Nadir Shah.

This thesis is historical rather than biographical. The story of Nadir's life, after his rise to power, is to so large an extent that of Iran as well that it has been necessary to relate the history of that country during the period of Nadir's prominence; further, I have had to give, in outline, the course of events in adjacent countries, in so far as this was affected by Nadir's policy and acts. Ranging as he did from beyond Qars in the west to Delhi in the east, threatening Russia for a time from Daghistan, and seeking dominion in Turkistan and in Arabia, Nadir was undeniably a figure of great international importance for several years. In compiling the thesis, I have utilised, as far as possible, purely contemporary authorities. When describing important events, I have endeavoured to draw my facts from more than one source; in fact, I have, throughout, sought to coordinate the Iranian and other authorities available. I have tried to be strictly impartial, neither seeking to gloss over Nadir's illdeeds nor to magnify his good actions. In the course of my investigations, I was fortunate enough to come upon a fairly considerable amount of hitherto unutilised material, notably, at the India Office and the Public Record Office. Events have been recorded chronologically, except in the last chapter where, in the appraisement of Nadir's qualities, I found that some recapitulation was necessary. I have devoted some space to the activities and tribulations of the East India Company and of the Russia Company but, in order not to cumber the main narrative unduly, I have included in an appendix the bulk of the information respecting these two Companies. Besides giving a bibliographical introduction, I have compiled a bibliography of the sources consulted, and I have had a series of maps prepared

Referencing Sources of Molecular Spectroscopic Data in the Era of Data Science: Application to the HITRAN and AMBDAS Databases

The application described has been designed to create bibliographic entries in large databases with diverse sources automatically, which reduces both the frequency of mistakes and the workload for the administrators. This new system uniquely identifies each reference from its digital object identifier (DOI) and retrieves the corresponding bibliographic information from any of several online services, including the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data Systems (ADS) and CrossRef APIs. Once parsed into a relational database, the software is able to produce bibliographies in any of several formats, including HTML and BibTeX, for use on websites or printed articles. The application is provided free-of-charge for general use by any scientific database. The power of this application is demonstrated when used to populate reference data for the HITRAN and AMBDAS databases as test cases. HITRAN contains data that is provided by researchers and collaborators throughout the spectroscopic community. These contributors are accredited for their contributions through the bibliography produced alongside the data returned by an online search in HITRAN. Prior to the work presented here, HITRAN and AMBDAS created these bibliographies manually, which is a tedious, time-consuming and error-prone process. The complete code for the new referencing system can be found at \url{https://github.com/hitranonline/refs}.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, already published online at https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms802001

The coronavirus disease pandemic among adult congenital heart disease patients and the lessons learnt - results of a prospective multicenter european registry.

BACKGROUND At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals in charge of particularly vulnerable populations, such as adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients, were confronted with difficult decision-making. We aimed to assess changes in risk stratification and outcomes of ACHD patients suffering from COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021. METHODS AND RESULTS Risk stratification among ACHD experts (before and after the first outcome data were available) was assessed by means of questionnaires. In addition, COVID-19 cases and the corresponding patient characteristics were recorded among participating centres. Predictors for the outcome of interest (complicated disease course) were assessed by means of multivariable logistic regression models calculated with cluster-robust standard errors. When assessing the importance of general and ACHD specific risk factors for a complicated disease course, their overall importance and the corresponding risk perception among ACHD experts decreased over time. Overall, 638 patients (n = 168 during the first wave and n = 470 during the subsequent waves) were included (median age 34 years, 52% women). Main independent predictors for a complicated disease course were male sex, increasing age, a BMI >25 kg/m2, having ≥2 comorbidities, suffering from a cyanotic heart disease or having suffered COVID-19 in the first wave vs. subsequent waves. CONCLUSIONS Apart from cyanotic heart disease, general risk factors for poor outcome in case of COVID-19 reported in the general population are equally important among ACHD patients. Risk perception among ACHD experts decreased during the course of the pandemic

The East India Company’sFarmān, 1622‒1747

The East India Company’s presence and ongoing trade in Persia was reliant on the privileges outlined in the Farmān, granted after the capture of Hormuz in 1622. The relationship between these two powers was cemented in the rights enshrined in the Farmān, which was used by both to regulate their varying needs and expectations over the course of 125 years. This article explores the Company’s records of the Farmān and how changes to its terms were viewed from both sides. As a Persian document, the Farmān gives a clear view of the attitudes of native officials and rulers to the Company and how these terms were used as a means of control

The Airway Microbiota in Cystic Fibrosis: A Complex Fungal and Bacterial Community—Implications for Therapeutic Management

International audienceBackground Given the polymicrobial nature of pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), it is essential to enhance our knowledge on the composition of the microbial community to improve patient management. In this study, we developed a pyrosequencing approach to extensively explore the diversity and dynamics of fungal and prokaryotic populations in CF lower airways. Methodology and Principal Findings Fungi and bacteria diversity in eight sputum samples collected from four adult CF patients was investigated using conventional microbiological culturing and high-throughput pyrosequencing approach targeting the ITS2 locus and the 16S rDNA gene. The unveiled microbial community structure was compared to the clinical profile of the CF patients. Pyrosequencing confirmed recently reported bacterial diversity and observed complex fungal communities, in which more than 60% of the species or genera were not detected by cultures. Strikingly, the diversity and species richness of fungal and bacterial communities was significantly lower in patients with decreased lung function and poor clinical status. Values of Chao1 richness estimator were statistically correlated with values of the Shwachman-Kulczycki score, body mass index, forced vital capacity, and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (p = 0.046, 0.047, 0.004, and 0.001, respectively for fungal Chao1 indices, and p = 0.010, 0.047, 0.002, and 0.0003, respectively for bacterial Chao1 values). Phylogenetic analysis showed high molecular diversities at the sub-species level for the main fungal and bacterial taxa identified in the present study. Anaerobes were isolated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which was more likely to be observed in association with Candida albicans than with Aspergillus fumigatus

Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research Consortium: Accelerating Evidence-Based Practice of Genomic Medicine

Despite rapid technical progress and demonstrable effectiveness for some types of diagnosis and therapy, much remains to be learned about clinical genome and exome sequencing (CGES) and its role within the practice of medicine. The Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) consortium includes 18 extramural research projects, one National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) intramural project, and a coordinating center funded by the NHGRI and National Cancer Institute. The consortium is exploring analytic and clinical validity and utility, as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of sequencing via multidisciplinary approaches; it has thus far recruited 5,577 participants across a spectrum of symptomatic and healthy children and adults by utilizing both germline and cancer sequencing. The CSER consortium is analyzing data and creating publically available procedures and tools related to participant preferences and consent, variant classification, disclosure and management of primary and secondary findings, health outcomes, and integration with electronic health records. Future research directions will refine measures of clinical utility of CGES in both germline and somatic testing, evaluate the use of CGES for screening in healthy individuals, explore the penetrance of pathogenic variants through extensive phenotyping, reduce discordances in public databases of genes and variants, examine social and ethnic disparities in the provision of genomics services, explore regulatory issues, and estimate the value and downstream costs of sequencing. The CSER consortium has established a shared community of research sites by using diverse approaches to pursue the evidence-based development of best practices in genomic medicine