Consistency of Published Results on the Pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Madagascar: Formal Comment on Kolby et al. Rapid Response to Evaluate the Presence of Amphibian Chytrid Fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and Ranavirus in Wild Amphibian Populations in Madagascar

判型：B5，平成4年１１月30日[目次]バブル消えて思うこと新任教官紹介及び挨拶一番古い新しい大学維管束植物の遺伝子発現機構の解析のための基礎的研究留学感想トピックス学生サークル紹介学生部だより保健管理センターだより卒業生だよりへルン文

Search for R-parity-violating supersymmetry in events with four or more leptons in sqrt(s) =7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for new phenomena in final states with four or more leptons (electrons or muons) is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of $\sqrt{s}=7\;\mathrm{TeV}$ proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in two signal regions: one that requires moderate values of missing transverse momentum and another that requires large effective mass. The results are interpreted in a simplified model of R-parity-violating supersymmetry in which a 95% CL exclusion region is set for charged wino masses up to 540 GeV. In an R-parity-violating MSUGRA/CMSSM model, values of m 1/2 up to 820 GeV are excluded for 10 < tan β < 40

Parents’ Descriptions of Neonatal Palliation as a Treatment Option Prior to Periviable Delivery

Background and Hypothesis: During periviable deliveries, parents are confronted with overwhelming and challenging decisions, about which they may know little. This study aimed to explore qualitatively the language that mothers and important others (IOs) utilize when discussing palliation, or ‘comfort care,’ as a treatment option in the context of periviability. Project Methods: We prospectively recruited pregnant women (and designated IOs) admitted to labor and delivery for a threatened periviable delivery (22-25 weeks GA) at two hospitals between September 2016 and January 2018. Using a semi-structured interview guide, we explored participants’ perceptions of palliation and neonatal treatment options. Women were asked items such as, “How was the choice of resuscitation presented to you?” and “What were the options presented?” Research assistants developed a codebook for the interview transcripts, and NVivo 12 was used for qualitative analysis. Results: Thirty women and 16 IOs were recruited in total. Participants’ descriptions of palliation fell into five broad categories – ‘doing nothing,’ ‘not resuscitating,’ ‘withdrawal of care,’ ‘implicit comfort care,’ and ‘explicit comfort care.’ The majority of parents perceived comfort care not as a distinct treatment option, but rather as the absence of treatment. Several barriers to the comprehension of comfort care were observed, including subjects’ unfamiliarity with the terminology or the inability to remember its explanation during antenatal consultation. Parents described comfort care with either neutral or negative connotations, and even those parents able to discuss the concept neutrally chose resuscitation as their preferred treatment option. Conclusion and Potential Impact: This study revealed that many parents facing periviable delivery may lack understanding of comfort care as a neonatal treatment option. These parental perceptions highlight the need to improve counseling efforts in order to maximize parents’ informed decision-making

Invasive Salmonellosis among Children Admitted to a Rural Tanzanian Hospital and a Comparison with Previous Studies

BACKGROUND: The importance of invasive salmonellosis in African children is well recognized but there is inadequate information on these infections. We conducted a fever surveillance study in a Tanzanian rural hospital to estimate the case fraction of invasive salmonellosis among pediatric admissions, examine associations with common co-morbidities and describe its clinical features. We compared our main findings with those from previous studies among children in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From 1 March 2008 to 28 Feb 2009, 1,502 children were enrolled into the study. We collected clinical information and blood for point of care tests, culture, and diagnosis of malaria and HIV. We analyzed the clinical features on admission and outcome by laboratory-confirmed diagnosis. Pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the blood of 156 (10%) children, of which 14 (9%) were S. typhi, 45 (29%) were NTS and 97 (62%) were other pathogenic bacteria. Invasive salmonellosis accounted for 59/156 (38%) bacteremic children. Children with typhoid fever were significantly older and presented with a longer duration of fever. NTS infections were significantly associated with prior antimalarial treatment, malarial complications and with a high risk for death. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Invasive salmonellosis, particularly NTS infection, is an important cause of febrile disease among hospitalized children in our rural Tanzanian setting. Previous studies showed considerable variation in the case fraction of S. typhi and NTS infections. Certain suggestive clinical features (such as older age and long duration of fever for typhoid whereas concomitant malaria, anemia, jaundice and hypoglycemia for NTS infection) may be used to distinguish invasive salmonellosis from other severe febrile illness

Resource Quantity Affects Benthic Microbial Community Structure and Growth Efficiency in a Temperate Intertidal Mudflat

