Derek Mahon: “Soul, song and formal necessity”

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Plasma fibrinogen and risk of vascular recurrence after ischaemic stroke:An individual participant and summary-level data meta-analysis of 11 prospective studies

INTRODUCTION: Inflammation is an emerging target for secondary prevention after stroke and randomised trials of anti-inflammatory therapies are ongoing. Fibrinogen, a putative pro-inflammatory marker, is associated with first stroke, but its association with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after stroke is unclear.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We did a systematic review investigating the association between fibrinogen and post-stroke vascular recurrence. Authors were invited to provide individual-participant data (IPD) and where available we did within-study multivariable analyses with adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors and medications. Adjusted summary-level data was extracted from published reports from studies that did not provide IPD. We pooled risk ratios (RR) by random-effects meta-analysis by comparing supra-median with sub-median fibrinogen levels and performed pre-specified subgroup analysis according to timing of phlebotomy after the index event.RESULTS: Eleven studies were included (14,002 patients, 42,800 follow-up years), of which seven provided IPD. Fibrinogen was associated with recurrent MACE on unadjusted (RR 1.35, 95% CI 1.17-1.57, supra-median vs sub-median) and adjusted models (RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.06-1.38). Fibrinogen was associated with recurrent stroke on univariate analysis (RR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03-1.39), but not after adjustment (RR 1.11, 95% CI 0.94-1.31). The association with recurrent MACE was consistently observed in patients with post-acute (⩾14 days) fibrinogen measures (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.16-1.45), but not in those with early phlebotomy (&lt;14 days) (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.82-1.18) ( P interaction  = 0.01). Similar associations were observed for recurrent stroke. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Fibrinogen was independently associated with recurrence after stroke, but the association was modified by timing of phlebotomy. Fibrinogen measurements might be useful to identify patients who are more likely to derive benefit from anti-inflammatory therapies after stroke.</p

COVID-19 in children with haematological malignancies

BACKGROUND: Children with cancer are not at increased risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, adults with haematological malignancies have increased risk of severe infections compared with non-haematological malignancies. METHODS: We compared patients with haematological and non-haematological malignancies enrolled in the UK Paediatric Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project between 12 March 2020 and 16 February 2021. Children who received stem cell transplantation were excluded. RESULTS: Only 2/62 patients with haematological malignancy had severe/critical infections, with an OR of 0.5 for patients with haematological compared with non-haematological malignancies. INTERPRETATION: Children with haematological malignancies are at no greater risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection than those with non-haematological malignancies

The poetry of Derek Mahon

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DN057181 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Optimising the agronomic management of spring andwinter-sown oats (Avena sativa) for milling

Agronomic research in oats has been inhibited due to limited acreage and higher interest in other cereal crops, but recent recognition of the dietary health benefits of oats have led to a rekindled interest in the crop. This study presents the findings of a four-year research project into the agronomic and genetic factors affecting the production of milling oats under Irish conditions. This study aims to identify and quantify crop responses to agronomic inputs both in grain yield and grain milling quality, while also investigating the potential to breed and select disease resistant cultivars. The key agronomic parameters of cultivar, seed rate, applied N fertilizer rate and application of plant growth regulators were investigated in factorial trials with grain yield, yield components and grain quality effects recorded in winter and spring oats. In a separate set of factorial trials, the effects of N rate and application timing were investigated on spring and winter oats. Cultivar selection was of importance in the attainment of high grain yield due to genetic yield potential, with seed rate and applied N rate increasing yield through increases in grain number. Application of N during early developmental periods resulted in increased grain yield due to increases in panicle number and grains/panicle, with late application of N resulting in increased grain protein. Significant lodging at higher input levels justifies the inclusion of PGR application as a management tool, with significant yield responses observed. Cultivar choice was shown to be a key contributor to grain quality in line with previous reports, with the agronomic effects of PGR application and seed rate of minor importance. Applied N had significant effects on grain hullability due to reductions in kernel size, while grain protein also increased. Groat percentage was predominantly determined genetically, with climatic conditions during grain-fill of greater importance than any agronomic factor. A diallel cross was completed to determine the genetic nature of powdery mildew resistance in selected cultivars. These diverse cultivars were assembled and grown under Irish conditions with powdery mildew resistance successfully identified and transferred. Combining ability analysis indicated the importance of specific combining ability for powdery mildew resistance in the cultivars selected. These crosses were examined for segregation of resistance genes in the F2 generation, with crosses between resistant and susceptible genotypes resulting in inheritance patterns indicative of dominant gene action. Crosses between resistant genotypes resulted in distributions with no susceptible phenotypes, indicating the genes controlling the exhibition of resistance in these cultivars are inherited separately. This study has two key focus areas, Agronomy and Genetics. The significance if the agronomic study lies in the key responses to applied N rate, N application timing and cultivar selection over a large number of experiments while highlighting that the agronomic issues of lodging and climatic conditions have not yet been genetically mitigated. The significance of the genetic study is the successful identification of R genes in relevant cultivars and the potential to develop oat varieties with lower chemical input requirements.Irish Research CouncilOrigin Enterprise

