HIV/AIDS and time allocation in rural Malawi

PubMed Central

Bignami-Van Assche, Simona; Van Assche, Ari; Anglewicz, Philip; Fleming, Peter; van de Ruit, Catherine

2012-01-01

AIDS-related morbidity and mortality are expected to have a large economic impact in rural Malawi, because they reduce the time that adults can spend on production for subsistence and on income-generating activities. However, households may compensate for production losses by reallocating tasks among household members. The data demands for measuring these effects are high, limiting the amount of empirical evidence. In this paper, we utilize a unique combination of qualitative and quantitative data, including biomarkers for HIV, collected by the 2004 Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project, to analyze the association between AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, and time allocation decisions in rural Malawian households. We find that AIDS-related morbidity and mortality have important economic effects on women’s time, whereas men’s time is unresponsive to the same shocks. Most notably, AIDS is shown to induce diversification of income sources, with women (but not men) reallocating their time, generally from work-intensive (typically farming and heavy chores) to cash-generating tasks (such as casual labor). PMID:22639544

Treatment Options for AIDS-Related Lymphoma

MedlinePlus

... trials is also available. AIDS-Related Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma Treatment of AIDS-related primary central nervous system lymphoma may include the following: External radiation therapy . ...

Computer-Aided Characterization and Diagnosis of Diffuse Liver Diseases Based on Ultrasound Imaging: A Review.

PubMed

Bharti, Puja; Mittal, Deepti; Ananthasivan, Rupa

2016-04-19

Diffuse liver diseases, such as hepatitis, fatty liver, and cirrhosis, are becoming a leading cause of fatality and disability all over the world. Early detection and diagnosis of these diseases is extremely important to save lives and improve effectiveness of treatment. Ultrasound imaging, a noninvasive diagnostic technique, is the most commonly used modality for examining liver abnormalities. However, the accuracy of ultrasound-based diagnosis depends highly on expertise of radiologists. Computer-aided diagnosis systems based on ultrasound imaging assist in fast diagnosis, provide a reliable "second opinion" for experts, and act as an effective tool to measure response of treatment on patients undergoing clinical trials. In this review, we first describe appearance of liver abnormalities in ultrasound images and state the practical issues encountered in characterization of diffuse liver diseases that can be addressed by software algorithms. We then discuss computer-aided diagnosis in general with features and classifiers relevant to diffuse liver diseases. In later sections of this paper, we review the published studies and describe the key findings of those studies. A concise tabular summary comparing image database, features extraction, feature selection, and classification algorithms presented in the published studies is also exhibited. Finally, we conclude with a summary of key findings and directions for further improvements in the areas of accuracy and objectiveness of computer-aided diagnosis. © The Author(s) 2016.

Diffuse Scattering as an Aid to the Understanding of Polymorphism in Pharmaceuticals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Welberry, T.R.; Chan, E.J.; Goossens, D.J.

Polymorphism occurs when the same molecular compound can crystallize in more than one distinct crystal structure. Its study is a field of great interest and activity. This is largely driven by its importance in the pharmaceutical industry, but polymorphism is also an issue in the pigments, dyes, and explosives industries. The polymorph formed by a compound generally exerts a strong influence on its solid-state properties. The polymorphic form of a drug molecule may affect the ease of manufacture and processing, shelf life, and most significantly the rate of uptake of the molecule by the human body. They can even varymore » in toxicity; one polymorph may be safe, while a second may be toxic. In this review of recently published work, we show how diffuse scattering experiments coupled with Monte Carlo (MC) computer modeling can aid in the understanding of polymorphism. Examples of the two common pharmaceuticals, benzocaine and aspirin, both of which are bimorphic, at ambient temperatures, are discussed.« less

Diffuse Scattering as an Aid to the Understanding of Polymorphism in Pharmaceuticals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welberry, T. R.; Chan, E. J.; Goossens, D. J.; Heerdegen, A. P.

2012-05-01

Polymorphism occurs when the same molecular compound can crystallize in more than one distinct crystal structure. Its study is a field of great interest and activity. This is largely driven by its importance in the pharmaceutical industry, but polymorphism is also an issue in the pigments, dyes, and explosives industries. The polymorph formed by a compound generally exerts a strong influence on its solid-state properties. The polymorphic form of a drug molecule may affect the ease of manufacture and processing, shelf life, and most significantly the rate of uptake of the molecule by the human body. They can even vary in toxicity; one polymorph may be safe, while a second may be toxic. In this review of recently published work, we show how diffuse scattering experiments coupled with Monte Carlo (MC) computer modeling can aid in the understanding of polymorphism. Examples of the two common pharmaceuticals, benzocaine and aspirin, both of which are bimorphic, at ambient temperatures, are discussed.

Lupus-related single nucleotide polymorphisms and risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PubMed Central

Bernatsky, Sasha; Velásquez García, Héctor A; Spinelli, John J; Gaffney, Patrick; Smedby, Karin E; Ramsey-Goldman, Rosalind; Wang, Sophia S; Adami, Hans-Olov; Albanes, Demetrius; Angelucci, Emanuele; Ansell, Stephen M; Asmann, Yan W; Becker, Nikolaus; Benavente, Yolanda; Berndt, Sonja I; Bertrand, Kimberly A; Birmann, Brenda M; Boeing, Heiner; Boffetta, Paolo; Bracci, Paige M; Brennan, Paul; Brooks-Wilson, Angela R; Cerhan, James R; Chanock, Stephen J; Clavel, Jacqueline; Conde, Lucia; Cotenbader, Karen H; Cox, David G; Cozen, Wendy; Crouch, Simon; De Roos, Anneclaire J; de Sanjose, Silvia; Di Lollo, Simonetta; Diver, W Ryan; Dogan, Ahmet; Foretova, Lenka; Ghesquières, Hervé; Giles, Graham G; Glimelius, Bengt; Habermann, Thomas M; Haioun, Corinne; Hartge, Patricia; Hjalgrim, Henrik; Holford, Theodore R; Holly, Elizabeth A; Jackson, Rebecca D; Kaaks, Rudolph; Kane, Eleanor; Kelly, Rachel S; Klein, Robert J; Kraft, Peter; Kricker, Anne; Lan, Qing; Lawrence, Charles; Liebow, Mark; Lightfoot, Tracy; Link, Brian K; Maynadie, Marc; McKay, James; Melbye, Mads; Molina, Thierry J; Monnereau, Alain; Morton, Lindsay M; Nieters, Alexandra; North, Kari E; Novak, Anne J; Offit, Kenneth; Purdue, Mark P; Rais, Marco; Riby, Jacques; Roman, Eve; Rothman, Nathaniel; Salles, Gilles; Severi, Gianluca; Severson, Richard K; Skibola, Christine F; Slager, Susan L; Smith, Alex; Smith, Martyn T; Southey, Melissa C; Staines, Anthony; Teras, Lauren R; Thompson, Carrie A; Tilly, Hervé; Tinker, Lesley F; Tjonneland, Anne; Turner, Jenny; Vajdic, Claire M; Vermeulen, Roel C H; Vijai, Joseph; Vineis, Paolo; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wang, Zhaoming; Weinstein, Stephanie; Witzig, Thomas E; Zelenetz, Andrew; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zhang, Yawei; Zheng, Tongzhang; Zucca, Mariagrazia; Clarke, Ann E

2017-01-01

Objective Determinants of the increased risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in SLE are unclear. Using data from a recent lymphoma genome-wide association study (GWAS), we assessed whether certain lupus-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were also associated with DLBCL. Methods GWAS data on European Caucasians from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph) provided a total of 3857 DLBCL cases and 7666 general-population controls. Data were pooled in a random-effects meta-analysis. Results Among the 28 SLE-related SNPs investigated, the two most convincingly associated with risk of DLBCL included the CD40 SLE risk allele rs4810485 on chromosome 20q13 (OR per risk allele=1.09, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.16, p=0.0134), and the HLA SLE risk allele rs1270942 on chromosome 6p21.33 (OR per risk allele=1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.36, p=0.0362). Of additional possible interest were rs2205960 and rs12537284. The rs2205960 SNP, related to a cytokine of the tumour necrosis factor superfamily TNFSF4, was associated with an OR per risk allele of 1.07, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.16, p=0.0549. The OR for the rs12537284 (chromosome 7q32, IRF5 gene) risk allele was 1.08, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.18, p=0.0765. Conclusions These data suggest several plausible genetic links between DLBCL and SLE. PMID:29214033

Large disparity between gallium and antimony self-diffusion in gallium antimonide.

PubMed

Bracht, H; Nicols, S P; Walukiewicz, W; Silveira, J P; Briones, F; Haller, E E

2000-11-02

The most fundamental mass transport process in solids is self-diffusion. The motion of host-lattice ('self-') atoms in solids is mediated by point defects such as vacancies or interstitial atoms, whose formation and migration enthalpies determine the kinetics of this thermally activated process. Self-diffusion studies also contribute to the understanding of the diffusion of impurities, and a quantitative understanding of self- and foreign-atom diffusion in semiconductors is central to the development of advanced electronic devices. In the past few years, self-diffusion studies have been performed successfully with isotopically controlled semiconductor heterostructures of germanium, silicon, gallium arsenide and gallium phosphide. Self-diffusion studies with isotopically controlled GaAs and GaP have been restricted to Ga self-diffusion, as only Ga has two stable isotopes, 69Ga and 71Ga. Here we report self-diffusion studies with an isotopically controlled multilayer structure of crystalline GaSb. Two stable isotopes exist for both Ga and Sb, allowing the simultaneous study of diffusion on both sublattices. Our experiments show that near the melting temperature, Ga diffuses more rapidly than Sb by over three orders of magnitude. This surprisingly large difference in atomic mobility requires a physical explanation going beyond standard diffusion models. Combining our data for Ga and Sb diffusion with related results for foreign-atom diffusion in GaSb (refs 8, 9), we conclude that the unusually slow Sb diffusion in GaSb is a consequence of reactions between defects on the Ga and Sb sublattices, which suppress the defects that are required for Sb diffusion.

General Information about AIDS-Related Lymphoma

MedlinePlus

... AIDS-Related Lymphoma Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About AIDS-Related Lymphoma Go to Health Professional ... the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board . Clinical Trial Information A clinical trial is a study to answer ...

Load Diffusion in Composite Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horgan, Cornelius O.; Simmonds, J. G.

2000-01-01

This research has been concerned with load diffusion in composite structures. Fundamental solid mechanics studies were carried out to provide a basis for assessing the complicated modeling necessary for large scale structures used by NASA. An understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of load diffusion in composite subcomponents is essential in developing primary composite structures. Analytical models of load diffusion behavior are extremely valuable in building an intuitive base for developing refined modeling strategies and assessing results from finite element analyses. The decay behavior of stresses and other field quantities provides a significant aid towards this process. The results are also amendable to parameter study with a large parameter space and should be useful in structural tailoring studies.

THERAPY-RELATED T/MYELOID MIXED PHENOTYPE ACUTE LEUKEMIA IN A PATIENT TREATED WITH CHEMOTHERAPY FOR CUTANEOUS DIFFUSE LARGE B CELL LYMPHOMA.

PubMed

Roberts, Evans; Oncale, Melody; Safah, Hana; Schmieg, John

2016-01-01

Mixed-phenotype acute leukemia is a rare form of leukemia that is associated with a poor prognosis. Most cases of mixed-phenotype acute leukemia are de novo. However, therapy-related mixed-phenotype acute leukemia can occur, and are often associated with exposure to topoisomerase-II inhibitors and alkylating agents. There are no known treatment guidelines for therapy-related mixed-phenotype acute leukemia. We present a patient with T/myeloid mixed-phenotype acute leukemia secondary to rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone R-CHOP chemotherapy for primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The patient's leukemic cells express CD34, an immaturity marker, CD3, a T-cell marker, and myeloperoxidase, a myeloid marker, and her history of chemotherapy for previous lymphoma supports the diagnosis of therapy-related T/myeloid mixed phenotype acute leukemia. Clinicians should be aware that this entity could be associated with R-CHOP chemotherapy. Given the complexity in diagnosis, and lack of treatment guidelines, a further understanding of the pathological and genetic principles of therapy-related mixed-phenotype acute leukemia will assist in future efforts to treat and categorize these patients. Mixed phenotype acute leukemia is a rare entity that accounts for two to five percent of all acute leukemias. Therapy- related mixed phenotype acute leukemia is an exceedingly rare hematological neoplasm that accounts for less than one percent of acute leukemias. We describe a case of therapy-related T/myeloid mixed phenotype acute leukemia following rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone R-CHOP chemotherapy for primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma DLBCL. The patient is a 63-year-old female who presented with several cutaneous nodules diagnosed as primary cutaneous DLBCL. The patient received R-CHOP chemotherapy and achieved remission. She remained in remission for four years until she presented with

Genetically Modified Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Patients With HIV-Associated Non-Hodgkin or Hodgkin Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2015-05-06

Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Peripheral/Systemic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma; HIV-associated Hodgkin Lymphoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncutaneous Extranodal Lymphoma; Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Small Intestine Lymphoma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I AIDS-related Lymphoma; Stage II AIDS-related Lymphoma; Stage III AIDS-related Lymphoma; Stage IV AIDS-related Lymphoma; T-cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia; Testicular Lymphoma; Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

Physicians Mutual Aid Group: A Response to AIDS-Related Burnout.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garside, Bruce

1993-01-01

Describes origins and functioning of physician's mutual aid group for physicians providing primary care to people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Offers suggestions related to overcoming resistance physicians might have to participating in such a group and reviews modalities that were helpful in facilitating participants' ability…

Securitizing HIV/AIDS: a game changer in state-societal relations in China?

PubMed

Lo, Catherine Yuk-Ping

2018-05-16

China has experienced unprecedented economic growth since the 1980s. Despite this impressive economic development, this growth exists side by side with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crises and the persisting deficiencies in public health provision in China. Acknowledging the prevailing health problems, the Chinese government has encouraged the development of health non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the health challenges and address the gaps in public health provision of the government. HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs have been perceived as the most outstanding civil society group developed in China. Considering the low priority of health policies since the economic reform, the limitation of the "third sector" activity permitted in authoritarian China, together with the political sensitivity of the HIV/AIDS problem in the country, this article aims to explain the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China with the usage of the securitization framework in the field of international relations (IR). The research that underpins this article is based on a desk-based literature review as well as in-depth field interviews with individuals working in HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China. Face-to-face interviews for this research were conducted between January and May in 2011, and between December 2016 and January 2017, in China. Discourse analysis was in particular employed in the study of the security-threat framing process (securitization) of HIV/AIDS in China. This article argues that the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China is largely attributed to the normative and technical effects of HIV/AIDS securitization ushered in by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (hereinafter Global Fund) observed in China. Despite depicting a positive scenario, the development of HIV/AIDS

Women and AIDS-Related Concerns

PubMed Central

Cochran, Susan D.; Mays, Vickie M.

2014-01-01

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has important implications for the practice of psychology. As the epidemic continues, the role of behavior change and psychosocial factors in the spread and transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections assumes increasing significance. Psychologists, as behavior change experts, have a special and challenging role to play in educating the public, particularly women, about AIDS. This article examines AIDS- and HIV-related concerns in women with a focus on the personal dilemmas for the practicing psychologist, problems in health behavior advocacy, and methods and pitfalls in modifying sexual behaviors. PMID:2930055

Primary pulmonary lymphoma in a patient with advanced AIDS

PubMed Central

Shahani, Lokesh; McKenna, Megan

2014-01-01

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is an AIDS defining lesion and risk of NHL most likely correlates with the degree of immunosuppression from HIV. Risk of NHL is highest among patients with CD4 count <50 cells/mL. Primary pulmonary lymphoma (PPL) is an infrequent cause of AIDS-related lymphoma. The authors report a patient with advanced AIDS presenting with recurrent fever and pulmonary nodule seen on the CT scan. The patient remained febrile despite being on broad spectrum antibiotics with no clear source of infection. The patient underwent a bronchoscopy with biopsy of the pulmonary lesion which was most consistent with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The patient was started on dose-adjusted etoposide, vincristine, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and prednisone (EPOCH) and was noted to be afebrile and a repeat CT scan few weeks later showed resolution of her pulmonary nodule. This case highlights the importance of considering NHL in patients with advanced AIDS presenting with pulmonary nodule and fever. PMID:25527680

Onalespib in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, Mantle Cell Lymphoma, or Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-05-23

ALK Positive; BCL6 Positive; Recurrent Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma

AIDS-related discrimination in Asia.

PubMed

Paxton, S; Gonzales, G; Uppakaew, K; Abraham, K K; Okta, S; Green, C; Nair, K S; Merati, T Parwati; Thephthien, B; Marin, M; Quesada, A

2005-05-01

The Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+) conducted the first regional documentation of AIDS-related discrimination in Asia. This project was an action-based, peer-implemented study that aimed to develop an understanding of the nature, pattern and extent of AIDS-related discrimination in several Asian countries. Trained HIV-positive people interviewed 764 positive people in four countries (India 302; Indonesia 42; Thailand 338; the Philippines 82) using a structured questionnaire. Findings indicate that the major area of discrimination in each country is within the health sector, where over half of those surveyed experienced some form of discrimination. In all countries, the majority of people did not receive pre-test counselling before being tested for HIV. People who reported coerced testing were significantly more likely than other respondents to face subsequent AIDS-related discrimination. A considerable number of respondents were refused treatment after being diagnosed with HIV and many experienced delayed provision of treatment or health services. Breaches of confidentiality by health workers were common. Within the family and the community, women were significantly more likely to experience discrimination than men, including ridicule and harassment, physical assault and being forced to change their place of residence because of their HIV status. These findings have serious implications, particularly in light of the increasing trend in many countries to test all pregnant women in order to prevent transmission of HIV to their unborn children.

Copanlisib and Nivolumab in Treating Participants With Recurrent or Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma or Primary Mediastinal Large B-cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-06-11

Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Primary Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Primary Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma

[Aged woman's vulnerability related to AIDS].

PubMed

Silva, Carla Marins; Lopes, Fernanda Maria do Valle Martins; Vargens, Octavio Muniz da Costa

2010-09-01

This article is a systhematic literature review including the period from 1994 to 2009, whose objective was to discuss the aged woman's vulnerability in relation to Acquired Imunodeficiency Syndrome (Aids). The search for scientific texts was accomplished in the following databases: Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Scientific Eletronic Library Online (SciELO), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS) and Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE). The descriptors used were vulnerability, woman and Aids. Eighteen texts were analyzed, including articles in scientific journals, thesis and dissertations. As a conclusion, it was noted that aged women and vulnerability to Aids are directly related, through gender characteristics including submission and that were built historical and socially. We consider as fundamental the development of studies which may generate publications accessible to women, in order to help them see themselves as persons vulnerable to Aids contagion just for being women.

The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Band Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cami, J.; Cox, N. L.; Farhang, A.; Smoker, J.; Elyajouri, M.; Lallement, R.; Bacalla, X.; Bhatt, N. H.; Bron, E.; Cordiner, M. A.; de Koter, A..; Ehrenfreund, P.; Evans, C.; Foing, B. H.; Javadi, A.; Joblin, C.; Kaper, L.; Khosroshahi, H. G.; Laverick, M.; Le Petit, F..; Linnartz, H.; Marshall, C. C.; Monreal-Ibero, A.; Mulas, G.; Roueff, E.; Royer, P.; Salama, F.; Sarre, P. J.; Smith, K. T.; Spaans, M.; van Loon, J. T..; Wade, G.

2018-03-01

The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Band Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES) is a Large Programme that is collecting high-signal-to-noise (S/N) spectra with UVES of a large sample of O and B-type stars covering a large spectral range. The goal of the programme is to extract a unique sample of high-quality interstellar spectra from these data, representing different physical and chemical environments, and to characterise these environments in great detail. An important component of interstellar spectra is the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), a set of hundreds of unidentified interstellar absorption lines. With the detailed line-of-sight information and the high-quality spectra, EDIBLES will derive strong constraints on the potential DIB carrier molecules. EDIBLES will thus guide the laboratory experiments necessary to identify these interstellar “mystery molecules”, and turn DIBs into powerful diagnostics of their environments in our Milky Way Galaxy and beyond. We present some preliminary results showing the unique capabilities of the EDIBLES programme.

Interplay between translational diffusion and large-amplitude angular jumps of water molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Chao; Zhang, Yangyang; Zhang, Jian; Wang, Jun; Li, Wenfei; Wang, Wei

2018-05-01

Understanding the microscopic mechanism of water molecular translational diffusion is a challenging topic in both physics and chemistry. Here, we report an investigation on the interplay between the translational diffusion and the large-amplitude angular jumps of water molecules in bulk water using molecular dynamics simulations. We found that large-amplitude angular jumps are tightly coupled to the translational diffusions. Particularly, we revealed that concurrent rotational jumps of spatially neighboring water molecules induce inter-basin translational jumps, which contributes to the fast component of the water translational diffusion. Consequently, the translational diffusion shows positional heterogeneity; i.e., the neighbors of the water molecules with inter-basin translational jumps have larger probability to diffuse by inter-basin translational jumps. Our control simulations showed that a model water molecule with moderate hydrogen bond strength can diffuse much faster than a simple Lennard-Jones particle in bulk water due to the capability of disturbing the hydrogen bond network of the surrounding water molecules. Our results added to the understanding of the microscopic picture of the water translational diffusion and demonstrated the unique features of water diffusion arising from their hydrogen bond network structure compared with those of the simple liquids.

Alpha-particle radiotherapy: For large solid tumors diffusion trumps targeting.

PubMed

Zhu, Charles; Sempkowski, Michelle; Holleran, Timothy; Linz, Thomas; Bertalan, Thomas; Josefsson, Anders; Bruchertseifer, Frank; Morgenstern, Alfred; Sofou, Stavroula

2017-06-01

Diffusion limitations on the penetration of nanocarriers in solid tumors hamper their therapeutic use when labeled with α-particle emitters. This is mostly due to the α-particles' relatively short range (≤100 μm) resulting in partial tumor irradiation and limited killing. To utilize the high therapeutic potential of α-particles against solid tumors, we designed non-targeted, non-internalizing nanometer-sized tunable carriers (pH-tunable liposomes) that are triggered to release, within the slightly acidic tumor interstitium, highly-diffusive forms of the encapsulated α-particle generator Actinium-225 ( 225 Ac) resulting in more homogeneous distributions of the α-particle emitters, improving uniformity in tumor irradiation and increasing killing efficacies. On large multicellular spheroids (400 μm-in-diameter), used as surrogates of the avascular areas of solid tumors, interstitially-releasing liposomes resulted in best growth control independent of HER2 expression followed in performance by (a) the HER2-targeting radiolabeled antibody or (b) the non-responsive liposomes. In an orthotopic human HER2-negative mouse model, interstitially-releasing 225 Ac-loaded liposomes resulted in the longest overall and median survival. This study demonstrates the therapeutic potential of a general strategy to bypass the diffusion-limited transport of radionuclide carriers in solid tumors enabling interstitial release from non-internalizing nanocarriers of highly-diffusing and deeper tumor-penetrating molecular forms of α-particle emitters, independent of cell-targeting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trends in AIDS incidence and AIDS-related mortality in British Columbia between 1981 and 2013

PubMed Central

Lima, Viviane D.; Lourenço, Lillian; Yip, Benita; Hogg, Robert S.; Phillips, Peter; Montaner, Julio S.G.

2015-01-01

Background Appropriate use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can markedly decrease the risk of progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and of premature mortality. We aimed to characterize the trends between 1981 and 2013 in AIDS-defining illnesses (ADIs) and in the number AIDS-related deaths in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Methods We included data of 3550 HIV-positive individuals, aged 19 years or older, from different administrative databases in BC. We estimated the relative risk of developing an ADI over time using a Negative Binomial model, and we investigated trends in the percentage of all deaths associated with AIDS using generalized additive models. Findings The number of ADIs has decreased dramatically to its lowest level in 2013. The peak of the AIDS epidemic in BC happened in 1994 with 696 ADIs being reported (rate 42 ADIs per 100 person-years). Since 1997, the number of ADIs decreased from 253 (rate 7 per 100 person-years) to 84 cases in 2013 (rate 1 per 100 person-years) (p-value equals to zero for the trend in the number of ADIs). We have also shown that out of 22 ADIs considered, only PCP maintained its prominent ranking (albeit with much reduced overall prevalence). Finally, we observed that over time very few deaths were related to AIDS-related causes, especially in the most recent years. Interpretation We showed that the number of new ADIs and AIDS-related mortality have been decreasing rapidly over time in BC. These results provide further evidence that integrated comprehensive free programs that facilitate testing, and deliver treatment and care to this population can be effective in markedly decreasing AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, thus suggesting that controlling and eventually ending AIDS is possible. Funding The British Columbia Ministry of Health, the US National Institutes of Health, the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Michael Institute for

AIDS-related knowledge and risks and contraceptive practices in Ghana: the early 1990s.

PubMed

Takyi, B K

2000-04-01

HIV/AIDS in Africa is transmitted primarily through heterosexual contact. This mode of disease transmission places sexually active childbearing women at high risk of contracting the disease. In this study, data from the 1993/94 Ghana Demographic Health Survey were used to explore the relationship between AIDS-related knowledge and family planning practices, specifically the use of contraceptives and condoms. While the study finds high levels of AIDS-related knowledge among Ghanaian women, this knowledge is yet to translate into increased condom use. It is suggested that the use of rational choice models in AIDS prevention programs may not be adequate to change people's sexual behaviour, especially in societies where the prevailing cultural practices and norms encourage large families and discourage the use of contraceptives of any type. In such settings, there is the need to find appropriate mechanisms that could help increase the use of all types of contraceptives. As contraceptive use increases, it is likely that the use of condoms for AIDS prevention and also for family planning purpose would increase in sub-Saharan Africa.

Rituximab and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Previously Untreated High- or High-Intermediate-Risk Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2016-03-01

Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma

Dispersion in Rectangular Networks: Effective Diffusivity and Large-Deviation Rate Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tzella, Alexandra; Vanneste, Jacques

2016-09-01

The dispersion of a diffusive scalar in a fluid flowing through a network has many applications including to biological flows, porous media, water supply, and urban pollution. Motivated by this, we develop a large-deviation theory that predicts the evolution of the concentration of a scalar released in a rectangular network in the limit of large time t ≫1 . This theory provides an approximation for the concentration that remains valid for large distances from the center of mass, specifically for distances up to O (t ) and thus much beyond the O (t1 /2) range where a standard Gaussian approximation holds. A byproduct of the approach is a closed-form expression for the effective diffusivity tensor that governs this Gaussian approximation. Monte Carlo simulations of Brownian particles confirm the large-deviation results and demonstrate their effectiveness in describing the scalar distribution when t is only moderately large.

Atezolizumab, Gemcitabine, Oxaliplatin, and Rituximab in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Transformed Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-06-06

Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Transformed Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Transformed Follicular Lymphoma to Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Carfilzomib, Rituximab, Ifosfamide, Carboplatin, and Etoposide in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Stage I-IV Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-03-28

CD20 Positive; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage II Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Ibrutinib Before and After Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-06-25

Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Activated B-Cell Type; Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Not Otherwise Specified; High Grade B-Cell Lymphoma, Not Otherwise Specified; Recurrent Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Burkitt Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Care Aides' Relational Practices and Caring Contributions.

PubMed

Andersen, Elizabeth A; Spiers, Jude

2016-11-01

HOW TO OBTAIN CONTACT HOURS BY READING THIS ARTICLE INSTRUCTIONS 1.2 contact hours will be awarded by Villanova University College of Nursing upon successful completion of this activity. A contact hour is a unit of measurement that denotes 60 minutes of an organized learning activity. This is a learner-based activity. Villanova University College of Nursing does not require submission of your answers to the quiz. A contact hour certificate will be awarded once you register, pay the registration fee, and complete the evaluation form online at http://goo.gl/gMfXaf. To obtain contact hours you must: 1. Read the article, "Care Aides' Relational Practices and Caring Contributions" found on pages 24-30, carefully noting any tables and other illustrative materials that are included to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the content. Be sure to keep track of the amount of time (number of minutes) you spend reading the article and completing the quiz. 2. Read and answer each question on the quiz. After completing all of the questions, compare your answers to those provided within this issue. If you have incorrect answers, return to the article for further study. 3. Go to the Villanova website listed above to register for contact hour credit. You will be asked to provide your name; contact information; and a VISA, MasterCard, or Discover card number for payment of the $20.00 fee. Once you complete the online evaluation, a certificate will be automatically generated. This activity is valid for continuing education credit until October 31, 2019. CONTACT HOURS This activity is co-provided by Villanova University College of Nursing and SLACK Incorporated. Villanova University College of Nursing is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. ACTIVITY OBJECTIVES 1. Define the application of Swanson's Middle Range Theory of Caring in care aides' relational care practices for nursing home

High microvessel density determines a poor outcome in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with rituximab plus chemotherapy

PubMed Central

Cardesa-Salzmann, Teresa M.; Colomo, Luis; Gutierrez, Gonzalo; Chan, Wing C.; Weisenburger, Dennis; Climent, Fina; González-Barca, Eva; Mercadal, Santiago; Arenillas, Leonor; Serrano, Sergio; Tubbs, Ray; Delabie, Jan; Gascoyne, Randy D.; Connors, Joseph M; Mate, Jose L.; Rimsza, Lisa; Braziel, Rita; Rosenwald, Andreas; Lenz, Georg; Wright, George; Jaffe, Elaine S.; Staudt, Louis; Jares, Pedro; López-Guillermo, Armando; Campo, Elias

2011-01-01

Background Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a clinically and molecularly heterogeneous disease. Gene expression profiling studies have shown that the tumor microenvironment affects survival and that the angiogenesis-related signature is prognostically unfavorable. The contribution of histopathological microvessel density to survival in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas treated with immunochemotherapy remains unknown. The purpose of this study is to assess the prognostic impact of histopathological microvessel density in two independent series of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with immunochemotherapy. Design and Methods One hundred and forty-seven patients from the Leukemia Lymphoma Molecular Profiling Project (training series) and 118 patients from the Catalan Lymphoma-Study group-GELCAB (validation cohort) were included in the study. Microvessels were immunostained with CD31 and quantified with a computerized image analysis system. The stromal scores previously defined in 110 Leukemia Lymphoma Molecular Profiling Project cases were used to analyze correlations with microvessel density data. Results Microvessel density significantly correlated with the stromal score (r=0.3209; P<0.001). Patients with high microvessel density showed significantly poorer overall survival than those with low microvessel density both in the training series (4-year OS 54% vs. 78%; P=0.004) and in the validation cohort (57% vs. 81%; P=0.006). In multivariate analysis, in both groups high microvessel density was a statistically significant unfavorable prognostic factor independent of international prognostic index [training series: international prognostic index (relative risk 2.7; P=0.003); microvessel density (relative risk 1.96; P=0.002); validation cohort: international prognostic index (relative risk 4.74; P<0.001); microvessel density (relative risk 2.4; P=0.016)]. Conclusions These findings highlight the impact of angiogenesis in the outcome of patients with

Synchronous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the stomach and small cell lung carcinoma: A case report.

PubMed

Li, Jia; Zhou, Changli; Liu, Wanqi; Sun, Xun; Meng, Xiangwei

2017-12-01

The synchronous occurrence of lung cancer in patients with gastric neoplasms is relatively uncommon, especially the cases of synchronous coexistence of small cell lung carcinoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the stomach. We encountered a case of synchronous primary small cell lung carcinoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the stomach. A 63-year-old patient with a 7.5 × 5.09 cm mass in the superior lobe of the right lung diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and synchronous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the stomach. The diseases were diagnosed by the pathological biopsy and immunohistochemical methods. As the patient received CHOP chemotherapy, pulmonary function deterioraed. Etoposide was added to the chemotherapy. However, after the first treatment, chest computed tomography showed that the mass in the superior lobe of the right lung had increased to 8.5 × 5.2 cm. This report draws attention to the fact that the treatment of synchronous tumors is a challenge. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Disease-related stigma: comparing predictors of AIDS and cancer stigma.

PubMed

Greene, Kathryn; Banerjee, Smita C

2006-01-01

This study explores the prevalence of AIDS and cancer stigma as influenced by attitude toward homosexuality, religiosity, authoritarianism, and androgyny. This study used a quasi-experimental survey design (N = 485) to examine attitude toward people with AIDS and cancer, and interaction with people with AIDS and cancer. Negative attitudes toward homosexuality, high religious intensity and ideology, high authoritarianism, and low expressive emerged as factors related to more negative attitudes toward people with AIDS and unwillingness to interact with people with AIDS. Attitudes toward people with cancer were generally not related to the variables. Findings explore how to campaign efforts to reduce existing negative attitudes toward AIDS and homosexuality, given that gay men with AIDS are especially stigmatized. Implications and directions for future research are discussed, especially for interventions.

HIV/AIDS-related mortality in Africa and Asia: evidence from INDEPTH health and demographic surveillance system sites.

PubMed

Streatfield, P Kim; Khan, Wasif A; Bhuiya, Abbas; Hanifi, Syed M A; Alam, Nurul; Millogo, Ourohiré; Sié, Ali; Zabré, Pascal; Rossier, Clementine; Soura, Abdramane B; Bonfoh, Bassirou; Kone, Siaka; Ngoran, Eliezer K; Utzinger, Juerg; Abera, Semaw F; Melaku, Yohannes A; Weldearegawi, Berhe; Gomez, Pierre; Jasseh, Momodou; Ansah, Patrick; Azongo, Daniel; Kondayire, Felix; Oduro, Abraham; Amu, Alberta; Gyapong, Margaret; Kwarteng, Odette; Kant, Shashi; Pandav, Chandrakant S; Rai, Sanjay K; Juvekar, Sanjay; Muralidharan, Veena; Wahab, Abdul; Wilopo, Siswanto; Bauni, Evasius; Mochamah, George; Ndila, Carolyne; Williams, Thomas N; Khagayi, Sammy; Laserson, Kayla F; Nyaguara, Amek; Van Eijk, Anna M; Ezeh, Alex; Kyobutungi, Catherine; Wamukoya, Marylene; Chihana, Menard; Crampin, Amelia; Price, Alison; Delaunay, Valérie; Diallo, Aldiouma; Douillot, Laetitia; Sokhna, Cheikh; Gómez-Olivé, F Xavier; Mee, Paul; Tollman, Stephen M; Herbst, Kobus; Mossong, Joël; Chuc, Nguyen T K; Arthur, Samuelina S; Sankoh, Osman A; Byass, Peter

2014-01-01

As the HIV/AIDS pandemic has evolved over recent decades, Africa has been the most affected region, even though a large proportion of HIV/AIDS deaths have not been documented at the individual level. Systematic application of verbal autopsy (VA) methods in defined populations provides an opportunity to assess the mortality burden of the pandemic from individual data. To present standardised comparisons of HIV/AIDS-related mortality at sites across Africa and Asia, including closely related causes of death such as pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and pneumonia. Deaths related to HIV/AIDS were extracted from individual demographic and VA data from 22 INDEPTH sites across Africa and Asia. VA data were standardised to WHO 2012 standard causes of death assigned using the InterVA-4 model. Between-site comparisons of mortality rates were standardised using the INDEPTH 2013 standard population. The dataset covered a total of 10,773 deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS, observed over 12,204,043 person-years. HIV/AIDS-related mortality fractions and mortality rates varied widely across Africa and Asia, with highest burdens in eastern and southern Africa, and lowest burdens in Asia. There was evidence of rapidly declining rates at the sites with the heaviest burdens. HIV/AIDS mortality was also strongly related to PTB mortality. On a country basis, there were strong similarities between HIV/AIDS mortality rates at INDEPTH sites and those derived from modelled estimates. Measuring HIV/AIDS-related mortality continues to be a challenging issue, all the more so as anti-retroviral treatment programmes alleviate mortality risks. The congruence between these results and other estimates adds plausibility to both approaches. These data, covering some of the highest mortality observed during the pandemic, will be an important baseline for understanding the future decline of HIV/AIDS.

Diffusion in the special theory of relativity.

PubMed

Herrmann, Joachim

2009-11-01

The Markovian diffusion theory is generalized within the framework of the special theory of relativity. Since the velocity space in relativity is a hyperboloid, the mathematical stochastic calculus on Riemanian manifolds can be applied but adopted here to the velocity space. A generalized Langevin equation in the fiber space of position, velocity, and orthonormal velocity frames is defined from which the generalized relativistic Kramers equation in the phase space in external force fields is derived. The obtained diffusion equation is invariant under Lorentz transformations and its stationary solution is given by the Jüttner distribution. Besides, a nonstationary analytical solution is derived for the example of force-free relativistic diffusion.

AIDS-related and non-AIDS-related mortality in the Asia-Pacific region in the era of combination antiretroviral treatment.

PubMed

Falster, Kathleen; Choi, Jun Yong; Donovan, Basil; Duncombe, Chris; Mulhall, Brian; Sowden, David; Zhou, Jialun; Law, Matthew G

2009-11-13

Although studies have shown reductions in mortality from AIDS after the introduction of combination antiretroviral treatment (cART), little is known about cause-specific mortality in low-income settings in the cART era. We explored predictors of AIDS and non-AIDS mortality and compared cause-specific mortality across high-income and low-income settings in the Asia-Pacific region. We followed patients in the Asia Pacific HIV Observational Database from the date they started cART (or cohort enrolment if cART initiation was identified retrospectively), until the date of death or last follow-up visit. Competing risks methods were used to estimate the cumulative incidence, and to investigate predictors, of AIDS and non-AIDS mortality. Of 4252 patients, 215 died; 89 from AIDS, 97 from non-AIDS causes and 29 from unknown causes. Age more than 50 years [hazard ratio 4.29; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.10-8.79] and CD4 cell counts less than or equal to 100 cells/microl (hazard ratio 8.59; 95% CI 5.66-13.03) were associated with an increased risk of non-AIDS mortality. Risk factors for AIDS mortality included CD4 cell counts less than or equal to 100 cells/microl (hazard ratio 34.97; 95% CI 18.01-67.90) and HIV RNA 10 001 or more (hazard ratio 4.21; 95% CI 2.07-8.55). There was some indication of a lower risk of non-AIDS mortality in Asian high-income, and possibly low-income, countries compared to Australia. Immune deficiency is associated with an increased risk of AIDS and non-AIDS mortality. Older age predicts non-AIDS mortality in the cART era. Less conclusive was the association between country-income level and cause-specific mortality because of the relatively high proportion of unknown causes of death in low-income settings.

Computer-aided engineering of semiconductor integrated circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meindl, J. D.; Dutton, R. W.; Gibbons, J. F.; Helms, C. R.; Plummer, J. D.; Tiller, W. A.; Ho, C. P.; Saraswat, K. C.; Deal, B. E.; Kamins, T. I.

1980-07-01

Economical procurement of small quantities of high performance custom integrated circuits for military systems is impeded by inadequate process, device and circuit models that handicap low cost computer aided design. The principal objective of this program is to formulate physical models of fabrication processes, devices and circuits to allow total computer-aided design of custom large-scale integrated circuits. The basic areas under investigation are (1) thermal oxidation, (2) ion implantation and diffusion, (3) chemical vapor deposition of silicon and refractory metal silicides, (4) device simulation and analytic measurements. This report discusses the fourth year of the program.

Fermi Large Area Telescope Measurements of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission at Intermediate Galactic Latitudes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abdo, A.A.; /Naval Research Lab, Wash., D.C.; Ackermann, M.

The diffuse galactic {gamma}-ray emission is produced by cosmic rays (CRs) interacting with the interstellar gas and radiation field. Measurements by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory indicated excess {gamma}-ray emission {ge}1 GeV relative to diffuse galactic {gamma}-ray emission models consistent with directly measured CR spectra (the so-called 'EGRET GeV excess'). The Large Area Telescope (LAT) instrument on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has measured the diffuse {gamma}-ray emission with improved sensitivity and resolution compared to EGRET. We report on LAT measurements for energies 100 MeV to 10 GeV and galactic latitudes 10{sup o}more » {le} |b| {le} 20{sup o}. The LAT spectrum for this region of the sky is well reproduced by a diffuse galactic {gamma}-ray emission model that is consistent with local CR spectra and inconsistent with the EGRET GeV excess.« less

Fermi Large Area Telescope Measurements of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission at Intermediate Galactic Latitudes

DOE PAGES

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; ...

2009-12-16

We report that the diffuse galactic γ-ray emission is produced by cosmic rays (CRs) interacting with the interstellar gas and radiation field. Measurements by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory indicated excess γ-ray emission ≳1 GeV relative to diffuse galactic γ-ray emission models consistent with directly measured CR spectra (the so-called “EGRET GeV excess”). The Large Area Telescope (LAT) instrument on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has measured the diffuse γ -ray emission with improved sensitivity and resolution compared to EGRET. We report on LAT measurements for energies 100 MeV to 10 GeV andmore » galactic latitudes 10° ≤ | b | ≤ 20°. Finally, the LAT spectrum for this region of the sky is well reproduced by a diffuse galactic γ-ray emission model that is consistent with local CR spectra and inconsistent with the EGRET GeV excess.« less

Fermi large area telescope measurements of the diffuse gamma-ray emission at intermediate galactic latitudes.

PubMed

Abdo, A A; Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Anderson, B; Atwood, W B; Axelsson, M; Baldini, L; Ballet, J; Barbiellini, G; Bastieri, D; Baughman, B M; Bechtol, K; Bellazzini, R; Berenji, B; Blandford, R D; Bloom, E D; Bonamente, E; Borgland, A W; Bregeon, J; Brez, A; Brigida, M; Bruel, P; Burnett, T H; Caliandro, G A; Cameron, R A; Caraveo, P A; Casandjian, J M; Cecchi, C; Charles, E; Chekhtman, A; Cheung, C C; Chiang, J; Ciprini, S; Claus, R; Cohen-Tanugi, J; Conrad, J; Dereli, H; Dermer, C D; de Angelis, A; de Palma, F; Digel, S W; Di Bernardo, G; Dormody, M; do Couto e Silva, E; Drell, P S; Dubois, R; Dumora, D; Edmonds, Y; Farnier, C; Favuzzi, C; Fegan, S J; Focke, W B; Frailis, M; Fukazawa, Y; Funk, S; Fusco, P; Gaggero, D; Gargano, F; Gehrels, N; Germani, S; Giebels, B; Giglietto, N; Giordano, F; Glanzman, T; Godfrey, G; Grenier, I A; Grondin, M-H; Grove, J E; Guillemot, L; Guiriec, S; Hanabata, Y; Harding, A K; Hayashida, M; Hays, E; Hughes, R E; Jóhannesson, G; Johnson, A S; Johnson, R P; Johnson, T J; Johnson, W N; Kamae, T; Katagiri, H; Kataoka, J; Kawai, N; Kerr, M; Knödlseder, J; Kocian, M L; Kuehn, F; Kuss, M; Lande, J; Latronico, L; Longo, F; Loparco, F; Lott, B; Lovellette, M N; Lubrano, P; Madejski, G M; Makeev, A; Mazziotta, M N; McConville, W; McEnery, J E; Meurer, C; Michelson, P F; Mitthumsiri, W; Mizuno, T; Moiseev, A A; Monte, C; Monzani, M E; Morselli, A; Moskalenko, I V; Murgia, S; Nolan, P L; Nuss, E; Ohsugi, T; Okumura, A; Omodei, N; Orlando, E; Ormes, J F; Paneque, D; Panetta, J H; Parent, D; Pelassa, V; Pepe, M; Pesce-Rollins, M; Piron, F; Porter, T A; Rainò, S; Rando, R; Razzano, M; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Reposeur, T; Ritz, S; Rodriguez, A Y; Roth, M; Ryde, F; Sadrozinski, H F-W; Sanchez, D; Sander, A; Saz Parkinson, P M; Scargle, J D; Sellerholm, A; Sgrò, C; Smith, D A; Smith, P D; Spandre, G; Spinelli, P; Starck, J-L; Stecker, F W; Striani, E; Strickman, M S; Strong, A W; Suson, D J; Tajima, H; Takahashi, H; Tanaka, T; Thayer, J B; Thayer, J G; Thompson, D J; Tibaldo, L; Torres, D F; Tosti, G; Tramacere, A; Uchiyama, Y; Usher, T L; Vasileiou, V; Vilchez, N; Vitale, V; Waite, A P; Wang, P; Winer, B L; Wood, K S; Ylinen, T; Ziegler, M

2009-12-18

The diffuse galactic gamma-ray emission is produced by cosmic rays (CRs) interacting with the interstellar gas and radiation field. Measurements by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory indicated excess gamma-ray emission greater, > or approximately equal to 1 GeV relative to diffuse galactic gamma-ray emission models consistent with directly measured CR spectra (the so-called "EGRET GeV excess"). The Large Area Telescope (LAT) instrument on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has measured the diffuse gamma-ray emission with improved sensitivity and resolution compared to EGRET. We report on LAT measurements for energies 100 MeV to 10 GeV and galactic latitudes 10 degrees < or = |b| < or = 20 degrees. The LAT spectrum for this region of the sky is well reproduced by a diffuse galactic gamma-ray emission model that is consistent with local CR spectra and inconsistent with the EGRET GeV excess.

On Large Time Behavior and Selection Principle for a Diffusive Carr-Penrose Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conlon, Joseph G.; Dabkowski, Michael; Wu, Jingchen

2016-04-01

This paper is concerned with the study of a diffusive perturbation of the linear LSW model introduced by Carr and Penrose. A main subject of interest is to understand how the presence of diffusion acts as a selection principle, which singles out a particular self-similar solution of the linear LSW model as determining the large time behavior of the diffusive model. A selection principle is rigorously proven for a model which is a semiclassical approximation to the diffusive model. Upper bounds on the rate of coarsening are also obtained for the full diffusive model.

IGO-NGO relations and HIV / AIDS: innovation or stalemate?

PubMed

Jonsson, C; Soderholm, P

1995-01-01

This paper is concerned with the emergence of transnational cooperative structures in response to AIDS. Of chief concern are efforts to create and maintain links among and between intergovernmental organizations (IGO) in the UN system and the many heterogenous organizations usually included under the nongovernmental organization (NGO) label. After discussing the nature of the AIDS issue, the authors focus upon the various ways of framing the AIDS issue and the effort by the Global Program on AIDS to coordinate IGO and NGO activities. In closing, they identify lessons and insights of broader applicability emanating from the AIDS case. The paper discusses the nature of AIDS, AIDS as a medical problem, AIDS as a human rights problem, AIDS as a socioeconomic problem, forging IGO-NGO links, an international NGO forum, informal networking, NGOs and AIDS-related foreign assistance, representation, formal versus informal coordination, costs of network building, degree of organization, and expertise.

3D DOSY-TROSY to determine the translational diffusion coefficient of large protein complexes.

PubMed

Didenko, Tatiana; Boelens, Rolf; Rüdiger, Stefan G D

2011-01-01

The translational diffusion coefficient is a sensitive parameter to probe conformational changes in proteins and protein-protein interactions. Pulsed-field gradient NMR spectroscopy allows one to measure the translational diffusion with high accuracy. Two-dimensional (2D) heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy combined with diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) provides improved resolution and therefore selectivity when compared with a conventional 1D readout. Here, we show that a combination of selective isotope labelling, 2D ¹H-¹³C methyl-TROSY (transverse relaxation-optimised spectroscopy) and DOSY allows one to study diffusion properties of large protein complexes. We propose that a 3D DOSY-heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC) pulse sequence, that uses the TROSY effect of the HMQC sequence for ¹³C methyl-labelled proteins, is highly suitable for measuring the diffusion coefficient of large proteins. We used the 20 kDa co-chaperone p23 as model system to test this 3D DOSY-TROSY technique under various conditions. We determined the diffusion coefficient of p23 in viscous solutions, mimicking large complexes of up to 200 kDa. We found the experimental data to be in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. To demonstrate the use for complex formation, we applied this technique to record the formation of a complex of p23 with the molecular chaperone Hsp90, which is around 200 kDa. We anticipate that 3D DOSY-TROSY will be a useful tool to study conformational changes in large protein complexes.

Extracting spatial information from large aperture exposures of diffuse sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clarke, J. T.; Moos, H. W.

1981-01-01

The spatial properties of large aperture exposures of diffuse emission can be used both to investigate spatial variations in the emission and to filter out camera noise in exposures of weak emission sources. Spatial imaging can be accomplished both parallel and perpendicular to dispersion with a resolution of 5-6 arc sec, and a narrow median filter running perpendicular to dispersion across a diffuse image selectively filters out point source features, such as reseaux marks and fast particle hits. Spatial information derived from observations of solar system objects is presented.

Diffusion Dynamics of Energy Saving Practices in Large Heterogeneous Online Networks

PubMed Central

Mohammadi, Neda; Wang, Qi; Taylor, John E.

2016-01-01

Online social networks are today’s fastest growing communications channel and a popular source of information for many, so understanding their contribution to building awareness and shaping public perceptions of climate change is of utmost importance. Today’s online social networks are composed of complex combinations of entities and communication channels and it is not clear which communicators are the most influential, what the patterns of communication flow are, or even whether the widely accepted two-step flow of communication model applies in this new arena. This study examines the diffusion of energy saving practices in a large online social network across organizations, opinion leaders, and the public by tracking 108,771 communications on energy saving practices among 1,084 communicators, then analyzing the flow of information and influence over a 28 day period. Our findings suggest that diffusion networks of messages advocating energy saving practices are predominantly led by the activities of dedicated organizations but their attempts do not result in substantial public awareness, as most of these communications are effectively trapped in organizational loops in which messages are simply shared between organizations. Despite their comparably significant influential values, opinion leaders played a weak role in diffusing energy saving practices to a wider audience. Thus, the two-step flow of communication model does not appear to describe the sharing of energy conservation practices in large online heterogeneous networks. These results shed new light on the underlying mechanisms driving the diffusion of important societal issues such as energy efficiency, particularly in the context of large online social media outlets. PMID:27736912

Diffusion Dynamics of Energy Saving Practices in Large Heterogeneous Online Networks.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Neda; Wang, Qi; Taylor, John E

2016-01-01

Online social networks are today's fastest growing communications channel and a popular source of information for many, so understanding their contribution to building awareness and shaping public perceptions of climate change is of utmost importance. Today's online social networks are composed of complex combinations of entities and communication channels and it is not clear which communicators are the most influential, what the patterns of communication flow are, or even whether the widely accepted two-step flow of communication model applies in this new arena. This study examines the diffusion of energy saving practices in a large online social network across organizations, opinion leaders, and the public by tracking 108,771 communications on energy saving practices among 1,084 communicators, then analyzing the flow of information and influence over a 28 day period. Our findings suggest that diffusion networks of messages advocating energy saving practices are predominantly led by the activities of dedicated organizations but their attempts do not result in substantial public awareness, as most of these communications are effectively trapped in organizational loops in which messages are simply shared between organizations. Despite their comparably significant influential values, opinion leaders played a weak role in diffusing energy saving practices to a wider audience. Thus, the two-step flow of communication model does not appear to describe the sharing of energy conservation practices in large online heterogeneous networks. These results shed new light on the underlying mechanisms driving the diffusion of important societal issues such as energy efficiency, particularly in the context of large online social media outlets.

Adolescents' Thoughts and Feelings about AIDS in Relation to Cognitive Maturity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Candida C.; Murphy, Lisa

1990-01-01

Studied adolescents' (N=163) formal operational reasoning in relation to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) knowledge, AIDS fear, sexual knowledge, and reactions to AIDS victims. Found that advanced reasoning predicted better AIDS knowledge and general sexual knowledge. Advanced reasoning and AIDS knowledge were also linked with heightened…

Survival in advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in pre- and post-rituximab Eras in the United States.

PubMed

Shah, Binay Kumar; Bista, Amir; Shafii, Bahman

2014-09-01

Rituximab was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a first-line agent for treatment of advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in February 2006. We conducted this population-based study to determine if the results from the clinical trials have translated into survival benefit in the general population. We selected patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End RESULTS (SEER) 18 database, and calculated relative survival rates for patients diagnosed from 2002-2005 (pre-rituximab) and 2006-2009 (post-rituximab). We used the Z-test in the SEER*Stat to compare relative survival rates of patients categorized by race (White, Black, or Others), gender (male, female), and age groups (<60, 60+ years). One-year relative survival in Whites and Others improved significantly in the post-rituximab era compared to the pre-rituximab era (64.80±0.6% vs. 61.3±0.6%; p=0.0002 and 64.5±1.9% vs. 54.9±2.2%; p=0.0011, respectively). The 3-year relative survival improved significantly in Whites and Others in the post-rituximab era compared to the pre-rituximab era (53.7±0.7% vs. 50.3±0.7%; p=0.0001 and 52.0±2.3% vs. 40.8±2.3%; p=0.0002, respectively). However, no significant improvements were observed in 1-year and 3-year relative survival in Blacks, and in young males during the post-rituximab era compared to the pre-rituximab era. The relative survival rates among young males and 'Black' patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma have not improved during the post-rituximab era. Copyright© 2014 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.

Photoletter to the editor: Diffuse cocaine-related purpura.

PubMed

Sarkar, Debjeet; Kammona, Hussein A; Lamsen, Leonard N; McAbee, Bradley A; Clark, Christopher T; Lee, Solomon S; Kelley, Shane E

2013-01-01

Diffuse purpura is an uncommon skin manifestation found in platelet and coagulation disorders, meningococcemia, vasculitides and cocaine use. Reports of cocaine-related purpura predominantly involve adulteration with the anti-helminthic, levamisole. Levamisole enhances the effects of cocaine and is known to cause vasculitis. Recently, the CDC also released an advisory of oxymorphone being used intravenously causing thrombogenic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). We report the case of a patient with diffuse purpura ultimately diagnosed with cocaine-related thrombogenic vasculopathy. In the current environment of adulterated cocaine usage and increased prescription narcotic abuse, it is crucial to investigate substance abuse as a cause of diffuse purpura.

R-ICE and Lenalidomide in Treating Patients With First-Relapse/Primary Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-06-25

CD20 Positive; Recurrent B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma; Refractory B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma; Transformed Recurrent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified of the palate: A case report

PubMed Central

Pereira, Thaís SF.; Castro, Alexandre F.; Mesquita, Ricardo A.

2013-01-01

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most frequent type of non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma found in oral and maxillofacial regions. A large number of cases may be biologically heterogeneous, which are commonly defined as DLBCL, not otherwise specified (NOS) by the World Health Organization (WHO-2008). The present case reports on an ulcer of raised and irregular edges, found on the border between the hard and soft palate, as the first and only manifestation of an extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma in an 85-year-old patient. Incisional biopsy was carried out, and the specimen revealed a proliferation of large lymphoid cells suggestive of diffuse large cell lymphoma. An immunohistochemical analysis was performed. EBV-RNA was assessed by in situ hybridization that also proved to be negative. Immunohistochemical and EBV analyses are important to avoid delays and inappropriate treatment strategies. Although advanced age is considered an adverse prognostic factor, early diagnosis did prove to be a key contributory factor in the cure of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Key words:Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, elderly, EBV. PMID:24455096

Discovery of small-scale-structure in the large molecule/dust distribution in the diffuse ISM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordiner, Martin A.; Fossey, Stephen J.; Sarre, Peter J.

There is mounting evidence that far from being homogeneously distributed, interstellar matter can have a clumpy or filamentary structure on the scale of 10s to a few 1000s of AU and which is commonly described as small scale structure (SSS). Initially confined to VLBI HI observations and HI observations of high-velocity pulsars, evidence for SSS has also come indirectly from molecular radio studies of e.g. HCO+ and infrared absorption by H3+. Much of the recent data on SSS has been obtained through optical/UV detection of atomic and diatomic molecular lines. Is there small scale structure in the large molecule/dust distribution? While this question could in principle be explored by measuring differences in the interstellar extinction towards the components of binary stars, in practice this would be difficult. Rather we chose to investigate this by recording very high signal-to-noise spectra of diffuse interstellar absorption bands. Although the carriers remain unidentified, the diffuse bands are generally considered to be tracers of the large molecule/dust distribution and scale well with reddening. Using the Anglo-Australian Telescope we have made UCLES observations of pairs of stars with separations ranging between 500 and 30000 AU. The signal-to-noise achieved was up to 2000, thus allowing variations in central depth of less than a few tenths of a percent to be discernible. Striking differences in diffuse band strengths for closely spaced lines of sight are found showing clearly that there exists small-scale-structure in the large molecule/dust distribution. For example, in the Ophiuchus star-formation region the central depths for the λ6614 diffuse band towards the ρ Oph stars A, B, C and D/E all differ and range between 0.966 and 0.930. Further interesting behaviour is found when comparing the relative strengths of diffuse bands between closely parallel lines of sight. Taking again the ρ Oph group, for λ5797 the strengths follow the order DE > B > C > A

RO4929097 and Capecitabine in Treating Patients With Refractory Solid Tumors

ClinicalTrials.gov

2014-11-06

Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Peripheral/Systemic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Primary CNS Lymphoma; AIDS-related Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; HER2-negative Breast Cancer; HIV-associated Hodgkin Lymphoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Male Breast Cancer; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder; Primary Central Nervous System Hodgkin Lymphoma; Primary Central Nervous System Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Breast Cancer; Recurrent Colon Cancer; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Rectal Cancer; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Small Intestine Lymphoma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic

Pembrolizumab and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Previously Untreated Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma or Grade 3b Follicular Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-10-24

Composite Lymphoma; Grade 3b Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Follicular Lymphoma; Stage II Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage II Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Follicular Lymphoma

Cytokine signaling pathway polymorphisms and AIDS-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Wong, Hui-Lee; Breen, Elizabeth C.; Pfeiffer, Ruth M.; Aissani, Brahim; Martinson, Jeremy J.; Margolick, Joseph B.; Kaslow, Richard A.; Jacobson, Lisa P.; Ambinder, Richard F.; Chanock, Stephen; Martínez-Maza, Otoniel; Rabkin, Charles S.

