Geldanamycin and herbimycin A induce apoptotic killing of B chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells and augment the cells' sensitivity to cytotoxic drugs.

We studied the actions of geldanamycin (GA) and herbimycin A (HMA), inhibitors of the chaperone proteins Hsp90 and GRP94, on B chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells in vitro. Both drugs induced apoptosis of the majority of CLL isolates studied. Whereas exposure to 4-hour pulses of 30 to 100 nM GA killed normal B lymphocytes and CLL cells with similar dose responses, T lymphocytes from healthy donors as well as those present in the CLL isolates were relatively resistant. GA, but not HMA, showed a modest cytoprotective effect toward CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors from normal bone marrow. The ability of bone marrow progenitors to form hematopoietic colonies was unaffected by pulse exposures to GA. Both GA and HMA synergized with chlorambucil and fludarabine in killing a subset of CLL isolates. GA- and HMA-induced apoptosis was preceded by the up-regulation of the stress-responsive chaperones Hsp70 and BiP. Both ansamycins also resulted in down-regulation of Akt protein kinase, a modulator of cell survival. The relative resistance of T lymphocytes and of CD34+ bone marrow progenitors to GA coupled with its ability to induce apoptosis following brief exposures and to synergize with cytotoxic drugs warrant further investigation of ansamycins as potential therapeutic agents in CLL

The Surgical Infection Society revised guidelines on the management of intra-abdominal infection

Background: Previous evidence-based guidelines on the management of intra-abdominal infection (IAI) were published by the Surgical Infection Society (SIS) in 1992, 2002, and 2010. At the time the most recent guideline was released, the plan was to update the guideline every five years to ensure the timeliness and appropriateness of the recommendations. Methods: Based on the previous guidelines, the task force outlined a number of topics related to the treatment of patients with IAI and then developed key questions on these various topics. All questions were approached using general and specific literature searches, focusing on articles and other information published since 2008. These publications and additional materials published before 2008 were reviewed by the task force as a whole or by individual subgroups as to relevance to individual questions. Recommendations were developed by a process of iterative consensus, with all task force members voting to accept or reject each recommendation. Grading was based on the GRADE (Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) system; the quality of the evidence was graded as high, moderate, or weak, and the strength of the recommendation was graded as strong or weak. Review of the document was performed by members of the SIS who were not on the task force. After responses were made to all critiques, the document was approved as an official guideline of the SIS by the Executive Council. Results: This guideline summarizes the current recommendations developed by the task force on the treatment of patients who have IAI. Evidence-based recommendations have been made regarding risk assessment in individual patients; source control; the timing, selection, and duration of antimicrobial therapy; and suggested approaches to patients who fail initial therapy. Additional recommendations related to the treatment of pediatric patients with IAI have been included. Summary: The current recommendations of the SIS regarding the treatment of patients with IAI are provided in this guideline

Application of standard and refined heat balance integral methods to one-dimensional Stefan problems

The work in this paper concerns the study of conventional and refined heat balance integral methods for a number of phase change problems. These include standard test problems, both with one and two phase changes, which have exact solutions to enable us to test the accuracy of the approximate solutions. We also consider situations where no analytical solution is available and compare these to numerical solutions. It is popular to use a quadratic profile as an approximation of the temperature, but we show that a cubic profile, seldom considered in the literature, is far more accurate in most circumstances. In addition, the refined integral method can give greater improvement still and we develop a variation on this method which turns out to be optimal in some cases. We assess which integral method is better for various problems, showing that it is largely dependent on the specified boundary conditions

The Hurst Exponent of Fermi GRBs

Using a wavelet decomposition technique, we have extracted the Hurst exponent for a sample of 46 long and 22 short Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard the Fermi satellite. This exponent is a scaling parameter that provides a measure of long-range behavior in a time series. The mean Hurst exponent for the short GRBs is significantly smaller than that for the long GRBs. The separation may serve as an unbiased criterion for distinguishing short and long GRBs.Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

HATS-3b: An inflated hot Jupiter transiting an F-type star

We report the discovery by the HATSouth survey of HATS-3b, a transiting extrasolar planet orbiting a V=12.4 F-dwarf star. HATS-3b has a period of P = 3.5479d, mass of Mp = 1.07MJ, and radius of Rp = 1.38RJ. Given the radius of the planet, the brightness of the host star, and the stellar rotational velocity (vsini = 9.0km/s), this system will make an interesting target for future observations to measure the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and determine its spin-orbit alignment. We detail the low/medium-resolution reconnaissance spectroscopy that we are now using to deal with large numbers of transiting planet candidates produced by the HATSouth survey. We show that this important step in discovering planets produces logg and Teff parameters at a precision suitable for efficient candidate vetting, as well as efficiently identifying stellar mass eclipsing binaries with radial velocity semi-amplitudes as low as 1 km/s.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, submitted to A

