Search

This study aims to investigate the association between corporate governance and sustainability reports. We use binary logistic analysis in service industry companies listed on the IDX in 2018 to observe the relations between probability of the sustainability reporting and various factors related to corporate governance, including the capacity of the directors, the capacity of the commissioner, the capacity of the audit committees, and the independence of the directors. The result shows that there were significant differences between some of the corporate governance factors and the probability of reporting the sustainability report. Particularly in the capacity of the directors, where companies with higher number of board members and the frequency of board meetings have a higher probability of reporting sustainability reports. Then, the capacity of the audit committee, where companies with higher frequency of committee meetings have a higher probability to report sustainability reporting. This study adds information about corporate governance and sustainability reports. In addition, this study also provides empirical evidence and also provides suggestions that can be used by regulators in Indonesia on how the probability to report the sustainability reporting can be improved by enhancing the quality of corporate governance in the companies.

Nuclear cataract is the most common type of age-related cataract and a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Age-related nuclear cataract is heritable (h2 = 0.48), but little is known about specific genetic factors underlying this condition. Here we report findings from the largest to date multi-ethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (discovery cohort N = 14,151 and replication N = 5299) of the International Cataract Genetics Consortium. We confirmed the known genetic association of CRYAA (rs7278468, P = 2.8 × 10−16) with nuclear cataract and identified five new loci associated with this disease: SOX2-OT (rs9842371, P = 1.7 × 10−19), TMPRSS5 (rs4936279, P = 2.5 × 10−10), LINC01412 (rs16823886, P = 1.3 × 10−9), GLTSCR1 (rs1005911, P = 9.8 × 10−9), and COMMD1 (rs62149908, P = 1.2 × 10−8). The results suggest a strong link of age-related nuclear cataract with congenital cataract and eye development genes, and the importance of common genetic variants in maintaining crystalline lens integrity in the aging eye., Here, the authors report a multi-ethnic genome wide association meta-analysis of 12 studies from the International Cataract Genetics Consortium. They find six new loci associated with age-related nuclear cataract, in addition to replicating the association at CRYAA, and suggest a strong genetic link between age-related nuclear and congenital cataracts.

Advances in information and communication technology have an impact on the increasing number of scientific publications in the world. Scientific papers are indicators of a country's progress in the academic field. One strategy used to improve the quality of research is to collaborate with researchers. There is not much research that addresses the collaboration of researchers. This article provides an overview of the cooperation of researchers including the background of the partnership, as well as aspects that influence the teamwork of researchers, especially in the era of acceleration of information and communication technology. The method used is the study of literature. Reviews aim as the basis for assessing research productivity, especially in Indonesia.

Coffee constitutes a plant product high in economic value. Extremely abundant throughout Indonesia, different varieties can be found in each region. Coffee leaves represent a by-product of coffee production which are disposed of without being subjected to further processing. One advantage of coffee leaf waste is that it can be made into coffee leaf tea, to prevent various diseases. The caffeine and tannin content can be optimized by temperature and brewing time. Research on coffee leaf tea remains limited, with little study of Liberica coffee leaf tea. This investigation was to determine the optimal brewing time and temperature of Robusta (Coffea canephora) and Liberica (Coffea liberica) coffee leaf tea. This research used the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) method with Central Composite Design (CCD). Data analysis using RSM method was conducted incorporating two factors. The first factor was the brewing temperature with a minimum value of 91 °C and a maximum value of 99 °C. The second factor was brewing time with minimum and maximum values of three and seven minutes respectively. Identifying the optimal treatment was based on two factors, caffeine and tannin content. Optimized processes were applied to conduct organoleptic tests on 110 untrained panelists using the Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) method to highlight the majority attributes experienced by the panelists. The optimal brewing temperature and duration for robusta coffee leaf tea were 93.43 °C and 4.80 minutes which produced caffeine and tannin levels of 74.90 mg.100mL-1 and 293.01 µg.g-1 respectively. In contrast, in the case of Liberica coffee leaf tea, the optimal brewing conditions comprised a temperature of 91.65 °C and duration of 4.84 minutes which produced caffeine and tannin levels of 72.52 mg.100mL-1 and 415.87 µg.g-1. Results of sensory analysis showed that the majority produced five significant characteristics, namely: sweet flavor, fire flavor, sweet taste, bitter taste and astringent mouthfeel.

Item does not contain fulltext PURPOSE: To study the relatively high effect of the refractive error gene GJD2 in human myopia, and to assess its relationship with refractive error, ocular biometry and lifestyle in various age groups. METHODS: The population-based Rotterdam Study (RS), high myopia case-control study MYopia STudy, and the birth-cohort study Generation R were included in this study. Spherical equivalent (SER), axial length (AL), axial length/corneal radius (AL/CR), vitreous depth (VD), and anterior chamber depth (ACD) were measured using standard ophthalmologic procedures. Biometric measurements were compared between GJD2 (rs524952) genotype groups; education and environmental risk score (ERS) were calculated to estimate gene-environment interaction effects, using the Synergy index (SI). RESULTS: RS adults carrying two risk alleles had a lower SER and longer AL, ACD and VD (AA versus TT, 0.23D vs. 0.70D; 23.79 mm vs. 23.52 mm; 2.72 mm vs. 2.65 mm; 16.12 mm vs. 15.87 mm; all P < 0.001). Children carrying two risk alleles had larger AL/CR at ages 6 and 9 years (2.88 vs. 2.87 and 3.00 vs. 2.96; all P < 0.001). Education and ERS both negatively influenced myopia and the biometric outcomes, but gene-environment interactions did not reach statistical significance (SI 1.25 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.85-1.85] and 1.17 [95% CI, 0.55-2.50] in adults and children). CONCLUSIONS: The elongation of the eye caused by the GJD2 risk genotype follows a dose-response pattern already visible at the age of 6 years. These early effects are an example of how a common myopia gene may drive myopia.

Many cases showed that every school has its platform to conduct online learning during this pandemic period. In these platforms, the students could not receive direct guidance from their teachers. Everyone has their learning styles that cannot be standardized. It is difficult for the teacher to keep on track with hundreds of children. Not to mention that not every parent has enough time and knowledge to guide their children. Using UX Design Thinking Process by Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, we developed a learning integration platform for elementary students called LAISES. Elementary students can learn all the materials in one mobile application and adjust the delivery method with their learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). LAISES used both teacher and artificial intelligence for the assessment method since AI is proven to improve student performance in academic. We conducted usability testing and found that we managed to help elementary students to personalize their learning styles so they can learn better. We also received a good score (1.86) on the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ).

