Risk factors for ocular surface squamous neoplasia recurrence after treatment with topical mitomycin C and interferon alpha-2b

Purpose To determine the rate of recurrence and associated risk factors following the use of mitomycin C (MMC) and/or interferon alpha-2b (IFN) for management of non-invasive ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN). Design Retrospective non-comparative interventional case series. Methods Clinical practice setting of 135 patients treated consecutively with topical MMC (0.4 mg/mL) and/or IFN (1 million units/mL) for OSSN observed for clinical recurrence. Results Clinical recurrences were diagnosed in 19 of 135 (14.1%) eyes following topical treatment. The mean time to recurrence was 17.2 months (range 4 - 61) with 14 (73.7%) recurring within a two year period. There was no greater risk of recurrence identified for variables including lesion size, lesion location, gender, age, treatment type or duration. Post-hoc log-Rank pairwise comparisons revealed that lesions initially treated using surgery alone had significantly reduced time to recurrence (21.1 ± 5.6 months) compared to previous topical treatment with MMC (with or without surgery) (29.6 ± 4.7 months) (p = 0.04) and primary OSSN (23.2 ± 1.8 months) (p = 0.09). Conclusions Topical MMC and IFN are an effective treatment modality for a wide range of non-invasive OSSN. Topical therapy avoids the morbidity of excisional surgery with equivalent or reduced recurrence rates and should be considered as primary therapy.

Particle Swarm algorithm with Fuzzy decision making for a multi-objective economic and environmental optimization of design of a thermal system

Multi-Objective optimization for designing of a benchmark cogeneration system known as CGAM cogeneration system has been performed. In optimization approach, the thermoeconomic and Environmental aspects have been considered, simultaneously. The environmental objective function has been defined and expressed in cost terms. One of the most suitable optimization techniques developed using a particular class of search algorithms known as; Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm has been used here. This approach has been applied to find the set of Pareto optimal solutions with respect to the aforementioned objective functions. An example of fuzzy decision-making with the aid of Bellman-Zadeh approach has been presented and a final optimal solution has been introduced.

Simulation of Au particle interaction on graphene sheets

The interaction of Au particles with few layer graphene is of interest for the formation of the next generation of sensing devices(1). In this paper we investigate the coupling of single gold nanoparticles to a graphene sheet, and multiple gold nanoparticles with a graphene sheet using COMSOL Multiphysics. By using these simulations we are able to determine the electric field strength and associated hot-spots for various gold nanoparticle-graphene systems. The Au nanoparticles were modelled as 8 nm diameter spheres on 1.5 nm thick (5 layers) graphene, with properties of graphene obtained from the refractive index data of Weber(2) and the Au refractive index data from Palik(3). The field was incident along the plane of the sheet with polarisation tested for both s and p. The study showed strong localised interaction between the Au and graphene with limited spread; however the double particle case where the graphene sheet separated two Au nanoparticles showed distinct interaction between the particles and graphene. An offset was introduced (up to 4 nm) resulting in much reduced coupling between the opposed particles as the distance apart increased. Findings currently suggest that the graphene layer has limited interaction with incident fields with a single particle present whilst reducing the coupling region to a very fine area when opposing particles are involved. It is hoped that the results of this research will provide insight into graphene-plasmon interactions and spur the development of the next generation of sensing devices.

Numerical simulations of particle deposition in metal foam heat exchangers

Australia is a high-potential country for geothermal power with reserves currently estimated in the tens of millions of petajoules, enough to power the nation for at least 1000 years at current usage. However, these resources are mainly located in isolated arid regions where water is scarce. Therefore, wet cooling systems for geothermal plants in Australia are the least attractive solution and thus air-cooled heat exchangers are preferred. In order to increase the efficiency of such heat exchangers, metal foams have been used. One issue raised by this solution is the fouling caused by dust deposition. In this case, the heat transfer characteristics of the metal foam heat exchanger can dramatically deteriorate. Exploring the particle deposition property in the metal foam exchanger becomes crucial. This paper is a numerical investigation aimed to address this issue. Two dimensional (2D) numerical simulations of a standard one-row tube bundle wrapped with metal foam in cross-flow are performed and highlight preferential particle deposition areas.

