Momento Económico (37)

Temas de hoy. 2/ México 1987: el año de la econornia desigual. Mario J. Zepeda M. 3/ La petrolización de la economía mexicana. Miguel Breceda Lspeyre. 6/ Del saneamiento de la economía a la injusticia social. Javier Delgadillo Macías. 9/ La transición política: una revisión crítica. Isidro H. Cisneros Ramírez. 13/ FAO: alimentación y crisis en América Latina. Pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe. 16

Efficacy and safety of NI-0101, an anti-toll-like receptor 4 monoclonal antibody, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis after inadequate response to methotrexate: a phase II study

Objectives Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) form immune complexes with citrullinated proteins binding toll-like receptor (TLR) 4, which has been proposed as a mediator of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). NI-0101 is a first-in-class humanised monoclonal antibody blocking TLR4, as confirmed by inhibition of in vivo lipopolysaccharide-induced cytokine release in healthy volunteers. This study was design to confirm preclinical investigations supporting a biomarker-driven approach for treatment of patients with RA who present positive for these immune complexes. Methods Placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised (2:1) trial of the tolerability and efficacy of NI-0101 (5 mg/kg, every 2 weeks for 12 weeks) versus placebo in ACPA-positive RA patients with inadequate response to methotrexate. Efficacy measures included Disease Activity Score (28-joint count) with C reactive protein (DAS28-CRP), European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) good and moderate responses, and American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20, ACR50 and ACR70 responses. Subgroup analyses defined on biomarkers were conducted. Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety were reported. Results 90 patients were randomised (NI-0101 (61) and placebo (29)); 86 completed the study. No significant between-group difference was observed for any of the efficacy endpoints. Subgroup analyses using baseline parameters as covariants did not reveal any population responding to NI-0101. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 51.7% of patients who received placebo versus 52.5% for NI-0101. Conclusions We demonstrate for the first time that in RA, a human immune-mediated inflammatory disease, blocking the TLR4 pathway alone does not improve disease parameters. Successful targeting of innate immune pathways in RA may require broader and/or earlier inhibitory approaches

A small solitary non-parasitic hepatic cyst causing an intra-hepatic bile duct stricture: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>We report an unusual presentation of a small hepatic cyst causing cholangitis.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 70-year-old Asian man was hospitalized for aggravated chronic pain in the right upper portion of his abdomen. Fever developed after admission. Laboratory tests revealed elevated hepatobiliary enzymes, inflammatory markers and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 without hyperbilirubinemia. Ultrasound and computed tomography demonstrated dilatation of the left intra-hepatic bile ducts. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed that the right intra-hepatic bile ducts were normally filled with contrast medium, but the left intra-hepatic bile ducts were not seen in the confluence. A left hepatectomy was performed because a hidden malignancy could not be excluded. The surgical findings showed no tumor around the bile duct but rather a 2 cm cyst in segment four of Couinaud's category of the liver around the hilum. The pathology report was a solitary non-parasitic hepatic cyst compressing the bile duct.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A very small solitary hepatic cyst might cause hepatic duct stricture if it is located near the hepatic hilum, and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a hepatic duct stricture.</p

Quantification of the performance of chaotic micromixers on the basis of finite time Lyapunov exponents

Chaotic micromixers such as the staggered herringbone mixer developed by Stroock et al. allow efficient mixing of fluids even at low Reynolds number by repeated stretching and folding of the fluid interfaces. The ability of the fluid to mix well depends on the rate at which "chaotic advection" occurs in the mixer. An optimization of mixer geometries is a non trivial task which is often performed by time consuming and expensive trial and error experiments. In this paper an algorithm is presented that applies the concept of finite-time Lyapunov exponents to obtain a quantitative measure of the chaotic advection of the flow and hence the performance of micromixers. By performing lattice Boltzmann simulations of the flow inside a mixer geometry, introducing massless and non-interacting tracer particles and following their trajectories the finite time Lyapunov exponents can be calculated. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by a comparison of the improved geometrical structure of the staggered herringbone mixer with available literature data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Quadratic optimal functional quantization of stochastic processes and numerical applications

In this paper, we present an overview of the recent developments of functional quantization of stochastic processes, with an emphasis on the quadratic case. Functional quantization is a way to approximate a process, viewed as a Hilbert-valued random variable, using a nearest neighbour projection on a finite codebook. A special emphasis is made on the computational aspects and the numerical applications, in particular the pricing of some path-dependent European options.Comment: 41 page

Oceanic three-dimensional Lagrangian Coherent Structures: A study of a mesoscale eddy in the Benguela ocean region

We study three dimensional oceanic Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) in the Benguela region, as obtained from an output of the ROMS model. To do that we first compute Finite-Size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) fields in the region volume, characterizing mesoscale stirring and mixing. Average FSLE values show a general decreasing trend with depth, but there is a local maximum at about 100 m depth. LCSs are extracted as ridges of the calculated FSLE fields. They present a "curtain-like" geometry in which the strongest attracting and repelling structures appear as quasivertical surfaces. LCSs around a particular cyclonic eddy, pinched off from the upwelling front are also calculated. The LCSs are confirmed to provide pathways and barriers to transport in and out of the eddy

Finite one dimensional impenetrable Bose systems: Occupation numbers

Bosons in the form of ultra cold alkali atoms can be confined to a one dimensional (1d) domain by the use of harmonic traps. This motivates the study of the ground state occupations $\lambda_i$ of effective single particle states $\phi_i$, in the theoretical 1d impenetrable Bose gas. Both the system on a circle and the harmonically trapped system are considered. The $\lambda_i$ and $\phi_i$ are the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions respectively of the one body density matrix. We present a detailed numerical and analytic study of this problem. Our main results are the explicit scaled forms of the density matrices, from which it is deduced that for fixed $i$ the occupations $\lambda_i$ are asymptotically proportional to $\sqrt{N}$ in both the circular and harmonically trapped cases.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures (.eps), uses REVTeX