7,904 research outputs found
Reslizumab in patients with inadequately controlled late-onset asthma and elevated blood eosinophils
INTRODUCTION: Asthma with adult onset and elevated blood eosinophils is a difficult-to-treat subgroup. This post hoc analysis evaluated reslizumab, an anti-interleukin-5 monoclonal antibody, in patients with late-onset eosinophilic asthma.
METHODS: Data from two 52-week placebo-controlled trials of reslizumab IV 3 mg/kg every 4 weeks in patients aged 12-75 years with inadequately controlled asthma, ≥1 asthma exacerbation within 12 months, and screening blood eosinophils ≥400/μL (NCT01287039/NCT01285323) were stratified by age of asthma onset (<40 or ≥40 years). Annual clinical asthma exacerbation rates, change in lung function, and patient-reported outcomes were analyzed.
RESULTS: 273 patients with late-onset asthma (placebo, n = 130; reslizumab, n = 143) and 658 with early-onset asthma (placebo, n = 336; reslizumab, n = 322) were included. Baseline demographics were similar between groups. The interaction between age at onset of asthma and effect of reslizumab on asthma exacerbations was statistically significant (p = 0.0083). Compared with placebo, reslizumab produced a 75% relative reduction in asthma exacerbations in patients with late-onset asthma (rate ratio [RR] 0.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.16, 0.40), substantially larger than the reduction in earlier onset patients (RR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.44, 0.76). Similar findings were observed for other measures of asthma, including forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). The adverse event profile of reslizumab was similar in patients with early- or late-onset asthma.
CONCLUSIONS: Compared with placebo, reslizumab produced larger reductions in asthma exacerbations and larger improvements in lung function in patients with late versus early-onset asthma
Telescience testbedding: An implementation approach
Telescience is the term used to describe a concept being developed by NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) under the Science and Applications Information System (SAIS) Program. This concept focuses on the development of an ability for all OSSA users to be remotely interactive with all provided information system services for the Space Station era. This concept includes access to services provided by both flight and ground components of the system and emphasizes the accommodation of users from their home institutions. Key to the development of the telescience capability is an implementation approach called rapid-prototype testbedding. This testbedding is used to validate the concept and test the applicability of emerging technologies and operational methodologies. Testbedding will be used to first determine the feasibility of an idea and then the applicability to real science usage. Once a concept is deemed viable, it will be integrated into the operational system for real time support. It is believed that this approach will greatly decrease the expense of implementing the eventual system and will enhance the resultant capabilities of the delivered system
Meteorite cloudy zone formation as a quantitative indicator of paleomagnetic field intensities and cooling rates on planetesimals
Metallic microstructures in slowly-cooled iron-rich meteorites reflect the
thermal and magnetic histories of their parent planetesimals. Of particular
interest is the cloudy zone, a nanoscale intergrowth of Ni-rich islands within
a Ni-poor matrix that forms below 350{\deg}C by spinodal decomposition. The
sizes of the islands have long been recognized as reflecting the
low-temperature cooling rates of meteorite parent bodies. However, a model
capable of providing quantitative cooling rate estimates from island sizes has
been lacking. Moreover, these islands are also capable of preserving a record
of the ambient magnetic field as they grew, but some of the key physical
parameters required for recovering reliable paleointensity estimates from
magnetic measurements of these islands have been poorly constrained. To address
both of these issues, we present a numerical model of the structural and
compositional evolution of the cloudy zone as a function of cooling rate and
local composition. Our model produces island sizes that are consistent with
present-day measured sizes. This model enables a substantial improvement in the
calibration of paleointensity estimates and associated uncertainties. In
particular, we can now accurately quantify the statistical uncertainty
associated with the finite number of islands and the uncertainty on their size
at the time of the record. We use this new understanding to revisit
paleointensities from previous pioneering paleomagnetic studies of cloudy
zones. We show that these could have been overestimated but nevertheless still
require substantial magnetic fields to have been present on their parent
bodies. Our model also allows us to estimate absolute cooling rates for
meteorites that cooled slower than 10000{\deg}C My-1. We demonstrate how these
cooling rate estimates can uniquely constrain the low-temperature thermal
history of meteorite parent bodies.Comment: Manuscript resubmitted after revision
The metamorphosis of Jewish identities in nineteenth century Russia, 1801-1894.
During the period between the ascension of Tsar Alexander I and Tsar Nicholas II, the Jews of Russia and Russian officials were engaged in a curious partnership. Both parties were concerned with determining the precise definition of Jewishness and how this would change during the course of the nineteenth century. Russian officials, in the main, wanted to refashion the Jews of Russia into Russophiles imbued with Russian mores and education but, on no account, were these new Jews to be considered true Russians since God had made them a distinct group from their Slavic neighbors. Being compelled to be a part of the Russian milieu and yet kept apart from Russian society, the best that a Jew of Russia could accomplish was to become a Russian with a Jewish accent. From the Jewish perspective, specifically the intelligentsia and certain native and foreign philanthropists, the Russian Jewish identity needed to be reformed in order to maintain its viability but not at the price of complete assimilation. Towards that end, a number of educational initiatives were presented to the Russian government and even approved, giving the appearance of a partnership, though their respective ends were hardly identical. Understanding the underlying motivations of each side is imperative. Aside from Russian xenophobia in all of its manifestations, Russian officials simply did not know what to do with approximately 800,000 Ashkenazic Jews after the Polish partition of 1795. Being unknowns, Tsar Alexander (1801-1825) attempted to make them familiar to the official Russian mind via the imposition of Russian education. With this exposure, the Jews would then become Russians of a sort which meant that they were no longer to be feared and could be utilized for Imperial benefit. In brief, this was the rationale of Russian officialdom. For their part, the Jews of Russia did not accept these policies passively. Beginning in the mid-1830\u27s and continuing until the end of the century, the Jews of Russia, along with foreign allies, promoted, their own reforms, some of which met with favor from St. Petersburg. In the end, between wranglings and detente, the Jews of Russia prevailed by creating a number of identities which bore various degrees of Jewishness and yet allowed them to engage in the intellectual, social, and political milieus beyond the bounds of their community
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Manufacturing Mechatronics Using Thermal Spray Shape Deposition
A new technology for manufacturing mechatronics is described. The technique is based on recursive
masking and deposition of thermally sprayed materials. Using these methods, mechanical structures
can be created that embed and interconnect electronic components. This results in highly integrated
mechatronic devices. A simple, electromechanical artifact was designed and produced to assess the
feasibility of these techniques. The details and limitations of this project will be discussed. Areas of
future research are identified which are aimed at realizing the full potential of this emerging manufacturing
process.Mechanical Engineerin
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