836 research outputs found
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Risk stratification for early-onset fetal growth restriction in women with abnormal serum biomarkers: a retrospective cohort study.
Abnormal maternal serum biomarkers (AMSB), identified through the aneuploidy screening programme, are frequent incidental findings in pregnancy. They are associated with fetal growth restriction (FGR), but previous studies have not examined whether this association is with early-onset (â34Â weeks) FGR; as a result there is no consensus on management. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence and phenotype of FGR in women with AMSB and test the predictive value of placental sonographic screening to predict early-onset FGR. 1196 pregnant women with AMSB underwent a 21-24Â week "placental screen" comprising fetal and placental size, and uterine artery Doppler. Multivariable regression was used to calculate a predictive model for early-onset FGR (birthweight centileâ<â3rd/<â10th with absent umbilical end-diastolic flow,â<â34Â weeks). FGR prevalence was high (10.3%), however early-onset FGR was uncommon (2.3%). Placental screening effectively identified early-onset (area under the curve (AUC) 0.93, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.87-1.00), but not late-onset FGR (AUC 0.70, 95% CI 0.64-0.75). Internal validation demonstrated robust performance for detection/exclusion of early-onset FGR. In this cohort, utilisation of our proposed algorithm with targeted fetal growth and Doppler surveillance, compared with universal comprehensive surveillance would have avoided 1044 scans, potentiating significant cost-saving for maternity services.The work was supported by MFT & Tommyâs charity
Ariel - Volume 9 Number 3
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Higher serum levels of periostin and the risk of exacerbations in moderate asthmatics
BACKGROUND: In asthma, exacerbations and poor disease control are linked to airway allergic inflammation. Serum periostin has been proposed as a systemic biomarker of eosinophilic inflammation. This pilot study aims at evaluating whether in patients with moderate asthma, higher baseline levels of serum periostin are associated with a greater risk of exacerbation.
METHODS: Fifteen outpatients with moderate allergic asthma were recruited. Serum concentrations of periostin were assessed (ELISA) at baseline, and the frequency of asthma exacerbations was recorded during a one-year follow-up.
RESULTS: Patients (M/F: 10/5, mean age of 47.6\u2009\ub1\u200911.0 years) had mean ACQ score of 5.5\u2009\ub1\u20094.2 and FEV1%pred of 81.9\u2009\ub1\u200921.7 %. Baseline serum levels of periostin did not correlate with lung function parameters, nor with the ACQ score (p 650.05 for all analyses). Five subjects (33 % of the study group) reported one or more exacerbations during the following year. Baseline serum levels of periostin were significantly higher in subjects who experienced one or more exacerbations during the one year period of follow-up, compared with subjects with no exacerbations: median serum periostin level was 4047 ng/ml (range: 2231 to 4889 ng/ml) and 222
ng/ml (range 28.2 to 1631 ng/ml) respectively; p\u2009=\u20090.001.
CONCLUSION: The findings of the present pilot study could form the basis for the design of larger studies aiming at developing strategies to identify asthmatic patients at risk for exacerbations
Portfolio Vol. II N 2
Browne, Phil. Beaver ad Sawyer at Night . Picture. 2.
Varney, Chester. To Dream Beyond . Prose. 3.
West, Bill C. Admonition Poem. 6.
West, Bill C. Insomnia Poem. 6.
Barlow, Don. Heart Determines . Prose. 7.
Gordon, Robert. From an Unknown Innocent to... Poem, 11.
Black, James. Playing Around . Prose. 13.
Parsons, Edith. The Turtle Baby . Picture. 14.
Deeds, Ed. Raymond Scott - - Classic Swing . Prose. 15.
Schrechkengost, Viktor. Black Sheep-The Creature God Forgot . Picture. 14.
Smith, Bob. Review of New Recordings . Prose. 15.
Saunders, Paul. Book Reviews and Comments . Prose. 16.
Browne, Phil. to Patsy . Picture. 17.
Sandor, Joseph. Meditation . Picture. 18.
Maxwell, Kenneth. Unnamed. Poem. 18.
Sweitzer, Harry J. Social Life at Denison . Prose. 19.
Flory Doris. The Student Rationalizes . Poem. 20.
Flory Doris. On Noisess . Poem. 20.
Bethune, Don. Senior\u27s Lament . Poem. 20.
Flory, Doris. Lines on Lines . Poem. 20.
