MRT des Nervus opticus: Referenzwerte bei Kindern und Jugendlichen im Alter von 0 bis 18 Jahren

Für die MR-tomographische Vermessung der Dimensionen des Nervus opticus bei Kindern und Jugendlichen existieren wenige Studien. Aufgrund methodischer Unterschiede sind deren publizierte Referenzwerte nur eingeschränkt vergleichbar. Anhand von Routine-Schädel-MRT pädiatrischer Patienten sollten Referenzwerte des N. opticus ermittelt werden. In dieser retrospektiven Studie wurden am Institut für Diagnostische und Interventionelle Radiologie des Universitätsklinikums Jena durchgeführte Routine-Schädel-MRT bei 1,5 T und 3 T von 164 Kindern und Jugendlichen (88 männlich, 76 weiblich) im Alter von 0-18 Jahren (Mittelwert 8,5 Jahre, Median 8,3 Jahre) analysiert. Dabei wurde der Durchmesser des N. opticus in der sagittalen und transversalen Orientierungsebene jeweils 3 mm und 10 mm posterior der Lamina cribrosa sclerae (Messpunkte 1 und 2), sowie unmittelbar vor Eintritt in das Chiasma opticum (Messpunkt 3) ermittelt. Die Messung fand ohne die umgebende Optikusnervenscheide statt. Für die statistische Analyse der Messwerte fand eine Aufteilung der Patienten in fünf Altersgruppen statt. Bei der Untersuchung des Einflusses verschiedener Variablen (Hemisphäre, Geschlecht, Orientierungsebene, Feldstärke) waren einzelne statistisch signifikante Unterschiede festzustellen, welche sich überwiegend im Größenbereich der Ungenauigkeit des Messmittels befanden (≤ 0,5 mm). Die Referenzwerte wurden einzig für Messpunkt 1 angegeben und betrugen in sagittaler Orientierungsebene 1,9 – 2,8 mm, in transversaler 1,5 – 3,1 mm. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass der OND mit dem Lebensalter zunimmt, wobei der Großteil des Wachstums bis zum sechsten Lebensjahr abgeschlossen ist. Die erhobenen Referenzdaten sind mit bereits vorliegenden Studien vergleichbar, sodass prinzipiell auch anhand einer Routine-MRT bei Kindern eine Messung des OND erfolgen kann. Eine höhere Genauigkeit liegt nicht vor, da aufgrund des Nervenverlaufs keine orthogonale Messung des OND möglich ist

EVALUATION OF RETROSPECTIVE REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL RUNS WITH VERA WITHIN THE PROJECT RECLIP:MORE

The 3-year project “Research for Climate Protection: Model Run Evaluation” (reclip:more) is a cooperation of five academic institutions in Austria The major aim of the project is to evaluate the capability of dynamical and statistical downscaling methods in the Alpine region to create climate scenarios at mesoscale and microscale resolutions. Two regional circulation models ALADIN and the PSU/NCAR mesoscale model MM5 will be driven by ERA-40 reanalysis data and ECHAM5 global circulation model (GCM) results, representing current (1991-2000) and future (2041-2050) climate to accomplish dynamical downscaling from the coarse GCM resolution (spectral truncation T106, i.e. ~120 km horizontal resolution) to 10-15 km. The evaluation of the 2D surface fields of the retrospective runs are performed with the Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analyses (VERA) scheme. VERA produces model independent 2D analyses of meteorological parameters on a regular grid. The comparison will cover single extreme events, an annual cycle and a ten year period. The results will serve as a criteria to find the best model set up for the prospective runs

The Advocate

Headlines Include: Laurels For Feerick: An Alumnus To Remember; Crime at Fordham; Who\u27s Next?, Film at 11https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/student_the_advocate/1007/thumbnail.jp

EVALUATION OF RETROSPECTIVE REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL RUNS WITH VERA WITHIN THE PROJECT RECLIP:MORE

The 3-year project “Research for Climate Protection: Model Run Evaluation” (reclip:more) is a cooperation of five academic institutions in Austria The major aim of the project is to evaluate the capability of dynamical and statistical downscaling methods in the Alpine region to create climate scenarios at mesoscale and microscale resolutions. Two regional circulation models ALADIN and the PSU/NCAR mesoscale model MM5 will be driven by ERA-40 reanalysis data and ECHAM5 global circulation model (GCM) results, representing current (1991-2000) and future (2041-2050) climate to accomplish dynamical downscaling from the coarse GCM resolution (spectral truncation T106, i.e. ~120 km horizontal resolution) to 10-15 km. The evaluation of the 2D surface fields of the retrospective runs are performed with the Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analyses (VERA) scheme. VERA produces model independent 2D analyses of meteorological parameters on a regular grid. The comparison will cover single extreme events, an annual cycle and a ten year period. The results will serve as a criteria to find the best model set up for the prospective runs

