Историческая антропонимия сербско-хорватского языка как источник реконструкции праславянской лексики

(uk) Статтю присвячено словотвірно-етимологічному аналізу групи слов'янських особових імен, засвідчених у пам'ятках писемності сербсько-хорватської мови. Результатом аналізу виступає реконструкція архаїчних лексем, які зникли зі слов'янського апелятивного словника.(ru) Статья посвящена словообразовательно-этимологическому анализу группы славянских личных имен, засвидетельствованных в памятниках письменности сербско­хорватского языка. Результатом анализа стача реконструкция ряда архаичных лексем, утраченных в славянском апеллативном словаре.(en) The article is devoted to the word-formative etymological analysis o f a number o f Slavonic personal names, verified in the historical papers o f serbo-croatian language. The result o f the analysis is the reconstruction o f a series o f archaic lexemes lost in the Slavonic appellative vocabulary

PyExperimenter: Easily distribute experiments and track results

PyExperimenter is a tool to facilitate the setup, documentation, execution, and subsequent evaluation of results from an empirical study of algorithms and in particular is designed to reduce the involved manual effort significantly. It is intended to be used by researchers in the field of artificial intelligence, but is not limited to those.Comment: Published in Journal of Open Source Softwar

Disease-Modifying Drug Uptake and Health Service Use in the Ageing MS Population

Background: Evidence regarding the efficacy or effectiveness of the disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) in the older multiple sclerosis (MS) population is scarce. This has contributed to a lack of evidence-based treatment recommendations for the ageing MS population in practice guidelines. We examined the relationship between age (<55 and ≥55 years), DMD exposure and health service use in the MS population. Methods: We conducted a population-based observational study using linked administrative health data from British Columbia, Canada. We selected all persons with MS and followed from the most recent of their first MS or demyelinating event, 18th birthday or 01-January-1996 (index date) until the earliest of emigration, death or 31-December-2017 (study end). We assessed DMD exposure status over time, initially as any versus no DMD, then by generation (first or second) and finally by each individual DMD. Age-specific analyses were conducted with all-cause hospitalizations and number of physician visits assessed using proportional means model and negative binomial regression with generalized estimating equations. Results: We included 19,360 persons with MS (72% were women); 10,741/19,360 (56%) had ever reached their 55th birthday. Person-years of follow-up whilst aged <55 was 132,283, and 93,594 whilst aged ≥55. Any DMD, versus no DMD in the <55-year-olds was associated with a 23% lower hazard of hospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio, aHR0.77; 95%CI 0.72-0.82), but not in the ≥55-year-olds (aHR0.95; 95%CI 0.87-1.04). Similar patterns were observed for the first and second generation DMDs. Exposure to any (versus no) DMD was not associated with rates of physician visits in either age group (<55 years: adjusted rate ratio, aRR1.02; 95%CI 1.00-1.04 and ≥55 years: aRR1.00; 95%CI 0.96-1.03), but variation in aRR was observed across the individual DMDs. Conclusion: Our study showed beneficial effects of the DMDs used to treat MS on hospitalizations for those aged <55 at the time of exposure. In contrast, for individuals ≥55 years of age exposed to a DMD, the hazard of hospitalization was not significantly lowered. Our study contributes to the broader understanding of the potential benefits and risks of DMD use in the ageing MS population

Evaluation of two family-based intervention programs for children affected by rare disease and their families – research network (CARE-FAM-NET): study protocol for a rater-blinded, randomized, controlled, multicenter trial in a 2x2 factorial design

Background: Families of children with rare diseases (i.e., not more than 5 out of 10,000 people are affected) are often highly burdened with fears, insecurities and concerns regarding the affected child and its siblings. Although families caring for children with rare diseases are known to be at risk for mental disorders, the evaluation of special programs under high methodological standards has not been conducted so far. Moreover, the implementation of interventions for this group into regular care has not yet been accomplished in Germany. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a family-based intervention will be assessed. Methods/design: The study is a 2x2 factorial randomized controlled multicenter trial conducted at 17 study centers throughout Germany. Participants are families with children and adolescents affected by a rare disease aged 0 to 21 years. Families in the face-to-face intervention CARE-FAM, online intervention WEP-CARE or the combination of both will be treated over a period of roughly 6 months. Topics discussed in the interventions include coping, family relations, and social support. Families in the control condition will receive treatment as usual. The primary efficacy outcome is parental mental health, measured by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) by blinded external raters. Further outcomes will be assessed from the parents’ as well as the children’s perspective. Participants are investigated at baseline, 6, 12 and 18 months after randomization. In addition to the assessment of various psychosocial outcomes, a comprehensive health-economic evaluation will be performed. Discussion: This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of two family-based intervention programs for Children Affected by Rare Disease and their Family’s Network (CARE-FAM-NET) in German standard care. A methodologically challenging study design is used to reflect the complexity of the actual medical care situation. This trial could be an important contribution to the improvement of care for this highly burdened group. Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00015859 (registered 18 December 2018) and ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04339465 (registered 8 April 2020). Protocol Version: 15 August 2020 (Version 6.1). Trial status: Recruitment started on 1 January 2019 and will be completed on 31 March 2021. © 2020, The Author(s)

