Progressive neurological deficits in multiple myeloma: meningeal myelomatosis without MRI abnormalities

Item does not contain fulltex

Gemetastaseerd plaveiselcelcarcinoom na niertransplantatie

Transplant patients have a higher risk of developing advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. In case of metastasized or locally advanced disease when curative surgery or radiotherapy is not possible, immune therapy is an option. However, there is a risk of organ rejection due to boosted immune response. We describe a case where complete remission of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma with pulmonary metastasis in a kidney transplant patient has been achieved with cemiplimab with preservation of transplant function.</p

Guiding cities under increased droughts: The limits to sustainable urban futures

Climate change is likely to increase droughts. The vulnerability of cities to droughts is increasing worldwide. Policy responses from cities to droughts lack consideration of long-term climatic and socio-economic scenarios, and focus on short-term emergency actions that disregard sustainability in the connected regional and river basin systems. We aim to explore the dynamics of the water-energy-land nexus in urban systems suffering increased climate change-related droughts, and their implications for sustainability. We complement a case study with a literature review providing cross-regional insights, and detail pervasive knowledge, policy and ambition gaps in the interaction between cities and droughts. We show that water availability with low emissions, without compromising ecosystems and with low costs to society, poses a local-scale limit to sustainable urban growth, a new concept delineating the limits to growth in cities. We conclude that urban and river basin planners need to institutionalize transparency and cross-sectoral integration in multi-sector partnerships, to consider long-term land use planning together with water and energy, and to apply integrated climate services to cities. Our study reveals the importance of including land, water and energy in long-term urban planning, and to connect them with the county, region, river basin and global scales. © 2021 The Author(s)The authors would like to express their gratitude for limited contributions, comments and discussions that helped to improve the manuscript to Muhamad Bahri, Jörg Cortekar, Mirabela Marin, Serban Octavian Davidescu, Iñaki Torres Cobián, and to two anonymous reviewers that helped to substantially improve the manuscript. Valuable feedback obtained in two conference sessions co‑lead by some of the authors (at Adaptation Futures 2018 in Cape Town, and at the 4th European Climate Change Adaptation conference, in Lisbon in 2019) is acknowledged. The authors acknowledge financial support from the project CLISWELN funded by ERA4CS. ERA4CS is an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and CLISWELN is funded by BMBF (DE), UEFISCDI (RO), BMBWF and FFG (AT), and MINECO (ES), with co-funding from the European Union (Grant 690462 ). This paper and the content included in it do not represent the opinion of the European Union, and the European Union is not responsible for any use that might be made of its content. Marta OlazabalThe authors would like to express their gratitude for limited contributions, comments and discussions that helped to improve the manuscript to Muhamad Bahri, Jörg Cortekar, Mirabela Marin, Serban Octavian Davidescu, Iñaki Torres Cobián, and to two anonymous reviewers that helped to substantially improve the manuscript. Valuable feedback obtained in two conference sessions co‑lead by some of the authors (at Adaptation Futures 2018 in Cape Town, and at the 4th European Climate Change Adaptation conference, in Lisbon in 2019) is acknowledged. The authors acknowledge financial support from the project CLISWELN funded by ERA4CS. ERA4CS is an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and CLISWELN is funded by BMBF (DE), UEFISCDI (RO), BMBWF and FFG (AT), and MINECO (ES), with co-funding from the European Union (Grant 690462 ). This paper and the content included in it do not represent the opinion of the European Union, and the European Union is not responsible for any use that might be made of its content. Marta Olazaba

Generating a checking sequence with a minimum number of reset transitions

Given a finite state machine M, a checking sequence is an input sequence that is guaranteed to lead to a failure if the implementation under test is faulty and has no more states than M. There has been much interest in the automated generation of a short checking sequence from a finite state machine. However, such sequences can contain reset transitions whose use can adversely affect both the cost of applying the checking sequence and the effectiveness of the checking sequence. Thus, we sometimes want a checking sequence with a minimum number of reset transitions rather than a shortest checking sequence. This paper describes a new algorithm for generating a checking sequence, based on a distinguishing sequence, that minimises the number of reset transitions used.This work was supported in part by Leverhulme Trust grant number F/00275/D, Testing State Based Systems, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada grant number RGPIN 976, and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant number GR/R43150, Formal Methods and Testing (FORTEST)

