Southeast Asia's import demand for skim milk powder: Implications for US exporters.

Dairy industries in Southeast Asia are small and produce less than the domestic market demands. As expenditure and population grow in Southeast Asia, it is expected that the expenditures on skim milk powder (SMP) will grow. In this study, we examined the competitiveness of US SMP in the Southeast Asian market with respect to other leading dairy exporters, including the European Union (EU-28), New Zealand, and Australia. Using monthly data from 2006 to 2015, Rotterdam models were used to estimate import demands for SMP in 4 Southeast Asian countries. In a scenario using annual averages from 2013 to 2015 as a baseline, our findings suggest that a 10% reduction in the US price of SMP would cause Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines SMP imports from the United States to increase by 3.96, 0.44, 2.68, and 1.94 kt, respectively. Under the same scenario, the value of US SMP imports would decrease for Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines by $4.12, $2.93, and $2.48 million, respectively; however, the value of US SMP to Singapore would increase by $0.20 million. Singapore and Indonesia expenditures for the US SMP are elastic, which means that as expenditure and population in Southeast Asia continue to grow, a 1% increase in SMP expenditure in Singapore and Indonesia would result in 1.25 and 1.20% increases in US SMP exports.

An apparatus to manipulate and identify individual Ba ions from bulk liquid Xe.

We describe a system to transport and identify barium ions produced in liquid xenon, as part of R&D towards the second phase of a double beta decay experiment, nEXO. The goal is to identify the Ba ion resulting from an extremely rare nuclear decay of the isotope (136)Xe, hence providing a confirmation of the occurrence of the decay. This is achieved through Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (RIS). In the test setup described here, Ba ions can be produced in liquid xenon or vacuum and collected on a clean substrate. This substrate is then removed to an analysis chamber under vacuum, where laser-induced thermal desorption and RIS are used with time-of-flight mass spectroscopy for positive identification of the barium decay product.

Search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in 136Xe with EXO-200.

We report on a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136Xe with EXO-200. No signal is observed for an exposure of 32.5 kg yr, with a background of ∼1.5×10(-3) kg(-1) yr(-1) keV(-1) in the ±1σ region of interest. This sets a lower limit on the half-life of the neutrinoless double-beta decay T(1/2)(0νßß)(136Xe)>1.6×10(25) yr (90% C.L.), corresponding to effective Majorana masses of less than 140-380 meV, depending on the matrix element calculation.

Observation of two-neutrino double-beta decay in 136Xe with the EXO-200 detector.

We report the observation of two-neutrino double-beta decay in (136)Xe with T(1/2) = 2.11 ± 0.04(stat) ± 0.21(syst) × 10(21) yr. This second-order process, predicted by the standard model, has been observed for several nuclei but not for (136)Xe. The observed decay rate provides new input to matrix element calculations and to the search for the more interesting neutrinoless double-beta decay, the most sensitive probe for the existence of Majorana particles and the measurement of the neutrino mass scale.

Assessing economic and demographic factors that influence United States dairy demand.

Low-fat dairy products are key components of a healthy diet for all Americans. As the USDA increases its focus on nutrition and healthy eating, it is important to understand the underlying demands for dairy products, both the healthy and the less healthy ones. The consumption of fluid milk products has decreased over the last decade, whereas milk used for manufactured dairy products such as cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and butter, and for use as an ingredient in other food products, has risen. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of changes in demographic variables, retail prices, and total dairy expenditure on at-home consumption of dairy products, using purchase data from Nielsen 2007 Homescan (ACNielsen, New York, NY) data. To derive the demand elasticities for 16 products, a censored Almost Ideal Demand System model is used. Results reveal that demographic variables do have effects on the purchase of the 16 products, and own-price elasticities are 1 or greater for all 16 products for both uncompensated and compensated elasticities except 4: ice cream, refrigerated yogurt, processed cheese, and margarine. A substitution relationship exists among all fluid milk categories, natural and processed cheese, low-fat ice cream, and refrigerated yogurt, butter, and margarine.

An analysis of at-home demand for ice cream in the United States.

