New Genetic Insights and Therapy in Multiple Myeloma

In the last decade, several significant advances in myeloma therapy have occurred with the pace of change accelerated with the introduction of new anti-myeloma agents. The approach to the treatment of multiple myeloma has become more complex with an array of therapeutic options, including autologous stem cell transplantation, non-myeloablative allogeneic transplantation, and new therapeutic agents such as thalidomide, bortezomib, and lenalidomide. High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation has emerged as the most effective approach to achieve high complete response rates and thereby improve the long-term overall survival. The majority of the patients, however, will develop progressive disease within several years. For patients who are not suitable candidates for high-dose chemotherapy due to advanced age or poor performance status conventional chemotherapy has remained the most common treatment with a median overall survival of 3 years. Treatment options for patients with relapsed or refractory disease are limited. The major obstacle to successful treatment of these patients is the development of drugresistant disease. The analysis of genetic rearrangements in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and multiple myeloma by the use of cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics has contributed significantly to our understanding of the development of clonal plasma cell disorders. Modern techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) have revealed chromosomal abnormalities in virtually all patients with multiple myeloma and most patients with MGUS

The Effect of Nitrided Layer on Antibacterial Properties for Biomedical Stainless Steel

AbstractPlasma nitriding of AISI type 303 austenitic stainless steel using microwave system at various input powers was conducted in present study. The nitrided layers were characterized via scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Vickers microhardness tester. The anti-bacterial property of this nitrided layer was also evaluated. The analytical results revealed the hardness of AISI type 303 stainless steel could be enhanced with nitriding process. The microstructure of the nitrided layer comprised of nitrogen-expanded γ phase. Bacterial test demonstrated the nitrided layer processed the excellent an ti-bacterial properties. The enhanced hardness and anti-bacterial properties make the nitrided AISI type 303 austenitic stainless steel the potential material in the biomedical applications

Well-posedness of Bimodal State-based Switched Systems

AbstractIn this work, we consider the well-posedness of state-based switched systems in the sense of piecewise classical solutions which commonly arise in the control of hybrid systems. We give some necessary and sufficient conditions for the well-posedness of this class of systems. These results can be used as tools for excluding the bimodal system having a Zeno state

Analysis of vortex ring formation in the heart chamber by instantaneous vortex deviation based on convolutional neural network

The formation of vortex rings during the left ventricle (LV) filling is an optimized mechanism for blood transport, and the vorticity is an important measure of a healthy heart and LV. There is a relationship between abnormal diastolic vortex structure and impaired LV, and hence vortex identification is vital for understanding the underlying physical mechanism of blood flow. However, due to lack of quantitative methods, defining, computing and mapping the left ventricular vortices has not been rigorously studied previously. In this paper, a novel method of vortex detection based on the convolutional neural network (CNN) is created, which enables determination of the boundary of vortex and integrates the local and global flow fields. We have used the CNN-based vortex identification and vector flow mapping (VFM) to quantify left ventricular vorticity. In the clinical application of our methodology to healthy subjects and uremic patients, we find differences in the strength and position of the vortices between healthy and patients with uremia cardiomyopathy. Our results can accurately indicate the role of vortex formation in intracardiac flow, and provide new insights into the blood flow within the heart structure

Global Incidence and mortality of oesophageal cancer and their correlation with socioeconomic indicators temporal patterns and trends in 41 countries

Oesophageal cancers (adenocarcinomas [AC] and squamous cell carcinomas [SCC]) are characterized by high incidence/mortality in many countries. We aimed to delineate its global incidence and mortality, and studied whether socioeconomic development and its incidence rate were correlated. The age-standardized rates (ASRs) of incidence and mortality of this medical condition in 2012 for 184 nations from the GLOBOCAN database; national databases capturing incidence rates, and the WHO mortality database were examined. Their correlations with two indicators of socioeconomic development were evaluated. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to generate trends. The ratio between the ASR of AC and SCC was strongly correlated with HDI (r = 0.535 [men]; r = 0.661 [women]) and GDP (r = 0.594 [men]; r = 0.550 [women], both p < 0.001). Countries that reported the largest reduction in incidence in male included Poland (Average Annual Percent Change [AAPC] = −7.1, 95%C.I. = −12,−1.9) and Singapore (AAPC = −5.8, 95%C.I. = −9.5,−1.9), whereas for women the greatest decline was seen in Singapore (AAPC = −12.3, 95%C.I. = −17.3,−6.9) and China (AAPC = −5.6, 95%C.I. = −7.6,−3.4). The Philippines (AAPC = 4.3, 95%C.I. = 2,6.6) and Bulgaria (AAPC = 2.8, 95%C.I. = 0.5,5.1) had a significant mortality increase in men; whilst Columbia (AAPC = −6.1, 95%C.I. = −7.5,−4.6) and Slovenia (AAPC = −4.6, 95%C.I. = −7.9,−1.3) reported mortality decline in women. These findings inform individuals at increased risk for primary prevention