2014-01-01

Cytokine stimulation of B-cell proliferation may be an important etiologic mechanism for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The Epstein-Barr virus may be a co-factor, particularly for primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors, which are uniformly EBV-positive in the setting of AIDS. Thus, we examined associations of genetic variation in IL10 and related cytokine signaling molecules (IL10RA, CXCL12, IL13, IL4, IL4R, CCL5 and BCL6) with AIDS-related NHL risk and evaluated differences between primary CNS and systemic tumors. We compared 160 Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) participants with incident lymphomas, of which 90 followed another AIDS diagnosis, to HIV-1-seropositive controls matched on duration of lymphoma-free survival post-HIV-1 infection (N=160) or post-AIDS diagnosis (N=90). We fit conditional logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 percent confidence intervals (95%CIs). Carriage of at least one copy of the T allele for the IL10 rs1800871 (as compared to no copies) was associated with decreased AIDS-NHL risk specific to lymphomas arising from the CNS (CC vs. CT/TT: OR=0.3; 95%CI: 0.1, 0.7) but not systemically (CC vs. CT/TT: OR=1.0; 95%CI: 0.5, 1.9) (Pheterogeneity=0.03). Carriage of two copies of the “low IL10” haplotype rs1800896_A/rs1800871_T/rs1800872_A was associated with decreased lymphoma risk that varied by number of copies (Ptrend=0.02). None of the ORs for the other studied polymorphisms was significantly different from 1.0. Excessive IL10 response to HIV-1 infection may be associated with increased risk of NHL, particularly in the CNS. IL10 dysregulation may be an important etiologic pathway for EBV-related lymphomagenesis. PMID:20299965

A new prognostic score for AIDS-related lymphomas in the rituximab-era

PubMed Central

Barta, Stefan K.; Xue, Xiaonan; Wang, Dan; Lee, Jeannette Y.; Kaplan, Lawrence D.; Ribera, Josep-Maria; Oriol, Albert; Spina, Michele; Tirelli, Umberto; Boue, Francois; Wilson, Wyndham H.; Wyen, Christoph; Dunleavy, Kieron; Noy, Ariela; Sparano, Joseph A.

2014-01-01

While the International Prognostic Index is commonly used to predict outcomes in immunocompetent patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, HIV-infection is an important competing risk for death in patients with AIDS-related lymphomas. We investigated whether a newly created prognostic score (AIDS-related lymphoma International Prognostic Index) could better assess risk of death in patients with AIDS-related lymphomas. We randomly divided a dataset of 487 patients newly diagnosed with AIDS-related lymphomas and treated with rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy into a training (n=244) and validation (n=243) set. We examined the association of HIV-related and other known risk factors with overall survival in both sets independently. We defined a new score (AIDS-related lymphoma International Prognostic Index) by assigning weights to each significant predictor [age-adjusted International Prognostic Index, extranodal sites, HIV-score (composed of CD4 count, viral load, and prior history of AIDS)] with three risk categories similar to the age-adjusted International Prognostic Index (low, intermediate and high risk). We compared the prognostic value for overall survival between AIDS-related lymphoma International Prognostic Index and age-adjusted International Prognostic Index in the validation set and found that the AIDS-related lymphoma International Prognostic Index performed significantly better in predicting risk of death than the age-adjusted International Prognostic Index (P=0.004) and better discriminated risk of death between each risk category (P=0.015 vs. P=0.13). Twenty-eight percent of patients were defined as low risk by the ARL-IPI and had an estimated 5-year overall survival (OS) of 78% (52% intermediate risk, 5-year OS 60%; 20% high risk, 5-year OS 50%). PMID:25150257

Time-to-treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in São Paulo

PubMed Central

Xavier, Flávia Dias; Levy, Debora; Pereira, Juliana

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for nearly 50% of the cases in the Hematology Department of the Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo and Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo. The treatment outcome is influenced by age, abnormal lactate dehydrogenase levels, extranodal infiltration, the disease stage and the patient's performance status. In this study, we sought to report the time-to-treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in São Paulo's public health system network and its impact on patient outcomes. METHODS: We prospectively followed a cohort of 42 consecutive patients with de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma between 2008 and 2012. RESULTS: Our patients had more advanced disease than that reported in the literature (61.9% vs. 46%). In São Paulo's public health system network, it took an average of 7.4 months for a diagnosis to be made and an additional 1.4 months to obtain an appointment with a specialist. Once at our Hematology Department, it took less than 20 days for staging, confirmation of the diagnosis and treatment initiation. An interval from signs or symptoms to treatment of more than 6 months was associated with inferior progression-free survival in 3 years (p = 0.049). CONCLUSION: A delay in the diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a public health problem and may be associated with worse progression-free survival. PMID:24838904

Vorinostat, Rituximab, and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Stage II, Stage III, or Stage IV Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-09-12

Stage II Contiguous Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage II Non-Contiguous Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma

Transmitted wavefront testing with large dynamic range based on computer-aided deflectometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Daodang; Xu, Ping; Gong, Zhidong; Xie, Zhongmin; Liang, Rongguang; Xu, Xinke; Kong, Ming; Zhao, Jun

2018-06-01

The transmitted wavefront testing technique is demanded for the performance evaluation of transmission optics and transparent glass, in which the achievable dynamic range is a key issue. A computer-aided deflectometric testing method with fringe projection is proposed for the accurate testing of transmitted wavefronts with a large dynamic range. Ray tracing of the modeled testing system is carried out to achieve the virtual ‘null’ testing of transmitted wavefront aberrations. The ray aberration is obtained from the ray tracing result and measured slope, with which the test wavefront aberration can be reconstructed. To eliminate testing system modeling errors, a system geometry calibration based on computer-aided reverse optimization is applied to realize accurate testing. Both numerical simulation and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and high accuracy of the proposed testing method. The proposed testing method can achieve a large dynamic range compared with the interferometric method, providing a simple, low-cost and accurate way for the testing of transmitted wavefronts from various kinds of optics and a large amount of industrial transmission elements.

Dentistry and HIV/AIDS related stigma.

PubMed

Elizondo, Jesus Eduardo; Treviño, Ana Cecilia; Violant, Deborah

2015-01-01

To analyze HIV/AIDS positive individual's perception and attitudes regarding dental services. One hundred and thirty-four subjects (30.0% of women and 70.0% of men) from Nuevo León, Mexico, took part in the study (2014). They filled out structured, analytical, self-administered, anonymous questionnaires. Besides the sociodemographic variables, the perception regarding public and private dental services and related professionals was evaluated, as well as the perceived stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, through a Likert-type scale. The statistical evaluation included a factorial and a non-hierarchical cluster analysis. Social inequalities were found regarding the search for public and private dental professionals and services. Most subjects reported omitting their HIV serodiagnosis and agreed that dentists must be trained and qualified to treat patients with HIV/AIDS. The factorial analysis revealed two elements: experiences of stigma and discrimination in dental appointments and feelings of concern regarding the attitudes of professionals or their teams concerning patients' HIV serodiagnosis. The cluster analysis identified three groups: users who have not experienced stigma or discrimination (85.0%); the ones who have not had those experiences, but feel somewhat concerned (12.7%); and the ones who underwent stigma and discrimination and feel concerned (2.3%). We observed a low percentage of stigma and discrimination in dental appointments; however, most HIV/AIDS patients do not reveal their serodiagnosis to dentists out of fear of being rejected. Such fact implies a workplace hazard to dental professionals, but especially to the very own health of HIV/AIDS patients, as dentists will not be able to provide them a proper clinical and pharmaceutical treatment.

Dentistry and HIV/AIDS related stigma

PubMed Central

Elizondo, Jesus Eduardo; Treviño, Ana Cecilia; Violant, Deborah

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE To analyze HIV/AIDS positive individual’s perception and attitudes regarding dental services. METHODS One hundred and thirty-four subjects (30.0% of women and 70.0% of men) from Nuevo León, Mexico, took part in the study (2014). They filled out structured, analytical, self-administered, anonymous questionnaires. Besides the sociodemographic variables, the perception regarding public and private dental services and related professionals was evaluated, as well as the perceived stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, through a Likert-type scale. The statistical evaluation included a factorial and a non-hierarchical cluster analysis. RESULTS Social inequalities were found regarding the search for public and private dental professionals and services. Most subjects reported omitting their HIV serodiagnosis and agreed that dentists must be trained and qualified to treat patients with HIV/AIDS. The factorial analysis revealed two elements: experiences of stigma and discrimination in dental appointments and feelings of concern regarding the attitudes of professionals or their teams concerning patients’ HIV serodiagnosis. The cluster analysis identified three groups: users who have not experienced stigma or discrimination (85.0%); the ones who have not had those experiences, but feel somewhat concerned (12.7%); and the ones who underwent stigma and discrimination and feel concerned (2.3%). CONCLUSIONS We observed a low percentage of stigma and discrimination in dental appointments; however, most HIV/AIDS patients do not reveal their serodiagnosis to dentists out of fear of being rejected. Such fact implies a workplace hazard to dental professionals, but especially to the very own health of HIV/AIDS patients, as dentists will not be able to provide them a proper clinical and pharmaceutical treatment. PMID:26538100

Patchy reaction-diffusion and population abundance: the relative importance of habitat amount and arrangement

Treesearch

Curtis H. Flather; Michael Bevers

2002-01-01

A discrete reaction-diffusion model was used to estimate long-term equilibrium populations of a hypothetical species inhabiting patchy landscapes to examine the relative importance of habitat amount and arrangement in explaining population size. When examined over a broad range of habitat amounts and arrangements, population size was largely determined by a pure amount...

Relationship between pretreatment FDG-PET and diffusion-weighted MRI biomarkers in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PubMed Central

de Jong, Antoinette; Kwee, Thomas C; de Klerk, John MH; Adam, Judit A; de Keizer, Bart; Fijnheer, Rob; Kersten, Marie José; Ludwig, Inge; Jauw, Yvonne WS; Zijlstra, Josée M; den Bos, Indra C Pieters - Van; Stoker, Jaap; Hoekstra, Otto S; Nievelstein, Rutger AJ

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between the 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) standardized uptake value (SUV) and the diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Pretreatment FDG-PET and diffusion-weighted MRI of 21 patients with histologically proven DLBCL were prospectively analyzed. In each patient, maximum, mean and peak standardized uptake value (SUV) was measured in the lesion with visually highest FDG uptake and in the largest lesion. Mean ADC (ADCmean, calculated with b-values of 0 and 1000 s/mm2) was measured in the same lesions. Correlations between FDG-PET metrics (SUVmax, SUVmean, SUVpeak) and ADCmean were assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. In the lesions with visually highest FDG uptake, no significant correlations were found between the SUVmax, SUVmean, SUVpeak and the ADCmean (P=0.498, P=0.609 and P=0.595, respectively). In the largest lesions, there were no significant correlations either between the SUVmax, SUVmean, SUVpeak and the ADCmean (P=0.992, P=0.843 and P=0.894, respectively). The results of this study indicate that the glycolytic rate as measured by FDG-PET and changes in water compartmentalization and water diffusion as measured by the ADC are independent biological phenomena in newly diagnosed DLBCL. Further studies are warranted to assess the complementary roles of these different imaging biomarkers in the evaluation and follow-up of DLBCL. PMID:24795837

Load Diffusion in Composite and Smart Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horgan, C. O.

2003-01-01

The research carried out here builds on our previous NASA supported research on the general topic of edge effects and load diffusion in composite structures. Further fundamental solid mechanics studies were carried out to provide a basis for assessing the complicated modeling necessary for the multi-functional large scale structures used by NASA. An understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of load diffusion in composite subcomponents is essential in developing primary composite structures. Some specific problems recently considered were those of end effects in smart materials and structures, study of the stress response of pressurized linear piezoelectric cylinders for both static and steady rotating configurations, an analysis of the effect of pre-stressing and pre-polarization on the decay of end effects in piezoelectric solids and investigation of constitutive models for hardening rubber-like materials. Our goal in the study of load diffusion is the development of readily applicable results for the decay lengths in terms of non-dimensional material and geometric parameters. Analytical models of load diffusion behavior are extremely valuable in building an intuitive base for developing refined modeling strategies and assessing results from finite element analyses. The decay behavior of stresses and other field quantities provides a significant aid towards this process. The analysis is also amenable to parameter study with a large parameter space and should be useful in structural tailoring studies. Special purpose analytical models of load diffusion behavior are extremely valuable in building an intuitive base for developing refined modeling strategies and in assessing results from general purpose finite element analyses. For example, a rational basis is needed in choosing where to use three-dimensional to two-dimensional transition finite elements in analyzing stiffened plates and shells. The decay behavior of stresses and other field quantities furnished by

S0349 Rituximab, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Vincristine, and Prednisone With or Without Oblimersen in Treating Patients With Advanced Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2013-01-04

Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma

Direct Measurement of Large, Diffuse, Optical Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saif, Babak N.; Keski-Kuha, Ritva; Feinberg, Lee; Wyant, J. C.; Atkinson, C.

2004-01-01

Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometry (DSPI) is a well-established method for the measurement of diffuse objects in experimental mechanics. DSPIs are phase shifting interferometers. Three or four bucket temporal phase shifting algorithms are commonly used to provide phase shifting. These algorithms are sensitive to vibrations and can not be used to measure large optical structures far away from the interferometer. In this research a simultaneous phase shifted interferometer, PhaseCam product of 4D Technology Corporation in Tucson Arizona, is modified to be a Simultaneous phase shifted Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometer (SDSPI). Repeatability, dynamic range, and accuracy of the SDSPI are characterized by measuring a 5 cm x 5 cm carbon fiber coupon.

Oblimersen Sodium and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Stage I, Stage II, Stage III, or Stage IV Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2012-10-11

Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma

Increased risk of gastric adenocarcinoma after treatment of primary gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Inaba, Koji; Kushima, Ryoji; Murakami, Naoya; Kuroda, Yuuki; Harada, Ken; Kitaguchi, Mayuka; Yoshio, Kotaro; Sekii, Shuhei; Takahashi, Kana; Morota, Madoka; Mayahara, Hiroshi; Ito, Yoshinori; Sumi, Minako; Uno, Takashi; Itami, Jun

2013-10-26

There have been sporadic reports about synchronous as well as metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma and primary gastric lymphoma. Many reports have dealt with metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma of stomach. But to our knowledge, there have been no reports that document the increased incidence of metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma in patients with gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This retrospective study was conducted to estimate the incidence of metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma after primary gastric lymphoma treatment, especially in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The retrospective cohort study of 139 primary gastric lymphoma patients treated with radiotherapy at our hospital. Mean observation period was 61.5 months (range: 3.7-124.6 months). Patients profile, characteristics of primary gastric lymphoma and metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma were retrieved from medical records. The risk of metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma was compared with the risk of gastric adenocarcinoma in Japanese population. There were 10 (7.2%) metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma patients after treatment of primary gastric lymphomas. It was quite high risk compared with the risk of gastric carcinoma in Japanese population of 54.7/100,000. Seven patients of 10 were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and other 3 patients were mixed type of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Four patients of 10 metachronous gastric adenocarcinomas were signet-ring cell carcinoma and two patients died of gastric adenocarcinoma. Metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma may have a more malignant potential than sporadic gastric adenocarcinoma. Old age, Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric mucosal change of chronic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia were possible risk factors for metachronous gastric adenocarcinoma. There was an increased risk of gastric adenocarcinoma after treatment of primary gastric lymphoma

Detection of polyomavirus simian virus 40 tumor antigen DNA in AIDS-related systemic non-Hodgkin lymphoma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vilchez, Regis A.; Lednicky, John A.; Halvorson, Steven J.; White, Zoe S.; Kozinetz, Claudia A.; Butel, Janet S.

2002-01-01

Systemic non-Hodgkin lymphoma (S-NHL) is a common malignancy during HIV infection, and it is hypothesized that infectious agents may be involved in the etiology. Epstein-Barr virus DNA is found in <40% of patients with AIDS-related S-NHL, suggesting that other oncogenic viruses, such as polyomaviruses, may play a role in pathogenesis. We analyzed AIDS-related S-NHL samples, NHL samples from HIV-negative patients, peripheral blood leukocytes from HIV-infected and -uninfected patients without NHL, and lymph nodes without tumors from HIV-infected patients. Specimens were examined by polymerase chain reaction analysis with use of primers specific for an N-terminal region of the oncoprotein large tumor antigen ( T-ag ) gene conserved among all three polyomaviruses (simian virus 40 [SV40], JC virus, and BK virus). Polyomavirus T-ag DNA sequences, proven to be SV40-specific, were detected more frequently in AIDS-related S-NHL samples (6 of 26) than in peripheral blood leukocytes from HIV-infected patients (6 of 26 vs. 0 of 69; p =.0001), NHL samples from HIV-negative patients (6 of 26 vs. 0 of 10; p =.09), or lymph nodes (6 of 26 vs. 0 of 7; p =.16). Sequences of C-terminal T-ag DNA from SV40 were amplified from two AIDS-related S-NHL samples. Epstein-Barr virus DNA sequences were detected in 38% (10 of 26) AIDS-related S-NHL samples, 50% (5 of 10) HIV-negative S-NHL samples, and 57% (4 of 7) lymph nodes. None of the S-NHL samples were positive for both Epstein-Barr virus DNA and SV40 DNA. Further studies of the possible role of SV40 in the pathogenesis of S-NHL are warranted.

Jump rates for surface diffusion of large molecules from first principles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shea, Patrick, E-mail: patrick.shea@dal.ca; Kreuzer, Hans Jürgen

2015-04-21

We apply a recently developed stochastic model for the surface diffusion of large molecules to calculate jump rates for 9,10-dithioanthracene on a Cu(111) surface. The necessary input parameters for the stochastic model are calculated from first principles using density functional theory (DFT). We find that the inclusion of van der Waals corrections to the DFT energies is critical to obtain good agreement with experimental results for the adsorption geometry and energy barrier for diffusion. The predictions for jump rates in our model are in excellent agreement with measured values and show a marked improvement over transition state theory (TST). Wemore » find that the jump rate prefactor is reduced by an order of magnitude from the TST estimate due to frictional damping resulting from energy exchange with surface phonons, as well as a rotational mode of the diffusing molecule.« less

THEMIS Observations of the Magnetopause Electron Diffusion Region: Large Amplitude Waves and Heated Electrons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tang, Xiangwei; Cattell, Cynthia; Dombeck, John; Dai, Lei; Wilson, Lynn B. III; Breneman, Aaron; Hupack, Adam

2013-01-01

We present the first observations of large amplitude waves in a well-defined electron diffusion region based on the criteria described by Scudder et al at the subsolar magnetopause using data from one Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) satellite. These waves identified as whistler mode waves, electrostatic solitary waves, lower hybrid waves, and electrostatic electron cyclotron waves, are observed in the same 12 s waveform capture and in association with signatures of active magnetic reconnection. The large amplitude waves in the electron diffusion region are coincident with abrupt increases in electron parallel temperature suggesting strong wave heating. The whistler mode waves, which are at the electron scale and which enable us to probe electron dynamics in the diffusion region were analyzed in detail. The energetic electrons (approx. 30 keV) within the electron diffusion region have anisotropic distributions with T(sub e(right angle))/T(sub e(parallel)) > 1 that may provide the free energy for the whistler mode waves. The energetic anisotropic electrons may be produced during the reconnection process. The whistler mode waves propagate away from the center of the "X-line" along magnetic field lines, suggesting that the electron diffusion region is a possible source region of the whistler mode waves.

End Effects and Load Diffusion in Composite Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horgan, Cornelius O.; Ambur, D. (Technical Monitor); Nemeth, M. P. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The research carried out here builds on our previous NASA supported research on the general topic of edge effects and load diffusion in composite structures. Further fundamental solid mechanics studies were carried out to provide a basis for assessing the complicated modeling necessary for large scale structures used by NASA. An understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of load diffusion in composite subcomponents is essential in developing primary composite structures. Specific problems recently considered were focussed on end effects in sandwich structures and for functionally graded materials. Both linear and nonlinear (geometric and material) problems have been addressed. Our goal is the development of readily applicable design formulas for the decay lengths in terms of non-dimensional material and geometric parameters. Analytical models of load diffusion behavior are extremely valuable in building an intuitive base for developing refined modeling strategies and assessing results from finite element analyses. The decay behavior of stresses and other field quantities provides a significant aid towards this process. The analysis is also amenable to parameter study with a large parameter space and should be useful in structural tailoring studies.

SMALL-SCALE ANISOTROPIES OF COSMIC RAYS FROM RELATIVE DIFFUSION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ahlers, Markus; Mertsch, Philipp

2015-12-10

The arrival directions of multi-TeV cosmic rays show significant anisotropies at small angular scales. It has been argued that this small-scale structure can naturally arise from cosmic ray scattering in local turbulent magnetic fields that distort a global dipole anisotropy set by diffusion. We study this effect in terms of the power spectrum of cosmic ray arrival directions and show that the strength of small-scale anisotropies is related to properties of relative diffusion. We provide a formalism for how these power spectra can be inferred from simulations and motivate a simple analytic extension of the ensemble-averaged diffusion equation that canmore » account for the effect.« less

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma presenting as a unilateral solitary round pulmonary hilar node infarction.

PubMed

Yonemori, Kan; Kusumoto, Masahiko; Matsuno, Yoshihiro; Tateishi, Ukihide; Watanabe, Shun-Ichi; Watanabe, Takashi; Moriyama, Noriyuki

2006-03-01

Unilateral solitary pulmonary hilar node adenopathy is a rare presentation of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In this report, the authors present a case with a solitary pulmonary hilar lymph node infarction caused by diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Enhanced CT examinations revealed a well-defined round mass with homogenous low attenuation in the left pulmonary hilum. Both radiological imaging and pathological examination can provide useful information for the interpretation of abnormalities and may enable the diagnosis of rare aetiologies.

Measuring HIV/AIDS-Related Stigma across South Africa: A Versatile and Multidimensional Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Edward A.; Miller, Jacqueline A.; Newsome, Valerie; Sofolahan, Yewande A.; Airhihenbuwa, Collins O.

2014-01-01

Reducing HIV/AIDS-related stigma is critical in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Although national campaigns and prevention programs have been implemented across South Africa to address this critical concern, assessing the impact of these initiatives is difficult as it requires that measurement of HIV/AIDS-related stigma is uniform and comparable…

Validity and Reliability of Persian Version of HIV/AIDS Related Stigma Scale for People Living With HIV/AIDS in Iran.

PubMed

Pourmarzi, Davoud; Khoramirad, Ashraf; Ahmari Tehran, Hoda; Abedini, Zahra

2015-11-01

To assess the perceived HIV/AIDS related stigma a comprehensive and well developed stigma instrument is necessary. This study aimed to assess validity and reliability of the Persian version of HIV/AIDS related stigma scale which was developed by Kang et al for people living with HIV/AIDS in Iran. Thescale was forward translatedby two bilingual academic members then both translations were discussed by expert team. Back-translation was done by two other bilingual translators then we carried out discussion with both of them. To evaluate understandability the scale was administered to 10 Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Final Persian version was administered to 80 PLWHA in Qom, Iran in 2014. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a sample of 20 PLWHA after a week by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for overall scale was 0.85. Also Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the five subscales were as follows: social rejection (9 items, α = 0.84), negative self-worth (4 items, α = 0.70), perceived interpersonal insecurity (2 items, α = 0.57), financial insecurity (3 items, α = 0.70), discretionary disclosure (2 items, α = 0.83). Test-retest reliability was also approved with ICC = 0.78. Correlation between items and their hypothesized subscale is greater than 0.5. Correlation between an item and its own subscale was significantly higher than its correlation with other subscales. This study demonstrate that the Persian version of HIV/AIDS related stigma scale is valid and reliable to assess HIV/AIDS related stigma perceived by people living whit HIV/AIDS in Iran.

Rotation driven translational diffusion of polyatomic ions in water: A novel mechanism for breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Puja; Yashonath, Subramanian; Bagchi, Biman

2017-04-01

While most of the existing theoretical and simulation studies have focused on simple, spherical, halide and alkali ions, many chemically, biologically, and industrially relevant electrolytes involve complex non-spherical polyatomic ions like nitrate, chlorate, and sulfate to name only a few. Interestingly, some polyatomic ions in spite of being larger in size show anomalously high diffusivity and therefore cause a breakdown of the venerable Stokes-Einstein (S-E) relation between the size and diffusivity. Here we report a detailed analysis of the dynamics of anions in aqueous potassium nitrate (KNO3) and aqueous potassium acetate (CH3COOK) solutions. The two ions, nitrate (-NO3) and acetate (CH3-CO2 ), with their similar size show a large difference in diffusivity values. We present evidence that the translational motion of these polyatomic ions is coupled to the rotational motion of the ion. We show that unlike the acetate ion, nitrate ion with a symmetric charge distribution among all periphery oxygen atoms shows a faster rotational motion with large amplitude rotational jumps which enhances its translational motion due to translational-rotational coupling. By creating a family of modified-charge model systems, we have analysed the rotational motion of asymmetric polyatomic ions and the contribution of it to the translational motion. These model systems help clarifying and establishing the relative contribution of rotational motion in enhancing the diffusivity of the nitrate ion over the value predicted by the S-E relation and also over the other polyatomic ions having asymmetric charge distribution like the acetate ion. In the latter case, reduced rotational motion results in lower diffusivity values than those with symmetric charge distribution. We propose translational-rotational coupling as a general mechanism of the breakdown of the S-E relation in the case of polyatomic ions.

Rotation driven translational diffusion of polyatomic ions in water: A novel mechanism for breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation.

PubMed

Banerjee, Puja; Yashonath, Subramanian; Bagchi, Biman

2017-04-28

While most of the existing theoretical and simulation studies have focused on simple, spherical, halide and alkali ions, many chemically, biologically, and industrially relevant electrolytes involve complex non-spherical polyatomic ions like nitrate, chlorate, and sulfate to name only a few. Interestingly, some polyatomic ions in spite of being larger in size show anomalously high diffusivity and therefore cause a breakdown of the venerable Stokes-Einstein (S-E) relation between the size and diffusivity. Here we report a detailed analysis of the dynamics of anions in aqueous potassium nitrate (KNO 3 ) and aqueous potassium acetate (CH 3 COOK) solutions. The two ions, nitrate (NO3-) and acetate (CH 3 CO2-), with their similar size show a large difference in diffusivity values. We present evidence that the translational motion of these polyatomic ions is coupled to the rotational motion of the ion. We show that unlike the acetate ion, nitrate ion with a symmetric charge distribution among all periphery oxygen atoms shows a faster rotational motion with large amplitude rotational jumps which enhances its translational motion due to translational-rotational coupling. By creating a family of modified-charge model systems, we have analysed the rotational motion of asymmetric polyatomic ions and the contribution of it to the translational motion. These model systems help clarifying and establishing the relative contribution of rotational motion in enhancing the diffusivity of the nitrate ion over the value predicted by the S-E relation and also over the other polyatomic ions having asymmetric charge distribution like the acetate ion. In the latter case, reduced rotational motion results in lower diffusivity values than those with symmetric charge distribution. We propose translational-rotational coupling as a general mechanism of the breakdown of the S-E relation in the case of polyatomic ions.

An experimental investigation of two large annular diffusers with swirling and distorted inflow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eckert, W. T.; Johnston, J. P.; Simons, T. D.; Mort, K. W.; Page, V. R.

1980-01-01

Two annular diffusers downstream of a nacelle-mounted fan were tested for aerodynamic performance, measured in terms of two static pressure recovery parameters (one near the diffuser exit plane and one about three diameters downstream in the settling duct) in the presence of several inflow conditions. The two diffusers each had an inlet diameter of 1.84 m, an area ratio of 2.3, and an equivalent cone angle of 11.5, but were distinguished by centerbodies of different lengths. The dependence of diffuser performance on various combinations of swirling, radially distorted, and/or azimuthally distorted inflow was examined. Swirling flow and distortions in the axial velocity profile in the annulus upstream of the diffuser inlet were caused by the intrinsic flow patterns downstream of a fan in a duct and by artificial intensification of the distortions. Azimuthal distortions or defects were generated by the addition of four artificial devices (screens and fences). Pressure recovery data indicated beneficial effects of both radial distortion (for a limited range of distortion levels) and inflow swirl. Small amounts of azimuthal distortion created by the artificial devices produced only small effects on diffuser performance. A large artificial distortion device was required to produce enough azimuthal flow distortion to significantly degrade the diffuser static pressure recovery.

The AIDS-related activities of religious leaders in Malawi

PubMed Central

TRINTAPOLI, J.

2010-01-01

The AIDS-related activities of religious leaders in Africa extend far beyond preaching about sexual mortality. This study aims to quantify the involvement of religious leaders in the fight against AIDS and to identify key predictors of the types of prevention strategies they promote. Using data from a random sample of Christian and Muslim leaders in Malawi, I use logistic regression to predict six types of AIDS activities, which correspond to three distinct types: formal messages (i.e., preaching), pragmatic interventions (monitoring the sexual behaviour of members and advising divorce to avoid infection), and the promotion of biomedical prevention strategies (promoting condom use and testing for HIV). Preaching about AIDS is the most common prevention activity, and promoting condom use is the least; sizable proportions of clergy promote testing and engage in pragmatic interventions. Denominational patterns in the type of engagement are weak and inconsistent. However, inquiries into the motivation for leaders' activities show that discussions with members about AIDS is the most consistent predictor, suggesting that religious leaders' engagement with HIV prevention is primarily a demand-driven phenomenon. PMID:20552476

Validity and Reliability of Persian Version of HIV/AIDS Related Stigma Scale for People Living With HIV/AIDS in Iran

PubMed Central

Pourmarzi, Davoud; Khoramirad, Ashraf; Ahmari Tehran, Hoda; Abedini, Zahra

2015-01-01

Objective: To assess the perceived HIV/AIDS related stigma a comprehensive and well developed stigma instrument is necessary. This study aimed to assess validity and reliability of the Persian version of HIV/AIDS related stigma scale which was developed by Kang et al for people living with HIV/AIDS in Iran. Materials and methods: Thescale was forward translatedby two bilingual academic members then both translations were discussed by expert team. Back-translation was done by two other bilingual translators then we carried out discussion with both of them. To evaluate understandability the scale was administered to 10 Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Final Persian version was administered to 80 PLWHA in Qom, Iran in 2014. Test–retest reliability was assessed in a sample of 20 PLWHA after a week by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for overall scale was 0.85. Also Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the five subscales were as follows: social rejection (9 items, α = 0.84), negative self-worth (4 items, α = 0.70), perceived interpersonal insecurity (2 items, α = 0.57), financial insecurity (3 items, α = 0.70), discretionary disclosure (2 items, α = 0.83). Test–retest reliability was also approved with ICC = 0.78. Correlation between items and their hypothesized subscale is greater than 0.5. Correlation between an item and its own subscale was significantly higher than its correlation with other subscales. Conclusion: This study demonstrate that the Persian version of HIV/AIDS related stigma scale is valid and reliable to assess HIV/AIDS related stigma perceived by people living whit HIV/AIDS in Iran. PMID:27047562

What Older Adults Know about HIV/AIDS: Lessons from an HIV/AIDS Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Small, La Fleur F.

2010-01-01

Despite being one of the fastest growing segments of the HIV/AIDS caseload, persons age 50 and older have been largely neglected in terms of HIV/AIDS education. This study describes a project involving HIV-related health education for persons [greater than or equal] 50 in an urban area of Ohio. Data from 50 persons age [greater than or equal] 50…

First Aid for Sports-Related Dental Injuries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castaldi, C. R.

1987-01-01

Sports-related dental injuries are common but first aid is usually performed by non-dental personnel. This article describes basic procedures to be followed in order to diagnose the type and severity of the injury and to determine whether emergency treatment is required. Prevention of dental injuries is addressed. (Author/MT)

Accounts from the field: a public relations perspective on global AIDS/HIV.

PubMed

Bardhan, Nilanjana R

2002-01-01

This study is a theoretical as well as empirical exploration of the power and cultural differentials that mark and construct various intersecting discourses, specifically media discourse, on global AIDS/HIV. It applies the language and concepts of public relations to understand how the press coverage of the pandemic is associated with the variables that impact the newsmaking process as well as the public and policy implications of macro news frames generated over time. Theoretical work in the areas of agenda setting and news framing also instruct the conceptual framework of this analysis. Narrative analysis is used as a methodology to qualitatively analyze three pools of accounts-from people either living with AIDS/HIV, involved in AIDS/HIV work, or discursively engaged in the media construction of the pandemic; from transnational wire service journalists who cover the issue at global and regional levels; and policy shapers and communicators who are active at the global level. These three communities of respondents represent important stakeholders in the AIDS/HIV issue. The findings are analyzed from a public relations standpoint. Perhaps the most important finding of this study is that the public relations approaches used to address AIDS/HIV related issues need to be grounded in context-specific research and communicative practices that bring out the lived realities of AIDS/HIV at grassroots levels. The findings also posit that those situated at critical junctions between various stakeholders need to cultivate a finely balanced understanding of the etic and emic intersections and subjectivities of global/local AIDS/HIV.

Genetic lesions in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas

PubMed Central

Testoni, M.; Zucca, E.; Young, K. H.; Bertoni, F.

2015-01-01

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common lymphoma in adults, accounting for 35%–40% of all cases. The combination of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab with anthracycline-based combination chemotherapy (R-CHOP, rituximab with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone) lead to complete remission in most and can cure more than half of patients with DLBCL. The diversity in clinical presentation, as well as the pathologic and biologic heterogeneity, suggests that DLBCL comprises several disease entities that might ultimately benefit from different therapeutic approaches. In this review, we summarize the current literature focusing on the genetic lesions identified in DLBCL. PMID:25605746

Avelumab, Utomilumab, Rituximab, Ibrutinib, and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma or Mantle Cell Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-06-13

CCND1 Positive; CD20 Positive; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Transformed Follicular Lymphoma to Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Thyroid hormone levels in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex.

PubMed Central

Tang, W W; Kaptein, E M

1989-01-01

Hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction and thyroid gland cytomegalovirus inclusions have been described in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex (ARC). We evaluated 80 patients with AIDS or ARC for the frequency of hypothalamic-pituitary or thyroid gland failure and altered serum thyroid hormone levels due to nonthyroidal disorders. One patient had subclinical hypothyroidism. Of these patients, 60% had low free triiodothyronine (T3) index values and 4% had low free thyroxine (T4) indexes; none of the latter had hypothalamic-pituitary or thyroid gland failure, since all serum cortisol values were greater than or equal to 552 nmol per liter (greater than or equal to 20 micrograms per dl) and all thyrotropin levels were less than or equal to 3 mU per liter (less than or equal to 3 microU per ml), respectively. Those who died had lower total T4 and T3, free T3 index, and albumin levels than those discharged from hospital. Serum total T4 and T3 levels correlated with albumin levels and total T3 with serum sodium levels. Serum total T3 levels best predicted the outcome of the hospital stay (accuracy = 82%). Thus, abnormal serum thyroid hormone levels in AIDS or ARC patients are most frequently due to nonthyroidal disorders, but hypothalamic-pituitary or thyroid gland failure may occur. PMID:2618039

AIDS-Related Lymphoma Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

AIDS-related lymphoma treatment may include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant, and/or targeted therapy. Get detailed information about the diagnosis and treatment of newly diagnosed and recurrent HIV-related lymphoma in this summary for clinicians.

Knowledge diffusion within a large conservation organization and beyond.

PubMed

Fisher, Jonathan R B; Montambault, Jensen; Burford, Kyle P; Gopalakrishna, Trisha; Masuda, Yuta J; Reddy, Sheila M W; Torphy, Kaitlin; Salcedo, Andrea I

2018-01-01

The spread and uptake of new ideas (diffusion of innovations) is critical for organizations to adapt over time, but there is little evidence of how this happens within organizations and to their broader community. To address this, we analyzed how individuals accessed information about a recent science innovation at a large, international, biodiversity conservation non-profit-The Nature Conservancy-and then traced the flow of how this information was shared within the organization and externally, drawing on an exceptionally data-rich environment. We used surveys and tracking of individual internet activity to understand mechanisms for early-stage diffusion (knowledge seeking and sharing) following the integration of social science and evidence principles into the institutional planning framework: Conservation by Design (CbD 2.0). Communications sent to all employees effectively catalyzed 56.4% to exhibit knowledge seeking behavior, measured by individual downloads from and visits to a restricted-access site. Individuals who self-reported through a survey that they shared information about CbD 2.0 internally were more likely to have both received and sought out information about the framework. Such individuals tended to hold positions within a higher job grade, were more likely to train others on CbD as part of their job, and to enroll in other online professional development offerings. Communication strategies targeting external audiences did not appear to influence information seeking behavior. Staff who engaged in internal knowledge sharing and adopting "evidence" practices from CbD 2.0 were more likely to have shared the document externally. We found a negative correlation with external sharing behavior and in-person trainings. Our findings suggest repeated, direct email communications aimed at wide audiences can effectively promote diffusion of new ideas. We also found a wide range of employee characteristics and circumstances to be associated with knowledge

Knowledge diffusion within a large conservation organization and beyond

PubMed Central

Montambault, Jensen; Burford, Kyle P.; Gopalakrishna, Trisha; Masuda, Yuta J.; Reddy, Sheila M. W.; Torphy, Kaitlin; Salcedo, Andrea I.

2018-01-01

The spread and uptake of new ideas (diffusion of innovations) is critical for organizations to adapt over time, but there is little evidence of how this happens within organizations and to their broader community. To address this, we analyzed how individuals accessed information about a recent science innovation at a large, international, biodiversity conservation non-profit–The Nature Conservancy–and then traced the flow of how this information was shared within the organization and externally, drawing on an exceptionally data-rich environment. We used surveys and tracking of individual internet activity to understand mechanisms for early-stage diffusion (knowledge seeking and sharing) following the integration of social science and evidence principles into the institutional planning framework: Conservation by Design (CbD 2.0). Communications sent to all employees effectively catalyzed 56.4% to exhibit knowledge seeking behavior, measured by individual downloads from and visits to a restricted-access site. Individuals who self-reported through a survey that they shared information about CbD 2.0 internally were more likely to have both received and sought out information about the framework. Such individuals tended to hold positions within a higher job grade, were more likely to train others on CbD as part of their job, and to enroll in other online professional development offerings. Communication strategies targeting external audiences did not appear to influence information seeking behavior. Staff who engaged in internal knowledge sharing and adopting “evidence” practices from CbD 2.0 were more likely to have shared the document externally. We found a negative correlation with external sharing behavior and in-person trainings. Our findings suggest repeated, direct email communications aimed at wide audiences can effectively promote diffusion of new ideas. We also found a wide range of employee characteristics and circumstances to be associated with

Diffusion-based recommendation with trust relations on tripartite graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ximeng; Liu, Yun; Zhang, Guangquan; Xiong, Fei; Lu, Jie

2017-08-01

The diffusion-based recommendation approach is a vital branch in recommender systems, which successfully applies physical dynamics to make recommendations for users on bipartite or tripartite graphs. Trust links indicate users’ social relations and can provide the benefit of reducing data sparsity. However, traditional diffusion-based algorithms only consider rating links when making recommendations. In this paper, the complementarity of users’ implicit and explicit trust is exploited, and a novel resource-allocation strategy is proposed, which integrates these two kinds of trust relations on tripartite graphs. Through empirical studies on three benchmark datasets, our proposed method obtains better performance than most of the benchmark algorithms in terms of accuracy, diversity and novelty. According to the experimental results, our method is an effective and reasonable way to integrate additional features into the diffusion-based recommendation approach.

Transferring genomics to the clinic: distinguishing Burkitt and diffuse large B cell lymphomas.

PubMed

Sha, Chulin; Barrans, Sharon; Care, Matthew A; Cunningham, David; Tooze, Reuben M; Jack, Andrew; Westhead, David R

2015-01-01

Classifiers based on molecular criteria such as gene expression signatures have been developed to distinguish Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B cell lymphoma, which help to explore the intermediate cases where traditional diagnosis is difficult. Transfer of these research classifiers into a clinical setting is challenging because there are competing classifiers in the literature based on different methodology and gene sets with no clear best choice; classifiers based on one expression measurement platform may not transfer effectively to another; and, classifiers developed using fresh frozen samples may not work effectively with the commonly used and more convenient formalin fixed paraffin-embedded samples used in routine diagnosis. Here we thoroughly compared two published high profile classifiers developed on data from different Affymetrix array platforms and fresh-frozen tissue, examining their transferability and concordance. Based on this analysis, a new Burkitt and diffuse large B cell lymphoma classifier (BDC) was developed and employed on Illumina DASL data from our own paraffin-embedded samples, allowing comparison with the diagnosis made in a central haematopathology laboratory and evaluation of clinical relevance. We show that both previous classifiers can be recapitulated using very much smaller gene sets than originally employed, and that the classification result is closely dependent on the Burkitt lymphoma criteria applied in the training set. The BDC classification on our data exhibits high agreement (~95 %) with the original diagnosis. A simple outcome comparison in the patients presenting intermediate features on conventional criteria suggests that the cases classified as Burkitt lymphoma by BDC have worse response to standard diffuse large B cell lymphoma treatment than those classified as diffuse large B cell lymphoma. In this study, we comprehensively investigate two previous Burkitt lymphoma molecular classifiers, and implement a new gene

Inhibition of ZEB1 by miR-200 characterizes Helicobacter pylori-positive gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with a less aggressive behavior.

PubMed

Huang, Wei-Ting; Kuo, Sung-Hsin; Cheng, Ann-Lii; Lin, Chung-Wu

2014-08-01

Primary gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas may or may not have a concurrent component of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma/mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas are often associated with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, suggesting that the large cells are transformed from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas. In contrast, only limited data are available on the clinical and molecular features of pure gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. In 102 pure gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, we found H. pylori infection in 53% of the cases. H. pylori-positive gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas were more likely to present at an earlier stage (73% vs 52% at stage I/II, P=0.03), to achieve complete remission (75% vs 43%, P=0.001), and had a better 5-year disease-free survival rate (73% vs 29%, P<0.001) than H. pylori-negative gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Through genome-wide expression profiles of both miRNAs and mRNAs in nine H. pylori-positive and nine H. pylori-negative gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, we identified inhibition of ZEB1 (zinc-finger E-box-binding homeobox 1) by miR-200 in H. pylori-positive gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. ZEB1, a transcription factor for marginal zone B cells, can suppress BCL6, the master transcription factor for germinal center B cells. In 30 H. pylori-positive and 30 H. pylori-negative gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, we confirmed that H. pylori-positive gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas had higher levels of miR-200 by qRT-PCR, and lower levels of ZEB1 and higher levels of BCL6 using immunohistochemistry. As BCL6 is a known predictor of a better prognosis in gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, our data demonstrate that inhibition of ZEB1 by miR-200, with secondary increase in BCL6, is a molecular event that characterizes H. pylori-positive gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas with a less aggressive behavior.

AIDS with acute cerebral infarct: a case report.

PubMed

Wu, Lin-Hui; Chen, Wei-Hung; Lien, Li-Ming; Huang, Chien-Hsien; Chiu, Hou-Chang

2005-06-01

A 38 year-old male presented with an acute onset of left hemiplegia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a bright lesion by diffusion-weighted imaging with low apparent diffusion coefficient value in the right subcortical region, a finding compatible with an acute cerebral infarct. An old infarct was also noted in the same imaging. Both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot method were positive for human immunodeficiency virus infection. The white blood cell count was 2930 cells / mm3, and the subpopulation study for lymphocyte revealed a decreased cluster of differentiation 4+ count of 149 cells/mm3. Studies for prothrombotic states showed decreased protein S and increased anticardiolipin antibodies. We concluded that this was a case of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with acute and old cerebral infarcts. This patient might be the first reported case in Taiwan. AIDS might be related with stroke in young patients, a condition probably under-recognized in Taiwan.

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma of the mesentery: an unusual presentation and review of the literature.

PubMed

Salemis, Nikolaos S; Gourgiotis, Stavros; Tsiambas, Evangelos; Karagkiouzis, Grigorios; Nakos, Georgios; Karathanasis, Vasilios

2009-01-01

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma is the most commonly diagnosed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, whereas lymphoma is the most common cause of mesenteric masses. We herein present a very rare case of a young male patient with a giant diffuse large B cell lymphoma of the mesentery that was incidentally diagnosed during his admission for a road traffic accident. At laparotomy, a huge tumor measuring 18 x 14 x 10 cm was found originating from the jejunal mesentery. Despite the giant size of the tumor, the patient was completely asymptomatic. After complete surgical recection with clear margins, he recieved six cycles of CHOP chemotherapy in the pre-rituximab era. He remained disease-free 2 years after surgery, but unfortunately, he relapsed with disseminated disease and died 6 months later. Mesenteric lymphomas may remain asymptomatic until they reach a large size. The presence of a bulky mesenteric mass is a poor prognostic indicator. Although chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for diffuse large B cell lymphoma, in some cases radical surgery has a role in establishing a definitive diagnosis.

AIDS-Related Lymphoma Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

AIDS-related lymphoma presents and is treated differently compared to lymphoma in non-HIV patients. Treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant, and targeted therapy. Get detailed information about HIV-related lymphoma in this summary for clinicians.

Transport and fluctuation-dissipation relations in asymptotic and preasymptotic diffusion across channels with variable section.

PubMed

Forte, Giuseppe; Cecconi, Fabio; Vulpiani, Angelo

2014-12-01

We study the asymptotic and preasymptotic diffusive properties of Brownian particles in channels whose section varies periodically in space. The effective diffusion coefficient D(eff) is numerically determined by the asymptotic behavior of the root mean square displacement in different geometries, considering even cases of steep variations of the channel boundaries. Moreover, we compared the numerical results to the predictions from the various corrections proposed in the literature to the well known Fick-Jacobs approximation. Building an effective one-dimensional equation for the longitudinal diffusion, we obtain an approximation for the effective diffusion coefficient. Such a result goes beyond a perturbation approach, and it is in good agreement with the actual values obtained by the numerical simulations. We discuss also the preasymptotic diffusion which is observed up to a crossover time whose value, in the presence of strong spatial variation of the channel cross section, can be very large. In addition, we show how the Einstein's relation between the mean drift induced by a small external field and the mean square displacement of the unperturbed system is valid in both asymptotic and preasymptotic regimes.

Populational equilibrium through exosome-mediated Wnt signaling in tumor progression of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Koch, Raphael; Demant, Martin; Aung, Thiha; Diering, Nina; Cicholas, Anna; Chapuy, Bjoern; Wenzel, Dirk; Lahmann, Marlen; Güntsch, Annemarie; Kiecke, Christina; Becker, Sabrina; Hupfeld, Timo; Venkataramani, Vivek; Ziepert, Marita; Opitz, Lennart; Klapper, Wolfram; Trümper, Lorenz; Wulf, Gerald G

2014-04-03

Tumors are composed of phenotypically heterogeneous cell populations. The nongenomic mechanisms underlying transitions and interactions between cell populations are largely unknown. Here, we show that diffuse large B-cell lymphomas possess a self-organized infrastructure comprising side population (SP) and non-SP cells, where transitions between clonogenic states are modulated by exosome-mediated Wnt signaling. DNA methylation modulated SP-non-SP transitions and was correlated with the reciprocal expressions of Wnt signaling pathway agonist Wnt3a in SP cells and the antagonist secreted frizzled-related protein 4 in non-SP cells. Lymphoma SP cells exhibited autonomous clonogenicity and exported Wnt3a via exosomes to neighboring cells, thus modulating population equilibrium in the tumor.

[Survival time of HIV/AIDS cases and related factors in Beijing, 1995-2015].

PubMed

Li, Y; Wang, J; He, S F; Chen, J; Lu, H Y

2017-11-10

Objective: To analyze the survival time of HIV/AIDS cases and related factors in Beijing from 1995 to 2015. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the data of 12 874 HIV/AIDS cases. The data were collected from Chinese HIV/AIDS Comprehensive Information Management System. Life table method was applied to calculate the survival proportion, and Cox proportion hazard regression model were used to identify the factors related with survival time. Results: Among 12 874 HIV/AIDS cases, 303 (2.4%) died of AIDS related diseases; 9 346 (72.6%) received antiretroviral therapy. The average survival time was 226.5 months (95 %CI : 223.0-230.1), and the survival rates of 1, 5, 10, and 15 years were 98.2%, 96.4%, 93.2%, and 91.9% respectively. Multivariate Cox proportion hazard regression model showed that AIDS phase ( HR =1.439, 95 %CI : 1.041-1.989), heterosexual transmission ( HR =1.646, 95 %CI : 1.184-2.289), being married ( HR =2.186, 95 %CI : 1.510-3.164); older age (≥60 years) at diagnosis ( HR =6.608, 95 %CI : 3.546-12.316); lower CD(4)(+)T cell counts at diagnosis (<350 cells/μl) ( HR =8.711, 95 %CI : 5.757-13.181); receiving no antiretroviral therapy (ART) ( HR =18.223, 95 %CI : 13.317-24.937) were the high risk factors influencing the survival of AIDS patients compared with HIV phase, homosexual transmission, being unmarried, younger age (≤30 years), higher CD(4)(+)T cell count (≥350 cell/μl) and receiving ART. Conclusion: The average survival time of HIV/AIDS cases was 226.5 months after diagnoses. Receiving ART, higher CD(4)(+)T cell counts at the first test, HIV phase, younger age, being unmarried and the homosexual transmission were related to the longer survival time of HIV/AIDS cases. Receiving no ART, the lower CD(4)(+)T cell counts at the first test, AIDS phase, older age, being married and heterosexual transmission indicated higher risk of death due to AIDS.

Primary renal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with central nervous system involvement: a rare case report and literature review.

PubMed

Wang, Ying; Guo, Shuangshuang

2015-01-01

Primary renal lymphoma is a rare entity. Of these, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common pathological type and, R-CHOP regimen was the preferred chemotherapy for it. Here we present an adult case of primary renal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Pembrolizumab and Vorinostat in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Follicular Lymphoma, or Hodgkin Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-04-23

Grade 3a Follicular Lymphoma; Grade 3b Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Follicular Lymphoma; Refractory Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma

Comparative Study of Broadband Photometry Relations for Ultra-Diffuse and Normal Galaxies in the Coma Cluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stone, Maria Babakhanyan

Ultra-diffuse galaxies are a novel type of galaxies discovered first in the Coma cluster. These objects are characterized simultaneously by large sizes and by very low counts of constituent stars. Conflicting theories have been proposed to explain how these large diffuse galaxies could have survived in the harsh environment of clusters. To date, thousands of these new galaxies have been identified in cluster environments. However, further studies are required to understand their relationship to the known giant and dwarf classes of galaxies. The purpose of this study is to compare the trends of inner and outer populations of normal members of the Coma cluster and ultra-diffuse galaxies in color-magnitude space. The present work used several astronomical catalogs to identify the member galaxies based on the coordinates of their positions and to extract available colors and magnitudes. We obtained correlations to convert colors and magnitudes from different systems into the common Sloan Digital Sky Survey system to facilitate the comparative analysis. We showed the quantitative relations describing the color-magnitude trends of galaxies in the core and the outskirts of the cluster. We confirmed that the inner and outer populations of ultra-diffuse galaxies exhibit an offset similar to the normal red sequence galaxies. We presented an initial assessment of stellar population ages and metallicities which correspond to the obtained color offsets. We surveyed the available images of the cluster for outliers, merger candidates, and candidate ultra-diffuse galaxies. We conclude that ultra-diffuse galaxies are an important part of the Coma cluster evolutionary history and future work is needed especially in obtaining spectroscopic data of a larger number of these dim galaxies.

Addressing Ebola-related stigma: lessons learned from HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Davtyan, Mariam; Brown, Brandon; Folayan, Morenike Oluwatoyin

2014-01-01

HIV/AIDS and Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) are contemporary epidemics associated with significant social stigma in which communities affected suffer from social rejection, violence, and diminished quality of life. To compare and contrast stigma related to HIV/AIDS and EVD, and strategically think how lessons learned from HIV stigma can be applied to the current EVD epidemic. To identify relevant articles about HIV/AIDS and EVD-related stigma, we conducted an extensive literature review using multiple search engines. PubMed was used to search for relevant peer-reviewed journal articles and Google for online sources. We also consulted the websites of the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health to retrieve up-to-date information about EVD and HIV/AIDS. Many stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors directed towards those with EVD are strikingly similar to those with HIV/AIDS but there are significant differences worthy of discussion. Both diseases are life-threatening and there is no medical cure. Additionally misinformation about affected groups and modes of transmission runs rampant. Unlike in persons with EVD, historically criminalized and marginalized populations carry a disproportionately higher risk for HIV infection. Moreover, mortality due to EVD occurs within a shorter time span as compared to HIV/AIDS. Stigma disrupts quality of life, whether it is associated with HIV infection or EVD. When addressing EVD, we must think beyond the immediate clinical therapeutic response, to possible HIV implications of serum treatment. There are emerging social concerns of stigma associated with EVD infection and double stigma associated with EVD and HIV infection. Drawing upon lessons learned from HIV, we must work to empower and mobilize prominent members of the community, those who recovered from the disease, and organizations working at the grassroots level to disseminate clear and accurate

Genetic heterogeneity of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Zhang, Jenny; Grubor, Vladimir; Love, Cassandra L; Banerjee, Anjishnu; Richards, Kristy L; Mieczkowski, Piotr A; Dunphy, Cherie; Choi, William; Au, Wing Yan; Srivastava, Gopesh; Lugar, Patricia L; Rizzieri, David A; Lagoo, Anand S; Bernal-Mizrachi, Leon; Mann, Karen P; Flowers, Christopher; Naresh, Kikkeri; Evens, Andrew; Gordon, Leo I; Czader, Magdalena; Gill, Javed I; Hsi, Eric D; Liu, Qingquan; Fan, Alice; Walsh, Katherine; Jima, Dereje; Smith, Lisa L; Johnson, Amy J; Byrd, John C; Luftig, Micah A; Ni, Ting; Zhu, Jun; Chadburn, Amy; Levy, Shawn; Dunson, David; Dave, Sandeep S

2013-01-22

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of lymphoma in adults. The disease exhibits a striking heterogeneity in gene expression profiles and clinical outcomes, but its genetic causes remain to be fully defined. Through whole genome and exome sequencing, we characterized the genetic diversity of DLBCL. In all, we sequenced 73 DLBCL primary tumors (34 with matched normal DNA). Separately, we sequenced the exomes of 21 DLBCL cell lines. We identified 322 DLBCL cancer genes that were recurrently mutated in primary DLBCLs. We identified recurrent mutations implicating a number of known and not previously identified genes and pathways in DLBCL including those related to chromatin modification (ARID1A and MEF2B), NF-κB (CARD11 and TNFAIP3), PI3 kinase (PIK3CD, PIK3R1, and MTOR), B-cell lineage (IRF8, POU2F2, and GNA13), and WNT signaling (WIF1). We also experimentally validated a mutation in PIK3CD, a gene not previously implicated in lymphomas. The patterns of mutation demonstrated a classic long tail distribution with substantial variation of mutated genes from patient to patient and also between published studies. Thus, our study reveals the tremendous genetic heterogeneity that underlies lymphomas and highlights the need for personalized medicine approaches to treating these patients.

Aids-Related Cancers in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mbulaiteye, Sam M.

2014-07-01

Thank you Professor Zichichi for inviting me to give a talk about AIDS-related cancers in Africa. Let me begin by congratulating the team that organized the 46th Session of the Erice International Seminar Series, whose theme is THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN THE THIRD MILLENIUM. I also congratulate the scientists from 38 countries who are attending these seminars. They are perpetuating the principle of SCIENCE WITHOUT SECRETS in the true spirit espoused by Archimedes, Galileo, and Fermi. It is a wonderful honor for me to be here to shed some light on the health impacts of the HIV epidemic in the area of cancer...

Immuno-virological discordance and the risk of non-AIDS and AIDS events in a large observational cohort of HIV-patients in Europe.

PubMed

Zoufaly, Alexander; Cozzi-Lepri, Alessandro; Reekie, Joanne; Kirk, Ole; Lundgren, Jens; Reiss, Peter; Jevtovic, Djordje; Machala, Ladislav; Zangerle, Robert; Mocroft, Amanda; Van Lunzen, Jan

2014-01-01

The impact of immunosuppression despite virological suppression (immuno-virological discordance, ID) on the risk of developing fatal and non-fatal AIDS/non-AIDS events is unclear and remains to be elucidated. Patients in EuroSIDA starting at least 1 new antiretroviral drug with CD4<350 cells/µl and viral load (VL)>500 copies/mL were followed-up from the first day of VL< = 50 copies/ml until a new fatal/non-fatal non-AIDS/AIDS event. Considered non-AIDS events included non-AIDS malignancies, pancreatitis, severe liver disease with hepatic encephalopathy (>grade 3), cardio- and cerebrovascular events, and end-stage renal disease. Patients were classified over time according to whether current CD4 count was above (non-ID) or below (ID) baseline level. Relative rates (RR) of events were calculated for ID vs. non-ID using adjusted Poisson regression models. 2,913 patients contributed 11,491 person-years for the analysis of non-AIDS. 241 pre-specified non-AIDS events (including 84 deaths) and 89 AIDS events (including 10 deaths) occurred. The RR of developing pre-specified non-AIDS events for ID vs. non-ID was 1.96 (95% CI 1.37-2.81, p<0.001) in unadjusted analysis and 1.43 (0.94-2.17, p = 0.095) after controlling for current CD4 count. ID was not associated with the risk of AIDS events (aRR 0.76, 95% CI 0.41-1.38, p = 0.361). Compared to CD4 responders, patients with immuno-virological discordance may be at increased risk of developing non-AIDS events. Further studies are warranted to establish whether in patients with ID, strategies to directly modify CD4 count response may be needed besides the use of ART.