Objectives: Profile characteristics are factors that are relevant for diagnosis, prognosis or treatment. The present study aims to develop a set of clinically relevant profile characteristics. Moreover, our goal is to determine the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the selected profile characteristics. Methods: Potential profile characteristics were determined by literature review. Assessment of IRR was done by comparing scores on profile characteristics determined by two researchers. We conducted three subsequent studies: (1) assessment of pre-training IRR, (2) IRR following implementation of an instruction manual, (3) IRR after optimizing scoring methods. IRR was measured with the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results: IRR scores of profile characteristic Illegal activities were high across the three studies (ICC ≥ 0.75). Following training procedures in study 2 and 3, reliability estimates remained low to moderate (ICC < 0.75) for the profile characteristics Support of relatives, Aggression recent and lifetime, substance use and insight recent. IRR scores of the other eight profile characteristics varied from low, moderate to high across studies. Conclusion: IRR scores of profile characteristics were highly variable, and mostly inadequate in all three studies. Consequently, further research should focus on specification of severity scores of profile characteristics, optimizing scoring methods and re-evaluation of IRR.

Introduction: Blastomycosis is an uncommon; potentially life threatening granulomatous fungal infection. The aim of this study is to report hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) outcomes of patients admitted with blastomycosis. Methods: All patients admitted for treatment of blastomycosis at the Mayo Clinic-Rochester, Minnesota between 01/01/2006 and 09/30/2019 were included. Demographics, comorbidities, clinical presentation, ICU admission, and outcomes were reviewed.Results: A total of 84 Patients were identified with 93 unique hospitalizations primarily for blastomycosis. The median age at diagnosis was 49 (IQR 28.1-65, range: 6-85) years and 56 (66.7%) were male. The most frequent comorbidities incl­uded hypertension (n=28, 33.3%); immunosuppressed state (n=25, 29.8%) and diabetes mellitus (n=21, 25%). The lungs were the only organ involved in 56 (66.7%) cases and the infection was disseminated in 19 (22.6%) cases. A total of 29 patients (34.5%) underwent ICU admission due to complications of blastomycosis. ICU related events included mechanical ventilation (n=21, 25%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (n=13, 15.5%), tracheostomy (n=9, 10.7%), renal replacement therapy (n=8, 9.5%), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) (n=4, 4.8%). A total of 12 patients (14.3%) died in the hospital; all of whom had undergone ICU admission. In-hospital mortality was associated with renal replacement therapy (RRT) (P=0.0255).Conclusions: Blastomycosis is a serious, potentially life-threatening infection that results in significant morbidity and mortality with a 34.5% ICU admission rate. Renal replacement therapy was associated with in-hospital mortality.

Background The residency program as a part of the clinical services itself has been influenced by the COVID-19 outbreak. Several reports have been published regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the residency programs; however, all studies were performed in developed countries or did not comprehensively analyze what residents think about the COVID-19 impact on their residency program. We investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pediatric surgery residency program in our institution as an important part of hospital medical services. Methods We developed and distributed a questionnaire to pediatric surgery residents in our institution who were registered from January 2015–July 2020. The questionnaire was consisting of 24 questions: a) the perspectives of residents about COVID-19 infection during their residency program; b) the learning process; c) academic evaluations; and d) residents' suggestions to improve the quality of their residency program during the outbreak. Results Most (82.6%) pediatric surgery residents agreed that elective surgeries should be postponed during the pandemic. Before the outbreak, almost all (82.6%) residents used textbooks and journals as their primary sources of learning, while during the outbreak, 69.5% of residents shifted to use online lectures either from the school or Association of Pediatric Surgeons. Interestingly, 91.3% of participants agreed that they had more time to complete their academic assignments during the pandemic. Conclusions The pandemic has had a significant impact on the development of pediatric surgery residency programs. Moreover, the responses to the questionnaire are affected by the seniority and sex of the residents. A comprehensive approach is needed to maintain the high standard of competence of pediatric surgery without compromising our safety from the COVID-19 infection risk., COVID-19 pandemic; Pediatric surgery; Residency program

Cross-docking is a logistics strategy that aims at less transportation costs and fast customer deliveries. Incorporating an efficient vehicle routing could increase the benefits of the cross-docking. In this paper, the vehicle routing problem with reverse cross-docking (VRP-RCD) is studied. Reverse logistics has attracted more attention due to its ability to gain more profit and maintain the competitiveness of a company. VRP-RCD includes a four-level supply chain network: suppliers, cross-dock, customers, and outlets, with the objective of minimizing vehicle operational and transportation costs. A two-phase heuristic that employs an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) with various destroy and repair operators is proposed to solve benchmark instances. The simulated annealing framework is embedded to discover a vast search space during the search process. Experimental results show that our proposed ALNS obtains optimal solutions for 24 out of 30 problems of the first set of benchmark instances while getting better results for all instances in the second set of benchmark instances compared to optimization software. ispartof: pages:167-182 ispartof: COMPUTATIONAL LOGISTICS, ICCL 2020 vol:12433 pages:167-182 ispartof: 11th International Conference on Computational Logistics (ICCL) location:ELECTR NETWORK date:28 Sep - 30 Sep 2020 status: published

The Internet has become the biggest medium for people to communicate with otherpeople all around the world. However, the Internet is also home to hackers with maliciouspurposes. This poses a problem for Internet Service Providers (ISP) and its user, since it ispossible that their network is compromised and damages may be done. There are many types ofmalware that currently exist on the Internet. One of the growing type of malware is botnet.Botnet can infect a system and make it a zombie machine capable of doing distributed attacksunder the command of the botmaster. In order to make detection of botnet more difficult,botmasters often deploy fast flux. Fast flux will shuffle IP address of the domain of themalicious server, making tracking and detection much more difficult. However, there are stillnumerous ways to detect fast flux, one of them is by analysing DNS data. Domain Name System(DNS) is a crucial part of the Internet. DNS works by translating IP address to its associateddomain name. DNS are often being exploited by hackers to do its malicious activities. One ofthem is to deploy fast flux.Because the characteristics of fast flux is significantly different thannormal Internet traffic characteristics, it is possible to detect fast flux from normal Internettraffic from its DNS information. However, while detecting fast flux services, one must becautious since there are a few Internet services which have almost similar characteristics as fastflux service. This research manages to detect the existence of fast flux services in an ISPnetwork. The result is that fast flux mostly still has the same characteristics as found on previousresearches. However, current fast flux trend is to use cloud hosting services. The reason behindthis is that cloud hosting services tend to have better performance than typical zombie machine.Aside from this, it seems like there has been no specific measures taken by the hosting service toprevent this, making cloud hosting service the perfect medum for hosting botnet and fast fluxservices.

