Background and purpose
The silent progression of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between brain atrophy rates and ...disease‐modifying drugs (DMDs) in patients with MS during their relapse‐free period.
Methods
Patients with relapsing‐remitting MS were classified into two groups on the basis of clinical records, i.e. a first‐generation DMD group treated with interferon‐beta‐1a, interferon‐beta‐1b or glatiramer acetate and a second‐generation DMD group treated with dimethyl fumarate, fingolimod or natalizumab. Brain volume was calculated with SPM12.
Results
A total of 45 patients with relapsing‐remitting MS were enrolled in the first‐generation (n = 22) or second‐generation (n = 23) DMD group. The annualized relapse rate was lower in the first‐generation than in the second‐generation DMD group (median 0.26 vs. 0.59; P < 0.001). The annualized atrophy rate of the normalized brain volume was not different between the first‐ and second‐generation DMD groups after analysis of covariance (median 0.13% vs. 0.59%; P = 0.17).
Conclusions
The median annualized atrophy rate of normalized brain volume in the first‐generation DMD group was similar to the previously reported annual brain atrophy rate of healthy controls, which may suggest that treatment with a first‐generation DMD need not be changed when patients with MS are clinically inactive.
A flow‐through‐type DNA array fabricated from an ideally ordered anodic porous alumina substrate is reported. Single‐stranded probe DNA was affixed to the walls of the sub‐micrometer‐diameter holes, ...and fluorescently labelled target DNA was passed through the holes in the substrate. Fluorescence microscopy revealed an ordered array of fluorescent spots after the hybridization (see Figure), demonstrating the applicability of these porous alumina substrates to fabrication of high‐density DNA arrays.
The generation of hole array architectures with, for example, square or triangular patterns (see Figure) is achieved by controlling the spatial definition of the indentation sites for hole ...development in anodic porous alumina. The technique has potential for the fabrication of two‐dimensional photonic crystals, or carbon nanotubes with triangular or square cross section.
A mobile mapping system is effective for capturing dense point-clouds of roads and roadside objects．Point-clouds of urban areas, residential areas, and arterial roads are useful for maintenance of ...infrastructure, map creation, and automatic driving. However, the data size of point-clouds measured in large areas is enormously large. A large storage capacity is required to store such point-clouds, and heavy loads will be taken on network if point-clouds are transferred through the network. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce data sizes of point-clouds without deterioration of quality. In this research, we propose a novel point-cloud compression method for vehicle-based mobile mapping systems. In our compression method, point-clouds are mapped onto 2D pixels using GPS time and the parameters of the laser scanner. Then, the images are encoded in the Portable Networking Graphics (PNG) format and compressed using the PNG algorithm. In our experiments, our method could efficiently compress point-clouds without deteriorating the quality.
Some studies have suggested that statins, which have cholesterol-lowering and anti-inflammatory properties, may have antitumor effects. Effects of statins on inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) have ...never been studied.
We reviewed 723 patients diagnosed with primary IBC in 1995-2011 and treated at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Statin users were defined as being on statins at the initial evaluation. Based on Ahern et al's statin classification (JNCI, 2011), clinical outcomes were compared by statin use and type (weakly lipophilic to hydrophilic (H-statin) vs lipophilic statins (L-statin)). We used the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate the median progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS), and a Cox proportional hazards regression model to test the statistical significance of potential prognostic factors.
In the multivariable Cox model, H-statins were associated with significantly improved PFS compared with no statin (hazard ratio=0.49; 95% confidence interval=0.28-0.84; P<0.01); OS and DSS P-values were 0.80 and 0.85, respectively. For L-statins vs no statin, P-values for PFS, DSS, and OS were 0.81, 0.4, and 0.74, respectively.
H-statins were associated with significantly improved PFS. A prospective randomised study evaluating the survival benefits of statins in primary IBC is warranted.
A new type of process for the fabrication of ideally ordered anodic porous alumina with the desired hole interval based on the deformation of a polymer template and the subsequent formation of a ...metal mold is described. In this process, a pattern composed of an ordered array of concave structures is first prepared on a polymer sheet by imprinting using a starting metal (Ni) mold, and the interval in the pattern is tuned through the deformation of the polymer sheet. The Ni mold with the pattern having the tuned interval is formed by the electroplating of Ni using the polymer sheet as a template. Finally, the pretexturing of Al by imprinting using the obtained Ni mold and subsequent anodization generate ideally ordered anodic porous alumina with the desired hole interval.
A new type of process for the fabrication of ideally ordered anodic porous alumina with the desired hole interval is demonstrated.
In this paper, ultradense wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission technologies are discussed, and a field demonstration of over-1000-channel ultradense WDM transmission is reported. The ...generation of an ultradense WDM signal using a supercontinuum multicarrier source that generates more than 1000 carriers and uniform precise channel spacing of 6.25 GHz is presented. The influence of four-wave-mixing generated in the transmission fiber and the requirements placed on the WDM multiplexer and demultiplexer is described. An over-1000-channel ultradense WDM transmission experiment is reported. A 1046 /spl times/ 2.67-Gbit/s 6.25-GHz-spaced ultradense WDM signal is successfully transmitted over 126 km of field-installed fibers in the test bed of JGN II.
Woody biomass is an important parameter in forestry and forest research. In order to estimate of woody biomass, it is important to precisely and efficiently calculate section areas and volumes of ...tree stems in the forest. In this paper, we propose a method for calculating the cross-sectional area and the stem volume of trees from point clouds captured using the terrestrial laser scanner. In our method, each point cloud is converted into a wireframe model, and cross-section points are calculated as intersection between the wireframe and the horizontal planes placed at equal intervals. Cross-sectional shapes on each horizontal plane are approximated as n-sided polygons and refined using the subdivision scheme. The section areas and stem volumes are calculated using the subdivision curves of stem contours. In our evaluation, our method could calculate section areas and stem volumes of trees with sufficient accuracy in practical use.
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an aggressive disease. To date, no molecular feature reliably predicts either the response to chemotherapy (CT) or the survival. Using DNA microarrays, we searched ...for multigene predictors.
The World IBC Consortium generated whole-genome expression profiles of 137 IBC and 252 non-IBC (nIBC) samples. We searched for transcriptional profiles associated with pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant anthracycline-based CT and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) in respective subsets of 87 and 106 informative IBC samples. Correlations were investigated with predictive and prognostic gene expression signatures published in nIBC (nIBC-GES). Supervised analyses tested genes and activation signatures of 19 biological pathways and 234 transcription factors.
Three of five tested prognostic nIBC-GES and the two tested predictive nIBC-GES discriminated between IBC with and without pCR, as well as two interferon activation signatures. We identified a 107-gene signature enriched for immunity-related genes that distinguished between responders and nonresponders in IBC. Its robustness was demonstrated by external validation in three independent sets including two IBC sets and one nIBC set, with independent significant predictive value in IBC and nIBC validation sets in multivariate analysis. We found no robust signature associated with DMFS in patients with IBC, and neither of the tested prognostic GES, nor the molecular subtypes were informative, whereas they were in our nIBC series (220 stage I–III informative samples).
Despite the relatively small sample size, we show that response to neoadjuvant CT in IBC is, as in nIBC, associated with immunity-related processes, suggesting that similar mechanisms responsible for pCR exist. Analysis of a larger IBC series is warranted regarding the correlation of gene expression profiles and DMFS.
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