Long-term outcome of large artificial patch aortic repair for diffuse stenosis in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Sughimoto, Koichi; Takahara, Yoshiharu; Mogi, Kenji; Sakurai, Manabu; Aoki, Chikashi

2010-10-01

There have been only a few reports concerning the long-term results of a surgical procedure using a large artificial patch for patients with Williams syndrome. Twelve years have passed since a patient with William's syndrome underwent a surgery with a patch angioplasty for the diffuse supravalvular aortic stenosis and deformities of the neck branch arteries. The patient had a well-balanced aortic growth without stenotic or aneurysmal changes, which was confirmed during the time of the second surgery when replacing the mitral valve. This technique of using a large patch has proven to be safe for Williams syndrome patients with diffuse supravalvular aortic stenosis in the long term.

Large-eddy simulation of flow in a plane, asymmetric diffuser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaltenbach, Hans-Jakob

1993-01-01

Recent improvements in subgrid-scale modeling as well as increases in computer power make it feasible to investigate flows using large-eddy simulation (LES) which have been traditionally studied with techniques based on Reynolds averaging. However, LES has not yet been applied to many flows of immediate technical interest. Preliminary results from LES of a plane diffuser flow are described. The long term goal of this work is to investigate flow separation as well as separation control in ducts and ramp-like geometries.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 59: Japanese Technological Innovation. Implications for Large Commercial Aircraft and Knowledge Diffusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kotler, Mindy L.

1997-01-01

This paper explores three factors-public policy, the Japanese (national) innovation system, and knowledge-that influence technological innovation in Japan. To establish a context for the paper, we examine Japanese culture and the U.S. and Japanese patent systems in the background section. A brief history of the Japanese aircraft industry as a source of knowledge and technology for other industries is presented. Japanese and U.S. alliances and linkages in three sectors-biotechnology, semiconductors, and large commercial aircraft (LCA)-and the importation, absorption, and diffusion of knowledge and technology are examined next. The paper closes with implications for diffusing knowledge and technology, U.S. public policy, and LCA.

Next-generation prognostic assessment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PubMed Central

Staton, Ashley D; Kof, Jean L; Chen, Qiushi; Ayer, Turgay; Flowers, Christopher R

2015-01-01

Current standard of care therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cures a majority of patients with additional benefit in salvage therapy and autologous stem cell transplant for patients who relapse. The next generation of prognostic models for DLBCL aims to more accurately stratify patients for novel therapies and risk-adapted treatment strategies. This review discusses the significance of host genetic and tumor genomic alterations seen in DLBCL, clinical and epidemiologic factors, and how each can be integrated into risk stratification algorithms. In the future, treatment prediction and prognostic model development and subsequent validation will require data from a large number of DLBCL patients to establish sufficient statistical power to correctly predict outcome. Novel modeling approaches can augment these efforts. PMID:26289217

Next-generation prognostic assessment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Staton, Ashley D; Koff, Jean L; Chen, Qiushi; Ayer, Turgay; Flowers, Christopher R

2015-01-01

Current standard of care therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cures a majority of patients with additional benefit in salvage therapy and autologous stem cell transplant for patients who relapse. The next generation of prognostic models for DLBCL aims to more accurately stratify patients for novel therapies and risk-adapted treatment strategies. This review discusses the significance of host genetic and tumor genomic alterations seen in DLBCL, clinical and epidemiologic factors, and how each can be integrated into risk stratification algorithms. In the future, treatment prediction and prognostic model development and subsequent validation will require data from a large number of DLBCL patients to establish sufficient statistical power to correctly predict outcome. Novel modeling approaches can augment these efforts.

SCIMAP: Modelling Diffuse Pollution in Large River Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milledge, D.; Heathwaite, L.; Lane, S. N.; Reaney, S. M.

2009-12-01

Polluted rivers are a problem for the plants and animals that require clean water to survive. Watershed scale processes can influence instream aquatic ecosystems by delivering fine sediment, solutes and organic matter from diffuse sources. To improve our rivers we need to identify the pollution sources. Models can help us to do this but these rarely address the extent to which risky land uses are hydrologically-connected, and hence able to deliver, to the drainage network. Those that do tend to apply a full hydrological scheme, which is unfeasible for large watersheds. Here we develop a risk-based modelling framework, SCIMAP, for diffuse pollution from agriculture (Nitrate, Phosphate and Fine Sediment). In each case the basis of the analysis is the joint consideration of the probability of a unit of land (25 m2 cell) producing a particular environmental risk and then of that risk reaching the river. The components share a common treatment of hydrological connectivity but differ in their treatment of each pollution type. We test and apply SCIMAP using spatially-distributed instream water quality data for some of the UK’s largest catchments to infer the processes and the associated process parameters that matter in defining their concentrations. We use these to identify a series of risky field locations, where this land use is readily connected to the river system by overland flow.

Messages of distinction: the HIV/AIDS media campaign in Thailand.

PubMed

Lyttleton, C

1996-03-01

In predominantly rural Thailand, television is a primary source of HIV/AIDS knowledge. Since 1990, HIV/AIDS warning messages have been aired regularly and repeatedly on television as part of the national strategy to minimize transmission of HIV. The education and prevention messages chosen do more than suggest measures to avoid infection. Within a logic of risk, these messages also define characteristics of people who are signified as threatening agents of infection. In Thailand, prostitutes and drug users are portrayed as the feared Other. Because commercial sex is so widespread, the demarcation of prostitutes as a high risk group signals a diffuse threat not easily subject to conceptual distancing. It is the pervasive and often fear-based associations born of the media material that, in large part, establish the basis for emergent practice when thoughts or actions are triggered by consideration of HIV/AIDS.

AIDS-related stigma and social interaction: Puerto Ricans living with HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Varas-Díaz, Nelson; Serrano-García, Irma; Toro-Alfonso, José

2005-02-01

People living with HIV/AIDS are stigmatized. Although personal and social consequences of this stigmatization have been documented, research regarding its impact on social interactions is scarce. Latinos, and Puerto Ricans in particular, have voiced concern regarding AIDS stigma. The authors investigated the key role of social interaction in the process of stigmatization through in-depth, semistructured interviews in a sample of 30 Puerto Ricans living with HIV/AIDS. Participants reported instances in which AIDS stigma negatively influenced social interactions with family, friends, sexual partners, coworkers, and health professionals. Some of the consequences they described were loss of social support, persecution, isolation, job loss, and problems accessing health services. Findings support the need for interventions to address AIDS stigma and its consequences.

Factors related to the implementation and diffusion of new technologies: a pilot study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1979-06-01

In order to develop an understanding of how government intervention affects the processes of implementation and diffusion of new technologies, case studies of 14 technologies were carried out: automobiles; broadcast radio; frozen foods; black and white TV; color TV; polio vaccine; supersonic transport; fluoridation of water supplies; computer-aided instruction; basic oxygen process for steel; numerical control in manufacturing; digital computers; lasers; and integrated circuit. The key factors, their motivations for implementing/adopting the technology (or not doing so), the interactions among the key factors, and how these affected implementation/adoption are examined.

Glutathione peroxidase 4 overexpression inhibits ROS-induced cell death in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Kinowaki, Yuko; Kurata, Morito; Ishibashi, Sachiko; Ikeda, Masumi; Tatsuzawa, Anna; Yamamoto, Masahide; Miura, Osamu; Kitagawa, Masanobu; Yamamoto, Kouhei

2018-02-20

Regulation of oxidative stress and redox systems has important roles in carcinogenesis and cancer progression, and for this reason has attracted much attention as a new area of cancer therapeutic targets. Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), an antioxidant enzyme, has biological important functions such as signaling cell death by suppressing peroxidation of membrane phospholipids. However, few studies exist on the expression and clinical relevance of GPX4 in malignant lymphomas such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In this study, we assessed the expression of GPX4 immunohistochemically. GPX4 was expressed in 35.5% (33/93) cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The GPX4-positive group had poor overall survival (P = 0.0032) and progression-free survival (P = 0.0004) compared with those of the GPX4-negative group. In a combined analysis of GPX4 and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), an oxidative stress marker, there was a negative correlation between GPX4 and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (P = 0.0009). The GPX4-positive and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine-negative groups had a significantly worse prognosis than the other groups in both overall survival (P = 0.0170) and progression-free survival (P = 0.0005). These results suggest that the overexpression of GPX4 is an independent prognostic predictor in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Furthermore, in vitro analysis demonstrated that GPX4-overexpressing cells were resistant to reactive oxygen species-induced cell death (P = 0.0360). Conversely, GPX4-knockdown cells were sensitive to reactive oxygen species-induced cell death (P = 0.0111). From these data, we conclude that GPX4 regulates reactive oxygen species-induced cell death. Our results suggest a novel therapeutic strategy using the mechanism of ferroptosis, as well as a novel prognostic predictor of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Towards a minimal stochastic model for a large class of diffusion-reactions on biological membranes.

PubMed

Chevalier, Michael W; El-Samad, Hana

2012-08-28

Diffusion of biological molecules on 2D biological membranes can play an important role in the behavior of stochastic biochemical reaction systems. Yet, we still lack a fundamental understanding of circumstances where explicit accounting of the diffusion and spatial coordinates of molecules is necessary. In this work, we illustrate how time-dependent, non-exponential reaction probabilities naturally arise when explicitly accounting for the diffusion of molecules. We use the analytical expression of these probabilities to derive a novel algorithm which, while ignoring the exact position of the molecules, can still accurately capture diffusion effects. We investigate the regions of validity of the algorithm and show that for most parameter regimes, it constitutes an accurate framework for studying these systems. We also document scenarios where large spatial fluctuation effects mandate explicit consideration of all the molecules and their positions. Taken together, our results derive a fundamental understanding of the role of diffusion and spatial fluctuations in these systems. Simultaneously, they provide a general computational methodology for analyzing a broad class of biological networks whose behavior is influenced by diffusion on membranes.

Dual expression of MYC and BCL2 proteins predicts worse outcomes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Clark Schneider, Kelli M; Banks, Peter M; Collie, Angela M B; Lanigan, Christopher P; Manilich, Elena; Durkin, Lisa M; Hill, Brian T; Hsi, Eric D

2016-07-01

Recent studies suggested that MYC and BCL2 protein co-expression is an independent indicator of poor prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. However, the immunohistochemistry protocols for dual-expression staining and the scoring cut-offs vary by study. Sixty-nine cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma were evaluated for MYC and BCL2 protein expression using various cut-offs that have been recommended in prior studies. Independent of the International Prognostic Index risk group, cases with dual protein expression of BCL2 and MYC using ≥50%/40% cut-offs and ≥70%/40% had significantly shorter overall survival than cases without. It was verified in this patient population that the use of BCL2 and MYC immunohistochemistry, performed with available in vitro diagnostic-cleared antibodies, provides rapid prognostic information in patients with de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This study has practical implications for diagnostic laboratories and serves as a guide for implementation in the setting of future clinical trials.

Marital Aspirations, Sexual Behaviors, and HIV/AIDS in Rural Malawi

PubMed Central

Clark, Shelley; Poulin, Michelle; Kohler, Hans-Peter

2009-01-01

We explore how marital aspirations are related to the sexual behaviors of adolescents and young adults in Malawi, where HIV/AIDS prevalence among adults exceeds 10%. We also consider whether the specter of AIDS is shaping ideals about marriage. By combining survey data (N = 1,087) and in-depth interviews (N = 133) with young Malawians from the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project, we show that looking for and finding a suitable spouse are linked to sexual behaviors and, thus, HIV risks. Moreover, concerns about contracting HIV are closely tied to the ideal characteristics of a future spouse. Our findings draw long-overdue attention to the importance of marital aspirations in understanding adolescent sexual behaviors and risks in the era of AIDS. PMID:20161389

Scale-invariant Green-Kubo relation for time-averaged diffusivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Philipp; Barkai, Eli; Kantz, Holger

2017-12-01

In recent years it was shown both theoretically and experimentally that in certain systems exhibiting anomalous diffusion the time- and ensemble-averaged mean-squared displacement are remarkably different. The ensemble-averaged diffusivity is obtained from a scaling Green-Kubo relation, which connects the scale-invariant nonstationary velocity correlation function with the transport coefficient. Here we obtain the relation between time-averaged diffusivity, usually recorded in single-particle tracking experiments, and the underlying scale-invariant velocity correlation function. The time-averaged mean-squared displacement is given by 〈δ2¯〉 ˜2 DνtβΔν -β , where t is the total measurement time and Δ is the lag time. Here ν is the anomalous diffusion exponent obtained from ensemble-averaged measurements 〈x2〉 ˜tν , while β ≥-1 marks the growth or decline of the kinetic energy 〈v2〉 ˜tβ . Thus, we establish a connection between exponents that can be read off the asymptotic properties of the velocity correlation function and similarly for the transport constant Dν. We demonstrate our results with nonstationary scale-invariant stochastic and deterministic models, thereby highlighting that systems with equivalent behavior in the ensemble average can differ strongly in their time average. If the averaged kinetic energy is finite, β =0 , the time scaling of 〈δ2¯〉 and 〈x2〉 are identical; however, the time-averaged transport coefficient Dν is not identical to the corresponding ensemble-averaged diffusion constant.

TCL1 oncogene expression in AIDS-related lymphomas and lymphoid tissues

PubMed Central

Teitell, Michael; Damore, Michael A.; Sulur, Girija G.; Turner, Devin E.; Stern, Marc-Henri; Said, Jonathan W.; Denny, Christopher T.; Wall, Randolph

1999-01-01

AIDS-related non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (AIDS NHL) comprises a diverse and heterogeneous group of high-grade B cell tumors. Certain classes of AIDS NHL are associated with alterations in oncogenes or tumor-suppressor genes or infections by oncogenic herpesviruses. However, the clinically significant class of AIDS NHL designated immunoblastic lymphoma plasmacytoid (AIDS IBLP) lacks any consistent genetic alterations. We identified the TCL1 oncogene from a set of AIDS IBLP-associated cDNA fragments generated by subtractive hybridization with non-AIDS IBLP. Aberrant TCL1 expression has been implicated in T cell leukemia/lymphoma development, and its expression also has been seen in many established B cell tumor lines. However, TCL1 expression has not been reported in AIDS NHL. We find that TCL1 is expressed in the majority of AIDS IBLP tumors examined. TCL1 protein expression is restricted to tumor cells in AIDS IBLP tissue samples analyzed with immunohistochemical staining. Hyperplastic lymph node and tonsil also exhibit strong TCL1 protein expression in mantle zone B cells and in rare interfollicular zone cells, whereas follicle-center B cells (centroblasts and centrocytes) show weaker expression. These results establish TCL1 as the most prevalent of all of the surveyed oncogenes associated with AIDS IBLP. They also indicate that abundant TCL1 expression in quiescent mantle zone B cells is down-regulated in activated germinal center follicular B cells in parallel to the known expression pattern of BCL-2. High-level expression in nonproliferating B cells suggests that TCL1 may function in protecting naïve preactivated B cells from apoptosis. PMID:10449776

Computer-aided diagnostic system for diffuse liver diseases with ultrasonography by neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogawa, K.; Fukushima, M.; Kubota, K.; Hisa, N.

1998-12-01

The aim of the study is to establish a computer-aided diagnostic system for diffuse liver diseases such as chronic active hepatitis (CAH) and liver cirrhosis (LC). The authors introduced an artificial neural network in the classification of these diseases. In this system the neural network was trained by feature parameters extracted from B-mode ultrasonic images of normal liver (NL), CAH and LC. For input data the authors used six parameters calculated by a region of interest (ROI) and a parameter calculated by five ROIs in each image. They were variance of pixel values, coefficient of variation, annular Fourier power spectrum, longitudinal Fourier power spectrum which were calculated for the ROI, and variation of the means of the five ROIs. In addition, the authors used two more parameters calculated from a co-occurrence matrix of pixel values in the ROI. The results showed that the neural network classifier was 83.8% in sensitivity for LC, 90.0% in sensitivity for CAH and 93.6% in specificity, and the system was considered to be helpful for clinical and educational use.

AIDS and Adolescents: The Relation of Parent and Partner Communication to Adolescent Condom Use.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shoop, Dawn M.; Davidson, Philip M.

1994-01-01

Eighty male and female heterosexual adolescents completed questionnaires concerning sexual behavior and condom use, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) knowledge, ability to communicate with sexual partners about AIDS-related issues, and communication with parents about sex and AIDS. Adolescents' perceived ability to communicate with…

Large-scale optimization-based non-negative computational framework for diffusion equations: Parallel implementation and performance studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, Justin; Karra, Satish; Nakshatrala, Kalyana B.

It is well-known that the standard Galerkin formulation, which is often the formulation of choice under the finite element method for solving self-adjoint diffusion equations, does not meet maximum principles and the non-negative constraint for anisotropic diffusion equations. Recently, optimization-based methodologies that satisfy maximum principles and the non-negative constraint for steady-state and transient diffusion-type equations have been proposed. To date, these methodologies have been tested only on small-scale academic problems. The purpose of this paper is to systematically study the performance of the non-negative methodology in the context of high performance computing (HPC). PETSc and TAO libraries are, respectively, usedmore » for the parallel environment and optimization solvers. For large-scale problems, it is important for computational scientists to understand the computational performance of current algorithms available in these scientific libraries. The numerical experiments are conducted on the state-of-the-art HPC systems, and a single-core performance model is used to better characterize the efficiency of the solvers. Furthermore, our studies indicate that the proposed non-negative computational framework for diffusion-type equations exhibits excellent strong scaling for real-world large-scale problems.« less

Large-scale optimization-based non-negative computational framework for diffusion equations: Parallel implementation and performance studies

DOE PAGES

Chang, Justin; Karra, Satish; Nakshatrala, Kalyana B.

2016-07-26

It is well-known that the standard Galerkin formulation, which is often the formulation of choice under the finite element method for solving self-adjoint diffusion equations, does not meet maximum principles and the non-negative constraint for anisotropic diffusion equations. Recently, optimization-based methodologies that satisfy maximum principles and the non-negative constraint for steady-state and transient diffusion-type equations have been proposed. To date, these methodologies have been tested only on small-scale academic problems. The purpose of this paper is to systematically study the performance of the non-negative methodology in the context of high performance computing (HPC). PETSc and TAO libraries are, respectively, usedmore » for the parallel environment and optimization solvers. For large-scale problems, it is important for computational scientists to understand the computational performance of current algorithms available in these scientific libraries. The numerical experiments are conducted on the state-of-the-art HPC systems, and a single-core performance model is used to better characterize the efficiency of the solvers. Furthermore, our studies indicate that the proposed non-negative computational framework for diffusion-type equations exhibits excellent strong scaling for real-world large-scale problems.« less

Computer aided diagnosis system for Alzheimer disease using brain diffusion tensor imaging features selected by Pearson's correlation.

PubMed

Graña, M; Termenon, M; Savio, A; Gonzalez-Pinto, A; Echeveste, J; Pérez, J M; Besga, A

2011-09-20

The aim of this paper is to obtain discriminant features from two scalar measures of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data, Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and Mean Diffusivity (MD), and to train and test classifiers able to discriminate Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients from controls on the basis of features extracted from the FA or MD volumes. In this study, support vector machine (SVM) classifier was trained and tested on FA and MD data. Feature selection is done computing the Pearson's correlation between FA or MD values at voxel site across subjects and the indicative variable specifying the subject class. Voxel sites with high absolute correlation are selected for feature extraction. Results are obtained over an on-going study in Hospital de Santiago Apostol collecting anatomical T1-weighted MRI volumes and DTI data from healthy control subjects and AD patients. FA features and a linear SVM classifier achieve perfect accuracy, sensitivity and specificity in several cross-validation studies, supporting the usefulness of DTI-derived features as an image-marker for AD and to the feasibility of building Computer Aided Diagnosis systems for AD based on them. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the immunocompetent: Immunophenotypic subtypes and Epstein-Barr virus association.

PubMed

Mahadevan, Anita; Rao, Clementina Rama; Shanmugham, M; Shankar, Susarla Krishna

2015-01-01

Primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PCNSL DLBCL) in the immunocompetent is an uncommon tumor that has an activated B-cell immunophenotype resembling germinal center exit B cells. They also differ from primary central nervous diffuse large B-cell lymphomas in the immunocompromised as they show no association with the Epstein-Barr virus. To determine if immunophenotypic subtyping of PCNS DLBCL from Asian subcontinent are also different similar to its systemic counterpart is unclear, as there are only limited studies from Asia, and none from India. The immunohistochemical profile of 24 South Indian patients with primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was studied using germinal center markers - CD10 and Bcl-6, and activation markers - MUM1 and CD138, which are markers for late/post germinal centre B cells. Insitu hybridization for EBV genome and LMP1 by immunohistochemistry was carried out in all cases to determine association with EBV. Centroblastic morphology and uniform activated B-cell phenotype with positivity for MUM1 was seen in 91.6% of tumors. Co-expression of Bcl-6 and MUM1 was evident in 50%, which is more frequent than in systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. All cases were negative for Epstein-Barr virus using EBER in-situ hybridization and LMP1 immunohistochemistry. Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the immunocompetent is a distinct clinicopathological entity with centroblastic morphology, a uniform activated B-cell immunophenotype that is not associated with the Epstein-Barr virus regardless of geographic origin.

Diffuse corpus callosum infarction - Rare vascular entity with differing etiology.

PubMed

Mahale, Rohan; Mehta, Anish; Buddaraju, Kiran; John, Aju Abraham; Javali, Mahendra; Srinivasa, Rangasetty

2016-01-15

Infarctions of the corpus callosum are rare vascular events. It is relatively immune to vascular insult because of its rich vascular supply from anterior and posterior circulations of brain. Report of 3 patients with largely diffuse acute corpus callosum infarction. 3 patients with largely diffuse acute corpus callosum infarction were studied and each of these 3 patients had 3 different aetiologies. The 3 different aetiologies of largely diffuse acute corpus callosum infarction were cardioembolism, tuberculous arteritis and takayasu arteritis. Diffuse corpus callosum infarcts are rare events. This case series narrates the three different aetiologies of diffuse acute corpus callosum infarction which is a rare vascular event. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chaotic dynamics of large-scale double-diffusive convection in a porous medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kondo, Shutaro; Gotoda, Hiroshi; Miyano, Takaya; Tokuda, Isao T.

2018-02-01

We have studied chaotic dynamics of large-scale double-diffusive convection of a viscoelastic fluid in a porous medium from the viewpoint of dynamical systems theory. A fifth-order nonlinear dynamical system modeling the double-diffusive convection is theoretically obtained by incorporating the Darcy-Brinkman equation into transport equations through a physical dimensionless parameter representing porosity. We clearly show that the chaotic convective motion becomes much more complicated with increasing porosity. The degree of dynamic instability during chaotic convective motion is quantified by two important measures: the network entropy of the degree distribution in the horizontal visibility graph and the Kaplan-Yorke dimension in terms of Lyapunov exponents. We also present an interesting on-off intermittent phenomenon in the probability distribution of time intervals exhibiting nearly complete synchronization.

The mental health impact of AIDS-related mortality in South Africa: a national study

PubMed Central

Myer, L; Seedat, S; Stein, D J; Moomal, H; Williams, D R

2011-01-01

Background Few data exist on how the HIV/AIDS epidemic may influence population mental health. The associations were examined between knowing someone who died of HIV/AIDS and common mental disorders among South African adults. Methods Between 2002 and 2004, a nationally representative sample of 4351 adults were interviewed about personally knowing someone who died of HIV/AIDS, and the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to generate psychiatric diagnoses for depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders during the preceding 12 months based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition (DSM-IV). Results Overall, 42.2% of the sample knew someone who died of HIV/AIDS, and 16.5% met the criteria for at least one DSM-IV diagnosis. Individuals who knew someone who died of HIV/AIDS were significantly more likely to have any DSM-IV defined disorder, including any depressive, anxiety or substance-related disorder (p<0.001 for all associations). In multivariate models adjusted for participant demographic characteristics, life events and socioeconomic status, individual disorders significantly associated with knowing someone who died of HIV/AIDS included generalised anxiety disorder, social phobia and alcohol/drug dependence or abuse. Based on these results, it is estimated that up to 15% of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the South African adult population may be related to knowing someone who died of HIV/AIDS. Conclusion These novel data suggest that AIDS-related mortality may contribute substantially to the burden of mental disorders in settings of high HIV prevalence. While this finding requires further investigation, these data suggest the need to strengthen mental health services in communities where HIV/AIDS is prevalent. PMID:19074926

Definition of MYC genetic heteroclonality in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with 8q24 rearrangement and its impact on protein expression.

PubMed

Valera, Alexandra; Epistolio, Samantha; Colomo, Lluis; Riva, Alice; Balagué, Olga; Dlouhy, Ivan; Tzankov, Alexandar; Bühler, Marco; Haralambieva, Eugenia; Campo, Elias; Soldini, Davide; Mazzucchelli, Luca; Martin, Vittoria

2016-08-01

MYC rearrangement can be detected in a subgroup of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma characterized by unfavorable prognosis. In contrast to Burkitt lymphoma, the correlation between MYC rearrangement and MYC protein expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is less clear, as approximately one-third of rearranged cases show negative or low expression by immunohistochemistry. To better understand whether specific characteristics of the MYC rearrangement may influence its protein expression, we investigated 43 de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma positive for 8q24 rearrangement by FISH, using 14 Burkitt lymphoma for comparison. Different cell populations (clones), breakpoints (classical vs non-classical FISH patterns), partner genes (IGH vs non-IGH) and immunostaining were detected and analyzed using computerized image systems. In a subgroup of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, we observed different clones within the same tumor distinguishing the founder clone with MYC rearrangement alone from other subclones, carrying MYC rearrangement coupled with loss/extra copies of derivatives/normal alleles. This picture, which we defined MYC genetic heteroclonality, was found in 42% of cases and correlated to negative MYC expression (P=0.026). Non-classical FISH breakpoints were detected in 16% of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma without affecting expression (P=0.040). Non-IGH gene was the preferential partner of rearrangement in those diffuse large B-cell lymphoma showing MYC heteroclonality (P=0.016) and/or non-classical FISH breakpoints (P=0.058). MYC heteroclonality was not observed in Burkitt lymphoma and all cases had positive MYC expression. Non-classical FISH MYC breakpoint and non-IGH partner were found in 29 and 20% of Burkitt lymphoma, respectively. In conclusion, MYC genetic heteroclonality is a frequent event in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and may have a relevant role in modulating MYC expression.

[Implementation of intervention programs on AIDS-related sexual transmission in China].

PubMed

Dong, Wei; Zhou, Chu; Ge, Lin; Li, Dongmin; Wu, Zunyou; Rou, Keming

2015-12-01

To analyze the implementation of intervention programs targeted on AIDS high risk sexual transmission groups since 2008, when the relative prevention and control information systems on HIV/AIDS were developed. Data from both aggregated interventions and sentinel surveillance programs from 2008 to the end of 2014 were used. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the trends of implementation on high risk groups including men who have sex with men, female sex workers (FSW) and migrant workers. From 2008 to 2012, the monthly average numbers receiving intervention programs and the average monthly coverage rate on intervention for MSM, increased from 49 000 to 252 000, and from 8.6% to 78.5% respectively. The FSW related indicators increased from 329 000 to 625 000, and from 30.9% to 87.0% respectively. Above indexes on the two populations had dropped slightly in 2013 and 2014. Sentinel surveillance data showed that knowledge and behavior indicators observed from the MSM and FSW populations increased annually. The coverage of intervention programs on migrant workers increased from 4.7% to almost 10.0%, but the surveillance data on migrant men showed that the knowledge and behavior indicators were still lower than the other high-risk groups. Intervention related to sexual transmission on HIV/AIDS among high-risk populations were effectively implemented, with some achievements seen. However, as sexual contact currently became the main route of AIDS epidemic, new challenges called for serious attention.

Enhancing the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention programs targeted to unique population groups in Thailand: lessons learned from applying concepts of diffusion of innovation and social marketing.

PubMed

Svenkerud, P J; Singhal, A

1998-01-01

Diffusion of innovations theory and social marketing theory have been criticized for their limited applicability in influencing unique population groups (e.g., female commercial sex workers (CSWs) working in low-class brothels). This study investigated the applicability of these two theoretical frameworks in outreach efforts directed to unique populations at high risk for HIV/AIDS in Bangkok, Thailand. Further, this study examined Thai cultural characteristics that influence communication about HIV/AIDS prevention. The results suggest that certain concepts and strategies drawn from the two frameworks were used more or less by effective outreach programs, providing several policy-relevant lessons. Cultural constraints, such as the lack of visibility of the disease and traditional sexual practices, influenced communication about HIV/AIDS prevention.

An unusual case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma involving the vulva evaluated by 18F-FDG PET/CT.

PubMed

Treglia, Giorgio; Paone, Gaetano; Perriard, Ulrike; Ceriani, Luca; Giovanella, Luca

2014-10-01

We describe an unusual case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma involving the vulva detected and staged by F-FDG PET/CT. An 83-year-old female patient with history of endometrial carcinoma underwent F-FDG PET/CT for follow-up. PET/CT detected an area of increased F-FDG uptake corresponding to a vulvar nodule; moderate and diffuse F-FDG uptake in the bone marrow was also evident. Based on these PET/CT findings, the patient underwent biopsy of the vulvar nodule. Histology demonstrated the presence of a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the vulva. Bone marrow biopsy was positive for lymphoid infiltration.

Knowledge levels of pre-school teachers related with basic first-aid practices, Isparta sample.

PubMed

Sönmez, Yonca; Uskun, Ersin; Pehlivan, Azize

2014-09-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of knowledge of pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta related with basic first-aid practices and some factors which affected these levels of knowledge. In this cross-sectional, analytic study, 110 pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta constituted the population. A questionnaire questioning sociodemographic properties and the level of knowledge related with first-aid practices was applied under supervision. The level of knowledge was evaluated on a 20-point scale. In the analyses, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman's rank correlation were used. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee for Clinical Studies of Süleyman Demirel University School of Medicine (registration number: 105). The mean score of first-aid knowledge of the pre-school teachers was found to be 11.9±2.9. The least known issues included washing the wound by soap and water after a dog bite, information related with the necessity of immobilization of a child who has fallen from a high level and the phone number of National Poison Information Center (16.4%, 20.9% and 22.7%, respectively). The scores of the subjects whose knowledge of first-aid was evaluated to be well were higher compared to the subjects whose knowledge of first-aid was evaluated to be moderate (p=0.009) and poor (p=0.001). It was found that first-aid scores did not show significant difference in terms of age, working period, having received first-aid training and having faced with a condition requiring first-aid previously (p>0.05, for all comparisons). It was found that pre-school teachers had insufficient first-aid knowledge. Since the first-aid knowledge scores of the subjects who reported that they received first-aid training before did not show significant difference, it was thought that the quality of training was as important as receiving training.

Systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma masquerading as neovascular glaucoma.

PubMed

Bawankar, Pritam; Das, Dipankar; Bhattacharjee, Harsha; Tayab, Shahinur; Deori, Nilutparna; Paulbuddhe, Vivek; Dhar, Shriya; Deka, Apurba

2018-02-01

We describe a case of spontaneous hyphema associated with anterior uveitis presents in a 69-year old female as the prominent sign of the intraocular spread of systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). She had a history of diabetes and initially misdiagnosed as neovascular glaucoma. Clinical history of systemic lymphoma, characteristic findings on B-scan ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging scan, and identification of atypical lymphoid cells in aqueous sample established the diagnosis of intraocular metastasis of systemic DLBCL. Therefore, this report highlights that life-threatening malignant systemic lymphoma may masquerade as anterior segment ocular inflammation or neovascular glaucoma.

Systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma masquerading as neovascular glaucoma

PubMed Central

Bawankar, Pritam; Das, Dipankar; Bhattacharjee, Harsha; Tayab, Shahinur; Deori, Nilutparna; Paulbuddhe, Vivek; Dhar, Shriya; Deka, Apurba

2018-01-01

We describe a case of spontaneous hyphema associated with anterior uveitis presents in a 69-year old female as the prominent sign of the intraocular spread of systemic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). She had a history of diabetes and initially misdiagnosed as neovascular glaucoma. Clinical history of systemic lymphoma, characteristic findings on B-scan ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging scan, and identification of atypical lymphoid cells in aqueous sample established the diagnosis of intraocular metastasis of systemic DLBCL. Therefore, this report highlights that life-threatening malignant systemic lymphoma may masquerade as anterior segment ocular inflammation or neovascular glaucoma. PMID:29380792

Certified Nurses' Aide Job-Related Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts Career Development Inst., Springfield.

This document, which is designed for students preparing to become a certified nurses' aide, contains instructional text and learning activities organized in nine sections. The following topics are covered: the role of the certified nurse's aide (job duties, personal health, professionalism, code of ethics); infection control (the infection…

Determining the importance of fundamental hearing aid attributes.

PubMed

Meister, Hartmut; Lausberg, Isabel; Kiessling, Juergen; Walger, Martin; von Wedel, Hasso

2002-07-01

To determine the importance of fundamental hearing aid attributes and to elicit measures of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. A prospective study based on a survey using a decompositional approach of preference measurement (conjoint analysis). Ear, nose, and throat university hospitals in Cologne and Giessen; various branches of hearing aid dispensers. A random sample of 175 experienced hearing aid users aged 20 to 91 years (mean age, 61 yr) recruited at two different sites. Relative importance of different hearing aid attributes, satisfaction and dissatisfaction with hearing aid attributes. Of the six fundamental hearing aid attributes assessed by the hearing aid users, the two features concerning speech perception attained the highest relative importance (25% speech in quiet, 27% speech in noise). The remaining four attributes (sound quality, handling, feedback, localization) had significantly lower values in a narrow range of 10 to 12%. Comparison of different subgroups of hearing aid wearers based on sociodemographic and user-specific data revealed a large interindividual scatter of the preferences for the attributes. A similar examination with 25 clinicians revealed overestimation of the importance of the attributes commonly associated with problems. Moreover, examination of satisfaction showed that speech in noise was the most frequent source of dissatisfaction (30% of all statements), whereas the subjects were satisfied with speech in quiet. The results emphasize the high importance of attributes related to speech perception. Speech discrimination in noise was the most important but also the most frequent source of negative statements. This attribute will be the outstanding parameter of future developments. Appropriate handling becomes an important factor for elderly subjects. However, because of the large interindividual scatter of data, the preferences of different hearing aid users were hardly predictable, giving evidence of multifactorial influences.

Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations of the Electron Diffusion Region of Large Guide Field Magnetic Reconnection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eriksson, S.; Wilder, F. D.; Ergun, R. E.; Schwartz, S. J.; Cassak, P. A.; Burch, J. L.; Chen, Li-Jen; Torbert, R. B.; Phan, T. D.; Lavraud, B.;

Diffuse pollution of soil and water: Long term trends at large scales?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grathwohl, P.

2012-04-01

Industrialization and urbanization, which consequently increased pressure on the environment to cause degradation of soil and water quality over more than a century, is still ongoing. The number of potential environmental contaminants detected in surface and groundwater is continuously increasing; from classical industrial and agricultural chemicals, to flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. While point sources of pollution can be managed in principle, diffuse pollution is only reversible at very long time scales if at all. Compounds which were phased out many decades ago such as PCBs or DDT are still abundant in soils, sediments and biota. How diffuse pollution is processed at large scales in space (e.g. catchments) and time (centuries) is unknown. The relevance to the field of processes well investigated at the laboratory scale (e.g. sorption/desorption and (bio)degradation kinetics) is not clear. Transport of compounds is often coupled to the water cycle and in order to assess trends in diffuse pollution, detailed knowledge about the hydrology and the solute fluxes at the catchment scale is required (e.g. input/output fluxes, transformation rates at the field scale). This is also a prerequisite in assessing management options for reversal of adverse trends.

Crowding Induces Complex Ergodic Diffusion and Dynamic Elongation of Large DNA Molecules

PubMed Central

Chapman, Cole D.; Gorczyca, Stephanie; Robertson-Anderson, Rae M.

2015-01-01

Despite the ubiquity of molecular crowding in living cells, the effects of crowding on the dynamics of genome-sized DNA are poorly understood. Here, we track single, fluorescent-labeled large DNA molecules (11, 115 kbp) diffusing in dextran solutions that mimic intracellular crowding conditions (0–40%), and determine the effects of crowding on both DNA mobility and conformation. Both DNAs exhibit ergodic Brownian motion and comparable mobility reduction in all conditions; however, crowder size (10 vs. 500 kDa) plays a critical role in the underlying diffusive mechanisms and dependence on crowder concentration. Surprisingly, in 10-kDa dextran, crowder influence saturates at ∼20% with an ∼5× drop in DNA diffusion, in stark contrast to exponentially retarded mobility, coupled to weak anomalous subdiffusion, with increasing concentration of 500-kDa dextran. Both DNAs elongate into lower-entropy states (compared to random coil conformations) when crowded, with elongation states that are gamma distributed and fluctuate in time. However, the broadness of the distribution of states and the time-dependence and length scale of elongation length fluctuations depend on both DNA and crowder size with concentration having surprisingly little impact. Results collectively show that mobility reduction and coil elongation of large crowded DNAs are due to a complex interplay between entropic effects and crowder mobility. Although elongation and initial mobility retardation are driven by depletion interactions, subdiffusive dynamics, and the drastic exponential slowing of DNA, up to ∼300×, arise from the reduced mobility of larger crowders. Our results elucidate the highly important and widely debated effects of cellular crowding on genome-sized DNA. PMID:25762333

Has HIV/AIDS displaced other health funding priorities? Evidence from a new dataset of development aid for health.

PubMed

Lordan, Grace; Tang, Kam Ki; Carmignani, Fabrizio

2011-08-01

In recent times there has been a sense that HIV/AIDS control has been attracting a significantly larger portion of donor health funding to the extent that it crowds out funding for other health concerns. Although there is no doubt that HIV/AIDS has absorbed a large share of development assistance for health (DAH), whether HIV/AIDS is actually diverting funding away from other health concerns has yet to be analyzed fully. To fill this vacuum, this study aims to test if a higher level of HIV/AIDS funding is related to a displacement in funding for other health concerns, and if yes, to quantify the magnitude of the displacement effect. Specifically, we consider whether HIV/AIDS DAH has displaced i) TB, ii) malaria iii) health sector and 'other' DAH in terms of the dollar amount received for aid. We consider this question within a regression framework controlling for time and recipient heterogeneity. We find displacement effects for malaria and health sector funding but not TB. In particular, the displacement effect for malaria is large and worrying. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adsorption-Coupled Diffusion of Gold Nanoclusters within a Large-Pore Protein Crystal Scaffold.

PubMed

Hartje, Luke F; Munsky, Brian; Ni, Thomas W; Ackerson, Christopher J; Snow, Christopher D

2017-08-17

Large-pore protein crystals (LPCs) are ordered biologically derived nanoporous materials exhibiting pore diameters greater than 8 nm. These substantial pores distinguish LPCs from typical nanoporous scaffolds, enabling engineered LPC materials to readily uptake, immobilize, and release macromolecular guests. In this study, macromolecular transport within an LPC environment was experimentally and computationally investigated by studying adsorption-coupled diffusion of Au 25 (glutathione) 18 nanoclusters within a cross-linked LPC scaffold via time-lapse confocal microscopy, bulk equilibrium adsorption, and hindered diffusion simulation. Equilibrium adsorption data is congruent with a Langmuir adsorption model, exhibiting strong binding behavior between nanoclusters and the scaffold. The standard Gibbs free energy of binding is equivalent to -37.2 kJ/mol, and the maximum binding capacity of 1.25 × 10 3 mg/g corresponds to approximately 29 nanoclusters per LPC unit cell. The hindered diffusion model showed good agreement with experimental data, revealing a pore diffusion coefficient of 3.7 × 10 -7 cm 2 /s under low nanocluster concentration. Furthermore, the model was sufficient to determine adsorption and desorption kinetic values for k a and k d equal to 13 cm 3 /mol·s and 1.7 × 10 -7 s -1 , respectively. At higher nanocluster concentrations, the simulated pore diffusion coefficient could be reduced by 3 orders of magnitude to 3.4 × 10 -10 cm 2 /s due to the effects of pore occlusion. This study demonstrates a strategy to analyze adsorption-coupled diffusion data to better understand complex transport of fluorescent macromolecules into LPCs. This approach fits the observable fluorescence data to the key molecular details and will benefit downstream efforts to engineer LPC-based nanoporous materials.

A Host-Dependent Prognostic Model for Elderly Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.

PubMed

Miura, Katsuhiro; Konishi, Jun; Miyake, Takaaki; Makita, Masanori; Hojo, Atsuko; Masaki, Yasufumi; Uno, Masatoshi; Ozaki, Jun; Yoshida, Chikamasa; Niiya, Daigo; Kitazume, Koichi; Maeda, Yoshinobu; Takizawa, Jun; Sakai, Rika; Yano, Tomofumi; Yamamoto, Kazuhiko; Sunami, Kazutaka; Hiramatsu, Yasushi; Aoyama, Kazutoshi; Tsujimura, Hideki; Murakami, Jun; Hatta, Yoshihiro; Kanno, Masatoshi

2017-05-01

Decision-making models for elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) are in great demand. The Society of Lymphoma Treatment in Japan (SoLT-J), in collaboration with the West-Japan Hematology and Oncology Group (West-JHOG), collected and retrospectively analyzed the clinical records of ≥65-year-old patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP from 19 sites across Japan to build an algorithm that can stratify adherence to R-CHOP. A total of 836 patients with a median age of 74 years (range, 65-96 years) were analyzed. In the SoLT-J cohort ( n  = 555), age >75 years, serum albumin level <3.7 g/dL, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score ≥3 were independent adverse risk factors and were defined as the Age, Comorbidities, and Albumin (ACA) index. Based on their ACA index score, patients were categorized into "excellent" (0 points), "good" (1 point), "moderate" (2 points), and "poor" (3 points) groups. This grouping effectively discriminated the 3-year overall survival rates, mean relative total doses (or relative dose intensity) of anthracycline and cyclophosphamide, unanticipated R-CHOP discontinuance rates, febrile neutropenia rates, and treatment-related death rates. Additionally, the ACA index showed comparable results for these clinical parameters when it was applied to the West-JHOG cohort ( n  = 281). The ACA index has the ability to stratify the prognosis, tolerability to cytotoxic drugs, and adherence to treatment of elderly patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP. The Oncologist 2017;22:554-560 IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Currently, little is known regarding how to identify elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who may tolerate a full dose of chemotherapy or to what extent cytotoxic drugs should be reduced in some specific conditions. The Society of Lymphoma Treatment in Japan developed a host-dependent prognostic model consisting of

Inherited variation in immune response genes in follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Nielsen, Kaspar Rene; Steffensen, Rudi; Haunstrup, Thure Mors; Bødker, Julie Støve; Dybkær, Karen; Baech, John; Bøgsted, Martin; Johnsen, Hans Erik

2015-01-01

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) both depend on immune-mediated survival and proliferation signals from the tumor microenvironment. Inherited genetic variation influences this complex interaction. A total of 89 studies investigating immune-response genes in DLBCL and FL were critically reviewed. Relatively consistent association exists for variation in the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFA) and interleukin-10 loci and DLBCL risk; for DLBCL outcome association with the TNFA locus exists. Variations at chromosome 6p31-32 were associated with FL risk. Importantly, individual risk alleles have been shown to interact with each other. We suggest that the pathogenetic impact of polymorphic genes should include gene-gene interaction analysis and should be validated in preclinical model systems of normal B lymphopoiesis and B-cell malignancies. In the future, large cohort studies of interactions and genome-wide association studies are needed to extend the present findings and explore new risk alleles to be studied in preclinical models.

Diffusion through Pig Gastric Mucin: Effect of Relative Humidity

PubMed Central

Runnsjö, Anna; Dabkowska, Aleksandra P.; Sparr, Emma; Kocherbitov, Vitaly; Arnebrant, Thomas; Engblom, Johan

2016-01-01

Mucus covers the epithelium found in all intestinal tracts, where it serves as an important protecting barrier, and pharmaceutical drugs administrated by the oral, rectal, vaginal, ocular, or nasal route need to penetrate the mucus in order to reach their targets. Furthermore, the diffusion in mucus as well as the viscosity of mucus in the eyes, nose and throat can change depending on the relative humidity of the surrounding air. In this study we have investigated how diffusion through gels of mucin, the main protein in mucus, is affected by changes in ambient relative humidity (i.e. water activity). Already a small decrease in water activity was found to give rise to a significant decrease in penetration rate through the mucin gel of the antibacterial drug metronidazole. We also show that a decrease in water activity leads to decreased diffusion rate in the mucin gel for the fluorophore fluorescein. This study shows that it is possible to alter transport rates of molecules through mucus by changing the water activity in the gel. It furthermore illustrates the importance of considering effects of the water activity in the mucosa during development of potential pharmaceuticals. PMID:27336158

HIV/AIDS Related Stigma and Discrimination against PLWHA in Nigerian Population

PubMed Central

Bulgiba, Awang; Oche, Oche Mansur; Adekunjo, Felix Oluyemi

2015-01-01

Background HIV/AIDS remain a major public health concern in Nigeria. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) face not only personal medical problems but also social problems associated with the disease such as stigma and discriminatory attitudes. This study provides an insight into HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination against PLWHA in Nigeria. Methods The data for this study was extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the National Population Commission. All men and women aged 15–49 years, permanent residents and visitors of the households were eligible for the interview. Several questionnaires were used in the survey, some covering questions on HIV/AIDS. Results A total of 56 307 men and women aged 15–49 years participated in this national survey. About half of the population in Nigeria have HIV stigma. Younger persons, men, those without formal education and those within poor wealth index are more likely to have stigma towards PLWHA. In addition, married people are more likely to have stigma on PLWHA and are more likely to blame PLWHA for bringing the disease to the community. Also about half of the population discriminates against PLWHA. However, those with higher levels of education and those from higher wealth index seem to be more compassionate towards PLWHA. About 70% in the population are willing to care for relative with AIDS, even more so among those with higher level of education. Conclusion There is a high level of HIV stigma and discrimination against PLWHA in the Nigerian population. Education seems to play a major role in the society with respect to HIV stigma and discrimination against PLWHA. Educating the population with factual information on HIV/AIDS is needed to reduce stigma and discrimination towards PLWHA in the community. PMID:26658767

HIV/AIDS Related Stigma and Discrimination against PLWHA in Nigerian Population.

PubMed

Dahlui, Maznah; Azahar, Nazar; Bulgiba, Awang; Zaki, Rafdzah; Oche, Oche Mansur; Adekunjo, Felix Oluyemi; Chinna, Karuthan

2015-01-01

HIV/AIDS remain a major public health concern in Nigeria. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) face not only personal medical problems but also social problems associated with the disease such as stigma and discriminatory attitudes. This study provides an insight into HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination against PLWHA in Nigeria. The data for this study was extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the National Population Commission. All men and women aged 15-49 years, permanent residents and visitors of the households were eligible for the interview. Several questionnaires were used in the survey, some covering questions on HIV/AIDS. A total of 56 307 men and women aged 15-49 years participated in this national survey. About half of the population in Nigeria have HIV stigma. Younger persons, men, those without formal education and those within poor wealth index are more likely to have stigma towards PLWHA. In addition, married people are more likely to have stigma on PLWHA and are more likely to blame PLWHA for bringing the disease to the community. Also about half of the population discriminates against PLWHA. However, those with higher levels of education and those from higher wealth index seem to be more compassionate towards PLWHA. About 70% in the population are willing to care for relative with AIDS, even more so among those with higher level of education. There is a high level of HIV stigma and discrimination against PLWHA in the Nigerian population. Education seems to play a major role in the society with respect to HIV stigma and discrimination against PLWHA. Educating the population with factual information on HIV/AIDS is needed to reduce stigma and discrimination towards PLWHA in the community.

Paclitaxel is safe and effective in the treatment of advanced AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma.

PubMed

Gill, P S; Tulpule, A; Espina, B M; Cabriales, S; Bresnahan, J; Ilaw, M; Louie, S; Gustafson, N F; Brown, M A; Orcutt, C; Winograd, B; Scadden, D T

1999-06-01

Liposomal anthracyclines are the present standard treatment for advanced AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). No effective therapies have been defined for use after treatment failure of these agents. A phase II trial was thus conducted with paclitaxel in patients with advanced KS to assess safety and antitumor activity. A regimen of paclitaxel at a dose of 100 mg/m(2) was given every 2 weeks to patients with advanced AIDS-related KS. Patients were treated until complete remission, disease progression, or unacceptable toxicity occurred. Fifty-six patients with advanced AIDS-related KS were accrued. Tumor-associated edema was present in 70% of patients and visceral involvement in 45%. Forty patients (71%) had received prior systemic therapy; 31 of these were resistant to an anthracycline. The median entry CD4(+) lymphocyte count was 20 cells/mm(3) (range, 0 to 358). A median of 10 cycles (range, 1 to 54+) of paclitaxel was administered. Fifty-nine percent of patients showed complete (n = 1) or partial response (n = 32) to paclitaxel. The median duration of response was 10.4 months (range, 2.8 to 26.7+ months) and the median survival was 15.4 months. The main side effects of therapy were grade 3 or 4 neutropenia in 61% of patients and mild-to-moderate alopecia in 87%. Paclitaxel at 100 mg/m(2) given every 2 weeks is active and well tolerated in the treatment of advanced and previously treated AIDS-related KS. The median duration of response is among the longest observed for any regimen or single agent reported for AIDS-related KS. Paclitaxel at this dosage and schedule is a treatment option for patients with advanced AIDS-related KS, including those who have experienced treatment failure of prior systemic therapy.

[AIDS-related early mortality in Mexico between 2008 and 2012].

PubMed

Silverman-Retana, Omar; Bautista-Arredondo, Sergio; Serván-Mori, Edson; Lozano, Rafael

2015-01-01

To describe the distribution of AIDS-related mortality according to the time of occurrence since entry to the System for the Administration, Logistics and Surveillance of Antiretrovirals (SALVAR, in Spanish), among users of Ministry of Health facilities in Mexico. Descriptive analysis of AIDS mortality and the related clinical and demographic profile of 41847 patients registered in SALVAR. 3195 patients (8.1%) died within the study period, 59% of these deaths occurred within six months after treatment initiation. Among those patients, 87.3% were diagnosed late, given their CD4 levels (CD4cel<200 cel/ml³). Our results underscore the need to strengthen programs aimed to increase opportune HIV diagnosis and linkage to care, as a key component of universal access policy to antiretroviral treatment in Mexico.

New MYC IHC Classifier Integrating Quantitative Architecture Parameters to Predict MYC Gene Translocation in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

PubMed Central

Dong, Wei-Feng; Canil, Sarah; Lai, Raymond; Morel, Didier; Swanson, Paul E.; Izevbaye, Iyare

2018-01-01

A new automated MYC IHC classifier based on bivariate logistic regression is presented. The predictor relies on image analysis developed with the open-source ImageJ platform. From a histologic section immunostained for MYC protein, 2 dimensionless quantitative variables are extracted: (a) relative distance between nuclei positive for MYC IHC based on euclidean minimum spanning tree graph and (b) coefficient of variation of the MYC IHC stain intensity among MYC IHC-positive nuclei. Distance between positive nuclei is suggested to inversely correlate MYC gene rearrangement status, whereas coefficient of variation is suggested to inversely correlate physiological regulation of MYC protein expression. The bivariate classifier was compared with 2 other MYC IHC classifiers (based on percentage of MYC IHC positive nuclei), all tested on 113 lymphomas including mostly diffuse large B-cell lymphomas with known MYC fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) status. The bivariate classifier strongly outperformed the “percentage of MYC IHC-positive nuclei” methods to predict MYC+ FISH status with 100% sensitivity (95% confidence interval, 94-100) associated with 80% specificity. The test is rapidly performed and might at a minimum provide primary IHC screening for MYC gene rearrangement status in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Furthermore, as this bivariate classifier actually predicts “permanent overexpressed MYC protein status,” it might identify nontranslocation-related chromosomal anomalies missed by FISH. PMID:27093450

AIDS-related health behavior: coping, protection motivation, and previous behavior.

PubMed

Van der Velde, F W; Van der Pligt, J

1991-10-01

The purpose of this study was to examine Rogers' protection motivation theory and aspects of Janis and Mann's conflict theory in the context of AIDS-related health behavior. Subjects were 84 heterosexual men and women and 147 homosexual men with multiple sexual partners; LISREL's path-analysis techniques were used to evaluate the goodness of fit of the structural equation models. Protection motivation theory did fit the data but had considerably more explanatory power for heterosexual than for homosexual subjects (49 vs. 22%, respectively). When coping styles were added, different patterns of findings were found among both groups. Adding variables such as social norms and previous behavior increased the explained variance to 73% for heterosexual subjects and to 44% for homosexual subjects. It was concluded that although protection motivation theory did fit the data fairly adequately, expanding the theory with other variables--especially those related to previous behavior--could improve our understanding of AIDS-related health behavior.

[Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the uterus complicated with hydronephrosis].

PubMed

Isosaka, Mai; Hayashi, Toshiaki; Mitsuhashi, Kei; Tanaka, Michihiro; Adachi, Takeya; Kondo, Yoshihiro; Suzuki, Takashi; Shinomura, Yasuhisa

2013-04-01

Malignant lymphoma sometimes originates from extranodal sites; however, the uterus has rarely been reported as the site of the primary lesion. We present a patient with malignant lymphoma of the uterus complicating bilateral hydronephrosis. A 67-year-old previously healthy woman was seen at a clinic because of massive genital bleeding. She was referred to our hospital for further examination of a uterine tumor. Computed tomography scans revealed a pelvic tumor invading to the retroperitoneal region, which caused bilateral obstruction of the ureters and hydronephrosis. No lymph node swelling was detected. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a bulky uterine tumor that was homogenously low on T1-weighted imaging and isointense on T2-weighted imaging, while the endometrium was intact. A pathological examination of the biopsy specimen from the uterine cervix revealed diffuse infiltration of CD20-positive atypical large lymphoid cells, which was compatible with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Since the tumor expanded from the uterus and no other abnormal lesion was observed in imaging studies including gallium scintigraphy, a diagnosis of DLBCL of the uterus, clinical stage IE was made. The patient received six cycles of rituximab plus CHOP chemotherapy followed by involved field irradiation. She achieved complete remission and has been alive for more than two years without relapse.

The special theory of Brownian relativity: equivalence principle for dynamic and static random paths and uncertainty relation for diffusion.

PubMed

Mezzasalma, Stefano A

2007-03-15

The theoretical basis of a recent theory of Brownian relativity for polymer solutions is deepened and reexamined. After the problem of relative diffusion in polymer solutions is addressed, its two postulates are formulated in all generality. The former builds a statistical equivalence between (uncorrelated) timelike and shapelike reference frames, that is, among dynamical trajectories of liquid molecules and static configurations of polymer chains. The latter defines the "diffusive horizon" as the invariant quantity to work with in the special version of the theory. Particularly, the concept of universality in polymer physics corresponds in Brownian relativity to that of covariance in the Einstein formulation. Here, a "universal" law consists of a privileged observation, performed from the laboratory rest frame and agreeing with any diffusive reference system. From the joint lack of covariance and simultaneity implied by the Brownian Lorentz-Poincaré transforms, a relative uncertainty arises, in a certain analogy with quantum mechanics. It is driven by the difference between local diffusion coefficients in the liquid solution. The same transformation class can be used to infer Fick's second law of diffusion, playing here the role of a gauge invariance preserving covariance of the spacetime increments. An overall, noteworthy conclusion emerging from this view concerns the statistics of (i) static macromolecular configurations and (ii) the motion of liquid molecules, which would be much more related than expected.

Sunitinib Malate in Treating HIV-Positive Patients With Cancer Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy

ClinicalTrials.gov

2014-03-14

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Multilineage Dysplasia Following Myelodysplastic Syndrome; Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Adult Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis; Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Aggressive NK-cell Leukemia; AIDS-related Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Malignancies; AIDS-related Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL1 Negative; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Essential Thrombocythemia; Extramedullary Plasmacytoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma; HIV Infection; HIV-associated Hodgkin Lymphoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Isolated Plasmacytoma of Bone; Light Chain Deposition Disease; Mast Cell Leukemia; Myelodysplastic Syndrome With Isolated Del(5q); Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Myeloid/NK-cell Acute Leukemia; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncutaneous Extranodal Lymphoma; Osteolytic Lesions of Multiple Myeloma; Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma; Plasma Cell Neoplasm; Polycythemia Vera; Post

Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the business community relative to HIV-AIDS.

