University of Saint Mary

About: University of Saint Mary is a education organization based out in Leavenworth, Kansas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 2276 authors who have published 2399 publications receiving 58990 citations. The organization is also known as: University of St. Mary & University of St Mary.

Clinical parameters for predicting radiation-induced liver disease after intrahepatic reirradiation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract: Few data are available on the tolerance of reirradiation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study determined the clinical parameters contributing to the development of radiation-induced liver disease (RILD). We included 36 patients with HCC who received 2 courses of radiotherapy (RT) to the liver. Using α/β = 15 for tumor and α/β =8 for normal liver tissue for biologically equivalent doses in 2 Gy fractions, mean cumulative to the hepatic tumor and normal liver were 87.7 Gy15 and 31.1 Gy8, respectively. Hepatic toxicities were classified according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, Version 4.0. Clinical data, including liver function test results, radiological study findings, and RT parameters before and after both courses of RT were retrieved for analysis. Using multivariate analysis, logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of RILD, and Cox regression was performed to explore the prognostic factors for overall survival (OS). Thirteen patients (36 %) developed RILD after reirradiation. Nine of them died because of progressive liver failure without evidence of tumor progression and were categorized to have lethal RILD. A pretreatment Child–Turcotte–Pugh (CTP) score ≥6 was the only predictor of RILD [odds ratio (OR): 15.83, p = 0.001] and lethal RILD [OR: 72.56, p = 0.005]. In addition, a CTP score ≥6 and the presence of portal vein tumor thrombosis before reirradiation were 2 prognostic factors for OS. Despite a limited sample size, residual liver function using a preirradiation CTP score ≥6 is a clinical parameter associated with an increased risk of RILD in patients requiring hepatic reirradiation.

Stem cell therapy for critical limb ischemia: what can we learn from cell therapy for chronic wounds?

Abstract: Although much progress has been made regarding our knowledge of stem cells and their potential applications for therapeutic angiogenesis, there has been less success with the clinical application of this knowledge to patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). Patients with CLI often have chronic wounds and newer cell-based therapies for chronic wounds show interesting parallels to stem cell therapy for CLI. Several human-derived wound care products and therapies, including human neonatal fibroblast-derived dermis (Dermagraft®), bilayered bioengineered skin substitute (Apligraf®), recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor and autologous platelet-rich plasma may provide insight into the mechanisms through which differentiated cells can be used as therapy for chronic wounds, and, analogously, by which stem cells might function therapeutically in CLI.

Enhancing the effectiveness of cross‐functional teams

Abstract: Organizations are increasingly using cross‐ functional teams to address broad‐scale organizational problems, and the potential of such teams is undeniable. Bringing a cross‐functional perspective to organizational problems help build understanding, problem‐solving capabilities, co‐ordination, communication and, ultimately, improved quality and productivity. While the benefits are many, this study highlights the challenges. Over one‐half of the participants viewed their cross‐functional team’s work as unsuccessful, and these same individuals felt less optimistic about cross‐functional teams than they had before participating in one. While it is apparent that organizational leaders, are enthusiastically embracing team efforts, calls for additional analysis to explore the unique challenges of cross‐functional teams so organizations can consistently benefit from their efforts. Examines those factors that contributed to the success of the teams in this study and offers recommendations for working with cross‐functional teams.

Investigating Travel Thresholds for Sports and Recreation Activities

Abstract: Central to the practice of urban planning is the provision of services, which has potential public health and social welfare implications. However, service area analysis, typically, employs arbitrary travel-distance thresholds. Through this study we provide an empirical investigation into the durations and distances that respondents are willing to travel in order to engage in various sports and recreation activities. This research uses time-diary data, augmented with global positioning system information, to investigate individually based and objectively measured travel thresholds (which define travelsheds) for various sports and recreation activities in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Results accord with national time-diary data, and indicate that duration-based and distance-based travelsheds are generally in the order of 15–30 minutes and 4–20 km, respectively. Georeferenced time-diary data provide unique insights into travel thresholds, which may be used to help improve accessibility and thereby increase the fre...

The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). The distinct build-up of dense and normal massive passive galaxies

Abstract: We have used the final data from the VIPERS redshift survey to extract an unparalleled sample of more than 2000 massive ℳ≥10 11 M ⊙ passive galaxies (MPGs) at redshift 0.5≤ z ≤1.0, based on their NUV rK colours. This has enabled us to investigate how the population of these objects was built up over cosmic time. We find that the evolution of the number density depends on the galaxy mean surface stellar mass density, Σ. In particular, dense (Σ≥2000 M ⊙ pc -2 ) MPGs show a constant comoving number density over this redshift range, whilst this increases by a factor of approximately four for the least dense objects, defined as having Σ M ⊙ pc -2 . We estimated stellar ages for the MPG population both fitting the spectral energy distribution (SED) and through the D4000 n index, obtaining results in good agreement. Our findings are consistent with passive ageing of the stellar content of dense MPGs. We show that at any redshift the less dense MPGs are younger than dense ones and that their stellar populations evolve at a slower rate than predicted by passive evolution. This points to a scenario in which the overall population of MPGs was built up over the cosmic time by continuous addition of less dense galaxies: on top of an initial population of dense objects that passively evolves, new, larger, and younger MPGs continuously join the population at later epochs. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed increase in the number density of MPGs is totally accounted for by the observed decrease in the number density of correspondingly massive star forming galaxies (i.e. all the non-passive ℳ≥10 11 M ⊙ objects). Such systems observed at z ≃ 1 in VIPERS, therefore, represent the most plausible progenitors of the subsequent emerging class of larger MPGs.