Increasingly, countries around the world are adopting policies that emphasize the importance of partnerships for disaster resilience. The overarching questions that this paper investigates are how to form and sustain (1) effective collaborative arrangements involving governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and communities to ensure development of disaster resilient communities, and (2) governance institutions that can effectively mobilize geographically dispersed disaster response resources with fragmented ownership. We have reviewed case studies of alternative inter-sectoral collaborative arrangements that were formed to (1) promote the development of resilient communities and critical physical and social systems; (2) mitigate or respond to emerging crises; or (3) facilitate post-disaster recovery and learning.We have developed grounded propositions articulating the antecedents of performance of inter-sectoral collaborative arrangements.
Advancing age leads to significant decline in immune functions. IL-21 is produced primarily by T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and is required for effective immune cell functions. Here we compared the induction of IL-21 in aged and young subjects. Our investigation demonstrates that CD4+T cells from healthy elderly individuals (age ≥ 65) secreted significantly higher levels of IL-21 on priming with aged and young dendritic cells (DC). Though the aged and young DCs secreted comparable levels of IL-12 on stimulation with anti-CD40 antibody and LPS, culture of DCs with aged CD4+ T cells resulted in increased production of IL-21 as compared to that with young CD4+ T cells. Further examination revealed that the response of aged naïve CD4+ T cells to IL-12 was altered, resulting in increased differentiation of aged Th cells towards Tfh cells. Investigation into the signaling mechanism suggested that phosphorylation of STAT-4 in response to IL-12 was sustained for a longer duration in aged CD4+ T cells as compared to CD4+ T cells from young subjects. Additional analysis demonstrated that increased IL-21 secretion correlated with chronic CMV infection in aged subjects. These findings indicate that chronic CMV infection alters the response of aged CD4+ T cells to IL-12 resulting in an increased secretion of IL-21 and that aging affects Tfh cell responses in humans which may contribute to age-associated inflammation and immune dysfunctions.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based brain segmentation has recently been revolutionized by deep learning methods. These methods use large numbers of annotated segmentations to train algorithms that have the potential to perform brain segmentations reliably and quickly. However, training data for these algorithms are frequently obtained from automated brain segmentation systems, which may contain inaccurate neuroanatomy. Thus, the neuroimaging community would benefit from an open source database of high quality, neuroanatomically curated and manually edited MRI brain images, as well as the publicly available tools and detailed procedures for generating these curated data. Manual segmentation approaches are regarded as the gold standard for brain segmentation and parcellation. These approaches underpin the construction of neuroanatomically accurate human brain atlases. In addition, neuroanatomically precise definitions of MRI-based regions of interest (ROIs) derived from manual brain segmentation are essential for accuracy in structural connectivity studies and in surgical planning for procedures such as deep brain stimulation. However, manual segmentation procedures are time and labor intensive, and not practical in studies utilizing very large datasets, large cohorts, or multimodal imaging. Automated segmentation methods were developed to overcome these issues, and provide high data throughput, increased reliability, and multimodal imaging capability. These methods utilize manually labeled brain atlases to automatically parcellate the brain into different ROIs, but do not have the anatomical accuracy of skilled manual segmentation approaches. In the present study, we developed a custom software module for manual editing of brain structures in the freely available 3D Slicer software platform that employs principles and tools based on pioneering work from the Center for Morphometric Analysis (CMA) at Massachusetts General Hospital. We used these novel 3D Slicer segmentation tools and techniques in conjunction with well-established neuroanatomical definitions of subcortical brain structures to manually segment 50 high resolution T1w MRI brains from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) Young Adult database. The structural definitions used herein are associated with specific neuroanatomical ontologies to systematically interrelate histological and MRI-based morphometric definitions. The resulting brain datasets are publicly available and will provide the basis for a larger database of anatomically curated brains as an open science resource.
Introduction Spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Mobile Stroke Unit (MSU) provides a unique opportunity to assess patients in the hyperacute phase of ICH to track outcomes. Methods Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patients with spontaneous ICH diagnosed on two different MSUs in the United States. Patients were divided into three groups based on symptom onset/last known well (LKW): Group 1: 0–1 hours from LKW, Group 2: 1–2 hours from LKW, and Group 3: 2–4 hours from LKW. We compared neurological decline (ND) rates between MSU and Emergency Department (ED) arrival for patients in the three groups. Neurological decline was defined as a decrease in GCS by ≥ 2 points or an increase in NIHSS ≥ 4 points between MSU and ED examination. χ2 test was used to compare the proportion of patients who experience ND between MSU and ED transport. We also assessed and compared pre‐defined factors that could be associated with ND in the three groups. CT scans done on MSU were compared to those done on ED arrival. Results Results: Fifty‐fourpatients met the study criteria. The mean age was 62, and 69% were male. Median MSU NIHSS was 18, and median ED NIHSS was 19. The mean MSU GCS was 14, and ED GCS was 12. The mean hematoma volume on the MSU CT head was 21 cc and 24 cc on the ED CT head. Mean MSU MAP was 136, and MAP on ED arrival was 120. Thirty‐three percent (18/54) of patients experienced ND between MSU and ED transport. Forty percent (n = 10/25) patients in group 1, 22% (n = 4/18) in group 2 and 36%(n = 4/11) in group 3 had ND (chi‐square 0.45). Overall, patients with ND experienced significantly high mortality (OR 5.091, p = 0.029, CI 1.24‐20.78). On univariate analysis, variables significantly associated with ND were MSU NIHSS, hematoma volume, and presence of hydrocephalus on MSU CT scan. No variables were significant to predict ND on multivariate analysis (Hematoma Expansion OR 1.028, CI 0.99‐1.05; Hydrocephalus OR 3.70 CI 0.67‐20.43) Conclusions Conclusion: One‐thirdof ICH patients experience neurological decline between MSU and ED transport within four hours of symptom onset and are at a significantly higher risk of mortality. Higher ND rates are likely due to earlier diagnosis of ICH on MSU. Due to the smaller sample size, we did not find significant variables associated with ND. However, various ways of providing rapid medical and surgical treatment to these patients should be explored in future studies to assess the effect on functional outcomes.
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