What is the impact of sex hormones on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory rheumatic disease and has a female predominance of around 3:1. The relationship between sex hormones and RA has been of great interest to researchers ever since Philip Hench's observations in the 1930's regarding spontaneous disease amelioration in pregnancy. Extensive basic scientific work has demonstrated the immunomodulatory actions of sex hormones but this therapeutic potential has not to date resulted in successful clinical trials in RA. Epidemiological data regarding both endogenous and exogenous hormonal factors are inconsistent, but declining estrogen and/or progesterone levels in the menopause and post-partum appear to increase the risk and severity of RA. This review assimilates basic scientific, epidemiological and clinical trial data to provide an overview of the current understanding of the relationship between sex hormones and RA, focusing on estrogen, progesterone and androgens

Stratifying management of rheumatic disease for pregnancy and breastfeeding

The management of inflammatory rheumatic diseases during pregnancy and breastfeeding has undergone considerable change in the past few years. Modern therapeutics, including biologic and targeted synthetic DMARDs, have enabled substantial improvements in the control of rheumatic diseases, resulting in more patients with severe disease considering pregnancy. Therefore, management of disease for these patients needs to be discussed with clinicians before, during and after pregnancy and patients need to know what complications they might experience before they become pregnant. This Review summarizes the effects pregnancy has on various rheumatic diseases and the effects these diseases have on pregnancy, as well as providing advice regarding the alteration and monitoring of therapy before, during and after pregnancy

Elemental analysis by alpha-induced prompt gamma-ray spectrometry

Bibliography: p. 136-139.Alpha-induced prompt gamma-rays generated by excitation, or in nuclear reactions, were studied for 57 elements, to select those elements having gamma-rays of sufficient intensity for analytical application. Several light, medium and heavy elements show promise. Of these nitrogen, fluorine, manganese and vanadium were selected for more detailed study. The applicability of this technique was tested by studying the determination of fluorine in cements and of nitrogen, vanadium and manganese in steels

Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Anion-pi Interactions Metallacyclic Architectures of First-Row Transition Metals and N-Heteroaromatic Ligands

Research into anion-pi interactions has shifted from attempts to establish the legitimacy of the interaction to the incorporation of anion-pi interactions into supramolecular architectures. The research discussed in this dissertation explores the subtle effects of ligand, anion, and metal ion on supramolecular architectures of tetrazine-based ligands in the context of anion-pi interactions and their importance in the design and synthesis of supramolecular architectures. Computational studies highlight the importance of the arene quadrupole moment, molecular polarizability, and substituent effects on the strength of anion-pi interactions. More importantly, however, this work establishes that there is a distinct directionality inherent to the anion-pi interaction between polyatomic anions and N-heterocycles, which can be used to direct ligands in supramolecular architectures as demonstrated through the work of the Dunbar group in recent years, particularly that of the square and pentagonal metallacycles. The extension of metallacycles of bptz to CoII and FeII demonstrates the ability to tune the size of the metallacyclic cavity by simply changing the metal ion and results in the surprising encapsulation of two [SbF6]- anions in [Fe5(bptz)5(NCCH3)10][SbF6]10. 1H NMR spectroscopy and electrochemical studies reveal slight but significant differences characteristic of the square and pentagonal metallacycles and support the presence of anion-pi interactions in solution and highlight the importance of the encapsulated anion in the templation and stability of the metallacycles. A study of the interconversion between the square and pentagonal metallacycles via 1H NMR is presented for the first time. Increasing the pi-acidity of the chelating ligand from bptz to bmtz results in the encapsulation of only one [SbF6]- anion in [Fe5(bmtz)5(NCCH3)10][SbF6]10, maximizing anion-pi interactions with the ligand despite the tighter fit. A significant hurdle in the incorporation of different anions into the metallacyclic structures was overcome with the development of a new synthetic protocol for [Fe(NCCH3)6]2+ salts of a wide range of anions from sodium salts and Fe4Cl8(THF)6. Also, the nuclearity of the less stable [Fe5(bptz)5(NCCH3)10][PF6]10 metallacycle was established via a combination of MS, electrochemistry and 1H NMR experiments through comparisons with known FeII metallacycle solution behavior