Numerical simulations of particle deposition in metal foam heat exchangers

Australia is a high potential country for geothermal power with reserves currently estimated in the tens of millions of petajoules, enough to power the nation for at least 1000 years at current usage.However, these resources are mainly located in isolated arid regions where water is scarce. Therefore, wet cooling systems for geothermal plants in Australia are the least attractive solution and thus air-cooled heat exchangers are preferred. In order to increase the efficiency of such heat exchangers, metal foams have been used. One issue raised by this solution is the fouling caused by dust deposition. In this case, the heat transfer characteristics of the metal foam heat exchanger can dramatically deteriorate. Exploring the particle deposition property in the metal foam exchanger becomes crucial. This paper is a numerical investigation aimed to address this issue. Two-dimensional(2D numerical simulations of a standard one-row tube bundle wrapped with metal foam in cross-flow are performed and highlight preferential particle deposition areas.

Interleukin-1beta induces human proximal tubule cell injury, alpha-smooth muscle actin expression and fibronectin production

BACKGROUND Tubulointerstitial lesions, characterized by tubular injury, interstitial fibrosis and the appearance of myofibroblasts, are the strongest predictors of the degree and progression of chronic renal failure. These lesions are typically preceded by macrophage infiltration of the tubulointerstitium, raising the possibility that these inflammatory cells promote progressive renal disease through fibrogenic actions on resident tubulointerstitial cells. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to investigate the potentially fibrogenic mechanisms of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), a macrophage-derived pro-inflammatory cytokine, on human proximal tubule cells (PTC). METHODS Confluent, quiescent, passage 2 PTC were established in primary culture from histologically normal segments of human renal cortex (N = 11) and then incubated in serum- and hormone-free media supplemented with either IL-1beta (0 to 4 ng/mL) or vehicle (control). RESULTS IL-1beta significantly enhanced fibronectin secretion by up to fourfold in a time- and concentration-dependent fashion. This was accompanied by significant (2.5- to 6-fold) increases in alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) expression, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta1) secretion, nitric oxide (NO) production, NO synthase 2 (NOS2) mRNA and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. Cell proliferation was dose-dependently suppressed by IL-1beta. NG-methyl-l-arginine (L-NMMA; 1 mmol/L), a specific inhibitor of NOS, blocked NO production but did not alter basal or IL-1beta-stimulated fibronectin secretion. In contrast, a pan-specific TGF-beta neutralizing antibody significantly blocked the effects of IL-1beta on PTC fibronectin secretion (IL-1beta, 268.1 +/- 30.6 vs. IL-1beta+alphaTGF-beta 157.9 +/- 14.4%, of control values, P < 0.001) and DNA synthesis (IL-1beta 81.0 +/- 6.7% vs. IL-1beta+alphaTGF-beta 93.4 +/- 2.1%, of control values, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION IL-1beta acts on human PTC to suppress cell proliferation, enhance fibronectin production and promote alpha-smooth muscle actin expression. These actions appear to be mediated by a TGF-beta1 dependent mechanism and are independent of nitric oxide release.

On Chinese Modal Particle A (啊) : A Pragmatic and Semantic Study

Chinese modal particles feature prominently in Chinese people’s daily use of the language, but their pragmatic and semantic functions are elusive as commonly recognised by Chinese linguists and teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. This book originates from an extensive and intensive empirical study of the Chinese modal particle a (啊), one of the most frequently used modal particles in Mandarin Chinese. In order to capture all the uses and the underlying meanings of the particle, the author transcribed the first 20 episodes, about 20 hours in length, of the popular Chinese TV drama series Kewang ‘Expectations’, which yielded a corpus data of more than 142’000 Chinese characters with a total of 1829 instances of the particle all used in meaningful communicative situations. Within its context of use, every single occurrence of the particle was analysed in terms of its pragmatic and semantic contributions to the hosting utterance. Upon this basis the core meanings were identified which were seen as constituting the modal nature of the particle.

