Natural Coral Colonization of a Marina Seawall in Singapore

Marinas require extensive modification of a natural coast. The resulting modified habitat is known to supportchanged biological communities but the ability of tropical marinas to function as a surrogate habitat forscleractinian corals has not been well investigated. An assessment of scleractinian corals naturallycolonising a nine-year-old marina seawall in Singapore indicated 26 genera from 13 families, of whichPectinia and Turbinaria were the most dominant. Most colonies measured 10 – 25 cm in diameter. Reefs ofadjacent islands provided the larval source while the marina's environmental conditions favored larvalrecruitment and growth. Specific larval settlement preferences as well as sediment rejection capabilities ofthe two most common genera could have contributed to their dominance. The study showed that the seawallof a marina can support scleractinian coral communities and with relevant management, can significantlyenhance marine biodiversity

Extracts of Feijoa Inhibit Toll-Like Receptor 2 Signaling and Activate Autophagy Implicating a Role in Dietary Control of IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a heterogeneous chronic inflammatory disease affecting the gut with limited treatment success for its sufferers. This suggests the need for better understanding of the different subtypes of the disease as well as nutritional interventions to compliment current treatments. In this study we assess the ability of a hydrophilic feijoa fraction (F3) to modulate autophagy a process known to regulate inflammation, via TLR2 using IBD cell lines

Effects of columnar disorder on flux-lattice melting in high-temperature superconductors

The effect of columnar pins on the flux-lines melting transition in high-temperature superconductors is studied using Path Integral Monte Carlo simulations. We highlight the similarities and differences in the effects of columnar disorder on the melting transition in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO) and the highly anisotropic Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ (BSCCO) at magnetic fields such that the mean separation between flux-lines is smaller than the penetration length. For pure systems, a first order transition from a flux-line solid to a liquid phase is seen as the temperature is increased. When adding columnar defects to the system, the transition temperature is not affected in both materials as long as the strength of an individual columnar defect (expressed as a flux-line defect interaction) is less than a certain threshold for a given density of randomly distributed columnar pins. This threshold strength is lower for YBCO than for BSCCO. For higher strengths the transition line is shifted for both materials towards higher temperatures, and the sharp jump in energy, characteristic of a first order transition, gives way to a smoother and gradual rise of the energy, characteristic of a second order transition. Also, when columnar defects are present, the vortex solid phase is replaced by a pinned Bose glass phase and this is manifested by a marked decrease in translational order and orientational order as measured by the appropriate structure factors. For BSCCO, we report an unusual rise of the translational order and the hexatic order just before the melting transition. No such rise is observed in YBCO.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, revte

Defect-unbinding and the Bose-glass transition in layered superconductors

The low-field Bose-glass transition temperature in heavy-ion irradiated Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+d increases progressively with increasing density of irradiation-induced columnar defects, but saturates for densities in excess of 1.5 x10^9 cm^-2. The maximum Bose-glass temperature corresponds to that above which diffusion of two-dimensional pancake vortices between different vortex lines becomes possible, and above which the ``line-like'' character of vortices is lost. We develop a description of the Bose-glass line that is in excellent quantitative agreement with the experimental line obtained for widely different values of track density and material parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Graft-vs-tumor effect in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal cancer treated with nonmyeloablative allogeneic PBSC transplantation

While nonmyeloablative peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (NST) has shown efficacy against several solid tumors, it is untested in nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). In a phase II clinical trial, 21 patients with pretreated metastatic NPC underwent NST with sibling PBSC allografts, using CY conditioning, thymic irradiation and in vivo T-cell depletion with thymoglobulin. Stable lymphohematopoietic chimerism was achieved in most patients and prophylactic CYA was tapered at a median of day +30. Seven patients (33%) showed partial response and three (14%) achieved stable disease. Four patients were alive at 2 years and three showed prolonged disease control of 344, 525 and 550 days. With a median follow-up of 209 (4–1147) days, the median PFS was 100 days (95% confidence interval (CI), 66–128 days), and median OS was 209 days (95% CI, 128–236 days). Patients with chronic GVHD had better survival—median OS 426 days (95% CI, 194–NE days) vs 143 days (95% CI, 114–226 days) (P=0.010). Thus, NST may induce meaningful clinical responses in patients with advanced NPC

What is case management in palliative care? An expert panel study

Contains fulltext : 110207.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Case management is a heterogeneous concept of care that consists of assessment, planning, implementing, coordinating, monitoring, and evaluating the options and services required to meet the client's health and service needs. This paper describes the result of an expert panel procedure to gain insight into the aims and characteristics of case management in palliative care in the Netherlands. METHODS: A modified version of the RAND(R)/University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) appropriateness method was used to formulate and rate a list of aims and characteristics of case management in palliative care. A total of 76 health care professionals, researchers and policy makers were invited to join the expert panel, of which 61% participated in at least one round. RESULTS: Nine out of ten aims of case management were met with agreement. The most important areas of disagreement with regard to characteristics of case management were hands-on nursing care by the case manager, target group of case management, performance of other tasks besides case management and accessibility of the case manager. CONCLUSIONS: Although aims are agreed upon, case management in palliative care shows a high level of variability in implementation choices. Case management should aim at maintaining continuity of care to ensure that patients and those close to them experience care as personalised, coherent and consistent

Body mass index and risk of pancreatic cancer in a Chinese population

10.1371/journal.pone.0085149PLoS ONE91-POLN

Glucuronidation by UGT1A1 Is the Dominant Pathway of the Metabolic Disposition of Belinostat in Liver Cancer Patients

10.1371/journal.pone.0054522PLoS ONE81