A DNA-binding activity in BPV initiator protein E1 required for melting duplex ori DNA but not processive helicase activity initiated on partially single-stranded DNA

The papillomavirus replication protein E1 assembles on the viral origin of replication (ori) as a series of complexes. It has been proposed that the ori DNA is first melted by a head-to-tail double trimer of E1 that evolves into two hexamers that encircle and unwind DNA bi-directionally. Here the role of a conserved lysine residue in the smaller tier or collar of the E1 helicase domain in ori processing is described. Unlike the residues of the AAA+ domain DNA-binding segments (β-hairpin and hydrophobic loop; larger tier), this residue functions in the initial melting of duplex ori DNA but not in the processive DNA unwinding of partially single-stranded test substrates. These data therefore define a new DNA-binding related activity in the E1 protein and demonstrate that separate functional elements for DNA melting and helicase activity can be distinguished. New insights into the mechanism of ori melting are elaborated, suggesting the coordinated involvement of rigid and flexible DNA-binding components in E1

Norm-attaining weighted composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00013-012-0458-zWe investigate weighted composition operators that attain their norm on weighted Banach spaces of holomorphic functions on the unit disc of type H∞. Applications for composition operators on weighted Bloch spaces are given. © 2012 Springer Basel.1. The authors are thankful to the referee for pointing to us the references [15] and [16] and their relevance in the present research. 2. The research of Bonet was partially supported by MICINN and FEDER Project MTM2010-15200 and by GV project Prometeo/2008/101 and project ACOMP/2012/090.Bonet Solves, JA.; Lindström, M.; Wolf, E. (2012). Norm-attaining weighted composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. Archiv der Mathematik. 99(6):537-546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00013-012-0458-zS537546996Bierstedt K.D., Bonet J., Galbis A.: Weighted spaces of holomorphic functions on bounded domains. Michigan Math. J. 40, 271–297 (1993)Bierstedt K.D., Bonet J., Taskinen J.: Associated weights and spaces of holomorphic functions. Studia Math. 127, 137–168 (1998)J. Bonet, P. Domański, and M. Lindström, Essential norm and weak compactness of composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. Canad, Math. Bull. 42, no. 2, (1999), 139–148Bonet J. et al.: Composition operators between weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Austral. Math. Soc. Ser. A 64, 101–118 (1998)Bonet J., Lindström M, Wolf E.: Isometric weighted composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of type H ∞. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 136, 4267–4273 (2008)Bonet J, Wolf E.: A note on weighted spaces of holomorphic functions. Archiv Math. 81, 650–654 (2003)Contreras M.D, Hernández-Díaz A.G.: Weighted composition operators in weighted banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Austral. Math. Soc. Ser. A 69, 41–60 (2000)Cowen C., MacCluer B.: Composition Operators on Spaces of Analytic Functions. CRC Press, Boca Raton (1995)J. Diestel, Geometry of Banach Spaces. Selected Topics, Lecture Notes in Math. vol. 485, Springer, Berlin, 1975.Hammond C.: On the norm of a composition operator with linear fractional symbol. Acta Sci. Math. (Szeged) 69, 813–829 (2003)Hosokawa T., Izuchi K., Zheng D.: Isolated points and essential components of composition operators on H ∞. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 130, 1765–1773 (2001)Hosokava T., Ohno S.: Topological strusctures of the sets of composition operatorson the Bloch spaces. J. Math. anal. Appl. 303, 499–508 (2005)Lusky W.: On the isomorphy classes of weighted spaces of harmonic and holomorphic functions. Studia Math. 175, 19–45 (2006)Martín M.: Norm-attaining composition operators on the Bloch spaces. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 369, 15–21 (2010)A. Montes-Rodríguez, The Pick-Schwarz lemma and composition operators on Bloch spaces, International Workshop on Operator Theory (Cefalu, 1997), Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo (2) Suppl. 56 (1998), 167–170.Montes-Rodríguez A.: The essential norm of a composition operator on Bloch spaces. Pacific J. Math. 188, 339–351 (1999)Montes-Rodríguez A.: Weighted composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. London Math. Soc. 61, 872–884 (2000)J.H. Shapiro, Composition Operators and Classical Function Theory, Springer, 1993.K. Zhu, Operator Theory in Function Spaces, Second Edition. Amer. Math. Soc., 2007