Shock waves in two-dimensional granular flow: effects of rough walls and polydispersity

We have studied the two-dimensional flow of balls in a small angle funnel, when either the side walls are rough or the balls are polydisperse. As in earlier work on monodisperse flows in smooth funnels, we observe the formation of kinematic shock waves/density waves. We find that for rough walls the flows are more disordered than for smooth walls and that shock waves generally propagate more slowly. For rough wall funnel flow, we show that the shock velocity and frequency obey simple scaling laws. These scaling laws are consistent with those found for smooth wall flow, but here they are cleaner since there are fewer packing-site effects and we study a wider range of parameters. For pipe flow (parallel side walls), rough walls support many shock waves, while smooth walls exhibit fewer or no shock waves. For funnel flows of balls with varying sizes, we find that flows with weak polydispersity behave qualitatively similar to monodisperse flows. For strong polydispersity, scaling breaks down and the shock waves consist of extended areas where the funnel is blocked completely.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures; accepted for PR

Design and modeling of electrolyte pumping power reduction in redox flow cells

Because of flexible design, long life, and low-cost maintenance, redox flow cell has been recognized as one of the reliable energy storage techniques in remote power systems. In redox flow cells, electrolyte circulation through carbon felt is necessary in order to produce effective ion exchange during the charge and discharge operations. Pumping power required for electrolyte circulation could be significant, especially for multi-stack cell, due to low permeability of the porous carbon felt. Moreover, effective method for transporting bubbles formed inside the electrode is necessary for increasing the effective area of reaction of the electrodes. To further improve the overall performance of the redox flow cells, we proposed several novel designs of electrolyte inlet/outlet port and flow passage in carbon felt intending to reduce the electrolyte pumping power and to increase the effective area. Based on our numerical modeling, it is found that pumping power can be reduced by appropriate inlet/outlet port design and carbon felt with flow channel. The non-uniform flow pattern may cause the bubbles to be carried away from the electrodes effectively. The proposed designs can be applied not only for the single-stack cell but also applicable for the multiple-stacked cells

Electrical transport studies of quench condensed Bi films at the initial stage of film growth: Structural transition and the possible formation of electron droplets

The electrical transport properties of amorphous Bi films prepared by sequential quench deposition have been studied in situ. A superconductor-insulator (S-I) transition was observed as the film was made increasingly thicker, consistent with previous studies. Unexpected behavior was found at the initial stage of film growth, a regime not explored in detail prior to the present work. As the temperature was lowered, a positive temperature coefficient of resistance (dR/dT > 0) emerged, with the resistance reaching a minimum before the dR/dT became negative again. This behavior was accompanied by a non-linear and asymmetric I-V characteristic. As the film became thicker, conventional variable-range hopping (VRH) was recovered. We attribute the observed crossover in the electrical transport properties to an amorphous to granular structural transition. The positive dR/dT found in the amorphous phase of Bi formed at the initial stage of film growth was qualitatively explained by the formation of metallic droplets within the electron glass.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Effect of B-site Dopants on Magnetic and Transport Properties of LaSrCoRuO6_6

Effect of Co, Ru and Cu substitution at B and B' sites on the magnetic and transport properties of LaSrCoRuO$_6$ have been investigated. All the doped compositions crystallize in the monoclinic structure in the space group $P2_1/n$ indicating a double perovskite structure. While the magnetization and conductivity increase in Co and Ru doped compounds, antiferromagnetism is seen to strengthen in the Cu doped samples. These results are explained on the basis of a competition between linear Co-O-Ru-O-Co and perpendicular Co-O-O-Co antiferromagnetic interactions and due to formation of Ru-O-Ru ferromagnetic networks

Approach to equilibrium for a class of random quantum models of infinite range

We consider random generalizations of a quantum model of infinite range introduced by Emch and Radin. The generalization allows a neat extension from the class $l_1$ of absolutely summable lattice potentials to the optimal class $l_2$ of square summable potentials first considered by Khanin and Sinai and generalised by van Enter and van Hemmen. The approach to equilibrium in the case of a Gaussian distribution is proved to be faster than for a Bernoulli distribution for both short-range and long-range lattice potentials. While exponential decay to equilibrium is excluded in the nonrandom $l_1$ case, it is proved to occur for both short and long range potentials for Gaussian distributions, and for potentials of class $l_2$ in the Bernoulli case. Open problems are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, no figures. This last version, to appear in J. Stat. Phys., corrects some minor errors and includes additional references and comments on the relation to experiment