An immunofluorescent study on anti-synovial tissue antibody in the body fluid from patients with rheumatoid arthritis

There is as yet no plausible and convincing explanation for the etiology of rheumatoid arthritis. The authors investigated anti-synovial tissue antibody in the body fluid of rheumatoid arthritis by means of indirect immunofluorescent technic using non-affected synovial tissues as antigen. As the result the anti-synovial tissue antibody was detected in 7 cases of the 15 synovial fluid samples of rheumatoid arthritis and in two out of the six serum samples. The site of the localization of this antibody was demonstrated to be in the synovial membrane, especially in synovial cells and in the small blood vessel walls situated immediately adjacent to the synovial surface, but it was found in no connective tissues other than synovial membrane. It seems that this anti-synovial tissue antibody should be considered as an independent factor from rheumatoid factor, and that rather than the rheumatoid factor it is more actively associated with the localization and progression of chronic inflammation within the rheumatoid arthritis joint.</p

Inter-annual variations of land cover in and around maroua, northern cameroon

Land degradation is progressing on the Earth. Such degradation results from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. We studied inter-annual variations of land cover around Maroua, Northern Cameroon using Landsat MSS data in order to evaluate a degree of land degradation. The results of this study are summarized as follows: (1) We found increases in area of bare land and cultivating land, and a decrease of biomass in savanna vegetation after 1973. These features show a progress of land degradation in the study area. (2) The degradation trends correspond to climatic fluctuation. Especially, area of bare land correlates closely with annual rainfall. (3) About 100 km^2 of the study area shows irreversible degradation between 1973 and 1987

Model results of the impact of climate change on agriculture in China

This paper assesses the impact of climate change on China's agricultural production at a cross-provincial level using the Ricardian approach, incorporating a multilevel model with farm-level group data. The farm-level group data includes 13379 farm households, across 316 villages, distributed in 31 provinces. The empirical results show that, firstly, the marginal effects and elasticities of net crop revenue per hectare with respect to climate factors indicated that the annual impact of temperature on net crop revenue per hectare was positive, and the effect of increased precipitation was negative when looking at the national totals; secondly, the total impact of simulated climate change scenarios on net crop revenues per hectare at a Chinese national total level, was an increase of between 79 USD per hectare and 207 USD per hectare for the 2050s, and an increase from 140 USD per hectare to 355 USD per hectare for the 2080s. As a result, climate change may create a potential advantage for the development of Chinese agriculture, rather than a risk, especially for agriculture in the provinces of the Northeast, Northwest and North regions. However, the increased precipitation can lead to a loss of net crop revenue per hectare, especially for the provinces of the Southwest, Northwest, North and Northeast regions