Orbital/ocular inflammatory involvement in VEXAS syndrome: Data from the international AIDA network VEXAS registry

VEXAS syndrome is a recently described monogenic autoinflammatory disease capable of manifesting itself with a wide array of organs and tissues involvement. Orbital/ocular inflammatory manifestations are frequently described in VEXAS patients. The objective of this study is to further describe orbital/ocular conditions in VEXAS syndrome while investigating potential associations with other disease manifestations. In the present study, twenty-seven out of 59 (45.8 %) VEXAS patients showed an inflammatory orbital/ocular involvement during their clinical history. The most frequent orbital/ocular affections were represented by periorbital edema in 8 (13.6 %) cases, episcleritis in 5 (8.5 %) patients, scleritis in 5 (8.5 %) cases, uveitis in 4 (6.8 %) cases, conjunctivitis in 4 (6.8 %) cases, blepharitis in 3 (5.1 %) cases, orbital myositis in 2 (3.4 %) cases. A diagnosis of systemic immune-mediated disease was observed in 15 (55.6 %) cases, with relapsing polychondritis diagnosed in 12 patients. A significant association was observed between relapsing polychondritis and orbital/ocular involvement in VEXAS syndrome (Relative Risk: 2.37, 95 % C.I. 1.03–5.46, p = 0.048). Six deaths were observed in the whole cohort of patients after a median disease duration of 1.2 (IQR=5.35) years, 5 (83.3 %) of which showed orbital/ocular inflammatory involvement. In conclusion, this study confirms that orbital/ocular inflammatory involvement is a common finding in VEXAS patients, especially when relapsing polychondritis is diagnosed. This makes ophthalmologists a key figure in the diagnostic process of VEXAS syndrome. The high frequency of deaths observed in this study seems to suggest that patients with orbital/ocular involvement may require increased attention and more careful follow-up

Раціональність як реляційність: синтетична єдність відмінностей в трансцендентальному просторі границі

У статті висвітлюються проблеми «постсучасної» раціональності, визначальною характеристикою котрої покладається іманентна пограничність. Відношення та Іншість розглядаються як визначальні предикати раціональності, які в класичній парадигмі імплікують принципи рефлексійності, конструктивності, співмірності. Корелятами означених принципів у постструктуралістській раціональності визначаються повторність (ітеративність), фрагментарність, подвоєння, розрізняння. Конгруентність класичної та постсучасної раціональності зумовлена еквівалентністю понять трансцендентальності та пограничності. Синтетична єдність (розбіжність та зв'язок) з її специфікацією принципами пов’язання та розрізняння, визначається через медіативну функцію судження, структура якого фундується параметрами реляційності.В статье освещаются проблемы «постсовременной» рациональности, определяющей характеристикой которой полагается имманентная пограничность. Отношение и Другость рассматриваются как определяющие предикаты рациональности, которые имплицируют принципы рефлексивности, конструктивности, соразмерности в классической парадигме. Коррелятами обозначенных принципов в постструктуралистской рациональности являются повторность (итеративность), фрагментарность, удвоение, различание. Конгруэнтность классической и постсоврменной рациональности обусловлена эквивалентностью понятий трансцендентальности и пограничности. Синтетическое единств (различие и связь) с его спецификацией в позициях увязывания и различания, определяется через медиативную функцию суждения, структура которого фундируется параметрами реляционности.The paper illuminates some problems of the post-contemporary rationality that possesses the immanent borderness as its distinctive feature. The Relationality and the Anotherness are investigaled as the common predicates of rationality that implicate the “classical” principles of reflexity, constructiveness, proportionality. The main principles of the poststructuralistic rationality correlating with the classical ones are recurrence (iterativity), doubleness, fragmentariness, differance. The congruence of the classical rationality and the post-contemporary one is caused by the equivalency of the concepts “transcendentality” and “borderness”. The synthetical unity (relation between deviation and connection) with its specification by the linking and the differance principles is determined by the mediative function of the assertion that is structured by the relationality parameters