This study examined whether distress in relation to attenuated psychotic symptoms (DAPS) is associated with clinical outcomes in an ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis sample. We also investigated whether DAPS is associated with cognitive style (attributional style and cognitive biases) and whether amount of psychosocial treatment provided is associated with reduction in DAPS. The study was a secondary analysis of the “Neurapro” clinical trial of omega-3 fatty acids. Three hundred and four UHR patients were recruited across 10 early intervention services. Data from baseline assessment, regular assessments over 12 months, and medium term follow-up (mean = 3.4 years) were used for analysis. Findings indicated: a positive association between DAPS assessed over time and transition to psychosis; a significant positive association between baseline and longitudinal DAPS and transdiagnostic clinical and functional outcomes; a significant positive association between baseline and longitudinal DAPS and nonremission of UHR status. There was no relationship between severity of DAPS and cognitive style. A greater amount of psychosocial treatment (cognitive-behavioral case management) was associated with an increase in DAPS scores. The study indicates that UHR patients who are more distressed by their attenuated psychotic symptoms are more likely to have a poorer clinical trajectory transdiagnostically. Assessment of DAPS may therefore function as a useful marker of risk for a range of poor outcomes. The findings underline the value of repeated assessment of variables and incorporation of dynamic change into predictive modeling. More research is required into mechanisms driving distress associated with symptoms and the possible bidirectional relationship between symptom severity and associated distress.

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease caused by a Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is still a health problem in Indonesia, and the world. One of the failures to control the TB epidemic is due to the lack of effective vaccines available today. Protective immune responses to M.tuberculosis are dominated by cellular immunity and less by humoral immunity. IFN-γ, and IL-10 play a role in the protection of against M.tuberculosis, and the pathogenesis of TB. Fusion antigen ESAT-6-CFP-10 has a strong antigenicity to T cells and stimulates specific cellular immune responses, thereby providing benefit in immune responses that are protective against M.tuberculosis infection. The aimed of this study was to know the difference betwen IFN-γ, and IL-10 levels on PBMC culture of active TB, latent TB, and healthy people after ESAT-6-CFP-10 fusion antigen stimulation. This study used an in vitro of quasi experimental design in PBMC cultures of active TB, latent TB, and healthy people groups stimulated by ESAT-6-CFP-10 antigen fusion Mycobacterium tuberculosis. IFN-γ, and IL-10 levels were measured by ELISA method. The results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. The mean levels of IFN-γ post-stimulation of ESAT-6-CFP-10 fusion antigens did not differ (p=0.359) in the active pulmonary TB group (0.07 - 2114), latent TB (6.84 - 1381) and healthy people 1.88 - 1807.70), as well as the mean levels of IL-10 (p=0.712) in the active pulmonary TB (16.70 - 328.80), latent TB (29.70 - 323.60 ) and healthy people (31.30 - 958). There were no significant differences in levels of IFN-γ and IL-10 in active TB, latent TB, and healthy people after stimulation by fusion antigen ESAT-6-CFP-10.

There are no standardized methods for collecting and reporting coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) data. We aimed to compare the proportion of patients admitted for COVID-19-related symptoms and those admitted for other reasons who incidentally tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).Retrospective cohort studyData were sampled twice weekly between March 26 and June 6, 2020 from a "COVID-19 dashboard," a system-wide administrative database that includes the number of hospitalized patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test. Patient charts were subsequently reviewed and the principal reason for hospitalization abstracted.Data collected during a statewide lockdown revealed that 92 hospitalized patients had positive SARS-CoV-2 test results. Among these individuals, 4.3% were hospitalized for reasons other than COVID-19-related symptoms but were incidentally found to be SARS-CoV-2-positive. After the lockdown was suspended, the total inpatient census of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients increased to 128, 20.3% of whom were hospitalized for non-COVID-19-related complaints.In the absence of a statewide lockdown, there was a significant increase in the proportion of patients admitted for non-COVID-19-related complaints who were incidentally found to be SARS-CoV-2-positive. In order to ensure data integrity, coding should distinguish between patients with COVID-19-related symptoms and asymptomatic patients carrying the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that emmetropization buffers against genetic and environmental risk factors for myopia by investigating whether risk factor effect sizes vary depending on children's position in the refractive error distribution.Methods: Refractive error was assessed in participants from two birth cohorts: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (noncycloplegic autorefraction) and Generation R (cycloplegic autorefraction). A genetic risk score for myopia was calculated from genotypes at 146 loci. Time spent reading, time outdoors, and parental myopia were ascertained from parent-completed questionnaires. Risk factors were coded as binary variables (0 = low, 1 = high risk). Associations between refractive error and each risk factor were estimated using either ordinary least squares (OLS) regression or quantile regression.Results: Quantile regression: effects associated with all risk factors (genetic risk, parental myopia, high time spent reading, low time outdoors) were larger for children in the extremes of the refractive error distribution than for emmetropes and low ametropes in the center of the distribution. For example, the effect associated with having a myopic parent for children in quantile 0.05 vs. 0.50 was as follows: ALSPAC: age 15, -1.19 D (95% CI -1.75 to -0.63) vs. -0.13 D (-0.19 to -0.06), P = 0.001; Generation R: age 9, -1.31 D (-1.80 to -0.82) vs. -0.19 D (-0.26 to -0.11), P < 0.001. Effect sizes for OLS regression were intermediate to those for quantiles 0.05 and 0.50.Conclusions: Risk factors for myopia were associated with much larger effects in children in the extremes of the refractive error distribution, providing indirect evidence that emmetropization buffers against both genetic and environmental risk factors.

ObjectiveHypotension following endotracheal intubation in the ICU is associated with poor outcomes. There is no formal prediction tool to help estimate the onset of this hemodynamic compromise. Our objective was to derive and validate a prediction model for immediate hypotension following endotracheal intubation.MethodsA multicenter, prospective, cohort study enrolling 934 adults who underwent endotracheal intubation across 16 medical/surgical ICUs in the United States from July 2015-January 2017 was conducted to derive and validate a prediction model for immediate hypotension following endotracheal intubation. We defined hypotension as: 1) mean arterial pressure ResultsPost-intubation hypotension developed in 344 (36.8%) patients. In the full cohort, 11 variables were independently associated with hypotension: increasing illness severity; increasing age; sepsis diagnosis; endotracheal intubation in the setting of cardiac arrest, mean arterial pressure ConclusionsA novel multivariable risk score predicted post-intubation hypotension with accuracy in both unstable and stable critically ill patients.Study registrationClinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02508948 and Registered Report Identifier: RR2-10.2196/11101.

A green mixed fleet vehicle routing with realistic energy consumption and partial recharges problem (GMFVRP-REC-PR) is addressed in this paper. This problem involves a fixed number of electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles to serve a set of customers. The realistic energy consumption which depends on several variables is utilized to calculate the electricity consumption of an electric vehicle and fuel consumption of an internal combustion vehicle. Partial recharging policy is included into the problem to represent the real life scenario. The objective of this problem is to minimize the total travelled distance and the total emission produced by internal combustion vehicles. This is a new variant of problem which is developed from a mixed fleet of electric and internal combustion vehicles, full recharging policy, and operational cost minimization. A mixed integer programming model is then developed to address this problem and commercial software is utilized to solve the model.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer, due in large part to recurrent tumors. Recurrences tend to have metastasized, mainly in the peritoneal cavity and developed resistance to the first line chemotherapy. Key to the progression and ultimate lethality of ovarian cancer is the existence of extensive intra-tumoral heterogeneity (ITH). In this review, we describe the genetic and epigenetic changes that have been reported to give rise to different cell populations in ovarian cancer. We also describe at length the contributions made to heterogeneity by both linear and parallel models of clonal evolution and the existence of cancer stem cells. We dissect the key biological signals from the tumor microenvironment, both directly from other cell types in the vicinity and soluble or circulating factors. Finally, we discuss the impact of tumor heterogeneity on the choice of therapeutic approaches in the clinic. Variability in ovarian tumors remains a major barrier to effective therapy, but by leveraging future research into tumor heterogeneity, we may be able to overcome this barrier and provide more effective, personalized therapy to patients.

