“
“Treatment with cytokines holds great potential for cancer immunotherapy, but is generally restricted by systemic toxicity. Tumor-directed targeting in the form of antibody fusion proteins appears to be an attractive strategy to overcome this problem. In the last twenty years, continuous efforts in developing appropriate molecules have find more retrieved a variety of antibody fusion proteins that reveal promising therapeutic effects in preclinical studies. Currently, several candidates are in clinical evaluation. Here, recent developments

exploring diverse antibody formats, tumor targets and cytokines of different families as well as strategies addressing cytokine modification or presentation are discussed and clinical trials summarized at a glance. Thus, antibody-cytokine fusion proteins are becoming progressively improving immunologic reagents that raise expectations

mainly for combinatorial cancer therapies.”
“Background: T-wove alternans is an important identifier of patients at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD), but the procedure usually requires stress testing. In this study, the variability of T-wave amplitude (TVAR) was evaluated at rest, as a risk stratifier for SCD.

Methods: This Study included 57 patients in sinus rhythm and with a left ventricular ejection fraction <= 40%, of whom 34 (60%) received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) after surviving SCD, and 23 (40%) presented with ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy and no history of SCD. A 20-minute high-resolution electrocardiographic recording for TVAR A-1210477 assessment was performed during supine rest. The vector magnitude was used as a primary lead for TVAR analysis.

Results: The mean, median, and maximum (max) values of TVAR were measured. The patients with ICD had a lower max TVAR than the patients without ICD (67 vs 95 mu V; P = 0.045), though the mean and median TVAR values were similar. By multivariate logistic analysis, max TVAR remained a predictor of SCD, after adjustments for potentially

confounding factors (P = 0.044).

Conclusion: Max TVAR was a predictor of arrhythmic check details events in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy at rest. (PACE 2009; 32:S155-S157)”
“A detailed balance model for the intermediate band (IB) solar cell has been developed. The model allows the electron concentration in the IB to vary and assumes a linear relation between this concentration and the absorption coefficients related to transitions over the subband gaps. Numerical results show that for IBs with densities of states typical for quantum dot-superlattices it is possible to sustain a useful population of photogenerated electrons in the IB when the cell is exposed to concentrated light. For unconcentrated light the IB must be partially filled by means of doping to achieve high efficiencies within reasonable optical path lengths.