PubMed Central

Farnham, P G

1991-01-01

One of the goals of the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) policy on the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is to support business organizations in implementing HIV and AIDS information, education, and prevention activities. However, the response of the American business community to HIV infection and AIDS has been varied. Although company executives consider AIDS to be one of the leading problems in the country, surveys typically indicate that less than one-third of businesses have or are developing some type of AIDS policy. The workplace appears to be a valid site for AIDS information and education programs, given the weight employees attach to information received there. However, workplace education and information programs are undertaken primarily by large companies. Many small companies do not devote much time and effort to these activities, even though extensive, indepth educational programs are likely to have positive impacts on worker attitudes and behavior, whereas short programs or literature distribution may only increase workers' fears. The question of what is an effective workplace program still needs additional research. Very little is known about the magnitude of the costs of HIV infection and AIDS to business. These costs, which are affected by the changing roles of employer-based health insurance, cost shifting, and public programs, will influence how employers react to the epidemic and how they respond to CDC's prevention initiatives. PMID:1956975

Age-related apparent diffusion coefficient changes in the normal brain.

PubMed

Watanabe, Memi; Sakai, Osamu; Ozonoff, Al; Kussman, Steven; Jara, Hernán

2013-02-01

To measure the mean diffusional age-related changes of the brain over the full human life span by using diffusion-weighted spin-echo single-shot echo-planar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and sequential whole-brain apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram analysis and, secondarily, to build mathematical models of these normal age-related changes throughout human life. After obtaining institutional review board approval, a HIPAA-compliant retrospective search was conducted for brain MR imaging studies performed in 2007 for various clinical indications. Informed consent was waived. The brain data of 414 healthy subjects (189 males and 225 females; mean age, 33.7 years; age range, 2 days to 89.3 years) were obtained with diffusion-weighted spin-echo single-shot echo-planar MR imaging. ADC histograms of the whole brain were generated. ADC peak values, histogram widths, and intracranial volumes were plotted against age, and model parameters were estimated by using nonlinear regression. Four different stages were identified for aging changes in ADC peak values, as characterized by specific mathematical terms: There were age-associated exponential decays for the maturation period and the development period, a constant term for adulthood, and a linear increase for the senescence period. The age dependency of ADC peak value was simulated by using four-term six-coefficient function, including biexponential and linear terms. This model fit the data very closely (R(2) = 0.91). Brain diffusivity as a whole demonstrated age-related changes through four distinct periods of life. These results could contribute to establishing an ADC baseline of the normal brain, covering the full human life span.

Adsorption and diffusion of Ru adatoms on Ru(0001)-supported graphene: Large-scale first-principles calculations

DOE PAGES

Han, Yong; Evans, James W.

2015-10-27

Large-scale first-principles density functional theory calculations are performed to investigate the adsorption and diffusion of Ru adatoms on monolayer graphene (G) supported on Ru(0001). The G sheet exhibits a periodic moiré-cell superstructure due to lattice mismatch. Within a moiré cell, there are three distinct regions: fcc, hcp, and mound, in which the C6-ring center is above a fcc site, a hcp site, and a surface Ru atom of Ru(0001), respectively. The adsorption energy of a Ru adatom is evaluated at specific sites in these distinct regions. We find the strongest binding at an adsorption site above a C atom inmore » the fcc region, next strongest in the hcp region, then the fcc-hcp boundary (ridge) between these regions, and the weakest binding in the mound region. Behavior is similar to that observed from small-unit-cell calculations of Habenicht et al. [Top. Catal. 57, 69 (2014)], which differ from previous large-scale calculations. We determine the minimum-energy path for local diffusion near the center of the fcc region and obtain a local diffusion barrier of ~0.48 eV. We also estimate a significantly lower local diffusion barrier in the ridge region. These barriers and information on the adsorption energy variation facilitate development of a realistic model for the global potential energy surface for Ru adatoms. Furthermore, this in turn enables simulation studies elucidating diffusion-mediated directed-assembly of Ru nanoclusters during deposition of Ru on G/Ru(0001).« less

Adsorption and diffusion of Ru adatoms on Ru(0001)-supported graphene: Large-scale first-principles calculations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Han, Yong; Evans, James W.

2015-10-28

Large-scale first-principles density functional theory calculations are performed to investigate the adsorption and diffusion of Ru adatoms on monolayer graphene (G) supported on Ru(0001). The G sheet exhibits a periodic moiré-cell superstructure due to lattice mismatch. Within a moiré cell, there are three distinct regions: fcc, hcp, and mound, in which the C{sub 6}-ring center is above a fcc site, a hcp site, and a surface Ru atom of Ru(0001), respectively. The adsorption energy of a Ru adatom is evaluated at specific sites in these distinct regions. We find the strongest binding at an adsorption site above a C atommore » in the fcc region, next strongest in the hcp region, then the fcc-hcp boundary (ridge) between these regions, and the weakest binding in the mound region. Behavior is similar to that observed from small-unit-cell calculations of Habenicht et al. [Top. Catal. 57, 69 (2014)], which differ from previous large-scale calculations. We determine the minimum-energy path for local diffusion near the center of the fcc region and obtain a local diffusion barrier of ∼0.48 eV. We also estimate a significantly lower local diffusion barrier in the ridge region. These barriers and information on the adsorption energy variation facilitate development of a realistic model for the global potential energy surface for Ru adatoms. This in turn enables simulation studies elucidating diffusion-mediated directed-assembly of Ru nanoclusters during deposition of Ru on G/Ru(0001)« less

CD19/CD22 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells and Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Refractory CD19 Positive Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma or B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-01-25

B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; CD19 Positive; Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Associated With Chronic Inflammation; Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Not Otherwise Specified; Epstein-Barr Virus Positive Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma of the Elderly; Minimal Residual Disease; Philadelphia Chromosome Positive; Recurrent Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Mediastinal (Thymic) Large B-Cell Cell Lymphoma; T-Cell/Histiocyte-Rich Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Thalamic diffusion differences related to cognitive function in white matter lesions.

PubMed

Fernández-Andújar, Marina; Soriano-Raya, Juan José; Miralbell, Júlia; López-Cancio, Elena; Cáceres, Cynthia; Bargalló, Núria; Barrios, Maite; Arenillas, Juan Francisco; Toran, Pere; Alzamora, Maite; Clemente, Imma; Dávalos, Antoni; Mataró, Maria

2014-05-01

Cerebral white matter lesions (WMLs) are related to cognitive deficits, probably due to a disruption of frontal-subcortical circuits. We explored thalamic diffusion differences related to white matter lesions (WMLs) and their association with cognitive function in middle-aged individuals. Ninety-six participants from the Barcelona-AsIA Neuropsychology Study were included. Participants were classified into groups based on low grade and high grade of periventricular hyperintensities (PVHs) and deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMHs). Tract-Based Spatial Statistics was used to study thalamic diffusion differences between groups. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) values in significant areas were calculated for each subject and correlated with cognitive performance. Participants with high-grade PVHs and DWMHs showed lower FA thalamic values compared to those with low-grade PVHs and DWMHs, respectively. Decreased FA thalamic values in high-grade DWMHs, but not high-grade PVH, were related to lower levels of performance in psychomotor speed, verbal fluency, and visuospatial skills. Thalamic diffusion differences are related to lower cognitive function only in participants with high-grade DWMHs. These results support the hypothesis that fronto-subcortical disruption is associated with cognitive function only in DWMHs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Central nervous system event in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the rituximab era.

PubMed

Tomita, Naoto; Yokoyama, Masahiro; Yamamoto, Wataru; Watanabe, Reina; Shimazu, Yutaka; Masaki, Yasufumi; Tsunoda, Saburo; Hashimoto, Chizuko; Murayama, Kayoko; Yano, Takahiro; Okamoto, Rumiko; Kikuchi, Ako; Tamura, Kazuo; Sato, Kazuya; Sunami, Kazutaka; Shibayama, Hirohiko; Takimoto, Rishu; Ohshima, Rika; Hatta, Yoshihiro; Moriuchi, Yukiyoshi; Kinoshita, Tomohiro; Yamamoto, Masahide; Numata, Ayumi; Ishigatsubo, Yoshiaki; Takeuchi, Kengo

2012-02-01

Central nervous system (CNS) events, including CNS relapse and progression to CNS, are known to be serious complications in the clinical course of patients with lymphoma. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of CNS events in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the rituximab era. We performed a retrospective survey of Japanese patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who underwent primary therapy with R-CHOP chemoimmunotherapy between September 2003 and December 2006. Patients who had received any prophylactic CNS treatment were excluded. Clinical data from 1221 patients were collected from 47 institutions. The median age of patients was 64 years (range, 15-91 years). We noted 82 CNS events (6.7%) and the cumulative 5-year probability of CNS events was 8.4%. Patients with a CNS event demonstrated significantly worse overall survival (P < 0.001). The 2-year overall survival rate after a CNS event was 27.1%. In a multivariate analysis, involvement of breast (relative risk [RR] 10.5), adrenal gland (RR 4.6) and bone (RR 2.0) were identified as independent risk factors for CNS events. We conclude that patients with these risk factors, in addition to patients with testicular involvement in whom CNS prophylaxis has been already justified, are at high risk for CNS events in the rituximab era. The efficacy and manner of CNS prophylaxis in patients for each involvement site should be evaluated further. © 2011 Japanese Cancer Association.

Transient liquid phase diffusion bonding of Udimet 720 for Stirling power converter applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mittendorf, Donald L.; Baggenstoss, William G.

1992-01-01

Udimet 720 has been selected for use on Stirling power converters for space applications. Because Udimet 720 is generally considered susceptible to strain age cracking if traditional fusion welding is used, other joining methods are being considered. A process for transient liquid phase diffusion bonding of Udimet 720 has been theoretically developed in an effort to eliminate the strain age crack concern. This development has taken into account such variables as final grain size, joint homogenization, joint efficiency related to bonding aid material, bonding aid material application method, and thermal cycle.

IgM, IgG and IgA rheumatoid factors and circulating immune complexes in patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex with serological abnormalities.

PubMed Central

Procaccia, S; Lazzarin, A; Colucci, A; Gasparini, A; Forcellini, P; Lanzanova, D; Foppa, C U; Novati, R; Zanussi, C

1987-01-01

To investigate some humoral aspects which may reflect the involvement of B lymphocytes in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), we used an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) to determine the levels of IgM, IgG and IgA rheumatoid factors (RF) in 16 patients suffering from full-blown AIDS and 32 patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC), in the clinical form of lymphoadenopathy syndrome (LAS), compared with 40 healthy, young heterosexual subjects. Both AIDS and ARC patients showed a greater incidence of high IgM RF levels, with mean values significantly higher than controls, but with no differences between the two pathological groups. IgG RF behaviour was similar in the two patient populations and the healthy subjects. IgA RF were significantly raised in AIDS and ARC. Further information on RF was obtained by determination of the immunoglobulin levels of the respective isotypes in the same patients. Mean IgG levels were above normal in AIDS and ARC patients, but the latter group showed a higher incidence of increased values and higher mean levels. The IgA isotype was significantly increased mainly in AIDS patients. The behaviour of IgM was virtually the same in the three groups studied. A difference between AIDS and ARC patients was established by the detection of circulating immune-complexes (IC) by the C1q-binding and CIC-conglutinin assays. IC were significantly high, by both methods, only in the ARC group, but normal or very low in AIDS. These overall findings suggest once again the impairment of B cell function in AIDS, with prevalent hyperactivation in ARC and exhaustion in full-blown AIDS, and apparent preservation, in the latter group, of the antibody responses which are more closely related to the activity of subsets of T helper cells. PMID:3608224

The role of individual and personality factors in controlling risky behaviours related to AIDS: Proposing a causal model.

PubMed

Rezaei, Mansour; Zakiei, Ali; Reshadat, Soheyla; Ghasemi, Seyed Ramin

2017-02-01

Investigating previous studies show that personality traits have an important role in controlling risky behaviours related to AIDS; therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between AIDS health literacy, personality traits and mental health and controlling risky behaviours related to AIDS through self-efficacy. The statistical population includes all the young people in western provinces of Iran, 2015. Data analysis was carried out for a sample of 756 participants (59% female). The results show that except for the socializing trait, all the other variables are related to controlling risky behaviours. In addition, variables of health literacy related to AIDS, mental health, activity, impulsive sensation seeking and hostility have a direct relation to controlling risky behaviours. Also, the predicting behaviours can predict 62% of the variance in controlling risky behaviours related to AIDS. The analysis results show that health literacy has an indirect impact on controlling risky behaviours through self-efficacy. In other words, health literacy related to AIDS leads to controlling risky behaviours when self-efficacy is high for controlling risky behaviours. Based on the results, it is recommended that the role of self-efficacy in controlling risky behaviours be considered as a strategy for preventing AIDS. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The 'end of AIDS' project: Mobilising evidence, bureaucracy, and big data for a final biomedical triumph over AIDS.

PubMed

Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne; Broomhall, Lorie; Fieno, John

2017-12-04

Efforts are currently underway by major orchestrators and funders of the global AIDS response to realise the vision of achieving an end to AIDS by 2030. Unlike previous efforts to provide policy guidance or to encourage 'best practice' approaches for combatting AIDS, the end of AIDS project involves the promotion of a clear set of targets, tools, and interventions for a final biomedical solution to the epidemic. In this paper, we examine the bureaucratic procedures of one major AIDS funder that helped to foster a common vision and mission amongst a global AIDS community with widely divergent views on how best to address the epidemic. We focus on the methods, movements, and materials that are central to the project of ending AIDS, including those related to biomedical forms of evidence and big data science. We argue that these approaches have limitations and social scientists need to pay close attention to the end of AIDS project, particularly in contexts where clinical interventions might transform clinical outcomes, but where the social, economic, and cultural determinants of HIV and AIDS remain largely intact and increasingly obscured.

Analysis and experimental study on formation conditions of large-scale barrier-free diffuse atmospheric pressure air plasmas in repetitive pulse mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Lee; Liu, Lun; Liu, Yun-Long; Bin, Yu; Ge, Ya-Feng; Lin, Fo-Chang

2014-01-01

Atmospheric air diffuse plasmas have enormous application potential in various fields of science and technology. Without dielectric barrier, generating large-scale air diffuse plasmas is always a challenging issue. This paper discusses and analyses the formation mechanism of cold homogenous plasma. It is proposed that generating stable diffuse atmospheric plasmas in open air should meet the three conditions: high transient power with low average power, excitation in low average E-field with locally high E-field region, and multiple overlapping electron avalanches. Accordingly, an experimental configuration of generating large-scale barrier-free diffuse air plasmas is designed. Based on runaway electron theory, a low duty-ratio, high voltage repetitive nanosecond pulse generator is chosen as a discharge excitation source. Using the wire-electrodes with small curvature radius, the gaps with highly non-uniform E-field are structured. Experimental results show that the volume-scaleable, barrier-free, homogeneous air non-thermal plasmas have been obtained between the gap spacing with the copper-wire electrodes. The area of air cold plasmas has been up to hundreds of square centimeters. The proposed formation conditions of large-scale barrier-free diffuse air plasmas are proved to be reasonable and feasible.

Diagnosis and Management of a Pancreaticopleural Fistula in a Patient with AIDS and a Large Pleural Effusion.

PubMed

Blayney, Margaret J; Nguyen, Andy; Aboulafia, David M

2016-11-01

Pleural effusions typically present with nonspecific pulmonary complaints in the setting of either acute or chronic diseases. In the general population, these illnesses include congestive heart failure, infection, and malignancy. However, in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), pleural effusions often result from opportunistic infections and AIDS-defining malignancies, such as Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy, there has been a decline in the frequency of AIDS-defining opportunistic infections and AIDS-defining cancers and an increase in certain non-AIDS-defining malignancies including lung cancer. Throughout this period, longer life expectancy in PLWHA has contributed to an increased risk of those chronic diseases that can result in pleural effusions. This case describes an HIV-infected man who was an active cigarette smoker and alcoholic and who presented with a large pleural effusion of uncertain etiology. The authors review several important noncardiac risk factors associated with pleural effusions in PLWHA. The authors also emphasize the importance of obtaining a detailed medical history and the use of appropriate imaging and laboratory tests in order to identify an underlying cause and to provide optimal treatment. © The Author(s) 2016.

Bio-ethical and legal issues in relation to HIV/AIDS: the Uganda experience.

PubMed

Yusuf, N K

1998-01-01

In Uganda, as in many other countries, there is a vacuum regarding an appropriate legal and ethical response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Whereas much has been done to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic in a multidisciplinary way, very little has been done regarding legal and ethical issues. Hence, cases of claimants to have cures for AIDS, spiritual healers and sale of fake drugs plus unauthorized vaccine and drug trials are on the increase. The rights and needs of people infected with HIV/AIDS are not adequately addressed. The property rights of those affected by the pandemic continue to be abused. Therefore there is need to mobilize doctors, lawyers and human rights activists who should advocate and address these issues. This paper therefore highlights the critical bio-ethical and legal issues in relation to HIV/AIDS.

[Primary Intracranial Malignant Lymphoma Associated with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome(AIDS):A Case Report].

PubMed

Inaka, Yasufumi; Otani, Naoki; Nishida, Sho; Fujii, Kazuya; Ueno, Hideaki; Tomura, Satoshi; Tomiyama, Arata; Osada, Hideo; Wada, Kojiro; Maeda, Takuya; Mori, Kentaro

2017-11-01

The spread of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)infection may result in an increased likelihood of surgery in patients with HIV infection. We treated a patient with intracranial malignant lymphoma associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS)caused by HIV infection. The recommendations of the countermeasure manual for AIDS were followed. Only surgical staff without finger injury or inflammation were permitted to be involved in the operation. All staff were dressed in a waterproof, full-body surgical gown, and wore double gloves, double foot covers, and an N95 mask. The surgery could be performed safely with such infection control measures. Histological examination revealed a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The patient was referred to the Division of Infectious Diseases and Respiratory Medicine for chemotherapy.

Immunophototherapy for the treatment of AIDS and AIDS-related infections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlager, Kenneth J.

1992-06-01

Immunophototherapy (IPT) is an experimental method of medical treatment that seeks to provide for the selective destruction of diseased cells and microbes such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-T4 cells and the rapid elimination of their toxic by-products from the human body. Photosensitive monoclonal or polyclonal antibody fragments, which are specific to the diseased cell or microbe, will be used to treat acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related infections. These antibody fragments are tagged with photosensitive compounds and metal colloids and then intravenously injected into the patient. The tagged antibodies quickly and selectively bind to the diseased cells or microbes in the blood stream and affected organs. These cells or microbes are then selectively destroyed by irradiation of these complexes with light of the proper wavelength. This light activates the photosensitive material which then creates singlet oxygen that destroys the microbe or cell. Toxic products of lysis are quickly discharged from the body by activation of the reticuloendothelial system. IPT has been demonstrated by Biotronics to be very effective in the in vitro selective destruction of specified cell types. In a proposed AIDS-treatment research program, IPT will be first demonstrated in vitro for a set of infected blood samples using commercially-available antibodies labeled with appropriate photosensitizers. Efficacy will be determined by a p24 antigen immunodiagnostic test that will indicate the % inhibition in comparison to controls and samples treated with the drug AZT. Subcontracted animal efficacy studies will use a SCID-hu mouse model and PCR/DNA-RNA for endpoint analysis. Toxicity studies of animal (rat) models will be based on post-treatment investigations of lymph nodes, spleen, liver and other organs.

AIDS-related dementia: a case report of rapid cognitive decline.

PubMed

Morgan, M K; Clark, M E; Hartman, W L

1988-11-01

Little is known psychometrically about the pattern of cognitive decline associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related dementia. Pre- and posttest results are presented to illustrate a case example of rapid cognitive decline. Increased psychometric assessment is recommended with additional examination of inconsistent results, which may be dismissed mistakenly as related to psychiatric symptoms. Implications for clinical practice and the role of the psychologist are discussed.

AIDS Clinical Research in Spain-Large HIV Population, Geniality of Doctors, and Missing Opportunities.

PubMed

Soriano, Vicente; Ramos, José M; Barreiro, Pablo; Fernandez-Montero, Jose V

2018-05-30

The first cases of AIDS in Spain were reported in 1982. Since then over 85,000 persons with AIDS have been cumulated, with 60,000 deaths. Current estimates for people living with HIV are of 145,000, of whom 20% are unaware of it. This explains the still high rate of late HIV presenters. Although the HIV epidemic in Spain was originally driven mostly by injection drug users, since the year 2000 men having sex with men (MSM) account for most new incident HIV cases. Currently, MSM represent over 80% of new yearly HIV diagnoses. In the 80s, a subset of young doctors and nurses working at Internal Medicine hospital wards became deeply engaged in attending HIV-infected persons. Before the introduction of antiretrovirals in the earlier 1990s, diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic infections was their major task. A new wave of infectious diseases specialists was born. Following the wide introduction of triple combination therapy in the late 1990s, drug side effects and antiretroviral resistance led to built a core of highly devoted HIV specialists across the country. Since then, HIV medicine has improved and currently is largely conducted by multidisciplinary teams of health care providers working at hospital-based outclinics, where HIV-positive persons are generally seen every six months. Antiretroviral therapy is currently prescribed to roughly 75,000 persons, almost all attended at clinics belonging to the government health public system. Overall, the impact of HIV/AIDS publications by Spanish teams is the third most important in Europe. HIV research in Spain has classically been funded mostly by national and European public agencies along with pharma companies. Chronologically, some of the major contributions of Spanish HIV research are being in the field of tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, leishmaniasis, HIV variants including HIV-2, drug resistance, pharmacology, antiretroviral drug-related toxicities, coinfection with viral hepatitis, design and participation in

A Host‐Dependent Prognostic Model for Elderly Patients with Diffuse Large B‐Cell Lymphoma

PubMed Central

Konishi, Jun; Miyake, Takaaki; Makita, Masanori; Hojo, Atsuko; Masaki, Yasufumi; Uno, Masatoshi; Ozaki, Jun; Yoshida, Chikamasa; Niiya, Daigo; Kitazume, Koichi; Maeda, Yoshinobu; Takizawa, Jun; Sakai, Rika; Yano, Tomofumi; Yamamoto, Kazuhiko; Sunami, Kazutaka; Hiramatsu, Yasushi; Aoyama, Kazutoshi; Tsujimura, Hideki; Murakami, Jun; Hatta, Yoshihiro; Kanno, Masatoshi

2017-01-01

Abstract Background. Decision‐making models for elderly patients with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R‐CHOP) are in great demand. Patients and Methods. The Society of Lymphoma Treatment in Japan (SoLT‐J), in collaboration with the West‐Japan Hematology and Oncology Group (West‐JHOG), collected and retrospectively analyzed the clinical records of ≥65‐year‐old patients with DLBCL treated with R‐CHOP from 19 sites across Japan to build an algorithm that can stratify adherence to R‐CHOP. Results. A total of 836 patients with a median age of 74 years (range, 65–96 years) were analyzed. In the SoLT‐J cohort (n = 555), age >75 years, serum albumin level <3.7 g/dL, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score ≥3 were independent adverse risk factors and were defined as the Age, Comorbidities, and Albumin (ACA) index. Based on their ACA index score, patients were categorized into “excellent” (0 points), “good” (1 point), “moderate” (2 points), and “poor” (3 points) groups. This grouping effectively discriminated the 3‐year overall survival rates, mean relative total doses (or relative dose intensity) of anthracycline and cyclophosphamide, unanticipated R‐CHOP discontinuance rates, febrile neutropenia rates, and treatment‐related death rates. Additionally, the ACA index showed comparable results for these clinical parameters when it was applied to the West‐JHOG cohort (n = 281). Conclusion. The ACA index has the ability to stratify the prognosis, tolerability to cytotoxic drugs, and adherence to treatment of elderly patients with DLBCL treated with R‐CHOP. The Oncologist 2017;22:554–560 Implications for Practice. Currently, little is known regarding how to identify elderly patients with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma who may tolerate a full dose of chemotherapy or to what extent cytotoxic drugs should be reduced in some specific

Pediatric mobility aid-related injuries treated in US emergency departments from 1991 to 2008.

PubMed

Barnard, Alison M; Nelson, Nicolas G; Xiang, Huiyun; McKenzie, Lara B

2010-06-01

Although mobility aids such as crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs are typically beneficial, they can be associated with injury. The objective of this study was to describe the incidence, patterns, and trends of pediatric mobility aid-related injuries to children and adolescents who were aged < or = 19 years and treated in US emergency departments between 1991 and 2008. A retrospective analysis was conducted by using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database for children and adolescents who were aged < or = 19 years. Sample weights were used to calculate national estimates of mobility aid-related injuries on the basis of 2301 actual cases. An estimated 63 309 cases of children and adolescents who were aged < or = 19 years were treated in US emergency departments for mobility aid-related injuries. Approximately 70% of mobility aid- related injuries occurred while patients were using wheelchairs. Children who were aged 2 to 10 years were more likely to sustain injuries while using walkers and wheelchairs, injure their heads, and sustain traumatic brain injuries. Children who were aged 11 to 19 years were more likely to sustain injuries while using crutches, injure their lower extremities, and sustain sprains and strains. Injuries involving wheelchairs were more likely to be traumatic brain injuries and result in hospitalization. Injuries involving crutches were more likely to involve misuse and be triggered by stairs or curbs. Injuries related to crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs have distinct injury patterns, mechanisms of injury, and trigger factors. Injury patterns between younger and older children were different. Additional research is needed to identify effective injury prevention strategies for the pediatric population.

Large eddy simulation on buoyant gas diffusion near building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tominaga, Yoshihide; Murakami, Shuzo; Mochida, Akashi

1992-12-01

Large eddy simulations on turbulent diffusion of buoyant gases near a building model are carried out for three cases in which the densimetric Froude Number (Frd) was specified at - 8.6, zero and 8.6 respectively. The accuracy of these simulations is examined by comparing the numerically predicted results with wind tunnel experiments conducted. Two types of sub-grid scale models, the standard Smagorinsky model (type 1) and the modified Smagorinsky model (type 2) are compared. The former does not take account of the production of subgrid energy by buoyancy force but the latter incorporates this effect. The latter model (type 2) gives more accurate results than those given by the standard Smagorinsky model (type 1) in terms of the distributions of kappa greater than sign C less than sign greater than sign C(sup - 2) less than sign.

Belief in AIDS-Related Conspiracy Theories and Mistrust in the Government: Relationship With HIV Testing Among At-Risk Older Adults

PubMed Central

Ford, Chandra L.

2013-01-01

Purpose: One in 4 persons living with HIV/AIDS is an older adult (age 50 or older); unfortunately, older adults are disproportionately diagnosed in late stages of HIV disease. Psychological barriers, including belief in AIDS-related conspiracy theories (e.g., HIV was created to eliminate certain groups) and mistrust in the government, may influence whether adults undergo HIV testing. We examined relationships between these factors and recent HIV testing among at-risk, older adults. Design and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among older adults enrolled in a large venue–based study. None had a previous diagnosis of HIV/AIDS; all were seeking care at venues with high HIV prevalence. We used multiple logistic regression to estimate the associations between self-reported belief in AIDS-related conspiracy theories, mistrust in the government, and HIV testing performed within the past 12 months. Results: Among the 226 participants, 30% reported belief in AIDS conspiracy theories, 72% reported government mistrust, and 45% reported not undergoing HIV testing within the past 12 months. Belief in conspiracy theories was positively associated with recent HIV testing (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05–3.60), whereas mistrust in the government was negatively associated with testing (OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.26–0.73). Implications: Psychological barriers are prevalent among at-risk older adults seeking services at venues with high HIV prevalences and may influence HIV testing. Identifying particular sources of misinformation and mistrust would appear useful for appropriate targeting of HIV testing strategies. PMID:23362210

A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study on the White Matter Skeleton in Individuals with Sports-Related Concussion

PubMed Central

Cubon, Valerie A.; Putukian, Margot; Boyer, Cynthia

2011-01-01

Abstract Recognizing and managing the effects of cerebral concussion is very challenging, given the discrete symptomatology. Most individuals with sports-related concussion will not score below 15 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, but will present with rapid onset of short-lived neurological impairment, demonstrating no structural changes on traditional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans. The return-to-play decision is one of the most difficult responsibilities facing the physician, and so far this decision has been primarily based on neurological examination, symptom checklists, and neuropsychological (NP) testing. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) may be a more objective tool to assess the severity and recovery of function after concussion. We assessed white matter (WM) fiber tract integrity in varsity level college athletes with sports-related concussion without loss of consciousness, who experienced protracted symptoms for at least 1 month after injury. Evaluation of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) of the WM skeleton using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) revealed a large cluster of significantly increased MD for concussed subjects in several WM fiber tracts in the left hemisphere, including parts of the inferior/superior longitudinal and fronto-occipital fasciculi, the retrolenticular part of the internal capsule, and posterior thalamic and acoustic radiations. Qualitative comparison of average FA and MD suggests that with increasing level of injury severity (ranging from sports-related concussion to severe traumatic brain injury), MD might be more sensitive at detecting mild injury, whereas FA captures more severe injuries. In conclusion, the TBSS analysis used to evaluate diffuse axonal injury of the WM skeleton seems sensitive enough to detect structural changes in sports-related concussion. PMID:21083414

The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey: EDIBLES I. Project description, survey sample and quality assessment.

PubMed

Cox, Nick L J; Cami, Jan; Farhang, Amin; Smoker, Jonathan; Monreal-Ibero, Ana; Lallement, Rosine; Sarre, Peter J; Marshall, Charlotte C M; Smith, Keith T; Evans, Christopher J; Royer, Pierre; Linnartz, Harold; Cordiner, Martin A; Joblin, Christine; van Loon, Jacco Th; Foing, Bernard H; Bhatt, Neil H; Bron, Emeric; Elyajouri, Meriem; de Koter, Alex; Ehrenfreund, Pascale; Javadi, Atefeh; Kaper, Lex; Khosroshadi, Habib G; Laverick, Mike; Le Petit, Franck; Mulas, Giacomo; Roueff, Evelyne; Salama, Farid; Spaans, Marco

2017-10-01

The carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are largely unidentified molecules ubiquitously present in the interstellar medium (ISM). After decades of study, two strong and possibly three weak near-infrared DIBs have recently been attributed to the [Formula: see text] fullerene based on observational and laboratory measurements. There is great promise for the identification of the over 400 other known DIBs, as this result could provide chemical hints towards other possible carriers. In an effort to systematically study the properties of the DIB carriers, we have initiated a new large-scale observational survey: the ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES). The main objective is to build on and extend existing DIB surveys to make a major step forward in characterising the physical and chemical conditions for a statistically significant sample of interstellar lines-of-sight, with the goal to reverse-engineer key molecular properties of the DIB carriers. EDIBLES is a filler Large Programme using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile. It is designed to provide an observationally unbiased view of the presence and behaviour of the DIBs towards early-spectral type stars whose lines-of-sight probe the diffuse-to-translucent ISM. Such a complete dataset will provide a deep census of the atomic and molecular content, physical conditions, chemical abundances and elemental depletion levels for each sightline. Achieving these goals requires a homogeneous set of high-quality data in terms of resolution ( R ~ 70 000 - 100 000), sensitivity (S/N up to 1000 per resolution element), and spectral coverage (305-1042 nm), as well as a large sample size (100+ sightlines). In this first paper the goals, objectives and methodology of the EDIBLES programme are described and an initial assessment of the data is provided.

The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES) . I. Project description, survey sample, and quality assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, Nick L. J.; Cami, Jan; Farhang, Amin; Smoker, Jonathan; Monreal-Ibero, Ana; Lallement, Rosine; Sarre, Peter J.; Marshall, Charlotte C. M.; Smith, Keith T.; Evans, Christopher J.; Royer, Pierre; Linnartz, Harold; Cordiner, Martin A.; Joblin, Christine; van Loon, Jacco Th.; Foing, Bernard H.; Bhatt, Neil H.; Bron, Emeric; Elyajouri, Meriem; de Koter, Alex; Ehrenfreund, Pascale; Javadi, Atefeh; Kaper, Lex; Khosroshadi, Habib G.; Laverick, Mike; Le Petit, Franck; Mulas, Giacomo; Roueff, Evelyne; Salama, Farid; Spaans, Marco

2017-10-01

The carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are largely unidentified molecules ubiquitously present in the interstellar medium (ISM). After decades of study, two strong and possibly three weak near-infrared DIBs have recently been attributed to the C60^+ fullerene based on observational and laboratory measurements. There is great promise for the identification of the over 400 other known DIBs, as this result could provide chemical hints towards other possible carriers. In an effort tosystematically study the properties of the DIB carriers, we have initiated a new large-scale observational survey: the ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES). The main objective is to build on and extend existing DIB surveys to make a major step forward in characterising the physical and chemical conditions for a statistically significant sample of interstellar lines-of-sight, with the goal to reverse-engineer key molecular properties of the DIB carriers. EDIBLES is a filler Large Programme using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile. It is designed to provide an observationally unbiased view of the presence and behaviour of the DIBs towards early-spectral-type stars whose lines-of-sight probe the diffuse-to-translucent ISM. Such a complete dataset will provide a deep census of the atomic and molecular content, physical conditions, chemical abundances and elemental depletion levels for each sightline. Achieving these goals requires a homogeneous set of high-quality data in terms of resolution (R 70 000-100 000), sensitivity (S/N up to 1000 per resolution element), and spectral coverage (305-1042 nm), as well as a large sample size (100+ sightlines). In this first paper the goals, objectives and methodology of the EDIBLES programme are described and an initial assessment of the data is provided.

The ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey: EDIBLES I. Project description, survey sample and quality assessment

PubMed Central

Cox, Nick L. J.; Cami, Jan; Farhang, Amin; Smoker, Jonathan; Monreal-Ibero, Ana; Lallement, Rosine; Sarre, Peter J.; Marshall, Charlotte C. M.; Smith, Keith T.; Evans, Christopher J.; Royer, Pierre; Linnartz, Harold; Cordiner, Martin A.; Joblin, Christine; van Loon, Jacco Th.; Foing, Bernard H.; Bhatt, Neil H.; Bron, Emeric; Elyajouri, Meriem; de Koter, Alex; Ehrenfreund, Pascale; Javadi, Atefeh; Kaper, Lex; Khosroshadi, Habib G.; Laverick, Mike; Le Petit, Franck; Mulas, Giacomo; Roueff, Evelyne; Salama, Farid; Spaans, Marco

2017-01-01

The carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are largely unidentified molecules ubiquitously present in the interstellar medium (ISM). After decades of study, two strong and possibly three weak near-infrared DIBs have recently been attributed to the C60+ fullerene based on observational and laboratory measurements. There is great promise for the identification of the over 400 other known DIBs, as this result could provide chemical hints towards other possible carriers. In an effort to systematically study the properties of the DIB carriers, we have initiated a new large-scale observational survey: the ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES). The main objective is to build on and extend existing DIB surveys to make a major step forward in characterising the physical and chemical conditions for a statistically significant sample of interstellar lines-of-sight, with the goal to reverse-engineer key molecular properties of the DIB carriers. EDIBLES is a filler Large Programme using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile. It is designed to provide an observationally unbiased view of the presence and behaviour of the DIBs towards early-spectral type stars whose lines-of-sight probe the diffuse-to-translucent ISM. Such a complete dataset will provide a deep census of the atomic and molecular content, physical conditions, chemical abundances and elemental depletion levels for each sightline. Achieving these goals requires a homogeneous set of high-quality data in terms of resolution (R ~ 70 000 – 100 000), sensitivity (S/N up to 1000 per resolution element), and spectral coverage (305–1042 nm), as well as a large sample size (100+ sightlines). In this first paper the goals, objectives and methodology of the EDIBLES programme are described and an initial assessment of the data is provided. PMID:29151608

Latinos and HIV/AIDS: Examining Factors Related to Disparity and Identifying Opportunities for Psychosocial Intervention Research

PubMed Central

Hendriksen, Ellen Setsuko; Collins, Erin Marie; Durán, Ron E.; Safren, Steven A.

2013-01-01

Latinos maintain an AIDS case rate more than 3 times higher than whites, a greater rate of progression to AIDS, and a higher rate of HIV/AIDS-related deaths. Three broad areas are reviewed related to these disparities: (1) relevant demographic, socioeconomic, and socio-cultural factors among Latinos; (2) drug abuse and mental health problems in Latinos relevant to HIV/AIDS outcomes; and (3) opportunities for psychosocial intervention. Latinos living with HIV are a rapidly growing group, are more severely impacted by HIV than whites, and confront unique challenges in coping with HIV/AIDS. A body of research suggests that depression, substance abuse, treatment adherence, health literacy, and access to healthcare may be fruitful targets for intervention research in this population. Though limited, the current literature suggests that psychosocial interventions that target these factors could help reduce HIV/AIDS disparities between Latinos and whites and could have important public health value. PMID:18498050

Isotope fractionation by multicomponent diffusion (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watkins, J. M.; Liang, Y.; Richter, F. M.; Ryerson, F. J.; DePaolo, D. J.

2013-12-01

the rate of CaO diffusion; in A-B, the total variation is 2.5‰ whereas in D-E it is only 1.3‰. The diffusion of isotopes in a multicomponent system is modeled using a new expression for the isotope-specific diffusive flux that includes self diffusion terms in addition to the multicomponent chemical diffusion matrix. Kinetic theory predicts a mass dependence on isotopic mobility, i.e., self diffusivity, but it is unknown whether or how the mass dependence on self diffusivity translates into a mass dependence on chemical diffusion coefficients. The new experimental results allow us to assess several empirical expressions relating the self diffusivity and its mass dependence to the elements of the diffusion matrix and their mass dependence. Several plausible theoretical treatments can fit the data equally well. We are currently at the stage where experiments are guiding the theoretical treatment of the isotope fractionation by diffusion problem, underscoring the importance of experiments for aiding interpretations of isotopic variations in nature.

Differences in gay men's AIDS risk knowledge and behavior patterns in high and low AIDS prevalence cities.

PubMed

St Lawrence, J S; Hood, H V; Brasfield, T; Kelly, J A

1989-01-01

Several studies have found reductions in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) risk practices among gay men in high AIDS-prevalence cities since the start of the AIDS crisis. Much less is known about risk behavior patterns among gay men in smaller cities, where AIDS cases are less common and the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection is relatively lower. In the study, men entering gay bars in three cities, one large and two small, completed anonymous surveys of sexual practices and AIDS risk knowledge. Men in high AIDS-prevalence areas were found to have had a greater number of sexual partners, were more knowledgeable about AIDS, were much more likely to engage in low-risk practices (such as mutual masturbation or body rubbing), and had unprotected anal intercourse less frequently than gay men in smaller cities. The most common sexual activity among gay men in the larger city was mutual masturbation, a low-risk practice. The most common sexual activity among gay men in the smaller cities was unprotected anal intercourse. Increased efforts are needed to educate gay men and to promote risk behavior changes among those living in smaller cities and in communities outside the prominent AIDS epicenters.

Cross-national diffusion of mental health policy

PubMed Central

Shen, Gordon C

2014-01-01

Background: Following the tenets of world polity and innovation diffusion theories, I focus on the coercive and mimetic forces that influence the diffusion of mental health policy across nations. International organizations’ mandates influence government behavior. Dependency on external resources, namely foreign aid, also affects governments’ formulation of national policy. And finally, mounting adoption in a region alters the risk, benefits, and information associated with a given policy. Methods: I use post-war, discrete time data spanning 1950 to 2011 and describing 193 nations’ mental health systems to test these diffusion mechanisms. Results: I find that the adoption of mental health policy is highly clustered temporally and spatially. Results provide support that membership in the World Health Organization (WHO), interdependence with neighbors and peers in regional blocs, national income status, and migrant sub-population are responsible for isomorphism. Aid, however, is an insufficient determinant of mental health policy adoption. Conclusion: This study examines the extent to which mental, neurological, and substance use disorder are addressed in national and international contexts through the lens of policy diffusion theory. It also adds to policy dialogues about non-communicable diseases as nascent items on the global health agenda. PMID:25337601

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-like DNA sequences in AIDS-related body-cavity-based lymphomas.

PubMed

Cesarman, E; Chang, Y; Moore, P S; Said, J W; Knowles, D M

1995-05-04

DNA fragments that appeared to belong to an unidentified human herpesvirus were recently found in more than 90 percent of Kaposi's sarcoma lesions associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). These fragments were also found in 6 of 39 tissue samples without Kaposi's sarcoma, including 3 malignant lymphomas, from patients with AIDS, but not in samples from patients without AIDS. We examined the DNA of 193 lymphomas from 42 patients with AIDS and 151 patients who did not have AIDS. We searched the DNA for sequences of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) by Southern blot hybridization, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), or both. The PCR products in the positive samples were sequences and compared with the KSHV sequences in Kaposi's sarcoma tissues from patients with AIDS. KSHV sequences were identified in eight lymphomas in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. All eight, and only these eight, were body-cavity-based lymphomas--that is, they were characterized by pleural, pericardial, or peritoneal lymphomatous effusions. All eight lymphomas also contained the Epstein-Barr viral genome. KSHV sequences were not found in the other 185 lymphomas. KSHV sequences were 40 to 80 times more abundant in the body-cavity-based lymphomas than in the Kaposi's sarcoma lesions. A high degree of conservation of KSHV sequences in Kaposi's sarcoma and in the eight lymphomas suggests the presence of the same agent in both lesions. The recently discovered KSHV DNA sequences occur in an unusual subgroup of AIDS-related B-cell lymphomas, but not in any other lymphoid neoplasm studied thus far. Our finding strongly suggests that a novel herpesvirus has a pathogenic role in AIDS-related body-cavity-based lymphomas.

Treatment of AIDS related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with combination mitoguazone dihydrochloride and low dose CHOP chemotherapy: results of a phase II study.

PubMed

Tulpule, Anil; Espina, Byron M; Pedro Santabarbara, A B; Palmer, Maria; Schiflett, Joanne; Boswell, William; Smith, Susan; Levine, Alexandra M

2004-01-01

To evaluate the response and side effects of combination therapy with low dose CHOP chemotherapy and mitoguazone dihydrochloride in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS-NHL). Eighteen patients newly diagnosed with intermediate or high-grade AIDS-NHL were treated with low dose CHOP as follows: day 1, cyclophosphamide 350 mg/m(2), intravenously (IV); doxorubicin 25mg/m(2) IV; vincristine 2mg IV; and prednisone 100mg given orally on days 1 through 5. In addition, mitoguazone dihydrochloride was given at a dose of 600 mg/m(2) IV on days 1 and 15 of each 28-day treatment cycle. Seventeen males and one female patient were accrued. Twelve patients had high-grade pathologies while the remainder had an intermediate grade pathology (diffuse large cell). The median CD4+ lymphocyte count was 98/dl (range 1-924). Three patients (17%) reported an AIDS-defining illness prior to lymphoma diagnosis. Of 14 evaluable patients, 6 (43%) achieved a complete remission and 5 (35%) a partial remission. The median failure free and overall survival times were 6.5 and 8.4 months, respectively. Major toxicity was hematologic with grade 3 or 4 neutropenia in 72%; two patients died of neutropenic sepsis. Mitoguazone in combination with low dose CHOP is a safe regimen, associated with a response rate of 79% (CR 43%, PR 36%, 95% CI=49-95%). These preliminary results suggest no major improvement in terms of response over use of CHOP without mitoguazone.

Acute white matter changes following sport-related concussion: A serial diffusion tensor and diffusion kurtosis tensor imaging study.

PubMed

Lancaster, Melissa A; Olson, Daniel V; McCrea, Michael A; Nelson, Lindsay D; LaRoche, Ashley A; Muftuler, L Tugan

2016-11-01

Recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that following sport-related concussion (SRC) physiological brain alterations may persist after an athlete has shown full symptom recovery. Diffusion MRI is a versatile technique to study white matter injury following SRC, yet serial follow-up studies in the very acute stages following SRC utilizing a comprehensive set of diffusion metrics are lacking. The aim of the current study was to characterize white matter changes within 24 hours of concussion in a group of high school and collegiate athletes, using Diffusion Tensor and Diffusion Kurtosis Tensor metrics. Participants were reassessed a week later. At 24 hours post-injury, the concussed group reported significantly more concussion symptoms than a well-matched control group and demonstrated poorer performance on a cognitive screening measure, yet these differences were nonsignificant at the 8-day follow-up. Similarly, within 24-hours after injury, the concussed group exhibited a widespread decrease in mean diffusivity, increased axial kurtosis and, to a lesser extent, decreased axial and radial diffusivities compared with control subjects. At 8 days post injury, the differences in these diffusion metrics were even more widespread in the injured athletes, despite improvement of symptoms and cognitive performance. These MRI findings suggest that the athletes might not have reached full physiological recovery a week after the injury. These findings have significant implications for the management of SRC because allowing an athlete to return to play before the brain has fully recovered from injury may have negative consequences. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3821-3834, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Large Advanced Space Systems (LASS) computer-aided design program additions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farrell, C. E.

1982-01-01

The LSS preliminary and conceptual design requires extensive iteractive analysis because of the effects of structural, thermal, and control intercoupling. A computer aided design program that will permit integrating and interfacing of required large space system (LSS) analyses is discussed. The primary objective of this program is the implementation of modeling techniques and analysis algorithms that permit interactive design and tradeoff studies of LSS concepts. Eight software modules were added to the program. The existing rigid body controls module was modified to include solar pressure effects. The new model generator modules and appendage synthesizer module are integrated (interfaced) to permit interactive definition and generation of LSS concepts. The mass properties module permits interactive specification of discrete masses and their locations. The other modules permit interactive analysis of orbital transfer requirements, antenna primary beam n, and attitude control requirements.

Parameterization of large-scale turbulent diffusion in the presence of both well-mixed and weakly mixed patchy layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osman, M. K.; Hocking, W. K.; Tarasick, D. W.

2016-06-01

Vertical diffusion and mixing of tracers in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) are not uniform, but primarily occur due to patches of turbulence that are intermittent in time and space. The effective diffusivity of regions of patchy turbulence is related to statistical parameters describing the morphology of turbulent events, such as lifetime, number, width, depth and local diffusivity (i.e., diffusivity within the turbulent patch) of the patches. While this has been recognized in the literature, the primary focus has been on well-mixed layers, with few exceptions. In such cases the local diffusivity is irrelevant, but this is not true for weakly and partially mixed layers. Here, we use both theory and numerical simulations to consider the impact of intermediate and weakly mixed layers, in addition to well-mixed layers. Previous approaches have considered only one dimension (vertical), and only a small number of layers (often one at each time step), and have examined mixing of constituents. We consider a two-dimensional case, with multiple layers (10 and more, up to hundreds and even thousands), having well-defined, non-infinite, lengths and depths. We then provide new formulas to describe cases involving well-mixed layers which supersede earlier expressions. In addition, we look in detail at layers that are not well mixed, and, as an interesting variation on previous models, our procedure is based on tracking the dispersion of individual particles, which is quite different to the earlier approaches which looked at mixing of constituents. We develop an expression which allows determination of the degree of mixing, and show that layers used in some previous models were in fact not well mixed and so produced erroneous results. We then develop a generalized model based on two dimensional random-walk theory employing Rayleigh distributions which allows us to develop a universal formula for diffusion rates for multiple two-dimensional layers with

The political context of AIDS-related stigma and knowledge in a South African township community

PubMed Central

Forsyth, Brian; Vandormael, Alain; Kershaw, Trace; Grobbelaar, Janis

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the presentation of AIDS-related stigma and knowledge within the political context of the South African government’s response to the AIDS epidemic. It was during the 2000 - 2004 period that key government officials publicly challenged the orthodox views of HIV/AIDS, with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, actively positing the primary role of poverty and other socio-economic stressors in the progression of the AIDS epidemic. This discursive position had real-time effects for AIDS policy-making and ultimately delayed the implementation of a national antiretroviral (ARV) rollout programme. Consequently this position was criticised by commentators in the media and elsewhere for contributing to an already widespread climate of AIDS stigmatisation and misinformation. To shed more light on these claims we conducted a survey in 2005 in Atteridgeville, a South African township, and compared results with those of a similar survey conducted shortly after ARV medications became available in 2004. Results indicated a reduction in AIDS stigma levels across the 1-year period, and that those participants who endorsed contentious political views (such as those expressed by key government officials) were more likely to have a higher level of AIDS-related stigma than those who disagreed. Nevertheless, this study cautions against drawing a causal relationship between the South African government’s position and AIDS-stigmatising attitudes, and suggests that further political and social factors be accounted for in an attempt to gain a fuller understanding of this seemingly complex relationship. PMID:18709210

Megestrol acetate in patients with AIDS-related cachexia.

PubMed

Von Roenn, J H; Armstrong, D; Kotler, D P; Cohn, D L; Klimas, N G; Tchekmedyian, N S; Cone, L; Brennan, P J; Weitzman, S A

1994-09-15

To compare the effects of oral suspensions of megestrol acetate, 800 mg/d, and placebo on body weight in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related weight loss. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Outpatient community and university patient care setting. Consecutive patients with AIDS who had substantial weight loss and anorexia were enrolled. Of 271 patients, 270 and 195 were evaluable for safety and efficacy, respectively. Patients were randomly assigned to receive placebo or megestrol acetate (100 mg, 400 mg, or 800 mg) daily for 12 weeks. The primary efficacy criterion was weight gain. Patients were evaluated at 4-week intervals for changes in weight and body composition, caloric intake, sense of well-being, toxic effects, and appetite. For evaluable patients receiving 800 mg of megestrol acetate per day, 64.2% gained 2.27 kg (5 pounds) or more compared with 21.4% of patients receiving placebo (P < 0.001). An intent-to-treat analysis showed significant differences (P = 0.002) between those receiving placebo and those receiving 800 mg of megestrol acetate for the number of patients who gained 2.27 kg (5 pounds) or more (8 of 32 [25%] compared with 38 of 61 [62.3%], respectively). Compared with patients receiving placebo at the time of maximum weight change, evaluable patients receiving megestrol acetate, 800 mg/d, reported improvement in overall well-being and had an increase in mean weight gain (-0.725 compared with 3.54 kg [-1.6 compared with +7.8 pounds]; P < 0.001), lean body mass (-0.772 compared with +1.14 kg [-1.7 compared with +2.5 pounds]; P < 0.001), appetite grade (P < 0.001), and caloric intake (-107 compared with +645.6 calories/d; P = 0.001). In patients with AIDS-related weight loss, megestrol acetate can stimulate appetite, food intake, and statistically significant weight gain that is associated with a patient-reported improvement in an overall sense of well-being.

Translational Research in NeuroAIDS: A Neuroimmune Pharmacology-Related Course

PubMed Central

Brown, Amanda; Shiramizu, Bruce; Nath, Avindra; Wojna, Valerie

2010-01-01

Neuroimmune pharmacology (NIP) can be considered a multidisciplinary science where areas of neuroscience, immunology, and pharmacology intersect in neurological disorders. The R25 training program titled “Translational Research in NeuroAIDS and Mental Health (TR-NAMH): An innovative mentoring program to promote diversity in NeuroAIDS Research (R25 MH080661)” at the Johns Hopkins University is a web-based interactive course with the goal to improve the capacity of high quality research by developing mentoring programs for (1) doctoral and postdoctoral candidates and junior faculty from racial and ethnic minorities and (2) non-minority individuals at the same levels, whose research focuses on NeuroAIDS disparity issues such as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). This web-based interactive course overcomes the limitations of traditional education such as access to expert faculty and financial burden of scientists from racial and ethnic minority groups in the field of NeuroAIDS research and NIP and identifies rich nurturing environments for investigators to support their careers. The TR-NAMH program identifies a cadre of talented students and investigators eager to commit to innovative educational and training sessions in NeuroAIDS and NIP. The interplay between NIP changes precipitated by HIV infection in the brain makes the study of HAND an outstanding way to integrate important concepts from these two fields. The course includes activities besides those related to didactic learning such as research training and long-term mentoring; hence, the newly learned topics in NIP are continually reinforced and implemented in real-time experiences. We describe how NIP is integrated in the TR-NAMH program in the context of HAND. PMID:20496178

Translational research in NeuroAIDS: a neuroimmune pharmacology-related course.

PubMed

Brown, Amanda; Shiramizu, Bruce; Nath, Avindra; Wojna, Valerie

2011-03-01

Neuroimmune pharmacology (NIP) can be considered a multidisciplinary science where areas of neuroscience, immunology, and pharmacology intersect in neurological disorders. The R25 training program titled "Translational Research in NeuroAIDS and Mental Health (TR-NAMH): An innovative mentoring program to promote diversity in NeuroAIDS Research (R25 MH080661)" at the Johns Hopkins University is a web-based interactive course with the goal to improve the capacity of high quality research by developing mentoring programs for (1) doctoral and postdoctoral candidates and junior faculty from racial and ethnic minorities and (2) non-minority individuals at the same levels, whose research focuses on NeuroAIDS disparity issues such as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). This web-based interactive course overcomes the limitations of traditional education such as access to expert faculty and financial burden of scientists from racial and ethnic minority groups in the field of NeuroAIDS research and NIP and identifies rich nurturing environments for investigators to support their careers. The TR-NAMH program identifies a cadre of talented students and investigators eager to commit to innovative educational and training sessions in NeuroAIDS and NIP. The interplay between NIP changes precipitated by HIV infection in the brain makes the study of HAND an outstanding way to integrate important concepts from these two fields. The course includes activities besides those related to didactic learning such as research training and long-term mentoring; hence, the newly learned topics in NIP are continually reinforced and implemented in real-time experiences. We describe how NIP is integrated in the TR-NAMH program in the context of HAND.

A large-area diffuse air discharge plasma excited by nanosecond pulse under a double hexagon needle-array electrode.

PubMed

Liu, Zhi-Jie; Wang, Wen-Chun; Yang, De-Zheng; Wang, Sen; Zhang, Shuai; Tang, Kai; Jiang, Peng-Chao

2014-01-01

A large-area diffuse air discharge plasma excited by bipolar nanosecond pulse is generated under a double hexagon needle-array electrode at atmospheric pressure. The images of the diffuse discharge, electric characteristics, and the optical emission spectra emitted from the diffuse air discharge plasma are obtained. Based on the waveforms of pulse voltage and current, the power consumption, and the power density of the diffuse air discharge plasma are investigated under different pulse peak voltages. The electron density and the electron temperature of the diffuse plasma are estimated to be approximately 1.42×10(11) cm(-3) and 4.4 eV, respectively. The optical emission spectra are arranged to determine the rotational and vibrational temperatures by comparing experimental with simulated spectra. Meanwhile, the rotational and vibrational temperatures of the diffuse discharge plasma are also discussed under different pulse peak voltages and pulse repetition rates, respectively. In addition, the diffuse air discharge plasma can form an area of about 70×50 mm(2) on the surface of dielectric layer and can be scaled up to the required size. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Edge Probability and Pixel Relativity-Based Speckle Reducing Anisotropic Diffusion.

PubMed

Mishra, Deepak; Chaudhury, Santanu; Sarkar, Mukul; Soin, Arvinder Singh; Sharma, Vivek

2018-02-01

Anisotropic diffusion filters are one of the best choices for speckle reduction in the ultrasound images. These filters control the diffusion flux flow using local image statistics and provide the desired speckle suppression. However, inefficient use of edge characteristics results in either oversmooth image or an image containing misinterpreted spurious edges. As a result, the diagnostic quality of the images becomes a concern. To alleviate such problems, a novel anisotropic diffusion-based speckle reducing filter is proposed in this paper. A probability density function of the edges along with pixel relativity information is used to control the diffusion flux flow. The probability density function helps in removing the spurious edges and the pixel relativity reduces the oversmoothing effects. Furthermore, the filtering is performed in superpixel domain to reduce the execution time, wherein a minimum of 15% of the total number of image pixels can be used. For performance evaluation, 31 frames of three synthetic images and 40 real ultrasound images are used. In most of the experiments, the proposed filter shows a better performance as compared to the state-of-the-art filters in terms of the speckle region's signal-to-noise ratio and mean square error. It also shows a comparative performance for figure of merit and structural similarity measure index. Furthermore, in the subjective evaluation, performed by the expert radiologists, the proposed filter's outputs are preferred for the improved contrast and sharpness of the object boundaries. Hence, the proposed filtering framework is suitable to reduce the unwanted speckle and improve the quality of the ultrasound images.

Reassessing nurse aide job satisfaction in a Texas nursing home.

PubMed

Thompson, Mark A; Horne, Kathleen K; Huerta, Timothy R

2011-09-01

This article reports a study that replicates and extends Castle's 2007 study by examining factors related to satisfaction of nurse aides at Carillon House, a 120-bed nonprofit skilled nursing facility in Lubbock, Texas. The Nursing Home Nurse Aide Job Satisfaction Questionnaire was adapted to allow for the collection of qualitative responses and administered to the nursing staff. The results suggest that satisfaction among nurse aides is related to rewards, workload, and the team environment created among coworkers. These findings differ from what is generally found in the literature and may be related to the higher-than-average satisfaction rating of nurse aides at this facility. The study provides evidence that large-scale surveys may have ignored a stratified effect where higher satisfaction organizations have different driving forces than what has been demonstrated in the literature to date. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Optical observations related to the molecular chemistry in diffuse interstellar clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Federman, S. R.

