Fibrillation of chain branched poly (lactic acid) with improved blood compatibility and bionic structure

YesHighly-oriented poly (lactic acid) (PLA) with bionic fibrillar structure and micro-grooves was fabricated through solid hot drawing technology for further improving the mechanical properties and blood biocompatibility of PLA as blood-contacting medical devices. In order to enhance the melt strength and thus obtain high orientation degree, PLA was first chain branched with pentaerythritol polyglycidyl ether (PGE). The branching degree as high as 12.69 mol% can be obtained at 0.5 wt% PGE content. The complex viscosity, elastic and viscous modulus for chain branched PLA were improved resulting from the enhancement of molecular entanglement, and consequently higher draw ratio can be achieved during the subsequent hot stretching. The stress-induced crystallization of PLA occurred during stretching, and the crystal structure of the oriented PLA can be attributed to the α′ crystalline form. The tensile strength and modulus of PLA were improved dramatically by drawing. Chain branching and orientation could significantly enhance the blood compatibility of PLA by prolonging clotting time and decreasing hemolysis ratio, protein adsorption and platelet activation. Fibrous structure as well as micro-grooves can be observed for the oriented PLA which were similar to intimal layer of blood vessel, and this bionic structure was considered to be beneficial to decrease the activation and/or adhesion of platelets

Effects of robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy on surgical pathology specimens

Background Robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) has greatly changed clinical management of prostate cancer. It is important for pathologists and urologists to compare RALP with conventional open radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP), and evaluate their effects on surgical pathology specimens. Methods We retrospectively reviewed and statistically analyzed 262 consecutive RALP (n = 182) and RRP (n = 80) procedures performed in our institution from 2007 to 2010. From these, 49 RALP and 33 RRP cases were randomly selected for additional microscopic examination to analyze the degree of capsular incision and the amount of residual prostate surface adipose tissue. Results Positive surgical margins were present in 28.6% RALP and 57.5% RRP cases, a statistically significant difference. In patients with stage T2c tumors, which represent 61.2% RALP and 63.8% RRP patients, the positive surgical margin rate was 24.1% in the RALP group and 58.8% in the RRP group (statistically significant difference). For other pathologic stages, the differences in positive margins between RALP and RRP groups were not statistically significant. The incidence of positive surgical margins after RALP was related to higher tumor stage, higher Gleason score, higher tumor volume and lower prostate weight, but was not related to the surgeons performing the procedure. When compared with RRP, RALP also caused less severe prostatic capsular incision and maintained larger amounts of residual surface adipose tissue in prostatectomy specimens. Conclusions In this study RALP showed a statistically significant lower positive surgical margin rate than RRP. Analysis of capsular incision and amount of prostatic surface residual adipose tissue suggested that RALP caused less prostatic capsular damage than RRP

From presence to consciousness through virtual reality

Immersive virtual environments can break the deep, everyday connection between where our senses tell us we are and where we are actually located and whom we are with. The concept of 'presence' refers to the phenomenon of behaving and feeling as if we are in the virtual world created by computer displays. In this article, we argue that presence is worthy of study by neuroscientists, and that it might aid the study of perception and consciousness

Using Rhetorical Approach of Ethos, Pathos and Logos by Malaysian Engineering Students in Persuasive Email Writings

It seems that many English language learners have deficiency to write persuasively. This portent has been observed among university students, particularly those from technical fields. Therefore, the present study examines the use of ethos, pathos and logos in persuasive email writing and determines if these features were used appropriately. The participants involved in this research were 43 third-year Malaysian engineering students. The task evaluated was persuasive email writing, and the data was obtained from an official university website forum. The data was analysed qualitatively by using Aristotelian rhetorical theory. The results show that there were some persuasive techniques used by the students in their email writing. It appears that the appeal to pathos was preferred highly in directly connecting with the emotions of the instructors. This was followed by appeals to ethos, where the students used their own ethicality and credibility to persuade the instructor into giving them an extension deadline of their classwork. The findings further revealed that appeal to logos were not used in a very persuasive manner, which could also due to avoiding logical fallacies. Therefore, the present study shows the engineering students prefer to link with emotions in their email writing in achieving their goals.  &nbsp