The increase of economic growth in Indonesia can not ignore the increasing growth of business in property by the Indonesia people. Investors does not only focus on doing business on land and landed house, but also the emergence of apartment and condominium answers the necessity towards the scarcity of land. Various form of property investment is offered, one of which is investment in the form of condotel. Condotel or condominium hotel is a new form of business in Indonesia without any specific regulation which regulates it. First, the definition of condotel is a form of high-rise building which can be owned separately and consist of joint land, joint property, and joint parts which is functioned as a hotel. These function as a hotel that needs condotel management contract to alter a regular apartment into a condotel. Condotel management contract is an innominate contract therefore it needed a further study to analyze its clauses, such as management obligation, profit sharing, duration, and discharge of contract. The characteristics of condotel management contract includes irrevocable power of attorney and obligation of building care and maintenance as well as legal relationship between the owner of condotel unit and the third parties. Understanding the characteristics of condotel management contract will determine the person liable for damages caused. This research uses normative method of research and uses statute as well as conceptual approach.

Purpose: To evaluate the roles of known myopia-associated genetic variants for development of myopic macular degeneration (MMD) in individuals with high myopia (HM), using case-control studies from the Consortium of Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM). Methods: A candidate gene approach tested 50 myopia-associated loci for association with HM and MMD, using meta-analyses of case-control studies comprising subjects of European and Asian ancestry aged 30 to 80 years from 10 studies. Fifty loci with the strongest associations with myopia were chosen from a previous published GWAS study. Highly myopic (spherical equivalent [SE] ≤ -5.0 diopters [D]) cases with MMD (N = 348), and two sets of controls were enrolled: (1) the first set included 16, 275 emmetropes (SE ≤ -0.5 D); and (2) second set included 898 highly myopic subjects (SE ≤ -5.0 D) without MMD. MMD was classified based on the International photographic classification for pathologic myopia (META-PM). Results: In the first analysis, comprising highly myopic cases with MMD (N = 348) versus emmetropic controls without MMD (N = 16, 275), two SNPs were significantly associated with high myopia in adults with HM and MMD: (1) rs10824518 (P = 6.20E-07) in KCNMA1, which is highly expressed in human retinal and scleral tissues; and (2) rs524952 (P = 2.32E-16) near GJD2. In the second analysis, comprising highly myopic cases with MMD (N = 348) versus highly myopic controls without MMD (N = 898), none of the SNPs studied reached Bonferroni-corrected significance. Conclusions: Of the 50 myopia-associated loci, we did not find any variant specifically associated with MMD, but the KCNMA1 and GJD2 loci were significantly associated with HM in highly myopic subjects with MMD, compared to emmetropes., Correction--10 Oct 2019: Wong YL, Hysi P, Cheung G, Tedja M, Hoang QV, et al. (2019) Correction: Genetic variants linked to myopic macular degeneration in persons with high myopia: CREAM Consortium. PLOS ONE 14(10): e0223942. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223942

The growth of Jakarta as a business center in Indonesia, also has an impact on increasing demand for offices, especially in the city of business, Setiabudi, South Jakarta. But without realizing it, with the increasing development, especially in urban areas, can causing impacts on the environment such as lack of public space. Public space allows a city to function efficiently and evenly. Therefore, the existence of public space is considered important. Conversely, a reduction in public space will have a negative impact on city life. Therefore, the existence of a rental office and public space in one building is believed to be able to support building criteria that are more insightful to the local environment and this public space will also contribute to facilitate the users of this rental office.

This research shows a study related to sustainable economic aspects in a bus terminal. This research is also based on the background of the increasing interest of the people of Jakarta related to the use of public transportation. This continues to the need for government anticipation related to the design that can accommodate the needs of the use of public transportation by the community. Seeing that, arises the problem of facilities and management on the terminal site in general. Departing from that problem, there needs to be a fundamental answer, namely the existence of investment from cooperation between the government and the private sector related to the development of terminal sustainability. Therefore, this research will discuss the feasibility study of investing in the terminal in order to get the highest profit to be able to support the quality of the terminal. This is also supported by government discourse related to cooperation programs with the private sector related to and terminal development. This research was conducted with interviews, observations, and quantitative calculation analysis related to terminal development investment. After analyzing the sustainable economic aspects, it will be concluded that the variables that form the basis and benchmarks in the terminal design later.

Item does not contain fulltext PURPOSE: The International Myopia Institute (IMI) Yearly Digest highlights new research considered to be of importance since the publication of the first series of IMI white papers. METHODS: A literature search was conducted for articles on myopia between 2019 and mid-2020 to inform definitions and classifications, experimental models, genetics, interventions, clinical trials, and clinical management. Conference abstracts from key meetings in the same period were also considered. RESULTS: One thousand articles on myopia have been published between 2019 and mid-2020. Key advances include the use of the definition of premyopia in studies currently under way to test interventions in myopia, new definitions in the field of pathologic myopia, the role of new pharmacologic treatments in experimental models such as intraocular pressure-lowering latanoprost, a large meta-analysis of refractive error identifying 336 new genetic loci, new clinical interventions such as the defocus incorporated multisegment spectacles and combination therapy with low-dose atropine and orthokeratology (OK), normative standards in refractive error, the ethical dilemma of a placebo control group when myopia control treatments are established, reporting the physical metric of myopia reduction versus a percentage reduction, comparison of the risk of pediatric OK wear with risk of vision impairment in myopia, the justification of preventing myopic and axial length increase versus quality of life, and future vision loss. CONCLUSIONS: Large amounts of research in myopia have been published since the IMI 2019 white papers were released. The yearly digest serves to highlight the latest research and advances in myopia.

Information technology has an impact on the emergence of various studies in the world. The effect of research occurs in fields of study such as education, economics, social, and technology. This study shows the results of studies related to Information and Communication Technology research conducted in collaboration with various parties in Indonesia in the last five years, from 2015 to 2019. The study was conducted by studying multiple articles published and indexed on the Garuda portal, as a gateway for researchers in Indonesia.