His Majesty’s Gracious Ordinance Regarding the Freedom of Writing and of the Press

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the issuance of His Majesty’s Gracious Ordinance Regarding the Freedom of Writing and of the Press in Sweden - the world's first press freedom law - Ian Giles and Peter Graves have prepared a new translation to English to mark the occasion

Tracing the transmission of Scandinavian literature to the UK: 1917-2017

The interest in understanding how books move from a Scandinavian source culture to the British target culture has never been greater. This thesis analyses this buoyant demand by tracing the transmission of Scandinavian literature to Britain and its relationship with the British literary market over the past century. Through a series of case studies, the thesis examines what influences the likelihood of transmission and successful reception in Britain; the position of Scandinavian books in the British literary polysystem; how the transmission of Scandinavian books to Britain differs from the transmission to other polysystems; and how the publication practices of translated books have evolved. This approach is supported by an interdisciplinary framework encompassing translation, literary and sociocultural theories: key theoretical strands utilised are Holmes’ theory of function-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies, Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory, and Heilbron’s sociology of translation. In addition, elements of book history and patronage theory are also applied. The thesis comprises five case studies, spanning the years 1917-2017, of which one is Danish (Peter Høeg’s Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow), two are Norwegian (Knut Hamsun’s Growth of the Soil and Agnar Mykle’s four Ash Burlefoot novels), and two are Swedish (Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö’s Martin Beck decalogy, and Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, now continued by David Lagercrantz). Each of these case studies draws upon a wide range of sources, including newspapers, periodicals, archival materials, interview transcripts, industry statistics, and a range of scholarship, in order to provide comprehensive and contextualised insight into the transmission and reception trajectory of its respective subject, exploring the sociological and literary background to both production and reception. The increasing commercialisation of publishing, and more specifically of translated Scandinavian literature, is explored alongside literary and social changes, with emphasis on the tendency for transmission to be most likely at moments of paradigmatic shift in British society. This is especially reflected in the emergence of genre fiction and hybrid forms of writing during the period in question. Taken in combination, the case studies generate significant and original findings by identifying and analysing overarching trends that cannot be established through examining just one case subject or one source language. They both provide an historical account of Scandinavian literary transmission to Britain during the twentieth and early-twenty- first centuries, and they identify and analyse the significant factors involved in that process. The research offers an enhanced understanding of the contemporary situation of the publication of Scandinavian books in Britain

Risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes prior to the onset of an autoimmune rheumatic disease: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES: An increased risk of adverse maternal and fetal pregnancy complications including pre-eclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction and small for gestational age, is well-described in women with autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARD) compared with the general population (GP). It is less clear however, whether this risk of adverse pregnancy outcome (APO) also exists in women with "preclinical ARD" (preARD) before they are diagnosed with an ARD many years post-partum. Therefore, we have undertaken a systematic review of available evidence on APO in patients who subsequently were diagnosed with a rheumatic disease to identify whether there is an increased risk in preARD. METHODS: The present study was reported in accordance with the guidance of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standard. A systematic literature review was performed using the online PubMed database. PreSLE and preRA patients were defined as those who, over the subsequent years, developed Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) or Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) according to international classification criteria. RESULTS: A total of 176 articles were screened and 27 original articles selected for final analysis. PreRA was the most studied group with 15 studies of > 1600 pregnancies and preSLE was the second most studied preARD in pregnancy with 14 studies of > 1000 pregnancies. We found that patients who subsequently develop SLE have an increased burden of poor pregnancy outcomes compared with pregnant women from the GP but less APO compared with SLE pregnancies. In contrast, a similar rate of APO was found when preRA were compared with GP pregnancies. CONCLUSION: Our findings of an increased risk of APO in certain preARD highlights the relevance of an obstetric history during the first rheumatology appointment and the need for novel screening strategies to predict APO. Further research is required to elucidate the immune basis of adverse pregnancy outcomes in preclinical and clinical ARD