Common genetic variants in the CLDN2 and PRSS1-PRSS2 loci alter risk for alcohol-related and sporadic pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is a complex, progressively destructive inflammatory disorder. Alcohol was long thought to be the primary causative agent, but genetic contributions have been of interest since the discovery that rare PRSS1, CFTR, and SPINK1 variants were associated with pancreatitis risk. We now report two significant genome-wide associations identified and replicated at PRSS1-PRSS2 (1×10-12) and x-linked CLDN2 (p < 1×10-21) through a two-stage genome-wide study (Stage 1, 676 cases and 4507 controls; Stage 2, 910 cases and 4170 controls). The PRSS1 variant affects susceptibility by altering expression of the primary trypsinogen gene. The CLDN2 risk allele is associated with atypical localization of claudin-2 in pancreatic acinar cells. The homozygous (or hemizygous male) CLDN2 genotype confers the greatest risk, and its alleles interact with alcohol consumption to amplify risk. These results could partially explain the high frequency of alcohol-related pancreatitis in men – male hemizygous frequency is 0.26, female homozygote is 0.07

Reconstruction of primary vertices at the ATLAS experiment in Run 1 proton–proton collisions at the LHC

This paper presents the method and performance of primary vertex reconstruction in proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Run 1 of the LHC. The studies presented focus on data taken during 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV. The performance has been measured as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing over a wide range, from one to seventy. The measurement of the position and size of the luminous region and its use as a constraint to improve the primary vertex resolution are discussed. A longitudinal vertex position resolution of about 30μm is achieved for events with high multiplicity of reconstructed tracks. The transverse position resolution is better than 20μm and is dominated by the precision on the size of the luminous region. An analytical model is proposed to describe the primary vertex reconstruction efficiency as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing and of the longitudinal size of the luminous region. Agreement between the data and the predictions of this model is better than 3% up to seventy interactions per bunch crossing

Charge variants characterization and release assay development for co-formulated antibodies as a combination therapy

© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Combination therapy is a fast-growing strategy to maximize therapeutic benefits to patients. Co-formulation of two or more therapeutic proteins has advantages over the administration of multiple medications, including reduced medication errors and convenience for patients. Characterization of co-formulated biologics can be challenging due to the high degree of similarity in the physicochemical properties of co-formulated proteins, especially at different concentrations of individual components. We present the results of a deamidation study of one monoclonal antibody component (mAb-B) in co-formulated combination antibodies (referred to as COMBO) that contain various ratios of mAb-A and mAb-B. A single deamidation site in the complementarity-determining region of mAb-B was identified as a critical quality attribute (CQA) due to its impact on biological activity. A conventional charge-based method of monitoring mAb-B deamidation presented specificity and robustness challenges, especially when mAb-B was a minor component in the COMBO, making it unsuitable for lot release and stability testing. We developed and qualified a new, quality-control-friendly, single quadrupole Dalton mass detector (QDa)–based method to monitor site-specific deamidation. Our approach can be also used as a multi-attribute method for monitoring other quality attributes in COMBO. This analytical paradigm is applicable to the identification of CQAs in combination therapeutic molecules, and to the subsequent development of a highly specific, highly sensitive, and sufficiently robust method for routine monitoring CQAs for lot release test and during stability studies

Genome-wide association analysis of more than 120,000 individuals identifies 15 new susceptibility loci for breast cancer.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and large-scale replication studies have identified common variants in 79 loci associated with breast cancer, explaining ∼14% of the familial risk of the disease. To identify new susceptibility loci, we performed a meta-analysis of 11 GWAS, comprising 15,748 breast cancer cases and 18,084 controls together with 46,785 cases and 42,892 controls from 41 studies genotyped on a 211,155-marker custom array (iCOGS). Analyses were restricted to women of European ancestry. We generated genotypes for more than 11 million SNPs by imputation using the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel, and we identified 15 new loci associated with breast cancer at P < 5 × 10(-8). Combining association analysis with ChIP-seq chromatin binding data in mammary cell lines and ChIA-PET chromatin interaction data from ENCODE, we identified likely target genes in two regions: SETBP1 at 18q12.3 and RNF115 and PDZK1 at 1q21.1. One association appears to be driven by an amino acid substitution encoded in EXO1.BCAC is funded by Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A12014) and by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS). Meetings of the BCAC have been funded by the European Union COST programme (BM0606). Genotyping on the iCOGS array was funded by the European Union (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10710, C8197/A16565), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer program and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade of Quebec, grant PSR-SIIRI-701. Combination of the GWAS data was supported in part by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cancer Post-Cancer GWAS initiative, grant 1 U19 CA148065-01 (DRIVE, part of the GAME-ON initiative). For a full description of funding and acknowledgments, see the Supplementary Note.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.324

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements