Apple and Pear Cultivars for Organic Production in a Cool Climate

Only early ripening cultivars of apples and pears may be grown successfully in the short and rather cool growth season of the fruit producing areas of Norway. Due to a combination of high yield, good fruit quality and scab resistance, the Swedish cultivar ‘Aroma’ is recommended as major cultivar for organic apple production today. ’Philip’ is recommended as cultivar for organic pear production. During 5 years 21 apple cultivars and 15 pear cultivars have been tested in organic orchards in comparison with ‘Aroma’ and ‘Philip’. Several cultivars in the trial are promising for use in organic production

Literature Overview on the Field of Co-opetition

Co-opetition is a perspective on business relationships which highlights the ambivalence of competition and cooperation. Game theory is regarded as the mathematical tool for solving co-opetition related problems. The major step for introducing "co-opetition" into public discussion and economic research has been made by Brandenburger and Nalebuff in 1996. However they target a non-professional readership. A multitude of publications has followed, where the authors mostly focus on specific aspects of the problem and investigate particular industries. This paper gives a comprehensive literature overview on the field of co-opetition

Surrogate models for precessing binary black hole simulations with unequal masses

Only numerical relativity simulations can capture the full complexities of binary black hole mergers. These simulations, however, are prohibitively expensive for direct data analysis applications such as parameter estimation. We present two new fast and accurate surrogate models for the outputs of these simulations: the first model, NRSur7dq4, predicts the gravitational waveform and the second model, \RemnantModel, predicts the properties of the remnant black hole. These models extend previous 7-dimensional, non-eccentric precessing models to higher mass ratios, and have been trained against 1528 simulations with mass ratios $q\leq4$ and spin magnitudes $\chi_1,\chi_2 \leq 0.8$, with generic spin directions. The waveform model, NRSur7dq4, which begins about 20 orbits before merger, includes all $\ell \leq 4$ spin-weighted spherical harmonic modes, as well as the precession frame dynamics and spin evolution of the black holes. The final black hole model, \RemnantModel, models the mass, spin, and recoil kick velocity of the remnant black hole. In their training parameter range, both models are shown to be more accurate than existing models by at least an order of magnitude, with errors comparable to the estimated errors in the numerical relativity simulations. We also show that the surrogate models work well even when extrapolated outside their training parameter space range, up to mass ratios $q=6$.Comment: Matches published version. Models publicly available at https://zenodo.org/record/3455886#.XZ9s1-dKjBI and https://pypi.org/project/surfinB

Immunohistochemical expression of epithelial and stromal immunomodulatory signalling molecules is a prognostic indicator in breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The immune system has paradoxical roles during cancer development and the prognostic significance of immune modulating factors is controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF- beta), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and their prognostic significance in breast cancers. Ki67 was included as a measure of growth fraction of tumor cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>On immunohistochemical stained slides from 38 breast cancer patients, we performed digital video analysis of tumor cell areas and adjacent tumor stromal areas from the primary tumors and their corresponding lymph node metastases. COX-2 was recorded as graded staining intensity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The expression of TGF-beta, IL-10 and Ki67 were recorded in tumor cell areas and adjacent tumor stromal areas. In both primary tumors and metastases, the expression of COX-2 was higher in the tumor stromal areas than in the tumor cell areas (both <it>P </it>< 0.001). High stromal staining intensity in the primary tumors was associated with a 3.9 (95% CI 1.1-14.2) times higher risk of death compared to the low staining group (<it>P </it>= 0.036). The expression of TGF-beta was highest in the tumor cell areas of both primary tumors and metastases (both <it>P </it>< 0.001). High stromal expression of TGF-beta was associated with increased mortality. For IL-10, the stromal expression was highest in the primary tumors (<it>P </it>< 0.001), whereas in the metastases the expression was highest in tumor cell areas (<it>P </it>< 0.001). High IL-10 expression in tumor- and stromal cell areas of primary tumors predicted mortality. Ki67 was higher expressed in tumor stromal areas of the metastases, and in tumor cell areas of the primary tumors (<it>P </it>< 0.001). Ki67 expression in tumor cell areas and stromal areas of the metastases was independently associated with breast cancer mortality.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Stromal expression of COX-2, TGF-beta and Ki67 may facilitate tumor progression in breast cancer.</p

