Maximal Androgen Ablation: A Review

Primary management of advanced (stage D) adenocarcinoma of the prostate is androgen ablation. Since this principle was discovered in the early 1940s, therapeutic alternatives and progress have centered around different ways to obtain castrate levels of androgens. The role of adrenal androgens in supporting prostate or prostatic cancer growth has been debated for decades and until recently was believed to be minimal. In the 1980s the concept of maximum androgen suppression, involving both the testes and adrenal glands, was reintroduced with some investigators claiming exceptional results. We review studies that have examined this concept, with emphasis on the largest trial which was carried out by the National Cancer Institute

SIP Controlled Admission and Preemption

This framework defines a method of providing Explicit Congestion Control to real-time inelastic traffic like voice and video through the use of session admission control and preemption mechanisms. This approach uses the Pre-Congestion Notification Marking (PCN) [1]\ud mechanism. PCN marking is deployed in routers to measure and convey two levels of onset of congestion with the SIP controlled endpoints responding to the marking. This approach is different from what is defined in An edge-to-edge Deployment Model for Pre-Congestion Notification [3], as here the admission and preemption control function resides in the application (either in the endpoint or the application server that controls the endpoint. This framework is focused on using Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) as the application signaling protocol but other application signaling protocols could be extended for this purpose.\u

Phase I, II and III Investigations of Wye Hall (18QU977), Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources

This report describes a three years of investigations to further define the archaeological resources of the privately owned Wye Hall plantation (18QU977), late 18th century home of William Paca, Maryland governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Wye Hall is located on Wye Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Queen Anne‟s County. Past archaeological work at Wye Hall, from 2000 through 2002, revealed extensive information about the design and usage of the original mansion and gardens from William Paca‟s time. The fieldwork documented in this report was centered on investigation of the area to the east of the main mansion, which is believed to be an area of enslaved habitation during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This represents the first recognized Phase III investigation of a slave quarter in Queen Anne‟s County. Therefore, the results are very important for augmenting Maryland‟s Eastern Shore narratives of the past, particularly in relation to the voice and space given to African and African American histories

A Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) on Quality of Life in Persons with Dementia

Quality of life (QoL) is an established outcome measure of patients with dementia and is strongly influenced by an individual\u27s environment and mood. While there are many outcomes that can be examined with Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) interventions, this systematic review focused on quality of life

The Flavoring Agent Dihydrocoumarin Reverses Epigenetic Silencing and Inhibits Sirtuin Deacetylases

Sirtuins are a family of phylogenetically conserved nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent deacetylases that have a firmly established role in aging. Using a simple Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast heterochromatic derepression assay, we tested a number of environmental chemicals to address the possibility that humans are exposed to sirtuin inhibitors. Here we show that dihydrocoumarin (DHC), a compound found in Melilotus officinalis (sweet clover) that is commonly added to food and cosmetics, disrupted heterochromatic silencing and inhibited yeast Sir2p as well as human SIRT1 deacetylase activity. DHC exposure in the human TK6 lymphoblastoid cell line also caused concentration-dependent increases in p53 acetylation and cytotoxicity. Flow cytometric analysis to detect annexin V binding to phosphatidylserine demonstrated that DHC increased apoptosis more than 3-fold over controls. Thus, DHC inhibits both yeast Sir2p and human SIRT1 deacetylases and increases p53 acetylation and apoptosis, a phenotype associated with senescence and aging. These findings demonstrate that humans are potentially exposed to epigenetic toxicants that inhibit sirtuin deacetylases

Pre-Congestion Notification marking

Pre-Congestion Notification (PCN) builds on the concepts of RFC 3168, "The addition of Explicit Congestion Notification to IP". However, Pre-Congestion Notification aims at providing notification before any congestion actually occurs. Pre-Congestion Notification is applied to \ud real-time flows (such as voice, video and multimedia streaming) in DiffServ networks. As described in [CL-DEPLOY], it enables "pre" congestion control through two procedures, flow admission control and flow pre-emption. The draft proposes algorithms that determine when a \ud PCN-enabled router writes Admission Marking and Pre-emption Marking in a packet header, depending on the traffic level. The draft also proposes how to encode these markings. We present simulation results with PCN working in an edge-to-edge scenario using the marking algorithms described. Other marking algorithms will be investigated in the future. \u

Overlapping functions of the cell adhesion molecules Nr-CAM and L1 in cerebellar granule cell development

The structurally related cell adhesion molecules L1 and Nr-CAM have overlapping expression patterns in cerebellar granule cells. Here we analyzed their involvement in granule cell development using mutant mice. Nr-CAM–deficient cerebellar granule cells failed to extend neurites in vitro on contactin, a known ligand for Nr-CAM expressed in the cerebellum, confirming that these mice are functionally null for Nr-CAM. In vivo, Nr-CAM–null cerebella did not exhibit obvious histological defects, although a mild size reduction of several lobes was observed, most notably lobes IV and V in the vermis. Mice deficient for both L1 and Nr-CAM exhibited severe cerebellar folial defects and a reduction in the thickness of the inner granule cell layer. Additionally, anti-L1 antibodies specifically disrupted survival and maintenance of Nr-CAM–deficient granule cells in cerebellar cultures treated with antibodies. The combined results indicate that Nr-CAM and L1 play a role in cerebellar granule cell development, and suggest that closely related molecules in the L1 family have overlapping functions