Purpose: Mortality in ovarian cancer occurs in the setting of recurrent disease. Recurrent disease is known to arise from residual disease, which persists after the conclusion of standard of care, consequently rebuilding the tumor. Adipose tissue provides cancer cells with a unique microenvironment that can enhance survival by upregulating antiapoptosis genes or by decreasing drug bioavailability. Indeed, adipose-rich organs such as the omentum are not only preferential sites for metastasis but also main sites of residual disease in ovarian cancer. We hypothesized that targeting adipose-rich tissues could limit residual disease and prevent recurrence. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop effective drug delivery platforms that can specifically target residual disease in adipose-rich tissues. Methods: The delivery system is a nanoparticle platform composed of polymerized ursodeoxycholic acid (PUDCA) synthesized by esterification of UDCA monomer. Paclitaxel (PTX) or deep-infrared FL dye (DIR) was encapsulated to a final concentration of 24 ug or 5 mg per mg PUDCA, respectively. In vitro dose response studies were performed using mCherry+ human OCSC1-F2 ovarian cancer cells for 72 h. DMSO-resuspended PTX (DMSO-PTX) was used as control. In vivo studies were performed in athymic nude mice bearing i.p. tumors from mCherry+ OCSC1-F2 cells. For biodistribution studies, DIR-PUDCA was administered as one-time i.p. injection of 1.3 mg of DIR-PUDCA followed by ex vivo measurement of FL intensity after 14 days. DMSO-resuspended DIR (DMSO-DIR) was used as control. For efficacy studies, the groups were: (1) vehicle control; (2) taxol (PTX in Cremaphor; 12mg/kg) + DMSO-PTX (31.2 ug PTX); and (3) taxol + PUDCA-PTX. Treatment was administered i.p. twice a week for a total of 4 doses. Tumor burden and residual disease were determined by quantification of mCherry ROI FL area. Results: PUDCA-PTX demonstrated significantly improved efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. PUDCA-PTX demonstrated a six-fold reduction in in vitro GI50 compared to DMSO-PTX (23.04 nM PUDCA-PTX vs. 137.2 nM DMSO-PTX). Biodistribution studies showed delivery of DIR specifically to adipose-rich tissues (DIR mean FL intensity (MFI) for greater and lesser omentum = 76570±17808 vs. mesentery MFI = 22326±2956; p = 0.0297). Efficacy studies showed that PUDCA-PTX was significantly more effective in inhibiting tumor progression (p = 0.0191) and, more importantly, in preventing recurrent disease compared to DMSO-PTX. Finally, PUDCA-PTX was able to significantly reduce omental-residual disease compared to DMSO-PTX (p=0.049). Conclusion: We demonstrate for the first time that PUDCA is able to target residual disease localized in adipocyte-rich tissues and that this significantly delays tumor progression and prevents recurrence. These results underscore the value of i.p.-delivered PUDCA as a drug delivery platform for enhanced targeting of cancer cells within adipose-rich tissues and its value in the management of ovarian cancer patients. Citation Format: Roslyn Tedja, Ayesha B. Alvero, Jung Seok Lee, Mary Pitruzzello, Tarek Fahmy, Gil G. Mor. Specific targeting of adipose tissue-associated metastasis using bile salt nanoparticles [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 13-16, 2019; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(13_Suppl):Abstract nr A01.

Coffee leaf is rich of bioactive compound such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannin, and caffeine. This study aims to determine optimal brewing conditions for Dampit Robusta and Liberica coffee leaf tea with total phenolic content, tannin content and antioxidant activity as response, also to determine its sensory characteristics. The results suggest that the optimum brewing condition of Dampit Robusta coffee leaves tea was obtained at 95.30°C for 5.14 minutes with total phenolic compound of 468.26 ± 4.16 mg GAE/g, tannin content 303.95 ± 8.17 μg TAE/g, and IC50 antioxidant activity was 14.91 ± 2.48 ppm. Meanwhile the brewing of Dampit liberica coffee tea leaves was optimum at 95.52°C for 6.03 minutes, with the total phenolic content, tannin content, and antioxidant activity were 562.72 ± 20.21 mg GAE/g, 434.86 ± 34.05 μg TAE/g and 12.68 ± 1.89 ppm consecutively. It was also found that Robusta tea leaves have more dominant floral flavour while Liberica tea leaves were dominated by burnt flavour, bitter taste and astringent mouth-feel.

PURPOSE. To determine genetic correlations between common myopia and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).METHODS. We tested the association of myopia polygenic risk scores (PRSs) with POAG and POAG endophenotypes using two studies: the Australian & New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma (ANZRAG) study comprising 798 POAG cases with 1992 controls, and the Rotterdam Study (RS), a population-based study with 11,097 participants, in which intraocular pressure (IOP) and optic disc parameter measurements were catalogued. PRSs were derived from genome-wide association study meta-analyses conducted by the Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM) and 23andMe. In total, 12 PRSs were constructed and tested. Further, we explored the genetic correlation between myopia, POAG, and POAG endophenotypes by using the linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) method.RESULTS. We did not find significant evidence for an association between PRS of myopia with POAG (P = 0.81), IOP (P = 0.07), vertical cup-disc ratio (P = 0.42), or cup area (P = 0.25). We observed a nominal association with retinal nerve fiber layer (P = 7.7 3 x 10(-3)) and a significant association between PRS for myopia and disc area (P = 1.59 3 x 10(-9)). Using the LDSC method, we found a genetic correlation only between myopia and disc area (genetic correlation [RhoG] = -0.12, P = 1.8 x 10(-3)), supporting the findings of the PRS approach.CONCLUSIONS. Using two complementary approaches we found no evidence to support a genetic overlap between myopia and POAG; our results suggest that the comorbidity of these diseases is not influenced by common variants. The association between myopia and optic disc size is well known and validates this methodology.

The Service Learning method that being done in TK Baithani Tengger, was not just a community service activity. In the process of learning, students were trained in order to be able to analyze community problems and continued to take it as design problem of their project. In the other side, students also learn to cooperate with all parties in the implementation of real project development, especially by utilizing ceramic scrap materials in order to be used as finishing elements of TK Baithani Tengger’s traffic education park.

Array-reader-based magnetic recording (ARMR) shows potential to achieve areal density capability (ADC) beyond 1 Tb/in $^{\mathrm {{2}}}$ by jointly processing multiple readback streams. Dual-reader ARMR with two read sensors and associated read channel signal processing algorithms are currently being actively investigated. In this paper, dual-reader ARMR performance is evaluated focusing on skew-induced variation in cross-track separation (CTS) between the two read sensors. Spin-stand captured waveforms based evaluation is presented for the cases where a dual-reader with certain CTS and skew is emulated using captures from a single-reader at different cross-track locations as well as for the case of actual dual-reader-based captures, where the latter also accounts for head rotation. Based on bit error rate scan along cross-track under various squeezed recording and skew conditions, squeeze-to-death margin-based ADC gain of ARMR is predicted. Dual-reader ARMR shows 5%–10% ADC gain over single-reader for CTS less than 0.6 track pitch, while showing limited gains for larger CTS. Also presented is the performance evaluation of dual-reader ARMR on spin-stand using a hardware accelerated ARMR performance evaluation platform, called Stingray, which uses four Avago read channel silicon chips and a customized field programmable gate array to enable high-speed joint equalization and detection using dual-reader readback streams.

