A geological investigation of the cobalt – fahlbands of the modum area, Norway

The cobalt deposits of Modum, Norway, which were worked from 1772 to 1898, are described. The geology of the area is discussed with particular reference to the Modum Formation which forms the host rock for the greater part of the cobalt mineralisation. The petrography and field relations of this formation suggest that it represents a series of ancient sediments which have been metamorphosed to the upper amphibolite facies of regional metamorphism. The origin of the word 'fahlband' is discussed and a suggested definition of the term is given. The fahlbands of the original locality of Kongsberg are compared with those present in the Modum area. It is postulated that the fahlband zones represent metamorphosed sulphidic black muds. Olivine gabbro bodies have intruded the Modum Formation; the mineralogical changes occurring on amphibolitisation of the gabbros are discussed. From a review of the field relations, petrography and chemistry of the amphibolites in the region, it is concluded that some, art least, of these rocks are derived by metamorphosism of basic intrusives. The cobalt mineralisation occurs as a low grade impregnation in the amphibolites and metasediments. The structural controls of the mineralisation are discussed and a possible zonal arrangement of tie cobalt minerals is recognized. Optical properties and textural relations of the cobalt minerals have been determined. Possible genetic hypotheses are reviewed and it is concluded that the deposits probably represent an occurrence originally of the Cobalt, Ontario type which has undergone high grade metamorphism

Treatment and outcomes in necrotising autoimmune myopathy: an australian perspective

Necrotising Autoimmune Myopathy (NAM) presents as a subacute proximal myopathy with high creatine kinase levels. It is associated with statin exposure, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR) antibody, connective tissue diseases, signal recognition particle (SRP) antibody and malignancy. This case series presents our Western Australian NAM patient cohort: comparing the subgroup presentations, biopsy appearance and treatment outcomes. We retrospectively collected data on patients diagnosed with NAM at the Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute between the years 2000 and 2015. We identified 20 patients with Necrotising Autoimmune Myopathy: 14 with anti-HMGCR antibodies; two with anti-SRP antibodies; three with connective tissue disease; two as yet unspecified. Median creatine kinase level was 6047units/L (range 1000–17000). The statin naïve patients with HMGCR antibodies and patients with SRP antibodies were the most severely affected subgroups, with higher creatine kinase levels, and were more resistant to immunotherapy. Two or more immunotherapy agents were required in 90%; eight patients required IVIG and rituximab. Steroid weaning commonly precipitated relapses. Four patients had complete remission, and the remaining patients still require immunotherapy. Necrotising Autoimmune Myopathy is a potentially treatable myopathy, which can be precipitated by statin therapy and requires early, aggressive immunotherapy, usually requiring multiple steroid sparing agents for successful steroid weaning

Undetectable mannose binding lectin and corticosteroids increase serious infection risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: Infection is the leading cause of death in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Corticosteroid (CS) use is a known and important risk factor for serious infections (SIs). Mannose binding lectin (MBL) is a genetically determined component of the innate immune system implicated in neonatal infections. Objective: Our aim was to determine whether MBL deficiency is a risk factor for SIs in RA and to compare it with CS use and also synthetic and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy. Methods: Data on 228 patients with RA were collected for up to 7 years (median = 5.9 years). Serum MBL concentrations were determined in all patients receiving synthetic (n = 96) or biologic (n = 132) DMARD therapy. Results: High rates of SIs were observed in RA irrespective of treatment (17%). Similar rates of SIs were observed in synthetic and biologic DMARD users. The rates of single and multiple Sis were similar, irrespective of the use of a biologic agent. Undetectable MBL (\u3c56 ng/mL) concentrations and maintenance prednisolone at 10 mg per day or higher were associated with an increased risk for an SI, with incident risk ratio of 4.67 (P = .001) and 4.70 (P \u3c .001), respectively. Conclusions: Undetectable MBL and prednisolone confer a high risk for an SI. The use of biologic DMARDs did not confer substantial SI risk in this observational study. MBL deficiency is hitherto an unrecognized risk factor for an SI in RA