Estuaries cover <1% of marine habitats, but the carbon dioxide (CO2) effluxes from these net heterotrophic systems contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle. Anthropogenic eutrophication of estuarine waterways increases the supply of labile substrates to the underlying sediments. How such changes affect the form and functioning of the resident microbial communities remains unclear. We employed a carbon-13 pulse-chase experiment to investigate how a temperate estuarine benthic microbial community at 6.5°C responded to additions of marine diatom-derived organic carbon equivalent to 4.16, 41.60 and 416.00 mmol C m−2. The quantities of carbon mineralized and incorporated into bacterial biomass both increased significantly, albeit differentially, with resource supply. This resulted in bacterial growth efficiency increasing from 0.40±0.02 to 0.55±0.04 as substrates became more available. The proportions of diatom-derived carbon incorporated into individual microbial membrane fatty acids also varied with resource supply. Future increases in labile organic substrate supply have the potential to increase both the proportion of organic carbon being retained within the benthic compartment of estuaries and also the absolute quantity of CO2 outgassing from these environments

The Role of Natural Killer (NK) Cells and NK Cell Receptor Polymorphisms in the Assessment of HIV-1 Neutralization

The importance of innate immune cells in HIV-1 pathogenesis and protection has been highlighted by the role of natural killer (NK) cells in the containment of viral replication. Use of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in immunologic studies provides both HIV-1 target cells (ie. CD4+ T cells), as well as anti-HIV-1 effector cells, such as NK cells. In this study, NK and other immune cell populations were analyzed in HIV-negative donor PBMC for an impact on the anti-HIV activity of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. NK cell percentages were significantly higher in donor PBMC that supported lower levels of viral replication. While the percentage of NK cells was not directly associated with neutralization titers, NK cell-depletion significantly diminished the antiviral antibody activity by up to three logs, and polymorphisms in NK killer immunoglobulin receptor (KIR) and FcγRIIIa alleles appear to be associated with this affect. These findings demonstrate that NK cells and NK cell receptor polymorphisms may influence assessment of traditional HIV-1 neutralization in a platform where antibody is continuously present. This format appears to simultaneously assess conventional entry inhibition (neutralization) and non-neutralizing antibody-dependent HIV inhibition, which may provide the opportunity to delineate the dominant antibody function(s) in polyclonal vaccine responses

Network capitalism and the role of strategy, contracts and performance expectations for Asia-Pacific innovation partnerships

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018. With the growth of emerging economies in Asia-Pacific over the last three decades collaboration with the aim of innovation between firms within and with partners outside the region have developed substantially. Not always have such partnerships fulfilled their anticipated strategic objectives. The literature suggests that the nature of market arrangements and the role of government within that system play a role, but also innate contracting practices and governance of innovation partnerships are related. Yet, our understanding about the specific relationships between these factors and the emerging partnership innovation culture that facilitates joint business activities in an Asia-Pacific context remains vague. In this conceptual chapter we suggest how characteristics of so called network capitalism in conjunction with the nature of contractual agreements between partners, the alignment of their innovation objectives and the ambiguity inherent in their mutual contributions to the partnership can be interpreted as indicators of joint innovation culture. However, while innovation partnerships generally may result to be bureaucratic, market, clan, or adhocracy, we discuss how in an Asia Pacific context, innovation partnerships are limited by the extent of codification and diffusion of information and the social embeddedness of economic transactions

The Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (congenital absence of uterus and vagina) – phenotypic manifestations and genetic approaches

The Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome affects at least 1 out of 4500 women and has for a long time been considered as a sporadic anomaly. Congenital absence of upper vagina and uterus is the prime feature of the disease which, in addition, is often found associated with unilateral renal agenesis or adysplasia as well as skeletal malformations (MURCS association). The phenotypic manifestations of MRKH overlap various other syndromes or associations and thus require accurate delineation. Since MRKH manifests itself in males, the term GRES syndrome (Genital, Renal, Ear, Skeletal) might be more appropriate when applied to both sexes. The MRKH syndrome, when described in familial aggregates, seems to be transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait with an incomplete degree of penetrance and variable expressivity. This suggests the involvement of either mutations in a major developmental gene or a limited chromosomal deletion. Until recently progress in understanding the genetics of MRKH syndrome has been slow, however, now HOX genes have been shown to play key roles in body patterning and organogenesis, and in particular during genital tract development. Expression and/or function defects of one or several HOX genes may account for this syndrome

Measurement of the Positive Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment to 0.20 ppm

We present a new measurement of the positive muon magnetic anomaly, a_{μ}≡(g_{μ}-2)/2, from the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment using data collected in 2019 and 2020. We have analyzed more than 4 times the number of positrons from muon decay than in our previous result from 2018 data. The systematic error is reduced by more than a factor of 2 due to better running conditions, a more stable beam, and improved knowledge of the magnetic field weighted by the muon distribution, ω[over ˜]_{p}^{'}, and of the anomalous precession frequency corrected for beam dynamics effects, ω_{a}. From the ratio ω_{a}/ω[over ˜]_{p}^{'}, together with precisely determined external parameters, we determine a_{μ}=116 592 057(25)×10^{-11} (0.21 ppm). Combining this result with our previous result from the 2018 data, we obtain a_{μ}(FNAL)=116 592 055(24)×10^{-11} (0.20 ppm). The new experimental world average is a_{μ}(exp)=116 592 059(22)×10^{-11} (0.19 ppm), which represents a factor of 2 improvement in precision