Case series Patient: Male, 77 • Male, 25 • Male, 63 • Male, 70 • Male, 70 • Female, 61 Final Diagnosis: — Symptoms: Hypotension • respiratory failure Medication: Ketamine • Propofol • Etomidate Clinical Procedure: Endotracheal intubation Specialty: Critical Care Medicine Objective: Educational Purpose (only if useful for a systematic review or synthesis) Background: Endotracheal intubation is a common procedure performed for critically ill patients that can have immediate life-threatening complications. Induction medications are routinely given to facilitate the procedure, but most of these medications are associated with hypotension. While etomidate is known for its neutral hemodynamic profile, it has been linked with increased mortality in septic patients and increased morbidity in trauma patients. Ketamine and propofol are effective anesthetics with counteracting cardiovascular profiles. No data are available about the use of this combination in critically ill patients undergoing endotracheal intubation. Case Series: We describe 6 cases in which the combination of ketamine and propofol (“ketofol”) was used as an induction agent for endotracheal intubation in critically ill patients with a focus on hemodynamic outcomes. All patients received a neuromuscular blocker and fentanyl, while 5 patients received midazolam. We recorded mean arterial pressure (MAP) 1 minute before induction and 15 minutes after intubation with the combination. Of the 6 patients, 5 maintained a MAP ≥65 mmHg 15 minutes after intubation. One patient was on norepinephrine infusion with a MAP of 64 mmHg, and did not require an increase in the dose of the vasopressor 15 minutes after intubation. No hemodynamic complications were reported after any of the intubations. Conclusions: This case series describes the use of the “ketofol” combination as an induction agent for intubation in critically ill patients when hemodynamic stability is desired. Further research is needed to establish the safety of this combination and how it compares to other induction medications.

Elderly was someone who was at the age of 60 years and older with conditions of reduced function of the health, social and economic.The condition was often the elderly had problems in terms of neglected or abandoned by families and communities. Overcoming the problems of the elderly in neglected or abandoned, the government has been providing social welfare institution of Tresna Werdha Sinta Rangkang for the elderly. Social welfare institution was a residence for the elderly who did not had a place to stay with the purpose of empowering the neglected elderly and abandoned. However, such observations can be in social welfare institution have a policy that only receives elderly healthy and independent. In fact, that should be more in need were elderly who were not in these circumstances in order to be empowered in this social institution.Then, with the issue of this study discusses the role of government to the elderly at social welfare institution of tresna Werdha Sinta rangkang in the city of Palangkaraya. The formulation of the problem, namely: (1) What is the role of government on the economy of the elderly in the city of Palangkaraya. (2) How is the role of government to the elderly in Social Welfare Institution Tresna Werdha Sinta rangkang.This study, a field research using qualitative descriptive approach.The object of this study is the role of government in the city of Palangka Raya and the research subject is the section head elderly Provincial and head of the Social Welfare Institution of Tresna Werdha Sinta Rangkang in the city of Palangkaraya. Methods of data collection by observation, interview and documentation. This results indicate that the function of government on the economy of the elderly in the city of Palangka Raya with the function of community empowerment through productive economic business assistance program. The assistance was in addition to venture capital for income elderly. Then the role of the government to social welfare institution Tresna Werdha Sinta Rangkang with service function society through meeting the needs of the elderly both in compliance with food and clothing and health care. It was the role of government to the elderly was maximal however, further enhanced by not limiting the client acceptance process

Array-reader-based magnetic recording (ARMR) is one of the promising candidates to achieve areal density beyond 1 Tb/in 2 in magnetic hard disk drives. Joint signal processing of multiple readback streams from the array-reader enables reliable data retrieval under high linear densities and large track squeezes, compared with the single-reader system. In this paper, we present the development of an ARMR evaluation platform employing a single-reader-based drive-tap to expedite performance evaluation under realistic drive environments. The drive-tap interface of the platform can control track squeeze and linear bit density conditions, and optimal bit-aspect ratio-based areal density capability (ADC) can be assessed with this platform. The resulting measurements show that, for the head-media used in this paper, the ARMR ADC gain over single-reader is around 6.7% with shingled magnetic recording at outer diameter (OD) and around 4.9% with perpendicular magnetic recording at OD.

The development of technology and the demands on the speed of the construction project cause the material manufacturers compete to create a new material that can accelerate the process to build a building. Wall is one of the non-structural elements on a building. Both low-rise building and high-rise building are no doubts using this material. Wall works can use two different types of material, such as brick wall made of red clay and light brick wall made of cement, silica sand, and limestone. In the construction process wall is needed in a large amount of area, so the difference of the price should be examined in choosing the type of the material to gain efficient cost. The purpose of this study is to determine which method of wall construction is more efficient in terms of cost and time, the use of red brick wall or brick wall light. The study was conducted using survey, comparative, literature study method. Results indicate that both methods have advantages and disadvantages. Red brick wall method is cheaper in the cost of the process, while the lighter brick wall method much faster in the process.

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms in ventilator-associated pneumonia were found in 49 of 107 patients and were associated with home antibiotics, pre-ventilator-associated pneumonia hospital stay, and health care exposure. Overall, MDR organisms were associated with increased mortality ( P = .006). On multivariate analysis, MDR status was modulated by organism class. In nonfermenting gram-negative rods, no association between MDR and mortality was found, but, in all other organisms, MDR was associated with increased mortality risk (hazard ratio, 6.15; 95% confidence interval: 1.80-21.05, P = .004).

Objective.To review and describe device utilization and central line-associated bloodstream (CLABSI) events among patients in a non-intensive care unit (ICU) setting and to examine the morbidity and mortality associated with these events.Design. One-year descriptive review.Setting.A single tertiary center with a 1,200-bed hospital and 209 adult ICU beds.Patients.Hospitalized patients identified as having a CLABSI event attributed to a non-ICU setting.Methods.The cohort was identified from a prospective infection prevention database. Charts and administrative data sets were reviewed to further characterize the patients. Device utilization ratios (DURs) and CLABSI rates were calculated using National Health and Safety Network (NHSN) CLABSI definitions. Need for ICU stay and crude mortality rates were recorded.Results.A total of 136 patients with 156 CLABSIs were identified, of whom 78 (57%) were being treated for a hematological malignancy (HM). The overall DUR was 0.27. A tunneled line was in place for 118 (76%) of the CLABSI events, and a peripherally inserted central catheter was in place for 32 (21%) of the CLABSI events. The non-ICU CLABSI rate was significantly higher than the concurrent ICU rate (2.1 CLABSIs per 1,000 catheter-days vs 1.5 CLABSIs per 1,000 catheter-days; P = .02). Hospital mortality was 23% in the affected group and was significantly higher in patients with HM.Conclusions.CLABSI rates over a 1-year period were higher in patients outside the ICU at our hospital and were associated with significant mortality.