1987-01-01

Observations, which have been published since 1979, of molecular species in diffuse clouds are discussed. Particular attention is given to the ultraviolet measurements of CO with the Copernicus and IUE satellites and to ground-based optical measurements of CH, CH(+), CN, and 02. These data encompass large enough samples to test the chemical schemes expected to occur in diffuse clouds. Upper limits for other species (e.g., H2O, H2O(+), and C3) place restrictions on the pathways for molecular production. Moreover, analysis of the rotational distribution of the C2 molecule results in the determination of the physical conditions of the cloud. These parameters, including density, temperature, and the intensity of the radiation field, are necessary for modeling the chemistry.

A Student Response System in an Electronic Classroom: Technology Aids for Large Classroom Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ober, D.; Errington, P.; Islam, S.; Robertson, T.; Watson, J.

1997-10-01

In the fall of 1996, thirteen (13) classrooms on the Ball State campus were equipped with technological aids to enhance learning in large classrooms (for typically 100 students or larger). Each classroom was equipped with the following built-in equipment: computer, zip drive, laser disc player, VCR, LAN and Internet connection, TV monitors, and Elmo overhead camera with large-screen projection system. This past fall semester a student response system was added to a 108-seat classroom in the Physics and Astronomy department for use with large General Education courses. Each student seat was equipped with a hardwired hand-held unit possessing input capabilities and LCD feedback for the student. The introduction of the student response system was added in order enhance more active learning by students in the large classroom environment. Attendance, quizzes, hour exams, and in-class surveys are early uses for the system; initial reactions by student and faculty users will be given.

[Gastric perforation caused by primary gastric diffuse large B cell lymphoma].

PubMed

Kim, Ju Seok; Rou, Woo Sun; Ahn, Byung Moo; Moon, Hee Seok; Kang, Sun Hyung; Sung, Jae Kyu; Jeong, Hyun Yong; Song, Kyu-Sang

2015-01-01

Spontaneous gastric perforation is a rare complication of gastric lymphoma that is potentially life threatening since it can progress to sepsis and multi-organ failure. Morbidity also increases due to prolonged hospitalization and delay in initiating chemotherapy. Therefore prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment is critical to improve prognosis. A 64-year-old man presented to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain. Chest X-ray showed free air below the right diaphragm. Abdominal CT scan also demonstrated free air in the peritoneal cavity with large wall defect in the lesser curvature of gastric lower body. Therefore, the patient underwent emergency operation and primary closure was done. Pathologic specimen obtained during surgery was compatible to diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Fifteen days after primary closure, the patient received subtotal gastrectomy and chemotherapy was initiated after recovery. Patient is currently being followed-up at outpatient department without any particular complications. Herein, we report a rare case of gastric lymphoma that initially presented as peritonitis because of spontaneous gastric perforation.

A monte carlo study of restricted diffusion: Implications for diffusion MRI of prostate cancer.

PubMed

Gilani, Nima; Malcolm, Paul; Johnson, Glyn

2017-04-01

Diffusion MRI is used frequently to assess prostate cancer. The prostate consists of cellular tissue surrounding fluid filled ducts. Here, the diffusion properties of the ductal fluid alone were studied. Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate ductal residence times to determine whether ducts can be regarded as forming a separate compartment and whether ductal radius could determine the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) of the ductal fluid. Random walks were simulated in cavities. Average residence times were estimated for permeable cavities. Signal reductions resulting from application of a Stejskal-Tanner pulse sequence were calculated in impermeable cavities. Simulations were repeated for cavities of different radii and different diffusion times. Residence times are at least comparable with diffusion times even in relatively high grade tumors. ADCs asymptotically approach theoretical limiting values. At large radii and short diffusion times, ADCs are similar to free diffusion. At small radii and long diffusion times, ADCs are reduced toward zero, and kurtosis approaches a value of -1.2. Restricted diffusion in cavities of similar sizes to prostate ducts may reduce ductal ADCs. This may contribute to reductions in total ADC seen in prostate cancer. Magn Reson Med 77:1671-1677, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Normal versus anomalous self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids: memory function approach and generalized asymptotic Einstein relation.

PubMed

Shin, Hyun Kyung; Choi, Bongsik; Talkner, Peter; Lee, Eok Kyun

2014-12-07

Based on the generalized Langevin equation for the momentum of a Brownian particle a generalized asymptotic Einstein relation is derived. It agrees with the well-known Einstein relation in the case of normal diffusion but continues to hold for sub- and super-diffusive spreading of the Brownian particle's mean square displacement. The generalized asymptotic Einstein relation is used to analyze data obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of a two-dimensional soft disk fluid. We mainly concentrated on medium densities for which we found super-diffusive behavior of a tagged fluid particle. At higher densities a range of normal diffusion can be identified. The motion presumably changes to sub-diffusion for even higher densities.

Normal versus anomalous self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids: Memory function approach and generalized asymptotic Einstein relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Hyun Kyung; Choi, Bongsik; Talkner, Peter; Lee, Eok Kyun

2014-12-01

Based on the generalized Langevin equation for the momentum of a Brownian particle a generalized asymptotic Einstein relation is derived. It agrees with the well-known Einstein relation in the case of normal diffusion but continues to hold for sub- and super-diffusive spreading of the Brownian particle's mean square displacement. The generalized asymptotic Einstein relation is used to analyze data obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of a two-dimensional soft disk fluid. We mainly concentrated on medium densities for which we found super-diffusive behavior of a tagged fluid particle. At higher densities a range of normal diffusion can be identified. The motion presumably changes to sub-diffusion for even higher densities.

The political context of AIDS-related stigma and knowledge in a South African township community.

PubMed

Forsyth, Brian; Vandormael, Alain; Kershaw, Trace; Grobbelaar, Janis

2008-07-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the presentation of AIDS-related stigma and knowledge within the political context of the South African government's response to the AIDS epidemic. It was during the 2000 - 2004 period that key government officials publicly challenged the orthodox views of HIV/AIDS, with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, actively positing the primary role of poverty and other socio-economic stressors in the progression of the AIDS epidemic. This discursive position had real-time effects for AIDS policy-making and ultimately delayed the implementation of a national antiretroviral (ARV) rollout programme. Consequently this position was criticised by commentators in the media and elsewhere for contributing to an already widespread climate of AIDS stigmatization and misinformation. To shed more light on these claims we conducted a survey in 2005 in Atteridgeville, a South African township, and compared results with those of a similar survey conducted shortly after ARV medications became available in 2004. Results indicated a reduction in AIDS stigma levels across the 1-year period, and that those participants who endorsed contentious political views (such as those expressed by key government officials) were more likely to have a higher level of AIDS-related stigma than those who disagreed. Nevertheless, this study cautions against drawing a causal relationship between the South African government's position and IDS-stigmatizing attitudes, and suggests that further political and social factors be accounted for in an attempt to gain a fuller understanding of this seemingly complex relationship.

Differences in gay men's AIDS risk knowledge and behavior patterns in high and low AIDS prevalence cities.

PubMed Central

St Lawrence, J S; Hood, H V; Brasfield, T; Kelly, J A

1989-01-01

Several studies have found reductions in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) risk practices among gay men in high AIDS-prevalence cities since the start of the AIDS crisis. Much less is known about risk behavior patterns among gay men in smaller cities, where AIDS cases are less common and the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection is relatively lower. In the study, men entering gay bars in three cities, one large and two small, completed anonymous surveys of sexual practices and AIDS risk knowledge. Men in high AIDS-prevalence areas were found to have had a greater number of sexual partners, were more knowledgeable about AIDS, were much more likely to engage in low-risk practices (such as mutual masturbation or body rubbing), and had unprotected anal intercourse less frequently than gay men in smaller cities. The most common sexual activity among gay men in the larger city was mutual masturbation, a low-risk practice. The most common sexual activity among gay men in the smaller cities was unprotected anal intercourse. Increased efforts are needed to educate gay men and to promote risk behavior changes among those living in smaller cities and in communities outside the prominent AIDS epicenters. PMID:2502813

Quantitative diffusion and swelling kinetic measurements using large-angle interferometric refractometry.

PubMed

Saunders, John E; Chen, Hao; Brauer, Chris; Clayton, McGregor; Chen, Weijian; Barnes, Jack A; Loock, Hans-Peter

2015-12-07

The uptake and release of sorbates into films and coatings is typically accompanied by changes of the films' refractive index and thickness. We provide a comprehensive model to calculate the concentration of the sorbate from the average refractive index and the film thickness, and validate the model experimentally. The mass fraction of the analyte partitioned into a film is described quantitatively by the Lorentz-Lorenz equation and the Clausius-Mosotti equation. To validate the model, the uptake kinetics of water and other solvents into SU-8 films (d = 40-45 μm) were explored. Large-angle interferometric refractometry measurements can be used to characterize films that are between 15 μm to 150 μm thick and, Fourier analysis, is used to determine independently the thickness, the average refractive index and the refractive index at the film-substrate interface at one-second time intervals. From these values the mass fraction of water in SU-8 was calculated. The kinetics were best described by two independent uptake processes having different rates. Each process followed one-dimensional Fickian diffusion kinetics with diffusion coefficients for water into SU-8 photoresist film of 5.67 × 10(-9) cm(2) s(-1) and 61.2 × 10(-9) cm(2) s(-1).

Rituximab and chemotherapy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Sonet, Anne; Bosly, André

2009-06-01

Rituximab is an anti-CD20 chimeric monoclonal antibody with activity in nearly all subtypes of B-cell lymphomas. Association of rituximab with chemotherapy (mostly the cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone [CHOP] regimen) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) represents an extraordinary revolution in the prognosis of DLBCL, and is the new standard of therapy in elderly and young, low-risk patients. Despite the lack of randomized, clinical trials in younger patients with high risk, rituximab is also a standard of care in these patients in clinical practice, at least in North America. The practice is based on observational trials (e.g., the British Columbia Registry) and the missing logic in classifying patients as 'younger' or 'older': 60 years old or 65 years old. In Europe, trials are ongoing to establish the best treatment for young, high-risk patients. Association of rituximab and chemotherapy deeply modifies prognostic factors defined before the rituximab era.

Keeping the Spirit of Community Partnerships Alive in the Scale Up of HIV/AIDS Prevention: Critical Reflections on the Roll Out of DEBI (Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions)

PubMed Central

Pinto, Rogério M.; Hunter, Joyce; Rapkin, Bruce; Remien, Robert H.

2009-01-01

DEBI, or the Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions is the largest centralized effort to diffuse evidence-based prevention science to fight HIV/AIDS in the United States. DEBI seeks to ensure that the most effective science-based prevention interventions are widely implemented across the country in community-based organizations. Thus, this is a particularly timely juncture in which to critically reflect on the extent to which known principles of community collaboration have guided key processes associated with the DEBI rollout. We review the available evidence on how the dissemination of packaged interventions is necessary but not sufficient for ensuring the success of technology transfer. We consider additional principles that are vital for successful technology transfer, which were not central considerations in the rollout of the DEBI initiative. These issues are: (1) community perceptions of a top-down mode of dissemination; (2) the extent to which local innovations are being embraced, bolstered, or eliminated; and (3) contextual and methodological considerations that shape community preparedness. Consideration of these additional factors is necessary in order to effectively document, manage, and advance the science of dissemination and technology transfer in centralized prevention efforts within and outside of HIV/AIDS. PMID:18612809

The role of HIV/AIDS committees in effective workplace governance of HIV/AIDS in South African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

PubMed

Vaas, Jocelyn R

2008-04-01

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the role, status and scope of workplace HIV/AIDS committees as a means of effective workplace governance of the HIV/AIDS impact, and their role in extending social protective HIV/AIDS-related rights to employees. In-depth qualitative case studies were conducted in five South African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that were actively implementing HIV/AIDS policies and programmes. Companies commonly implemented HIV/AIDS policies and programmes through a workplace committee dedicated to HIV/AIDS or a generic committee dealing with issues other than HIV/ AIDS. Management, through the human resources department and the occupational health practitioner often drove initial policy formulation, and had virtually sole control of the HIV/AIDS budget. Employee members of committees were mostly volunteers, and were often production or blue collar employees, while there was a notable lack of participation by white-collar employees, line management and trade unions. While the powers of workplace committees were largely consultative, employee committee members often managed in an indirect manner to secure and extend social protective rights on HIV/AIDS to employees, and monitor their effective implementation in practice. In the interim, workplace committees represented one of the best means to facilitate more effective workplace HIV/AIDS governance. However, the increased demands on collective bargaining as a result of an anticipated rises in AIDS-related morbidity and mortality might prove to be beyond the scope of such voluntary committees in the longer term.

Relative distance between tracers as a measure of diffusivity within moving aggregates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pönisch, Wolfram; Zaburdaev, Vasily

2018-02-01

Tracking of particles, be it a passive tracer or an actively moving bacterium in the growing bacterial colony, is a powerful technique to probe the physical properties of the environment of the particles. One of the most common measures of particle motion driven by fluctuations and random forces is its diffusivity, which is routinely obtained by measuring the mean squared displacement of the particles. However, often the tracer particles may be moving in a domain or an aggregate which itself experiences some regular or random motion and thus masks the diffusivity of tracers. Here we provide a method for assessing the diffusivity of tracer particles within mobile aggregates by measuring the so-called mean squared relative distance (MSRD) between two tracers. We provide analytical expressions for both the ensemble and time averaged MSRD allowing for direct identification of diffusivities from experimental data.

Alveolar and exhaled NO in relation to asthma characteristics--effects of correction for axial diffusion.

PubMed

Heijkenskjöld-Rentzhog, C; Nordvall, L; Janson, C; Borres, M P; Alving, K; Malinovschi, A

2014-08-01

Inflammation in the small airways might contribute to incomplete asthma disease control despite intensive treatment in some subgroups of patients. Exhaled NO (FeNO) is a marker of inflammation in asthma and the estimated NO contribution from small airways (CalvNO ) is believed to reflect distal inflammation. Recent studies recommend adjustments of CalvNO for trumpet model and axial diffusion (TMAD-adj). This study aimed to investigate the clinical correlates of CalvNO , both TMAD-adjusted and unadjusted. Asthma symptoms, asthma control, lung function, bronchial responsiveness, blood eosinophils, atopy and treatment level were assessed in 410 subjects, aged 10-35 years. Exhaled NO was measured at different flow-rates and CalvNO calculated, with TMAD-adjustment according to Condorelli. Trumpet model and axial diffusion-adjusted CalvNO was not related to daytime wheeze (P = 0.27), FEF50 (P = 0.23) or bronchial responsiveness (P = 0.52). On the other hand, unadjusted CalvNO was increased in subjects with daytime wheeze (P < 0.001), decreased FEF50 (P = 0.02) and with moderate-to-severe compared to normal bronchial responsiveness (P < 0.001). All these characteristics correlated with increased FeNO (all P < 0.05). Unadjusted CalvNO was positively related to bronchial NO flux (J'awNO ) (r = 0.22, P < 0.001) while TMAD-adjCalvNO was negatively related to J'awNO (r = -0.38, P < 0.001). Adjusted CalvNO was not associated with any asthma characteristics studied in this large asthma cohort. However, both FeNO and unadjusted CalvNO related to asthma symptoms, lung function and bronchial responsiveness. We suggest a potential overadjustment by current TMAD-corrections, validated in healthy or unobstructed asthmatics. Further studies assessing axial diffusion in asthmatics with different degrees of airway obstruction and the validity of proposed TMAD-corrections are warranted. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Diffusion Driven Combustion Waves in Porous Media

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aldushin, A. P.; Matkowsky, B. J.

2000-01-01

Filtration of gas containing oxidizer, to the reaction zone in a porous medium, due, e.g., to a buoyancy force or to an external pressure gradient, leads to the propagation of Filtration combustion (FC) waves. The exothermic reaction occurs between the fuel component of the solid matrix and the oxidizer. In this paper, we analyze the ability of a reaction wave to propagate in a porous medium without the aid of filtration. We find that one possible mechanism of propagation is that the wave is driven by diffusion of oxidizer from the environment. The solution of the combustion problem describing diffusion driven waves is similar to the solution of the Stefan problem describing the propagation of phase transition waves, in that the temperature on the interface between the burned and unburned regions is constant, the combustion wave is described by a similarity solution which is a function of the similarity variable x/square root of(t) and the wave velocity decays as 1/square root of(t). The difference between the two problems is that in the combustion problem the temperature is not prescribed, but rather, is determined as part of the solution. We will show that the length of samples in which such self-sustained combustion waves can occur, must exceed a critical value which strongly depends on the combustion temperature T(sub b). Smaller values of T(sub b) require longer sample lengths for diffusion driven combustion waves to exist. Because of their relatively small velocity, diffusion driven waves are considered to be relevant for the case of low heat losses, which occur for large diameter samples or in microgravity conditions, Another possible mechanism of porous medium combustion describes waves which propagate by consuming the oxidizer initially stored in the pores of the sample. This occurs for abnormally high pressure and gas density. In this case, uniformly propagating planar waves, which are kinetically controlled, can propagate, Diffusion of oxidizer decreases

Chidamide Combined With R-GDP in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL)

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-12-12

Chidamide; Lymphoma, B-Cell; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse; Neoplasm by Histology; Neoplasms; Lymphoproliferative Disorders; Lymphatic Diseases; Immunoproliferative Disorders; Immune System Diseases; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Cyclophosphamide; Rituximab; Gemcitabine; Cisplatin; Dexamethasone; HDAC Inhibitor

Charged BTZ-like black hole solutions and the diffusivity-butterfly velocity relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Xian-Hui; Sin, Sang-Jin; Tian, Yu; Wu, Shao-Feng; Wu, Shang-Yu

2018-01-01

We show that there exists a class of charged BTZ-like black hole solutions in Lifshitz spacetime with a hyperscaling violating factor. The charged BTZ black hole is characterized by a charge-dependent logarithmic term in the metric function. As concrete examples, we give five such charged BTZ-like black hole solutions and the standard charged BTZ metric can be regarded as a special instance of them. In order to check the recent proposed universal relations between diffusivity and the butterfly velocity, we first compute the diffusion constants of the standard charged BTZ black holes and then extend our calculation to arbitrary dimension d, exponents z and θ. Remarkably, the case d = θ and z = 2 is a very special in that the charge diffusion D c is a constant and the energy diffusion D e might be ill-defined, but v B 2 τ diverges. We also compute the diffusion constants for the case that the DC conductivity is finite but in the absence of momentum relaxation.

Primary diffuse large B cell lymphoma arising from a leiomyoma of the uterine corpus.

PubMed

Zhao, Lianhua; Ma, Qiang; Wang, Qiushi; Zeng, Ying; Luo, Qingya; Xiao, Hualiang

2016-01-20

Primary diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the uterus is rare, and primary DLBCL arising from a uterine leiomyoma (collision tumor) has not been reported in the literature. We describe the clinical, histological, immunohistochemical, and molecular features of primary DLBCL arising from a leiomyoma in the uterine corpus. A 73-year-old female patient had a uterine mass for 23 years. An ultrasound scan revealed marked enlargement of the uterus, measuring 18.2 × 13 × 16.3 cm, with a 17.6 × 10.9 × 11.6 cm hypoechoic mass in the uterine corpus. The tumors consisted of medium- to large-sized cells exhibiting a diffuse pattern of growth with a well-circumscribed leiomyoma. The neoplastic cells strongly expressed CD79α, CD20 and PAX5. Molecular analyses indicated clonal B-cell receptor gene rearrangement. To the best of our knowledge, no previous cases of primary DLBCL arising from a leiomyoma have been reported. It is necessary to differentiate a diagnosis of primary DLBCL arising from a leiomyoma from that of leiomyoma with florid reactive lymphocytic infiltration (lymphoma-like lesion). Careful analysis of clinical, histological, immunophenotypic, and genetic features is required to establish the correct diagnosis.

Double-hit lymphomas constitute a highly aggressive subgroup in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas in the era of rituximab.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Tsutomu; Tsutsumi, Yasuhiko; Sakamoto, Natsumi; Nagoshi, Hisao; Yamamoto-Sugitani, Mio; Shimura, Yuji; Mizutani, Shinsuke; Matsumoto, Yosuke; Nishida, Kazuhiro; Horiike, Shigeo; Asano, Naoko; Nakamura, Shigeo; Kuroda, Junya; Taniwaki, Masafumi

2012-11-01

The incorporation of rituximab in immunochemotherapy has improved treatment outcomes for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but the prognosis for some diffuse large B-cell lymphomas remains dismal. Identification of adverse prognostic subgroups is essential for the choice of appropriate therapeutic strategy. We retrospectively investigated the impact of so-called 'double-hit' cytogenetic abnormalities, i.e. cytogenetic abnormalities involving c-MYC co-existing with other poor prognostic cytogenetic abnormalities involving BCL2, BCL6 or BACH2, on treatment outcomes for 93 consecutive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients. According to the revised international prognostic index, no patients were cytogenetically diagnosed with double-hit lymphomas in the 'very good' risk group or in the 'good' risk group, while 5 of 33 patients had double-hit lymphomas in the 'poor' risk group. All the double-hit lymphoma patients possessed both nodal and extranodal involvement. The overall complete response rate was 89.3%, overall survival 87.1% and progression-free survival 75.8% over 2 years (median observation period: 644 days). The complete response rates were 93.2% for the non-double-hit lymphoma patients and 40.0% for the double-hit lymphoma patients. Significantly longer progression-free survival and overall survival were observed for the 'very good' and the 'good' risk patients than for the 'poor' risk patients. Moreover, the progression-free survival of double-hit lymphoma was significantly shorter than that of the non-double-hit lymphoma 'poor' risk patients (P = 0.016). In addition, the overall survival of the double-hit lymphoma patients also tended to be shorter than that of the non-double-hit lymphoma 'poor' risk group. The diagnosis of double-hit lymphoma can help discriminate a subgroup of highly aggressive diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and indicate the need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for double-hit lymphoma.

Mechanisms of boron diffusion in silicon and germanium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirabella, S.; De Salvador, D.; Napolitani, E.; Bruno, E.; Priolo, F.

2013-01-01

Coulomb pairing with n-type dopants. The interplay between B clustering and migration is also modeled, since B diffusion is greatly affected by precipitation. Small (below 1 nm) and relatively large (5-10 nm in size) BI clusters have been identified with different energy barriers for thermal dissolution (3.6 or 4.8 eV, respectively). In c-Ge, B motion is by far less evident than in c-Si, even if the migration mechanism is revealed to be similarly assisted by Is. If Is density is increased well above the equilibrium (as during ion irradiation), B diffusion occurs up to quite large extents and also at relatively low temperatures, disclosing the underlying mechanism. The lower B diffusivity and the larger activation barrier (4.65 eV, rather than 3.45 eV in c-Si) can be explained by the intrinsic shortage of Is in Ge and by their large formation energy. B diffusion can be strongly enhanced with a proper point defect engineering, as achieved with embedded GeO2 nanoclusters, causing at 650 °C a large Is supersaturation. These aspects of B diffusion are presented and discussed, modeling the key role of point defects in the two different matrices.

Determinants of burn first aid knowledge: Cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Wallace, Hilary J; O'Neill, Tomas B; Wood, Fiona M; Edgar, Dale W; Rea, Suzanne M

2013-09-01

This study investigated demographic factors, experience of burn/care and first aid course attendance as factors influencing burn first aid knowledge. A cross-sectional study was undertaken using convenience sampling of members of sporting and recreation clubs. The main outcome measure was the proportion of correct responses to multiple-choice questions relating to four burn scenarios: (1) scald, (2) contact burn, (3) ignited clothing, and (4) chemical burn. A total of 2602 responses were obtained. Large gaps (30-50% incorrect answers) were identified in burn first aid knowledge across all scenarios. 15% more individuals gave correct answers if they had attended a first aid course compared to those who had not (p<0.0001); this proportion increased if the course was undertaken within the previous five years (p<0.0001) or contained a burns-specific component (p<0.0001). Males and younger (≤25 years) and older (≥65 years) age-groups had relatively lower levels of burn first aid knowledge. Gender and age were significant predictors of first aid course attendance, with males and younger (≤25 years) and older (≥65 years) age-groups less likely to have attended a first aid course. In this sample, first aid training undertaken within the last 5 years with a specific burns component was associated with enhanced burn first aid knowledge. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Creating Social Spaces to Tackle AIDS-Related Stigma: Reviewing the Role of Church Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

Skovdal, M.; Gibbs, A.

2012-01-01

An expanding body of literature explores the role of African church groups in facilitating or hindering the support of people living with AIDS and challenging or contributing to HIV/AIDS-related stigma. Treating church groups as social spaces in which HIV/AIDS-related stigma may potentially be challenged, we systematically review this literature, identifying five themes that highlight the complex and contradictory role of the church as a potential agent of health-enhancing social change. In many ways the church perpetuates HIV/AIDS-related stigma through (i) moralistic attitudes and (ii) its reinforcement of conservative gender ideologies. However some churches have managed move towards action that makes a more positive contribution to HIV/AIDS management through (iii) promoting various forms of social control for HIV prevention, (iv) contributing to the care and support of the AIDS-affected and (v) providing social spaces for challenging stigmatising ideas and practices. We conclude that church groups, including church leadership, can play a key role in facilitating or hindering the creation of supportive social spaces to challenge stigma. Much work remains to be done in developing deeper understandings of the multi-layered factors that enable some churches, but not others, to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS. PMID:20668927

Creating social spaces to tackle AIDS-related stigma: reviewing the role of church groups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Campbell, C; Skovdal, M; Gibbs, A

2011-08-01

An expanding body of literature explores the role of African church groups in facilitating or hindering the support of people living with AIDS and challenging or contributing to HIV/AIDS-related stigma. Treating church groups as social spaces in which HIV/AIDS-related stigma may potentially be challenged, we systematically review this literature, identifying five themes that highlight the complex and contradictory role of the church as a potential agent of health-enhancing social change. In many ways the church perpetuates HIV/AIDS-related stigma through (i) moralistic attitudes and (ii) its reinforcement of conservative gender ideologies. However some churches have managed move towards action that makes a more positive contribution to HIV/AIDS management through (iii) promoting various forms of social control for HIV prevention, (iv) contributing to the care and support of the AIDS-affected and (v) providing social spaces for challenging stigmatising ideas and practices. We conclude that church groups, including church leadership, can play a key role in facilitating or hindering the creation of supportive social spaces to challenge stigma. Much work remains to be done in developing deeper understandings of the multi-layered factors that enable some churches, but not others, to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS.

Diffusion and related transport mechanisms in brain tissue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicholson, Charles

2001-07-01

Diffusion plays a crucial role in brain function. The spaces between cells can be likened to the water phase of a foam and many substances move within this complicated region. Diffusion in this interstitial space can be accurately modelled with appropriate modifications of classical equations and quantified from measurements based on novel micro-techniques. Besides delivering glucose and oxygen from the vascular system to brain cells, diffusion also moves informational substances between cells, a process known as volume transmission. Deviations from expected results reveal how local uptake, degradation or bulk flow may modify the transport of molecules. Diffusion is also essential to many therapies that deliver drugs to the brain. The diffusion-generated concentration distributions of well-chosen molecules also reveal the structure of brain tissue. This structure is represented by the volume fraction (void space) and the tortuosity (hindrance to diffusion imposed by local boundaries or local viscosity). Analysis of these parameters also reveals how the local geometry of the brain changes with time or under pathological conditions. Theoretical and experimental approaches borrow from classical diffusion theory and from porous media concepts. Earlier studies were based on radiotracers but the recent methods use a point-source paradigm coupled with micro-sensors or optical imaging of macromolecules labelled with fluorescent tags. These concepts and methods are likely to be applicable elsewhere to measure diffusion properties in very small volumes of highly structured but delicate material.

A thermodynamically consistent model of magneto-elastic materials under diffusion at large strains and its analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roubíček, Tomáš; Tomassetti, Giuseppe

2018-06-01

A theory of elastic magnets is formulated under possible diffusion and heat flow governed by Fick's and Fourier's laws in the deformed (Eulerian) configuration, respectively. The concepts of nonlocal nonsimple materials and viscous Cahn-Hilliard equations are used. The formulation of the problem uses Lagrangian (reference) configuration while the transport processes are pulled back. Except the static problem, the demagnetizing energy is ignored and only local non-self-penetration is considered. The analysis as far as existence of weak solutions of the (thermo) dynamical problem is performed by a careful regularization and approximation by a Galerkin method, suggesting also a numerical strategy. Either ignoring or combining particular aspects, the model has numerous applications as ferro-to-paramagnetic transformation in elastic ferromagnets, diffusion of solvents in polymers possibly accompanied by magnetic effects (magnetic gels), or metal-hydride phase transformation in some intermetallics under diffusion of hydrogen accompanied possibly by magnetic effects (and in particular ferro-to-antiferromagnetic phase transformation), all in the full thermodynamical context under large strains.

Diffusive Phenomena and the Austenite/Martensite Relative Stability in Cu-Based Shape-Memory Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelegrina, J. L.; Yawny, A.; Sade, M.

2018-03-01

The main characteristic of martensitic phase transitions is the coordinate movement of the atoms which takes place athermally, without the contribution of diffusion during its occurrence. However, the impacts of diffusive phenomena on the relative stability between the phases involved and, consequently, on the associated transformation temperatures and functional properties can be significant. This is particularly evident in the case of Cu-based shape-memory alloys where atomic diffusion in both austenite and martensite metastable phases might occur even at room-temperature levels, giving rise to a variety of intensively studied phenomena. In the present study, the progresses made in the understanding of three selected diffusion-related effects of importance in Cu-Zn-Al and Cu-Al-Be alloys are reviewed. They are the after-quench retained disorder in the austenitic structure and its subsequent reordering, the stabilization of the martensite, and the effect of applied stress on the austenitic order. It is shown how the experimental results obtained from tests performed on single crystal material can be rationalized under the shed of a model developed to evaluate the variation of the relative stability between the phases in terms of atom pairs interchanges.

Diffusive Phenomena and the Austenite/Martensite Relative Stability in Cu-Based Shape-Memory Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pelegrina, J. L.; Yawny, A.; Sade, M.

2018-02-01

The main characteristic of martensitic phase transitions is the coordinate movement of the atoms which takes place athermally, without the contribution of diffusion during its occurrence. However, the impacts of diffusive phenomena on the relative stability between the phases involved and, consequently, on the associated transformation temperatures and functional properties can be significant. This is particularly evident in the case of Cu-based shape-memory alloys where atomic diffusion in both austenite and martensite metastable phases might occur even at room-temperature levels, giving rise to a variety of intensively studied phenomena. In the present study, the progresses made in the understanding of three selected diffusion-related effects of importance in Cu-Zn-Al and Cu-Al-Be alloys are reviewed. They are the after-quench retained disorder in the austenitic structure and its subsequent reordering, the stabilization of the martensite, and the effect of applied stress on the austenitic order. It is shown how the experimental results obtained from tests performed on single crystal material can be rationalized under the shed of a model developed to evaluate the variation of the relative stability between the phases in terms of atom pairs interchanges.

Spectrum of the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission derived from first-year Fermi Large Area Telescope data.

PubMed

Abdo, A A; Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Atwood, W B; Baldini, L; Ballet, J; Barbiellini, G; Bastieri, D; Baughman, B M; Bechtol, K; Bellazzini, R; Berenji, B; Blandford, R D; Bloom, E D; Bonamente, E; Borgland, A W; Bregeon, J; Brez, A; Brigida, M; Bruel, P; Burnett, T H; Buson, S; Caliandro, G A; Cameron, R A; Caraveo, P A; Casandjian, J M; Cavazzuti, E; Cecchi, C; Celik, O; Charles, E; Chekhtman, A; Cheung, C C; Chiang, J; Ciprini, S; Claus, R; Cohen-Tanugi, J; Cominsky, L R; Conrad, J; Cutini, S; Dermer, C D; de Angelis, A; de Palma, F; Digel, S W; Di Bernardo, G; do Couto e Silva, E; Drell, P S; Drlica-Wagner, A; Dubois, R; Dumora, D; Farnier, C; Favuzzi, C; Fegan, S J; Focke, W B; Fortin, P; Frailis, M; Fukazawa, Y; Funk, S; Fusco, P; Gaggero, D; Gargano, F; Gasparrini, D; Gehrels, N; Germani, S; Giebels, B; Giglietto, N; Giommi, P; Giordano, F; Glanzman, T; Godfrey, G; Grenier, I A; Grondin, M-H; Grove, J E; Guillemot, L; Guiriec, S; Gustafsson, M; Hanabata, Y; Harding, A K; Hayashida, M; Hughes, R E; Itoh, R; Jackson, M S; Jóhannesson, G; Johnson, A S; Johnson, R P; Johnson, T J; Johnson, W N; Kamae, T; Katagiri, H; Kataoka, J; Kawai, N; Kerr, M; Knödlseder, J; Kocian, M L; Kuehn, F; Kuss, M; Lande, J; Latronico, L; Lemoine-Goumard, M; Longo, F; Loparco, F; Lott, B; Lovellette, M N; Lubrano, P; Madejski, G M; Makeev, A; Mazziotta, M N; McConville, W; McEnery, J E; Meurer, C; Michelson, P F; Mitthumsiri, W; Mizuno, T; Moiseev, A A; Monte, C; Monzani, M E; Morselli, A; Moskalenko, I V; Murgia, S; Nolan, P L; Norris, J P; Nuss, E; Ohsugi, T; Omodei, N; Orlando, E; Ormes, J F; Paneque, D; Panetta, J H; Parent, D; Pelassa, V; Pepe, M; Pesce-Rollins, M; Piron, F; Porter, T A; Rainò, S; Rando, R; Razzano, M; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Reposeur, T; Ritz, S; Rochester, L S; Rodriguez, A Y; Roth, M; Ryde, F; Sadrozinski, H F-W; Sanchez, D; Sander, A; Saz Parkinson, P M; Scargle, J D; Sellerholm, A; Sgrò, C; Shaw, M S; Siskind, E J; Smith, D A; Smith, P D; Spandre, G; Spinelli, P; Starck, J-L; Strickman, M S; Strong, A W; Suson, D J; Tajima, H; Takahashi, H; Takahashi, T; Tanaka, T; Thayer, J B; Thayer, J G; Thompson, D J; Tibaldo, L; Torres, D F; Tosti, G; Tramacere, A; Uchiyama, Y; Usher, T L; Vasileiou, V; Vilchez, N; Vitale, V; Waite, A P; Wang, P; Winer, B L; Wood, K S; Ylinen, T; Ziegler, M

2010-03-12

We report on the first Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) measurements of the so-called "extragalactic" diffuse gamma-ray emission (EGB). This component of the diffuse gamma-ray emission is generally considered to have an isotropic or nearly isotropic distribution on the sky with diverse contributions discussed in the literature. The derivation of the EGB is based on detailed modeling of the bright foreground diffuse Galactic gamma-ray emission, the detected LAT sources, and the solar gamma-ray emission. We find the spectrum of the EGB is consistent with a power law with a differential spectral index gamma = 2.41 +/- 0.05 and intensity I(>100 MeV) = (1.03 +/- 0.17) x 10(-5) cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1), where the error is systematics dominated. Our EGB spectrum is featureless, less intense, and softer than that derived from EGRET data.

Financial Aid and For-Profit Colleges: Does Aid Encourage Entry?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cellini, Stephanie Riegg

2010-01-01

Concerns over rising college tuition and slow economic growth have brought renewed attention to the role of federal and state financial aid programs in opening access to education. Despite a large body of literature examining the effects of grant aid on four-year and public two-year college enrollment, for-profit colleges--particularly the vast…

Relation between the neutrino flux from Centaurus A and the associated diffuse neutrino flux

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koers, Hylke B. J.; Tinyakov, Peter; Institute for Nuclear Research, 60th October Anniversary Prospect 7a, 117312, Moscow

2008-10-15

Based on recent results obtained by the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO), it has been hypothesized that Centaurus A (Cen A) is a source of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and associated neutrinos. We point out that the diffuse neutrino flux may be used to constrain the source model if one assumes that the ratio between the UHECR and neutrino fluxes outputted by Cen A is representative for other sources. Under this assumption we investigate the relation between the neutrino flux from Cen A and the diffuse neutrino flux. Assuming furthermore that Cen A is the source of two UHECR events observedmore » by PAO, we estimate the all-sky diffuse neutrino flux to be {approx}200-5000 times larger than the neutrino flux from Cen A. As a result, the diffuse neutrino fluxes associated with some of the recently proposed models of UHECR-related neutrino production in Cen A are above existing limits. Regardless of the underlying source model, our results indicate that the detection of neutrinos from Cen A without the accompanying diffuse flux would mean that Cen A is an exceptionally efficient neutrino source.« less

Aid and good governance: Examining aggregate unintended effects of aid.

PubMed

Dijkstra, Geske

2018-06-01

Although donors generally aim to improve governance in recipient countries by various means, critics claim that the aggregate effect of large aid flows is the deterioration of governance. Aid is said to weaken domestic accountability, sustain authoritarian regimes, increase political instability, weaken government capacities, and increase corruption. Conducting a systematic search in Web of Science, this paper reviews the empirical evidence for these unintended aggregate effects of aid on the political, administrative, and judicial dimensions of good governance. It finds that the negative effects of aid on governance are much exaggerated. The aggregate effect of aid on democracy has become more positive after the Cold War, and the effect of aid on government capacity and on reducing corruption has also improved over time. Furthermore, most studies show a positive effect of aid on political stability. These findings imply that donor intentions matter: donors that are serious about their intended effects on governance are able to mitigate the possible negative unintended effects of their aid. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Elimination of resistive losses in large-area LEDs by new diffusion-driven devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kivisaari, Pyry; Kim, Iurii; Suihkonen, Sami; Oksanen, Jani

2017-02-01

High-power operation of conventional GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is severely limited by current crowding, which increases the bias voltage of the LED, concentrates light emission close to the p-type contact edge, and aggravates the efficiency droop. Fabricating LEDs on thick n-GaN substrates alleviates current crowding but requires the use of expensive bulk GaN substrates and fairly large n-contacts, which take away a large part of the active region (AR). In this work, we demonstrate through comparative simulations how the recently introduced diffusion-driven charge transport (DDCT) concept can be used to realize lateral heterojunction (LHJ) structures, which eliminate most of the lateral current crowding. Specifically in this work, we analyze how using a single-side graded AR can both facilitate electron and hole diffusion in DDCT and increase the effective AR thickness. Our simulations show that the increased effective AR thickness allows a substantial reduction in the efficiency droop at large currents, and that unlike conventional 2D LEDs, the LHJ structure shows practically no added efficiency loss or differential resistance due to current crowding. Furthermore, as both electrons and holes enter the AR from the same side without any notable potential barriers in the LHJ structure, the LHJ structure shows an additional wall-plug efficiency gain over the conventional structures under comparison. This injection from the same side is expected to be even more interesting in multiple quantum well structures, where carriers typically need to surpass several potential barriers in conventional LEDs before recombining. In addition to simulations, we also demonstrate selective-area growth of a finger structure suitable for operation as an LHJ device with 2µm distance between n- and p-GaN regions.

Determinants of occupational injury for US home health aides reporting one or more work-related injuries.

PubMed

Hamadi, Hanadi; Probst, Janice C; Khan, Mahmud M; Bellinger, Jessica; Porter, Candace

2017-08-04

Home health aides (HHAs) work in a high-risk industry and experience high rates of work-related injury that have been significantly associated with reduction in workers and organisational productivity, quality and performance. The main objective of the study was to examine how worker environment and ergonomic factors affect HHA risk for reporting occupational injuries. We used cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2007 National Home Health and Hospice Aide Survey (NHHAS). The study sample consisted of a nationally represented sample of home health aides (n=3.377) with a 76.6% response rate. We used two scales 1 : a Work Environment Scale and 2 an Ergonomic Scale. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to describe HHA work-related injury across individual, job and organisational factors. To measure scale reliability, Cronbach's alphas were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine predictors of reported occupational injury. In terms of Work Environment Scale, the injury risk was decreased in HHAs who did not consistently care for the same patients (OR=0.96, 95% CI: 0.53 to 1.73). In terms of Ergonomic Scale, the injury risk was decreased only in HHAs who reported not needing any other devices for job safety (OR=0.30, 95% (CI): 0.15 to 0.61). No other Work Environment or Ergonomic Scale factors were associated with HHAs' risk of injury. This study has great implications on a subcategory of the workforce that has a limited amount of published work and studies, as of today, as well as an anticipated large demand for them. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Large Eddy Simulation of Gravitational Effects on Transitional and Turbulent Gas-Jet Diffusion Flames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Givi, Peyman; Jaberi, Farhad A.

2001-01-01

The basic objective of this work is to assess the influence of gravity on "the compositional and the spatial structures" of transitional and turbulent diffusion flames via large eddy simulation (LES), and direct numerical simulation (DNS). The DNS is conducted for appraisal of the various closures employed in LES, and to study the effect of buoyancy on the small scale flow features. The LES is based on our "filtered mass density function"' (FMDF) model. The novelty of the methodology is that it allows for reliable simulations with inclusion of "realistic physics." It also allows for detailed analysis of the unsteady large scale flow evolution and compositional flame structure which is not usually possible via Reynolds averaged simulations.

Machine Learning-based Classification of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Patients by Their Protein Expression Profiles.

PubMed

Deeb, Sally J; Tyanova, Stefka; Hummel, Michael; Schmidt-Supprian, Marc; Cox, Juergen; Mann, Matthias

2015-11-01

Characterization of tumors at the molecular level has improved our knowledge of cancer causation and progression. Proteomic analysis of their signaling pathways promises to enhance our understanding of cancer aberrations at the functional level, but this requires accurate and robust tools. Here, we develop a state of the art quantitative mass spectrometric pipeline to characterize formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of patients with closely related subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. We combined a super-SILAC approach with label-free quantification (hybrid LFQ) to address situations where the protein is absent in the super-SILAC standard but present in the patient samples. Shotgun proteomic analysis on a quadrupole Orbitrap quantified almost 9,000 tumor proteins in 20 patients. The quantitative accuracy of our approach allowed the segregation of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients according to their cell of origin using both their global protein expression patterns and the 55-protein signature obtained previously from patient-derived cell lines (Deeb, S. J., D'Souza, R. C., Cox, J., Schmidt-Supprian, M., and Mann, M. (2012) Mol. Cell. Proteomics 11, 77-89). Expression levels of individual segregation-driving proteins as well as categories such as extracellular matrix proteins behaved consistently with known trends between the subtypes. We used machine learning (support vector machines) to extract candidate proteins with the highest segregating power. A panel of four proteins (PALD1, MME, TNFAIP8, and TBC1D4) is predicted to classify patients with low error rates. Highly ranked proteins from the support vector analysis revealed differential expression of core signaling molecules between the subtypes, elucidating aspects of their pathobiology. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Capable Infection of Hepatitis B Virus in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

PubMed Central

Wang, Yanchun; Wang, Huijie; Pan, Shaokun; Hu, Tao; Shen, Jiabin; Zheng, Hui; Xie, Suhong; Xie, Youhua; Lu, Renquan; Guo, Lin

2018-01-01

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common pathological type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). It is strongly correlated to the host immunity and infection status. Aim: This study tested the hypothesis that hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is also associated with DLBCL. Methods: Clinical analysis of the correlation between DLBCL and HBV infection, detection of HBV in situ of DLBCL tissue, and biological experiments that determined whether HBV infects B lymphocytes were conducted. Results: Our long-term clinical data showed that the positive rate of serum HBV was significantly increased in DLBCL patients (23.6%) compared to that in the general Chinese population (7.2%, P<0.001), especially in advanced stage lymphoma patients (P=0.003). In addition, HBV could infect B lymphocytes in vitro and the HBV antigen and nucleic acid could be detected intracellularly. Hepatitis B x protein (HBx) was also strongly expressed in tissues from DLBCL patients that were serum HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) positive. These patients responded less well to therapy with an odds ratio (OR) of 3.04. Conclusions: HBV can infect B lymphocytes. It might be related to the development of DLBCL and may also impact the efficacy of treatment. PMID:29760795

Comparison of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient and Intravoxel Incoherent Motion for Differentiating among Glioblastoma, Metastasis, and Lymphoma Focusing on Diffusion-Related Parameter.

PubMed

Shim, Woo Hyun; Kim, Ho Sung; Choi, Choong-Gon; Kim, Sang Joon

2015-01-01

Brain tumor cellularity has been assessed by using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). However, the ADC value might be influenced by both perfusion and true molecular diffusion, and the perfusion effect on ADC can limit the reliability of ADC in the characterization of tumor cellularity, especially, in hypervascular brain tumors. In contrast, the IVIM technique estimates parameter values for diffusion and perfusion effects separately. The purpose of our study was to compare ADC and IVIM for differentiating among glioblastoma, metastatic tumor, and primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) focusing on diffusion-related parameter. We retrospectively reviewed the data of 128 patients with pathologically confirmed glioblastoma (n = 55), metastasis (n = 31), and PCNSL (n = 42) prior to any treatment. Two neuroradiologists independently calculated the maximum IVIM-f (fmax) and minimum IVIM-D (Dmin) by using 16 different b-values with a bi-exponential fitting of diffusion signal decay, minimum ADC (ADCmin) by using 0 and 1000 b-values with a mono-exponential fitting and maximum normalized cerebral blood volume (nCBVmax). The differences in fmax, Dmin, nCBVmax, and ADCmin among the three tumor pathologies were determined by one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons. The fmax and Dmin were correlated to the corresponding nCBV and ADC using partial correlation analysis, respectively. Using a mono-exponential fitting of diffusion signal decay, the mean ADCmin was significantly lower in PCNSL than in glioblastoma and metastasis. However, using a bi-exponential fitting, the mean Dmin did not significantly differ in the three groups. The mean fmax significantly increased in the glioblastomas (reader 1, 0.103; reader 2, 0.109) and the metastasis (reader 1, 0.105; reader 2, 0.107), compared to the primary CNS lymphomas (reader 1, 0.025; reader 2, 0.023) (P < .001 for each). The correlation between fmax and the corresponding nCBV was highest in glioblastoma group, and the correlation between

Diffusion related isotopic fractionation effects with one-dimensional advective-dispersive transport.

PubMed

Xu, Bruce S; Lollar, Barbara Sherwood; Passeport, Elodie; Sleep, Brent E

2016-04-15

Aqueous phase diffusion-related isotope fractionation (DRIF) for carbon isotopes was investigated for common groundwater contaminants in systems in which transport could be considered to be one-dimensional. This paper focuses not only on theoretically observable DRIF effects in these systems but introduces the important concept of constraining "observable" DRIF based on constraints imposed by the scale of measurements in the field, and on standard limits of detection and analytical uncertainty. Specifically, constraints for the detection of DRIF were determined in terms of the diffusive fractionation factor, the initial concentration of contaminants (C0), the method detection limit (MDL) for isotopic analysis, the transport time, and the ratio of the longitudinal mechanical dispersion coefficient to effective molecular diffusion coefficient (Dmech/Deff). The results allow a determination of field conditions under which DRIF may be an important factor in the use of stable carbon isotope measurements for evaluation of contaminant transport and transformation for one-dimensional advective-dispersive transport. This study demonstrates that for diffusion-dominated transport of BTEX, MTBE, and chlorinated ethenes, DRIF effects are only detectable for the smaller molar mass compounds such as vinyl chloride for C0/MDL ratios of 50 or higher. Much larger C0/MDL ratios, corresponding to higher source concentrations or lower detection limits, are necessary for DRIF to be detectable for the higher molar mass compounds. The distance over which DRIF is observable for VC is small (less than 1m) for a relatively young diffusive plume (<100years), and DRIF will not easily be detected by using the conventional sampling approach with "typical" well spacing (at least several meters). With contaminant transport by advection, mechanical dispersion, and molecular diffusion this study suggests that in field sites where Dmech/Deff is larger than 10, DRIF effects will likely not be

Whole-Body Diffusion-weighted MR Imaging of Iron Deposits in Hodgkin, Follicular, and Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.

PubMed

Cottereau, Anne-Ségolène; Mulé, Sébastien; Lin, Chieh; Belhadj, Karim; Vignaud, Alexandre; Copie-Bergman, Christiane; Boyez, Alice; Zerbib, Pierre; Tacher, Vania; Scherman, Elodie; Haioun, Corinne; Luciani, Alain; Itti, Emmanuel; Rahmouni, Alain

2018-02-01

Purpose To analyze the frequency and distribution of low-signal-intensity regions (LSIRs) in lymphoma lesions and to compare these to fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and biologic markers of inflammation. Materials and Methods The authors analyzed 61 untreated patients with a bulky lymphoma (at least one tumor mass ≥7 cm in diameter). When a LSIR within tumor lesions was detected on diffusion-weighted images obtained with a b value of 50 sec/mm 2 , a T2-weighted gradient-echo (GRE) sequence was performed and calcifications were searched for with computed tomography (CT). In two patients, Perls staining was performed on tissue samples from the LSIR. LSIRs were compared with biologic inflammatory parameters and baseline FDG positon emission tomography (PET)/CT parameters (maximum standardized uptake value [SUV max ], total metabolic tumor volume [TMTV]). Results LSIRs were detected in 22 patients and corresponded to signal void on GRE images; one LSIR was due to calcifications, and three LSIRS were due to a recent biopsy. In 18 patients, LSIRs appeared to be related to focal iron deposits; this was proven with Perls staining in two patients. The LSIRs presumed to be due to iron deposits were found mostly in patients with aggressive lymphoma (nine of 26 patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and eight of 20 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma vs one of 15 patients with follicular lymphoma; P = .047) and with advanced stage disease (15 of 18 patients). LSIRS were observed in spleen (n = 14), liver (n = 3), and nodal (n = 8) lesions and corresponded to foci FDG uptake, with mean SUV max of 9.8, 6.7, and 16.2, respectively. These patients had significantly higher serum levels of C-reactive protein, α 1 -globulin, and α 2 -globulin and more frequently had microcytic anemia than those without such deposits (P = .0072, P = .003, P = .0068, and P < .0001, respectively). They also had a significantly higher TMTV (P = .0055) and higher levels of spleen involvement (P

Fludarabine and Total-Body Irradiation Followed By Donor Stem Cell Transplant and Cyclosporine and Mycophenolate Mofetil in Treating HIV-Positive Patients With or Without Cancer

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-04-17

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Aggressive NK-cell Leukemia; AIDS-related Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; AIDS-related Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Peripheral/Systemic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Primary CNS Lymphoma; AIDS-related Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Burkitt Lymphoma; Childhood Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Childhood Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Childhood Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Childhood Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Childhood Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Childhood Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Contiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 2

Primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma shows an activated B-cell-like phenotype with co-expression of C-MYC, BCL-2, and BCL-6.

PubMed

Li, Xiaomei; Huang, Ying; Bi, Chengfeng; Yuan, Ji; He, Hong; Zhang, Hong; Yu, QiuBo; Fu, Kai; Li, Dan

2017-06-01

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma, whose main prognostic factor is closely related to germinal center B-cell-like subtype (GCB- DLBCL) or activated B-cell-like type (non-GCB-DLBCL). The most common type of primary central nervous system lymphoma is diffuse large B-cell type with poor prognosis and the reason is unclear. This study aims to stratify primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PCNS-DLBCL) according to the cell-of-origin (COO) and to investigate the multiple proteins expression of C-MYC, BCL-6, BCL-2, TP53, further to elucidate the reason why primary central nervous system diffuse large B-cell lymphoma possesses a poor clinical outcome as well. Nineteen cases of primary central nervous system DLBCL were stratified according to immunostaining algorithms of Hans, Choi and Meyer (Tally) and we investigated the multiple proteins expression of C-MYC, BCL-6, BCL-2, TP53. The Epstein-Barr virus and Borna disease virus infection were also detected. Among nineteen cases, most (15-17 cases) were assigned to the activated B-cell-like subtype, highly expression of C-MYC (15 cases, 78.9%), BCL-2 (10 cases, 52.6%), BCL-6 (15 cases, 78.9%). Unfortunately, two cases were positive for PD-L1 while PD-L2 was not expressed in any case. Two cases infected with BDV but no one infected with EBV. In conclusion, most primary central nervous system DLBCLs show an activated B-cell-like subtype characteristic and have multiple expressions of C-MYC, BCL-2, BCL-6 protein, these features might be significant factor to predict the outcome and guide treatment of PCNS-DLBCLs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Orphanhood by AIDS-Related Causes and Child Mental Health: A Developmental Psychopathology Approach

PubMed Central

Sharp, Carla; Jardin, Charles; Marais, Lochner; Boivin, Michael

2016-01-01

While the number of new HIV infections has declined, the number of orphans as a result of AIDS-related deaths continues to increase. The aim of this paper was to systematically review empirical research on the mental health of children affected by HIV/AIDS in the developing world, specifically with an eye on developing a theoretical framework to guide intervention and research. Articles for review were gathered by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA standards), reviewed and then organized and synthesized with a Developmental Psychopathology framework. Results showed that the immediate and longterm effects of AIDS orphanhood are moderated by a number of important risk and protective factors that may serve as strategic targets for intervention. Research and clinical implications are discussed. PMID:27668289

Cluster Based Location-Aided Routing Protocol for Large Scale Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yi; Dong, Liang; Liang, Taotao; Yang, Xinyu; Zhang, Deyun

Routing algorithms with low overhead, stable link and independence of the total number of nodes in the network are essential for the design and operation of the large-scale wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANET). In this paper, we develop and analyze the Cluster Based Location-Aided Routing Protocol for MANET (C-LAR), a scalable and effective routing algorithm for MANET. C-LAR runs on top of an adaptive cluster cover of the MANET, which can be created and maintained using, for instance, the weight-based distributed algorithm. This algorithm takes into consideration the node degree, mobility, relative distance, battery power and link stability of mobile nodes. The hierarchical structure stabilizes the end-to-end communication paths and improves the networks' scalability such that the routing overhead does not become tremendous in large scale MANET. The clusterheads form a connected virtual backbone in the network, determine the network's topology and stability, and provide an efficient approach to minimizing the flooding traffic during route discovery and speeding up this process as well. Furthermore, it is fascinating and important to investigate how to control the total number of nodes participating in a routing establishment process so as to improve the network layer performance of MANET. C-LAR is to use geographical location information provided by Global Position System to assist routing. The location information of destination node is used to predict a smaller rectangle, isosceles triangle, or circle request zone, which is selected according to the relative location of the source and the destination, that covers the estimated region in which the destination may be located. Thus, instead of searching the route in the entire network blindly, C-LAR confines the route searching space into a much smaller estimated range. Simulation results have shown that C-LAR outperforms other protocols significantly in route set up time, routing overhead, mean delay and packet

[Analysis of HIV/AIDS related risk behaviors and their impact factors among out-of-school adolescents in outflow areas].

PubMed

Sun, Xiao; Zhu, Guang-rong; Ji, Cheng-ye; Wang, Zhen-zhen

2012-06-18

To analyze HIV/AIDS related risk behaviors among unmarried outside school adolescents and the impact factors in outflow areas, in order to provide basis for related health education. Using cluster sampling method, we investigated a vocational training center for all 15- to 24-year-old unmarried outside school youths in one county. The structured questionnaire based on the Theory of Reasoned Action was anonymous, which filled envelopes on the spot. A total of 1 800 questionnaires were recovered, and 1 712 questionnaires were valid. Epidata 3.0 was used for establishing a database and SPSS 13.0 for statistical analysis. (1) The incidence of HIV/AIDS risk behaviors of the outside school adolescents was high: 18.0% of the respondents had sexual behavior, 27.3% had never used condom when sexed in the past three months, 31.0% had multiple sexual partners, and 9.7% had drug abuse experience; the rate of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge was only 25.1%; peer environment of respondents was poor. (2) The use of condoms was correlated with those who had higher score of AIDS knowledge, and who could talk about condoms in sexual intercourse; The multiple sexual partners' behavior was correlated with age, friends who were themselves multiple sexual partners, high score of the attitude, and the subjective norm; The commercial sex was correlated with the family address, high score of the HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, friends who had commercial sex, the subjective norm and the intention of behavior, The drug abuse behavior was correlated with age, high score of the HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, drug abuse among their friends, the subjective norm, and the intention of behavior. (3) Subjective norms and behavioral intentions could better predict the occurrence of HIV/AIDS risk behaviors. The outside school adolescents are at risk in lack of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and coping skills of negative peer pressure, so providing the related health education before they go and work outside their home

Treatment Option Overview (AIDS Related-Lymphoma)

MedlinePlus

... which malignant (cancer) cells form in the lymph system of patients who have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). ... below the ribs. Tests that examine the lymph system and other parts of the body are used ...

Exploring AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of female Mexican migrant workers.

PubMed

Organista, P B; Organista, K C; Soloff, P R

1998-05-01

AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors were assessed in female Mexican migrant laborers. Thirty-two women were administered a modified version of the Hispanic Condom Questionnaire. Respondents were knowledgeable about the major modes of HIV transmission, but one-third to one-half of the women believed that they could contract AIDS from unlikely casual sources. Although respondents reported few negative beliefs about condom use, actual condom use with sex partners was low and knowledge of proper condom use was problematic. Consequently, 75 percent reported never carrying condoms. Implications of these findings for future research and provision of services for female Mexican migrants are discussed.

