Pasquina - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Im not an immunologist... (Score 1) 73

by Pasquina on Friday July 07, 2017 @02:28PM (#54765353) Attached to: Personalized Cancer Vaccines Safely Fight, Kill Tumors In Early Human Trials

Short answer: Yes, in theory.

Unproven therapies usually start out by treating patients with no other good options. Without good data, there is no reason to believe the new therapy is better than the standard of care - that's the whole point of late stage trials.

As doctors and the FDA and insurance companies and patients get more convinced that a therapy is useful, there will be a push to use it at an earlier line of therapy, and the company will run trials in earlier stage patients. Eventually, this could be used as a first line treatment if it proves better than the other options, but it's not statistically convincing yet, so it would be considered unethical to withhold the standard of care in favor of the vaccine.

Combinations of treatments (standard of care + vaccine vs. standard of care alone) are difficult because they are expensive (the vaccine manufacturer would have to pay for all drug for all enrolled patients) and the combination could potentially have increased toxicity.

Comment Re:Control group (Score 5, Informative) 73

by Pasquina on Friday July 07, 2017 @10:50AM (#54763579) Attached to: Personalized Cancer Vaccines Safely Fight, Kill Tumors In Early Human Trials

Early stage (Phase I) trials usually don't have control groups because the goal is to test for toxicity of the therapy. Later stage (Phase II, III) look to compare efficacy against the "standard of care." In this study, no one was admitted to the study but did not receive the therapy - that will happen in the next study.

Phase I trials are traditionally done in health volunteers, but these days, cancer trials are frequently performed in late stage cancer patients because they are desperate and have no other (Western medical) options. These patients had exceedingly little chance of spontaneous recovery, so you can assume the "control" group would have close to 0% survival.

The fact that they got such a huge response is amazing and highly promising.

Comment Too many IP addresses (Score 2) 130

by Pasquina on Thursday April 20, 2017 @11:33AM (#54270103) Attached to: MIT No Longer Owns 18.0.0.0/8

MIT claimed all of 18.x.x.x early on and just held onto them. When I was there in 2007, I believe they let my frat have full control of all of 18.236.x.x, no subnets required, for 40 guys.

For those interested, Wikipedia has an amusing list of original A level IP assignments: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F...

Comment Re:I like (Score 1) 268

by Pasquina on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @04:20PM (#53821149) Attached to: Slashdot Asks: Your Favorite Podcasts? And Why?

99% Invisible should be heard by everyone. The host Roman Mars is interesting, interested, and always positive. He makes me feel informed and happy.

For Automated Testing, Better Alternatives To DOS Batch Files? 426

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 26, 2010 @06:35PM from the run-them-under-wine dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I am working on a project that would allow our customers to test out sending different PCL commands to LAN printers. My initial thought was that a DOS batch file will allow users to select some simple options, send the tests to printers, and even generate a small web page which, when launched from the batch file, will provide email feedback on the tool. This all worked. To spice it up I added some ANSI color commands to the menus, though the implementation of that may prove tricky without resorting to .COM files or forcing the load of the ansi.sys via the command.com shortcut. And this implementation goes against my initial idea that I want the entire thing to be contained in a standalone batch file. My questions are: Is there a better option for this? Are DOS Batch files too 1990s to be taken seriously in 2010? The application needs to (1) be simple (2) be easy to update (3) be able to send PCL commands to LAN-attached printers and (4) allow email feedback. I don't know what other programming language would allow this and be as simple. I tend to think that I have found the best tool for the job but if you have another idea let me know. Call me crazy but I love DOS."

3rd-Grader Busted For Jolly Rancher Possession 804

Posted by samzenpus on Monday May 10, 2010 @11:10AM from the step-away-from-the-candy dept.

theodp writes "A third-grader in a small Texas school district received a week's detention for merely possessing a Jolly Rancher. Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice. But school officials are defending the sentence, saying the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned 'minimal nutrition' foods. 'Whether or not I agree with the guidelines, we have to follow the rules,' said school superintendent Jack Ellis."

Evolution, Big Bang Polls Omitted From NSF Report 495

Posted by Soulskill on Friday April 09, 2010 @06:45PM from the don't-let-the-rest-of-the-world-know-how-stupid-we-really-are dept.

cremeglace writes "In an unusual last-minute edit that has drawn flak from the White House and science educators, a federal advisory committee omitted data on Americans' knowledge of evolution and the Big Bang from a key report. The data shows that Americans are far less likely than the rest of the world to accept that humans evolved from earlier species and that the universe began with a big bang."

