Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy For The Treatment Of Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Our treatment protocol for malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) includes initial cytoreductive surgery with heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), outpatient catheter-administered intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CAIPEC), and a second cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC. We hypothesized that even distribution of CAIPEC would correlate with better overall survival and fewer side effects; that the pharmacokinetics of HIPEC would be influenced by body surface area (BSA); and that tissue penetration of CAIPEC would exceed that of HIPEC due to the longer dwell time. We analyzed CT peritoneograms from 38 MPM patients undergoing cisplatin CAIPEC for volume and surface area, and modeled overall survival and post-treatment glomerular filtration rate (GFR) with these as predictors. We collected intraoperative blood and peritoneal fluid samples from 10 patients undergoing oxaliplatin HIPEC, used mass spectrometry to determine fluid platinum levels and modeled these outcomes with BSA as a predictor. We collected intraoperative peritoneal tissue samples from 6 patients undergoing HIPEC and used x-ray fluorescence microscopy to characterize tissue platinum levels. Decreased mortality was associated with larger surface areas (p=0.02) and smaller volumes of CAIPEC (p=0.03), controlling for age, sex, histologic subtype, and residual disease \u3e0.5cm. Larger volumes were associated with higher post-treatment GFR, controlling for pre-treatment GFR, BSA, surface area and BSA-volume interaction (p=0.02). Higher BSA was associated with lower plasma oxaliplatin (p=0.01), and greater pharmacokinetic advantage (p=0.02). Tissue platinum was highest at second surgery post-HIPEC, lowest at first surgery post-HIPEC, and intermediate at second surgery pre-HIPEC. CT peritoneography provides parameters associated with overall survival and post-treatment GFR in MPM patients undergoing CAIPEC. In HIPEC patients who receive a BSA-based oxaliplatin dose and carrier fluid volume titrated to achieve a desired flow rate, BSA is a predictor of systemic drug exposure. The direct tissue penetration depth of platinum attributable to multiple courses of CAIPEC is greater, and the tissue distribution of platinum more homogeneous, than that attributable to a single dose of HIPEC

Capuchin (Cebus [Sapajus] Apella) Change Detection

Change blindness is a phenomenon in which individuals fail to detect seemingly obvious changes in their visual fields. Like humans, several animal species have also recently been shown to exhibit change blindness; however, no species of New World monkey has been tested to date. Nine capuchins (Cebus [Sapajus] apella) were trained to select whether or not a stimulus changed on a computerized task. In four phases of testing, the search display and mask durations were varied systematically. Only one phase yielded significant results, with subjects detecting changes most accurately with longer search displays and, perplexingly, least accurately when there was no mask. No interactions between search display and mask durations were found in any test phase, suggesting that the relationship between the two parameters may be less important to how capuchins perceive changes

Why During the Polish-Bolshevik War Did Soviet Propaganda Discourse Dominate European Public Opinion?

In 1919–20, a war took place between two states that had emerged at the end of the Great War: Soviet Russia and the reborn Republic of Poland. It was a clash of widely different legal, political, and ideological systems. The conflict took place not only on the military and diplomatic planes but also within propaganda. Upon taking power in Russia, the Bolsheviks, in their official speeches, presented themselves to the world as the defenders of peace and the sovereignty of all nations; the imperial aspirations of Soviet Russia were hidden under the slogans of a world revolution that would liberate oppressed peoples. The military and ideological conquest began with a concentrated focus on neighbouring countries, including Poland. At the same time, a suggestive propaganda message was sent to the West, setting out the course of events from Moscow’s point of view

Russia in the propaganda of Polish national uprisings, 1768‑1864. Select issues

The insurrectionary struggles of 1768‑1772,1794,1830‑1831 and 1863‑1864, aimed at liberating Poland from Russian domination, were accompanied by propaganda campaigns which sought to implant specific images of Russia and the Russians in the public mind. This analysis seeks to recreate those images which are extant in select appeals, manifestos, declarations and miscellaneous pronouncements of those times. In doing so, an attempt is made to answer the question how perceptions of Moscow changed in the views of the Bar Confederates, Kościuszko’s insurgents, and those of the forces of the November and January Uprisings, and to identify their fixed and constant elements. The picture was not always absolutely clear‑cut because, apart from the predominance of recurring anti‑Russian themes, there were also calls for reconciliation addressed to the Russian people

Molecular Events Underlying Pregnancy-Induced Cardiomyopathy

The etiology of cardiomyopathy in pregnant women remains unclear. In this issue, Hilfiker-Kleiner et al. (2007) report that a reduction in STAT3 and a concomitant increase in cathepsin D may be a cause of this disease. Cathepsin D generates an antiangiogenic cleavage product of the hormone prolactin. The authors show that an inhibitor of prolactin secretion may be useful in treating this disease