Ice cream has been manufactured commercially in the United States since the middle of the 19th century. Ice cream and frozen dessert products comprise an important and relatively stable component of the United States dairy industry. As with many other dairy products, ice cream is differentiated in several dimensions. A censored translog demand system model was employed to analyze purchases of 3 ice cream product categories. The objective of this study was to determine the effect that changes in retail prices and consumer income have on at-home ice cream consumption. The analysis was based on Nielsen 2005 home scan retail data and used marital status, age, race, education, female employment status, and location in the estimations of aggregate demand elasticities. Results revealed that price and consumer income were the main determinants of demand for ice cream products. Calculated own-price elasticities indicated relatively elastic responses by consumers for all categories except for compensated bulk ice cream. All expenditure elasticities were inelastic except for bulk ice cream, and most of the ice cream categories were substitutes. Ongoing efforts to examine consumer demand for these products will assist milk producers, dairy processors and manufacturers, and dairy marketers as they face changing consumer responses to food and diet issues.

Development of ABX-EGF, a fully human anti-EGF receptor monoclonal antibody, for cancer therapy.

Overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) has been demonstrated on many human tumors, and the increase in receptor expression levels has been linked with a poor clinical prognosis. Blocking the interaction of EGFr and the growth factors could lead to the arrest of tumor growth and possibly result in tumor cell death. To this end, using XenoMouse technology, ABX-EGF, a human IgG2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific to human EGFr, has been generated. ABX-EGF binds EGFr with high affinity (5x10(-11) M), blocks the binding of both EGF and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) to various EGFr-expressing human carcinoma cell lines, and inhibits EGF-dependent tumor cell activation, including EGFr tyrosine phosphorylation, increased extracellular acidification rate, and cell proliferation. In vivo ABX-EGF prevents completely the formation of human epidermoid carcinoma A431 xenografts in athymic mice. More importantly, administration of ABX-EGF without concomitant chemotherapy results in complete eradication of established tumors. No tumor recurrence was observed for more than 8 months following the last antibody injection, further indicating complete tumor cell elimination by the antibody. Inhibition of human pancreatic, renal, breast and prostate tumor xenografts which express different levels of EGFr by ABX-EGF was also achieved. Tumor expressing more than 17000 EGFr molecules per cell showed significant growth inhibition when treated with ABX-EGF. ABX-EGF had no effect on EGFr-negative tumors. The potency of ABX-EGF in eradicating well-established tumors without concomitant chemotherapy indicates its potential as a monotherapeutic agent for treatment of multiple EGFr-expressing human solid tumors, including those where no effective chemotherapy is available. Utilization of mAbs directed to growth factor receptors as cancer therapeutics has been validated recently by the tumor responses obtained from clinical trials with Herceptin, the humanized anti-HER2 antibody, in patients with HER2 overexpressing metastatic breast cancer. Being a fully human antibody, ABX-EGF is anticipated to exhibit a long serum half-life and minimal immunogenicity with repeated administration, even in immunocompetent patients. These results demonstrate the potent anti-tumor activity of ABX-EGF and its therapeutic potential for the treatment of multiple human solid tumors that overexpress EGFr.

Injury threshold: whiplash-associated disorders.

OBJECTIVES: To review current knowledge and recent concepts of the causes of injuries after minor impact automobile collisions and to acquaint those who treat these types of injuries with possible injury thresholds and mechanisms that may contribute to symptoms. DATA SOURCES: A review of literature involving mechanisms of injury, tissue tensile threshold, and neurologic considerations was undertaken. A hand-search of relevant engineering, medical/chiropractic, and computer Index Medicus sources in disciplines that cover the variety of symptoms was gathered. RESULTS: Soft-tissue injuries are difficult to diagnose or quantify. There is not one specific injury mechanism or threshold of injury. With physical variations of tissue tensile strength, anatomic differences, and neurophysiologic considerations, such threshold designation is not possible. CONCLUSIONS: To make a competent assessment of injury, it is important to evaluate each patient individually. The same collision may cause injury to some individuals and leave others unaffected. With the variability of human postures, tensile strength of the ligaments between individuals, body positions in the vehicle, collagen fibers in the same specimen segment, the amount of muscle activation and inhibition of muscles, the size of the spinal canals, and the excitability of the nervous system, one specific threshold is not possible. How individuals react to a stimulus varies widely, and it is evident peripheral stimulation has effects on the central nervous system. It is also clear that the somatosensory system of the neck, in addition to signaling nociception, may influence the control of neck, eyes, limbs, respiratory muscles, and some preganglionic sympathetic nerves.