Weighted composition operators on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions

[EN] We investigate the continuity, compactness and invertibility of weighted composition operators W-psi,W-phi: f -> psi(f circle phi) when they act on the classical Korenblum space A(-infinity) and other related Frechet or (LB)-spaces of analytic functions on the open unit disc which are defined as intersections or unions of weighted Banach spaces with sup-norms. Some results about the spectrum of these operators are presented in case the self-map phi has a fixed point in the unit disc. A precise description of the spectrum is obtained in this case when the operator acts on the Korenblum space.This research was partially supported by the research project MTM2016-76647-P and the grant BES-2017-081200.Gomez-Orts, E. (2020). Weighted composition operators on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions. Revista de la Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales Serie A Matemáticas. 114(4):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-020-00924-1S1151144Abramovich, Y.A., Aliprantis, C.D.: An invitation to operator theory. Graduate Studies in Mathematics. Amer. Math. Soc., 50 (2002)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator in the Fréchet spaces $$\ell ^{p+}$$ and $$L^{p-}$$. Glasgow Math. J. 59, 273–287 (2017)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions. Collect. Math. 69(2), 263–281 (2018)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Operators on the Fréchet sequence spaces $$ces(p+), 1\le p\le \infty$$. Rev. R. Acad. Cienc. Exactas Fís. Nat. Ser. A Mat. RACSAM 113(2), 1533–1556 (2019)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Linear operators on the (LB)-sequence spaces $$ces(p-), 1\le p\le \infty$$. Descriptive topology and functional analysis. II, 43–67, Springer Proc. Math. Stat., 286, Springer, Cham (2019)Arendt, W., Chalendar, I., Kumar, M., Srivastava, S.: Powers of composition operators: asymptotic behaviour on Bergman, Dirichlet and Bloch spaces. J. Austral. Math. Soc. 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1446788719000235Aron, R., Lindström, M.: Spectra of weighted composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of analytic funcions. Israel J. Math. 141, 263–276 (2004)Bierstedt, K.D., Summers, W.H.: Biduals of weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Austral. Math. Soc., Ser. A, 54(1), 70–79 (1993)Bonet, J.: A note about the spectrum of composition operators induced by a rotation. RACSAM 114, 63 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-020-00788-5Bonet, J., Domański, P., Lindström, M., Taskinen, J.: Composition operators between weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Austral. Math. Soc., Ser. A, 64(1), 101–118 (1998)Bourdon, P.S.: Essential angular derivatives and maximum growth of Königs eigenfunctions. J. Func. Anal. 160, 561–580 (1998)Bourdon, P.S.: Invertible weighted composition operators. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 142(1), 289–299 (2014)Carleson, L., Gamelin, T.: Complex Dynamics. Springer, Berlin (1991)Cowen, C., MacCluer, B.: Composition Operators on Spaces of Analytic Functions. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL (1995)Contreras, M., Hernández-Díaz, A.G.: Weighted composition operators in weighted Banach spacs of analytic functions. J. Austral. Math. Soc., Ser. A 69, 41–60 (2000)Eklund, T., Galindo, P., Lindström, M.: Königs eigenfunction for composition operators on Bloch and $$H^\infty$$ spaces. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 445, 1300–1309 (2017)Hedenmalm, H., Korenblum, B., Zhu, K.: Theory of Bergman Spaces. Grad. Texts in Math. 199. Springer, New York (2000)Jarchow, H.: Locally Convex Spaces. Teubner, Stuttgart (1981)Kamowitz, H.: Compact operators of the form $$uC_{\varphi }$$. Pac. J. Math. 80(1) (1979)Korenblum, B.: An extension of the Nevanlinna theory. Acta Math. 135, 187–219 (1975)Köthe, G.: Topological Vector Spaces II. Springer, New York Inc (1979)Lusky, W.: On the isomorphism classes of weighted spaces of harmonic and holomophic functions. Stud. Math. 75, 19–45 (2006)Meise, R., Vogt, D.: Introduction to functional analysis. Oxford Grad. Texts in Math. 2, New York, (1997)Montes-Rodríguez, A.: Weighted composition operators on weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Lond. Math. Soc. 61(3), 872–884 (2000)Queffélec, H., Queffélec, M.: Diophantine Approximation and Dirichlet series. Hindustain Book Agency, New Delhi (2013)Shapiro, J.H.: Composition Operators and Classical Function Theory. Springer, New York (1993)Shields, A.L., Williams, D.L.: Bounded projections, duality and multipliers in spaces of analytic functions. Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 162, 287–302 (1971)Zhu, K.: Operator Theory on Function Spaces, Math. Surveys and Monographs, Amer. Math. Soc. 138 (2007