Preliminary characterisation of tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-10 responses to chlamydia pecorum infection in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

Debilitating infectious diseases caused by Chlamydia are major contributors to the decline of Australia's iconic native marsupial species, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). An understanding of koala chlamydial disease pathogenesis and the development of effective strategies to control infections continue to be hindered by an almost complete lack of species-specific immunological reagents. The cell-mediated immune response has been shown to play an influential role in the response to chlamydial infection in other hosts. The objective of this study, hence, was to provide preliminary data on the role of two key cytokines, pro-inflammatory tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and anti-inflammatory interleukin 10 (IL10), in the koala Chlamydia pecorum response. Utilising sequence homology between the cytokine sequences obtained from several recently sequenced marsupial genomes, this report describes the first mRNA sequences of any koala cytokine and the development of koala specific TNFα and IL10 real-time PCR assays to measure the expression of these genes from koala samples. In preliminary studies comparing wild koalas with overt chlamydial disease, previous evidence of C. pecorum infection or no signs of C. pecorum infection, we revealed strong but variable expression of TNFα and IL10 in wild koalas with current signs of chlamydiosis. The description of these assays and the preliminary data on the cell-mediated immune response of koalas to chlamydial infection paves the way for future studies characterising the koala immune response to a range of its pathogens while providing reagents to assist with measuring the efficacy of ongoing attempts to develop a koala chlamydial vaccine.

A modified particle swarm optimization for correlated phenomena

The wide applicability of correlation analysis inspired the development of this paper. In this paper, a new correlated modified particle swarm optimization (COM-PSO) is developed. The Correlation Adjustment algorithm is proposed to recover the correlation between the considered variables of all particles at each of iterations. It is shown that the best solution, the mean and standard deviation of the solutions over the multiple runs as well as the convergence speed were improved when the correlation between the variables was increased. However, for some rotated benchmark function, the contrary results are obtained. Moreover, the best solution, the mean and standard deviation of the solutions are improved when the number of correlated variables of the benchmark functions is increased. The results of simulations and convergence performance are compared with the original PSO. The improvement of results, the convergence speed, and the ability to simulate the correlated phenomena by the proposed COM-PSO are discussed by the experimental results.

Distribution state estimation based on particle swarm and doubly loop mutant optimization (DLM-PSO)

This paper presents a novel algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) to estimate the states of electric distribution networks. In order to improve the performance, accuracy, convergence speed, and eliminate the stagnation effect of original PSO, a secondary PSO loop and mutation algorithm as well as stretching function is proposed. For accounting uncertainties of loads in distribution networks, pseudo-measurements is modeled as loads with the realistic errors. Simulation results on 6-bus radial and 34-bus IEEE test distribution networks show that the distribution state estimation based on proposed DLM-PSO presents lower estimation error and standard deviation in comparison with algorithms such as WLS, GA, HBMO, and original PSO.

Reactions of simple and peptidic alpha-carboxylate radical anions with dioxygen in the gas phase

alpha-Carboxylate radical anions are potential reactive intermediates in the free radical oxidation of biological molecules (e. g., fatty acids, peptides and proteins). We have synthesised well-defined alpha-carboxylate radical anions in the gas phase by UV laser photolysis of halogenated precursors in an ion-trap mass spectrometer. Reactions of isolated acetate ((center dot)CH(2)CO(2)) and 1-carboxylatobutyl (CH(3)CH(2)CH(2)(center dot)CHCO(2)(-)) radical anions with dioxygen yield carbonate (CO(3)(center dot-)) radical anions and this chemistry is shown to be a hallmark of oxidation in simple and alkyl-substituted cross-conjugated species. Previous solution phase studies have shown that C(alpha)-radicals in peptides, formed from free radical damage, combine with dioxygen to form peroxyl radicals that subsequently decompose into imine and keto acid products. Here, we demonstrate that a novel alternative pathway exists for two alpha-carboxylate C(alpha)-radical anions: the acetylglycinate radical anion (CH(3)C(O)NH(center dot)CHCO(2)(-)) and the model peptide radical anion, YGGFG(center dot-). Reaction of these radical anions with dioxygen results in concerted loss of carbon dioxide and hydroxyl radical. The reaction of the acetylglycinate radical anion with dioxygen reveals a two-stage process involving a slow, followed by a fast kinetic regime. Computational modelling suggests the reversible formation of the C(alpha) peroxyl radical facilitates proton transfer from the amide to the carboxylate group, a process reminiscent of, but distinctive from, classical proton-transfer catalysis. Interestingly, inclusion of this isomerization step in the RRKM/ME modelling of a G3SX level potential energy surface enables recapitulation of the experimentally observed two-stage kinetics.

THE quest for alpha : can artificial neural networks help?