Wastewater irrigation: the state of play

As demand for fresh water intensifies, wastewater is frequently being seen as a valuable resource. Furthermore, wise reuse of wastewater alleviates concerns attendant with its discharge to the environment. Globally, around 20 million ha of land are irrigated with wastewater, and this is likely to increase markedly during the next few decades as water stress intensifies. In 1995, around 2.3 billion people lived in water-stressed river basins and this could increase to 3.5 billion by 2025. We review the current status of wastewater irrigation by providing an overview of the extent of the practice throughout the world and through synthesizing the current understanding of factors influencing sustainable wastewater irrigation. A theme that emerges is that wastewater irrigation is not only more common in water-stressed regions such as the Near East, but the rationale for the practice also tends to differ between the developing and developed worlds. In developing nations, the prime drivers are livelihood dependence and food security, whereas environmental agendas appear to hold greater sway in the developed world. The following were identified as areas requiring greater understanding for the long-term sustainability of wastewater irrigation: (i) accumulation of bioavailable forms of heavy metals in soils, (ii) environmental fate of organics in wastewater-irrigated soils, (iii) influence of reuse schemes on catchment hydrology, including transport of salt loads, (iv) risk models for helminth infections (pertinent to developing nations), (v) microbiological contamination risks for aquifers and surface waters, (vi) transfer efficiencies of chemical contaminants from soil to plants, (vii) health effects of chronic exposure to chemical contaminants, and (viii) strategies for engaging the public.<br /

Implementing opportunistic spectrum access in LTE-Advanced

Long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) has emerged as a promising mobile broadband access technology aiming to cope with the increasing traffic demand in wireless networks. However, the enhanced spectral efficiency offered by LTE-A may become futile without a better management of scarce and overcrowded electromagnetic spectrum. In this sense, cognitive radio (CR) has been proposed as a potential solution to the problem of spectrum scarcity. Among all the mechanisms provided by CR, opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) aims at a dynamic and seamless use of certain licensed bands provided the licensee is not harmfully affected. This operation requires spectral awareness in order to avoid interferences with licensed systems. In spite of implementing some spectrum sensing mechanisms, LTE-A technology lacks other tools that are needed in order to improve the knowledge of the radio environment. This work studies the adoption of a Geo-located data base (Geo-DB) that cooperatively retrieves and maintains information regarding the location of unutilized portions of spectrum potentially available for OSA. Moreover, the potential benefit of this LTE-compliant OSA solution is evaluated using a calibrated simulation tool, by which numerical results allow us to optimally configure the system and show that the proposed opportunistic system is able to significantly improve its performance.The authors would like to thank the funding received from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion within the Project number TEC2011-27723-C02-02 and from the Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio TSI-020100-2011-266 funds. This article had been written in the framework of the CELTIC project CP08-001 COMMUNE. Study by X. Gelabert is funded by the BP-DGR 2010 scholarship (ref. 00192). The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of their colleagues.Osa Ginés, V.; Herranz Claveras, C.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Gelabert, X. (2012). Implementing opportunistic spectrum access in LTE-Advanced. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. 2012(99):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/1687-1499-2012-99S117201299Martín-Sacristán D, Monserrat JF, Cabrejas-Peñuelas J, Calabuig D, Garrigas S, Cardona N: On the way towards fourth-generation mobile: 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced. EURASIP J Wirel Commun Netw 2009, 2009: 1-10.Ratasuk R, Tolli D, Ghosh A: Carrier aggregation in LTE-Advanced. In IEEE 71st Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC 2010-Spring). Taipei; 2010:1-5.Wang H, Rosa C, Pedersen K: Performance of uplink carrier aggregation in LTE-advanced systems. In IEEE 72nd Vehicular Technology Conference Fall (VTC 2010-Fall). Ottawa; 2010:1-5.Tandra R, Sahai A, Mishra S: What is a spectrum hole and what does it take to recognize one? 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"Distributed Cognitive Sensor Network Approach for Surveillance Applications"

The application of intelligent systems composed by smart cameras is continuously spreading in a wide range of applications, playing a key role in public, military and commercial scenarios. As well, in the last years, the capability of wireless sensor networks to collect information from the environment in a distributed manner has been successfully applied in both civilian and military applications. In this paper, basing on recent studies on autonomous cognitive systems, we explore the concepts for designing interactive, adaptable and intelligent multi-sensor surveillance systems able to react to situations in a preventive way by using actuators placed in the monitored environment. To this end, taking inspiration from ambient intelligence (AmI) and cognitive radio (CR) paradigms, fusion of information provided by heterogeneous sensors is used to improve awareness regarding surrounding environment