Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Measurement of nuclear modification factors of gamma(1S)), gamma(2S), and gamma(3S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The cross sections for ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S), and ϒ(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, RAA, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, RAA(ϒ(1S)) > RAA(ϒ(2S)) > RAA(ϒ(3S)). The suppression of ϒ(1S) is larger than that seen at √sNN = 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the RAA of ϒ(3S) integrated over pT, rapidity and centrality is 0.096 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for a quarkonium state in heavy ion collisions to date. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3.Peer reviewe

Granaries in Urartu and Neighboring States and the Monumentalization of Administrative Records

The present article revisits the Urartian inscriptions concerning granaries and discusses them in a broader ancient Near Eastern context. In comparison with Hieroglyphic Luwian and Assyrian sources from the Middle and Neo-Assyrian period it highlights the characteristics of the Urartian inscriptions and addresses them as monumentalized manifestations of archival records of the storage of grain. On the basis of detailed analyses of the Urartian and other ancient Near Eastern sources it will be argued that the Urartian verb šu- which describes the royal activities related to granaries has the meaning ‘to fill’ rather than ‘to build’ or ‘install’. Furthermore, the structure and function of an ašiḫuši building, which according to some inscriptions was related to granaries, will be discussed in the light of Middle Assyrian administrative records. Special attention will be laid on CTU I A 9–20 from Arin-berd and the phrases andani DUB-ti-ni-e and šalmatḫi DUB-ti-ni-e in lines 8 and 10 of this text. This study thus aims to contribute to the understanding of an important institution for the safeguarding of the food supply, which obviously played a prominent role both in the Urartian state administration and the royal ideology of the Urartian kings

Over the Mountains and Far Away

This volume is a tribute to the career of Professor Mirjo Salvini on the occasion his 80th birthday, composed of 62 papers written by his colleagues and students. The majority of contributions deal with research in the fields of Urartian and Hittite Studies, the topics that attracted Prof. Salvini most during his long and fruitful career.1 online resource (593 pages

Preliminary Results of the 2018 – 2019 Tavush Archaeological Project

International audienceAbstract. The Tavush Archaeological Project (TAP) was carried out in 2018 and 2019 in the province of Tavush (Northeastern Armenia) by an interdisciplinary Armenian-French team. The goals are to draw the archaeological map of this largely unknown region, to trace the changes in settlement patterns, with special attention to the periods from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age and to acquire a better understanding of the landscape of Tavush. This landscape is dominated by dense forest and mountainous topography, which make it especially challenging to survey. We were compelled to develop an ad hoc field methodology, which was based on survey protocols from classic archaeology, which had to be adapted to the specific environmental conditions of the area. Therefore, our project used a hybrid survey method, combining an extensive systematic survey across the region – through examination and study of satellite imagery and topographic maps – with an intensive survey of selected areas in the field. During these first two seasons, we identified 34 “places”, among them 20 sites (places in which both architecture and surface material are found), mainly situated around the Aghstev river, but also in the south-west part of the province, next to the modern villages of Haghartsin and Teghut

The chalcolithic of the Near East and south-eastern Europe: Discoveries and new perspectives from the cave complex Areni-1, Armenia

The archaeological exploration of a cave in the southern Caucasus revealed evidence for early social complexity, ritual burial and wine-making in the early fourth millennium. The marvellous preservation of wood, leather and plants offers a valuable contrast to the poorer assemblages on contemporary tell sites. The authors make the case that the Areni-1 cave complex indicates connections between the urbanisation of early Mesopotamia and the Maikop culture of south Russia.</jats:p

The chalcolithic of the Near East and south-eastern Europe: Discoveries and new perspectives from the cave complex Areni-1, Armenia

APPEAL FROM THIRD DISTRICT COURT HONORABLE LESLIE A. LEWIS, PRESIDIN

Diverse dietary practices across the Early Bronze Age 'Kura-Araxes culture' in the South Caucasus.

The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) is primarily characterised by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and a uniform 'material culture package' in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East and the Levant. It has been argued that KA societies practised pastoralism, despite a lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report the first analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery to both determine the organic products produced and consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet across KA settlements in Armenia, comprising a mixed economy of meat and plant processing, aquatic fats and dairying. The preservation of diagnostic plant lipid biomarkers, notably long-chain fatty acids (C20 to C28) and n-alkanes (C23 to C33) has enabled the identification of the earliest processing of plants in pottery of the region. These findings suggest that KA settlements were agropastoral exploiting local resources. Results demonstrate the significance of applying biomolecular methods for examining dietary inferences in the South Caucasus region

Diversification of diet questions the homogeneity of the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes Cultural Phenomenon

The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) is primarily characterised by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and a uniform 'material culture package' in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East and the Levant. It has been argued that KA societies practised pastoralism, despite a lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report the first analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery to both determine the organic products produced and consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet across KA settlements in Armenia, comprising a mixed economy of meat and plant processing, aquatic fats and dairying. The preservation of diagnostic plant lipid biomarkers, notably long-chain fatty acids (C20 to C28) and n-alkanes (C23 to C33) has enabled the identification of the earliest processing of plants in pottery of the region. These findings suggest that KA settlements were agropastoral exploiting local resources. Results demonstrate the significance of applying biomolecular methods for examining dietary inferences in the South Caucasus region