Myositis autoantibodies:recent perspectives

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an overview of recent discoveries related to myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs) and assays used for their measurement.RECENT FINDINGS: New autoantibody specificities have been reported including a MSA directed against eukaryotic initiation factor 3 and a myositis-associated autoantibody directed against heat shock factor 1. The association of anti-TIF1γ with cancer-associated dermatomyositis dependent on age has been confirmed in several large cohorts. Despite MSAs being almost entirely mutually exclusive, several myositis autoantigens are overexpressed in regenerating muscle and do not correlate with the corresponding MSA in any one patient. Further mechanisms may determine the final MSA specificity and are likely to include the need for autoantigen processing and presentation with adaptive T-cell help. The presence of CD4-positive T cells specific for histidyl tRNA synthetase protein in bronchial lavage fluid from antisynthetase patients lends support to this view. Finally, it is widely held that MSA do play an important role in clinical practice among some evidence and concern about commercial assay reliability.SUMMARY: MSAs continue to provide important tools for clinical diagnosis and management as well as insights into disease mechanisms. Further improvement in the standardization and reliability of routine detection of MSAs is a high priority.</p

Relapse patterns in NMOSD: evidence for earlier occurrence of optic neuritis and possible seasonal variation

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and multiple sclerosis (MS) show overlap in their clinical features. We performed an analysis of relapses with the aim of determining differences between the two conditions. Cases of NMOSD and age- and sex-matched MS controls were collected from across Australia and New Zealand. Demographic and clinical information, including relapse histories, were recorded using a standard questionnaire. There were 75 cases of NMOSD and 101 MS controls. There were 328 relapses in the NMOSD cases and 375 in MS controls. Spinal cord and optic neuritis attacks were the most common relapses in both NMOSD and MS. Optic neuritis (p P = 0.002) were more common in NMOSD and other brainstem attacks were more common in MS (p P = 0.065). Optic neuritis and transverse myelitis are the most common types of relapse in NMOSD and MS. Optic neuritis tends to occur more frequently in NMOSD prior to the age of 30, with transverse myelitis being more common thereafter. Relapses in NMOSD were more severe. A seasonal bias for relapses in spring-summer may exist in NMOSD

Software component certification

A model for software component certification based on test certificates supplied by developers in a standard portable form is proposed. Purchasers are expected to use the model to determine the quality and suitability of purchased software. The model involves the designing of standard test specifications that are devoid of language specific features. The tests described by the test specifications are run by Java programming. The advantages of the approach over the certification laboratory approach includes reduced costs, added value, augmented functional requirements and guaranteed trust

Antarctica's ice hides an ancient rainforest

Fossilised roots reveal that a lush Cretaceous forest once thrived near the South Pole

Eigen-properties of the Information State-Space

The purpose of this paper is to examine the eigen-properties for a particular complex field mapping proposed in Bundell [2] to represent the 2-dimensional Time-Event State-space proposed by Cohen et al [5]. This work extends the definition of the characteristic equation developed by Olsder &amp; Roos [7] for the Max algebra to the Information (Time-Event) State-space and examines an approach to its solution. An examples is given to illustrate the approach. 1. INTRODUCTION The specification and modelling of timing properties for real-time systems has become a major area of topical research. This heightened level of activity should benefit from the convergence of work by the real-time computation community and, more recently, the control engineering community. It is interesting to note the growing interest in this multi-disciplinary area of endeavour [1] and the importance that may researchers attach to the cross-fertilisation of ideas from one domain to another. This paper very much follow..

Contract-Based Software Component Testing with UML Models

Improving model-based component testability can further model-based approaches to software component testing (SCT) for desirable testing effectiveness. Component contracts are useful testing-support artefacts to improve component testability. This paper presents a new contract-based SCT technique, Test by Contract (TbC), which extends the Design by Contract concept to the SCT domain, and leverages UML-based testing with the contract mechanism to design model-based test contracts for UML-based SCT. We introduce a new concept of Contract for Testability as the principal goal of the TbC technique, and develop a set of important contract-oriented concepts (test contract, effectual contract scope, and internal/external test contract) and useful test criteria to improve model-based testability. We develop a useful stepwise TbC working process, and use a case study to demonstrate how to put the TbC technique into practice to undertake contract-based SCT with UML models. 1