Expression of Interleukin-1 and Interleukin-1 Receptors Type 1 and Type 2 in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Signaling through the IL-1-receptor type 1 (IL-1R1), IL-1 is required for initiation and maintenance of diverse activities of the immune system. A second receptor, IL-1R2, blocks IL-1 signal transduction. We studied expression of IL-1beta, IL-1R1, and IL-1R2 in 17 Hodgkin lymphomas (HL) by in situ hybridization (ISH). IL-1beta expressing cells, morphologically consistent with endothelial cells and fibroblasts, occurred in all HL tissues with elevated transcript levels in areas of active fibrosis. Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells of all cases expressed low IL-1R1 transcript levels in some tumor cells, and high levels of IL-1R2 in large proportions of HRS cells. Only few bystander cells showed low levels of IL-1R1 and IL-1R2 RNA. Supernatants of 4 out of 7 HL-derived cell lines contained soluble IL-1R2 protein at high levels. HL patient sera carried variably amounts of IL-1R2 protein with significantly increased titers in patients with active disease compared to patients in complete remission and control individuals without HL. Western blots and co-immunoprecipitations showed binding of the IL-1R2 to the intracellular IL-1R-accessory protein (IL-1IRAcP). These data suggest functions of the IL-1R2 as a „decoy-receptor” sequestrating paracrine IL-1 extracellularly and intracellularly by engaging IL-1IRAcP, thus depriving IL1-R1 molecules of their extracellular and intracellular ligands. Expression of IL1-R2 by HRS cells seems to contribute to local and systemic modulation of immune function in HL

Overview and comparison of profit sharing in different business collaboration forms

Growing international business has brought a variety of collaborative business structures. In the paper the problem of profit sharing is analyzed for diverse business collaboration forms. It is the purpose to give an overview of the main influence factors of profit sharing. The overview is limited to the most common collaboration forms: multinational company, franchise system, joint venture and cluster. It is shown that the factors that mostly influence the profit sharing are the input balance of every member, which is expressed as the aggregate of profit (financial benefit) and the technology (intangible benefit). Finally, the different business collaboration forms are compared. Santrauka Augantis tarptautinis verslas praplete verslo struktūru bendradarbiavimo ivairove. Analizuojama pelno pasidalijimo problema skirtingoms bendradarbiavimo versle formoms. Vienas iš tikslu ‐ pateikti pagrindiniu pelno paskirstyma lemiančiu veiksniu apžvalga. Šia apžvalga dažniausiai riboja pasitaikančios bendradarbiavimo formos: tarptautine imone, franšizes sistema, bendroji imone ir klasteris. Pastebeta, kad labiausiai pelno pasidalijima lemia šie veiksniai: sanaudu balansas kiekvienai narei, kuris išreiškiamas kaip agreguotas pelnas (finansine nauda), ir technologijos (neapčiuopiama nauda). Palygintos skirtingos bendradarbiavimo formos. First Published Online: 10 Feb 2011 Reikšminiai žodžiai: verslo struktūru bendradarbiavimas, pelno pasidalijimas, bendroji imone, tarptautine imone, franšize, klasteri

In situ analysis of FOXP3+ regulatory T cells in human colorectal cancer

The immune system spontaneously responds to tumor-associated antigens in peripheral blood of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Regulatory T cells (Treg) are suspected of influencing the interaction between the tumor and immune system and thus the course of malignant diseases. However, the function of Tregs in the development of T cell responses and on the clinical course of CRC is not clear. We analyzed Treg infiltration (FOXP3 staining) in situ in 40 CRC patients and investigated whether there is a correlation to disease stage, systemic T cell response, and survival. Treg infiltration was significantly higher in CRC than in healthy colon. Stromal Treg infiltration was significantly higher than epithelial infiltration in CRC. Furthermore, Treg infiltration in the tumor was significantly higher in limited disease than in metastatic CRC. The average Treg infiltration rate in the tumor was non-significantly higher in patients without systemic TAA-specific T cell response. Survival did not differ between patients with high Treg infiltration and those with low Treg infiltration. In conclusion, a direct link between Treg infiltration in the tumor and the development of a systemic T cell response in CRC cannot be proven. However, local Treg infiltration was significantly higher in limited disease, in which a systemic TAA-directed T cell responses is less frequently observed

Correlation of histopathological findings and magnetic resonance imaging in the spine of patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease which affects primarily the sacroiliac joints and the spine. In patients with active disease, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine shows areas of bone marrow edema, the histopathological equivalent of which is unknown. In this study we correlate inflammation in the spine of patients with AS as revealed by histological examination with bone marrow edema as detected by MRI. We have compared the histopathological findings of zygapophyseal joints from 8 patients with AS (age: 30 to 64, disease duration 7 to 33 years) undergoing spinal surgery with findings in MRI. For histopathological analysis, we quantified infiltrates of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells as well as CD20+ B cells immunohistochemically. Bone marrow edema was evaluated in hematoxylin and eosin stained sections and quantified as the percentage of the bone marrow area involved. All patients with AS showed interstitial mononuclear cell infiltrates and various degrees of bone marrow edema (range from 10% to 60%) in histopathological analysis. However, in only three of eight patients histopathological inflammation and edema in the zygapophyseal joints correlated with bone marrow edema in zygapophyseal joints of the lumbar spine as detected by MRI. Interestingly, two of these patients showed the highest histological score for bone marrow edema (60%). This first study correlating histopathological changes in the spine of patients with AS with findings in MRI scans suggests that a substantial degree of bone marrow inflammation and edema is necessary to be detected by MRI