The Female Cervicovaginal Mucosa Is a Unique Site for the Production of Autoantibodies Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Purpose/Background: Women have a 3-fold higher incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a lower likelihood of remission compared to men suggesting a gender disparity in the etiology of RA. In order to devise female specific prevention and treatment strategies, it is critical to understand the mechanism initiating the production of RA autoantibodies termed anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA). ACPA target proteins that are posttranslationally modified by a family of enzymes termed peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs), which convert arginine into citrulline. Research suggests that ACPA are generated at a mucosal site years before becoming systemic and causing clinical joint disease. Mucosal sites such as the lung, gut, and gingiva have been explored as sites of ACPA production, yet none of these account for the higher incidence of RA in women. We hypothesize that the cervicovaginal mucosa is a novel, sex-specific site for APCA production in women. Materials & Methods: To begin to test this hypothesis, healthy control (HC) women, women at risk for RA (AR), and those with clinical RA self-collected cervicovaginal fluid (CVF) at three time points during the menstrual cycle. CVF samples were examined for PAD activity, total citrulline concentration, and cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP) as a marker for ACAP levels. Results: In naturally cycling HC women, CCP peak in early follicular phase (d5), dropped substantially by ovulation (d14), and remained low at the end of the luteal phase (d26). PAD enzymatic activity and total citrulline concentration also peak in CVF at d5 of the menstrual cycle, suggesting that changes in citrullinated proteins may drive local ACPA production. We next examined if CCP, PAD activity, and total citrulline concentration are increased in CVF from women at-risk (AR) for developing RA and women with RA. Although PAD activity and total citrulline concentration does not increase in these groups compared to health controls, CCP levels are significantly increased between the HC and RA CVF samples at d25. At issue is the identity of the citrullinated proteins in HC, AR and RA CVF, and if their abundance changes across the cycle and with disease progression. To address this, we performed mass spectrometry on CVF samples which identified a number of citrullinated proteins present in HC, AR, and RA women. Discussion/Conclusion: Our work suggests that citrullinated proteins and ACPA are produced in the cervicovaginal mucosa and may help explain why women have increased risk of developing RA

Review of The Endless Battle: The Fall of Hong Kong and Canadian POWs in Imperial Japan by Andy Flanagan

Review of The Endless Battle: The Fall of Hong Kong and Canadian POWs in Imperial Japan by Andy Flanagan

FPGA based maximum power point tracking controller for photovoltaic system

Nowadays, PV cell which is known as a photovoltaic is one of the most important parts in electrical field to convert photolight to voltage and current at the desired output voltage and frequency by using varies control techniques. This project presents design and implementation of FPGA Based Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Controller for Photovoltaic system. The MPPT controller is employed to control and get Maximum Power Point (MPP) of the output voltage reference from the source. Altera DE2 board devices are used as a controller for the implementation of the MPPT system. The simulation of this FPGA based MPPT controller is designed and implemented using Quartus II VHDL software tools. The results shown, the same signal obtained from Matlab simulink software as compared with Quartus II. It has been observed that the designed system has been successfully extracting the MPP from the pseudo sources used in the simulations. The system has been evaluated in sunny day and partially shaded conditions to analyze the respective outputs in these conditions

Condom Use and Consistency Among Teen Males

This Child Trends study finds that any type of formal sex education is linked with higher levels of condom use at teen males' first sexual experience. However, one in five teen males (ages 15-19) did not receive formal sex education about either abstinence or contraception before having sex for the first time. The study, published in the October 2008 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health and summarized in this fact sheet, examines how multiple dimensions of teen males' lives are associated with condom use and consistency. Among the findings: --Having an older partner or a casual partner is linked to less condom use. Nearly one-fourth of teen males had an older recent partner and more than one-third were in a casual relationship with their first sexual partner. --Older teen males and those in longer relationships are less likely to use condoms. This was true even after controlling for whether their partner used a contraceptive method. --Positive attitudes about using condoms are linked to actual use. Teen males who disagree with the ideas that condoms reduce physical pleasure and that it would be embarrassing to discuss condom use with a new partner have higher levels of condom use and consistency. --Seven in ten teen males reported using a condom at their first and at their most recent sexual experience, but fewer reported using condoms consistently. Just one-half of sexually active teen males reported using a condom consistently with their most recent sexual partner

Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, And International Humanitarian Law

The fact that war is the primary cause of people being uprooted prompts us to ask what protection the law of armed conflict affords refugees and displaced persons. How does humanitarian law protect groups of civilians from being forced to flee? What protection does it offer those who have nevertheless been uprooted, and how does that protection interrelate with refugee law? How can the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross (“ICRC”), come to the aid of refugees and displaced persons? These are the questions this Article aims to answer. First, however, let us recall what international humanitarian law is

Introduction [to Doctrina perpetua: brokering change, promoting innovation and transforming marginalisation in university learning and teaching]

It is arguable that, in addition to brokering change and promoting innovation, contemporary universities have a responsibility to direct their teaching and learning activities at transforming marginalisation. This contention derives from the fundamental and enduring ambivalence attending discussions of the purpose and significance of universities. On the one hand, they can be seen as “ivory towers” and hence as the bastions of privilege and the repositories of “high culture”, overseeing the maintenance of what the elite determines is the best of a nation’s heritage. On the other hand, and by contrast, they can be viewed as the vehicles for progressive social change and as the sites for interrogating current issues in terms of whose voices are heard and whose are silenced in relation to those issues. Given this ambivalence, it is clearly incumbent on universities to find ways of confirming that they contribute to disrupting and subverting sociocultural inequities rather than replicating them. In keeping with the emphasis on diversity and heterogeneity evident throughout this book, the authors of the chapters in this section have been encouraged to deploy a number of conceptual and methodological resources in engaging with the theme of transforming marginalisation in preference to the section editor predetermining a single, fixed definition of “marginalisation” and its “transformation”. At the same time, each chapter identifies particular attributes of groups of learners that might potentially render them at greater risk than other groups of not attaining their educational goals and links those attributes with specific strategies that have been demonstrated through evidencebased practice to reduce that risk—at least for some learners in those groups. What emerges is a picture of considerable complexity, with some strategies proving effective for large numbers of students and conforming to the features of current best practice in university learning and teaching, yet also with some elements of marginalisation remaining remarkably resistant to amelioration and transformation. Understanding this complex and somewhat contradictory picture is crucial to taking up the challenges and opportunities that mark the intersection between doctrina perpetua and transforming marginalisation