12,112 research outputs found

    Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease 2023 Report: GOLD executive summary.

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    This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has published the complete 2023 GOLD report, which can be freely downloaded from its web page (www. goldcopd.org) together with a “pocket guide” and “teaching slide set” (1). It contains important changes compared to earlier versions, and incorporates 387 new references (1). Here, we present an executive summary of this GOLD 2023 report (1) that summarizes aspects that a) are relevant from a clinician’s perspective and b) updates evidence published since the prior executive summary in 2017

    Oxysterols as drivers of inflammatory diseases

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    The place where curses are manufactured : four poets of the Vietnam War

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    The Vietnam War was unique among American wars. To pinpoint its uniqueness, it was necessary to look for a non-American voice that would enable me to articulate its distinctiveness and explore the American character as observed by an Asian. Takeshi Kaiko proved to be most helpful. From his novel, Into a Black Sun, I was able to establish a working pair of 'bookends' from which to approach the poetry of Walter McDonald, Bruce Weigl, Basil T. Paquet and Steve Mason. Chapter One is devoted to those seemingly mismatched 'bookends,' Walt Whitman and General William C. Westmoreland, and their respective anthropocentric and technocentric visions of progress and the peculiarly American concept of the "open road" as they manifest themselves in Vietnam. In Chapter, Two, I analyze the war poems of Walter McDonald. As a pilot, writing primarily about flying, his poetry manifests General Westmoreland's technocentric vision of the 'road' as determined by and manifest through technology. Chapter Three focuses on the poems of Bruce Weigl. The poems analyzed portray the literal and metaphorical descent from the technocentric, 'numbed' distance of aerial warfare to the world of ground warfare, and the initiation of a 'fucking new guy,' who discovers the contours of the self's interior through a set of experiences that lead from from aerial insertion into the jungle to the degradation of burning human feces. Chapter Four, devoted to the thirteen poems of Basil T. Paquet, focuses on the continuation of the descent begun in Chapter Two. In his capacity as a medic, Paquet's entire body of poems details his quotidian tasks which entail tending the maimed, the mortally wounded and the dead. The final chapter deals with Steve Mason's JohnnY's Song, and his depiction of the plight of Vietnam veterans back in "The World" who are still trapped inside the interior landscape of their individual "ghettoes" of the soul created by their war-time experiences

    »Doing market« - Unternehmerische Praxis und der Diskurs um »ethnische Ökonomie« im Markt für muslimische Mode in Berlin

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    Unter dem Schlagwort »ethnische Ökonomie« wird die berufliche Selbstständigkeit von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund in Politik und Wissenschaft diskutiert. Indem die Selbstständigen ihren »Markt machen«, positionieren sie sich mit dem und gegen diesen Diskurs. Robert Birnbauer zeigt aus einer wirtschaftsanthropologischen Perspektive, wie die Unternehmer*innen dabei ihre gesellschaftlichen Positionen und etablierte ökonomische Wissensbestände gleichermaßen verhandeln. Dazu folgt er dem Diskurs um »ethnische Ökonomie« von der politischen in die unternehmerische Praxis und zeigt: Geschäfte im Markt für muslimische Mode werden zum Resultat gesellschaftlicher Diskurse und der Markt zum Effekt beschreibbarer unternehmerischer Praxis - weit jenseits einer »unsichtbaren Hand«

    Craft Sciences

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    The field of ‘Craft Sciences’ refers to research conducted across and within different craft subjects and academic contexts. This anthology aims to expose the breadth of topics, source material, methods, perspectives, and results that reside in this field, and to explore what unites the research in such diverse contexts as, for example, the arts, conservation, or vocational craft education. The common thread between each of the chapters in the present book is the augmented attention given to methods—the craft research methods—and to the relationship between the field of inquiry and the field of practice. A common feature is that practice plays an instrumental role in the research found within the chapters, and that the researchers in this publication are also practitioners. The authors are researchers but they are also potters, waiters, carpenters, gardeners, textile artists, boat builders, smiths, building conservators, painting restorers, furniture designers, illustrators, and media designers. The researchers contribute from different research fields, like craft education, meal sciences, and conservation crafts, and from particular craft subjects, like boat-building and weaving. The main contribution of this book is that it collects together a number of related case studies and presents a reflection on concepts, perspectives, and methods in the general fields of craft research from the point of view of craft practitioners. It adds to the existing academic discussion of crafts through its wider acknowledgement of craftsmanship and extends its borders and its discourse outside the arts and crafts context. This book provides a platform from which to develop context-appropriate research strategies and to associate with the Craft Sciences beyond the borders of faculties and disciplines