Epidemiological situation of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related mortality in a municipality in northeastern Brazil. A retrospective cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Silva, Luana Rodrigues da; Araújo, Ellen Thallita Hill; Carvalho, Moisés Lopes; Almeida, Camila Aparecida Pinheiro Landim; Oliveira, Adélia Dalva da Silva; Carvalho, Patrícia Maria Gomes de; Rodrigues, Tatyanne Silva; Campelo, Viriato

2018-01-01

The number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related deaths covers different segments of the population differently, making monitoring of this mortality essential. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological situation of AIDS-related mortality in a municipality in the northeastern region of Brazil. Retrospective cross-sectional study based on data from death certificates in the mortality information system of the Health Information Center, Municipal Health Foundation, Brazil. Between 2003 and 2013, we investigated death certificates on which AIDS-related mortality was reported. Sociodemographic data, year, place, type of establishment where death occurred and underlying and associated causes that led to AIDS-related death were described. The Mann-Kendall test was used to verify the growth trend of the standardized mortality rate over the period studied. Among the 1,066 AIDS-related deaths, 69.7% were among men; 47.2% of the individuals were 28-41 years of age, 32.7% had had 4-7 years of schooling, 66.9% were pardos (mixed race), 55.7% were unmarried and 15.3% were housekeepers. Hospitals were the site of 97% of the deaths, and 91% occurred at public hospitals. Respiratory failure was the main cause of death. The prevalence of infectious and parasitic diseases was 99.0%. AIDS-related mortality increased by 160% over the period studied, from 5.5/100,000 inhabitants in 2003 to 14.3/100,000 in 2013. In the Brazilian municipality studied here, AIDS-related mortality was most prevalent among men and young adults of lower socioeconomic level. Over the period studied, the mortality rate increased.

Use of cryopumps on large space simulation systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccrary, L. E.

1980-01-01

The need for clean, oil free space simulation systems has demanded the development of large, clean pumping systems. The assurance of optically dense liquid nitrogen baffles over diffusion pumps prevents backstreaming to a large extent, but does not preclude contamination from accidents or a control failure. Turbomolecular pumps or ion pumps achieve oil free systems but are only practical for relatively small chambers. Large cryopumps were developed and checked out which do achieve clean pumping of very large chambers. These pumps can be used as the original pumping system or can be retrofitted as a replacement for existing diffusion pumps.

AIDS guidelines.

PubMed

Berger, R

1986-04-30

The Sun article, "Employers finding that AIDS in the workplace is a managerial nightmare" (April 3), did not accurately portray the status of AIDS in the workplace. The AIDS virus, HTLV III, is transmitted by body fluids, primarily semen and blood, and there is no known risk of transmitting the virus by casual contact in the workplace. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released guidelines for child care workers last August. Guidelines on preventing transmission of AIDS in the workplace were issued by CDC in November 1985. These guidelines specifically discussed health care, personal service, and food service workers. The recommendations were against routine screening. Furthermore, employment should not be restricted on the basis of a positive HTLV III antibody test. A person with HTLV III infection should be exempt from the workplace only if there are circumstances interfering with job performance. In Maryland, the Governor's Task Force on AIDS has gone on record as endorsing CDC guidelines related to employment. Furthermore, the task force condemns discrimination based on the disease AIDS, AIDS Related Complex (ARC), or HTLV III infection. Increasingly AIDS patients are being considered legally disabled and therefore are protected by federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of a handicap. Marylanders who are subjected to mandatory HTLV III screening in the workplace, or if discriminated against on the basis of HTLV III inefction, should contact the Maryland Commission on Human Relations, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, or the Health Education Resource Organization (HERO). All 3 of these resources guarantee confidentiality. It is only by employees reporting incidents that a nightmare in the workplace can be avoided in Maryland. full text

Generalized Einstein relation for the mutual diffusion coefficient of a binary fluid mixture.

PubMed

Felderhof, B U

2017-08-21

The method employed by Einstein to derive his famous relation between the diffusion coefficient and the friction coefficient of a Brownian particle is used to derive a generalized Einstein relation for the mutual diffusion coefficient of a binary fluid mixture. The expression is compared with the one derived by de Groot and Mazur from irreversible thermodynamics and later by Batchelor for a Brownian suspension. A different result was derived by several other workers in irreversible thermodynamics. For a nearly incompressible solution, the generalized Einstein relation agrees with the expression derived by de Groot and Mazur. The two expressions also agree to first order in solute density. For a Brownian suspension, the result derived from the generalized Smoluchowski equation agrees with both expressions.

Diagnosis and treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).

PubMed

Ikpatt, Offiong F; Reavill, Drury; Chatfield, Jason; Clubb, Susan; Rosenblatt, Joseph D; Fonte, Glenn; Fan, Yao-Shan; Cray, Carolyn

2014-12-01

Lymphoma is a common malignancy observed in companion animals. This type of naturally occurring neoplasia has been uncommonly reported in great apes. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was diagnosed in an 8-yr-old captive orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) with gastrointestinal disease by histologic and immunohistochemical methodologies. The orangutan was treated with three cycles of combination chemotherapy (intravenous Rituxan, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine). The primate has been in good health and exhibiting normal behaviors for more than 15 mo following treatment.

Relative enhanced diffusivity: noise sensitivity, protocol optimization, and the relation to intravoxel incoherent motion.

PubMed

While, Peter T; Teruel, Jose R; Vidić, Igor; Bathen, Tone F; Goa, Pål Erik

2018-06-01

To explore the relationship between relative enhanced diffusivity (RED) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM), as well as the impact of noise and the choice of intermediate diffusion weighting (b value) on the RED parameter. A mathematical derivation was performed to cast RED in terms of the IVIM parameters. Noise analysis and b value optimization was conducted by using Monte Carlo calculations to generate diffusion-weighted imaging data appropriate to breast and liver tissue at three different signal-to-noise ratios. RED was shown to be approximately linearly proportional to the IVIM parameter f, inversely proportional to D and to follow an inverse exponential decay with respect to D*. The choice of intermediate b value was shown to be important in minimizing the impact of noise on RED and in maximizing its discriminatory power. RED was shown to be essentially a reparameterization of the IVIM estimates for f and D obtained with three b values. RED imaging in the breast and liver should be performed with intermediate b values of 100 and 50 s/mm 2 , respectively. Future clinical studies involving RED should also estimate the IVIM parameters f and D using three b values for comparison.

Quantum angular momentum diffusion of rigid bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papendell, Birthe; Stickler, Benjamin A.; Hornberger, Klaus

2017-12-01

We show how to describe the diffusion of the quantized angular momentum vector of an arbitrarily shaped rigid rotor as induced by its collisional interaction with an environment. We present the general form of the Lindblad-type master equation and relate it to the orientational decoherence of an asymmetric nanoparticle in the limit of small anisotropies. The corresponding diffusion coefficients are derived for gas particles scattering off large molecules and for ambient photons scattering off dielectric particles, using the elastic scattering amplitudes.

Large Fluctuations for Spatial Diffusion of Cold Atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghion, Erez; Kessler, David A.; Barkai, Eli

2017-06-01

We use a new approach to study the large fluctuations of a heavy-tailed system, where the standard large-deviations principle does not apply. Large-deviations theory deals with tails of probability distributions and the rare events of random processes, for example, spreading packets of particles. Mathematically, it concerns the exponential falloff of the density of thin-tailed systems. Here we investigate the spatial density Pt(x ) of laser-cooled atoms, where at intermediate length scales the shape is fat tailed. We focus on the rare events beyond this range, which dominate important statistical properties of the system. Through a novel friction mechanism induced by the laser fields, the density is explored with the recently proposed non-normalized infinite-covariant density approach. The small and large fluctuations give rise to a bifractal nature of the spreading packet. We derive general relations which extend our theory to a class of systems with multifractal moments.

Age-related differences in reliance behavior attributable to costs within a human-decision aid system.

PubMed

Ezer, Neta; Fisk, Arthur D; Rogers, Wendy A

2008-12-01

An empirical investigation was done to determine if there are age-related differences attributable to costs in reliance on a decision aid. Costs of reliance on a decision aid may affect reliance on the aid. Older and younger adults may not perceive and respond to a dynamic cost structure equally or objectively. Sixteen older adults (65-74 years) and 16 younger adults (18-28 years) performed a counting task with an imperfect decision aid. Two types of costs were manipulated: (a) cost of error (CoE) and (b) cost of verification (CoV). The percentage of trials in which participants agreed with the decision aid and did not perform the task manually was recorded as reliance. Participants decreased their reliance as the CoE increased and increased their reliance with a lower CoV; however, they tended to underrely on the decision aid. Younger adults tended to change their reliance behavior more than older adults did with the changing cost structure. Older and younger adults appear to interpret costs differently, with older adults being less responsive to changes in costs. Older adults may have been less able to monitor the changing costs and hence not adapt to them as well as younger adults. Designers of decision aids should consider explicitly stating costs associated with reliance on the aid, as individuals may differ in how they interpret and respond to changing costs.

Workplace discrimination and HIV/AIDS: the national EEOC ADA research project.

PubMed

Conyers, Liza; Boomer, K B; McMahon, Brian T

2005-01-01

This article utilizes data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Integrated Mission System database to document the levels of employment discrimination involving individuals with HIV/AIDS. The researchers explore the theory that the nature of HIV/AIDS related employment discrimination is rooted in deeper stigmatization than discrimination against other disability groups. Researchers compare and contrast key demographic characteristics of Charging Parties and Respondents involved in HIV/AIDS related allegations of discrimination and their proportion of EEOC merit resolutions to those of persons with other physical, sensory, and neurological impairments. Findings indicate that, in contrast to the general disability group, HIV/AIDS was more likely to be male, ethnic minorities, between the ages of 25-44, in white collar jobs, in the South and West and to work for businesses with 15 to 100 employees. Additionally, the allegations in HIV/AIDS were more likely to receive merit resolution from the EEOC by a large difference of ten percent.

Helium diffusion in carbonates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amidon, W. H.; Cherniak, D. J.; Watson, E. B.; Hobbs, D.

2013-12-01

The abundance and large grain size of carbonate minerals make them a potentially attractive target for 4He thermochronology and 3He cosmogenic dating, although the diffusive properties of helium in carbonates remain poorly understood. This work characterizes helium diffusion in calcite and dolomite to better understand the crystal-chemical factors controlling He transport and retentivity. Slabs of cleaved natural calcite and dolomite, and polished sections of calcite cut parallel or normal to c, were implanted with 3He at 3 MeV with a dose of 5x1015/cm2. Implanted carbonates were heated in 1-atm furnaces, and 3He distributions following diffusion anneals were profiled with Nuclear Reaction Analysis using the reaction 3He(d,p)4He. For 3He transport normal to cleavage surfaces in calcite, we obtain the following Arrhenius relation over the temperature range 78-300°C: Dcalcite = 9.0x10-9exp(-55 × 6 kJ mol-1/RT) m2sec-1. Diffusion in calcite exhibits marked anisotropy, with diffusion parallel to c about two orders of magnitude slower than diffusion normal to cleavage faces. He diffusivities for transport normal to the c-axis are similar in value to those normal to cleavage surfaces. Our findings are broadly consistent with helium diffusivities from step-heating measurements of calcite by Copeland et al. (2007); these bulk degassing data may reflect varying effects of diffusional anisotropy. Helium diffusion normal to cleavage surfaces in dolomite is significantly slower than diffusion in calcite, and has a much higher activation energy for diffusion. For dolomite, we obtain the following Arrhenius relation for He diffusion over the temperature range 150-400°C: Ddolomite = 9.0x10-8exp(-92 × 9 kJ mol-1/RT) m2sec-1. The role of crystallographic structure in influencing these differences among diffusivities was evaluated using the maximum aperture approach of Cherniak and Watson (2011), in which crystallographic structures are sectioned along possible diffusion

Grain Boundaries Act as Solid Walls for Charge Carrier Diffusion in Large Crystal MAPI Thin Films.

PubMed

Ciesielski, Richard; Schäfer, Frank; Hartmann, Nicolai F; Giesbrecht, Nadja; Bein, Thomas; Docampo, Pablo; Hartschuh, Achim

2018-03-07

Micro- and nanocrystalline methylammonium lead iodide (MAPI)-based thin-film solar cells today reach power conversion efficiencies of over 20%. We investigate the impact of grain boundaries on charge carrier transport in large crystal MAPI thin films using time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) microscopy and numerical model calculations. Crystal sizes in the range of several tens of micrometers allow for the spatially and time resolved study of boundary effects. Whereas long-ranged diffusive charge carrier transport is observed within single crystals, no detectable diffusive transport occurs across grain boundaries. The observed PL transients are found to crucially depend on the microscopic geometry of the crystal and the point of observation. In particular, spatially restricted diffusion of charge carriers leads to slower PL decay near crystal edges as compared to the crystal center. In contrast to many reports in the literature, our experimental results show no quenching or additional loss channels due to grain boundaries for the studied material, which thus do not negatively affect the performance of the derived thin-film devices.

Women's voices: attitudes and behaviors of female Ghanaian sex workers regarding HIV prevention and AIDS-related stigma.

PubMed

Raingruber, Bonnie; Uwazie, Ernest; Bowie, Sylvester

2010-08-01

Attitudes and behaviors of sex workers have a pivotal influence on the spread of AIDS. A qualitative descriptive study was undertaken to elicit Ghanaian female sex workers' perspectives regarding effective methods of HIV prevention, sources of AIDS-related stigma, and challenges associated with sex work. Women described that: (1) sex work is hard; (2) they felt God would protect their health; (3) staying safe is both a gift and a priority; (4) sex work allows for autonomy; and (5) AIDS-related stigma is very real. To design effective prevention programs it is necessary to consider the culture and perspectives of those who will be served.

Genetic and Functional Drivers of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma.

PubMed

Reddy, Anupama; Zhang, Jenny; Davis, Nicholas S; Moffitt, Andrea B; Love, Cassandra L; Waldrop, Alexander; Leppa, Sirpa; Pasanen, Annika; Meriranta, Leo; Karjalainen-Lindsberg, Marja-Liisa; Nørgaard, Peter; Pedersen, Mette; Gang, Anne O; Høgdall, Estrid; Heavican, Tayla B; Lone, Waseem; Iqbal, Javeed; Qin, Qiu; Li, Guojie; Kim, So Young; Healy, Jane; Richards, Kristy L; Fedoriw, Yuri; Bernal-Mizrachi, Leon; Koff, Jean L; Staton, Ashley D; Flowers, Christopher R; Paltiel, Ora; Goldschmidt, Neta; Calaminici, Maria; Clear, Andrew; Gribben, John; Nguyen, Evelyn; Czader, Magdalena B; Ondrejka, Sarah L; Collie, Angela; Hsi, Eric D; Tse, Eric; Au-Yeung, Rex K H; Kwong, Yok-Lam; Srivastava, Gopesh; Choi, William W L; Evens, Andrew M; Pilichowska, Monika; Sengar, Manju; Reddy, Nishitha; Li, Shaoying; Chadburn, Amy; Gordon, Leo I; Jaffe, Elaine S; Levy, Shawn; Rempel, Rachel; Tzeng, Tiffany; Happ, Lanie E; Dave, Tushar; Rajagopalan, Deepthi; Datta, Jyotishka; Dunson, David B; Dave, Sandeep S

2017-10-05

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of blood cancer and is characterized by a striking degree of genetic and clinical heterogeneity. This heterogeneity poses a major barrier to understanding the genetic basis of the disease and its response to therapy. Here, we performed an integrative analysis of whole-exome sequencing and transcriptome sequencing in a cohort of 1,001 DLBCL patients to comprehensively define the landscape of 150 genetic drivers of the disease. We characterized the functional impact of these genes using an unbiased CRISPR screen of DLBCL cell lines to define oncogenes that promote cell growth. A prognostic model comprising these genetic alterations outperformed current established methods: cell of origin, the International Prognostic Index comprising clinical variables, and dual MYC and BCL2 expression. These results comprehensively define the genetic drivers and their functional roles in DLBCL to identify new therapeutic opportunities in the disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating neighborhood structures for modeling intercity diffusion of large-scale dengue epidemics.

PubMed

Wen, Tzai-Hung; Hsu, Ching-Shun; Hu, Ming-Che

2018-05-03

Dengue fever is a vector-borne infectious disease that is transmitted by contact between vector mosquitoes and susceptible hosts. The literature has addressed the issue on quantifying the effect of individual mobility on dengue transmission. However, there are methodological concerns in the spatial regression model configuration for examining the effect of intercity-scale human mobility on dengue diffusion. The purposes of the study are to investigate the influence of neighborhood structures on intercity epidemic progression from pre-epidemic to epidemic periods and to compare definitions of different neighborhood structures for interpreting the spread of dengue epidemics. We proposed a framework for assessing the effect of model configurations on dengue incidence in 2014 and 2015, which were the most severe outbreaks in 70 years in Taiwan. Compared with the conventional model configuration in spatial regression analysis, our proposed model used a radiation model, which reflects population flow between townships, as a spatial weight to capture the structure of human mobility. The results of our model demonstrate better model fitting performance, indicating that the structure of human mobility has better explanatory power in dengue diffusion than the geometric structure of administration boundaries and geographic distance between centroids of cities. We also identified spatial-temporal hierarchy of dengue diffusion: dengue incidence would be influenced by its immediate neighboring townships during pre-epidemic and epidemic periods, and also with more distant neighbors (based on mobility) in pre-epidemic periods. Our findings suggest that the structure of population mobility could more reasonably capture urban-to-urban interactions, which implies that the hub cities could be a "bridge" for large-scale transmission and make townships that immediately connect to hub cities more vulnerable to dengue epidemics.

Asbestos-related diffuse pleural thickening.

PubMed

Fujimoto, Nobukazu; Kato, Katsuya; Usami, Ikuji; Sakai, Fumikazu; Tokuyama, Takeshi; Hayashi, Seiji; Miyamoto, Kenji; Kishimoto, Takumi

2014-01-01

The clinical features of asbestos-related diffuse pleural thickening (DPT) remain unclear. To clarify the association between radiological findings of DPT and respiratory function. Medical data from patients with asbestos-related DPT were collected, including their history of occupational or neighborhood asbestos exposure, initial symptoms, modified Medical Research Council dyspnea grade, smoking history, radiological findings, and respiratory function test results. There were 106 DPT patients between 2005 and 2010 [i.e. 103 men (97.2%) and 3 women (2.8%)]. The median age at diagnosis was 69 years (range 46-88). Patient occupations related to asbestos exposure included: asbestos product manufacturing (n = 17); the shipbuilding industry (n = 14); the construction industry (n = 13); heat insulation work (n = 12); plumbing, asbestos spraying, and electrical work (n = 7 each), and transportation and demolition work (n = 4 each). The median duration of asbestos exposure was 25 years (range 2-54), and the median latency period before the onset of DPT was 46 years (range 25-66). Involvement of the costophrenic angle (CPA) was also negatively correlated with the percent vital capacity (%VC; r = -0.448, p < 0.01). Pleural thickness and the craniocaudal and horizontal extension of pleural thickening, as determined by chest computed tomography (CT), were also negatively correlated with %VC (r = -0.226, p < 0.05; r = -0.409, p < 0.01, and r = -0.408, p < 0.01, respectively). DPT develops after a long latency period following occupational asbestos exposure and causes marked respiratory dysfunction. The extension of DPT should be evaluated by chest CT, and chest X-ray would be important for the evaluation of the involvement of the CPA.

Linear response theory and transient fluctuation relations for diffusion processes: a backward point of view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Fei; Tong, Huan; Ma, Rui; Ou-Yang, Zhong-can

2010-12-01

A formal apparatus is developed to unify derivations of the linear response theory and a variety of transient fluctuation relations for continuous diffusion processes from a backward point of view. The basis is a perturbed Kolmogorov backward equation and the path integral representation of its solution. We find that these exact transient relations could be interpreted as a consequence of a generalized Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, which intrinsically arises from the Markovian characteristic of diffusion processes.

Spectrum of the Isotropic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission Derived from First-Year Fermi Large Area Telescope Data

DOE PAGES

Abdo, A. A.

2010-03-08

Here, we report on the first Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) measurements of the so-called “extragalactic” diffuse γ -ray emission (EGB). This component of the diffuse γ -ray emission is generally considered to have an isotropic or nearly isotropic distribution on the sky with diverse contributions discussed in the literature. The derivation of the EGB is based on detailed modeling of the bright foreground diffuse Galactic γ -ray emission, the detected LAT sources, and the solar γ -ray emission. We also find the spectrum of the EGB is consistent with a power law with a differential spectral index γ =more » 2.41 ± 0.05 and intensity I ( > 100 MeV ) = ( 1.03 ± 0.17 ) × 10 - 5 cm -2 s - 1 sr - 1 , where the error is systematics dominated. The EGB spectrum, presented here, is featureless, less intense, and softer than that derived from EGRET data.« less

Molecular dimensions and surface diffusion assisted mechanically robust slippery perfluoropolyether impregnated mesoporous alumina interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowthu, Sriharitha; Balic, Edin E.; Hoffmann, Patrik

2017-12-01

Accomplishing mechanically robust omniphobic surfaces is a long-existing challenge, and can potentially find applications in bioengineering, tribology and paint industries. Slippery liquid impregnated mesoporous α-Al2O3 interfaces are achieved with water, alkanes, water based and oil based high viscosity acrylic paints. Incredibly high abrasion-resistance (wear coefficients ≤10-8 mm3 N-1 m-1) and ultra-low friction coefficients (≥0.025) are attained, attributing to the hard alumina matrix and continuous replenishment of perfluoropolyether aided by capillarity and surface diffusion processes. A variety of impregnating liquids employed suggest that large molecules, faster surface diffusion and lowest evaporation rate generate the rare combination of high wear-resistance and omniphobicity. It is noteworthy that these novel liquid impregnated Al2O3 composites exhibit outstanding load bearing capacity up to 350 MPa; three orders of magnitude higher than achievable by the state of the art omniphobic surfaces. Further, our developed thermodynamic calculations suggest that the relative thermodynamic stability of liquid impregnated composites is linearly proportional to the spreading coefficient (S) of the impregnating liquid with the matrix material and is an important tool for the selection of an appropriate matrix material for a given liquid.

Entropy as a measure of diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghamohammadi, Amir; Fatollahi, Amir H.; Khorrami, Mohammad; Shariati, Ahmad

2013-10-01

The time variation of entropy, as an alternative to the variance, is proposed as a measure of the diffusion rate. It is shown that for linear and time-translationally invariant systems having a large-time limit for the density, at large times the entropy tends exponentially to a constant. For systems with no stationary density, at large times the entropy is logarithmic with a coefficient specifying the speed of the diffusion. As an example, the large-time behaviors of the entropy and the variance are compared for various types of fractional-derivative diffusions.

Ergotism related to a single dose of ergotamine tartrate in an AIDS patient treated with ritonavir

PubMed Central

Blanche, P; Rigolet, A; Gombert, B; Ginsburg, C; Salmon, D; Sicard, D

1999-01-01

We report a rare case of ergotism related to a single dose of ergotamine tartrate in a man with AIDS being treated with ritonavir. He was treated with a prostacyclin analogue and made a complete recovery.


Keywords: ergotism; ergotamine tartrate; AIDS; ritonavir; adverse drug reaction; HIV infection PMID:10616689

Devitrite-based optical diffusers.

PubMed

Butt, Haider; Knowles, Kevin M; Montelongo, Yunuen; Amaratunga, Gehan A J; Wilkinson, Timothy D

2014-03-25

Devitrite is a novel material produced by heat treatment of commercial soda-lime-silica glass. It consists of fans of needle-like crystals which can extend up to several millimeters and have interspacings of up to a few hundred nanometers. To date, only the material properties of devitrite have been reported, and there has been a distinct lack of research on using it for optical applications. In this study, we demonstrate that randomly oriented fans of devitrite crystals can act as highly efficient diffusers for visible light. Devitrite crystals produce phase modulation of light because of their relatively high anisotropy. The nanoscale spacings between these needles enable light to be diffused to large scattering angles. Experimentally measured results suggest that light diffusion patterns with beam widths of up to 120° are produced. Since devitrite is an inexpensive material to produce, it has the potential to be used in a variety of commercial applications.

Quantitative confirmation of diffusion-limited oxidation theories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gillen, K.T.; Clough, R.L.

1990-01-01

Diffusion-limited (heterogeneous) oxidation effects are often important for studies of polymer degradation. Such effects are common in polymers subjected to ionizing radiation at relatively high dose rate. To better understand the underlying oxidation processes and to aid in the planning of accelerated aging studies, it would be desirable to be able to monitor and quantitatively understand these effects. In this paper, we briefly review a theoretical diffusion approach which derives model profiles for oxygen surrounded sheets of material by combining oxygen permeation rates with kinetically based oxygen consumption expressions. The theory leads to a simple governing expression involving the oxygenmore » consumption and permeation rates together with two model parameters {alpha} and {beta}. To test the theory, gamma-initiated oxidation of a sheet of commercially formulated EPDM rubber was performed under conditions which led to diffusion-limited oxidation. Profile shapes from the theoretical treatments are shown to accurately fit experimentally derived oxidation profiles. In addition, direct measurements on the same EPDM material of the oxygen consumption and permeation rates, together with values of {alpha} and {beta} derived from the fitting procedure, allow us to quantitatively confirm for the first time the governing theoretical relationship. 17 refs., 3 figs.« less

Hippocampus age-related microstructural changes in schizophrenia: a case-control mean diffusivity study.

PubMed

Chiapponi, Chiara; Piras, Fabrizio; Fagioli, Sabrina; Girardi, Paolo; Caltagirone, Carlo; Spalletta, Gianfranco

2014-08-01

Macrostructural-volumetric abnormalities of the hippocampus have been described in schizophrenia. Here, we characterized age-related changes of hippocampal mean diffusivity as an index of microstructural damage by carrying out a neuroimaging study in 85 patients with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia and 85 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We performed analyses of covariance, with diagnosis as fixed factor, mean diffusivity as dependent variable and age as covariate. Patients showed an early increase in mean diffusivity in the right and left hippocampus that increased with age. Thus, microstructural hippocampal changes associated with schizophrenia cannot be confined to a specific time window. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

De novo CD5-positive primary cardiac diffuse large B-cell lymphoma diagnosed by pleural fluid cytology.

PubMed

Cioc, Adina M; Jessurun, José; Vercellotti, Gregory M; Pambuccian, Stefan E

2014-03-01

Primary cardiac lymphomas are exceedingly rare. The presence and extent of the intracardiac mass is determined by echocardiography, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); however, the diagnosis is established by endomyocardial biopsy or by pericardial or pleural effusion cytology. We describe the pleural effusion cytologic features of a primary cardiac lymphoma in a 55-year-old woman who presented with progressive shortness of breath, fatigue, mild dizziness, dull chest ache, and lower extremity edema. Transthoracic echocardiography, CT, and MRI showed a large mass centered in the right atrium and extending into the right ventricle, associated with pericardial effusion and bilateral pleural effusions. Cytologic examination of the pleural fluid showed very large pleomorphic malignant cell, some of which were binucleated and multinucleated and had anaplastic features. Flow cytometry showed a kappa monotypic population of large cells coexpressing CD5, CD19, and CD20; and immunoperoxidase stains performed on the cell block sections showed that the large neoplastic cells were positive for CD20, PAX5, CD5, and MUM1 and showed a very high proliferation rate (over 90%) by Ki67 staining. The cytologic, flow cytometry, and immunohistochemistry findings established the diagnosis of de novo CD5-positive primary cardiac diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), anaplastic variant, which was confirmed by the subsequent endomyocardial biopsy. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of de novo CD5-positive primary cardiac diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and the first report of the anaplastic variant of DLBCL diagnosed by effusion cytology. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., a Wiley company.

Self diffusion of alkaline-Earth in Ca-Mg-aluminosilicate melts: Experimental improvements on the determination of the self-diffusion coefficients

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paillat, O.; Wasserburg, G. J.

1993-01-01

Experimental studies of self-diffusion isotopes in silicate melts often have quite large uncertainties when comparing one study to another. We designed an experiment in order to improve the precision of the results by simultaneously studying several elements (Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) during the same experiment thereby greatly reducing the relative experimental uncertainties. Results show that the uncertainties on the diffusion coefficients can be reduced to 10 percent, allowing a more reliable comparison of differences of self-diffusion coefficients of the elements. This type of experiment permits us to study precisely and simultaneously several elements with no restriction on any element. We also designed an experiment to investigate the possible effects of multicomponent diffusion during Mg self-diffusion experiments by comparing cases where the concentrations of the elements and the isotopic compositions are different. The results suggest that there are differences between the effective means of transport. This approach should allow us to investigate the importance of multicomponent diffusion in silicate melts.

Metabolic fingerprinting of fresh lymphoma samples used to discriminate between follicular and diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

PubMed

Barba, Ignasi; Sanz, Carolina; Barbera, Angels; Tapia, Gustavo; Mate, José-Luis; Garcia-Dorado, David; Ribera, Josep-Maria; Oriol, Albert

2009-11-01

To investigate if proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) spectroscopy-based metabolic profiling was able to differentiate follicular lymphoma (FL) from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and to study which metabolites were responsible for the differences. High-resolution (1)H NMR spectra was obtained from fresh samples of lymph node biopsies obtained consecutively at one center (14 FL and 17 DLBCL). Spectra were processed using pattern-recognition methods. Discriminant models were able to differentiate between the two tumor types with a 86% sensitivity and a 76% specificity; the metabolites that most contributed to the discrimination were a relative increase of alanine in the case of DLBCL and a relative increase of taurine in FL. Metabolic models had a significant but weak correlation with Ki67 expression (r(2)=0.42; p=0.002) We have proved that it is possible to differentiate between FL and DLBCL based on their NMR metabolic profiles. This approach may potentially be applicable as a noninvasive tool for diagnostic and treatment follow-up in the clinical setting using conventional magnetic resonance systems.

Coexistence of chronic myeloid leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with antecedent chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Abuelgasim, Khadega A; Rehan, Hinna; Alsubaie, Maha; Al Atwi, Nasser; Al Balwi, Mohammed; Alshieban, Saeed; Almughairi, Areej

2018-03-11

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia are the most common types of adult leukemia. However, it is rare for the same patient to suffer from both. Richter's transformation to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is frequently observed in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Purine analog therapy and the presence of trisomy 12, and CCND1 gene rearrangement have been linked to increased risk of Richter's transformation. The coexistence of chronic myeloid leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the same patient is extremely rare, with only nine reported cases. Here, we describe the first reported case of concurrent chronic myeloid leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in a background of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. A 60-year-old Saudi man known to have diabetes, hypertension, and chronic active hepatitis B was diagnosed as having Rai stage II chronic lymphocytic leukemia, with trisomy 12 and rearrangement of the CCND1 gene in December 2012. He required no therapy until January 2016 when he developed significant anemia, thrombocytopenia, and constitutional symptoms. He received six cycles of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab, after which he achieved complete remission. One month later, he presented with progressive leukocytosis (mostly neutrophilia) and splenomegaly. Fluorescence in situ hybridization from bone marrow aspirate was positive for translocation (9;22) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction detected BCR-ABL fusion gene consistent with chronic myeloid leukemia. He had no morphologic or immunophenotypic evidence of chronic lymphocytic leukemia at the time. Imatinib, a first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was started. Eight months later, a screening imaging revealed new liver lesions, which were confirmed to be diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia, progressive leukocytosis and splenomegaly caused by emerging chronic myeloid leukemia can be easily overlooked. It is unlikely that chronic myeloid

Parallel STEPS: Large Scale Stochastic Spatial Reaction-Diffusion Simulation with High Performance Computers.

PubMed

Chen, Weiliang; De Schutter, Erik

2017-01-01

Stochastic, spatial reaction-diffusion simulations have been widely used in systems biology and computational neuroscience. However, the increasing scale and complexity of models and morphologies have exceeded the capacity of any serial implementation. This led to the development of parallel solutions that benefit from the boost in performance of modern supercomputers. In this paper, we describe an MPI-based, parallel operator-splitting implementation for stochastic spatial reaction-diffusion simulations with irregular tetrahedral meshes. The performance of our implementation is first examined and analyzed with simulations of a simple model. We then demonstrate its application to real-world research by simulating the reaction-diffusion components of a published calcium burst model in both Purkinje neuron sub-branch and full dendrite morphologies. Simulation results indicate that our implementation is capable of achieving super-linear speedup for balanced loading simulations with reasonable molecule density and mesh quality. In the best scenario, a parallel simulation with 2,000 processes runs more than 3,600 times faster than its serial SSA counterpart, and achieves more than 20-fold speedup relative to parallel simulation with 100 processes. In a more realistic scenario with dynamic calcium influx and data recording, the parallel simulation with 1,000 processes and no load balancing is still 500 times faster than the conventional serial SSA simulation.

Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) lesion analysis with complex diffusion approach.

PubMed

Rajan, Jeny; Kannan, K; Kesavadas, C; Thomas, Bejoy

2009-10-01

Identification of Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) can be difficult due to the subtle MRI changes. Though sequences like FLAIR (fluid attenuated inversion recovery) can detect a large majority of these lesions, there are smaller lesions without signal changes that can easily go unnoticed by the naked eye. The aim of this study is to improve the visibility of focal cortical dysplasia lesions in the T1 weighted brain MRI images. In the proposed method, we used a complex diffusion based approach for calculating the FCD affected areas. Based on the diffused image and thickness map, a complex map is created. From this complex map; FCD areas can be easily identified. MRI brains of 48 subjects selected by neuroradiologists were given to computer scientists who developed the complex map for identifying the cortical dysplasia. The scientists were blinded to the MRI interpretation result of the neuroradiologist. The FCD could be identified in all the patients in whom surgery was done, however three patients had false positive lesions. More lesions were identified in patients in whom surgery was not performed and lesions were seen in few of the controls. These were considered as false positive. This computer aided detection technique using complex diffusion approach can help detect focal cortical dysplasia in patients with epilepsy.

The "Spread" of Merit-Based College Aid: Politics, Policy Consortia, and Interstate Competition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen-Vogel, Lora; Ingle, William Kyle; Levine, Amy Albee; Spence, Matthew

2008-01-01

Many political scientists maintain that public policies diffuse across states and that proximate states, in particular, influence one another's policy activities. Using state-funded merit aid for college as its case, this article takes a new approach to the study of the diffusion phenomenon, leaving behind conventional techniques used by…

The Burden of Exposure–Related Diffuse Lung Disease

PubMed Central

Goldyn, Sheryl R.; Condos, Rany; Rom, William N.

2013-01-01

Estimating the burden of exposure-related diffuse lung disease in terms of health effects and economic burden remains challenging. Labor statistics are inadequate to define the scope of the problem, and few studies have analyzed the prevalence of exposure-related illnesses and the subsequent health care cost. Well-defined exposures, such as those associated with coal mines, asbestos mines, and stonecutting, have led to more accurate assessment of prevalence and cost. As governmental regulation of workplace exposure has increased, the prevalence of diseases such as silicosis and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis has diminished. However, the health and economic effects of diseases with long latency periods, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, continue to increase in the short term. Newer exposures, such as those related to air pollution, nylon flock, and the World Trade Center collapse, have added to these costs. As a result, estimates of cost for occupational diseases, including respiratory illnesses, exceed $26 billion annually, and the true economic burden is likely much higher. PMID:19221957

Measuring the diffusion of linguistic change

PubMed Central

Nerbonne, John

2010-01-01

We examine situations in which linguistic changes have probably been propagated via normal contact as opposed to via conquest, recent settlement and large-scale migration. We proceed then from two simplifying assumptions: first, that all linguistic variation is the result of either diffusion or independent innovation, and, second, that we may operationalize social contact as geographical distance. It is clear that both of these assumptions are imperfect, but they allow us to examine diffusion via the distribution of linguistic variation as a function of geographical distance. Several studies in quantitative linguistics have examined this relation, starting with Séguy (Séguy 1971 Rev. Linguist. Romane 35, 335–357), and virtually all report a sublinear growth in aggregate linguistic variation as a function of geographical distance. The literature from dialectology and historical linguistics has mostly traced the diffusion of individual features, however, so that it is sensible to ask what sort of dynamic in the diffusion of individual features is compatible with Séguy's curve. We examine some simulations of diffusion in an effort to shed light on this question. PMID:21041207

Measuring the diffusion of linguistic change.

PubMed

Nerbonne, John

2010-12-12

We examine situations in which linguistic changes have probably been propagated via normal contact as opposed to via conquest, recent settlement and large-scale migration. We proceed then from two simplifying assumptions: first, that all linguistic variation is the result of either diffusion or independent innovation, and, second, that we may operationalize social contact as geographical distance. It is clear that both of these assumptions are imperfect, but they allow us to examine diffusion via the distribution of linguistic variation as a function of geographical distance. Several studies in quantitative linguistics have examined this relation, starting with Séguy (Séguy 1971 Rev. Linguist. Romane 35, 335-357), and virtually all report a sublinear growth in aggregate linguistic variation as a function of geographical distance. The literature from dialectology and historical linguistics has mostly traced the diffusion of individual features, however, so that it is sensible to ask what sort of dynamic in the diffusion of individual features is compatible with Séguy's curve. We examine some simulations of diffusion in an effort to shed light on this question.

First impressions last… A survey of knowledge of first aid in burn-related injuries amongst hospital workers.

PubMed

Tay, Poi Hoon; Pinder, Richard; Coulson, Samuel; Rawlins, Jeremy

2013-03-01

The administration of first aid in burns has been shown to have a significant influence on the ultimate severity of the burn. We wanted to assess in-hospital healthcare (HCW), and non-healthcare workers' (nHCW) knowledge of first aid in burns. A purpose-designed questionnaire, including information about previous attendance at a first aid course and four clinical scenarios of burns, was distributed to HCWs in the local hospitals and non-medical students in the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. 697 questionnaires were completed - 397 (57%) from HCW and 300 (43%) from nHCW. 59% of HCW had attended a first aid course, 68% of these courses included teaching on first aid in burns. HCW who had completed a first aid course generally did better than those who had not. Only 16% of HCW achieved correct answers in all questions compared to 30% nHCW. We show that the knowledge of first aid in burns is relatively poor amongst HCW and that attendance at a burns first aid course improves knowledge (although perhaps not as much as one might hope). We recommend that the burns content of first aid courses be reviewed, and that there is a requirement for ALL hospital healthcare workers to undertake a first aid course, which includes appropriate burns first aid. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Older Latina Women and HIV/AIDS: An Examination of Sexuality and Culture as they Relate to Risk and Protective Factors

PubMed Central

Beaulaurier, Richard L.; Craig, Shelley L.; De La Rosa, Mario

2009-01-01

Older Latina women are one of the least studied American demographic groups with regard to social, health, or sexual behavior. This could leave social workers and other geriatric professionals unprepared for dealing with HIV/AIDS in this population. Currently, older Latina women are one of the fastest growing groups of new AIDS cases. Twenty percent of all women ever diagnosed with the disease are Latina and 5.5% of Latinas infected with the virus are older. The number of diagnosed infections is increasing in older women, including Latinas, in spite of recent declines in infection rates with younger populations. There are also a potentially large number of cases that go misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. This article also addresses risk and protective factors related to gender roles, traditional Latino family values, religion, socioeconomic factors, health, and health care, with special attention to the triple jeopardy faced by this population by virtue of being female, seniors, and minorities. The article concludes with recommendations for the development of culturally competent practices with older Latinas and the development of a research agenda to better understand their risk-related and health-seeking behavior. PMID:19197629

Cosmic ray diffusion: Report of the Workshop in Cosmic Ray Diffusion Theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birmingham, T. J.; Jones, F. C.

1975-01-01

A workshop in cosmic ray diffusion theory was held at Goddard Space Flight Center on May 16-17, 1974. Topics discussed and summarized are: (1) cosmic ray measurements as related to diffusion theory; (2) quasi-linear theory, nonlinear theory, and computer simulation of cosmic ray pitch-angle diffusion; and (3) magnetic field fluctuation measurements as related to diffusion theory.

Randomized Trial Comparing R-CHOP Versus High-Dose Sequential Chemotherapy in High-Risk Patients With Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphomas.

PubMed

Cortelazzo, Sergio; Tarella, Corrado; Gianni, Alessandro Massimo; Ladetto, Marco; Barbui, Anna Maria; Rossi, Andrea; Gritti, Giuseppe; Corradini, Paolo; Di Nicola, Massimo; Patti, Caterina; Mulé, Antonino; Zanni, Manuela; Zoli, Valerio; Billio, Atto; Piccin, Andrea; Negri, Giovanni; Castellino, Claudia; Di Raimondo, Francesco; Ferreri, Andrés J M; Benedetti, Fabio; La Nasa, Giorgio; Gini, Guido; Trentin, Livio; Frezzato, Maurizio; Flenghi, Leonardo; Falorio, Simona; Chilosi, Marco; Bruna, Riccardo; Tabanelli, Valentina; Pileri, Stefano; Masciulli, Arianna; Delaini, Federica; Boschini, Cristina; Rambaldi, Alessandro

2016-11-20

Purpose The benefit of high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) as first-line treatment in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphomas is still a matter of debate. To address this point, we designed a randomized phase III trial to compare rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP)-14 (eight cycles) with rituximab plus high-dose sequential chemotherapy (R-HDS) with ASCT. Patients and Methods From June 2005 to June 2011, 246 high-risk patients with a high-intermediate (56%) or high (44%) International Prognostic Index score were randomly assigned to the R-CHOP or R-HDS arm, and 235 were analyzed by intent to treat. The primary efficacy end point of the study was 3-year event-free survival, and results were analyzed on an intent-to-treat basis. Results Clinical response (complete response, 78% v 76%; partial response, 5% v 9%) and failures (no response, 15% v 11%; and early treatment-related mortality, 2% v 3%) were similar after R-CHOP versus R-HDS, respectively. After a median follow-up of 5 years, the 3-year event-free survival was 62% versus 65% ( P = .83). At 3 years, compared with the R-CHOP arm, the R-HDS arm had better disease-free survival (79% v 91%, respectively; P = .034), but this subsequently vanished because of late-occurring treatment-related deaths. No difference was detected in terms of progression-free survival (65% v 75%, respectively; P = .12), or overall survival (74% v 77%, respectively; P = .64). Significantly higher hematologic toxicity ( P < .001) and more infectious complications ( P < .001) were observed in the R-HDS arm. Conclusion In this study, front-line intensive R-HDS chemotherapy with ASCT did not improve the outcome of high-risk patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

MYC protein expression and genetic alterations have prognostic impact in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with immunochemotherapy

PubMed Central

Valera, Alexandra; López-Guillermo, Armando; Cardesa-Salzmann, Teresa; Climent, Fina; González-Barca, Eva; Mercadal, Santiago; Espinosa, Íñigo; Novelli, Silvana; Briones, Javier; Mate, José L.; Salamero, Olga; Sancho, Juan M.; Arenillas, Leonor; Serrano, Sergi; Erill, Nadina; Martínez, Daniel; Castillo, Paola; Rovira, Jordina; Martínez, Antonio; Campo, Elias; Colomo, Luis

2013-01-01

MYC alterations influence the survival of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Most studies have focused on MYC translocations but there is little information regarding the impact of numerical alterations and protein expression. We analyzed the genetic alterations and protein expression of MYC, BCL2, BCL6, and MALT1 in 219 cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. MYC rearrangement occurred as the sole abnormality (MYC single-hit) in 3% of cases, MYC and concurrent BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements (MYC double/triple-hit) in 4%, MYC amplifications in 2% and MYC gains in 19%. MYC single-hit, MYC double/triple-hit and MYC amplifications, but not MYC gains or other gene rearrangements, were associated with unfavorable progression-free survival and overall survival. MYC protein expression, evaluated using computerized image analysis, captured the unfavorable prognosis of MYC translocations/amplifications and identified an additional subset of patients without gene alterations but with similar poor prognosis. Patients with tumors expressing both MYC/BCL2 had the worst prognosis, whereas those with double-negative tumors had the best outcome. High MYC expression was associated with shorter overall survival irrespectively of the International Prognostic Index and BCL2 expression. In conclusion, MYC protein expression identifies a subset of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with very poor prognosis independently of gene alterations and other prognostic parameters. PMID:23716551

MYC protein expression and genetic alterations have prognostic impact in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with immunochemotherapy.

PubMed

Valera, Alexandra; López-Guillermo, Armando; Cardesa-Salzmann, Teresa; Climent, Fina; González-Barca, Eva; Mercadal, Santiago; Espinosa, Iñigo; Novelli, Silvana; Briones, Javier; Mate, José L; Salamero, Olga; Sancho, Juan M; Arenillas, Leonor; Serrano, Sergi; Erill, Nadina; Martínez, Daniel; Castillo, Paola; Rovira, Jordina; Martínez, Antonio; Campo, Elias; Colomo, Luis

2013-10-01

MYC alterations influence the survival of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Most studies have focused on MYC translocations but there is little information regarding the impact of numerical alterations and protein expression. We analyzed the genetic alterations and protein expression of MYC, BCL2, BCL6, and MALT1 in 219 cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. MYC rearrangement occurred as the sole abnormality (MYC single-hit) in 3% of cases, MYC and concurrent BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements (MYC double/triple-hit) in 4%, MYC amplifications in 2% and MYC gains in 19%. MYC single-hit, MYC double/triple-hit and MYC amplifications, but not MYC gains or other gene rearrangements, were associated with unfavorable progression-free survival and overall survival. MYC protein expression, evaluated using computerized image analysis, captured the unfavorable prognosis of MYC translocations/amplifications and identified an additional subset of patients without gene alterations but with similar poor prognosis. Patients with tumors expressing both MYC/BCL2 had the worst prognosis, whereas those with double-negative tumors had the best outcome. High MYC expression was associated with shorter overall survival irrespectively of the International Prognostic Index and BCL2 expression. In conclusion, MYC protein expression identifies a subset of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with very poor prognosis independently of gene alterations and other prognostic parameters.

FDG PET/CT Findings in Primary Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma, Leg Type.

PubMed

Ni, Chiayi; Lewis, Michael; Berenji, Gholam

2016-01-01

A 64-year-old man presented with complaints of worsening left foot pain and swelling. MRI showed a soft tissue mass overlying the dorsolateral aspect of the left foot. Following a 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT), the left foot mass was biopsied and pathology indicated a diagnosis of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, leg type (PDLBCL, LT). Review of the PET/CT images demonstrated hypermetabolic activity associated with the left foot mass, multiple subcutaneous nodules/nodes, sclerotic osseous lesions in the lower extremities, and left external iliac/left inguinal lymphadenopathy. At the moment, the patient is undergoing chemotherapy.

Diffusion method of seperating gaseous mixtures

DOEpatents

Pontius, Rex B.

1976-01-01

A method of effecting a relatively large change in the relative concentrations of the components of a gaseous mixture by diffusion which comprises separating the mixture into heavier and lighter portions according to major fraction mass recycle procedure, further separating the heavier portions into still heavier subportions according to a major fraction mass recycle procedure, and further separating the lighter portions into still lighter subportions according to a major fraction equilibrium recycle procedure.

Scattering and extinction properties of overfire soot in large buoyant turbulent diffusion flames

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Krishnan, S.S.; Lin, K.C.; Faeth, G.M.

1999-07-01

Measurements of the scattering and extinction properties of soot at visible wavelengths (351.2--632.8 nm) were completed for soot in the overfire region of large buoyant turbulent diffusion flames burning in still air where soot properties are independent of position and characteristic flame residence time for a particular fuel. Flames fueled with both gas (acetylene, ethylene, propylene and butadiene) and liquid (benzene, toluene, cyclohexane and n-heptane) hydrocarbon fuels were considered during the experiments. The measurements were considered during the experiments. The measurements were used to evaluate Rayleigh-Debye-Gans/polydisperse-fractal-aggregate theory for the absorption and scattering properties of soot, finding good performance for themore » present test range which included primary particle size parameters as large as 0.46; in addition, effects of fuel type over the test range were comparable to experimental uncertainties. Fractal dimensions were properly independent of wavelength and yielded a mean value of 1.79 with a standard deviation of 0.05, which is in excellent agreement with earlier work. Dimensionless extinction coefficients were relatively independent of wavelength and yielded a mean value of 8.4 with a standard deviation of 1.5. Present refractive indices did not exhibit a resonance condition, seen for graphite, as the uv was approached. Values of the refractive index function for absorption, E(m), increased as wavelength increased and were comparable to most earlier measurements for wavelengths greater than 400 nm. Values of the refractive index function for scattering, F(m), agreed with earlier measurements at wavelengths of 450--550 nm but otherwise increased with increasing wavelength more rapidly than seen before.« less

HIV/AIDS-related social anxieties in adolescents in three African countries.

PubMed

Venier, J L; Ross, M W; Akande, A

1998-02-01

This study examines the social anxieties associated with HIV prevention in adolescents in three African countries (Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe). The subjects used in this study were black Africans in form 2 or grade 10 in public high schools (Nigeria, n = 387; Kenya, n = 274; Zimbabwe n = 313). Subjects responded to the 33 item AIDS Social Assertiveness Scale (ASAS). Data indicated similar factor structures for each of the three countries and included five factors. The combined sample factor intercorrelations were modestly but significantly correlated. The mean scores for each factor were compared, and ANOVA of the factors by country, by gender, and by interaction between country and gender were performed. The factor structures were very similar between countries, each including five factors that had similar themes: condom interactions, refusal of risk, confiding in significant others, contact with people with HIV/AIDS, and general assertiveness. These factor structures were also very similar to one found in previous studies of Australian adolescents on the ASAS. The Kenyan means for four of the five factors were significantly lower than those for Nigeria, and were also significantly lower than the Zimbabwean means for two of the five factors, suggesting that Kenyan students are less anxious about social situations related to HIV/AIDS than others. Significant variance was found for several factors due to gender, country, and the interaction between gender and country. These results have important implications for designing education programs. The similarities of anxieties regarding HIV/AIDS social situations suggest that these clusters of social barriers to reduction of HIV infection risk might form the basis of educational interventions, and that dimensions of HIV social anxieties are similar across countries.

Gene selection and cancer type classification of diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma using a bivariate mixture model for two-species data.

PubMed

Su, Yuhua; Nielsen, Dahlia; Zhu, Lei; Richards, Kristy; Suter, Steven; Breen, Matthew; Motsinger-Reif, Alison; Osborne, Jason

2013-01-05

: A bivariate mixture model utilizing information across two species was proposed to solve the fundamental problem of identifying differentially expressed genes in microarray experiments. The model utility was illustrated using a dog and human lymphoma data set prepared by a group of scientists in the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. A small number of genes were identified as being differentially expressed in both species and the human genes in this cluster serve as a good predictor for classifying diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients into two subgroups, the germinal center B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and the activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The number of human genes that were observed to be significantly differentially expressed (21) from the two-species analysis was very small compared to the number of human genes (190) identified with only one-species analysis (human data). The genes may be clinically relevant/important, as this small set achieved low misclassification rates of DLBCL subtypes. Additionally, the two subgroups defined by this cluster of human genes had significantly different survival functions, indicating that the stratification based on gene-expression profiling using the proposed mixture model provided improved insight into the clinical differences between the two cancer subtypes.

A reaction-diffusion model for market fluctuations - A relation between price change and traded volumes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuvan, Steven; Bier, Martin

2018-02-01

Two decades ago Bak et al. (1997) [3] proposed a reaction-diffusion model to describe market fluctuations. In the model buyers and sellers diffuse from opposite ends of a 1D interval that represents a price range. Trades occur when buyers and sellers meet. We show analytically and numerically that the model well reproduces the square-root relation between traded volumes and price changes that is observed in real-life markets. The result is remarkable as this relation has commonly been explained in terms of more elaborate trader strategies. We furthermore explain why the square-root relation is robust under model modifications and we show how real-life bond market data exhibit the square-root relation.

[Present situation of awareness of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) knowledge and AIDS-related behaviors among youth students in gay dating sites].

PubMed

2017-06-18

To investigate the awareness of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) knowledge and AIDS-related behaviors among youth students in gay dating sites, and to provide evidences for AIDS prevention education through the internet. The students in gay dating sites, selected by a snowball sampling, were interviewed by questionnaires. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the awareness of AIDS knowledge among the students of different characteristics. The Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors associated with ever testing for HIV. In the study, 469 youth students in gay dating sites filled in the questionnaires, and a total of 442 (94.2%) valid samples were collected. The awareness of HIV/AIDS knowledge for the public among the youth students in gay dating sites was 83.9% (371).The awareness of HIV/AIDS knowledge for the youth students was 77.1% (341), and the rate of ever testing for HIV was 52.0% (230). The awareness of HIV/AIDS knowledge for the public in the students were different in different age groups (P=0.001), different marital statuses (P<0.001), different sexual orientations (P<0.001), and different genders of the first sexual partner (P<0.001). The awareness of HIV/AIDS knowledge for the youth students were different in different age groups (P=0.010), different marital status (P=0.004), different sexual orientations (P<0.001), and different genders of the first sexual partner (P<0.001). The rate of ever having sexual intercourse among the youth students in gay dating sites was 75.1% (332), and the rate of multiple sexual partnerships among the youth students was 41.3% (137). Compared with homosexual orientation, sexual orientation as heterosexual (OR=0.282, 95%CI: 0.151 to 0.528) and not sure (OR=0.175, 95%CI: 0.035 to 0.885) were risk factors of ever testing for HIV. Multiple sexual partnerships (OR=2.103, 95%CI: 1.278 to 3.462) were promoting factors of ever testing for HIV. The rate of high-risk behaviors among the youth students in gay

Trend of HIV/AIDS Prevalence and Related Interventions Administered in Prisons of Iran -13 Years’ Experience

PubMed Central

SHAHBAZI, Mohammad; FARNIA, Marzieh; RAHMANI, Khaled; MORADI, Ghobad

2014-01-01

Abstract Background HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated among injecting drug users in Iran. Like many other countries with HIV/AIDS concentrated epidemic, prisons are high risk areas for spreading HIV/AIDS. The aim of this paper was to study the trend of HIV/AIDS prevalence and related interventions administered in prisons of Iran during a 13 years period Methods This cross sectional study was conducted using the data collected from the sentinel sites in all prisons in the country and it also used the data about Harm Reduction interventions which has been implemented by Iran Prisons Organization. To evaluate the correlation between the prevalence and each of administered interventions in prisons the Correlation Coefficient Test was used for the second half of the mentioned time period Results The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in prisons had increased rapidly in the early stages of epidemic, so that in 2002 the prevalence raised to 3.83%. Followed by the expansion of Methadone Maintenance Therapy and development of Triangular Clinics, HIV/AIDS prevalence in prisons declined. There was a relationship between interventions and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Conclusion In regions and countries where the epidemic is highly prevalent among injecting drug users and prisoners, Methadone Maintenance Therapy and development of Triangular Clinics can be utilized to control HIV/AIDS epidemic quickly. PMID:26005657

Stimulated echo diffusion tensor imaging (STEAM-DTI) with varying diffusion times as a probe of breast tissue.

PubMed

Teruel, Jose R; Cho, Gene Y; Moccaldi Rt, Melanie; Goa, Pål E; Bathen, Tone F; Feiweier, Thorsten; Kim, Sungheon G; Moy, Linda; Sigmund, Eric E

2017-01-01

To explore the application of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for breast tissue and breast pathologies using a stimulated-echo acquisition mode (STEAM) with variable diffusion times. In this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant study, approved by the local institutional review board, eight patients and six healthy volunteers underwent an MRI examination at 3 Tesla including STEAM-DTI with several diffusion times ranging from 68.5 to 902.5 ms. A DTI model was fitted to the data for each diffusion time, and parametric maps of mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity were computed for healthy fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and lesions. The median value of radial diffusivity for FGT was fitted to a linear decay to obtain an estimation of the surface-to-volume ratio, from which the radial diameter was calculated. For healthy FGT, radial diffusivity presented a linear decay with the square root of the diffusion time resulting in a range of estimated radial diameters from 202 to 496 µm, while axial diffusivity presented a nearly time-independent diffusion. Residual fat signal was reduced at longer diffusion times due to the shorter T1 of fat. Residual fat signal to the overall signal in the healthy volunteers' FGT was found to range from 2.39% to 2.55% (shortest mixing time), and from 0.40% to 0.51% (longest mixing time) for the b500 images. The use of variable diffusion times may provide an in vivo noninvasive tool to probe diffusion lengths in breast tissue and breast pathology, and might aid by improving fat suppression at longer diffusion times. 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:84-93. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Increased risk of stomach and esophageal malignancies in people with AIDS.

PubMed

Persson, E Christina; Shiels, Meredith S; Dawsey, Sanford M; Bhatia, Kishor; Anderson, Lesley A; Engels, Eric A

2012-10-01

People infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have an increased risk of some malignancies, but little is known about the effects of infection on risk of cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract. We evaluated the risks of different histologic and anatomic subtypes of carcinomas and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) of the stomach and esophagus in people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). We analyzed data from the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study, which links data collected from 1980 to 2007 for 16 US population-based HIV and AIDS and cancer registries. We compared risks of stomach and esophageal malignancies in people with AIDS (N = 596,955) with those of the general population using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs). We assessed calendar trends using Poisson regression. People with AIDS had increased risks of carcinomas of the esophagus (SIR, 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37-2.07; n = 95) and stomach (SIR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.17-1.76; n = 96). Risk was increased for esophageal adenocarcinoma (SIR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.31-2.70) and squamous cell carcinoma (SIR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.10-1.92). People with AIDS had greater risks of carcinomas of the gastric cardia (SIR, 1.36; 95% CI, 0.83-2.11) and noncardia (SIR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.12-2.05) than the general population. Although most stomach and esophageal NHLs that developed in people with AIDS were diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, these individuals also had an increased risk of stomach mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (SIR, 5.99; 95% CI, 3.19-10.2; n = 13). The incidence of carcinomas remained fairly constant over time, but rates of NHL decreased from 1980 to 2007 (P(trend) < .0001). People with AIDS are at increased risk for developing esophageal and stomach carcinomas and NHLs. Although the incidence of NHL decreased from 1980 to 2007 as treatments for HIV infection improved, HIV-infected individuals face continued risks of esophageal and stomach carcinomas. Copyright © 2012 AGA Institute

Increased Risk of Stomach and Esophageal Malignancies in People With AIDS

PubMed Central

Persson, E. Christina; Shiels, Meredith S.; Dawsey, Sanford M.; Bhatia, Kishor; Anderson, Lesley A.; Engels, Eric A.

