Eisner-winning cartoonist Brian Fies faces down another fire two years after losing his Northern California home. "I'm mostly numb," he says.

The past 10 years have shown superheroes in entertainment aren't going anywhere.

Numéricable has selected the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform and gigabit passive optical network technology to upgrade its service delivery platform in Belgium and Luxembourg. Calix, along with optical specialist Arcadiz Telecom, will work closely to roll out Numéricable’s new high-speed broadband networks to deliver business services across the region. The new platform will enable Numéricable’s customers to take advantage of advanced voice, video, and data services at symmetrical speeds ranging from 30 megabits per second (30 Mbps) up to 1 gigabit per second (1 Gbps).

Numéricable serves over 150,000 customers in Brussels with triple-play services for residential subscribers. Owned by Coditel and with a close relationship to the French Numéricable organization, with whom it shares a range of resources, Numéricable Belgium is a long-established operator with a highly dispersed coax cable network. The company has traditionally delivered triple-play residential services over its hybrid fiber coax infrastructure, but in recent years has moved increasingly towards using its fiber to connect businesses and has developed a number of specific niche markets. The company is now looking at ways to maximize the potential of its fiber infrastructure in Belgium and Luxembourg and deliver revenue-generating advanced services to its business customers.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Margot about Acadia National Park in Maine. Margot has been going to Acadia since she was a little girl to hike, bike, kayak, and connect with the beauty of this beautiful area. She talks about the sights, the seafood, the Maine people and why you should not go blueberry picking with her grandfather.

A powerful player on Facebook’s new content oversight board infamously mocked Barron Trump during last year’s impeachment hearings, sowing doubt in the social media platform’s promises of unbiased moderation. The selection of Pamela Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School, was announced Wednesday by Facebook, according to CNBC. Karlan will sit alongside 19 other experts…

The post Academic Who Infamously Mocked Barron Trump Gets Censorship Gig from Facebook appeared first on The Western Journal.

Avocado oil is an amazing substance with many incredible uses. It contains an impressive list of healthy vitamins and minerals as well as “good” fatty acids and antioxidants. Avocado oil finds its appliance both in the kitchen and in personal hygiene. Read on to discover all the mindblowing ways you can use it in your […]

The post 10 Mindblowing Benefits of Avocado Oil appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

The Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, based at Chatham House, is delighted to announce the arrival of its new cohort of Academy fellows.

dlberek posted a photo:

The deadline for applications under the first round of funding from the Elder Academy Development Foundation in 2020 has been extended to June 30, the Labour & Welfare Bureau announced today.

The decision aims to provide sufficient time for primary and secondary school sponsoring bodies, post-secondary institutions and organisations, which may be affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, to prepare their submissions.

The fund’s committee accepts funding applications all year round and conducts vetting and disburses funding twice a year. The deadlines were generally May 31 and October 31 respectively.

The committee will continue to monitor the situation and announce arrangements for the next round in due course.

To tie in with the Elder Academy Scheme, the fund mainly provides funding for primary and secondary schools as well as post-secondary institutions to set up academies to provide learning opportunities in a school setting for the elderly.

Funding is also provided for activities that encourage elderly learning and inter-generational harmony.

Call 3655 5861 or 3655 5007 for enquiries.

17 individuals in the mathematical sciences are among the 126 new members and foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2020.

Members: Ivet Bahar, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Abhijit Banerjee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Gerard Ben Arous, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University; Bonnie Berger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Laura G. DeMarco, Northwestern University; Ronald Fagin, IBM Almaden Research Center; Katherine Freese, The University of Texas at Austin; Dennis Gaitsgory, Harvard University; Robert L. Griess, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Jacob Lurie, Institute for Advanced Study; Terence T. Hwa, University of California, San Diego; Wilfried Schmid, Harvard University; Jeffrey D. Ullman, Stanford University; Lai-Sang Young, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University; and Ofer Zeitouni, Weizmann Institute of Science; Foreign Associates: Yoav Benjamini, Tel Aviv University (Israel) and Jürg Fröhlich, ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Berger, DeMarco, Griess, Schmid, and Zeitouni are members of the AMS and Fellows of the AMS. Fagin is a member of the AMS.

The NAS recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—along with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine—provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. See the full list of this year's honorees. (Image courtesy of the National Academy of Sciences.)

(Rutgers University) Rutgers Professor Gregory W. Moore, a renowned physicist who seeks a unified understanding of the basic forces and fundamental particles in the universe, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.

Gregory A. Maynard
Oct 1, 2008; 21:241-247
Articles

Endorepellin, the C-terminal fragment of the heparan sulfate proteoglycan perlecan, influences various signaling pathways in endothelial cells by binding to VEGFR2. In this study, we discovered that soluble endorepellin activates the canonical stress signaling pathway consisting of PERK, eIF2α, ATF4, and GADD45α. Specifically, endorepellin evoked transient activation of VEGFR2, which, in turn, phosphorylated PERK at Thr980. Subsequently, PERK phosphorylated eIF2α at Ser51, upregulating its downstream effector proteins ATF4 and GADD45α. RNAi-mediated knockdown of PERK or eIF2α abrogated the endorepellin-mediated up-regulation of GADD45α, the ultimate effector protein of this stress signaling cascade. To functionally validate these findings, we utilized an ex vivo model of angiogenesis. Exposure of the aortic rings embedded in 3D fibrillar collagen to recombinant endorepellin for 2–4 h activated PERK and induced GADD45α vis à vis vehicle-treated counterparts. Similar effects were obtained with the established cellular stress inducer tunicamycin. Notably, chronic exposure of aortic rings to endorepellin for 7–9 days markedly suppressed vessel sprouting, an angiostatic effect that was rescued by blocking PERK kinase activity. Our findings unravel a mechanism by which an extracellular matrix protein evokes stress signaling in endothelial cells, which leads to angiostasis.