The application of artificial neural networks (ANN) in finance is relatively new area of research. We employed ANNs that used both fundamental and technical inputs to predict future prices of widely held Australian stocks and used these predicted prices for stock portfolio selection over a 10-year period (2001-2011). We found that the ANNs generally do well in predicting the direction of stock price movements. The stock portfolios selected by the ANNs with median accuracy are able to generate positive alpha over the 10-year period. More importantly, we found that a portfolio based on randomly selected network configuration had zero chance of resulting in a significantly negative alpha but a 27% chance of yielding a significantly positive alpha. This is in stark contrast to the findings of the research on mutual fund performance where active fund managers with negative alphas outnumber those with positive alphas.

Concerted HO2 elimination from alpha-Aminoalkylperoxyl free radicals : Experimental and theoretical evidence from the gas phase NH2 center dot CHCO2- + O-2 reaction

We have investigated the gas-phase reaction of the alpha-aminoacetate (glycyl) radical anion (NH2(sic)CHCO2-) with O-2 using ion trap mass spectrometry, quantum chemistry, and statistical reaction rate theory. This radical is found to undergo a remarkably rapid reaction with O-2 to form the hydroperoxyl radical (HO2(sic)) and an even-electron imine (NHCHCO2-), with experiments and master equation simulations revealing that reaction proceeds at the ion molecule collision rate. This reaction is facilitated by a low-energy concerted HO2(sic) elimination mechanism in the NH2CH(OO(sic))CO2- peroxyl radical. These findings can explain the widely observed free-radical-mediated oxidation of simple amino acids to amides plus alpha-keto acids (their imine hydrolysis products). This work also suggests that imines will be the main intermediates in the atmospheric oxidation of primary and secondary amines, including amine carbon capture solvents such as 2-aminoethanol (commonly known as monoethanolamine, or MEA), in a process that avoids the ozone-promoting conversion of (sic)NO to (sic)NO2 commonly encountered in peroxyl radical chemistry.

Reactions of the hydroperoxide anion with dimethyl methylphosphonate in an ion trap mass spectrometer : evidence for a gas phase alpha-effect

The gas phase degradation reactions of the chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulant, dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), with the hydroperoxide anion (HOO(-)) were investigated using a modified quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. The HOO(-) anion reacts readily with neutral DMMP forming two significant product ions at m/z 109 and m/z 123. The major reaction pathways correspond to (i) the nucleophilic substitution at carbon to form \[CH(3)P(O)(OCH(3))O](-) (m/z 109) in a highly exothermic process and (ii) exothermic proton transfer. The branching ratios of the two reaction pathways, 89% and 11% respectively, indicate that the former reaction is significantly faster than the latter. This is in contrast to the trend for the methoxide anion with DMMP, where proton transfer dominates. The difference in the observed reactivities of the HOO(-) and CH(3)O(-) anions can be considered as evidence for an a-effect in the gas phase and is supported by electronic structure calculations at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level of theory that indicate the S(N)2(carbon) process has an activation energy 7.8 kJ mol(-1) lower for HOO(-) as compared to CH(3)O(-). A similar alpha-effect was calculated for nucleophilic addition-elimination at phosphorus, but this process an important step in the perhydrolysis degradation of CWAs in solution - was not observed to occur with DMMP in the gas phase. A theoretical investigation revealed that all processes are energetically accessible with negative activation energies. However, comparison of the relative Arrhenius pre-exponential factors indicate that substitution at phosphorus is not kinetically competitive with respect to the S(N)2(carbon) and deprotonation processes.

Thermal stability and decomposition kinetics of styrene-butadiene rubber nanocomposites filled with different particle sized kaolinites

A series of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) nanocomposites filledwith different particle sized kaolinites are prepared via a latex blending method. The thermal stabilities of these clay polymer nanocomposites (CPN) are characterized by a range of techniques including thermogravimetry (TG), digital photos, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. These CPN show some remarkable improvement in thermal stability compared to that of the pure SBR. With the increase of kaolinite particle size, the residual char content and the average activation energy of kaolinite SBR nanocomposites all decrease; the pyrolysis residues become porous; the crystal carbon in the pyrolysis residues decrease significantly from 58.23% to 44.41%. The above results prove that the increase of kaolinite particle size is not beneficial in improving the thermal stability of kaolinite SBR nanocomposites.