Floor plate is a structure on two-story buildings or more. Like other structures, floor plate also develops over time. Demands a shorter time jobs at a cheaper cost are some reasons for structures development of house construction. Floor plate can be constructed with two different way: conventional which uses double wire meshand modern uses half slab. The purpose of this study is to determine which floor plate construction methods of double wire mesh and half slab is more efficient in terms of cost and time. The study is conducted using survey, comparative analysis and literature study. The results of this study indicate that both methods have advantages and disadvantages. Double wire mesh method takes cheaper construction costs while half slab method takes faster construction time.

Jakarta's economy grew rapidly accompanied by the rapid growth of private office buildings in different areas of the city. This condition causes the need for car parking facilities at any existing private office buildings. Given the past 20 years, the Jakarta administration has never revised standard parking requirement in Jakarta. It causes the need be reviewed, to the extent appropriate parking ratio for a private office in the current period. This research is carried out on a number of park buildings at offices in Jakarta, the lower and upper limits of the implementation, then compared to the city standard parking. The results showed that the ratio standard park in Jakarta is no longer eligible based on the facts found.

Fungal infections are common in solid organ transplantation. An increasing number of transplant recipients receive antifungal therapy for prolonged duration owing to invasive fungal infections. Herein, we describe a diagnosis of periostitis as a complication of chronic use of voriconazole in a lung transplant recipient. The patient was diagnosed with probable pulmonary aspergillosis and was treated with oral voriconazole for a total of 9 months. Evidence of multifocal periostitis was observed in the axial and appendicular skeleton. Early recognition of this phenomenon is important to prevent unnecessary tests and procedures. Prompt discontinuation of voriconazole should result in improvement of symptoms.

Anastomotic leakage after colorectal surgery is correlated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Although many studies focus on risk factors and detection, studies on the treatment strategy for colorectal anastomotic leakage are scarce. A national questionnaire amongst 350 members of the Dutch Society for Gastrointestinal Surgery was undertaken on the current treatment of colorectal anastomotic leakage. The response was 40% after two anonymous rounds. 27% of the respondents state that a leaking anastomosis above the level of the promontory should be salvaged in ASA 1-2 patients 80 years of age this percentage is 7.3%. For an anastomosis under the promontory, 50% of the respondents choose preserving the anastomosis for ASA 1-2 compared to 17% for ASA 3 and/or >80 years of age. In ASA 1-2 patients with a local abscess after a rectum resection without protective ileostomy, 31% of the respondents will create an protective ileostomy, 40% break down the anastomosis to create a definite colostomy, in ASA 3 and/or >80 years of age 14% of the respondents create a protective ileostomy and 63% a definitive colostomy. In ASA 1-2 patients with peritonitis after a rectum resection with deviating ileostomy, 31% prefer a laparotomy for lavage and repair of the anastomosis, 25% for lavage without repair and 36% of the respondents prefer to break down the anastomosis. When the patient is ASA 3 and/or >80 years of age, 13% prefer repair, 9% a lavage and 74% breaking down the anastomosis. This questionnaire shows that in contrast to older people, more surgeons make an effort to preserve the anastomosis in younger people.

Item does not contain fulltext Importance: Myopia (ie, nearsightedness) is becoming the most common eye disorder to cause blindness in younger persons in many parts of the world. Visual impairment due to myopia is associated with structural changes of the retina and the globe because of elongation of the eye axis. How axial length-a sum of the anterior chamber depth, lens thickness, and vitreous chamber depth-and myopia relate to the development of visual impairment over time is unknown. Objectives: To evaluate the association between axial length, spherical equivalent, and the risk of visual impairment and to make projections of visual impairment for regions with high prevalence rates. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study uses population-based data from the Rotterdam Study I (1990 to 1993), II (2000 to 2002), and III (2006 to 2008) and the Erasmus Rucphen Family Study (2002 to 2005) as well as case-control data from the Myopia Study (2010 to 2012) from the Netherlands. In total, 15404 individuals with data on spherical equivalent and 9074 individuals with data on axial length were included in the study; right eyes were used for analyses. Data were analyzed from September 2014 to May 2016. Main Outcomes and Measures: Visual impairment and blindness (defined according to the World Health Organization criteria as a visual acuity less than 0.3) and predicted rates of visual impairment specifically for persons with myopia. Results: Of the 15693 individuals included in this study, the mean (SD) age was 61.3 (11.4) years, and 8961 (57.1%) were female. Axial length ranged from 15.3 to 37.8 mm; 819 individuals had an axial length of 26 mm or greater. Spherical equivalent ranged from -25 to +14 diopters; 796 persons had high myopia (ie, a spherical equivalent of -6 diopters or less). The prevalence of visual impairment varied from 1.0% to 4.1% in the population-based studies, was 5.4% in the Myopia Study, and was 0.3% in controls. The prevalence of visual impairment rose with increasing axial length and spherical equivalent, with a cumulative incidence (SE) of visual impairment of 3.8% (1.3) for participants aged 75 years with an axial length of 24 to less than 26 mm and greater than 90% (8.1) with an axial length of 30 mm or greater. The cumulative risk (SE) of visual impairment was 5.7% (1.3) for participants aged 60 years and 39% (4.9) for those aged 75 years with a spherical equivalent of -6 diopters or less. Projections of these data suggest that visual impairment will increase 7- to 13-fold by 2055 in high-risk areas. Conclusions and Relevance: This study demonstrated that visual impairment is associated with axial length and spherical equivalent and may be unavoidable at the most extreme values in this population. Developing strategies to prevent the development of myopia and its complications could help to avoid an increase of visual impairment in the working-age population.

Background: Erythropoietin (EPO) is a multifunctional cytokine with anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and organ protective effects. EPO protects against ischemia–reperfusion injuries, and recent reports suggest that EPO also prevents organ dysfunction in experimental sepsis. The aims of this study were to determine whether EPO prevents endotoxemia-induced organ dysfunction in a porcine model and to characterize the immunomodulatory and anti-apoptotic effects of EPO. Methods: Twenty-eight pigs were randomly assigned to three groups: (1) endotoxemia treated with EPO 5000 IU/kg, (2) endotoxemia treated with placebo, and (3) a sham group anesthetized and submitted to sham operation without treatment. A laparotomy was performed, and a flow probe was placed around the left renal artery, which allowed renal blood flow (RBF) measurements. Endotoxemia was induced by an infusion of lipopolysaccharide. After 2 h, the infusion was reduced to a maintenance dose and the animals were fluid resuscitated. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR), RBF, renal oxygen consumption, and plasma cytokines [interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha] were analyzed. Renal biopsies were analyzed for cytokine content and apoptosis. Results: Endotoxemia elicited impaired renal function, estimated as GFR, and increased the levels of renal apoptotic cells, with no modifying effect of EPO. Furthermore, EPO had no effect on RBF, renal oxygen consumption, or the systemic hemodynamic response to endotoxemia. EPO did not modify the inflammatory response, measured as changes in cytokine levels in plasma and organs. Conclusion: EPO did not confer renal protection in this fluid-resuscitated porcine model of endotoxemia, and EPO did not modify the inflammatory response.