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND & AIMS People infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have an increased risk of some malignancies, but little is known about the effects of infection on risk of cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract. We evaluated the risks of different histologic and anatomic subtypes of carcinomas and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) of the stomach and esophagus in people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). METHODS We analyzed data from the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study, which links data collected from 1980 to 2007 for 16 US population-based HIV and AIDS and cancer registries. We compared risks of stomach and esophageal malignancies in people with AIDS (N = 596,955) with those of the general population using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs). We assessed calendar trends using Poisson regression. RESULTS People with AIDS had increased risks of carcinomas of the esophagus (SIR, 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37–2.07; n = 95) and stomach (SIR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.17–1.76; n = 96). Risk was increased for esophageal adenocarcinoma (SIR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.31–2.70) and squamous cell carcinoma (SIR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.10 –1.92). People with AIDS had greater risks of carcinomas of the gastric cardia (SIR, 1.36; 95% CI, 0.83–2.11) and noncardia (SIR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.12–2.05) than the general population. Although most stomach and esophageal NHLs that developed in people with AIDS were diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, these individuals also had an increased risk of stomach mucosa–associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (SIR, 5.99; 95% CI, 3.19 –10.2; n = 13). The incidence of carcinomas remained fairly constant over time, but rates of NHL decreased from 1980 to 2007 (Ptrend < .0001). CONCLUSIONS People with AIDS are at increased risk for developing esophageal and stomach carcinomas and NHLs. Although the incidence of NHL decreased from 1980 to 2007 as treatments for HIV infection improved, HIV-infected individuals face continued risks of esophageal

Unhealthy Substance Use Behaviors as Symptom-Related Self-Care in HIV/AIDS

PubMed Central

Brion, John M.; Rose, Carol Dawson; Nicholas, Patrice K.; Sloane, Rick; Voss, Joachim G.; Corless, Inge B.; Lindgren, Teri G.; Wantland, Dean J.; Kemppainen, Jeanne K.; Sefcik, Elizabeth F.; Nokes, Kathleen M.; Kirksey, Kenn M.; Eller, Lucille Sanzero; Hamilton, Mary Jane; Holzemer, William L.; Portillo, Carmen J.; Mendez, Marta Rivero; Robinson, Linda M.; Moezzi, Shanaz; Rosa, Maria; Human, Sarie; Maryland, Mary; Arudo, John; Ros, Ana Viamonte; Nicholas, Thomas P.; Cuca, Yvette; Huang, Emily; Bain, Catherine; Tyer-Viola, Lynda; Zang, Sheryl M.; Shannon, Maureen; Peters-Lewis, Angelleen

2014-01-01

The prevalence of symptoms in HIV disease can be associated with HIV disease itself, comorbid illness, and/or antiretroviral therapy. Unhealthy substance use behaviors, particularly substance-use behaviors including heavy alcohol intake, marijuana use, other illicit drug use, and cigarette smoking, are engaged in by many HIV-positive individuals, often as a way to manage disease-related symptoms. This study is a secondary data analysis of baseline data from a larger randomized-controlled trial of an HIV/AIDS Symptom Management Manual. In the present study, the prevalence and characteristics of unhealthy substance use behaviors in relation to HIV/AIDS symptoms are examined. Subjects were recruited from a variety of settings which provide HIV/AIDS care and treatment. The mean age of the sample (n=775) was 42.8 years (SD=9.6) and nearly thirty-nine percent (38.5%) of the sample was female. The racial demographics of the sample were: 28% African American, 28% Hispanic, 21% White/Caucasian, 16% African from Kenya or South Africa, 1% Asian, and 5% self-described as “Other.” The mean number of years living with HIV was reported to be 9.1 years (SD=6.6).Specific self-reported unhealthy substance-use behaviors were use of marijuana (n= 111; 14.3%), cigarette smoking (n=355; 45.8%), heavy alcohol use (n= 66; 8.5%), and illicit drugs (n= 98; 12.6%). A subset of individuals who identified high levels of specific symptoms also reported significantly higher substance use behaviors including amphetamine and injection drug use in addition to heavy alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and marijuana use. Implications for clinical practice include assessment of self-care behaviors, screening for substance abuse, and education of persons related to self-management across the trajectory of HIV disease. PMID:21352430

Computer-aided, multi-modal, and compression diffuse optical studies of breast tissue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busch, David Richard, Jr.

Diffuse Optical Tomography and Spectroscopy permit measurement of important physiological parameters non-invasively through ˜10 cm of tissue. I have applied these techniques in measurements of human breast and breast cancer. My thesis integrates three loosely connected themes in this context: multi-modal breast cancer imaging, automated data analysis of breast cancer images, and microvascular hemodynamics of breast under compression. As per the first theme, I describe construction, testing, and the initial clinical usage of two generations of imaging systems for simultaneous diffuse optical and magnetic resonance imaging. The second project develops a statistical analysis of optical breast data from many spatial locations in a population of cancers to derive a novel optical signature of malignancy; I then apply this data-derived signature for localization of cancer in additional subjects. Finally, I construct and deploy diffuse optical instrumentation to measure blood content and blood flow during breast compression; besides optics, this research has implications for any method employing breast compression, e.g., mammography.

Changes in diffusion path length with old age in diffuse optical tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonnéry, Clément; Leclerc, Paul-Olivier; Desjardins, Michèle; Hoge, Rick; Bherer, Louis; Pouliot, Philippe; Lesage, Frédéric

2012-05-01

Diffuse, optical near infrared imaging is increasingly being used in various neurocognitive contexts where changes in optical signals are interpreted through activation maps. Statistical population comparison of different age or clinical groups rely on the relative homogeneous distribution of measurements across subjects in order to infer changes in brain function. In the context of an increasing use of diffuse optical imaging with older adult populations, changes in tissue properties and anatomy with age adds additional confounds. Few studies investigated these changes with age. Duncan et al. measured the so-called diffusion path length factor (DPF) in a large population but did not explore beyond the age of 51 after which physiological and anatomical changes are expected to occur [Pediatr. Res. 39(5), 889-894 (1996)]. With increasing interest in studying the geriatric population with optical imaging, we studied changes in tissue properties in young and old subjects using both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided Monte-Carlo simulations and time-domain diffuse optical imaging. Our results, measured in the frontal cortex, show changes in DPF that are smaller than previously measured by Duncan et al. in a younger population. The origin of these changes are studied using simulations and experimental measures.

Neutral Evolution in a Biological Population as Diffusion in Phenotype Space: Reproduction with Local Mutation but without Selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawson, Daniel John; Jensen, Henrik Jeldtoft

2007-03-01

The process of “evolutionary diffusion,” i.e., reproduction with local mutation but without selection in a biological population, resembles standard diffusion in many ways. However, evolutionary diffusion allows the formation of localized peaks that undergo drift, even in the infinite population limit. We relate a microscopic evolution model to a stochastic model which we solve fully. This allows us to understand the large population limit, relates evolution to diffusion, and shows that independent local mutations act as a diffusion of interacting particles taking larger steps.

Neutral evolution in a biological population as diffusion in phenotype space: reproduction with local mutation but without selection.

PubMed

Lawson, Daniel John; Jensen, Henrik Jeldtoft

2007-03-02

The process of "evolutionary diffusion," i.e., reproduction with local mutation but without selection in a biological population, resembles standard diffusion in many ways. However, evolutionary diffusion allows the formation of localized peaks that undergo drift, even in the infinite population limit. We relate a microscopic evolution model to a stochastic model which we solve fully. This allows us to understand the large population limit, relates evolution to diffusion, and shows that independent local mutations act as a diffusion of interacting particles taking larger steps.

Parallel STEPS: Large Scale Stochastic Spatial Reaction-Diffusion Simulation with High Performance Computers

PubMed Central

Chen, Weiliang; De Schutter, Erik

2017-01-01

Stochastic, spatial reaction-diffusion simulations have been widely used in systems biology and computational neuroscience. However, the increasing scale and complexity of models and morphologies have exceeded the capacity of any serial implementation. This led to the development of parallel solutions that benefit from the boost in performance of modern supercomputers. In this paper, we describe an MPI-based, parallel operator-splitting implementation for stochastic spatial reaction-diffusion simulations with irregular tetrahedral meshes. The performance of our implementation is first examined and analyzed with simulations of a simple model. We then demonstrate its application to real-world research by simulating the reaction-diffusion components of a published calcium burst model in both Purkinje neuron sub-branch and full dendrite morphologies. Simulation results indicate that our implementation is capable of achieving super-linear speedup for balanced loading simulations with reasonable molecule density and mesh quality. In the best scenario, a parallel simulation with 2,000 processes runs more than 3,600 times faster than its serial SSA counterpart, and achieves more than 20-fold speedup relative to parallel simulation with 100 processes. In a more realistic scenario with dynamic calcium influx and data recording, the parallel simulation with 1,000 processes and no load balancing is still 500 times faster than the conventional serial SSA simulation. PMID:28239346

[Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the uterine cervix--a case report].

PubMed

Okudaira, Taeko; Nagasaki, Akitoshi; Miyagi, Takashi; Nakazato, Tetsuro; Taira, Naoya; Kudaka, Wataru; Maehama, Toshiyuki; Takasu, Nobuyuki

2008-08-01

Primary malignant lymphoma of the female genital tract is an extremely rare clinical entity. We report a case of primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the uterine cervix. A 68-year-old woman presented with abnormal genital bleeding in May 2002. A coloposcopic examination revealed a mass in the uterine cervix. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a bulky cervical tumor(7.5 x 8 cm)invading the right parametrium and adjacent levator ani muscle. Involvement of pelvic lymph nodes was also observed. The uterine lesion exhibited homogenous hypointensity on T1 weight image and isointense to hyperintense on T2-weight image. No other lesions were detected by the whole-body computed tomography, gallium scintigraphy, and bone marrow examination. Although cytology of the smear from the uterine cervix was nondiagnostic, the histologic examination of the punch biopsy material showed a diffuse proliferation of atypical lymphoid cells. Immunophenotypic studies revealed tumor cells were positive for CD19, CD20, CD30, and k-chain. A diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the uterine cervix, clinical stage IIE was made. The patient was treated with 6 cycles of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone(CHOP)chemotherapy followed by the involved field irradiation. She remains alive and free of disease more than 5 years after the diagnosis.

Molecular Profiling Reveals Biologically Discrete Subsets and Pathways of Progression in Diffuse Glioma.

PubMed

Ceccarelli, Michele; Barthel, Floris P; Malta, Tathiane M; Sabedot, Thais S; Salama, Sofie R; Murray, Bradley A; Morozova, Olena; Newton, Yulia; Radenbaugh, Amie; Pagnotta, Stefano M; Anjum, Samreen; Wang, Jiguang; Manyam, Ganiraju; Zoppoli, Pietro; Ling, Shiyun; Rao, Arjun A; Grifford, Mia; Cherniack, Andrew D; Zhang, Hailei; Poisson, Laila; Carlotti, Carlos Gilberto; Tirapelli, Daniela Pretti da Cunha; Rao, Arvind; Mikkelsen, Tom; Lau, Ching C; Yung, W K Alfred; Rabadan, Raul; Huse, Jason; Brat, Daniel J; Lehman, Norman L; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S; Zheng, Siyuan; Hess, Kenneth; Rao, Ganesh; Meyerson, Matthew; Beroukhim, Rameen; Cooper, Lee; Akbani, Rehan; Wrensch, Margaret; Haussler, David; Aldape, Kenneth D; Laird, Peter W; Gutmann, David H; Noushmehr, Houtan; Iavarone, Antonio; Verhaak, Roel G W

2016-01-28

Therapy development for adult diffuse glioma is hindered by incomplete knowledge of somatic glioma driving alterations and suboptimal disease classification. We defined the complete set of genes associated with 1,122 diffuse grade II-III-IV gliomas from The Cancer Genome Atlas and used molecular profiles to improve disease classification, identify molecular correlations, and provide insights into the progression from low- to high-grade disease. Whole-genome sequencing data analysis determined that ATRX but not TERT promoter mutations are associated with increased telomere length. Recent advances in glioma classification based on IDH mutation and 1p/19q co-deletion status were recapitulated through analysis of DNA methylation profiles, which identified clinically relevant molecular subsets. A subtype of IDH mutant glioma was associated with DNA demethylation and poor outcome; a group of IDH-wild-type diffuse glioma showed molecular similarity to pilocytic astrocytoma and relatively favorable survival. Understanding of cohesive disease groups may aid improved clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein Relation for the Rotational Diffusivity of Polymer Grafted Nanoparticles in Polymer Melts.

PubMed

Maldonado-Camargo, Lorena; Rinaldi, Carlos

2016-11-09

We report observations of breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation for the rotational diffusivity of polymer-grafted spherical nanoparticles in polymer melts. The rotational diffusivity of magnetic nanoparticles coated with poly(ethylene glycol) dispersed in poly(ethylene glycol) melts was determined through dynamic magnetic susceptibility measurements of the collective rotation of the magnetic nanoparticles due to imposed time-varying magnetic torques. These measurements clearly demonstrate the existence of a critical molecular weight for the melt polymer, below which the Stokes-Einstein relation accurately describes the rotational diffusivity of the polymer-grafted nanoparticles and above which the Stokes-Einstein relation ceases to apply. This critical molecular weight was found to correspond to a chain contour length that approximates the hydrodynamic diameter of the nanoparticles.

Validating survey measurement scales for AIDS-related knowledge and stigma among construction workers in South Africa.

PubMed

Bowen, Paul; Govender, Rajen; Edwards, Peter

2016-01-23

Construction workers in South Africa are regarded as a high-risk group in the context of HIV/AIDS. HIV testing is pivotal to controlling HIV transmission and providing palliative care and AIDS-related knowledge and stigma are key issues in addressing the likelihood of testing behaviour. In exploring these issues, various studies have employed an 11-item AIDS-related knowledge scale (Kalichman and Simbayi, AIDS Care 16:572-580, 2004) and a 9-item stigma scale (Kalichman et al., AIDS Behav 9:135-143, 2005), but little evidence exists confirming the psychometric properties of these scales. Using survey data from 512 construction workers in the Western Cape, South Africa, this research examines the validity and reliability of the two scales through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency tests. From confirmatory factor analysis, a revised 10-item knowledge scale was developed (χ2 /df ratio = 1.675, CFI = 0.982, RMSEA = 0.038, and Hoelter (95 %) = 393). A revised 8-item stigma scale was also developed (χ2 /df ratio = 1.929, CFI = 0.974, RMSEA = 0.045, and Hoelter (95 %) = 380). Both revised scales demonstrated good model fit and all factor loadings were significant (p < 0.01). Reliability analysis demonstrated excellent to good internal consistency, with alpha values of 0.80 and 0.74, respectively. Both revised scales also demonstrated satisfactory convergent and divergent validity. Limitations of the original survey from which the data was obtained include the failure to properly account for respondent selection of language for completion of the survey, use of ethnicity as a proxy for identifying the native language of participants, the limited geographical area from which the survey data was collected, and the limitations associated with the convenience sample. A limitation of the validation study was the lack of available data for a more robust examination of reliability beyond internal consistency, such as test-retest reliability. The

Diffuse pulmonary gallium accumulation with a normal chest radiogram in a homosexual man with pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. A case report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moses, S.C.; Baker, S.R.; Seldin, M.F.

1983-12-01

A homosexual man with A.I.D.S. (acquired immunologic deficiency syndrome) and pneumocystis infestation was found to have diffuse Ga-67 uptake in the lungs with a coincident negative chest x-ray. While Ga-67 accumulates diffusely in the lungs in a variety of conditions, the present case is the first described in a patient with A.I.D.S. in which Ga-67 was positive before roentgenographic abnormalities were demonstrated. Thus, the use of Ga-67 scan, when A.I.D.S. is suspected, could help establish a diagnosis more promptly.

Mutational and structural analysis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma using whole genome sequencing | Office of Cancer Genomics

Cancer.gov

Abstract: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a genetically heterogeneous cancer comprising at least two molecular subtypes that differ in gene expression and distribution of mutations. Recently, application of genome/exome sequencing and RNA-seq to DLBCL has revealed numerous genes that are recurrent targets of somatic point mutation in this disease.

Process for fabrication of large titanium diboride ceramic bodies

DOEpatents

Moorhead, Arthur J.; Bomar, E. S.; Becher, Paul F.

1989-01-01

A process for manufacturing large, fully dense, high purity TiB.sub.2 articles by pressing powders with a sintering aid at relatively low temperatures to reduce grain growth. The process requires stringent temperature and pressure applications in the hot-pressing step to ensure maximum removal of sintering aid and to avoid damage to the fabricated article or the die.

[Primary central nervous system diffuse large B cell lymphoma: a clinicopathologic and molecular study].

PubMed

Ma, Z P; Ainiwaer, Babayi; Liu, Z Y; Shi, X L; Cui, W L; Zhang, W; Li, X X

2016-11-08

Objective: To investigate clinicopathologic characteristics, immunophenotype and EB virus-related molecular genetic alterations in primary central nervous system diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) along with correlation with clinical prognosis. Methods: A total of 30 cases of primary central nervous system DLBCL were retrospectively studied by retrieving clinical data, histological evaluation and immunophenotyping by EnVision two steps methods. The expression of EBER mRNA was detected by in situ hybridization and bcl-2, bcl-6 and C-MYC gene abnormalities were analyzed by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization. Results: The cases included 18 males and 12 females (sex ratio of 1.5∶1.0) with an age ranging from 24 to 78 years (average age of 52 years, the median age of 53 years). The single primary clinical presentation was focal neurologic deficits. Tumor locations were supratentorial (21 cases), subtentorial (7 cases), involving both locations in 2 cases. Diffuse growth pattern was observed with large lymphoid cells mostly resembling centroblasts with abundant basophilic cytoplasm with oval to round, vesicular nuclei containing fine chromatin. An angiocentric and angiodestructive growth pattern was also present. Other features included perivascular space invasion. Immunohistochemical staining using a panel of CD10, bcl-6 and MUM1, six cases were germinal center-like (GCB) and 24 cases were non-germinal central-like (non-GCB). The positive rates of bcl-2, bcl-6 and C-MYC were 53.3% (16/30), 80.0% (24/30) and 20.0% (6/30), respectively. Genetic alterations were detected by FISH and the gene arrangement rates of bcl-2, bcl-6 and C-MYC were 3.3% (1/30), 16.7% (5/30) and 3.3% (1/30), respectively. There were 19 cases in stage 0-1 disease and 11 cases had stage 2-3 disease. Postoperative follow-up for average 13.6 months showed the median survival of 10 months, one-year survival of 46.7% and 16 patients died within a year. Conclusions: The clinical prognosis

Diffuse large cell lymphoma presenting as a sacral mass and lupus anticoagulant.

PubMed

Ediriwickrema, Lilangi S; Zaheer, Wajih

2011-12-01

A 67-year-old gentleman presented to Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) for assessment of a supratherapeutic INR and sacral lesion. Hematologic workup revealed elevated ESR, PT, INR, PTT, and CRP, mixing studies that failed to correct, and a positive Russell Viper Venom Test (RVVT), which confirmed the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA), a subtype of antiphospholipid syndrome (APA). Pathology of the patient's sacral lesion revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This case provides insight into the association between APA and lymphoid neoplasm. The patient's unique presentation is in marked contrast to other reports of APA and lymphoid malignancy, which are typically associated with elevated PTT, normal PT, minimal extranodal disease, and potential thrombotic complications. Further, treatment with Rituximab-CHOP chemotherapy led to excellent clinical response with tumor remission and normalization of PT and PTT.

Disparities in the early adoption of chemo-immunotherapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the United States

PubMed Central

Flowers, Christopher R.; Fedewa, Stacey A.; Chen, Amy Y.; Nastoupil, Loretta J; Lipscomb, Joseph; Brawley, Otis W.; Ward, Elizabeth M.

2014-01-01

Background Since the 1970s, CHOP chemotherapy has been the standard treatment for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In 2002, randomized trials changed this standard by demonstrating that adding rituximab immunotherapy to CHOP improved survival. However, how these results influenced chemo-immunotherapy adoption in clinical practice remains unclear. Methods Using the National Cancer Database to compare chemo-immunotherapy use with chemotherapy alone, we collected data on demographics, stage, health insurance, area-level socio-economic status (SES), facility characteristics, and type of treatment for DLBCL patients diagnosed in the United States 2001-2004. Multivariable log binomial models examined associations between race, insurance, and treatment allocation, adjusting for covariates. Results Among 38,002 patients with DLBCL, 27% received chemo-immunotherapy and 50% chemotherapy alone. Patients who had localized disease, were diagnosed in 2001, black, uninsured/Medicaid insured, or lower SES were less likely to receive any form of chemotherapy (all p<0.0001). Patients who were diagnosed 2001, black [relative risk (RR) 0.83, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.78-0.89], >60 years (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.98), or had localized disease (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.86-0.92) were less likely to receive chemo-immunotherapy. Receiving treatment at high DLBCL volume teaching/research facilities was associated with the greatest likelihood of chemo-immunotherapy (RR 1.69, 95% CI 1.52-1.89). Conclusions Black DLBCL patients were less likely to receive chemotherapy or chemo-immunotherapy during this period. Impact This large national cohort study demonstrates disparities in the diffusion of chemo-immunotherapy for DLBCL. Improving DLBCL outcomes will require efforts to extend access to proven advances in therapy to all segments of the population. PMID:22771484

Knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices of adolescents with mild retardation, in relation HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Dawood, Naseema; Bhagwanjee, Anil; Govender, Kay; Chohan, Ebrahim

2006-05-01

This study investigates the knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices of adolescents with mild mental retardation (MMR) in relation to HIV/AIDS. Questionnaires were personally administered to a saturation sample of 90 adolescents with MMR drawn from one specialised educational institution in Durban, South Africa. The study revealed critical gaps and erroneous beliefs regarding knowledge of HIV/AIDS, especially with regard to its existence, transmission and cure. Participants indicated a high degree of exposure to various sources of information, particularly media messages. The results indicate that gender-role prescriptions and prevailing social constructions of immorality have had a negative influence on the attitudes and behaviour of participants, particularly with regard to sexual practices and preventative risk behaviours. Furthermore, the sample was found to have low levels of self-efficacy in relation to sexual negotiation and decision-making, more specifically with regard to condom use. It should be noted, however, that only a small proportion of the sample was sexually active and the use of contraceptives was accordingly found to be extremely low. The findings are discussed against the backdrop of the empirical literature on HIV/AIDS, developmental theory, and pertinent theories and models of health behaviour. This study may help to promote a better understanding of the psycho-educational dynamics of HIV infection in this special group of adolescents, and also help to inform attempts to tailor suitable educational programmes, as well as promote further research to add to our knowledge as we address the problems of HIV/AIDS among this group.

Trends in AIDS-related mortality among people aged 60 years and older in Brazil: a nationwide population-based study.

PubMed

Lima, Mauricélia da Silveira; Firmo, Andréa Acioly Maia; Martins-Melo, Francisco Rogerlândio

2016-12-01

The success of antiretroviral therapy has led to an increase in the number of older people living with human immunodeficiency virus worldwide. This study analyzed the epidemiological patterns and time trends of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) related mortality in people aged 60 and older in Brazil from 2000 to 2011. Secondary mortality data from the Brazilian Mortality Information System was used to perform a nationwide population-based study, which included all AIDS-related deaths among people aged 60 years and older in Brazil from 2000 to 2011. Crude and age-adjusted mortality rates (per 100,000 inhabitants) were calculated by sex, age group and place of residence. Trends over time were assessed using joinpoint regression analysis. In the 12-year study period, 12,491,280 deaths were recorded in Brazil, of which 144,175 were AIDS-related deaths. A total of 8194 AIDS-related deaths was identified in people aged 60 years and older (0.12% of all deaths and 5.7% of AIDS-related deaths). The overall age-adjusted mortality rate for the period was 4.30 deaths/100,000 inhabitants (95% confidence interval: 3.99-4.64). Males (6.45 deaths/100,000 inhabitants), aged 60-64 years (6.63 deaths/100,000 inhabitants) and residing in the South region (5.94 deaths/100,000 inhabitants) had the highest mortality rates. We observed a significant increase in mortality at the national level and in all the Brazilian regions, with a sharper increase in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged regions of the country, such as the North and Northeast. The findings show that AIDS in older people is an increasing public health problem in Brazil, and reinforce the need to establish public policies for the prevention, early diagnosis and appropriate clinical treatment of this age group.

Dynamical modes of two almost identical chemical oscillators connected via both pulsatile and diffusive coupling.

PubMed

Safonov, Dmitry A; Vanag, Vladimir K

2018-05-03

The dynamical regimes of two almost identical Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillators with both pulsatile (with time delay) and diffusive coupling have been studied theoretically with the aid of ordinary differential equations for four combinations of these types of coupling: inhibitory diffusive and inhibitory pulsatile (IDIP); excitatory diffusive and inhibitory pulsatile; inhibitory diffusive and excitatory pulsatile; and finally, excitatory diffusive and excitatory pulsatile (EDEP). The combination of two types of coupling creates a condition for new feedback, which promotes new dynamical modes for the IDIP and EDEP coupling.

Health Emergency 2003: The Spread of Drug-Related AIDS and Hepatitis C among African American and Latinos. Health Emergency Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Day, Dawn

This report is the fifth in a series detailing the impact of the injection-related AIDS epidemic on African Americans and Latinos. Ten chapters include: (1) "Health Emergency: The Spread of AIDS among African Americans Who Inject Drugs"; (2) "Health Emergency: The Spread of AIDS Among Latinos Who Inject Drugs"; (3) "A…

Wave Augmented Diffusers for Centrifugal Compressors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paxson, Daniel E.; Skoch, Gary J.

1998-01-01

A conceptual device is introduced which would utilize unsteady wave motion to slow and turn flows in the diffuser section of a centrifugal compressor. The envisioned device would substantially reduce the size of conventional centrifugal diffusers by eliminating the relatively large ninety degree bend needed to turn the flow from the radial/tangential to the axial direction. The bend would be replaced by a wall and the flow would instead exit through a series of rotating ports located on a disk, adjacent to the diffuser hub, and fixed to the impeller shaft. The ports would generate both expansion and compression waves which would rapidly transition from the hub/shroud (axial) direction to the radial/tangential direction. The waves would in turn induce radial/tangential and axial flow. This paper presents a detailed description of the device. Simplified cycle analysis and performance results are presented which were obtained using a time accurate, quasi-one-dimensional CFD code with models for turning, port flow conditions, and losses due to wall shear stress. The results indicate that a periodic wave system can be established which yields diffuser performance comparable to a conventional diffuser. Discussion concerning feasibility, accuracy, and integration follow.

Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Occurring with Rhinophyma: A Case Report

PubMed Central

Shatkin, Samuel; Shatkin, Michael; Beland, Leah E; Oppenheimer, Adam J

2018-01-01

Rhinophyma is the final stage in the evolution of acne rosacea, a common vasoactive dermatosis. Individuals with rhinophyma present with a typical, disfiguring nasal appearance consisting of bulbous enlargement, erythema, and telangiectasia with a sebaceous, oily skin surface. This classic appearance permits a facile diagnosis but may also lead the physician to overlook a coexistent malignancy. We report the occurrence of a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) arising synchronously with a marked rhinophyma. A wide local excision of the malignancy was performed, and the defect was reconstructed with forehead flaps. The rhinophyma was treated with a skin graft and cheek flaps. Following surgery, chemotherapy was used to manage the systemic disease. This case demonstrates the necessity for clinical scrutiny in the diagnosis and treatment of rhinophyma. It is imperative to entertain a high degree of suspicion when non-typical changes are observed within a rhinophymatous lesion or in adjacent areas of the nose. PMID:29946504

Nature of self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Choi, Bongsik; Han, Kyeong Hwan; Kim, Changho

Self-diffusion in a two-dimensional simple fluid is investigated by both analytical and numerical means. We investigate the anomalous aspects of self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids with regards to the mean square displacement, the time-dependent diffusion coefficient, and the velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) using a consistency equation relating these quantities. Here, we numerically confirm the consistency equation by extensive molecular dynamics simulations for finite systems, corroborate earlier results indicating that the kinematic viscosity approaches a finite, non-vanishing value in the thermodynamic limit, and establish the finite size behavior of the diffusion coefficient. We obtain the exact solution of the consistency equation in the thermodynamic limit and use this solution to determine the large time asymptotics of the mean square displacement, the diffusion coefficient, and the VACF. An asymptotic decay law of the VACF resembles the previously known self-consistent form, 1/(more » $$t\\sqrt{In t)}$$ however with a rescaled time.« less

Nature of self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids

DOE PAGES

Choi, Bongsik; Han, Kyeong Hwan; Kim, Changho; ...

2017-12-18

Self-diffusion in a two-dimensional simple fluid is investigated by both analytical and numerical means. We investigate the anomalous aspects of self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids with regards to the mean square displacement, the time-dependent diffusion coefficient, and the velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) using a consistency equation relating these quantities. Here, we numerically confirm the consistency equation by extensive molecular dynamics simulations for finite systems, corroborate earlier results indicating that the kinematic viscosity approaches a finite, non-vanishing value in the thermodynamic limit, and establish the finite size behavior of the diffusion coefficient. We obtain the exact solution of the consistency equation in the thermodynamic limit and use this solution to determine the large time asymptotics of the mean square displacement, the diffusion coefficient, and the VACF. An asymptotic decay law of the VACF resembles the previously known self-consistent form, 1/(more » $$t\\sqrt{In t)}$$ however with a rescaled time.« less

Nature of self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Bongsik; Han, Kyeong Hwan; Kim, Changho; Talkner, Peter; Kidera, Akinori; Lee, Eok Kyun

2017-12-01

Self-diffusion in a two-dimensional simple fluid is investigated by both analytical and numerical means. We investigate the anomalous aspects of self-diffusion in two-dimensional fluids with regards to the mean square displacement, the time-dependent diffusion coefficient, and the velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) using a consistency equation relating these quantities. We numerically confirm the consistency equation by extensive molecular dynamics simulations for finite systems, corroborate earlier results indicating that the kinematic viscosity approaches a finite, non-vanishing value in the thermodynamic limit, and establish the finite size behavior of the diffusion coefficient. We obtain the exact solution of the consistency equation in the thermodynamic limit and use this solution to determine the large time asymptotics of the mean square displacement, the diffusion coefficient, and the VACF. An asymptotic decay law of the VACF resembles the previously known self-consistent form, 1/(t\\sqrt{{ln}t}), however with a rescaled time.

Joining of Silicon Carbide: Diffusion Bond Optimization and Characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halbig, Michael C.; Singh, Mrityunjay

2008-01-01

Joining and integration methods are critically needed as enabling technologies for the full utilization of advanced ceramic components in aerospace and aeronautics applications. One such application is a lean direct injector for a turbine engine to achieve low NOx emissions. In the application, several SiC substrates with different hole patterns to form fuel and combustion air channels are bonded to form the injector. Diffusion bonding is a joining approach that offers uniform bonds with high temperature capability, chemical stability, and high strength. Diffusion bonding was investigated with the aid of titanium foils and coatings as the interlayer between SiC substrates to aid bonding. The influence of such variables as interlayer type, interlayer thickness, substrate finish, and processing time were investigated. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron microprobe analysis were used to characterize the bonds and to identify the reaction formed phases.

Determination of partition and diffusion coefficients of formaldehyde in selected building materials and impact of relative humidity.

PubMed

Xu, Jing; Zhang, Jianshun S; Liu, Xiaoyu; Gao, Zhi

2012-06-01

The partition and effective diffusion coefficients of formaldehyde were measured for three materials (conventional gypsum wallboard, "green" gypsum wallboard, and "green" carpet) under three relative humidity (RH) conditions (20%, 50%, and 70% RH). The "green" materials contained recycled materials and were friendly to environment. A dynamic dual-chamber test method was used. Results showed that a higher relative humidity led to a larger effective diffusion coefficient for two kinds of wallboards and carpet. The carpet was also found to be very permeable resulting in an effective diffusion coefficient at the same order of magnitude with the formaldehyde diffusion coefficient in air. The partition coefficient (K(ma)) of formaldehyde in conventional wallboard was 1.52 times larger at 50% RH than at 20% RH, whereas it decreased slightly from 50% to 70% RH, presumably due to the combined effects of water solubility of formaldehyde and micro-pore blocking by condensed moisture at the high RH level. The partition coefficient of formaldehyde increased slightly with the increase of relative humidity in "green" wallboard and "green" carpet. At the same relative humidity level, the "green" wallboard had larger partition coefficient and effective diffusion coefficient than the conventional wallboard, presumably due to the micro-pore structure differences between the two materials. The data generated could be used to assess the sorption effects of formaldehyde on building materials and to evaluate its impact on the formaldehyde concentration in buildings.

Isotope effect of mercury diffusion in air

PubMed Central

Koster van Groos, Paul G.; Esser, Bradley K.; Williams, Ross W.; Hunt, James R.

2014-01-01

Identifying and reducing impacts from mercury sources in the environment remains a considerable challenge and requires process based models to quantify mercury stocks and flows. The stable isotope composition of mercury in environmental samples can help address this challenge by serving as a tracer of specific sources and processes. Mercury isotope variations are small and result only from isotope fractionation during transport, equilibrium, and transformation processes. Because these processes occur in both industrial and environmental settings, knowledge of their associated isotope effects is required to interpret mercury isotope data. To improve the mechanistic modeling of mercury isotope effects during gas phase diffusion, an experimental program tested the applicability of kinetic gas theory. Gas-phase elemental mercury diffusion through small bore needles from finite sources demonstrated mass dependent diffusivities leading to isotope fractionation described by a Rayleigh distillation model. The measured relative atomic diffusivities among mercury isotopes in air are large and in agreement with kinetic gas theory. Mercury diffusion in air offers a reasonable explanation of recent field results reported in the literature. PMID:24364380

Isotope effect of mercury diffusion in air.

PubMed

Koster van Groos, Paul G; Esser, Bradley K; Williams, Ross W; Hunt, James R

2014-01-01

Identifying and reducing impacts from mercury sources in the environment remains a considerable challenge and requires process based models to quantify mercury stocks and flows. The stable isotope composition of mercury in environmental samples can help address this challenge by serving as a tracer of specific sources and processes. Mercury isotope variations are small and result only from isotope fractionation during transport, equilibrium, and transformation processes. Because these processes occur in both industrial and environmental settings, knowledge of their associated isotope effects is required to interpret mercury isotope data. To improve the mechanistic modeling of mercury isotope effects during gas phase diffusion, an experimental program tested the applicability of kinetic gas theory. Gas-phase elemental mercury diffusion through small bore needles from finite sources demonstrated mass dependent diffusivities leading to isotope fractionation described by a Rayleigh distillation model. The measured relative atomic diffusivities among mercury isotopes in air are large and in agreement with kinetic gas theory. Mercury diffusion in air offers a reasonable explanation of recent field results reported in the literature.

The diffusion of a community-level HIV intervention for women: lessons learned and best practices.

PubMed

King, Winifred; Nu'Man, Jeanette; Fuller, Talleria R; Brown, Mari; Smith, Shuenae; Howell, A Vyann; Little, Stacey; Patrick, Patricia; Glover, LaShon

2008-09-01

Abstract Early in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, relatively few women were diagnosed with HIV infection and AIDS. Today, the epidemic represents a growing and persistent health threat to women in the United States, especially young women and women of color. In 2005, the leading cause of HIV infection among African American women and Latinas was heterosexual contact. In addressing HIV prevention needs among women, community-level strategies are needed to increase consistent condom use by women and their partners and to change community norms to support safer sex behaviors. The Real AIDS Prevention Project (RAPP) is a community-based HIV prevention intervention for women and their partners. RAPP is based on a community mobilization model that involves a combination of activities, including street outreach, one-on-one discussions called stage-based encounters, role model stories, community networks, and small group activities. The objectives of RAPP are to increase consistent condom use by women and their partners and change community norms associated with perceptions of condom use and high-risk behaviors in an effort to make safer sex practice more acceptable. This paper describes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) effort to nationally diffuse RAPP from March 2003 through May 2007 and lessons learned from that diffusion experience. The paper specifically discusses (1) collaborating and planning with researchers, (2) a diffusion needs assessment that was designed to assess prior implementation experiences among select agencies, (3) developing the intervention package, (4) developing and piloting training for community-based organizations (CBOs), (5) a rollout of national trainings for health departments and community-based organizations interested in implementing RAPP, and (6) ongoing quality assurance activities and the provision of technical assistance and support. RAPP has been proven effective

Using HIV&AIDS statistics in pre-service Mathematics Education to integrate HIV&AIDS education.

PubMed

van Laren, Linda

2012-12-01

In South Africa, the HIV&AIDS education policy documents indicate opportunities for integration across disciplines/subjects. There are different interpretations of integration/inclusion and mainstreaming HIV&AIDS education, and numerous levels of integration. Integration ensures that learners experience the disciplines/subjects as being linked and related, and integration is required to support and expand the learners' opportunities to attain skills, acquire knowledge and develop attitudes and values across the curriculum. This study makes use of self-study methodology where I, a teacher educator, aim to improve my practice through including HIV&AIDS statistics in Mathematics Education. This article focuses on how I used HIV&AIDS statistics to facilitate pre-service teacher reflection and introduce them to integration of HIV&AIDS education across the curriculum. After pre-service teachers were provided with HIV statistics, they drew a pie chart which graphically illustrated the situation and reflected on issues relating to HIV&AIDS. Three themes emerged from the analysis of their reflections. The themes relate to the need for further HIV&AIDS education, the changing pastoral role of teachers and the changing context of teaching. This information indicates that the use of statistics is an appropriate means of initiating the integration of HIV&AIDS education into the academic curriculum.

Evaporation, diffusion and self-assembly at drying interfaces.

PubMed

Roger, K; Sparr, E; Wennerström, H

2018-04-18

Water evaporation from complex aqueous solutions leads to the build-up of structure and composition gradients at their interface with air. We recently introduced an experimental setup for quantitatively studying such gradients and discussed how structure formation can lead to a self-regulation mechanism for controlling water evaporation through self-assembly. Here, we provide a detailed theoretical analysis using an advection/diffusion transport equation that takes into account thermodynamically non-ideal conditions and we directly relate the theoretical description to quantitative experimental data. We derive that the concentration profile develops according to a general square root of time scaling law, which fully agrees with experimental observations. The evaporation rate notably decreases with time as t-1/2, which shows that diffusion in the liquid phase is the rate limiting step for this system, in contrast to pure water evaporation. For the particular binary system that was investigated experimentally, which is composed of water and a sugar-based surfactant (α-dodecylmaltoside), the interfacial layer consists in a sequence of liquid crystalline phases of different mesostructures. We extract values for mutual diffusion coefficients of lamellar, hexagonal and micellar cubic phases, which are consistent with previously reported values and simple models. We thus provide a method to estimate the transport properties of oriented mesophases. The macroscopic humidity-independence of the evaporation rate up to 85% relative humidities is shown to result from both an extremely low mutual diffusion coefficient and the large range of water activities corresponding to relative humidities below 85%, at which the lamellar phase exists. Such a humidity self-regulation mechanism is expected for a large variety of complex system.

International Aid and Development: Hearing Multilingualism, Learning from Intercultural Encounters in the History of OxfamGB

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Footitt, Hilary

2017-01-01

This article explores the context of intercultural relations in the field of international aid and development. Examining the activities of a large UK-based transnational NGO (OxfamGB) through a detailed reading of its own 60-year-long archived story, the article seeks to reimagine the "contact zones" of aid and development as…

Practice of first aid in burn related injuries in a developing country.

PubMed

Fadeyibi, Idowu Olusegun; Ibrahim, Nasiru Akanmu; Mustafa, Ibrahim Akinwunmi; Ugburo, Andrew Omotayo; Adejumo, Adedeji Olusola; Buari, Adedayo

2015-09-01

First aid with cool running water reduces the severity of burn. Low level of knowledge of first aid in burns was shown in previous studies with few patients receiving first aid by water lavage. A study investigating the use of water lavage as first aid in patients presenting to hospital with burn in Lagos, Nigeria was carried out. Patients admitted to a University Teaching Hospital for treatment of burns were recruited for this prospective study. Data detailing demographics, scene and aetiology of burns, material used for first aid, who administered first aid, level of education and relationship of first-aider with patients, length of hospital stay, complications and outcome of treatment were collected and statistical analysis performed. 168 patients; 73 (43.4%) children and 95 (56.6%) adults were seen. Burns were sustained at home in 95 (74.2%) cases and outside in 33 (25.8%). Water lavage was used in 49 (29.2%) cases, raw eggs in 21 (12.5%), pap in 16 (9.5%) and other materials in 48.8%. 40 (23.8%) patients had not received any form of first aid at presentation. Patients that received no water first aid had higher complication rate (35.3% versus 18.4%) compared with those that had water first aid. The use of water first aid in burns was shown to reduce complication rate in this study. People should be educated on the efficacy of water first aid in pre-hospital care of burns. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

[The economic consequences of AIDS in Africa].

PubMed

Ilinigumugabo, A

1996-12-01

national health budget. AIDS-related expenditures already consume a large share of the health budgets of the most affected countries, and they are projected to increase significantly. The macroeconomic impact of the AIDS epidemic includes effects due to deteriorating health, such as decreased productivity, increased health expenditures, reduced savings, and decreased investment in education and human resources.

Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma Presenting as a Sacral Mass and Lupus Anticoagulant

PubMed Central

Ediriwickrema, Lilangi S.; Zaheer, Wajih

2011-01-01

A 67-year-old gentleman presented to Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) for assessment of a supratherapeutic INR and sacral lesion. Hematologic workup revealed elevated ESR, PT, INR, PTT, and CRP, mixing studies that failed to correct, and a positive Russell Viper Venom Test (RVVT), which confirmed the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA), a subtype of antiphospholipid syndrome (APA). Pathology of the patient’s sacral lesion revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This case provides insight into the association between APA and lymphoid neoplasm. The patient’s unique presentation is in marked contrast to other reports of APA and lymphoid malignancy, which are typically associated with elevated PTT, normal PT, minimal extranodal disease, and potential thrombotic complications. Further, treatment with Rituximab-CHOP chemotherapy led to excellent clinical response with tumor remission and normalization of PT and PTT. PMID:22180680

Public Entrepreneurs and the Adoption of Broad-Based Merit Aid beyond the Southeastern United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingle, William Kyle; Petroff, Ruth Ann

2013-01-01

The concentration of broad-based merit aid adoption in the southeastern United States has been well noted in the literature. However, there are states that have adopted broad-based merit aid programs outside of the Southeast. Guided by multiple theoretical frameworks, including innovation diffusion theory (e.g., Gray, 1973, 1994; Rogers, 2003),…

Diffusion of macromolecules in self-assembled cellulose/hemicellulose hydrogels.

PubMed

Lopez-Sanchez, Patricia; Schuster, Erich; Wang, Dongjie; Gidley, Michael J; Strom, Anna

2015-05-28

Cellulose hydrogels are extensively applied in many biotechnological fields and are also used as models for plant cell walls. We synthesised model cellulosic hydrogels containing hemicelluloses, as a biomimetic of plant cell walls, in order to study the role of hemicelluloses on their mass transport properties. Microbial cellulose is able to self-assemble into composites when hemicelluloses, such as xyloglucan and arabinoxylan, are present in the incubation media, leading to hydrogels with different nano and microstructures. We investigated the diffusivities of a series of fluorescently labelled dextrans, of different molecular weight, and proteins, including a plant pectin methyl esterase (PME), using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). The presence of xyloglucan, known to be able to crosslink cellulose fibres, confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and (13)C NMR, reduced mobility of macromolecules of molecular weight higher than 10 kDa, reflected in lower diffusion coefficients. Furthermore PME diffusion was reduced in composites containing xyloglucan, despite the lack of a particular binding motif in PME for this polysaccharide, suggesting possible non-specific interactions between PME and this hemicellulose. In contrast, hydrogels containing arabinoxylan coating cellulose fibres showed enhanced diffusivity of the molecules studied. The different diffusivities were related to the architectural features found in the composites as a function of polysaccharide composition. Our results show the effect of model hemicelluloses in the mass transport properties of cellulose networks in highly hydrated environments relevant to understanding the role of hemicelluloses in the permeability of plant cell walls and aiding design of plant based materials with tailored properties.

Social Support Network among People Living with HIV/AIDS in Iran

PubMed Central

Forouzan, Ameneh Setareh; Sajjadi, Homeira; Salimi, Yahya; Dejman, Masoumeh

2013-01-01

This study considers social network interactions as a potential source of support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 224 people with HIV/AIDS who refer to behavioral counseling centers. Participants were randomly selected among all people with HIV/AIDS from these centers. Relatives were more reported as sources of support than nonrelatives. They were closer to participants, but there was difference between the closest type among relative and nonrelative supporters (P = 0.01). Mean of functional support with considering the attainable range 0–384 was low (126.74  (SD = 76.97)). Social support of participants has been found to be associated with CD4 cell count (P = 0.000), sex (P = 0.049), and network size (P = 0.000) after adjusted for other variables in the final model. Totally, in this study, many of participants had the static social support network that contained large proportions of family and relatives. The findings contribute to the evidence for promotion of knowledge about social support network and social support of people living with HIV/AIDS. PMID:23710351

Azimuthal diffusion of the large-scale circulation of turbulent Rayleight-Bénard convection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xiaozhou; van Gils, Dennis P. M.; Bodenschatz, Eberhard; Ahlers, Guenter

2015-11-01

We present measurements of the azimuthal orientation θ0 (t) of the large-scale circulation (LSC) of turbulent Rayleight-Bénard convection. The sample was a cylinder with height and diameter equal to 1.12 m. We used compressed SF6 gas at pressures up to 19 bars as the fluid. The measurements covered the Rayleigh-number range 1012 <= Ra <=1014 at a Prandtl number Pr ~= 0 . 80 . We found that the preferred orientation of the LSC upflow was aligned to the West, consistent with Earth's Coriolis force. The LSC azimuthal dynamics was diffusive, driven by the small-scale turbulent fluctuations. For Ra <=1013 the Reynolds number Reθ˙ based on the azimuthal diffusivity had a Ra dependence similar to that seen for 109 <= Ra <=1011 and Pr = 4 . 38 . The Pr dependence Reθ˙ ~Prα with α ~= - 1 . 2 was the same as that found for the Reynolds number based on the root-mean-square fluctuation velocity in the interior bulk flow. For Ra = Ra1* ~= 2 ×1013 Reθ˙ showed the ultimate-state transition and for Ra >= Ra2* ~= 8 ×1013 it had a Ra dependence with an exponent of 0 . 40 +/- 0 . 02 . Supported by the Max Planck Society, the Volkswagenstiftung, the DFD Sonderforschungsbereich SFB963, and NSF Grant DMR11-58514.

CGCI Investigators Reveal Comprehensive Landscape of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Genomes | Office of Cancer Genomics

Cancer.gov

Researchers from British Columbia Cancer Agency used whole genome sequencing to analyze 40 DLBCL cases and 13 cell lines in order to fill in the gaps of the complex landscape of DLBCL genomes. Their analysis, “Mutational and structural analysis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma using whole genome sequencing,” was published online in Blood on May 22. The authors are Ryan Morin, Marco Marra, and colleagues.  

Gendered differences in AIDS and AIDS-related cause of death among youth with secondary education in South Africa, 2009-2011.

PubMed

De Wet, Nicole

2016-12-01

The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is higher among females than males in Sub-Saharan Africa. Education is associated with better health outcomes. For this and other reasons, African countries have made a concerted effort to increase youth education rates. However, in South Africa males have lower secondary education rates than females, yet females have a higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS. This study examines if a gender disparity exists in AIDS mortality rates among youth with secondary education in South Africa. This study uses descriptive statistics and life table techniques. A sample of 4386 deaths of youth with secondary education is used. Of this total sample, 987 deaths were among males and 340 were among females with secondary education. This study shows that AIDS mortality is higher among females than males in South Africa. Males and females with secondary education have lower AIDS mortality than all males and females in the population, yet the rates are higher for females. Using cause-deleted life tables, the probability of youth dying from HIV/AIDS practically disappears for both males and females. Odds ratio calculations show that secondary education does not have a protective effect from AIDS mortality among male and female youth. Given the gendered difference in AIDS mortality among youth with secondary education, efforts to increase secondary education among males and further research into other factors exacerbating AIDS mortality among females with secondary education is needed in the country.

[An investigation of psychological state at different stages of occupational AIDS exposure and related influencing factors in Nanning, China].

PubMed

Lin, Q; Ge, X M; Mo, J C; Li, S S; Chen, C C; Chen, S Y

2016-10-20

Objective: To investigate the changes in psychological state after occupational exposure in the AIDS occupational exposure population and related influencing factors, and to provide baseline data and a basis for related departments to conduct mental health prevention and intervention for personnel with occupational AIDS exposure. Methods: AIDS risk assessment was performed for all personnel with occupational AIDS exposure in 2014 in Nanning, China, and the Symptom Checklist - 90 (SCL - 90) psychological scale was used for psychological state evaluation at 24 hours, 1 week, and 3 months after occupational exposure in all persons who met the research criteria. Results: Most of the persons with occupational AIDS exposure came from secondary and tertiary hospitals (85%) , and nurses accounted for the highest percentage (78.3% ). The age ranged from 21 to 50 years, and the mean age was 31.02 ± 7.92 years. The persons with occupational AIDS exposure aged 20~29 years accounted for the highest percentage (51.6%) , and most persons (76.7%) graduated from junior colleges. Compared with the adult norm, there was significant increases in the total psychological score and the number of positive items after occupational exposure ( P <0.05). The scores of all items at 24 hours were significantly higher than those at the other time points, and the scores of all items gradually decreased over time ( F =227.24, 267.57, and 287.46, P <0.05). Compared with the adult norm, there were significant increases in the factor points at 24 hours and significant reductions in the factor points at 3 months ( P <0.05). Compared with those at 24 hours, the factor scores at 3 months decreased significantly ( P <0.05). Conclusion: Occupational AIDS exposure affects the mental status of related personnel, and the mental status at 24 hours after exposure is poor. Related departments should provide corresponding psychological counseling for the occupational exposure population at different exposure

Tonic B-cell receptor signaling in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Havranek, Ondrej; Xu, Jingda; Köhrer, Stefan; Wang, Zhiqiang; Becker, Lisa; Comer, Justin M; Henderson, Jared; Ma, Wencai; Man Chun Ma, John; Westin, Jason R; Ghosh, Dipanjan; Shinners, Nicholas; Sun, Luhong; Yi, Allen F; Karri, Anusha R; Burger, Jan A; Zal, Tomasz; Davis, R Eric

2017-08-24

We used clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9-mediated genomic modification to investigate B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling in cell lines of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Three manipulations that altered BCR genes without affecting surface BCR levels showed that BCR signaling differs between the germinal center B-cell (GCB) subtype, which is insensitive to Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibition by ibrutinib, and the activated B-cell (ABC) subtype. Replacing antigen-binding BCR regions had no effect on BCR signaling in GCB-DLBCL lines, reflecting this subtype's exclusive use of tonic BCR signaling. Conversely, Y188F mutation in the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif of CD79A inhibited tonic BCR signaling in GCB-DLBCL lines but did not affect their calcium flux after BCR cross-linking or the proliferation of otherwise-unmodified ABC-DLBCL lines. CD79A-GFP fusion showed BCR clustering or diffuse distribution, respectively, in lines of ABC and GCB subtypes. Tonic BCR signaling acts principally to activate AKT, and forced activation of AKT rescued GCB-DLBCL lines from knockout (KO) of the BCR or 2 mediators of tonic BCR signaling, SYK and CD19. The magnitude and importance of tonic BCR signaling to proliferation and size of GCB-DLBCL lines, shown by the effect of BCR KO, was highly variable; in contrast, pan-AKT KO was uniformly toxic. This discrepancy was explained by finding that BCR KO-induced changes in AKT activity (measured by gene expression, CXCR4 level, and a fluorescent reporter) correlated with changes in proliferation and with baseline BCR surface density. PTEN protein expression and BCR surface density may influence clinical response to therapeutic inhibition of tonic BCR signaling in DLBCL. © 2017 by The American Society of Hematology.

Restoration of hearing by hearing aids: conventional hearing aids – implantable hearing aids – cochlear implants – auditory brainstem implants

PubMed Central

Leuwer, R.; Müller, J.

2005-01-01

Aim of this report is to explain the current concept of hearing restoration using hearing aids. At present the main issues of conventional hearing aids are the relative benefits of analogue versus digital devices and different strategies for the improvement of hearing in noise. Implantable hearing aids provide a better sound quality and less distortion. The lack of directional microphones is the major disadvantage of the partially implantable hearing aids commercially available. Two different clinical studies about fully implantable hearing aids have been started in 2004. One of the most-promising developments seems to be the electric-acoustic stimulation. PMID:22073051

Surface Based Analysis of Diffusion Orientation for Identifying Architectonic Domains in the In Vivo Human Cortex

PubMed Central

McNab, Jennifer A.; Polimeni, Jonathan R.; Wang, Ruopeng; Augustinack, Jean C.; Fujimoto, Kyoko; Player, Allison; Janssens, Thomas; Farivar, Reza; Folkerth, Rebecca D.; Vanduffel, Wim; Wald, Lawrence L.

2012-01-01

Diffusion tensor MRI is sensitive to the coherent structure of brain tissue and is commonly used to study large-scale white matter structure. Diffusion in grey matter is more isotropic, however, several groups have observed coherent patterns of diffusion anisotropy within the cerebral cortical grey matter. We extend the study of cortical diffusion anisotropy by relating it to the local coordinate system of the folded cerebral cortex. We use 1mm and sub-millimeter isotropic resolution diffusion imaging to perform a laminar analysis of the principal diffusion orientation, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity and partial volume effects. Data from 6 in vivo human subjects, a fixed human brain specimen and an anesthetized macaque were examined. Large regions of cortex show a radial diffusion orientation. In vivo human and macaque data displayed a sharp transition from radial to tangential diffusion orientation at the border between primary motor and somatosensory cortex, and some evidence of tangential diffusion in secondary somatosensory cortex and primary auditory cortex. Ex vivo diffusion imaging in a human tissue sample showed some tangential diffusion orientation in S1 but mostly radial diffusion orientations in both M1 and S1. PMID:23247190

Assessing HIV and AIDS treatment safety and health-related quality of life among cohort of Malaysian patients: a discussion on methodological approach.

PubMed

Syed, Imran Ahmed; Syed Sulaiman, Syed Azhar; Hassali, Mohammad Azmi; Lee, Christopher K C

2015-10-01

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is increasingly recognized as an important outcome and as a complement to traditional biological end points of diseases such as mortality. Unless there is a complete cure available for HIV/AIDS, development and implementation of a reliable and valid cross cultural quality of life measure is necessary to assess not only the physical and medical needs of HIV/AIDS people, but their psychological, social, environmental, and spiritual areas of life. A qualitative exploration of HIV/AIDS patients' understanding, perceptions and expectations will be carried out with the help of semi structured interview guide by in depth interviews, while quantitative assessment of patient reported adverse drug reactions and their impact on health related quality of life will be carried out by using data collection tool comprising patient demographics, SF-12, Naranjo scale, and a clinical data sheet. The findings may serve as baseline QOL data of people living with HIV/AIDS in Malaysia and also a source data to aid construction of management plan to improve HIV/AIDS patients' QOL. It will also provide basic information about HIV/AIDS patients' perceptions, expectations and believes towards HIV/AIDS and its treatment which may help in designing strategies to enhance patients' awareness which in turn can help in addressing issues related to compliance and adherence. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The private sector and HIV/AIDS in Africa: taking stock of 6 years of applied research.

PubMed

Rosen, Sydney; Feeley, Frank; Connelly, Patrick; Simon, Jonathon

2007-07-01

Until recently, little was known about the costs of the HIV/AIDS epidemic to businesses in Africa or about business responses to the epidemic. This paper synthesizes the results of a set of studies conducted between 1999 and 2006. Data for the studies included were drawn from human resource, financial, and medical records of 16 large companies and from 7 surveys of small, medium-sized, and large companies in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. Estimated workforce HIV prevalence ranged from 5 to 37%. The average cost per employee lost to AIDS varied from 0.5 to 5.6 times the average annual compensation of the employee affected. Labor cost increases were estimated at 0.6-10.8% but exceeded 3% at only two of 14 companies. Antiretroviral treatment at a cost of US$360/patient per year was found to have positive financial returns for most but not all companies. Managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) reported low AIDS-related employee attrition, little concern about the impacts of AIDS, and relatively little interest in taking action. AIDS was estimated to increase the average operating costs of SME by less than 1%. For most companies, AIDS is causing a moderate increase in labor costs, with costs determined mainly by HIV prevalence, employee skill level, and employment policies. Treatment of HIV-positive employees is a good investment for many large companies. Small companies have less capacity to respond to workforce illness and little concern about it. Research on the effectiveness of workplace interventions is needed.