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Transnational Strategy Shift: The Importance of Cultural Awareness : - Case Study: IKEA

Globally operating business organizations tend to use a global strategy by using a standardized strategy as a fixed format. However, this has developed to be very ineffective for the ability to compete in the different markets worldwide. The adaptation of local preferences hence, seems to be crucial but also very complex for multinational retailers. This study therefore, determines the complexity of considerations that a shift from a global to a transnational strategy includes. The decision making of which strategy is appropriate for multinational retailers to compete on a global market can be quite puzzling, as is can be seen in the bed textile segment. Therefore this research paper investigates, within a case study of IKEA’s bed textile department, if a shift from a global to a transnational strategy is of advantage for a multinational retailer like IKEA and to what extend cultural awareness has to be considered. The methods that were used for this study include a literature review in the mentioned focus area and a collection of primary data through a qualitative research design with an open questionnaire sent to the Sales Leaders of IKEA. The research has shown that market research is an important factor when it comes to cultural related differences between the countries. Also, when dealing with the concern of adaptation of the market relevant bed textile sizes to the product range, the Sales Leaders of IKEA have perceived different concerns. Therewith a full adaptation may not be the solution for all businesses, since this depends on the product and market preferences. The cultural preferences in each country and the right degree of standardization and local preferences are a big issue for the global bed textile industry and are hence perceived as the main challenges in this concern. Possible paths for future investigations are shown by the results of this study. Thus, an inclusion of other cases could enable the possibility of a generalization of the study’s findings. Also, the same case study could be expanded by including customers input in the individual markets; this would lead to a better understanding of the customer’s preferences and a higher validity of the study. Last but not least this study has shown that there is no simple answer given whether a shift from a global towards a transnational strategy is of advantage for multinational retailers; however interesting factors concerning the shift could be identified

Transnational Strategy Shift: The Importance of Cultural Awareness : - Case Study: IKEA

Globally operating business organizations tend to use a global strategy by using a standardized strategy as a fixed format. However, this has developed to be very ineffective for the ability to compete in the different markets worldwide. The adaptation of local preferences hence, seems to be crucial but also very complex for multinational retailers. This study therefore, determines the complexity of considerations that a shift from a global to a transnational strategy includes. The decision making of which strategy is appropriate for multinational retailers to compete on a global market can be quite puzzling, as is can be seen in the bed textile segment. Therefore this research paper investigates, within a case study of IKEA’s bed textile department, if a shift from a global to a transnational strategy is of advantage for a multinational retailer like IKEA and to what extend cultural awareness has to be considered. The methods that were used for this study include a literature review in the mentioned focus area and a collection of primary data through a qualitative research design with an open questionnaire sent to the Sales Leaders of IKEA. The research has shown that market research is an important factor when it comes to cultural related differences between the countries. Also, when dealing with the concern of adaptation of the market relevant bed textile sizes to the product range, the Sales Leaders of IKEA have perceived different concerns. Therewith a full adaptation may not be the solution for all businesses, since this depends on the product and market preferences. The cultural preferences in each country and the right degree of standardization and local preferences are a big issue for the global bed textile industry and are hence perceived as the main challenges in this concern. Possible paths for future investigations are shown by the results of this study. Thus, an inclusion of other cases could enable the possibility of a generalization of the study’s findings. Also, the same case study could be expanded by including customers input in the individual markets; this would lead to a better understanding of the customer’s preferences and a higher validity of the study. Last but not least this study has shown that there is no simple answer given whether a shift from a global towards a transnational strategy is of advantage for multinational retailers; however interesting factors concerning the shift could be identified

Disruptions in loading and aeration impact effluent chlorine demand during biological greywater recycling

Greywater recycling systems designed for high-quality applications, such as hand washing, must deliver microbially safe and aesthetically acceptable water under the challenging operating conditions present where such systems are needed most urgently. As chlorination is the most popular strategy for reducing bacterial concentrations in greywater, understanding chlorination in the context of disruptive and challenging operation is essential to designing robust treatment. In this study, we have examined how disruptions through overall increased loading, interrupted aeration and increased ammonia loading have impacted the chlorine demand of the water produced by a greywater recycling system. We also presented concentrations of significant chemicals that contributed to this chlorine demand. The results indicate that a 1 d period with 8 times (8x) the normal design loading produced a peak chlorine demand of 0.74 mg Cl2/L, which is approximately double the baseline value. While this chlorine demand can be overcome by adding more chlorine, tests involving disruptions in aeration or feeding additional ammonia into the bioreactor produced much greater increases (>30x). The risks of increased chlorine demand on microbial safety can be overcome by limiting ammonia inputs to the system, providing backup systems to ensure sufficient aeration, or through additional anti-bacterial measures that do not depend on maintaining residual chlorine