Beckham, Adela. My Man . Poem. 20
An Introduction to the Chandra Carina Complex Project
The Great Nebula in Carina provides an exceptional view into the violent
massive star formation and feedback that typifies giant HII regions and
starburst galaxies. We have mapped the Carina star-forming complex in X-rays,
using archival Chandra data and a mosaic of 20 new 60ks pointings using the
Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer, as a testbed for
understanding recent and ongoing star formation and to probe Carina's regions
of bright diffuse X-ray emission. This study has yielded a catalog of
properties of >14,000 X-ray point sources; >9800 of them have multiwavelength
counterparts. Using Chandra's unsurpassed X-ray spatial resolution, we have
separated these point sources from the extensive, spatially-complex diffuse
emission that pervades the region; X-ray properties of this diffuse emission
suggest that it traces feedback from Carina's massive stars. In this
introductory paper, we motivate the survey design, describe the Chandra
observations, and present some simple results, providing a foundation for the
15 papers that follow in this Special Issue and that present detailed catalogs,
methods, and science results.Comment: Accepted for the ApJS Special Issue on the Chandra Carina Complex
Project (CCCP), scheduled for publication in May 2011. All 16 CCCP Special
Issue papers are available at
http://cochise.astro.psu.edu/Carina_public/special_issue.html through 2011 at
least. 43 pages; 18 figure
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Irreducible uncertainty in near-term climate projections
Model simulations of the next few decades are widely used in assessments of climate change impacts and as guidance for adaptation. Their non-linear nature reveals a level of irreducible uncertainty which it is important to understand and quantify, especially for projections of near-term regional climate. Here we use large idealised initial condition ensembles of the FAMOUS global climate model with a 1 %/year compound increase in CO2 levels to quantify the range of future temperatures in model-based projections. These simulations explore the role of both atmospheric and oceanic initial conditions and are the largest such ensembles to date. Short-term simulated trends in global temperature are diverse, and cooling periods are more likely to be followed by larger warming rates. The spatial pattern of near-term temperature change varies considerably, but the proportion of the surface showing a warming is more consistent. In addition, ensemble spread in inter-annual temperature declines as the climate warms, especially in the North Atlantic. Over Europe, atmospheric initial condition uncertainty can, for certain ocean initial conditions, lead to 20 year trends in winter and summer in which every location can exhibit either strong cooling or rapid warming. However, the details of the distribution are highly sensitive to the ocean initial condition chosen and particularly the state of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. On longer timescales, the warming signal becomes more clear and consistent amongst different initial condition ensembles. An ensemble using a range of different oceanic initial conditions produces a larger spread in temperature trends than ensembles using a single ocean initial condition for all lead times. This highlights the potential benefits from initialising climate predictions from ocean states informed by observations. These results suggest that climate projections need to be performed with many more ensemble members than at present, using a range of ocean initial conditions, if the uncertainty in near-term regional climate is to be adequately quantified
Spitzer Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud, Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) I: Overview and Initial Results
We are performing a uniform and unbiased, ~7x7 degrees imaging survey of the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using the IRAC and MIPS instruments on board the
Spitzer Space Telescope in order to survey the agents of a galaxy's evolution
(SAGE), the interstellar medium (ISM) and stars in the LMC. The detection of
diffuse ISM with column densities >1.2x10^21 H cm^-2 permits detailed studies
of dust processes in the ISM. SAGE's point source sensitivity enables a
complete census of newly formed stars with masses >3 solar masses that will
determine the current star formation rate in the LMC. SAGE's detection of
evolved stars with mass loss rates >1x10^-8 solar masses per year will quantify
the rate at which evolved stars inject mass into the ISM of the LMC. The
observing strategy includes two epochs in 2005, separated by three months, that
both mitigate instrumental artifacts and constrain source variability. The SAGE
data are non-proprietary. The data processing includes IRAC and MIPS pipelines
and a database for mining the point source catalogs, which will be released to
the community in support of Spitzer proposal cycles 4 and 5. We present initial
results on the epoch 1 data with a special focus on the N79 and N83 region. The
SAGE epoch 1 point source catalog has ~4 million sources. The point source
counts are highest for the IRAC 3.6 microns band and decrease dramatically
towards longer wavelengths consistent with the fact that stars dominate the
point source catalogs and that the dusty objects, e.g. young stellar objects
and dusty evolved stars that detected at the longer wavelengths, are rare in
comparison. We outline a strategy for identifying foreground MW stars, that may
comprise as much as 18% of the source list, and background galaxies, that may
comprise ~12% of the source list.Comment: Accepted by the Astronomical Journa
Spitzer survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud, surveying the agents of a galaxy's evolution (SAGE). IV. Dust properties in the interstellar medium