"Aid Like a Paycheck: Engaging with Policymakers and Practitioners to Evaluate and Improve Financial Aid"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weissman, Evan; O'Connell, Jesse

2016-01-01

"Aid Like A Paycheck" is a large-scale pilot evaluation of whether an innovative approach to disbursing financial aid can improve academic and financial outcomes for low-income community college students. Lessons from the pilot evaluation were used to create and fine-tune a logic model depicting activities, outputs, mediators, and…

Decision aid on breast cancer screening reduces attendance rate: results of a large-scale, randomized, controlled study by the DECIDEO group

PubMed Central

Bourmaud, Aurelie; Soler-Michel, Patricia; Oriol, Mathieu; Regnier, Véronique; Tinquaut, Fabien; Nourissat, Alice; Bremond, Alain; Moumjid, Nora; Chauvin, Franck

2016-01-01

Controversies regarding the benefits of breast cancer screening programs have led to the promotion of new strategies taking into account individual preferences, such as decision aid. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a decision aid leaflet on the participation of women invited to participate in a national breast cancer screening program. This Randomized, multicentre, controlled trial. Women aged 50 to 74 years, were randomly assigned to receive either a decision aid or the usual invitation letter. Primary outcome was the participation rate 12 months after the invitation. 16 000 women were randomized and 15 844 included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis. The participation rate in the intervention group was 40.25% (3174/7885 women) compared with 42.13% (3353/7959) in the control group (p = 0.02). Previous attendance for screening (RR = 6.24; [95%IC: 5.75-6.77]; p < 0.0001) and medium household income (RR = 1.05; [95%IC: 1.01-1.09]; p = 0.0074) were independently associated with attendance for screening. This large-scale study demonstrates that the decision aid reduced the participation rate. The decision aid activate the decision making process of women toward non-attendance to screening. These results show the importance of promoting informed patient choices, especially when those choices cannot be anticipated. PMID:26883201

First aid: level of knowledge of relatives and bystanders in emergency situations.

PubMed

Tomruk, Onder; Soysal, Suna; Gunay, Turkan; Cimrin, Arif H

2007-01-01

Bystanders who are able to provide immediate first aid to patients who require emergency care can make a big difference in the outcome. Thus, first-aid training should be made available to as many people as possible. The aims of this study were to assess the level of first-aid knowledge among bystanders in emergency situations and to identify factors that affected this level of knowledge. At Dokuz Eylul University Emergency Service between February 1 and February 15, 2002, 318 bystanders were given a questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire was concerned with demographic characteristics and factors that would affect first-aid knowledge level. The second part consisted of 16 multiple choice questions about first aid. Bystanders answered an average of 7.16+/-3.14 questions correctly. Bystanders who had graduated from a university, were health care personnel, had taken a first-aid course, had a first-aid certificate, or had a driver's license were considered to be more successful.

The Impact of Quality Assurance Assessment on Diffusion Tensor Imaging Outcomes in a Large-Scale Population-Based Cohort

PubMed Central

Roalf, David R.; Quarmley, Megan; Elliott, Mark A.; Satterthwaite, Theodore D.; Vandekar, Simon N.; Ruparel, Kosha; Gennatas, Efstathios D.; Calkins, Monica E.; Moore, Tyler M.; Hopson, Ryan; Prabhakaran, Karthik; Jackson, Chad T.; Verma, Ragini; Hakonarson, Hakon; Gur, Ruben C.; Gur, Raquel E.

2015-01-01

Background Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is applied in investigation of brain biomarkers for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. However, the quality of DTI measurements, like other neuroimaging techniques, is susceptible to several confounding factors (e.g. motion, eddy currents), which have only recently come under scrutiny. These confounds are especially relevant in adolescent samples where data quality may be compromised in ways that confound interpretation of maturation parameters. The current study aims to leverage DTI data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC), a sample of 1,601 youths ages of 8–21 who underwent neuroimaging, to: 1) establish quality assurance (QA) metrics for the automatic identification of poor DTI image quality; 2) examine the performance of these QA measures in an external validation sample; 3) document the influence of data quality on developmental patterns of typical DTI metrics. Methods All diffusion-weighted images were acquired on the same scanner. Visual QA was performed on all subjects completing DTI; images were manually categorized as Poor, Good, or Excellent. Four image quality metrics were automatically computed and used to predict manual QA status: Mean voxel intensity outlier count (MEANVOX), Maximum voxel intensity outlier count (MAXVOX), mean relative motion (MOTION) and temporal signal-to-noise ratio (TSNR). Classification accuracy for each metric was calculated as the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC). A threshold was generated for each measure that best differentiated visual QA status and applied in a validation sample. The effects of data quality on sensitivity to expected age effects in this developmental sample were then investigated using the traditional MRI diffusion metrics: fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). Finally, our method of QA is compared to DTIPrep. Results TSNR (AUC=0.94) best differentiated Poor data from Good and Excellent

Computer-aided diagnosis of alcoholism-related EEG signals.

PubMed

Acharya, U Rajendra; S, Vidya; Bhat, Shreya; Adeli, Hojjat; Adeli, Amir

2014-12-01

Alcoholism is a severe disorder that affects the functionality of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) and alters the behavior of the affected person. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals can be used as a diagnostic tool in the evaluation of subjects with alcoholism. The neurophysiological interpretation of EEG signals in persons with alcoholism (PWA) is based on observation and interpretation of the frequency and power in their EEGs compared to EEG signals from persons without alcoholism. This paper presents a review of the known features of EEGs obtained from PWA and proposes that the impact of alcoholism on the brain can be determined by computer-aided analysis of EEGs through extracting the minute variations in the EEG signals that can differentiate the EEGs of PWA from those of nonaffected persons. The authors advance the idea of automated computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) of alcoholism by employing the EEG signals. This is achieved through judicious combination of signal processing techniques such as wavelet, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos theory and pattern recognition and classification techniques. A CAD system is cost-effective and efficient and can be used as a decision support system by physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism especially those who do not specialize in alcoholism or neurophysiology. It can also be of great value to rehabilitation centers to assess PWA over time and to monitor the impact of treatment aimed at minimizing or reversing the effects of the disease on the brain. A CAD system can be used to determine the extent of alcoholism-related changes in EEG signals (low, medium, high) and the effectiveness of therapeutic plans. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mortality, Causes of Death and Associated Factors Relate to a Large HIV Population-Based Cohort.

PubMed

Garriga, César; García de Olalla, Patricia; Miró, Josep M; Ocaña, Inma; Knobel, Hernando; Barberá, Maria Jesús; Humet, Victoria; Domingo, Pere; Gatell, Josep M; Ribera, Esteve; Gurguí, Mercè; Marco, Andrés; Caylà, Joan A

2015-01-01

Antiretroviral therapy has led to a decrease in HIV-related mortality and to the emergence of non-AIDS defining diseases as competing causes of death. This study estimates the HIV mortality rate and their risk factors with regard to different causes in a large city from January 2001 to June 2013. We followed-up 3137 newly diagnosed HIV non-AIDS cases. Causes of death were classified as HIV-related, non-HIV-related and external. We examined the effect of risk factors on survival using mortality rates, Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox models. Finally, we estimated survival for each main cause of death groups through Fine and Gray models. 182 deaths were found [14.0/1000 person-years of follow-up (py); 95% confidence interval (CI):12.0-16.1/1000 py], 81.3% of them had a known cause of death. Mortality rate by HIV-related causes and non-HIV-related causes was the same (4.9/1000 py; CI:3.7-6.1/1000 py), external was lower [1.7/1000 py; (1.0-2.4/1000 py)]. Kaplan-Meier estimate showed worse survival in intravenous drug user (IDU) and heterosexuals than in men having sex with men (MSM). Factors associated with HIV-related causes of death include: IDU male (subHazard Ratio (sHR):3.2; CI:1.5-7.0) and <200 CD4 at diagnosis (sHR:2.7; CI:1.3-5.7) versus ≥500 CD4. Factors associated with non-HIV-related causes of death include: ageing (sHR:1.5; CI:1.4-1.7) and heterosexual female (sHR:2.8; CI:1.1-7.3) versus MSM. Factors associated with external causes of death were IDU male (sHR:28.7; CI:6.7-123.2) and heterosexual male (sHR:11.8; CI:2.5-56.4) versus MSM. There are important differences in survival among transmission groups. Improved treatment is especially necessary in IDUs and heterosexual males.

A double medium model for diffusion in fluid-bearing rock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, H. F.

1993-09-01

The concept of a double porosity medium to model fluid flow in fractured rock has been applied to model diffusion in rock containing a small amount of a continuous fluid phase that surrounds small volume elements of the solid matrix. The model quantifies the relative role of diffusion in the fluid and solid phases of the rock. The fluid is the fast diffusion path, but the solid contains the volumetrically significant amount of the diffusing species. The double medium model consists of two coupled differential equations. One equation is the diffusion equation for the fluid concentration; it contains a source term for change in the average concentration of the diffusing species in the solid matrix. The second equation represents the assumption that the change in average concentration in a solid element is proportional to the difference between the average concentration in the solid and the concentration in the fluid times the solid-fluid partition coefficient. The double medium model is shown to apply to laboratory data on iron diffusion in fluid-bearing dunite and to measured oxygen isotope ratios at marble-metagranite contacts. In both examples, concentration profiles are calculated for diffusion taking place at constant temperature, where a boundary value changes suddenly and is subsequently held constant. Knowledge of solid diffusivities can set a lower bound to the length of time over which diffusion occurs, but only the product of effective fluid diffusivity and time is constrained for times longer than the characteristic solid diffusion time. The double medium results approach a local, grain-scale equilibrium model for times that are large relative to the time constant for solid diffusion.

Microscopic diffusion anisotropy in the human brain: Age-related changes.

PubMed

Lawrenz, Marco; Brassen, Stefanie; Finsterbusch, Jürgen

2016-11-01

The fractional anisotropy (FA) that can be derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), is ambiguous because it not only depends on the tissue microstructure but also on the axon or fiber orientation distribution within a voxel. Measures of the microscopic diffusion anisotropy, like the microscopic anisotropy index (MA) that can be determined with so-called double-wave-vector (DWV) or double diffusion encoding (DDE) imaging, are independent of this orientation distribution and, thus, offer a more direct and undisguised access to the tissue structure on a cellular or microscopic scale. In this study, FA and MA measurements were performed in a group of aged (>60y), healthy volunteers and compared to the data obtained recently for a group of young (<33y), healthy volunteers to reveal age-related differences. The coefficients-of-variation (CV) determined for the aged group were considerably lower for MA than for FA in average and in most of the 16 ROIs analyzed due to lower between-subject variations of MA. FA differences between the young and the aged group were in line with previous DTI studies. MA was also decreased in the aged group but in more of the 16 ROIs and with a higher significance. Furthermore, MA differences were also observed in frontal brain regions containing fiber crossings that did not reveal significant FA differences, i.e. MA seems to provide a better sensitivity to detect microstructural changes in such regions. In some non-cortical gray matter structures like the putamen, FA was increased but MA was decreased in the aged group which could indicate a coherent fiber orientation in the aged group related to the loss of crossing or fanning fibers. In conclusion, MA not only could improve the detectability of differences of the tissue microstructure but, in conjunction with FA, could also help to identify the underlying changes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Change trend of HIV/AIDS related risk factors and influencing factors among men who have sex with men in Yunnan, 2010-2013].

PubMed

Song, Lijun; Mei, Jingyuan; Lu, Jiyun; Fu, Liru; Li, Xuehua; Niu, Jin; Xiao, Minyang; Zhang, Zuyang; Lu, Ran; Luo, Hongbing

2015-02-01

To understand the change trend of the awareness rate of HIV/AIDS related knowledge, risk behaviors among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Yunnan and the factors influencing their condom use, and evaluate the effect of comprehensive intervention. The data about the MSM's demographic information, HIV/AIDS related knowledge awareness, and sex behavior, condom use, drug use and intervention receiving were obtained from AIDS sentinel surveillance among MSM in Yunnan province during 2010-2013 to conduct change trend and influencing factor analysis. A total of 9 073 MSM were surveyed. The awareness rate of the HIV/AIDS related knowledge, homosexual behavior and condom use rate increased year by year (P < 0.01). The condom use rate was lower in heterosexual behavior, and the drug use rate and sexually transmitted disease prevalence declined with year (P < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that cohabiting, low awareness of HIV/AIDS related knowledge, being from other provinces, local residence for <1 year, low education level, receiving no intervention, frequent anal sex and receiving no HIV/AIDS detection were the risk factors influencing persistent condom use among MSM. The effect of HIV/AIDS comprehensive intervention was observed after 4 years implantation, but most of the index were at low level. More attention should be paid to the intervention among MSM with cohabiting habit, low education level, frequent anal sex, and heterosexual sex. It is necessary to expand intervention coverage, strengthen HIV test and promote condom use among MSM.

Ion Pairing and Diffusion in Magnesium Electrolytes Based on Magnesium Borohydride.

PubMed

Samuel, Devon; Steinhauser, Carl; Smith, Jeffrey G; Kaufman, Aaron; Radin, Maxwell D; Naruse, Junichi; Hiramatsu, Hidehiko; Siegel, Donald J

2017-12-20

One obstacle to realizing a practical, rechargeable magnesium-ion battery is the development of efficient Mg electrolytes. Electrolytes based on simple Mg(BH 4 ) 2 salts suffer from poor salt solubility and/or low conductivity, presumably due to strong ion pairing. Understanding the molecular-scale processes occurring in these electrolytes would aid in overcoming these performance limitations. Toward this goal, the present study examines the solvation, agglomeration, and transport properties of a family of Mg electrolytes based on the Mg(BH 4 ) 2 salt using classical molecular dynamics. These properties were examined across five different solvents (tetrahydrofuran and the glymes G1-G4) and at four salt concentrations ranging from the dilute limit up to 0.4 M. Significant and irreversible salt agglomeration was observed in all solvents at all nondilute Mg(BH 4 ) 2 concentrations. The degree of clustering observed in these divalent Mg systems is much larger than that reported for electrolytes containing monovalent cations, such as Li. The salt agglomeration rate and diffusivity of Mg 2+ were both observed to correlate with solvent self-diffusivity: electrolytes using longer- (shorter-) chain solvents had the lowest (highest) Mg 2+ diffusivity and agglomeration rates. Incorporation of Mg 2+ into Mg 2+ -BH 4 - clusters significantly reduces the diffusivity of Mg 2+ by restricting displacements to localized motion within largely immobile agglomerates. Consequently, diffusion is increasingly impeded with increasing Mg(BH 4 ) 2 concentration. These data are consistent with the solubility limitations observed experimentally for Mg(BH 4 ) 2 -based electrolytes and highlight the need for strategies that minimize salt agglomeration in electrolytes containing divalent cations.

Comparison of block and event-related experimental designs in diffusion-weighted functional MRI.

PubMed

Williams, Rebecca J; McMahon, Katie L; Hocking, Julia; Reutens, David C

2014-08-01

To compare diffusion-weighted functional magnetic resonance imaging (DfMRI), a novel alternative to the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast, in a functional MRI experiment. Nine participants viewed contrast reversing (7.5 Hz) black-and-white checkerboard stimuli using block and event-related paradigms. DfMRI (b = 1800 mm/s(2)) and BOLD sequences were acquired. Four parameters describing the observed signal were assessed: percent signal change, spatial extent of the activation, the Euclidean distance between peak voxel locations, and the time-to-peak of the best fitting impulse response for different paradigms and sequences. The BOLD conditions showed a higher percent signal change relative to DfMRI; however, event-related DfMRI showed the strongest group activation (t = 21.23, P < 0.0005). Activation was more diffuse and spatially closer to the BOLD response for DfMRI when the block design was used. DfMRIevent showed the shortest TTP (4.4 ± 0.88 sec). The hemodynamic contribution to DfMRI may increase with the use of block designs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Protein kinase C-beta inhibition induces apoptosis and inhibits cell cycle progression in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related non-hodgkin lymphoma cells.

PubMed

Saba, Nakhle S; Levy, Laura S

2012-01-01

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) constitutes an aggressive variety of lymphomas characterized by increased extranodal involvement, relapse rate, and resistance to chemotherapy. Protein kinase C-beta (PKCβ) targeting showed promising results in preclinical and clinical studies involving a wide variety of cancers, but studies describing the role of PKCβ in AIDS-NHL are primitive if not lacking. In the present study, 3 AIDS-NHL cell lines were examined: 2F7 (AIDS-Burkitt lymphoma), BCBL-1 (AIDS-primary effusion lymphoma), and UMCL01-101 (AIDS-diffuse large B-cell lymphoma). Immunoblot analysis demonstrated expression of PKCβ1 and PKCβ2 in 2F7 and UMCL01-101 cells, and PKCβ1 alone in BCBL-1 cells. The viability of 2F7 and BCBL-1 cells decreased significantly in the presence of PKCβ-selective inhibitor at half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 14 and 15 μmol/L, respectively, as measured by tetrazolium dye reduction assay. In contrast, UMCL01-101 cells were relatively resistant. As determined using flow cytometric deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling assay with propidium iodide staining, the responsiveness of sensitive cells was associated with apoptotic induction and cell cycle inhibition. Protein kinase C-beta-selective inhibition was observed not to affect AKT phosphorylation but to induce a rapid and sustained reduction in the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta, ribosomal protein S6, and mammalian target of rapamycin in sensitive cell lines. The results indicate that PKCβ plays an important role in AIDS-related NHL survival and suggest that PKCβ targeting should be considered in a broader spectrum of NHL. The observations in BCBL-1 were unexpected in the absence of PKCβ2 expression and implicate PKCβ1 as a regulator in those cells.

Does Diffusion Sequester Heavy Metals in Old Contamination Soils?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, J.; Jennings, A. A.

2002-12-01

Old soil contamination refers to soil contamination that has aged over a long period of time. For example, at some brownfields, the soil heavy metal contamination can be one hundred or more years old. When contamination is young, the heavy metals are bound relatively weakly to the soil. However, the speciation and/or mechanisms of association evolve with aging into much more stable forms. It also appears that the metals migrate deeper into the bulk soil matrix where they are less available to participate in surface-related phenomena. Previous research showed elevated heavy metal extraction result after the soil was pulverized, with all other experiment conditions remaining unchanged. This indicates the presence of sequestered heavy metal contamination within the large soil particles (aggregate). The mechanisms of sequestering are uncertain, but diffusion appears to be a major factor. There are two possible pathways of diffusion that can account for heavy metal sequestering: solid-state diffusion through the bulk aggregate or liquid-phase diffusion through micro-pores within the aggregate structure. The second diffusion mechanism can be coupled with sorption (or other surface-related phenomena) on the pore walls. The remediation of sequestered heavy metals is also impacted by diffusion. Grinding a soil significantly reduces its average particle size. This exposes more of its internal bulk volume to extraction and results in much shorter diffusion pathway for the sequestered heavy metals to be released. Evidence has illustrated that this both improves remediation efficiency and provides a method by which the degree of sequestering can be quantified. This paper will present the results of ongoing research that is developing methods to identify the mechanisms of, quantify the magnitude of and determine the relative importance of (i.e. risk analysis) heavy metals sequestered in old contamination soils.

Aiding flow Thermo-Solutal Convection in Porous Cavity: ANN approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafer Kazi1, Mohammed; Ameer Ahamad, N.; Yunus Khan, T. M.

2017-08-01

The transfer of thermal energy along with the diffusion of mass is common phenomenon that occurs in nature. The thermos-solutal convection in porous medium arises due to combined effect of diffusion of heat as well as mass inside the domain. The density variation of fluid due to absorbed heat at one end of porous cavity leads to fluid movement which in turn initiates the heat transfer. The mass diffusion inside the porous regime occurs due to concentration difference between two ends of cavity. Generally this phenomenon is studied with the help of numerical methods but current work emphasis the successful usage of artificial neural network in predicting the thermos-solutal convection of aiding flow in porous medium.

Diffusion of multi-isotopic chemical species in molten silicates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watkins, James M.; Liang, Yan; Richter, Frank; Ryerson, Frederick J.; DePaolo, Donald J.

2014-08-01

results show that (1) diffusive isotopic fractionations depend on the direction of diffusion in composition space, (2) diffusive isotopic fractionations scale with effective binary diffusion coefficient, as previously noted by Watkins et al. (2011), (3) self-diffusion is not decoupled from chemical diffusion, (4) self diffusion can be faster than or slower than chemical diffusion and (5) off-diagonal terms in the chemical diffusion matrix have isotopic mass-dependence. The results imply that relatively large isotopic fractionations can be generated by multicomponent diffusion even in the absence of large concentration gradients of the diffusing element. The new formulations for isotope diffusion can be tested with further experimentation and provide an improved framework for interpreting mass-dependent isotopic variations in natural liquids.

Music and Hearing Aids

PubMed Central

Moore, Brian C. J.

2014-01-01

The signal processing and fitting methods used for hearing aids have mainly been designed to optimize the intelligibility of speech. Little attention has been paid to the effectiveness of hearing aids for listening to music. Perhaps as a consequence, many hearing-aid users complain that they are not satisfied with their hearing aids when listening to music. This issue inspired the Internet-based survey presented here. The survey was designed to identify the nature and prevalence of problems associated with listening to live and reproduced music with hearing aids. Responses from 523 hearing-aid users to 21 multiple-choice questions are presented and analyzed, and the relationships between responses to questions regarding music and questions concerned with information about the respondents, their hearing aids, and their hearing loss are described. Large proportions of the respondents reported that they found their hearing aids to be helpful for listening to both live and reproduced music, although less so for the former. The survey also identified problems such as distortion, acoustic feedback, insufficient or excessive gain, unbalanced frequency response, and reduced tone quality. The results indicate that the enjoyment of listening to music with hearing aids could be improved by an increase of the input and output dynamic range, extension of the low-frequency response, and improvement of feedback cancellation and automatic gain control systems. PMID:25361601

Music and hearing aids.

PubMed

Madsen, Sara M K; Moore, Brian C J

2014-10-31

The signal processing and fitting methods used for hearing aids have mainly been designed to optimize the intelligibility of speech. Little attention has been paid to the effectiveness of hearing aids for listening to music. Perhaps as a consequence, many hearing-aid users complain that they are not satisfied with their hearing aids when listening to music. This issue inspired the Internet-based survey presented here. The survey was designed to identify the nature and prevalence of problems associated with listening to live and reproduced music with hearing aids. Responses from 523 hearing-aid users to 21 multiple-choice questions are presented and analyzed, and the relationships between responses to questions regarding music and questions concerned with information about the respondents, their hearing aids, and their hearing loss are described. Large proportions of the respondents reported that they found their hearing aids to be helpful for listening to both live and reproduced music, although less so for the former. The survey also identified problems such as distortion, acoustic feedback, insufficient or excessive gain, unbalanced frequency response, and reduced tone quality. The results indicate that the enjoyment of listening to music with hearing aids could be improved by an increase of the input and output dynamic range, extension of the low-frequency response, and improvement of feedback cancellation and automatic gain control systems. © The Author(s) 2014.

AIDS-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors in Los Angeles County

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-01

information: results of logistic regression ............................. 76 A.7. Predictors of who uses pamphlets/ brochures as a major source of AIDS...often (by 60 percent of the respondents). Brochures and pamphlets about AIDS from local, state, or federal agencies were mentioned by 25 percent of all...8217 KNOWLEDGE OF INFORMATION SOURCES ABOUT AIDS Single Most Any Trustworthy Source Mention a Mention TV/radio 73 19 Magazines/newspapers 59 7 Brochures

Diffusion of Sticky Nanoparticles in a Polymer Melt: Crossover from Suppressed to Enhanced Transport

DOE PAGES

Carroll, Bobby; Bocharova, Vera; Carrillo, Jan-Michael Y.; ...

2018-03-09

The self-diffusion of a single large particle in a fluid is usually described by the classic Stokes–Einstein (SE) hydrodynamic relation. However, there are many fluids where the SE prediction for nanoparticles diffusion fails. These systems include diffusion of nanoparticles in porous media, in entangled and unentangled polymer melts and solutions, and protein diffusion in biological environments. A fundamental understanding of the microscopic parameters that govern nanoparticle diffusion is relevant to a wide range of applications. Here in this work, we present experimental measurements of the tracer diffusion coefficient of small and large nanoparticles that experience strong attractions with unentangled andmore » entangled polymer melt matrices. For the small nanoparticle system, a crossover from suppressed to enhanced diffusion is observed with increasing polymer molecular weight. We interpret these observations based on our theoretical and simulation insights of the preceding article (paper 1) as a result of a crossover from an effective hydrodynamic core–shell to a nonhydrodynamic vehicle mechanism of transport, with the latter strongly dependent on polymer–nanoparticle desorption time. In conclusion, a general zeroth-order qualitative picture for small sticky nanoparticle diffusion in polymer melts is proposed.« less

Diffusion of Sticky Nanoparticles in a Polymer Melt: Crossover from Suppressed to Enhanced Transport

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carroll, Bobby; Bocharova, Vera; Carrillo, Jan-Michael Y.

The self-diffusion of a single large particle in a fluid is usually described by the classic Stokes–Einstein (SE) hydrodynamic relation. However, there are many fluids where the SE prediction for nanoparticles diffusion fails. These systems include diffusion of nanoparticles in porous media, in entangled and unentangled polymer melts and solutions, and protein diffusion in biological environments. A fundamental understanding of the microscopic parameters that govern nanoparticle diffusion is relevant to a wide range of applications. Here in this work, we present experimental measurements of the tracer diffusion coefficient of small and large nanoparticles that experience strong attractions with unentangled andmore » entangled polymer melt matrices. For the small nanoparticle system, a crossover from suppressed to enhanced diffusion is observed with increasing polymer molecular weight. We interpret these observations based on our theoretical and simulation insights of the preceding article (paper 1) as a result of a crossover from an effective hydrodynamic core–shell to a nonhydrodynamic vehicle mechanism of transport, with the latter strongly dependent on polymer–nanoparticle desorption time. In conclusion, a general zeroth-order qualitative picture for small sticky nanoparticle diffusion in polymer melts is proposed.« less

HIV-related stigma acting as predictors of unemployment of people living with HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Liu, Ying; Canada, Kelli; Shi, Kan; Corrigan, Patrick

2012-01-01

Obtaining employment is an important part of recovery for many people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). However, this population often faces barriers in their attempt to reenter the workplace. One potential barrier lies in the decision-making of employers. Little is known about what influences employers' decision to hire PLHA. The current paper addresses this gap with findings from 156 quantitative interviews with employers across Chicago, Beijing, and Hong Kong regarding the hiring of people with HIV/AIDS. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that both fear of contagion and perceived incompetence are important factors in employers' decision to interview even after controlling for variables related to the employers' business size, their education level, and the provision of health benefits. These two variables accounted for 42% of the variance in employers' decision to interview. Implications of these findings are considered for better understanding of HIV-related employment stigma and further intervention for employing PLHA.

Diffuse gamma-ray emission from pulsars in the Large Magellanic Cloud

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartmann, Dieter H.; Brown, Lawrence E.; Schnepf, Neil

1993-01-01

We investigate the contribution of pulsars to the diffuse gamma-ray emission from the LMC. The pulsar birth rate in the LMC is a factor of about 10 lower than that of the Galaxy and the distance to pulsars in the LMC is about 5-10 times larger than to Galactic pulsars. The resulting total integrated photon flux from LMC pulsars is thus reduced by a factor of about 100 to 1000. However, the surface brightness is not reduced by the same amount because of the much smaller angular extent of the LMC in comparison to the diffuse glow from the Galactic plane. We show that gamma-ray emission due to pulsars born in the LMC could produce gamma-ray fluxes that are larger than the inverse Compton component from relativistic cosmic-ray electrons and a significant fraction of the extragalactic isotropic background or the diffuse Galactic background in that direction. The diffuse pulsar glow above 100 MeV should therefore be included in models of high-energy emission from the LMC. For a gamma-ray beaming fraction of order unity the detected emissions from the LMC constrain the pulsar birth rate to less than one per 50 yr. This limit is about one order of magnitude above the supernova rate inferred from the historic record or from the star-formation rate.

Care centre visits to married people living with HIV: an indicator for measuring AIDS-related stigma & discrimination.

PubMed

Green, D A; Devi, S; Paulraj, L S

2007-08-01

We tested whether observation of the presence and relationship of attendants (i.e. those that accompany upon admission) and visitors to a sample of 230 (128 male, 102 female) married HIV-positive people in an HIV care centre provides an indicator of caregiving, AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. Sensitivity to gender, location (urban vs. rural), age (<35 yrs vs. >35) and source of infection (spouse vs. non-spouse) were factors considered to modulate AIDS-related stigma and assess discrimination. HIV-positive people were accompanied by their spouse (53%), mother (14%), father (7%), with only 7% attending alone. Immediate family most commonly accompanied on admission (80%), but visitors were mainly from the 'extended' family (32%) with many receiving no visitors (48%). Females (11%) were more likely than males to attend alone (11% vs. 4%; p<0.05). No effect of location, age or infector was obtained. Females were more likely to be visited by their mother (14% vs. 6%; p<0.01) and non-immediate family (39% vs. 27%; p<0.05) than males were. In contrast, fathers (0% vs. 6%; p <0.05) and spouses were less likely (3% vs. 10%; p<0.05) to visit females than males. No effect of location or age upon visitation was obtained. Non-spouse infected persons were less likely than spouse-infected to be visited by their spouse (3% vs. 10%; p<0.05) but more likely to receive 'extended' family visitation (43% vs. 24%; p<0.01). Spouse-infected persons had a higher rate of no visitors than persons not infected by their spouse (54% vs. 40%; p<0.05). Observation of the presence and relationship of attendants and visitors to HIV-positive people has potential as an indicator of caregiving AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. The measure appears particularly sensitive to the gender of the HIV-positive person. Such a measure may aid healthcare professionals to focus resources such as relational counselling upon the family and close friends of people experiencing AIDS-related stigma and

Probe diffusion of labeled polymers inside polyacrylic acid solutions: A polyelectrolyte effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Banani; Mithra, K.; Khandai, Santripti; Jena, Sidhartha S.

2018-05-01

Probe diffusion of fluorescently labeled Dextran 40 inside polyelectrolyte solution of polyacrylic acid (PAA) was investigated using Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching technique. The crowding and interaction effects on probe diffusion were controlled by tuning background polymer and added external electrolyte concentration. For all the salt concentration, an overall decrease in diffusion coefficient is observed with rise in polymer concentration. The diffusion coefficient decreases with decrease in salt concentration whereas the solution viscosity increases, indicating a competition between viscous drag and electrostatic interaction. A large positive deviation from the ideal Stokes-Einstein relation is observed for high polymer and low salt concentration, which reduces markedly with addition of salt confirming polyelectrolyte effects, plays a major role in deciding the probe diffusion.

Minority carrier diffusion and defects in InGaAsN grown by molecular beam epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurtz, Steven R.; Klem, J. F.; Allerman, A. A.; Sieg, R. M.; Seager, C. H.; Jones, E. D.

2002-02-01

To gain insight into the nitrogen-related defects of InGaAsN, nitrogen vibrational mode spectra, Hall mobilities, and minority carrier diffusion lengths are examined for InGaAsN (1.1 eV band gap) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Annealing promotes the formation of In-N bonding, and lateral carrier transport is limited by large scale (≫mean free path) material inhomogeneities. Comparing solar cell quantum efficiencies with our earlier results for devices grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), we find significant electron diffusion in the MBE material (reversed from the hole diffusion in MOCVD material), and minority carrier diffusion in InGaAsN cannot be explained by a "universal," nitrogen-related defect.

Ion Diffusion Within Water Films in Unsaturated Porous Media.

PubMed

Tokunaga, Tetsu K; Finsterle, Stefan; Kim, Yongman; Wan, Jiamin; Lanzirotti, Antonio; Newville, Matthew

2017-04-18

Diffusion is important in controlling local solute transport and reactions in unsaturated soils and geologic formations. Although it is commonly assumed that thinning of water films controls solute diffusion at low water contents, transport under these conditions is not well understood. We conducted experiments in quartz sands at low volumetric water contents (θ) to quantify ion diffusion within adsorbed films. At the lowest water contents, we employed fixed relative humidities to control water films at nm thicknesses. Diffusion profiles for Rb + and Br - in unsaturated sand packs were measured with a synchrotron X-ray microprobe, and inverse modeling was used to determine effective diffusion coefficients, D e, as low as ∼9 × 10 -15 m 2 s -1 at θ = 1.0 × 10 -4 m 3 m -3 , where the film thickness = 0.9 nm. Given that the diffusion coefficients (D o ) of Rb + and Br - in bulk water (30 °C) are both ∼2.4 × 10 -9 m 2 s -1 , we found the impedance factor f = D e /(θD o ) is equal to 0.03 ± 0.02 at this very low saturation, in agreement with the predicted influence of interface tortuosity (τ a ) for diffusion along grain surfaces. Thus, reduced cross-sectional area (θ) and tortuosity largely accounted for the more than 5 orders of magnitude decrease in D e relative to D o as desaturation progressed down to nanoscale films.

AIDS: Secretions and Implications for Nursing Care-Givers.

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-05-06

addition, infected cells may be found in many different organs, often at the same time: the brain, lymph nodes , thymus gland, bone marrow, lungs, skin...symptomatic disease with diffuse non-malignant lymph node hypertrophy. Aside from these symptoms of lymphadenopathy, patients are typically healthy...a person physically and mentally crippled. AIDS dementia complex (ADC) or subacute HIV encephalopathy, primary lymphomas, toxoplasmosis , cryptococcal

[Value of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio and Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratio for Prognostic Evaluation of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma].

PubMed

Ni, Jing; Wang, Yong-Qing; Zhang, Ying-Ping; Wu, Wei; Zeng, Qing-Shu; Yang, Ming-Zhen; Xia, Rui-Xiang

2016-04-01

To investigate the predictive value of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) for the patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The clinical data of 57 DLBCL patients admitted in the First Affiliated hospital of Anhui Medical University were analyzed retrospectively. According to ROC curve, the cut-off value for NLR and PLR was deterimined, and the patients were divided into high and low NLR/PLR groups before first chamotherapy. Then the relation of NLR and PLR with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) was analyzed by univariate and multivariate COX regression. The optimal cut-off value for NLR and PLR was 2.915 and 270.27, respectively. NLR at the diagnosis was found to be an independent predictor for OS and PFS by univariate and multivariate analysis, while the PLR was an independent predictor for PFS, but did not affect the OS. NLR and PLR may provide additional prognostic information for DLBCL patients.

AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma: findings on thallium-201 scintigraphy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, V.W.; Rosen, M.P.; Baum, A.

1988-12-01

No simple, noninvasive method is available for evaluating extracutaneous Kaposi sarcoma in AIDS patients or for following the tumor's response to treatment. We report our preliminary experience with thallium-201 scintigraphy in nine AIDS patients with proved Kaposi sarcoma. Eight of the nine had abnormal uptake of the radionuclide in skin, lymph nodes, oral cavity, vagina, and lungs. Only four of the nine had cutaneous Kaposi sarcoma at the time of scanning. All cutaneous and mucosal lesions were thallium avid. Two of the six patients with thallium-avid nodes underwent nodal biopsy. Both biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of Kaposi sarcoma. Cutaneous Kaposimore » sarcoma developed later in one of these patients, showing the efficacy of thallium scintigraphy for the early detection of extracutaneous lesions. These preliminary results show thallium avidity in Kaposi sarcoma involving the skin and various extracutaneous sites (lymph nodes, lung, mucosa, and vagina). Thallium scintigraphy is a potentially useful procedure for detecting extracutaneous Kaposi sarcoma in AIDS patients.« less

Dispersion relation in oscillatory reaction-diffusion systems with self-consistent flow in true slime mold.

PubMed

Yamada, H; Nakagaki, T; Baker, R E; Maini, P K

2007-06-01

In the large amoeboid organism Physarum, biochemical oscillators are spatially distributed throughout the organism and their collective motion exhibits phase waves, which carry physiological signals. The basic nature of this wave behaviour is not well-understood because, to date, an important effect has been neglected, namely, the shuttle streaming of protoplasm which accompanies the biochemical rhythms. Here we study the effects of self-consistent flow on the wave behaviour of oscillatory reaction-diffusion models proposed for the Physarum plasmodium, by means of numerical simulation for the dispersion relation and weakly nonlinear analysis for derivation of the phase equation. We conclude that the flow term is able to increase the speed of phase waves (similar to elongation of wave length). We compare the theoretical consequences with real waves observed in the organism and also point out the physiological roles of these effects on control mechanisms of intracellular communication.

Understanding the Low Photosynthetic Rates of Sun and Shade Coffee Leaves: Bridging the Gap on the Relative Roles of Hydraulic, Diffusive and Biochemical Constraints to Photosynthesis

PubMed Central

Martins, Samuel C. V.; Galmés, Jeroni; Cavatte, Paulo C.; Pereira, Lucas F.; Ventrella, Marília C.; DaMatta, Fábio M.

2014-01-01

It has long been held that the low photosynthetic rates (A) of coffee leaves are largely associated with diffusive constraints to photosynthesis. However, the relative limitations of the stomata and mesophyll to the overall diffusional constraints to photosynthesis, as well as the coordination of leaf hydraulics with photosynthetic limitations, remain to be fully elucidated in coffee. Whether the low actual A under ambient CO2 concentrations is associated with the kinetic properties of Rubisco and high (photo)respiration rates also remains elusive. Here, we provide a holistic analysis to understand the causes associated with low A by measuring a variety of key anatomical/hydraulic and photosynthetic traits in sun- and shade-grown coffee plants. We demonstrate that leaf hydraulic architecture imposes a major constraint on the maximisation of the photosynthetic gas exchange of coffee leaves. Regardless of the light treatments, A was mainly limited by stomatal factors followed by similar limitations associated with the mesophyll and biochemical constraints. No evidence of an inefficient Rubisco was found; rather, we propose that coffee Rubisco is well tuned for operating at low chloroplastic CO2 concentrations. Finally, we contend that large diffusive resistance should lead to large CO2 drawdown from the intercellular airspaces to the sites of carboxylation, thus favouring the occurrence of relatively high photorespiration rates, which ultimately leads to further limitations to A. PMID:24743509

Ascites as the initial characteristic manifestation in a patient with primary gastric CD8-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

PubMed

Zhao, K-X; Dai, G-Z; Zhu, J-F

2016-05-01

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common lymphoid malignancy and the most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, the stomach is the most common extranodal site. Gastric DLBCL is often characterized by epigastric pain and vomiting. We report a case of a 78-year-old female patient with gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with high CD8 level which was initially manifested with ascites of unknown origin. The patient was admitted with a chief complaint of abdominal distension and scanty urine over the last twenty days, while without anorexia and fatigue until 15 March. She had no history of viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis. Laboratory data revealed normal aminotransferases and bilirubin levels, but serum lactate dehydrogenase, CA125, ascitic fluid lactate dehydrogenase, ascitic fluid lymphocytes increased. The ascitic fluid was yellow-colored with 98.5% lymphocytes. Stool occult blood test was positive. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy performed a few days later revealed multiple gastric crateriform ulcers, and Helicobacter pylori was detected in the biopsy specimen. Peripheral blood CD8+ was increased by 51%. Pathology test showed lymphocytes with atypical hyperplasia, and immunohistochemistry test resulted CD20+, CD10-, CD79α+, κ+, bcl-6+, Ki-67+ (approximately 95%), λ-, bcl-2-, CD3-, CD43-. Immunoglobulin gene (Ig) clonal rearrangement showed IgH: FR1 (+), FR2 (+), FR3(-), Igk: VJ(+), Vkde (+) in lymphoma tissue. The features of histopathology and immunohistochemistry of the tissue confirmed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL). The patient received an uncompleted CHOP program combined with H. pylori eradication. However, the patient deceased due to disease development sixteen days later after the diagnosis.

Axial diffusivity of the corona radiata correlated with ventricular size in adult hydrocephalus.

PubMed

Cauley, Keith A; Cataltepe, Oguz

2014-07-01

Hydrocephalus causes changes in the diffusion-tensor properties of periventricular white matter. Understanding the nature of these changes may aid in the diagnosis and treatment planning of this relatively common neurologic condition. Because ventricular size is a common measure of the severity of hydrocephalus, we hypothesized that a quantitative correlation could be made between the ventricular size and diffusion-tensor changes in the periventricular corona radiata. In this article, we investigated this relationship in adult patients with hydrocephalus and in healthy adult subjects. Diffusion-tensor imaging metrics of the corona radiata were correlated with ventricular size in 14 adult patients with acute hydrocephalus, 16 patients with long-standing hydrocephalus, and 48 consecutive healthy adult subjects. Regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between ventricular size and the diffusion-tensor metrics of the corona radiata. Subject age was analyzed as a covariable. There is a linear correlation between fractional anisotropy of the corona radiata and ventricular size in acute hydrocephalus (r = 0.784, p < 0.001), with positive correlation with axial diffusivity (r = 0.636, p = 0.014) and negative correlation with radial diffusivity (r = 0.668, p = 0.009). In healthy subjects, axial diffusion in the periventricular corona radiata is more strongly correlated with ventricular size than with patient age (r = 0.466, p < 0.001, compared with r = 0.058, p = 0.269). Axial diffusivity of the corona radiata is linearly correlated with ventricular size in healthy adults and in patients with hydrocephalus. Radial diffusivity of the corona radiata decreases linearly with ventricular size in acute hydrocephalus but is not significantly correlated with ventricular size in healthy subjects or in patients with long-standing hydrocephalus.

Phase I study of 2'-3'-dideoxyinosine administered orally twice daily to patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex and hematologic intolerance to zidovudine.

PubMed

Connolly, K J; Allan, J D; Fitch, H; Jackson-Pope, L; McLaren, C; Canetta, R; Groopman, J E

1991-11-01

To evaluate the safety and hematologic tolerance of 2'-3'-dideoxyinosine (didanosine, ddI) in subjects with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex and prior hematologic intolerance to zidovudine. A Phase I trial with two dose groups at a single-center, university-affiliated hospital ambulatory care center. Of 30 subjects enrolled, 21 had AIDS and nine had AIDS-related complex. All had CD4 lymphocyte counts less than 0.2 x 10(9)/L at entry. Didanosine was administered orally twice daily at a total daily dose of 750 mg or 1,500 mg for 12 weeks. Subjects who completed the 12-week study continued to receive ddI at the lower dose. All subjects were monitored for toxicity. Virologic and immunologic response markers were also measured. For the group as a whole, there was no significant decrease in mean hemoglobin level or leukocyte or platelet counts. The dose-limiting toxicity was peripheral neuropathy. Other significant toxicities included pancreatitis and hypocalcemia. Uric acid elevations were common but were without clinical consequence. A sustained decrease in serum p24 antigen of at least 50% was noted in 42% of subjects who were p24 antigen-positive at entry. The mean CD4 lymphocyte count showed an initial increase that was not sustained over the 12-week study. All subjects remained anergic to skin testing. Didanosine is well tolerated hematologically in some patients with prior significant hematologic intolerance to zidovudine. The toxicity profile for ddI differs from that of zidovudine and includes peripheral neuropathy and pancreatitis. Changes in CD4 lymphocyte number and HIV p24 antigen levels in some patients suggest antiviral activity of ddI in this population.

Living with HIV/AIDS in School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sedletter, 1993

1993-01-01

This newsletter article is concerned with understanding what schools can and must do to sustain life in the age of human immunodeficiency virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). The article looks at the incidence of AIDS and reviews legislation related to AIDS infection and school attendance. School policy as it relates to…

Percolation Diffusion into Self-Assembled Mesoporous Silica Microfibres

PubMed Central

Canning, John; Huyang, George; Ma, Miles; Beavis, Alison; Bishop, David; Cook, Kevin; McDonagh, Andrew; Shi, Dongqi; Peng, Gang-Ding; Crossley, Maxwell J.

2014-01-01

Percolation diffusion into long (11.5 cm) self-assembled, ordered mesoporous microfibres is studied using optical transmission and laser ablation inductive coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Optical transmission based diffusion studies reveal rapid penetration (<5 s, D > 80 μm2∙s−1) of Rhodamine B with very little percolation of larger molecules such as zinc tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) observed under similar loading conditions. The failure of ZnTPP to enter the microfibre was confirmed, in higher resolution, using LA-ICP-MS. In the latter case, LA-ICP-MS was used to determine the diffusion of zinc acetate dihydrate, D~3 × 10−4 nm2∙s−1. The large differences between the molecules are accounted for by proposing ordered solvent and structure assisted accelerated diffusion of the Rhodamine B based on its hydrophilicity relative to the zinc compounds. The broader implications and applications for filtration, molecular sieves and a range of devices and uses are described. PMID:28348290

Logical analysis of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

PubMed

Alexe, G; Alexe, S; Axelrod, D E; Hammer, P L; Weissmann, D

2005-07-01

The goal of this study is to re-examine the oligonucleotide microarray dataset of Shipp et al., which contains the intensity levels of 6817 genes of 58 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and 19 with follicular lymphoma (FL), by means of the combinatorics, optimisation, and logic-based methodology of logical analysis of data (LAD). The motivations for this new analysis included the previously demonstrated capabilities of LAD and its expected potential (1) to identify different informative genes than those discovered by conventional statistical methods, (2) to identify combinations of gene expression levels capable of characterizing different types of lymphoma, and (3) to assemble collections of such combinations that if considered jointly are capable of accurately distinguishing different types of lymphoma. The central concept of LAD is a pattern or combinatorial biomarker, a concept that resembles a rule as used in decision tree methods. LAD is able to exhaustively generate the collection of all those patterns which satisfy certain quality constraints, through a systematic combinatorial process guided by clear optimization criteria. Then, based on a set covering approach, LAD aggregates the collection of patterns into classification models. In addition, LAD is able to use the information provided by large collections of patterns in order to extract subsets of variables, which collectively are able to distinguish between different types of disease. For the differential diagnosis of DLBCL versus FL, a model based on eight significant genes is constructed and shown to have a sensitivity of 94.7% and a specificity of 100% on the test set. For the prognosis of good versus poor outcome among the DLBCL patients, a model is constructed on another set consisting also of eight significant genes, and shown to have a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 90% on the test set. The genes selected by LAD also work well as a basis for other kinds of statistical

Diffusion behavior of lipid vesicles in entangled polymer solutions.

PubMed Central

Cao, X; Bansil, R; Gantz, D; Moore, E W; Niu, N; Afdhal, N H

1997-01-01

Dynamic light scattering was used to follow the tracer diffusion of phospholipid/cholesterol vesicles in aqueous polyacrylamide solutions and compared with the diffusive behavior of polystyrene (PS) latex spheres of comparable diameters. Over the range of the matrix concentration examined (Cp = 0.1-10 mg/ml), the diffusivities of the PS spheres and the large multilamellar vesicles exhibited the Stokes-Einstein (SE) relation, while the diffusivity of the unilamellar vesicles did not follow the increase of the solution's viscosity caused by the presence of the matrix molecules. The difference between the diffusion behaviors of unilamellar vesicles and hard PS spheres of similar size is possibly due to the flexibility of the lipid bilayer of the vesicles. The unilamellar vesicles are capable of changing their shape to move through the entangled polymer solution so that the hindrance to their diffusion due to the presence of the polymer chains is reduced, while the rigid PS spheres have little flexibility and they encounter greater resistance. The multilamellar vesicles are less flexible, thus their diffusion is similar to the hard PS spheres of similar diameter. Images FIGURE 2 PMID:9336189

Study on effectiveness of gemcitabine, dexamethasone, and cisplatin (GDP) for relapsed or refractory AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

PubMed

Zhong, Dong Ta; Shi, Chun Mei; Chen, Qiang; Huang, Jing Ze; Liang, Jian Gang

2012-11-01

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) remains the second most common malignant complication in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Even though NHL is commonly chemosensitive to primary treatment, failure or relapse still occurs in a large number of patients. We conducted this retrospective study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine, dexamethasone, and cisplatin (GDP) for relapsed or refractory AIDS-related NHL (AIDS-NHL). Forty-eight patients with relapsed or refractory AIDS-NHL were treated with intravenous combination chemotherapy with GDP. The overall objective response rate was 54.1% (95% confidence interval, CI, 40.1-68.3%), with 10 complete responses and 16 partial responses. The 2-year overall survival rate (OS) was 70.8% (95% CI 58.0-83.7%), and the 5-year OS was 41.7% (95% CI 27.7-55.6%). The 2-year progression-free survival rate (PFS) was 37.5% (95% CI 23.8-51.2%), and the 5-year PFS was 25.0% (95% CI 12.8-37.3%). The median progression-free survival was 8.8 months (95% CI 0-20.3 months), and the median overall survival was 40.6 months (95% CI 22.6-58.6 months). Patients with B cell tumors who relapsed but had no B symptoms were clinical stage I/II, had infiltration fewer than two extranodal sites, had CD4⁺ counts >200 cells/μL, and had lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) less than the upper limit of normal benefited from GDP. The level of LDH had a significant impact on the response rate to chemotherapy with GDP (P = 0.015). Myelosuppression was the main side effect; the incidence of grade 3-4 anemia was 8.3%; leukopenia, 37.5%; and thrombocytopenia, 48.3%. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine variables for OS and PFS. This study confirms that GDP is an effective and safe salvage regimen in relapsed or refractory AIDS-NHL, was associated with modest declines in CD4⁺ lymphocyte counts, and did not promote HIV-1 viral replication.

Concise evaluation of decision aids.

PubMed

Stalmeier, Peep F M; Roosmalen, Marielle S

2009-01-01

Decision aids purport to help patients make treatment related choices. Several instruments exist to evaluate decision aids. Our aim is to compare the responsiveness of several instruments. Two different decision aids were randomized in patients at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Treatment choices were between prophylactic surgery and screening. Effect sizes were calculated to compare the responsiveness of the measures. One decision aid was randomized in 390 women, the other in 91 ensuing mutation carriers. Three factors were identified related to Information, Well-being and Decision Making. Within each factor, single item measures were as responsive as multi-item measures. Four single items, 'the amount of information received for decision making,' 'strength of preference,' 'I weighed the pros and cons,' and 'General Health,' were adequately responsive to the decision aids. These items might be considered for inclusion in questionnaires to evaluate decision aids.

Caregivers' and non-caregivers' knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and attitude towards HIV/AIDS and orphans in Nigeria.

PubMed

Ohnishi, Mayumi; Nakamura, Keiko; Kizuki, Masashi; Seino, Kaoruko; Inose, Tomoko; Takano, Takehito

2008-09-01

Nigeria has an estimated 930,000 AIDS orphans, which has a marked impact on family and community. This study was performed to characterise caregivers' knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and their attitude towards HIV/AIDS, orphans in general and AIDS orphans in particular. Caregivers and non-caregivers aged 25-70 years in Nigeria were interviewed from January and March 2003, and logistic regression analysis was used to determine associations between caregivers' knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, orphans and AIDS orphans, and demographic characteristics and background status regarding HIV/AIDS and orphans. A total of 824 interviewees participated in the survey (82.4% response rate), of whom 290 (35.2%) were current caregivers of orphans. The mean number of orphans per current caregiver was 1.8 (standard deviation 1.4). Factors related to higher knowledge level regarding HIV/AIDS were female gender [odds ratio (OR) = 3.49; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.33, 5.22] and belief that AIDS is a common disease (OR = 3.39; 95% CI: 2.19, 5.26). Factors associated with positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, orphans in general and AIDS orphans in particular were age 35-44 years (OR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.11, 2.69), Koranic schooling (OR = 8.69; 95% CI: 2.42, 31.19), polygamy (OR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.17, 2.62), belief that there are increasing numbers of orphans in the community (OR = 2.59; 95% CI: 1.32, 5.08) and having relatives or friends with HIV/AIDS (OR = 2.88; 95% CI: 1.61, 1.58). There was a slight correlation (r = 0.17, P < 0.001) between caregivers' knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, orphans and AIDS orphans. Demographic characteristics and personal experience should be taken into consideration to improve attitudes and behaviour related to HIV/AIDS and caring for orphans and AIDS orphans.

Genetic Testing Plus Irinotecan in Treating Patients With Solid Tumors or Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2013-01-23

AIDS-related Peripheral/Systemic Lymphoma; AIDS-related Primary CNS Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Intraocular Lymphoma; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Primary Central Nervous System Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Small Intestine Lymphoma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic

Gendered differences in AIDS and AIDS-related cause of death among youth with secondary education in South Africa, 2009–2011

PubMed Central

De Wet, Nicole

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is higher among females than males in Sub-Saharan Africa. Education is associated with better health outcomes. For this and other reasons, African countries have made a concerted effort to increase youth education rates. However, in South Africa males have lower secondary education rates than females, yet females have a higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS. This study examines if a gender disparity exists in AIDS mortality rates among youth with secondary education in South Africa. Methods: This study uses descriptive statistics and life table techniques. A sample of 4386 deaths of youth with secondary education is used. Of this total sample, 987 deaths were among males and 340 were among females with secondary education. Results: This study shows that AIDS mortality is higher among females than males in South Africa. Males and females with secondary education have lower AIDS mortality than all males and females in the population, yet the rates are higher for females. Using cause-deleted life tables, the probability of youth dying from HIV/AIDS practically disappears for both males and females. Odds ratio calculations show that secondary education does not have a protective effect from AIDS mortality among male and female youth. Conclusion: Given the gendered difference in AIDS mortality among youth with secondary education, efforts to increase secondary education among males and further research into other factors exacerbating AIDS mortality among females with secondary education is needed in the country. PMID:27739338

Responding to AIDS-Related Bereavement in the South African Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demmer, Craig

2007-01-01

AIDS continues to be a death sentence for many individuals living in South Africa where it remains the leading cause of death. Little is currently known about what it is like to experience the loss of a loved one to AIDS from the South African perspective and how to assist individuals who are living in a context vastly different from similarly…

Data-Driven Diffusion Of Innovations: Successes And Challenges In 3 Large-Scale Innovative Delivery Models

PubMed Central

Dorr, David A.; Cohen, Deborah J.; Adler-Milstein, Julia

2018-01-01

Failed diffusion of innovations may be linked to an inability to use and apply data, information, and knowledge to change perceptions of current practice and motivate change. Using qualitative and quantitative data from three large-scale health care delivery innovations—accountable care organizations, advanced primary care practice, and EvidenceNOW—we assessed where data-driven innovation is occurring and where challenges lie. We found that implementation of some technological components of innovation (for example, electronic health records) has occurred among health care organizations, but core functions needed to use data to drive innovation are lacking. Deficits include the inability to extract and aggregate data from the records; gaps in sharing data; and challenges in adopting advanced data functions, particularly those related to timely reporting of performance data. The unexpectedly high costs and burden incurred during implementation of the innovations have limited organizations’ ability to address these and other deficits. Solutions that could help speed progress in data-driven innovation include facilitating peer-to-peer technical assistance, providing tailored feedback reports to providers from data aggregators, and using practice facilitators skilled in using data technology for quality improvement to help practices transform. Policy efforts that promote these solutions may enable more rapid uptake of and successful participation in innovative delivery system reforms. PMID:29401031

Data-Driven Diffusion Of Innovations: Successes And Challenges In 3 Large-Scale Innovative Delivery Models.

PubMed

Dorr, David A; Cohen, Deborah J; Adler-Milstein, Julia

2018-02-01

Failed diffusion of innovations may be linked to an inability to use and apply data, information, and knowledge to change perceptions of current practice and motivate change. Using qualitative and quantitative data from three large-scale health care delivery innovations-accountable care organizations, advanced primary care practice, and EvidenceNOW-we assessed where data-driven innovation is occurring and where challenges lie. We found that implementation of some technological components of innovation (for example, electronic health records) has occurred among health care organizations, but core functions needed to use data to drive innovation are lacking. Deficits include the inability to extract and aggregate data from the records; gaps in sharing data; and challenges in adopting advanced data functions, particularly those related to timely reporting of performance data. The unexpectedly high costs and burden incurred during implementation of the innovations have limited organizations' ability to address these and other deficits. Solutions that could help speed progress in data-driven innovation include facilitating peer-to-peer technical assistance, providing tailored feedback reports to providers from data aggregators, and using practice facilitators skilled in using data technology for quality improvement to help practices transform. Policy efforts that promote these solutions may enable more rapid uptake of and successful participation in innovative delivery system reforms.

HIV/AIDS reference questions in an AIDS service organization special library.

PubMed

Deevey, Sharon; Behring, Michael

2005-01-01

Librarians in many venues may anticipate a wide range of reference questions related to HIV and AIDS. Information on HIV/ AIDS is now available in medical, academic, and public libraries and on the Internet, and ranges from the most complex science to the most private disclosures about personal behavior. In this article, the 913 reference questions asked between May 2002 and August 2004 in a special library in a mid-western community-based AIDS service organization are described and analyzed.

Can Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and Related Apparent Diffusion Coefficient be a Prognostic Value in Women With Breast Cancer?

PubMed