Production of protective human antipneumococcal antibodies by transgenic mice with human immunoglobulin loci.

Infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. To gain insight into structure-function relationships for human antibodies to pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide (PPS), we studied the response of transgenic mice reconstituted with human immunoglobulin loci, XenoMouse, to PPS antigens in a pneumococcal vaccine. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays of sera from mice vaccinated with a 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine revealed that they produced serotype-specific human antibodies, with the greatest response being to the PPS of serotype 3 (PPS 3). Molecular sequence analysis of three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to PPS 3 generated from lymphoid cells from mice vaccinated with a 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine or a PPS 3-bovine serum albumin conjugate revealed that they all used heavy-chain immunoglobulin genes from the V(H)3 family, two expressed light chain genes from the human Vkappa1 family, and one expressed a mouse lambda light chain. The protective efficacy of the two MAbs was examined in mice. A 10-microgram dose of both, and a 1-microgram dose of one, significantly prolonged survival from a lethal serotype 3 infection in CBA/N mice. Our data show that XenoMouse mice produced protective, serotype-specific human antibodies to PPS 3, and they lend support to the proposal that these animals represent a useful model to study the human antibody response to PPS antigens.

The human immunoglobulin loci introduced into mice: V (D) and J gene segment usage similar to that of adult humans.

Variable gene segments of the human immunoglobulin loci are represented in the human peripheral repertoire at different frequencies. XenoMouse strains contain approximately 2 megabases of the human immunoglobulin heavy and kappa light chain loci that functionally recapitulate the human humoral immune system. Analysis of human antibody transcripts from XenoMouse spleens and lymph nodes revealed that V, D and J gene segment utilization from these unimmunized animals were nearly identical to the gene segment utilization reported for humans with extensive antigenic histories.

Searching for meaning in loss: are clinical assumptions correct.

Three assumptions guiding research and clinical intervention strategies for people coping with sudden, traumatic loss are that (a) people confronting such losses inevitably search for meaning, (b) over time most are able to find meaning and put the issue aside, and (c) finding meaning is critical for adjustment or healing. We review existing empirical research that addresses these assumptions and present evidence from a study of 124 parents coping with the death of their infant and a study of 93 adults coping with the loss of their spouse or child to a motor vehicle accident. Results of these studies indicate that (a) a significant subset of individuals do not search for meaning and yet appear relatively well-adjusted to their loss; (b) less than half of the respondents in each of these samples report finding any meaning in their loss, even more than a year after the event; and (c) those who find meaning, although better adjusted than those who search but are unable to find meaning, do not put the issue of meaning aside and move on. Rather, they continue to pursue the issue of meaning as fervently as those who search but do not find meaning. Implications for both research and clinical intervention are discussed.

"Thanks for sharing that": ruminators and their social support networks.

Receiving positive social support after a trauma generally is related to better adjustment to the trauma. The personality of trauma survivors may affect the extent to which they seek social support, their perceived receipt of social support, and the extent to which they benefit from social support. The authors hypothesized that people with a ruminative coping style, who tended to focus excessively on their own emotional reactions to a trauma, compared to those without a ruminative coping style, would seek more social support, and would benefit more from social support, but would report receiving less social support. These hypotheses were confirmed in a longitudinal study of people who lost a loved one to a terminal illness.

Fully human anti-interleukin-8 monoclonal antibodies: potential therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory disease states.

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a potent chemotactic cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of inflammatory disease states. Agents that block the binding of IL-8 to its receptor have been shown to block inflammation in animal models of disease. This suggests that drugs specifically targeting IL-8 may prove efficacious in treating multiple human diseases. To this end, we developed a panel of fully human anti-IL-8 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). These human antibodies were generated from XenoMouse strains, mice created by introducing megabase-size unrearranged human immunoglobulin heavy and kappa light chain loci into a mouse genome in which the corresponding endogenous loci have been inactivated. From the panel of more than 50 mAbs, two antibodies, K4.3 and K2.2, were further characterized and evaluated for their specificity, productivity, affinity, and biological activity. Both K4.3 and K2.2 bind human IL-8 with high affinity (Kd of K4.3 = 2.1x10(10) M; Kd of K2.2 = 2.5x10(-10) M). In vitro, in addition to blocking IL-8 binding to human neutrophils, K4.3 and K2.2 blocked a number of IL-8-dependent cellular functions including neutrophil activation, up-regulation of the cell adhesion receptor CD11b/CD18, and neutrophil chemotaxis, suggesting that the fully human anti-IL-8 mAbs derived from XenoMouse strains are potent anti-inflammatory agents. This was further supported by in vivo studies in which K4.3 and K2.2 significantly inhibited IL-8-induced skin inflammation in rabbits. A pharmacokinetic study in Cynomolgus monkeys demonstrated that the alpha phase half-life is 9.4 h and the beta phase 10.9 days, typical of human mAbs in monkeys. These data support advancing a fully human anti-IL-8 mAb into clinical trials to treat inflammatory diseases.