Strange Bedfellows: The Destigmatization of Anti-Abortion Reform

As the United States abortion debate continues into its fifth decade since Roe v. Wade, pro-life groups are increasingly aiming to align themselves and their messages with classically “feminist” or “liberal” interests. Pro-life groups now heavily focus on women’s rights as a platform for advancing their ideological arguments and achieving legislative measures that ultimately restrict access to abortion. The use of such platforms allows antiabortion sentiment to appear more palatable to a broader swath of women while enabling the pro-life movement to soften its image and improve its appeal. This strategy, which I will refer to as pro-life “destigmatization,” manifests itself most clearly in law and politics, wherein pro-life advocates frame their anti-abortion arguments in broadly appealing, women’s rights-oriented terms. This ironic alignment is demonstrated through three examples that collectively represent an underlying effort to destigmatize antiabortion reform and portray it as a branch of women’s rights: 1) advocacy for the expansion of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), particularly in the context of the recently decided Supreme Court case of Young v. United Parcel Service; 2) political advocacy organizations’ support for pro-life women candidates and the creative framing of antiabortion legislation in election campaigns; and 3) anti-abortion legislation that restricts abortions specifically performed for sex-selection purposes. In each of these examples, there is a deliberate appeal to ideals many women already value such that, in theory, there would not be much of a leap from supporting feminist concerns to supporting the pro-life movement writ large. This connection is so close because, as each of these example shows, the ultimate goal of chipping away at abortion rights is portrayed as secondary, if it is even acknowledged at all. Rather, the pro-life presence is positioned as advocating something different from abortion, be it pregnancy rights or tax reform. Casting anti-abortion arguments in “feminist” terms is not a new effort. Scholars like Reva Siegel have long charted the development of the pro-life movement’s “womenprotective antiabortion argument[s]” and the ways in which the pro-life movement has “supplant[ed] the constitutional argument ‘[a]bortion kills a baby’ with [the] new claim ‘[a]bortion hurts women.’” Similarly, Mary Ziegler’s 2013 article in the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice provides a detailed history of pro-life feminism, assessing the evolution of “pro-life, socially conservative, self-proclaimed feminists” and their growing role in the abortion debate. Consider also the decades-old legislative history of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which, as discussed infra, shows the law’s twin goals of female equality in the workforce and the preservation of a woman’s right to bear and raise children. Still, the pro-life movement’s destigmatization strategy has gained traction in recent years as pro-life feminism targets “a new generation of young women who reject the illusion that to be pro-woman is to be pro-choice.” The examples discussed in this Note are contemporary ones that, when taken as a whole, coalesce into indications of a dominant trend. This Note adds to this area of scholarship by demonstrating how pro-life advocates, legislators, and courts are currently drawing on feminist and women’s rights movements to advance abortion bans and destigmatize anti-abortion sentiment

Motor learning in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy : feedback effects on skill acquisition

Purpose. Augmented feedback is an important variable influencing motor learning. Previous studies show reduced feedback frequency benefits motor learning in young adults more than a comparison group of children, who benefit from frequent feedback during practice. It is unclear how motor and central nervous system differences in children with cerebral palsy may impact their use of feedback in motor skill acquisition. This study investigated the effect of augmented visual feedback (FB) on performance and learning of an upper extremity motor skill in children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy (SHCP) as they practiced with their less affected arm, compared to typically developing children (TDC). Methods. Participants were 8-17 years with academic performance within two grade levels. Both TDC (n = 20) and participants with SHCP (n = 19) were screened for visual perception (MVPT-3) and manual dexterity (Box and Block). Children were divided into groups receiving frequent FB (100%) or faded FB (62%). Group differences for acquisition, retention, and reacquisition were compared in relation to FB level. Results. Both groups of children used visual FB to improve motor performance during skill practice. All children receiving 62% FB performed with greater error than children receiving 100% FB during the acquisition phase (p =.012), delayed retention no-feedback test (p =.017), and reacquisition phase (p =.042). Children with SHCP in both FB groups performed with significantly greater error than TDC during the entire acquisition phase (p \u3c .001), delayed retention no-feedback test (p = .031) and reacquisition phase (p = .001). While no significant within group feedback effect was found for children with SHCP, there was a trend for greater accuracy in the 100% group as compared to the 62% group during acquisition (p =.092) and this trend was seen again during reacquisition when FB was reintroduced (p =.092). Conclusions. Results suggest that for children with SHCP skill acquisition is furthered by visual FB regarding their movement accuracy. Children with SHCP use visual FB in a manner similar to TDC, although differences in learning were evident during the acquisition, delayed retention, and reacquisition phases. Further investigation is needed to determine clinical implications

Augmented Degree Correction for Bipartite Networks with Applications to Recommender Systems

In recommender systems, users rate items, and are subsequently served other product recommendations based on these ratings. Even though users usually rate a tiny percentage of the available items, the system tries to estimate unobserved preferences by finding similarities across users and across items. In this work, we treat the observed ratings data as partially observed, dense, weighted, bipartite networks. For a class of systems without outside information, we adapt an approach developed for dense, weighted networks to account for unobserved edges and the bipartite nature of the problem. This approach allows for community structure, and for local estimation of flexible patterns of ratings across different pairs of communities. We compare the performance of our proposed approach to existing methods on a simulated data set, as well as on a data set of joke ratings, examining model performance in both cases at differing levels of sparsity.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure