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Abstract  Metal-on-metal total hip resurfacing arthroplasty has had excellent reported results at early to midterm followup, and some studies suggest that outcomes are comparable to conventional THA. We compared the clinical and radiographic outcomes of two closely matched groups of 54 patients who underwent resurfacing and conventional THA, respectively. Each group consisted of 36 men and 18 women who had a mean age of 52 years and a mean body mass index of 29 kg/m2. At a minimum followup of 24 months (mean, 40 months; range, 24–60 months), the mean Harris hip scores increased similarly in both groups (from 52 to 90 points and from 50 to 91 points for the resurfacing and conventional groups, respectively). Radiographic outcomes, revision rates, complications, pain scores, and satisfaction ratings of the two groups were similar. The patients who underwent resurfacing had higher postoperative weighted activity scores than the patients who underwent conventional THA, although they had higher preoperative weighted activity scores as well. The early outcomes of resurfacing are comparable to those of conventional THA. Level of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The ability to overcome intrinsic tolerance to a strict “self” tumor-associated antigen (TAA) and successfully treat pre-existing tumor is the most stringent test for anti-tumor immunotherapeutic strategies. Although this capacity has been demonstrated in various models using complicated strategies that may not be readily translated into the clinical arena, straightforward antigen-specific immunotherapeutic strategies in the most stringent models of common epithelial cancers have largely failed to meet this standard. We employed an immunotherapeutic strategy using an alphavirus-based, virus-like replicon particle (VRP), which has in vivo tropism for dendritic cells, to elicit immune responses to the non-mutated TAA rat neu in an aggressive rat mammary tumor model. Using this VRP-based immunotherapeutic strategy targeting a single TAA, we generated effective anti-tumor immunity in the setting of pre-existing tumor resulting in the cure of 36% of rats over multiple experiments, P = 0.002. We also observed down-regulation of rat neu expression in tumors that showed initial responses followed by tumor escape with resumption of rapid tumor growth. These responses were accompanied by significant anti-tumor proliferative responses and CD8 cellular tumor infiltrates, all of which were restricted to animals receiving the anti-neu immunotherapy. Together these data, obtained in a stringent “self” TAA model, indicate that the VRP-based antigen-specific immunotherapy elicits sufficiently potent immune responses to exert immunologic pressure, selection, and editing of the growing tumors, thus supporting the activity of this straightforward immunotherapy and suggesting that it is a promising platform upon which to build even more potent strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WHEN THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST and bird illustrator John Gould launched his monumental publication on The Birds of Australia late in 1840, the cover of the serial parts bore the image of the lyre bird (Menura superba) and a prominent dedication, “by permission,” to the young and recently-married Queen Victoria (Correspondence 2: 213; see Figure 4). A few months later, issuing the part with the plate and descriptive text for the lyre bird, Gould declared Menura superba “an emblem for Australia among its birds” (Birds of Australia vol. 3, plate 14; see Figure 5). This visual juxtaposition of Victoria and the lyre bird also reflected an association between them in Gould's mind, the lyre bird serving as emblem not only for the Australian colonies but also for their Queen. The association became more explicit and was extended to include Victoria's Consort in the decades that followed, for although The Birds of Australia was completed in 1848, Gould issued irregular supplemental installments during the 1850s and 60s and published a two-volume Handbook to the Birds of Australia in 1865. One of the first discoveries Gould announced and figured in the Supplement was a new species of lyre bird, which he named Menura alberti in 1850 to acknowledge Prince Albert's “personal virtues” and “liberal support.” In 1862, in a tribute likely inspired by the recent death of the Prince, Gould divided Menura superba into two species and christened the newly-created one Menura victoriae, thereby providing his grieving queen with an avian namesake to accompany Albert's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma-based charged particle accelerators have been intensively investigated in the past three decades due to their capability to open up new horizons in accelerator science and particle physics yielding electric field accelerating gradient more than three orders of magnitudes higher than in conventional devices. At the current stage the most advanced and reliable mechanism for accelerating electrons is based on the propagation of an intense laser pulse or a relativistic electron beam in a low density gaseous target. In this paper we concentrate on the electron beam-driven plasma wake-field acceleration and demonstrate using 3D PiC simulations that a train of electron micro-bunches with ∼10 fs period can be generated behind the driving beam propagating in a density down-ramp. We will discuss the conditions and properties of the micro-bunches generated aiming at understanding and study of multi-bunch mechanism of injection. It is show that the periodicity and duration of micro-bunches can be controlled by adjusting the plasma density gradient and driving beam charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]