meningococcal disease in individuals with HIV infection were reported from participating sites, representing 2.0% of all reported meningococcal disease cases. Most (75.8%) persons with HIV infection were adult males aged 25 to 64 years old. Among all meningococcal disease cases aged 25 to 64 years old, case fatality ratios were similar among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected persons (13.3% vs 10.6%; P = .6). The cumulative, mean incidence of meningococcal disease among patients aged 25 to 64 years old with HIV infection ever classified as AIDS was 3.5 cases per 100000 person years (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1-5.6), compared with 0.3 cases per 100000 person years (95% CI, 0.3-0.3) for persons of the same age group not reported to have AIDS (relative risk = 12.9; 95% CI, 7.9-20.9).ConclusionsIndividuals with HIV infection meeting the AIDS surveillance case definition have a higher incidence of meningococcal disease compared with the general adult population

The Grizzly, February 11, 1991

Fraternity Pledging Returns Again • Wachtel Explains the Poverty of Affluence • The Changing War • Peer Educators and Community Service • Alumni Visit the Ballet • Study Abroad Memorable • A Valentine History • Side Winders • Dance Marathon • Get Shorty • Triumph of the Spirit • Gymnasts Fare Well at Ithaca, Reach Team Goal • Track Women Place Third at PAIAW Championships • Hoopsters Rounding Out Season • Fro Scores Point, Swimmers Wash Out Widener • Wrestlers Excel • Letters: Bring Becker Back; Praise From Florida; Oh no, Mr. Bill!; Respect Yourself and Your Major • War: A Personal Experience on the Homefront • Who Wants the Persian Gulf War? • The Mephisto of Calculus • This Spill No Mistakehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1270/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, March 19, 1991

New U.S.G.A Officers Appointed • Pennsylvania Pro-Life Convention Held • Rare Israeli Exhibition Arrives Safely • Village Idiots Compete at Pitt • Tenure Candidates Approved for Next Year • Alcohol Recovery Group to Start • Seniors Prepare for Graduation • Just Do It -- The Nautilus Connection • Flags: The Collegeville Connection • U.S.G.A Minutes • The Knack is Bnack! • Ursinus Students in Indonesia for a Day • Julian\u27s House • Meistersingers • Talking With Betty Boop • Bowie: Something Old and Something New • City of David at Berman • Men\u27s Lacrosse Club Wins Season Opener • Tennis Teams Begin Season • Five Named to MAC Honor Roll • Softball Starts Season • Baseball World Tour \u2791 • Indoor Track Finishes Season • Letter: On Teaching Catalan • Student Apathy is Growing • Consider Women\u27s Studies Next Semesterhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1273/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, November 13, 1990

Clergy Assembly Meets Ninth Consecutive Year • Career Day: An Information Session for Students • U.S. Energy Policy Anti-American? • The Ursinus Tutoring Program • Being British Without Being English • Election Results • Students React to Reimert Security Doors • Greeks Sponsor Halloween Party • F.W. Olin Foundation • Wilk 3 Protest • The History of Olin Grant • The Changeling • INXS • Television: Whose Reality is it Anyway? • Swimmers Wash Out Washington • Cross-Country Team Pleased with Regionals • Steimy Starts Club • Men\u27s Basketball Looks for Improvement in 1991 Season • Football Finishes Season with a Loss • Letters: No Defense for Personal Abuse; Zeta Chi Missed the Point! • Uncle Sam Wants Everyone • Pre-Med Prognosis Improving • Ursinus Grad in Sticky Situation • Brownback-Anders Meetinghttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1264/thumbnail.jp