The goal of this paper is to present the results of a preliminary analysis of the extended infrared (IR) emission by dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We combine Spitzer Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (SAGE) and Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data and correlate the infrared emission with gas tracers of H I, CO, and Hα. We present a global analysis of the infrared emission as well as detailed modeling of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a few selected regions. Extended emission by dust associated with the neutral, molecular, and diffuse ionized phases of the ISM is detected at all IR bands from 3.6 ÎŒm to 160 ÎŒm. The relative abundance of the various dust species appears quite similar to that in the Milky Way (MW) in all the regions we have modeled. We construct maps of the temperature of large dust grains. The temperature map shows variations in the range 12.1-34.7 K, with a systematic gradient from the inner to outer regions, tracing the general distribution of massive stars and individual H II regions as well as showing warmer dust in the stellar bar. This map is used to derive the far-infrared (FIR) optical depth of large dust grains. We find two main departures in the LMC with respect to expectations based on the MW: (1) excess mid-infrared (MIR) emission near 70 ÎŒm, referred to as the 70 ÎŒm excess, and (2) departures from linear correlation between the FIR optical depth and the gas column density, which we refer to as FIR excess emission. The 70 ÎŒm excess increases gradually from the MW to the LMC to the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), suggesting evolution with decreasing metallicity. The excess is associated with the neutral and diffuse ionized gas, with the strongest excess region located in a loop structure next to 30 Dor. We show that the 70 ÎŒm excess can be explained by a modification of the size distribution of very small grains with respect to that in the MW, and a corresponding mass increase of â13% of the total dust mass in selected regions. The most likely explanation is that the 70 ÎŒm excess is due to the production of large very small grains (VSG) through erosion of larger grains in the diffuse medium. This FIR excess could be due to intrinsic variations of the dust/gas ratio, which would then vary from 4.6 to 2.3 times lower than the MW values across the LMC, but X_(CO) values derived from the IR emission would then be about three times lower than those derived from the Virial analysis of the CO data. We also investigate the possibility that the FIR excess is associated with an additional gas component undetected in the available gas tracers. Assuming a constant dust abundance in all ISM phases, the additional gas component would have twice the known H I mass. We show that it is plausible that the FIR excess is due to cold atomic gas that is optically thick in the 21 cm line, while the contribution by a pure H_2 phase with no CO emission remains a possible explanation
Nanoinformatics: developing new computing applications for nanomedicine
Nanoinformatics has recently emerged to address the need of computing applications at the nano level. In this regard, the authors have participated in various initiatives to identify its concepts, foundations and challenges. While nanomaterials open up the possibility for developing new devices in many industrial and scientific areas, they also offer breakthrough perspectives for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we analyze the different aspects of nanoinformatics and suggest five research topics to help catalyze new research and development in the area, particularly focused on nanomedicine. We also encompass the use of informatics to further the biological and clinical applications of basic research in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and the related concept of an extended ?nanotype? to coalesce information related to nanoparticles. We suggest how nanoinformatics could accelerate developments in nanomedicine, similarly to what happened with the Human Genome and other -omics projects, on issues like exchanging modeling and simulation methods and tools, linking toxicity information to clinical and personal databases or developing new approaches for scientific ontologies, among many others
Ontological addiction: classification, etiology, and treatment
Despite the fact that there is increasing integration of Buddhist principles and practices into Western mental health and applied psychological disciplines, there appears to be limited understanding in Western psychology of the assumptions that underlie a Buddhist model of mental illness. The concept of ontological addiction was introduced and formulated in order to narrow some of the disconnect between Buddhist and Western models of mental illness, and to foster effective assimilation of Buddhist practices and principles into mental health research and practice. Ontological addiction refers to the maladaptive condition whereby an individual is addicted to the belief that they inherently exist. The purposes of the present paper are to: (i) classify ontological addiction in terms of its definition, symptoms, prevalence, and functional consequences, (ii) examine the etiology of the condition, and (iii) appraise both the traditional Buddhist and contemporary empirical literature in order to outline effective treatment strategies. An assessment of the extent to which ontological addiction meets the clinical criteria for addiction suggests that ontological addiction is a chronic and valid â albeit functionally distinct (i.e., when compared to chemical and behavioral addictions) â form of addiction. However, despite the protracted and pervasive nature of the condition, recent empirical findings add support to ancient Buddhist teachings and suggest that addiction to selfhood can be overcome by a treatment process involving phases of: (i) becoming aware of the imputed self, (ii) deconstructing the imputed self, and (iii) reconstructing a dynamic and non-dual self
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