Eradication of established tumors by a fully human monoclonal antibody to the epidermal growth factor receptor without concomitant chemotherapy.

A fully human IgG2kappa monoclonal antibody (MAb), E7.6.3, specific to the human epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFr) was generated from human antibody-producing XenoMouse strains engineered to be deficient in mouse antibody production and to contain the majority of the human antibody gene repertoire on megabase-sized fragments from the human heavy and kappa light chain loci. The E7.6.3 MAb exhibits high affinity (KD = 5 x 10(-11) M) to the receptor, blocks completely the binding of both EGF and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-a) to various EGFr-expressing human carcinoma cell lines, and abolishes EGF-dependent cell activation, including EGFr tyrosine phosphorylation, increased extracellular acidification rate, and cell proliferation. The antibody (0.2 mg i.p. twice a week for 3 weeks) prevents completely the formation of human epidermoid carcinoma A431 xenografts in athymic mice. More importantly, the administration of E7.6.3 without concomitant chemotherapy results in complete eradication of established tumors as large as 1.2 cm3. Tumor eradication of A431 xenografts was achieved in nearly all of the mice treated with total E7.6.3 doses as low as 3 mg, administered over the course of 3 weeks, and a total dose of 0.6 mg led to tumor elimination in 65% of the mice. No tumor recurrence was observed for more than 8 months after the last antibody injection, which further indicated complete tumor cell elimination by the antibody. The potency of E7.6.3 in eradicating well-established tumors without concomitant chemotherapy indicates its potential as a monotherapeutic agent for the treatment of multiple EGFr-expressing human solid tumors, including those for which no effective chemotherapy is available. Being a fully human antibody, E7.6.3 is expected to exhibit minimal immunogenicity and a longer half-life as compared with mouse or mouse-derivatized MAbs, thus allowing repeated antibody administration, including in immunocompetent patients. These results suggest E7.6.3 as a good candidate for assessing the full therapeutic potential of anti-EGFr antibody in the therapy of multiple patient populations with EGFr-expressing solid tumors.

Transgenic mice as a source of fully human antibodies for the treatment of cancer.

The last two years have seen a renaissance of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of disease. Of the eight antibodies currently approved for human therapy, two are for the treatment of cancer. In large part, the revival of antibodies has been driven by technology developments geared toward making antibodies less likely to elicit an anti-antibody response in humans. The development of transgenic mice, XenoMouse animals, capable of making fully human antibodies offers new opportunities for generating antibodies of therapeutic quality. Recently, this technology has been applied to the generation of a fully human antibody to the epidermal growth factor receptor. A description of the development of this antibody serves to illustrate the power and ease of use of XenoMouse technology.

Rear-end impacts: vehicle and occupant response.