Substituted anilides from chitin-based 3-acetamido-furfural

The synthesis of aromatic compounds from biomass-derived furans is a key strategy in the pursuit of a sustainable economy. Within this field, a Diels-Alder/aromatization cascade reaction with chitin-based furans is emerging as a powerful tool for the synthesis of nitrogen-containing aromatics. In this study we present the conversion of chitin-based 3-acetamido-furfural (3A5F) into an array of di- and tri-substituted anilides in good to high yields (62-90%) via a hydrazone mediated Diels-Alder/aromatization sequence. The addition of acetic anhydride expands the dienophile scope and improves yields. Moreover, replacing the typically used dimethyl hydrazone with its pyrrolidine analogue, shortens reaction times and further increases yields. The hydrazone auxiliary is readily converted into either an aldehyde or a nitrile group, thereby providing a plethora of functionalized anilides. The developed procedure was also applied to 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran (3A5AF) to successfully prepare a phthalimide. </p

CD39 activity correlates with stage and inhibits platelet reactivity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by accumulation of mature appearing lymphocytes and is rarely complicated by thrombosis. One possible explanation for the paucity of thrombotic events in these patients may be the presence of the ecto-nucleotidase CD39/NTDPase-1 on the surface of the malignant cells in CLL. CD39 is the major promoter of platelet inhibition <it>in vivo </it>via its metabolism of ADP to AMP. We hypothesize that if CD39 is observed on CLL cells, then patients with CLL may be relatively protected against platelet aggregation and recruitment and that CD39 may have other effects on CLL, including modulation of the disease, via its metabolism of ATP.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal and malignant lymphocytes were isolated from whole blood from patients with CLL and healthy volunteers. Enzyme activity was measured via radio-TLC assay and expression via FACS. Semi-quantititative RT-PCR for CD39 splice variants and platelet function tests were performed on several samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Functional assays demonstrated that ADPase and ATPase activities were much higher in CLL cells than in total lymphocytes from the normal population on a per cell basis (p-value < 0.00001). CD39 activity was elevated in stage 0–2 CLL compared to stage 3–4 (p < 0.01). FACS of lymphocytes demonstrated CD39 expression on > 90% of normal and malignant B-lymphocytes and ~8% of normal T-lymphocytes. RT-PCR showed increased full length CD39 and splice variant 1.5, but decreased variant 1.3 in CLL cells. Platelet function tests showed inhibition of platelet activation and recruitment to ADP by CLL cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CD39 is expressed and active on CLL cells. Enzyme activity is higher in earlier stages of CLL and decreased enzyme activity may be associated with worsening disease. These results suggest that CD39 may play a role in the pathogenesis of malignancy and protect CLL patients from thrombotic events.</p

Ego-Splitting and the Transcendental Subject. Kant’s Original Insight and Husserl’s Reappraisal

In this paper, I contend that there are at least two essential traits that commonly define being an I: self-identity and self-consciousness. I argue that they bear quite an odd relation to each other in the sense that self-consciousness seems to jeopardize self-identity. My main concern is to elucidate this issue within the range of the transcendental philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Edmund Husserl. In the first section, I shall briefly consider Kant’s own rendition of the problem of the Egosplitting. My reading of the Kantian texts reveals that Kant himself was aware of this phenomenon but eventually deems it an unexplainable fact. The second part of the paper tackles the same problematic from the standpoint of Husserlian phenomenology. What Husserl’s extensive analyses on this topic bring to light is that the phenomenon of the Ego-splitting constitutes the bedrock not only of his thought but also of every philosophy that works within the framework of transcendental thinking