The Cesàro operator in growth Banach spaces of analytic functions

[EN] The CesA ro operator C, when acting in the classical growth Banach spaces and , for , of analytic functions on , is investigated. Based on a detailed knowledge of their spectra (due to A. Aleman and A.-M. Persson) we are able to determine the norms of these operators precisely. It is then possible to characterize the mean ergodic and related properties of C acting in these spaces. In addition, we determine the largest Banach space of analytic functions on which C maps into (resp. into ); this optimal domain space always contains (resp. ) as a proper subspace.The research of the first two authors was partially supported by the projects MTM2013-43540-P and GVA Prometeo II/2013/013.Albanese, A.; Bonet Solves, JA.; Ricker, WJ. (2016). The Cesàro operator in growth Banach spaces of analytic functions. Integral Equations and Operator Theory. 86(1):97-112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00020-016-2316-zS97112861Albanese A.A., Bonet J., Ricker W.J.: Convergence of arithmetic means of operators in Fréchet spaces. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 401, 160–173 (2013)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J.,Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator on power series spaces. Preprint (2016)Albrecht E., Miller T.L., Neumann M.M.: Spectral properties of generalized Cesàro operators on Hardy and weighted Bergman spaces. Archiv Math. 85, 446–459 (2005)Aleman A.: A class of integral operators on spaces of analytic functions. In: Proc. of the Winter School in Operator Theory and Complex Analysis, Univ. Málaga Secr. Publ., Málaga, pp. 3–30 (2007)Aleman A., Constantin O.: Spectra of integration operators on weighted Bergman spaces. J. Anal. Math. 109, 199–231 (2009)Aleman A., Persson A.-M.: Resolvent estimates and decomposable extensions of generalized Cesàro operators. J. Funct. Anal. 258, 67–98 (2010)Aleman A., Siskakis A.G.: An integral operator on H p . Complex Var. Theory Appl. 28, 149–158 (1995)Aleman A., Siskakis A.G.: Integration operators on Bergman spaces. Indiana Univ. Math. J. 46, 337–356 (1997)Bayart F., Matheron E.: Dynamics of Linear Operators. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2009)Bierstedt K.D., Bonet J., Galbis A.: Weighted spaces of holomorphic functions on balanced domains. Michigan Math. J. 40, 271–297 (1993)Bierstedt K.D., Bonet J., Taskinen J.: Associated weights and spaces of holomorphic functions. Studia Math. 127, 137–168 (1998)Bierstedt, K.D., Summers, W.H.: Biduals of weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Aust. Math. Soc. 54, 70–79 (1993)Bonet J., Domanski P., Lindström M.: Essential norm and weak compactness on weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. Can. Math. Bull. 42, 139–148 (1999)Curbera G.P., Ricker W.J.: Extensions of the classical Cesàro operator on Hardy spaces. Math. Scand. 108, 279–290 (2011)Danikas N., Siskakis A.: The Cesàro operator on bounded analytic functions. Analysis 13, 295–299 (1993)Duren P.: Theory of H p Spaces. Academic Press, New York (1970)Dunford N., Schwartz J.T.:Linear Operators I: General Theory, 2nd Printing. Wiley Interscience Publ., New York (1964)Grosse-Erdmann K., Peris A.: Linear Chaos. Springer, London (2011)Harutyunyan A., Lusky W.: On the boundedness of the differentiation operator between weighted spaces of holomorphic functions. Studia Math. 184, 233–247 (2008)Hedenmalm H., Korenblum B., Zhu K.: Theory of Bergman Spaces. Grad. Texts in Math., vol. 199. Springer, New York (2000)Katzelson Y., Tzafriri L.: On power bounded operators. J. Funct. Anal. 68, 313–328 (1968)Krengel U.: Ergodic Theorems. de Gruyter Studies in Mathematics, vol. 6. Walter de Gruyter Co., Berlin (1985)Lin M.: On the uniform ergodic theorem. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 43, 337–340 (1974)Lusky W.: On the isomorphism classes of weighted spaces of harmonic and holomorphic functions. Studia Math. 175(1), 19–40 (2006)Megginson R.E.: An Introduction to Banach Space Theory. Springer, New York (1998)Meise R., Vogt D.: Introduction to Functional Analysis. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1997)Persson A.-M.: On the spectrum of the Cesàro operator on spaces of analytic functions. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 340, 1180–1203 (2008)Rubel L.A., Shields A.L.: The second dual of certain spaces of analytic functions. J. Aust. Math. Soc. 11, 276–280 (1970)Shields A.L., Williams D.L.: Bounded projections, duality and multipliers in spaces of analytic functions. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 162, 287–302 (1971)Siskakis A.: Volterra operators on spaces of analytic functions—a survey. In: Proc. of the First Advanced Course in Operator Theory and Complex Analysis, Univ. Sevilla Serc. Publ., Seville, pp. 51–68 (2006