For GUIs, Just the Right Degree of Realism 256

Posted by timothy on Friday January 22, 2010 @09:36AM from the insightful-line-drawing dept.

mr crypto writes "User interfaces make copious use of pictures and symbols, but how abstract should images be? Lukas Mathis has an interesting blog entry on where to draw the line."

Aussie Scientists Find Coconut-Carrying Octopus 205

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 15, 2009 @02:40PM from the concealed-carry-in-australian-waters dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from an AP report: "Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal. The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot. ... 'I was gobsmacked,' said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. 'I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh.'"

What Do You Do When Printers Cost Less Than Ink? 970

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 03, 2009 @05:21PM from the buy-more-printers dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A family member recently asked me to pick up more ink for her Epson Photo RX 595. Unfortunately, replacing the black and color ink cartridges costs $81.92 + tax at the local store! That's so bad that I got a replacement printer that's just as good, and spare ink, for less. But now I have a useless piece of e-waste that I can't even give away. What can you do with a printer like that? I hate to just throw it away."

Apple's Mini DisplayPort Officially Adopted By VESA 160

Posted by timothy on Tuesday November 10, 2009 @01:12PM from the good-for-tiny-pictures dept.

DJRumpy writes "The Video Electronics Standard Association officially issued its Mini DisplayPort standard Tuesday, based on the technology licensed from Apple. VESA said that all devices using the Mini DisplayPort connector must meet the specifications required by the DisplayPort 1.1a standard, and cables that support the standard must also meet specific electrical specifications. It's a formal confirmation of the news from earlier this year, when VESA announced the Mini DisplayPort connector would be included in the forthcoming DisplayPort 1.2 specification."

Ubuntu "Karmic Koala" RC Hits the Streets With Windows 7 483

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday October 23, 2009 @03:12PM from the cute-cuddly-linux dept.

oranghutan writes "Computerworld is reporting Canonical has made available the Release Candidate of its latest Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu 9.10, on the same day Microsoft launched the long-awaited Windows 7. 'The upcoming Canonical release, which is code-named Karmic Koala, is the latest version of the popular flavor of the Linux OS. The development release on Thursday pushed the OS one step closer to final release, which is due on Oct. 29, according to the company's release schedule Web page. An image of the OS is available for download on Ubuntu's Web site. Test versions of Karmic Koala RC available for download include the server, desktop and netbook versions.'"

Robot Controlled By Human Brain Cells 86

Posted by timothy on Tuesday October 20, 2009 @09:00AM from the rat-is-a-pig-is-a-boy dept.

destinyland writes "There's a new experiment from the British researchers who created a robot controlled by cultured rat neurons. They're now using a line of human brain neurons to control robots. The neurons are placed onto a multi-electrode dish that registers the neurons' electric signals. 'Every time the robot nears an object, the electrodes generate signals to stimulate the brain. In response, the brain's output is used to drive the wheels of the robot left and right so that it avoids hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer — its sole means of control is from its own brain.'"

US Nuclear Power Industry Poised For a Comeback 853

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday September 08, 2009 @04:41PM from the do-not-want dept.

ThousandStars sends us to The Wall Street Journal for a report that momentum for nuclear energy is waxing in the US. "For the first time in decades, popular opinion is on the industry's side. A majority of Americans thinks nuclear power, which emits virtually no carbon dioxide, is a safe and effective way to battle climate change, according to recent polls. At the same time, legislators are showing renewed interest in nuclear as they hunt for ways to slash greenhouse-gas emissions. The industry is seizing this chance to move out of the shadow of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and show that it has solved the three big problems that have long dogged it: cost, safety and waste."

Submission + - Sound from bird wings act as a predator alarm

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @11:50AM

An anonymous reader writes: Biologists have discovered that a species of Australian pigeon has a secret way of alerting fellow birds to predators — a 'whistle' emitted by flapping wings when the bird takes off in alarm. The crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) is well known for the abrupt metallic-sounding whistle that it makes on takeoff. Many birds have the ability to make vocal cries to alert other members of their flock, but this is the first study to show that flight noise can also serve as an alarm call.

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