Preliminary Evidence on the Diagnostic and Molecular Role of Circulating Soluble EGFR in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Assessment of biological diagnostic factors providing clinically-relevant information to guide physician decision-making are still needed for diseases with poor outcomes, such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a promising molecule in the clinical management of NSCLC. While the EGFR transmembrane form has been extensively investigated in large clinical trials, the soluble, circulating EGFR isoform (sEGFR), which may have a potential clinical use, has rarely been considered. This study investigates the use of sEGFR as a potential diagnostic biomarker for NSCLC and also characterizes the biological function of sEGFR to clarify the molecular mechanisms involved in the course of action of this protein. Plasma sEGFR levels from a heterogeneous cohort of 37 non-advanced NSCLC patients and 54 healthy subjects were analyzed by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The biological function of sEGFR was analyzed in vitro using NSCLC cell lines, investigating effects on cell proliferation and migration. We found that plasma sEGFR was significantly decreased in the NSCLC patient group as compared to the control group (median value: 48.6 vs. 55.6 ng/mL respectively; p = 0.0002). Moreover, we demonstrated that sEGFR inhibits growth and migration of NSCLC cells in vitro through molecular mechanisms that included perturbation of EGF/EGFR cell signaling and holoreceptor internalization. These data show that sEGFR is a potential circulating biomarker with a physiological protective role, providing a first approach to the functional role of the soluble isoform of EGFR. However, the impact of these data on daily clinical practice needs to be further investigated in larger prospective studies.     

A framework for analytical cost estimation of mechanical components based on manufacturing knowledge representation

This paper presents a novel framework for manufacturing and cost-related knowledge formalization. This artefact allows industries to capitalize the knowled     

SR ARQ packet delay statistics on markov channels in the presence of variable arrival rate

In this letter we investigate the packet delay statistics of a fully reliable selective repeat ARQ scheme by considering a discrete time Markov channel with non-instantaneous feedback and assigned round-trip delay m. Our focus is on studying the impact of the arrival process on the delay experienced by a packet. An exact model is introduced to represent the system constituted by the transmitter buffer, the m round-trip slots, and the channel state. By means of this model, we evaluate and discuss the delay statistics and we analyze the impact of the system parameters, in particular the packet arrival rate, on the delay statistics     

PECVD of diamond-like carbon (a-C:H) from the decomposition of methane in a high-density inductively coupled discharge

The paper describes an experimental investigation of the diamond-like carbon deposition process from methane precursor with an innovative high-density inductively coupled plasma source. It appears that a high plasma density allows a fast growth of diamond-like carbon coatings exhibiting a high hardness. In contrast to what is usually found in the literature, it seems that the ion species participate significantly to the growth of the carbon film when exposed to a high ion flux.     

Improving Communication in E-democracy Using Natural Language Processing

E-democracy, the design and development of new techniques for improving communication between public administration and citizens, is a major application field for natural language processing and language engineering. Helping citizens access information in a friendly, intuitive way is the primary objective of a global e-democracy framework. The E-democracy European Network project (EDEN) aimed at discovering whether a particular NLP (natural language processing) approach could further e-democracy by increasing citizens' participation in the decision-making process. The goal was twofold: to test whether e-democracy requirements could be meet using advanced linguistic technology and to test whether augmented phrase structure grammars (APSGs) were robust and well-assessed enough to use in a real-world environment. Also, the aim is to develop two toolsets to improve communication between PAs and citizens in the context of urban planning: a set of NLP-based tools to simplify access to information and knowledge and a set of forum and polling devices     

Customer service providers' attitudes relating to customer service and customer satisfaction in the customer-server exchange.

The authors proposed and tested a model describing the relationship between customer service providers' perceptions and attitudes toward their service-related duties and their customers' perceptions of satisfaction with their service experiences. Results indicated that the perception of having standards for service delivery in an organization is strongly related to line-level employees' perceptions of support from coworkers and supervisors. Perceived support from coworker, was significantly related to service providers' customer orientation, whereas perceived support from supervisors showed a weaker relationship to a customer orientation. Ultimately, service providers' customer orientation was strongly related to customers' satisfaction with service. Finally, a set of post hoc analyses indicated that coworker and supervisory support explained a greater proportion of incremental variance in the model than did perceived organizational support alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oscillation of the scattering time in a 2D electron system with oval antidots

Electron scattering by a single barrier is predicted to reveal singularities as the magnetic field is changed, because the number of electron collisions with the barrier dramatically increases as chaotic orbits around the barrier are changed into periodic orbits. To test this experimentally we have measured the magnetoresistance of AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with a two-dimensional electron gas and a lateral lattice containing a macroscopic number of oval-shaped antidots fabricated using electron lithography. Reproducible fluctuations in the magnetoresistance are observed at low field, which are due to the oscillations of the number of electron collisions with the antidots. The number of collisions N before the electron escapes from the antidot has been calculated as a function of B in an electric field. The position of the maxima in N(B) obtained from calculations and experiment are in reasonable agreement.     

Biological rhythms as organization and information

The purpose of the current study was to describe four models of cognitive deficit and to outline the statistical hypotheses underlying each model. The four models of cognitive deficit were (a) specific deficit; (b) subgroup deficit; (c) a syndrome dissociation model; and (d) a global function dissociation model. Neuropsychological data are analyzed to examine each of these four models in a sample of mild Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. The results suggest that for these subjects and tests, the specific deficit model best fits the data. The results are reviewed initially in the context of MS. There follows a consideration of statistical caveats and finally, general applications of the proposed procedures.     

Prenatal exposure to methylmercury alters locomotor activity of male but not female rats

In the present study the neurotoxic effects of a low dosage (0.5 mg/kg per day) of methylmercury (MeHg) on the developing nervous system were investigated. Pregnant rats were treated with MeHg from day 7 of pregnancy to day 7 of lactation. Locomotor activity (locomotion, rearing, and motility) and spatial learning ability were tested in the offspring at 6 months of age. The expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was examined by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. A significant decrease in spontaneous motility and rearing was observed only in the MeHg-treated male rats. After administration of a low dose of d-amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg) no differences could be observed between control and MeHg-treated male rats, suggesting that changes in dopaminergic transmission were involved. However, no change in TH messenger RNA expression was observed. No changes in spatial learning acquisition or memory were shown in MeHg-treated rats. Taken together, these findings show that during development a very low dosage of MeHg exerts neurotoxic effects detectable in adulthood, and that susceptibility is gender-dependent.