BACKGROUND: There is a controversy regarding the likelihood of injuries sustained when one car strikes another at a relatively low speed with little or no vehicle damage. Plaintiffs often claim injuries whereas defendants counterclaim that injuries could not have occurred with such a relatively minor impact. OBJECTIVE: To review the dynamics of low-speed rear-end collisions resulting in little or no visible damage and to decide whether occupant injury can occur; also, to discuss diagnostic examination and treatment that may be helpful to the clinical practitioner. DATA SELECTION: A Medline search for articles discussing low-speed rear-end collisions was conducted. Other articles and studies were reviewed that discussed low-speed rear-end collisions and factors impacting the neuromusculoskeletal system relevant to clinical practitioners. Articles included were human low-speed rear-end tests, lab tests on cadavers, automotive engineering articles, and peer-reviewed journal articles on whiplash. A few live animal and simulation studies were considered for the background of possible injury mechanism and vehicular deformation. Excluded were non-rear-end collison and single case reports. DATA SYNTHESIS: The data were studied to find a relationship between the resultant vehicle dynamics and occupant movement, biological mechanisms of injury and the neurological mechanisms causing complaints. Data were also studied to investigate objective findings supporting subjective complaints. CONCLUSION: In low-impact collisions, there are usually no skid marks and minor or no visible damage to the vehicle. There is a lack of relationship between occupant injury, vehicle speed and/or damage. There does not seem to be an absolute speed or amount of damage a vehicle sustains for a person to experience injury. Crash tests indicate that a change of vehicle velocity of 4 km/hr (2.5 mph) may produce occupant symptoms. Vehicle damage may not occur until 14-15 km/hr (8.7 mph). Occupant soft tissue and joint injuries resulting from low-speed vehicle collisions respond positively to afferent stimulation of mechanoreceptors. The diagnosis of the occupant injuries relies on standard orthopedic neurological testing, autonomic concomitant signs and qualitative and quantitative testing.

Making sense of loss and benefiting from the experience: two construals of meaning.

Theoretical models of the adjustment process following loss and trauma have emphasized the critical role that finding meaning plays. Yet evidence in support of these models is meager, and definitions of meaning have been too broad to facilitate a clear understanding of the psychological process involved. Using a prospective and longitudinal study of people coping with the loss of a family member, we differentiate 2 construals of meaning--making sense of the event and finding benefit in the experience--and demonstrate that both independently play roles in the adjustment process following the loss. Results indicate that making sense of the loss is associated with less distress, but only in the 1st year postloss, whereas reports of benefit finding are most strongly associated with adjustment at interviews 13 and 18 months postloss.

Childhood adversity and adult psychiatric disorder in the US National Comorbidity Survey.

BACKGROUND: Survey data are presented on the associations between retrospectively reported childhood adversities and subsequent onset and persistence of DSM-III-R disorders. METHODS: Data come from the US National Comorbidity Survey, a large survey of the US household population. RESULTS: Twenty-six adversities were considered, including loss events (e.g. parental divorce), parental psychopathologies (e.g. maternal depression), interpersonal traumas (e.g. rape) and other adversities (e.g. natural disaster). These adversities were consistently associated with onset, but not persistence, of DSM-III-R mood disorders, anxiety disorders, addictive disorders and acting out disorders. Most bivariate associations with onset attenuated in models that controlled for clustering of adversities and for lifetime co-morbidities among psychiatric disorders. Multivariate effects of adversities in logistic models were additive, which means that they have multiplicative effects on probability of disorder onset. Adversities showed little specificity. An analysis of time decay showed that the effects of childhood adversities on disorder onset persist beyond childhood. CONCLUSIONS: The existence of strong clustering among childhood adversities and lifetime co-morbidity among adult disorders means that caution is needed in interpreting the results of previous single-adversity single-disorder studies as documenting unique effects of specific childhood adversities on specific adult disorders. Future studies need to assess a broader range of adversities and disorders and to explore the existence and effects of commonly occurring adversity clusters. Replication is needed to verify that the effects of childhood adversities are mostly on first onset rather than on the creation of vulnerabilities that lead to increased risk of persistence.

The familial aggregation of common psychiatric and substance use disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey: a family history study.

BACKGROUND: Most family studies of psychiatric disorders examine one syndrome at a time, and identify probands in clinical rather than epidemiological settings. METHOD: In the National Comorbidity Survey, 5877 respondents were asked about the history of five psychiatric disorders in their parents: major depression (MD), generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), antisocial personality disorder (ASP), alcohol abuse/dependence (AAD) and drug abuse/dependence (DAD). RESULTS: Significant familial aggregation was seen for all disorders. Controlling for other disorders produced only modest reductions in the odds ratios for MD, GAD and AAD and larger reductions for ASP and DAD. The familial transmission of these disorders can be explained by underlying vulnerabilities to internalising and to externalising disorders transmitted across generations with moderate fidelity. CONCLUSIONS: Familial aggregation of common psychiatric and substance use disorders is substantial in epidemiologic samples. The examined environmental adversities account for little of the observed parent-offspring transmission of these conditions.