Spitzer 24 um Survey for Dust Disks around Hot White Dwarfs

Two types of dust disks around white dwarfs (WDs) have been reported: small dust disks around cool metal-rich WDs consisting of tidally disrupted asteroids, and a large dust disk around the hot central WD of the Helix planetary nebula (PN) possibly produced by collisions among Kuiper Belt-like objects. To search for more dust disks of the latter type, we have conducted a Spitzer MIPS 24 um survey of 71 hot WDs or pre-WDs, among which 35 are central stars of PNe (CSPNs). Nine of these evolved stars are detected and their 24 um flux densities are at least two orders of magnitude higher than their expected photospheric emission. Considering the bias against detection of distant objects, the 24 um detection rate for the sample is >~15%. It is striking that seven, or ~20%, of the WD and pre-WDs in known PNe exhibit 24 um excesses, while two, or 5-6%, of the WDs not in PNe show 24 um excesses and they have the lowest 24 um flux densities. We have obtained follow-up Spitzer IRS spectra for five objects. Four show clear continuum emission at 24 um, and one is overwhelmed by a bright neighboring star but still show a hint of continuum emission. In the cases of WD 0950+139 and CSPN K1-22, a late-type companion is present, making it difficult to determine whether the excess 24 um emission is associated with the WD or its red companion. High-resolution images in the mid-IR are needed to establish unambiguously the stars responsible for the 24 um excesses.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in the September 2011 edition of the Astronomical Journa

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Perspective Modulates Temporal Synchrony Discrimination of Visual and Proprioceptive Information in Self-Generated Movements

Temporally congruent sensory information during a movement and the visual perspective in which we see our movement provide cues for self-recognition. Here we measured threshold and sensitivity for delay detection between a self-generated finger movement (proprioceptive and efferent copy) and the visual image of that movement under differing perspectives. Asynchrony was detected more easily (45–60 ms) when the hand was viewed in an egocentric perspective, even if its image was mirrored so that it appeared to be the other hand. Significantly longer delays (80–100ms) were needed to detect asynchrony when the hand was viewed in an allocentric (or inverted) perspective. These effects were replicated when the movement was seen as if looking in a mirror and when the non-dominant hand was used. We conclude that the tolerance for temporally matching visual, proprioceptive and efferent copy information that informs about the perceived position of body parts depends on whether one is viewing one's own body or someone else's

How our body influences our perception of the world

Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sensory information. Before a unified perception of the world can be formed, sensory signals must be processed with reference to body representation. The various attributes of the body such as shape, proportion, posture, and movement can be both derived from the various sensory systems and can affect perception of the world (including the body itself). In this review we examine the relationships between sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions of the world and the body. We provide several examples of how the body affects perception (including but not limited to body perception). First we show that body orientation effects visual distance perception and object orientation. Also, visual-auditory crossmodal-correspondences depend on the orientation of the body: audio high frequencies correspond to a visual up defined by both gravity and body coordinates. Next, we show that perceived locations of touch is affected by the orientation of the head and eyes on the body, suggesting a visual component to coding body locations. Additionally, the reference-frame used for coding touch locations seems to depend on whether gaze is static or moved relative to the body during the tactile task. The perceived attributes of the body such as body size, affect tactile perception even at the level of detection thresholds and two-point discrimination. Next, long-range tactile masking provides clues to the posture of the body in a canonical body schema. Finally, ownership of seen body parts depends on the orientation and perspective of the body part in view. Together, all of these findings demonstrate how sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions (of the body and the world) are interdependent

DataSheet1_Human-ecodynamics and the intertidal zones of the Zanzibar Archipelago.xlsx

The intertidal zone, covering the nearshore fringe of coasts and islands and extending from the high-water mark to areas that remain fully submerged, encompasses a range of habitats containing resources that are as important to modern populations as they were to humans in prehistory. Effectively bridging land and sea, intertidal environments are extremely dynamic, requiring complexity and variability in how people engaged with them in the past, much as they do in the present. Here we review and reconsider environmental, archaeological, and modern socio-ecological evidence from the Zanzibar Archipelago on eastern Africa’s Swahili coast, focusing on marine molluscs to gain insight into the trajectories of human engagement with nearshore habitats and resources. We highlight the potential drivers of change and/or stability in human-intertidal interactions through time and space, set against a backdrop of the significant socio-economic and socio-ecological changes apparent in the archipelago, and along the Swahili coast, during the late Holocene.</p