Invitation Only Research Event

Event participants

Arancha González, Executive Director, International Trade Centre
Chair: Marianne Schneider-Petsinger, Research Fellow, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

ME Griffin
Jun 1, 1999; 48:1270-1274
Articles

¹⁸F-DCFPyL (2-(3-{1-carboxy-5-[(6-¹⁸F-fluoropyridine-3-carbonyl)-amino]-pentyl}-ureido)-pentanedioic acid) is a promising PET radiopharmaceutical targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). We present our experience with this single-academic-center prospective study evaluating the positivity rate of ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET/CT in patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer (PC). Methods: We prospectively enrolled 72 men (52–91 y old; mean ± SD, 71.5 ± 7.2) with BCR after primary definitive treatment with prostatectomy (n = 42) or radiotherapy (n = 30). The presence of lesions compatible with PC was evaluated by 2 independent readers. Fifty-nine patients had scans concurrent with at least one other conventional scan: bone scanning (24), CT (21), MR (20), ¹⁸F-fluciclovine PET/CT (18), or ¹⁸F-NaF PET (14). Findings from ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET/CT were compared with those from other modalities. Impact on patient management based on ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET/CT was recorded from clinical chart review. Results: ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET/CT had an overall positivity rate of 85%, which increased with higher prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels (ng/mL): 50% (PSA < 0.5), 69% (0.5 ≤ PSA < 1), 100% (1 ≤ PSA < 2), 91% (2 ≤ PSA < 5), and 96% (PSA ≥ 5). ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET detected more lesions than conventional imaging. For anatomic imaging, 20 of 41 (49%) CT or MRI scans had findings congruent with ¹⁸F-DCFPyL, whereas ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET was positive in 17 of 41 (41%) cases with negative CT or MRI findings. For bone imaging, 26 of 38 (68%) bone or ¹⁸F-NaF PET scans were congruent with ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET, whereas ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET localized bone lesions in 8 of 38 (21%) patients with negative results on bone or ¹⁸F-NaF PET scans. In 8 of 18 (44%) patients, ¹⁸F-fluciclovine PET had located the same lesions as did ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET, whereas 5 of 18 (28%) patients with negative ¹⁸F-fluciclovine findings had positive ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET findings and 1 of 18 (6%) patients with negative ¹⁸F-DCFPyL findings had uptake in the prostate bed on ¹⁸F-fluciclovine PET. In the remaining 4 of 18 (22%) patients, ¹⁸F-DCFPyL and ¹⁸F-fluciclovine scans showed different lesions. Lastly, 43 of 72 (60%) patients had treatment changes after ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET and, most noticeably, 17 of these patients (24% total) had lesion localization only on ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET, despite negative results on conventional imaging. Conclusion: ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PET/CT is a promising diagnostic tool in the work-up of biochemically recurrent PC, given the high positivity rate as compared with Food and Drug Administration–approved currently available imaging modalities and its impact on clinical management in 60% of patients.

The University of Iowa recently completed a 4-y expedition into the uncharted waters of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new-drug application (NDA) process that ultimately resulted in approval of ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATOC in August 2019. The journey was enlightening, revealing a highly structured, arcane, but rigorous regulatory approval process. The FDA proved to be an efficient, reasonable, and communicative regulatory body that achieved balance between support of the initiative and its mission-bound, process-bound duty to ensure that the application met the expected safety and efficacy standards of the agency. With several clinically valuable PET radiopharmaceuticals without intellectual property residing in regulatory limbo, without industry champions to bring them to marketing approval, there may be justification for a more concerted effort from the molecular imaging community into generating better understanding, support, and perhaps even infrastructure for the academic NDA. As a first step, this article briefly describes the start-to-finish story for ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATOC, including a description of the clinical trials, a broad overview of the structured content of the NDA document, and the distilled experiences associated with the ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATOC NDA process. It is anticipated that with sustained free sharing of information relating to the FDA drug registration process, it will prove less daunting and more efficient in future academically sponsored NDA filings for PET imaging agents.

Colombia has more internally displaced persons (IDPs) than any other country in the world, the result of a 52-year civil war. Beyond improving the lives of its 7.3 million IDPs, the country faces a number of crucial migration issues as it works to achieve stability in the wake of an historic peace accord signed in late 2016. This country profile examines historical trends and current and future migration challenges in Colombia.

This report summarizes the economic and social development policy achievements of Central American countries over the past 20 years, as well as the notable obstacles to development that remain. The author identifies long-term challenges and outlines how they can be incorporated into a new development agenda.

OBJECTIVE

In 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics introduced a new guideline (2017 Clinical Practice Guideline of the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP 2017]) to diagnose arterial hypertension (HTN) in children that included revised, lower normative blood pressure (BP) values and cut points for diagnosing high BP in adolescents. We studied the impact of the new AAP 2017 guideline on prevalence of HTN in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

This is what I think of as an honest cake - not tizzy, just homely, buttery and ever-so more-ish with its tender, nutty crumb and sweet, caramelised pineapple topping. I particularly love the way the sides, through some kind of magical alchemy of heat and sugar, become ever-so-slightly crunchy. There are a couple of little things I've noticed when I bake it - the first is that it cooks better and looks better when baked in a regular, not a non-stick, cake tin. And the second is that it's really important not to overload the tin with pineapple or it will release too much liquid and the centre of the cake will be soggy.