    Not dead yet: Diatom resting spores can survive in nature for several millennia

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    Premise: Understanding the adaptive capacities of species over long timescales lies in examining the revived recent and millennia-old resting spores buried in sediments. We show for the first time the revival, viability, and germination rate of resting spores of the diatom Chaetoceros deposited in sub-seafloor sediments from three ages (recent: 0 to 80 years; ancient: similar to 1250 (Medieval Climate Anomaly) and similar to 6600 (Holocene Thermal Maximum) calendar year before present.Methods: Recent and ancient Chaetoceros spores were revived to examine their viability and germination rate. Light and scanning electron microscopy and Sanger sequencing was done to identify the species.Results: We show that similar to 6600 cal. year BP old Chaetoceros resting spores are still viable and that the vegetative reproduction in recent and ancient resting spores varies. The time taken to germinate is three hours to 2 to 3 days in both recent and ancient spores, but the germination rate of the spores decreased with increasing age. The germination rate of the recent spores was similar to 41% while that of the ancient spores were similar to 31% and similar to 12% for the similar to 1250 and similar to 6600 cal. year BP old resting spores, respectively. Based on the morphology of the germinated vegetative cells we identified the species as Chaetoceros muelleri var. subsalsum. Sanger sequences of nuclear and chloroplast markers identified the species as Chaetoceros muelleri.Conclusions: We identify a unique model system, Chaetoceros muelleri var. subsalsum and show that recent and ancient resting spores of the species buried in sediments in the Baltic Sea can be revived and used for long-term evolutionary studies

    Magyar egyháztörténeti vázlatok 2022

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    Ägeda faasi valkude kontsentratsiooni muutused, nende seosed ternespiima ja massi-iibega vastsündinud mäletsejalistel