CAMEA—A novel multiplexing analyzer for neutron spectroscopy

The analyzerdetector system continuous angle multiple energy analysis will be installed on the cold-neutron triple-axis spectrometer RITA-2 at SINQ, PSI. CAMEA is optimized for efficiency in the horizontal scattering plane enabling rapid and detailed mapping of excitations. As a novelty the design employs a series of several sequential upward scatteringanalyzer arcs. Each arc is set to a different, fixed, final energy and scattersneutrons towards position sensitive detectors. Thus, neutrons with different final energies are recorded simultaneously over a large angular range. In a single data-acquisition many entire constant-energy lines in the horizontal scattering plane are recorded for a quasi-continuous angular coverage of about 60°. With a large combined coverage in energy and momentum, this will result in a very efficient spectrometer, which will be particularly suited for parametric studies under extreme conditions with restrictive sample environments (high field magnets or pressure cells) and for small samples of novel materials. In this paper we outline the concept and the specifications of the instrument currently under construction

De novo expression of gastrokines in pancreatic precursor lesions impede the development of pancreatic cancer

Molecular events occurring in stepwise progression from pre-malignant lesions (pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia; PanIN) to the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are poorly understood. Thus, characterization of early PanIN lesions may reveal markers that can help in diagnosing PDAC at an early stage and allow understanding the pathology of the disease. We performed the molecular and histological assessment of patient-derived PanINs, tumor tissues and pancreas from mouse models with PDAC (KC mice that harbor K-RAS mutation in pancreatic tissue), where we noted marked upregulation of gastrokine (GKN) proteins. To further understand the role of gastrokine proteins in PDAC development, GKN-deficient KC mice were developed by intercrossing gastrokine-deficient mice with KC mice. Panc-02 (pancreatic cancer cells of mouse origin) were genetically modified to express GKN1 for further in vitro and in vivo analysis. Our results show that gastrokine proteins were absent in healthy pancreas and invasive cancer, while its expression was prominent in low-grade PanINs. We could detect these proteins in pancreatic juice and serum of KC mice. Furthermore, accelerated PanIN and tumor development were noted in gastrokine deficient KC mice. Loss of gastrokine 1 protein delayed apoptosis during carcinogenesis leading to the development of desmoplastic stroma while loss of gastrokine 2 increased the proliferation rate in precursor lesions. In summary, we identified gastrokine proteins in early pancreatic precursor lesions, where gastrokine proteins delay pancreatic carcinogenesis

Hydrothermal replacement of biogenic and abiogenic aragonite by Mg-carbonates – Relation between textural control on effective element fluxes and resulting carbonate phase

Dolomitization, i.e., the secondary replacement of calcite or aragonite (CaCO3) by dolomite (CaMg[CO3]2), is one of the most volumetrically important carbonate diagenetic processes. It occurs under near surface and shallow burial conditions and can significantly modify rock properties through changes in porosity and permeability. Dolomitization fronts are directly coupled to fluid pathways, which may be related to the initial porosity/permeability of the precursor limestone, an existing fault network or secondary porosity/permeability created through the replacement reaction. In this study, the textural control on the replacement of biogenic and abiogenic aragonite by Mg-carbonates, that are typical precursor phases in the dolomitization process, was experimentally studied under hydrothermal conditions. Aragonite samples with different textural and microstructural properties exhibiting a compact (inorganic aragonite single crystal), an intermediate (bivalve shell of Arctica islandica) and open porous structure (skeleton of coral Porites sp.) were reacted with a solution of 0.9 M MgCl2 and 0.015 M SrCl2 at 200 °C. The replacement of aragonite by a Ca-bearing magnesite and a Mg-Ca carbonate of non-stoichiometric dolomitic composition takes place via a dissolution-precipitation process and leads to the formation of a porous reaction front that progressively replaces the aragonite precursor. The reaction leads to the development of porosity within the reaction front and distinctive microstructures such as gaps and cavities at the reaction interface. The newly formed reaction rim consists of chemically distinct phases separated by sharp boundaries. It was found that the number of phases and their chemical variation decreases with increasing initial porosity and reactive surface area. This observation is explained by variations in effective element fluxes that result in differential chemical gradients in the fluid within the pore space of the reaction rim. Observed reaction rates are highest for the replacement of the initially highly porous coral and lowest for the compact structure of a single aragonite crystal. Therefore, the reaction progress equally depends on effective element fluxes between the fluid at the reaction interface and the bulk solution surrounding the test material as well as the reactive surface area. This study demonstrates that the textural and microstructural properties of the parent material have a significant influence on the chemical composition of the product phase. Moreover, our data highlight the importance of effective fluid-mediated element exchange between the fluid at the reaction interface and the bulk solution controlled by the local microstructure

Training of Instrumentalists and Development of New Technologies on SOFIA

This white paper is submitted to the Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010 Decadal Survey (Astro2010)1 Committee on the State of the Profession to emphasize the potential of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to contribute to the training of instrumentalists and observers, and to related technology developments. This potential goes beyond the primary mission of SOFIA, which is to carry out unique, high priority astronomical research. SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP aircraft with a 2.5 meter telescope. It will enable astronomical observations anywhere, any time, and at most wavelengths between 0.3 microns and 1.6 mm not accessible from ground-based observatories. These attributes, accruing from the mobility and flight altitude of SOFIA, guarantee a wealth of scientific return. Its instrument teams (nine in the first generation) and guest investigators will do suborbital astronomy in a shirt-sleeve environment. The project will invest $10M per year in science instrument development over a lifetime of 20 years. This, frequent flight opportunities, and operation that enables rapid changes of science instruments and hands-on in-flight access to the instruments, assure a unique and extensive potential - both for training young instrumentalists and for encouraging and deploying nascent technologies. Novel instruments covering optical, infrared, and submillimeter bands can be developed for and tested on SOFIA by their developers (including apprentices) for their own observations and for those of guest observers, to validate technologies and maximize observational effectiveness.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, White Paper for Astro 2010 Survey Committee on State of the Professio