Intravenous Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus Therapy Results in a Differential Immune Response between Cancer Patients

Pexa-Vec is an engineered Wyeth-strain vaccinia oncolytic virus (OV), which has been tested extensively in clinical trials, demonstrating enhanced cytotoxic T cell infiltration into tumours following treatment. Favourable immune consequences to Pexa-Vec include the induction of an interferon (IFN) response, followed by inflammatory cytokine/chemokine secretion. This promotes tumour immune infiltration, innate and adaptive immune cell activation and T cell priming, culminating in targeted tumour cell killing, i.e., an immunologically ‘cold’ tumour microenvironment is transformed into a ‘hot’ tumour. However, as with all immunotherapies, not all patients respond in a uniformly favourable manner. Our study herein, shows a differential immune response by patients to intravenous Pexa-Vec therapy, whereby some patients responded to the virus in a typical and expected manner, demonstrating a significant IFN induction and subsequent peripheral immune activation. However, other patients experienced a markedly subdued immune response and appeared to exhibit an exhausted phenotype at baseline, characterised by higher baseline immune checkpoint expression and regulatory T cell (Treg) levels. This differential baseline immunological profile accurately predicted the subsequent response to Pexa-Vec and may, therefore, enable the development of predictive biomarkers for Pexa-Vec and OV therapies more widely. If confirmed in larger clinical trials, these immunological biomarkers may enable a personalised approach, whereby patients with an exhausted baseline immune profile are treated with immune checkpoint blockade, with the aim of reversing immune exhaustion, prior to or alongside OV therapy