Background: Erythropoietin (EPO) is a cytokine with organ-protective properties. We hypothesized that EPO could attenuate acute renal dysfunction and inflammation in a porcine model of ischemia–reperfusion (IR). Furthermore, we aimed to characterize the impact of EPO on systemic and renal hemodynamics, and renal oxygen consumption. Methods: Twenty-four pigs were randomly assigned to three groups: (1) EPO (5000 IU/kg) administered intravenously before IR (n=9), (2) placebo administered before IR (n=9), or (3) sham group, anesthetized and operated on only (n=6). IR was induced by clamping the left renal artery for 45 min. Hemodynamics and renal blood flow (RBF) were analyzed continuously. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR), renal oxygen consumption, and plasma cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-α) were analyzed hourly. Renal biopsies were analyzed for cytokine content and apoptosis. Results: GFR was higher during reperfusion in the EPO group than in the placebo group (P

Background Endotracheal intubation (ETI) is commonly performed as a life-saving procedure in the intensive care unit (ICU). It is often associated with significant hemodynamic perturbations and can severely impact the outcome of ICU patients. Etomidate is often chosen by many critical care providers for the patients who are hypotensive because of its superior hemodynamic profile compared to other induction medications. However, recent evidence has raised concerns about the increased incidence of adrenal insufficiency and mortality associated with etomidate use. A combination of ketamine and propofol (known as ketofol) has been studied in various settings as an alternative induction agent. In recent years, studies have shown that this combination may provide adequate sedation while maintaining hemodynamic stability, based on the balancing of the hemodynamic effects of these two individual agents. We hypothesized that ketofol may offer a valuable alternative to etomidate in critically ill patients with or without hemodynamic instability. Methods/design A randomized controlled parallel-group clinical trial of adult critically ill patients admitted to either a medical or surgical ICU at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN will be conducted. As part of planned emergency research, informed consent will be waived after appropriate community consultation and notification. Patients undergoing urgent or emergent ETI will receive either etomidate or a 1:1 admixture of ketamine and propofol (ketofol). The primary outcome will be hemodynamic instability during the first 15 minutes following drug administration. Secondary outcomes will include ICU length of stay, mortality, adrenal function, ventilator-free days and vasoactive medication use, among others. The planned sample size is 160 total patients. Discussion The overall goal of this trial is to assess the hemodynamic consequences of a ketamine-propofol combination used in critically ill patients undergoing urgent or emergent ETI compared to etomidate, a medication with an established hemodynamic profile. The trial will address a crucial gap in the literature regarding the optimal induction agent for ETI in patients that may have potential or established hemodynamic instability. Greater experience with planned emergency research will, hopefully, pave the way for future prospective randomized clinical trials in the critically ill population. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02105415. 31 March 2014. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-015-0687-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of all gynecologic cancers. It is characterized by the presence of carcinomatosis at time of presentation and chemoresistant micrometastatic seedings at the time of recurrence. The omentum, an adipocyte-rich organ, is a frequent site of ovarian cancer metastasis in patients and the most common site of post-chemotherapy residual disease in animal models. Whereas previous studies have shown how the adipocyte microenvironment can induce metabolic re-programming in cancer cells, it is not clear if it can regulate pathways that affect chemoresponse. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of the adipocyte microenvironment on pathways that control cell cycle and apoptosis. Methods: In vitro: Patient-derived epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines were cultured in the presence of absence of omentum conditioned-media. Cell growth was determined by measuring culture confluence using IncucyteTM. Protein expression was determined by western blot analysis, and flow cytometry. In vivo: Human ovarian cancer xenografts were established intra-peritoneally in nude mice. Tumor implants from adipocyte-rich organs such as the omentum, pelvic fat, and mesentery and tumor implants from non-adipocyte-rich organs such as liver, ovaries, and GI tract were collected and analyzed independently. Results: Compared to cells cultured in growth media, epithelial ovarian cancer cells cultured in omentum CM demonstrated a more fibroblastic morphology characterized by elongated shape and bipolarity, significantly slower growth kinetics (p < 0.0001) accompanied by upregulation of the cell cycle inhibitor, p27, and enhanced secretion of the pro-angiogenic factor, VEGF. More importantly, these cells express higher levels of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bclxl and Mcl-1. Consequently, ovarian cancer cells in growth media treated with Carboplatin had a IC50 of 14.5 μg/ml. In contrast, cells cultured in omentum CM demonstrated enhanced resistance to carboplatin with IC50 of > 50 μg/ml. Analysis of tumor implants in vivo showed similar results as observed in vitro. Thus, tumor implants isolated from adipocyte-rich organs express higher levels of p27, Bclxl, and Mcl-1. Conclusion: We demonstrate in this study that the adipocyte microenvironment induces major changes in the phenotype of ovarian cancer cells characterized by morphological changes chemoresistance and growth rate. These findings highlight the importance of the adipocyte microenvironment in the progression of ovarian cancer. Further studies that can identify specific therapeutic targets in the adipocyte-educated chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells may aid in the development of novel therapies and improve patient survival. Citation Format: Carlos Cardenas, Ayesha B. Alvero, Mary Pitruzzello, Roslyn Tedja, Gil G. Mor. The omentum promotes ovarian cancer cell survival by increasing cell cycle duration and chemoresistance [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1995. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1995

This paper describes the design and experimental results of a multichannel calibrationless charge sampling integrated circuit for capacitive detector/sensor interfaces. The integrated circuit incorporates multiple channels of sensitive charge preamplifiers, current/charge-mode amplifiers, pipelined analog storage cells, A/D converters, and static CMOS digital control circuitry. It is implemented in a 1.2 /spl mu/m single-poly double-metal CMOS p-well technology. The power dissipation is 1 mW/channel. The input-referred equivalent noise charge (ENC) for a detector/sensor source capacitance of 30 pF and an integration time window of 128 ns is 1800 rms electrons. The input-referred channel-to-channel offset variation from chip to chip is only 292 rms electrons while the storage-cell-to-storage-cell offset variation is 142 rms electrons. The channel-to-channel gain variation from chip to chip is 1.6%. >

The ASD-8 is a bipolar integrated circuit that provides eight channels of amplifier, shaper and discriminator on a 2.8-mm by 4.7-mm silicon substrate. It is designed for use in the straw based central tracking system of the SDC detector. Competing requirements for short measurement time ( approximately=5 ns), good double pulse resolution ( approximately=20 ns), low power ( approximately=15 mW/channel), and low operational threshold ( approximately=1 fC) lead to the choice of a largely differential circuit that includes detector tail compensation. Tests of parts from a recent prototype run indicate excellent yield and stable operation with little or no internal crosstalk. >