ANCA-associated vasculitis.

The anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAVs) are a group of disorders involving severe, systemic, small-vessel vasculitis and are characterized by the development of autoantibodies to the neutrophil proteins leukocyte proteinase 3 (PR3-ANCA) or myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCA). The three AAV subgroups, namely granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis and eosinophilic GPA (EGPA), are defined according to clinical features. However, genetic and other clinical findings suggest that these clinical syndromes may be better classified as PR3-positive AAV (PR3-AAV), MPO-positive AAV (MPO-AAV) and, for EGPA, by the presence or absence of ANCA (ANCA+ or ANCA-, respectively). Although any tissue can be involved in AAV, the upper and lower respiratory tract and kidneys are most commonly and severely affected. AAVs have a complex and unique pathogenesis, with evidence for a loss of tolerance to neutrophil proteins, which leads to ANCA-mediated neutrophil activation, recruitment and injury, with effector T cells also involved. Without therapy, prognosis is poor but treatments, typically immunosuppressants, have improved survival, albeit with considerable morbidity from glucocorticoids and other immunosuppressive medications. Current challenges include improving the measures of disease activity and risk of relapse, uncertainty about optimal therapy duration and a need for targeted therapies with fewer adverse effects. Meeting these challenges requires a more detailed knowledge of the fundamental biology of AAV as well as cooperative international research and clinical trials with meaningful input from patients

Working Memory and Mathematical Learning.

An increasing number of students show severe mathematical difficulties. Between 5% and 10% of children and adolescents experience a substantial learning deficit in at least one area of mathematics (Barbaresi, Katusic, Colligan, Weaver, & Jacobsen, 2005). The identification of these mathematical difficulties is fundamental if we consider the negative widespread drawbacks determined by math difficulties. Basic mathematical skills are regularly used in everyday life, and their deficiency affects both employment opportunities and socio-emotional well-being. In addition, results of recent studies show how mathematical abilities predict financial and educational success, particularly for women (Geary, Hoard, Nugent, & Bailey, 2013). Domain-general cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, or processing speed are important precursors of school learning. Of all these general cognitive skills, several studies demonstrated that working memory is a key predictor of mathematical competence. The term \u201cworking memory\u201d (WM) refers to a temporary memory system that plays an important role in supporting learning during the childhood years because its key feature is the capacity to both store and manipulate information. Various models of the structure and function of working memory exist, but in the present chapter we will refer to the relkation to the multicomponent model of working memory proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974 and revised in succeeding years (Baddeley, 2000) and math abilities

Comparing the microbiota of the cystic fibrosis lung and human gut

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ANCA-associated vasculitis - clinical utility of using ANCA specificity to classify patients.

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