The Cesàro operator on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions

[EN] The spectrum of the CesA ro operator , which is always continuous (but never compact) when acting on the classical Korenblum space and other related weighted Fr,chet or (LB) spaces of analytic functions on the open unit disc, is completely determined. It turns out that such spaces are always Schwartz but, with the exception of the Korenblum space, never nuclear. Some consequences concerning the mean ergodicity of are deduced.The research of the first two authors was partially supported by the projects MTM2013-43540-P and MTM2016-76647-P. The second author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Albanese, A.; Bonet Solves, JA.; Ricker, WJ. (2018). The Cesàro operator on Korenblum type spaces of analytic functions. Collectanea mathematica. 69(2):263-281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13348-017-0205-7S263281692Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Mean ergodic operators in Fréchet spaces. Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. Math. 34, 401–436 (2009)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Montel resolvents and uniformly mean ergodic semigroups of linear operators. Quaest. Math. 36, 253–290 (2013)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator in growth Banach spaces of analytic functions. Integral Equ. Oper. Theory 86, 97–112 (2016)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator in the Fréchet spaces $$\ell ^{p+}$$ ℓ p + and $$L^{p-}$$ L p - . Glasgow Math. J. 59, 273–287 (2017)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator on power series spaces. Stud. Math. doi: 10.4064/sm8590-2-2017Aleman, A.: A class of integral operators on spaces of analytic functions, In: Proceedings of the Winter School in Operator Theory and Complex Analysis, Univ. Málaga Secr. Publ., Málaga, pp. 3–30 (2007)Aleman, A., Constantin, O.: Spectra of integration operators on weighted Bergman spaces. J. Anal. Math. 109, 199–231 (2009)Aleman, A., Peláez, J.A.: Spectra of integration operators and weighted square functions. Indiana Univ. Math. J. 61, 1–19 (2012)Aleman, A., Persson, A.-M.: Resolvent estimates and decomposable extensions of generalized Cesàro operators. J. Funct. Anal. 258, 67–98 (2010)Aleman, A., Siskakis, A.G.: An integral operator on $$H^p$$ H p . Complex Var. Theory Appl. 28, 149–158 (1995)Aleman, A., Siskakis, A.G.: Integration operators on Bergman spaces. Indiana Univ. Math. J. 46, 337–356 (1997)Barrett, D.E.: Duality between $$A^\infty$$ A ∞ and $$A^{- \infty }$$ A - ∞ on domains with nondegenerate corners, Multivariable operator theory (Seattle, WA, 1993), pp. 77–87, Contemporary Math. Vol. 185, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence (1995)Bierstedt, K.D., Bonet, J., Galbis, A.: Weighted spaces of holomorphic functions on bounded domains. Mich. Math. J. 40, 271–297 (1993)Bierstedt, K.D., Bonet, J., Taskinen, J.: Associated weights and spaces of holomorphic functions. Stud. Math. 127, 137–168 (1998)Bierstedt, K.D., Meise, R., Summers, W.H.: A projective description of weighted inductive limits. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 272, 107–160 (1982)Bierstedt, K.D., Summers, W.H.: Biduals of weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Aust. Math. Soc. (Ser. A) 54, 70–79 (1993)Bonet, J., Domański, P., Lindström, M., Taskinen, J.: Composition operators between weighted Banach spaces of analytic functions. J. Aust. Math. Soc. (Ser. A) 64, 101–118 (1998)Diestel, J., Jarchow, H., Tonge, A.: Absolutely Summing Operators. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)Domenig, T.: Composition operators on weighted Bergman spaces and Hardy spaces. Atomic Decompositions and Diagonal Operators, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Zürich (1997). [Zbl 0909.47025]Domenig, T.: Composition operators belonging to operator ideals. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 237, 327–349 (1999)Dunford, N., Schwartz, J.T.: Linear Operators I: General Theory. 2nd Printing. Wiley Interscience Publ., New York (1964)Edwards, R.E.: Functional Analysis. Theory and Applications. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, Chicago San Francisco (1965)Grothendieck, A.: Topological Vector Spaces. Gordon and Breach, London (1973)Hedenmalm, H., Korenblum, B., Zhu, K.: Theory of Bergman Spaces. Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 199. Springer, New York (2000)Jarchow, H.: Locally Convex Spaces. Teubner, Stuttgart (1981)Korenblum, B.: An extension of the Nevanlinna theory. Acta Math. 135, 187–219 (1975)Krengel, U.: Ergodic Theorems. de Gruyter Studies in Mathematics, vol. 6. Walter de Gruyter Co., Berlin (1985)Lusky, W.: On the isomorphism classes of weighted spaces of harmonic and holomorphic functions. Stud. Math. 175(1), 19–40 (2006)Meise, R., Vogt, D.: Introduction to Functional Analysis. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1997)Melikhov, S.N.: (DFS )-spaces of holomorphic functions invariant under differentiation. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 297, 577–586 (2004)Persson, A.-M.: On the spectrum of the Cesàro operator on spaces of analytic functions. J. Math. Anal Appl. 340, 1180–1203 (2008)Pietsch, A.: Nuclear Locally Convex Spaces. Springer, Berlin (1972)Shields, A.L., Williams, D.L.: Bounded projections, duality and multipliers in spaces of analytic functions. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 162, 287–302 (1971)Siskakis, A.: Volterra operators on spaces of analytic functions—a survey. In: Proceedings of the First Advanced Course in Operator Theory and Complex Analysis, Univ. Sevilla Serc. Publ., Seville, pp. 51–68 (2006

