Methylation of hen erythrocyte DNA

AbstractWe have analysed the 5-methylcytosine content of hen erythrocyte DNA and found it to be lower than that of DNA from other chick tissues analysed. Erythrocyte DNA is also a better substrate for DNA methylase having a five-fold lower Km than DNA from white blood cells. This is probably because it contains a large number of hemimethylated sites.Thus the inverse correlation between methylation and gene expression does not apply to the chick red blood cell

Rapid tranquillisation for agitated patients in emergency psychiatric rooms: a randomised trial of midazolam versus haloperidol plus promethazine

OBJECTIVE: To compare two widely used drug treatments for people with aggression or agitation due to mental illness. DESIGN: Pragmatic, randomised clinical trial. SETTING: Three psychiatric emergency rooms in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. SUBJECTS: 301 aggressive or agitated people. INTERVENTIONS: Open treatment with intramuscular midazolam or intramuscular haloperidol plus promethazine. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients tranquil or sedated at 20 minutes. Secondary outcomes: patients tranquil or asleep by 40, 60, and 120 minutes; restrained or given extra drugs within 2 hours; severe adverse events; another episode of agitation or aggression; needing extra visits from doctor during first 24 hours; overall antipsychotic load in first 24 hours; and not discharged by two weeks

Natural Inflation From Fermion Loops

``Natural'' inflationary theories are a class of models in which inflation is driven by a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson. In this paper we consider two models, one old and one new, in which the potential for inflation is generated by loop effects from a fermion sector which explicitly breaks a global $U(1)$ symmetry. In both models, we retrieve the ``standard'' natural inflation potential, $V\left(\theta\right) = \Lambda^4\left[1 + \cos\left(\theta / \mu\right)\right]$, as a limiting case of the exact one-loop potential, but we carry out a general analysis of the models including the limiting case. Constraints from the COBE DMR observation and from theoretical consistency are used to limit the parameters of the models, and successful inflation occurs without the necessity of fine-tuning the parameters.Comment: (Revised) 15 pages, LaTeX (revTeX), 8 figures in uuencoded PostScript format. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D 15. Corrected definition of power spectrum and added three reference

Attitudes and practices in the laboratory monitoring of conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs by rheumatologists and rheumatology trainees

Published online: 17 October 2022Objectives: There is scant research about laboratory monitoring in people taking conventional synthetic diseasemodifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) for rheumatic disease. Our objective was to conduct a scoping study to assess the range of current attitudes and the variation in practice of laboratory monitoring of csDMARDs by rheumatologists and trainees. Methods: Australian and overseas rheumatologists or trainees were invited through newsletter, Twitter and personal e-mail, to complete an anonymous online survey between 1 February and 22 March 2021. Questions focused on laboratory tests requested by csDMARD prescribed, frequency/pattern of monitoring, influence of additional factors and combination therapy, actions in response to abnormal tests, and attitudes to monitoring frequencies. Results were presented descriptively and analysed using linear and logistic regression. Results: There were 221 valid responses. Most respondents were from Australia (n = 53, 35%) followed by the US (n = 39, 26%), with a slight preponderance of women (n = 84, 56%), ≥ 11 years in rheumatology practice (n = 83, 56%) and in mostly public practice (n = 79, 53%). Respondents had a wide variation in the frequency and scheduling of tests. In general, respondents reported increasing monitoring frequency if patients had numerous comorbidities or if both methotrexate and leflunomide were being taken concurrently. There was a wide variety of responses to abnormal monitoring results and 27 (40%) considered that in general, monitoring tests are performed too frequently. Conclusions: The results demonstrated a wide variation in the frequency of testing, factors that should influence this, and what responses to abnormal test results are appropriate, indicates a likely lack of evidence and the need to define the risks, benefits and costs of different csDMARD monitoring regimens.James J. Tsakas, David F. L. Liew, Cameron L. Adams, Catherine L. Hill, Susanna Proudman, Samuel Whittle, Rachelle Buchbinder, and Philip C. Robinso

Nuclear shadowing at low Q^2

We re-examine the role of vector meson dominance in nuclear shadowing at low Q^2. We find that models which incorporate both vector meson and partonic mechanisms are consistent with both the magnitude and the Q^2 slope of the shadowing data.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev.

