Neocytoapheresis in the treatment of polycythemia vera

In absence of thrombocytosis, periodic bloodlettings represent the elective therapy of polycythemia vera. In the present study we tested if neocytoapheresis, a method able to remove large quantities of younger, and then bigger red cells could represent an alternative therapeutic choice in these patients. We found that the employment of neocytoapheresis produced a remarkable delay in the time of procedures with a mean interval of 100 +/- 55 days. The mean value of hematocrit before neocytopheresis is resulted statistically different in comparison with the hematocrit after the procedure (p = 0.0001). The reticulocyte count is resulted higher in apheresis product in comparison with the blood control measured before procedure (p = 0.0001). In the same way, the mean corpuscular volume in the collection bags was higher than the volume measured before neocytoapheresis (p = 0.0095). We did not find any variation about the mean values of white blood cells and platelets before and after neocytoapheresis in the patients examined. These preliminary data seem to underline a better withdrawal of big size cells by this technique suggesting the efficacy of neocytoapheresis in the treatment of polycythemia vera.     

Designing Templates for Mining Association Rules

Current approaches to data mining usually address specific userrequests, while no general design criteria for the extraction of associationrules are available for the end-user. In this paper, we propose aclassification of association rule types, which provides a general frameworkfor the design of association rule mining applications. Based on theidentified association rule types, we introduce predefined templates as ameans to capture the user specification of mining applications. Furthermore,we propose a general language to design templates for the extraction ofarbitrary association rule types.     

Activation of action rules in action observation.

Visually perceiving an action may activate corresponding motor programs. This automatic motor activation can occur both for higher level (i.e., the goal of an action) and for lower level (i.e., the specific effector with which it is executed) aspects of an action. The authors used a tool-use action paradigm to experimentally dissociate priming effects for observing the target, the movement, or the target-to-movement mapping of a tool-use action. In 3 experiments, participants took turns in acting, observing the tool-use action of another person in trial n-1, and executing an action in trial n. Trial transitions from n-1 to n were manipulated in 4 conditions with (a) mapping repeated and movement and target changed, (b) target repeated and movement and mapping changed, (c) movement repeated and target and mapping changed, or (d) all components repeated. Results indicate priming effects for repeating the target-to-movement mapping (i.e., the action rule) of a tool-use action and suggest that a rather abstract action schema is activated during action observation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic testing.

This article evaluatively reviews the literature on dynamic testing, a collection of testing procedures designed to quantify not only the products or even the processes of learning but also the potential to learn. The article considers a variety of approaches to dynamic testing and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Moreover, the literature on each approach is reviewed and analyzed in terms of the extent to which it fulfills the claims made for it. In all of these approaches, testing involves learning at the time of test, rather than just static testing of what has been learned before. It is concluded that dynamic testing has great potential for helping to understand people's potentials but that its potential has yet to be realized fully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Losses of volatile compounds during fermentation

The ability of fermentative CO₂ to blow off the volatile compounds that are synthesized during fermentation has been studied. Model solutions simulating a fermenting must were purged at different CO₂ flow rates and temperatures, and the amount of volatile compounds blown off by the stream of CO₂ was recorded by high-resolution gas chromatography. Data showed that under normal fermenting conditions, fatty acid ethyl esters and some fusel alcohol acetates are blown off the solution at a high rate. The maximum loss rate was observed for ethyl decanoate. The purging speed is doubled when temperature increases from 17 °C to 27 °C. Losses can be interpreted by a linear model and are a function of the compound and the flow rate of CO₂. These models allow us to reconstruct the volatile synthesis vs time functions through graphic calculus and to estimate the proportion of volatile material retained, hydrolysed and purged. Synthesis takes place during the tumultuous period of fermentation together with CO₂ production that blows off the volatile material. Hydrolysis takes place in the last stages of fermentation. In a 10-1 open fermenter, up to 80% of volatile material can be blown off while an average of 10% is retained. Residual esterase activity accounts for about 20% of the total amount of ester synthesized.     

Integration of data systems and technology improves research and collaboration for a superfund research center

Large collaborative centers are a common model for accomplishing integrated environmental health research. These centers often include various types of scientific domains (e.g., chemistry, biology, bioinformatics) that are integrated to solve some of the nation's key economic or public health concerns. The Superfund Research Center (SRP) at Oregon State University (OSU) is one such center established in 2008 to study the emerging health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons while using new technologies both in the field and laboratory. With outside collaboration at remote institutions, success for the center as a whole depends on the ability to effectively integrate data across all research projects and support cores. Therefore, the OSU SRP center developed a system that integrates environmental monitoring data with analytical chemistry data and downstream bioinformatics and statistics to enable complete "source-to-outcome" data modeling and information management. This article describes the development of this integrated information management system that includes commercial software for operational laboratory management and sample management in addition to open-source custom-built software for bioinformatics and experimental data management.     

A panoramic view and swot analysis of artificial intelligence for achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030: progress and prospects

Applied Intelligence - The17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations Agenda 2030 constitute a global blueprint agenda and instrument for peace and prosperity...     

A new approach to predict ulcerative colitis activity through standard clinical–biological parameters using a robust neural network model

Neural Computing and Applications - Colonoscopy is the “gold” standard for evaluating disease activity in ulcerative colitis (UC). An important area of research is finding a...     

On security arguments of the second round SHA-3 candidates

In 2007, the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) announced a call for the design of a new cryptographic hash algorithm in response to vulnerabilities like differential attacks identified in existing hash functions, such as MD5 and SHA-1. NIST received many submissions, 51 of which got accepted to the first round. 14 candidates were left in the second round, out of which five candidates have been recently chosen for the final round. An important criterion in the selection process is the SHA-3 hash function security. We identify two important classes of security arguments for the new designs: (1) the possible reductions of the hash function security to the security of its underlying building blocks and (2) arguments against differential attack on building blocks. In this paper, we compare the state of the art provable security reductions for the second round candidates and review arguments and bounds against classes of differential attacks. We discuss all the SHA-3 candidates at a high functional level, analyze, and summarize the security reduction results and bounds against differential attacks. Additionally, we generalize the well-known proof of collision resistance preservation, such that all SHA-3 candidates with a suffix-free padding are covered.     

Molecular Aspects and Prognostic Significance of Microcalcifications in Human Pathology: A Narrative Review

The presence of calcium deposits in human lesions is largely used as imaging biomarkers of human diseases such as breast cancer. Indeed, the presence of micro- or macrocalcifications is frequently associated with the development of both benign and malignant lesions. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of these calcium deposits, as well as the prognostic significance of their presence in human tissues, have not been completely elucidated. Therefore, a better characterization of the biological process related to the formation of calcifications in different tissues and organs, as well as the understanding of the prognostic significance of the presence of these calcium deposits into human tissues could significantly improve the management of patients characterized by microcalcifications associated lesions. Starting from these considerations, this narrative review highlights the most recent histopathological and molecular data concerning the formation of calcifications in breast, thyroid, lung, and ovarian diseases. Evidence reported here could deeply change the current point of view concerning the role of ectopic calcifications in the progression of human diseases and also in the patients’ management. In fact, the presence of calcifications can suggest an unfavorable prognosis due to dysregulation of normal tissues homeostasis.