Classical operators on the Hörmander algebras

We study the integration operator, the differentiation operator and more general differential operators on radial Fr´echet or (LB) H¨ormander algebras of entire functions. We analyze when these operators are power bounded, hypercyclic and (uniformly) mean ergodic.This research was partially supported by MEC and FEDER Project MTM2010-15200. The research of M. J. Beltran was also supported by grant F.P.U. AP2008-00604 and Programa de Apoyo a la Investigacion y Desarrollo de la UPV PAID-06-12, and the research of J. Bonet and C. Fernandez, by GVA under Project PROMETEOII/2013/013.Beltrán Meneu, MJ.; Bonet Solves, JA.; Fernández, C. (2015). Classical operators on the Hörmander algebras. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series A. 35(2):637-652. https://doi.org/10.3934/dcds.2015.35.637S63765235

Quantification of Optic Disc Edema during Exposure to High Altitude Shows No Correlation to Acute Mountain Sickness

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to quantify changes of the optic nerve head (ONH) during exposure to high altitude and to assess a correlation with acute mountain sickness (AMS). This work is related to the Tuebingen High Altitude Ophthalmology (THAO) study. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (cSLO, Heidelberg Retina Tomograph, HRT3®) was used to quantify changes at the ONH in 18 healthy participants before, during and after rapid ascent to high altitude (4559 m). Slitlamp biomicroscopy was used for clinical optic disc evaluation; AMS was assessed with Lake Louise (LL) and AMS-cerebral (AMS-c) scores; oxygen saturation (SpO₂) and heart rate (HR) were monitored. These parameters were used to correlate with changes at the ONH. After the first night spent at high altitude, incidence of AMS was 55% and presence of clinical optic disc edema (ODE) 79%. Key stereometric parameters of the HRT3® used to describe ODE (mean retinal nerve fiber layer [RNFL] thickness, RNFL cross sectional area, optic disc rim volume and maximum contour elevation) changed significantly at high altitude compared to baseline (p<0.05) and were consistent with clinically described ODE. All changes were reversible in all participants after descent. There was no significant correlation between parameters of ODE and AMS, SpO₂ or HR. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Exposure to high altitude leads to reversible ODE in the majority of healthy subjects. However, these changes did not correlate with AMS or basic physiologic parameters such as SpO₂ and HR. For the first time, a quantitative approach has been used to assess these changes during acute, non-acclimatized high altitude exposure. In conclusion, ODE presents a reaction of the body to high altitude exposure unrelated to AMS

High body mass index is not associated with atopy in schoolchildren living in rural and urban areas of Ghana

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Factors which determine the development of atopy and the observed rural-urban gradient in its prevalence are not fully understood. High body mass index (BMI) has been associated with asthma and potentially atopy in industrialized countries. In developing countries, the transition from rural to urban areas has been associated with lifestyle changes and an increased prevalence of high BMI; however, the effect of high BMI on atopy remains unknown in this population. We therefore investigated the association between high BMI and atopy among schoolchildren living in rural and urban areas of Ghana.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data on skin prick testing, anthropometric, parasitological, demographic and lifestyle information for 1,482 schoolchildren aged 6-15 years was collected. Atopy was defined as sensitization to at least one tested allergen whilst the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta) growth reference charts were used in defining high BMI as BMI ≥ the 85^thpercentile. Logistic regression was performed to investigate the association between high BMI and atopy whilst adjusting for potential confounding factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The following prevalences were observed for high BMI [Rural: 16%, Urban: 10.8%, p < 0.001] and atopy [Rural: 25.1%, Urban: 17.8%, p < 0.001]. High BMI was not associated with atopy; but an inverse association was observed between underweight and atopy [OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.33-0.99]. Significant associations were also observed with male sex [Rural: OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.06-2.08; Urban: OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.30-2.79], and in the urban site with older age [OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.00-3.07], family history of asthma [OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.01-2.47] and occupational status of parent [OR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.12-0.93]; whilst co-infection with intestinal parasites [OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.01-6.04] was associated with atopy in the rural site. After multivariate adjustment, male sex, older age and family history of asthma remained significant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In Ghanaian schoolchildren, high BMI was not associated with atopy. Further studies are warranted to clarify the relationship between body weight and atopy in children subjected to rapid life-style changes associated with urbanization of their environments.</p