Neurobiologic Features of Fibromyalgia Are Also Present Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Funding: The study recieved support from Pfizer. The funder had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors. Funding Information Pfizer Aptinyx Cerephex ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors wish to thank all of the patient volunteers. We also thank Mariella D’Allesandro for supporting recruitment and data collection.Peer reviewedPostprin

A multi-modal MRI study of the central response to inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis

Special thanks to the patient community who participated in this research effort. Thanks to Mariella D’Allesandro for efforts towards recruitment.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Epidemiology and Molecular Relationships of Cryptosporidium spp. in People, Primates, and Livestock from Western Uganda

Cryptosporidium is a common gastrointestinal parasite known for its zoonotic potential. We found Cryptosporidium in 32.4% of people, 11.1% of non-human primates, and 2.2% of livestock in the region of Kibale National Park, Uganda. In people, infection rates were higher in one community than elsewhere, and fetching water from an open water source increased the probability of infection. Phylogenetic analyses identified clusters of Cryptosporidium with mixed host origins in people, primates, and livestock outside the park; however, parasites from primates inside the park were genetically divergent, suggesting a separate sylvatic transmission cycle. Infection was not associated with clinical disease in people, even in the case of co-infection with the gastrointestinal parasite Giardia duodenalis. Parasites such as Cryptosporidium may be maintained through frequent cross-species transmission in tropical settings where people, livestock, and wildlife interact frequently, but the parasite may undergo more host-specific transmission where such interactions do not occur. Persistent low-level shedding and immunity may limit the clinical effects of infection in such settings

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared space telescope that has recently started its science program which will enable breakthroughs in astrophysics and planetary science. Notably, JWST will provide the very first observations of the earliest luminous objects in the Universe and start a new era of exoplanet atmospheric characterization. This transformative science is enabled by a 6.6 m telescope that is passively cooled with a 5-layer sunshield. The primary mirror is comprised of 18 controllable, low areal density hexagonal segments, that were aligned and phased relative to each other in orbit using innovative image-based wavefront sensing and control algorithms. This revolutionary telescope took more than two decades to develop with a widely distributed team across engineering disciplines. We present an overview of the telescope requirements, architecture, development, superb on-orbit performance, and lessons learned. JWST successfully demonstrates a segmented aperture space telescope and establishes a path to building even larger space telescopes.Comment: accepted by PASP for JWST Overview Special Issue; 34 pages, 25 figure

The mechanisms of boronate ester formation and fluorescent turn-on in ortho-aminomethylphenylboronic acids

ortho-Aminomethylphenylboronic acids are used in receptors for carbohydrates and various other compounds containing vicinal diols. The presence of the o-aminomethyl group enhances the affinity towards diols at neutral pH, and the manner in which this group plays this role has been a topic of debate. Further, the aminomethyl group is believed to be involved in the turn-on of the emission properties of appended fluorophores upon diol binding. In this treatise, a uniform picture emerges for the role of this group: it primarily acts as an electron-withdrawing group that lowers the pK(a) of the neighbouring boronic acid thereby facilitating diol binding at neutral pH. The amine appears to play no role in the modulation of the fluorescence of appended fluorophores in the protic-solvent-inserted form of the boronic acid/boronate ester. Instead, fluorescence turn-on can be consistently tied to vibrational-coupled excited-state relaxation (a loose-bolt effect). Overall, this Review unifies and discusses the existing data as of 2019 whilst also highlighting why o-aminomethyl groups are so widely used, and the role they play in carbohydrate sensing using phenylboronic acids

Re-evaluating syndicalist opposition to the First World War

It has been argued that support for the First World War by the important French syndicalist organisation, the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) has tended to obscure the fact that other national syndicalist organisations remained faithful to their professed workers’ internationalism: on this basis syndicalists beyond France, more than any other ideological persuasion within the organised trade union movement in immediate pre-war and wartime Europe, can be seen to have constituted an authentic movement of opposition to the war in their refusal to subordinate class interests to those of the state, to endorse policies of ‘defencism’ of the ‘national interest’ and to abandon the rhetoric of class conflict. This article, which attempts to contribute to a much neglected comparative historiography of the international syndicalist movement, re-evaluates the syndicalist response across a broad geographical field of canvas (embracing France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Britain and America) to reveal a rather more nuanced, ambiguous and uneven picture. While it highlights the distinctive nature of the syndicalist response compared with other labour movement trends, it also explores the important strategic and tactical limitations involved, including the dilemma of attempting to translate formal syndicalist ideological commitments against the war into practical measures of intervention, and the consequences of the syndicalists’ subordination of the political question of the war to the industrial struggle

Procalcitonin Is Not a Reliable Biomarker of Bacterial Coinfection in People With Coronavirus Disease 2019 Undergoing Microbiological Investigation at the Time of Hospital Admission

Abstract Admission procalcitonin measurements and microbiology results were available for 1040 hospitalized adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (from 48 902 included in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium World Health Organization Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK study). Although procalcitonin was higher in bacterial coinfection, this was neither clinically significant (median [IQR], 0.33 [0.11–1.70] ng/mL vs 0.24 [0.10–0.90] ng/mL) nor diagnostically useful (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.56 [95% confidence interval, .51–.60]).</jats:p

Implementation of corticosteroids in treating COVID-19 in the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK:prospective observational cohort study

BACKGROUND: Dexamethasone was the first intervention proven to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 being treated in hospital. We aimed to evaluate the adoption of corticosteroids in the treatment of COVID-19 in the UK after the RECOVERY trial publication on June 16, 2020, and to identify discrepancies in care. METHODS: We did an audit of clinical implementation of corticosteroids in a prospective, observational, cohort study in 237 UK acute care hospitals between March 16, 2020, and April 14, 2021, restricted to patients aged 18 years or older with proven or high likelihood of COVID-19, who received supplementary oxygen. The primary outcome was administration of dexamethasone, prednisolone, hydrocortisone, or methylprednisolone. This study is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN66726260. FINDINGS: Between June 17, 2020, and April 14, 2021, 47 795 (75·2%) of 63 525 of patients on supplementary oxygen received corticosteroids, higher among patients requiring critical care than in those who received ward care (11 185 [86·6%] of 12 909 vs 36 415 [72·4%] of 50 278). Patients 50 years or older were significantly less likely to receive corticosteroids than those younger than 50 years (adjusted odds ratio 0·79 [95% CI 0·70–0·89], p=0·0001, for 70–79 years; 0·52 [0·46–0·58], p80 years), independent of patient demographics and illness severity. 84 (54·2%) of 155 pregnant women received corticosteroids. Rates of corticosteroid administration increased from 27·5% in the week before June 16, 2020, to 75–80% in January, 2021. INTERPRETATION: Implementation of corticosteroids into clinical practice in the UK for patients with COVID-19 has been successful, but not universal. Patients older than 70 years, independent of illness severity, chronic neurological disease, and dementia, were less likely to receive corticosteroids than those who were younger, as were pregnant women. This could reflect appropriate clinical decision making, but the possibility of inequitable access to life-saving care should be considered. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research and UK Medical Research Council

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29