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    A Thesis for applying for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Veterinary Sciences.Väitekiri filosoofiadoktori kraadi taotlemiseks loomaarstiteaduse erialal.Intensive farming has often led to increased spreading of pathogens in herds. After birth, neonatal ruminants are vulnerable to potential pathogens, as the syndesmochorial type of placentation prevents the transfer of antibodies from mother to foetus. Therefore, the vital immune protection will be obtained by passive immune transfer from colostrum. Colostrum contains various bioactive components, e.g. pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute-phase proteins, the effect of which on offspring is the focus of this research. A major role in protection against pathogens is played by the newborn ruminant's innate immune system, part of which is acute-phase reaction, during which the acute phase proteins are synthesised, mainly in the liver. Acute-phase proteins are used as quantitative sensitive inflammatory markers in medicine. In this thesis, the acute phase reaction during the neonatal period of reindeer calves, lambs and dairy calves was investigated by evaluating the acute phase proteins (serum amyloid A, haptoglobin, albumin, fibrinogen). Additionally, the influence of colostrum acute-phase proteins on the neonatal ruminants' acute phase reaction was evaluated. To identify the possible long-term effect of acute phase reaction in the neonatal period, the average daily weight gain in the 3, 4 and in 9 months was measured. During the neonatal period, there is a fluctuation in acute-phase proteins concentration, which is the lowest on the day of birth. The acute phase reaction on the first living week is influenced by colostrum acute phase proteins and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The acute phase reaction on the second and third week of life has a long-term influence on the animal’s growth. Knowledge of the early immunological development of a newborn ruminant allow providing a better growth environment, which means better welfare and preventing the spread of pathogens in intensive farming systems.Mäletsejaliste intensiivse pidamisviisiga kaasnevad tihti stressirohkemad pidamistingimused, mis võivad põhjustada haigustekitajate suuremat levimust karjades. Seega on vastsündinud mäletsejaliste sünnijärgne kohanemine väliskeskkonnaga väljakutseterohke. Sünepiteliokoriaalset tüüpi platsenta ei võimalda antikehade ülekannet emaloomalt lootele, seega omandab vastsündinu oma esmase passiivse immuunsuse ternespiimast. Lisaks antikehadele sisaldab ternespiim muid bioaktiivseid komponente, sh proinflammatoorseid tsütokiine ja ägeda faasi valke, mille toime järglasele on käesoleva töö keskmes. Vastsündinu jaoks elutähtsa kaasasündinud immuunsüsteemi üheks osaks on ägeda faasi vastus, mille käigus sünteesitakse proinflammatoorsete tsütokiinide toimel ägeda faasi valke. Neid valke kasutatakse meditsiinis kvantitatiivsete sensitiivsete biomarkeritena. Väitekirjas käsitleti põhjapõdravasikate, lambatallede ja piimalehma vasikate ägeda faasi vastust neonataalperioodil. Samuti uuriti ternespiimas sisalduvate ägeda faasi valkude võimalikku mõju vastsündinu ägeda faasi vastusele. Neonataalperioodi ägeda faasi vastuse pikemaajalise mõju selgitamiseks hinnati mõõdetud parameetrite seoseid loomade mass-iibega, hinnatuna kolmandal, neljandal ja üheksandal elukuul. Vastsündinuperioodil esineb kolmel esimesel elunädalal ägeda faasi valkude seerumi amüloid A, haptoglobiini, albumiini ja fibrinogeeni muutusi. Sündimise päeval on kontsentratsioonid kõige madalamad. Looma esimese elunädala ägeda faasi vastust mõjutavad ka ternespiimas sisalduvad ägeda faasi valgud ja põletikueelsed tsütokiinid. Teise ja kolmanda elunädala ägeda faasi vastusel ehk põletikuprotsessil on pikaajalisem toime, sest see mõjutab negatiivselt looma massi-iivet. Andmed varajaste immunoloogiliste protsesside kujunemise kohta võimaldavad tootmisloomadele soodsama arengukeskkonna loomist, kus suurendatakse loomade heaolu ning piiratakse haigustekitajate levikut.The publication of this dissertation is granted by the Estonian University of Life Sciences

    CELLULAR IMMUNE RESPONSES TO ENDEMIC CORONAVIRUSES, SARS-COV-2 AND COVID-19 mRNA VACCINATIONS

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    Since its emergence in early 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of infections and fatalities globally. Recent evidence show that bats are reservoirs for numerous novel coronaviruses with zoonotic potential. Thus, it is important to understand and to characterize immune responses to human coronaviruses following infection and COVID-19 vaccinations. Our adaptive immune system, comprised of B and T cells, is important for controlling and clearing viral infections. T cells have been shown to be important for controlling SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infections. However, T cell responses to endemic coronaviruses have not been characterized. Furthermore, some studies have shown that a significant portion of COVID-19 unexposed individuals have pre-existing T cell response to SARS-CoV-2. However, the source of these T cells, and whether SARS-CoV-2 pre-existing T cells cross-react with endemic coronaviruses was unknown. Furthermore, the ability of T cells from COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated individuals to recognize peptides from bat coronaviruses that may have the potential of causing future pandemics was unknown. Our data show that most healthy donors have robust T cell responses to three common cold coronaviruses tested. Furthermore, we show that current vaccine strategies enhance T cell responses to the endemic coronavirus HCoV-NL63. Additionally, we identified a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein epitope (S815-827) that is conserved in divergent coronaviruses including SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and multiple bat coronaviruses. Our results show that this conserved epitope is recognized by 42% of vaccinated participants who received COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Using T cell expansion and T cell receptor sequencing assays, we also show that S815-827-reactive CD4+ T cells cross recognize diverse coronaviruses. Moreover, we characterize targeted peptides following COVID-19 vaccinations, and show that vaccine-elicited T cells can cross-recognize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Our results suggest that current mRNA vaccines elicit T cell responses that can cross-recognize endemic coronaviruses and bat coronaviruses. Furthermore, our data provide important insights that inform the development of T cell-based pan-coronavirus vaccine strategies that can protect against future pandemics
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