Magnetohydrodynamics and Plasma Cosmology

We study the linear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, both in the Newtonian and the general-relativistic limit, as regards a viscous magnetized fluid of finite conductivity and discuss instability criteria. In addition, we explore the excitation of cosmological perturbations in anisotropic spacetimes, in the presence of an ambient magnetic field. Acoustic, electromagnetic (e/m) and fast-magnetosonic modes, propagating normal to the magnetic field, can be excited, resulting in several implications of cosmological significance.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, To appear in the Proceedings of the Peyresq X Meeting, IJTP Conference Serie

Looking Beyond Inflationary Cosmology

In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may provide an avenue towards addressing these problems. One particular approach to combining string theory and cosmology is String Gas Cosmology. The basic principles of this approach are summarized.Comment: invited talk at "Theory Canada 1" (Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, June 2 - 4, 2005) (references updated

Application of direct bioautography and SPME-GC-MS for the study of antibacterial chamomile ingredients

The isolation and characterization of antibacterial chamomile components were performed by the use of direct bioautography and solid phase microextraction (SPME)-GC-MS. Four ingredients, active against Vibrio fischeri, were identified as the polyacetylene geometric isomers cis- and trans-spiroethers, the coumarin related herniarin, and the sesquiterpene alcohol (-)-alpha-bisabolol

Polygenic Multiple Sclerosis Risk and Population-Based Childhood Brain Imaging

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease with a substantial genetic component and immune-mediated neurodegeneration. Patients with MS show structural brain differences relative to individuals without MS, including smaller regional volumes and alterations in white matter (WM) microstructure. Whether genetic risk for MS is associated with brain structure during early neurodevelopment remains unclear. In this study, we explore the association between MS polygenic risk scores (PRS) and brain imaging outcomes from a large, population-based pediatric sample to gain insight into the underlying neurobiology of MS. Methods: We included 8- to 12-year-old genotyped participants from the Generation R Study in whom T1-weighted volumetric (n = 1,136) and/or diffusion tensor imaging (n = 1,088) had been collected. PRS for MS were calculated based on a large genome-wide association study of MS (n = 41,505) and were regressed on regional volumes, global and tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA), and global mean diffusivity using linear regression. Results: No associations were observed for the regional volumes. We observed a positive association between the MS PRS and global FA (β = 0.098, standard error [SE] = 0.030, p = 1.08 × 10−3). Tract-specific analyses showed higher FA and lower radial diffusivity in several tracts. We replicated our findings in an independent sample of children (n = 186) who were scanned in an earlier phase (global FA; β = 0.189, SE = 0.072, p = 9.40 × 10−3). Interpretation: This is the first study to show that greater genetic predisposition for MS is associated with higher global brain WM FA at an early age in the general population. Our results suggest a preadolescent time window within neurodevelopment in which MS risk variants act upon the brain. ANN NEUROL 2020

Shadowing in Inelastic Scattering of Muons on Carbon, Calcium and Lead at Low XBj

Nuclear shadowing is observed in the per-nucleon cross-sections of positive muons on carbon, calcium and lead as compared to deuterium. The data were taken by Fermilab experiment E665 using inelastically scattered muons of mean incident momentum 470 GeV/c. Cross-section ratios are presented in the kinematic region 0.0001 < XBj <0.56 and 0.1 < Q**2 < 80 GeVc. The data are consistent with no significant nu or Q**2 dependence at fixed XBj. As XBj decreases, the size of the shadowing effect, as well as its A dependence, are found to approach the corresponding measurements in photoproduction.Comment: 22 pages, incl. 6 figures, to be published in Z. Phys.