Polymyositis as a Rare Musculoskeletal Manifestation of Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease: A Case Report of a 33-Year-Old Patient

Background: Musculoskeletal manifestations of chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD) are rare and unfamiliar to most clinicians. Here we discuss the pathophysiology of chronic GVHD, current treatments and direction of research for improved therapy and prophylaxis and focus on the common and less common musculoskeletal complications of this unfortunately prevalent and burdensome disease. The Case: This is a case report of a 33-year-old male with a past medical history of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) who presented with a 1-month history of generalized, proximal weakness and was found to have polymyositis secondary to chronic GVHD. Elicitation of further history showed that the patient had had multiple manifestations of both acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease in the two years following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Conclusion: It is important for clinicians to be familiar with polymyositis secondary to chronic GHVD, which may appear in patients more than 100 days following allogenic HSCT and typically presents as diffuse, generalized myopathy with preserved sensation and elevated CPK and aldolase. The current mainstay of treatment is glucocorticoids with or without a calcineurin inhibitor, however due to the side effects associated with long term treatment, more effective prophylactic and therapeutic treatments are needed to address this and other manifestations of chronic GVHD

Toward Fully Quantum Modelling of Ultrafast Photodissociation Imaging Experiments. Treating Tunnelling in the Ab Initio Multiple Cloning Approach

We present an account of our recent effort to improve simulation of the photodissociation of small heteroaromatic molecules using the Ab Initio Multiple Cloning (AIMC) algorithm. The ultimate goal is to create a quantitative and converged technique for fully quantum simulations which treats both electrons and nuclei on a fully quantum level. We calculate and analyse the total kinetic energy release (TKER) spectra and Velocity Map Images (VMI), and compare the results directly with experimental measurements. In this work, we perform new extensive calculations using an improved AIMC algorithm that now takes into account the tunnelling of hydrogen atoms. This can play an extremely important role in photodissociation dynamics

Non-Refoulement as a Qualifier of Nation-State Sovereignty: The Case of Mass Population Flows

Dieser Überblick zum historischen Forschungsstand beschreibt die Dynamiken der Flüchtlingspolitik während der Krise, die die Verfolgungen und Vertreibungen in Nazi-Deutschland auslöste. Die Historiographie zu diesem Gegenstand ist noch immer stark von nationalen Perspektiven geprägt, wobei jedes Land seine eigenen Narrative und Analysen produziert. Eine vergleichende Studie durch Experten nationaler Fälle hat die Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschiede in den Politiken verschiedener Staaten herausgearbeitet und gleichzeitig gezeigt, dass diese sich in starkem Maße an den Entscheidungen ihrer Nachbarn ausgerichtet haben. Der Artikel liefert eine Synthese dieser Untersuchung, integriert neue Forschungsresultate und bewertet die Verdienste des internationalen Flüchtlingsregimes dieser Zeit neu, das bislang nur ungenügende Aufmerksamkeit in der historischen Forschung gefunden hat

Semiclassical model of ultrafast photoisomerization reactions

In this letter we propose a model which explains ultrafast and efficient photoisomerization reactions as driven by transitions between quasistationary states of one dimensional (1D) double well potential of an excited electronic state. This adiabatic potential is formed as a result of doubly crossing of a decay diabatic potential of the ground electronic state and a bound diabatic potential of the excited state. We calculate the eigenstates and eigenfunctions using the semiclassical connection matrices at the turning and crossing points and the shift matrices between these points. The transitions between the localized in the wells below the adiabatic barrier states are realized by the tunneling and by the double non-adiabatic transitions via the crossing points processes. Surprisingly the behavior with the maximum transition rate keeps going even for the states relatively far above the barrier (2 -4 times the barrier height). Even though a specific toy model is investigated here, when properly interpreted it yields quite reasonable values for a variety of measured quantities, such as a reaction quantum yield, and conversion time.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. accepted to Chem. Phys. Letters (2005

Demystifying Parallel and Distributed Deep Learning: An In-Depth Concurrency Analysis

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are becoming an important tool in modern computing applications. Accelerating their training is a major challenge and techniques range from distributed algorithms to low-level circuit design. In this survey, we describe the problem from a theoretical perspective, followed by approaches for its parallelization. We present trends in DNN architectures and the resulting implications on parallelization strategies. We then review and model the different types of concurrency in DNNs: from the single operator, through parallelism in network inference and training, to distributed deep learning. We discuss asynchronous stochastic optimization, distributed system architectures, communication schemes, and neural architecture search. Based on those approaches, we extrapolate potential directions for parallelism in deep learning

Religion can both hurt and enhance democratic attitudes.

What effect does religion have on democratic attitudes? Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom and Gizem Arikan outline the results of three studies they have conducted into the relationship between religion and democracy. They note that while religious belief can undermine democracy by generating more conservative values, religious social behaviour enhances support for democracy by fostering greater trust in institutions and engagement in politics

Globalisation has contributed to declining levels of religious freedom across the world

What factors affect religious freedom? As Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom and Gizem Arikan write, there is evidence that restrictions on religious freedom have increased globally in recent decades. Using data from a recent study, they highlight the role that processes of globalisation have had on this trend. The results indicate that globalisation is a contributing factor to the increase in restrictions on religious freedom, with this partly being explained by the perceived threat communities feel when they are exposed to members of other religions

Praying for both teams: how religion both facilitates anddampens anti-immigration sentiment

The majority of the populations of many countries, the US included, identify with some kind of religion. At the same time, anti-immigrant sentiments are on the rise in many countries. Does religion foster intolerance towards migrants or encourage greater acceptance of them? In new research which uses experiments conducted with a variety of religious groups, Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom, Gizem Arikan , and Marie Courtemanche find that when religious group identities are emphasized people become less tolerant of migrants, but when themes of religious compassion are brought to mind, they are more likely to be sympathetic. They caution, however, that such attempts at invoking compassion may be unlikely to convince the more conservative among the devout