HATS-13b and HATS-14b: two transiting hot Jupiters from the HATSouth survey

We report the discovery of HATS-13b and HATS-14b, two hot-Jupiter transiting planets discovered by the HATSouth survey. The host stars are quite similar to each other (HATS-13: V = 13.9 mag, M* = 0.96 Msun, R* = 0.89 Rsun, Teff = 5500 K, [Fe/H] = 0.05; HATS-14: V = 13.8 mag, M* = 0.97 Msun, R* = 0.93 Rsun, Teff = 5350 K, [Fe/H] = 0.33) and both the planets orbit around them with a period of roughly 3 days and a separation of roughly 0.04 au. However, even though they are irradiated in a similar way, the physical characteristics of the two planets are very different. HATS-13b, with a mass of Mp = 0.543 MJ and a radius of Rp = 1.212 RJ, appears as an inflated planet, while HATS-14b, having a mass of Mp = 1.071 MJ and a radius of Rp = 1.039 RJ, is only slightly larger in radius than Jupiter.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1503.0006

Post-Retirement Satisfaction among Ghanaian Workers –The Case of Teachers and Non-Teachers

The general purpose of this study was to find out the factors that contributed to or accounted for post-retirement satisfaction among Ghanaian workers; and whether teacher retirees and non-teacher retirees differ in their post-retirement satisfaction with all those factors that account for post-retirement satisfaction. After reviewing, the literature eight main research questions were formulated to guide the study. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select 230 respondents for the study. The instrument for the study was the questionnaire. Data were analysed using correlations, cross-tabulations and chi square test of independence. The major findings from the study are as follows; Retirees in general are quite satisfied with all the indicators of post-retirement satisfaction. However, a larger proportion of non-teacher retirees as opposed to teacher retirees were satisfied with their post-retirement satisfaction. International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 3 (2) 2007 pp. 319-33

The macroeconomics of aid: overview

This Special Issue explores macroeconomic effects of aid from various perspectives through a blend of studies, both conceptual and empirical in nature. The overall aim is to enhance the understanding of the macroeconomic dimensions of aid in the policy and research communities, and to inspire further innovative work in this important area. This opening article provides a scene setting summary of five generations of aid research, with a particular focus on how the JDS has contributed to this literature, and ends with an overview of the papers included in this Issue

Is there still a role for the lung injury score in the era of the Berlin definition ARDS?

BACKGROUND: The Lung Injury Score (LIS) remains a commonly utilized measure of lung injury severity though the additive value of LIS to predict ARDS outcomes over the recent Berlin definition of ARDS, which incorporates severity, is not known. METHODS: We tested the association of LIS (in which scores range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating more severe lung injury) and its four components calculated on the day of ARDS diagnosis with ARDS morbidity and mortality in a large, multi-ICU cohort of patients with Berlin-defined ARDS. Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to compare the predictive validity of LIS for mortality to Berlin stages of severity (mild, moderate and severe). RESULTS: In 550 ARDS patients, a one-point increase in LIS was associated with 58% increased odds of in-hospital death (95% CI 14 to 219%, P = 0.006), a 7% reduction in ventilator-free days (95% CI 2 to 13%, P = 0.01), and, among patients surviving hospitalization, a 25% increase in days of mechanical ventilation (95% CI 9 to 43%, P = 0.001) and a 16% increase (95% CI 2 to 31%, P = 0.02) in the number of ICU days. However, the mean LIS was only 0.2 points higher (95% CI 0.1 to 0.3) among those who died compared to those who lived. Berlin stages of severity were highly correlated with LIS (Spearman’s rho 0.72, P < 0.0001) and were also significantly associated with ARDS mortality and similar morbidity measures. The predictive validity of LIS for mortality was similar to Berlin stages of severity with an area under the curve of 0.58 compared to 0.60, respectively (P-value 0.49). CONCLUSIONS: In a large, multi-ICU cohort of patients with ARDS, both LIS and the Berlin definition severity stages were associated with increased in-hospital morbidity and mortality. However, predictive validity of both scores was marginal, and there was no additive value of LIS over Berlin. Although neither LIS nor the Berlin definition were designed to prognosticate outcomes, these findings suggest that the role of LIS in characterizing lung injury severity in the era of the Berlin definition ARDS may be limited

Determinants of Motivationally-Anchored Ghanaian Rural Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to find out the factors responsible for the high rate of school attendance among rural pupils in Ghana in recent times. Questionnaire were used to collect data from a sample of 274 rural primary school pupils. The chi-square test of independence was used as the major analytical tool. The results of the study indicated that Ghanaian rural pupils are in school not because school is going to benefit them as individuals in future, but because of such external factors (extrinsic motivation) as the capitation grant, school feeding programme, and the supply of free school uniforms. Implications of this trend for stakeholders have been drawn. Keywords: Extrinsic motivation; School Attendance; School feeding programme. International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 3 (1) 2007 pp. 115-12