C-Reactive Protein, Interleukin-6, and Vascular Recurrence After Stroke:An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

Background: Anti-inflammatory therapies reduce recurrent vascular events in coronary disease. Existing studies have reported highly conflicting findings for the association of blood inflammatory markers with vascular recurrence after stroke leading to uncertainty about the potential of anti-inflammatory therapies after stroke and no consensus about the utility of measurement of inflammatory markers in current guidelines.Methods: We investigated the association between hsCRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), IL-6 (interluekin-6), and recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), and stroke from individual participant data from 8420 patients with ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack from 10 prospective studies. We did within-study multivariable regression analyses and then combined adjusted risk ratio (RR) by random-effects meta-analysis.Results: During 18 920 person-years of follow-up, 1407 (16.7% [95% CI, 15.9–17.5]) patients had MACE and 1191 (14.1% [95% CI, 13.4–14.9]) patients had recurrent stroke. On bivariate analysis, baseline IL-6 was associated with MACE (RR, 1.26 [95% CI, 1.10–1.43]) and recurrent stroke (RR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.05–1.32]), per unit increase logeIL-6. Similar associations were observed for hsCRP (MACE RR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.09–1.29]; recurrent stroke RR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.04–1.21], per unit increase logehsCRP). After adjustment for vascular risk factors and treatment, independent associations remained with MACE (IL-6, RR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.04–1.21]; hsCRP, RR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.04–1.15]) and recurrent stroke (IL-6, RR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.00–1.19]; hsCRP, RR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.00–1.11]). Comparing the top with the bottom quarters (Q4 versus Q1), IL-6 (RR, 1.35 [95% CI, 1.09–1.67]) and hsCRP (RR, 1.31 [95% CI, 1.07–1.61]) were associated with MACE after adjustment. Similar results were observed for recurrent stroke for IL-6 (RR, 1.33 [95% CI, 1.08–1.65]) but not hsCRP (RR, 1.16 [95% CI, 0.93–1.43]).Conclusions: Blood markers of inflammation were independently associated with vascular recurrence after stroke, strengthening the rationale for randomized trials of anti-inflammatory therapies for secondary prevention after ischemic stroke/TIA.This work was funded by Health Research Board Stroke Clinical Trials Network Ireland.Peer reviewe

Irish Contemporary Landscapes in Literature and the Arts

International audienceLooking at representations of the Irish landscape in contemporary literature and the arts, this volume discusses the economic, political and environmental issues associated with it, questioning the myths behind Ireland's landscape, from the first Greek descriptions to present day post Celtic-Tiger architecture

sj-docx-1-eso-10.1177_23969873241246489 – Supplemental material for Plasma fibrinogen and risk of vascular recurrence after ischaemic stroke: An individual participant and summary-level data meta-analysis of 11 prospective studies

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-eso-10.1177_23969873241246489 for Plasma fibrinogen and risk of vascular recurrence after ischaemic stroke: An individual participant and summary-level data meta-analysis of 11 prospective studies by John J McCabe, Cathal Walsh, Sarah Gorey, Katie Harris, Pablo Hervella, Ramon Iglesias-Rey, Christina Jern, Linxin Li, Nobukazu Miyamoto, Joan Montaner, Annie Pedersen, Francisco Purroy, Peter M Rothwell, Catherine Sudlow, Yuji Ueno, Mikel Vicente-Pascual, William Whiteley, Mark Woodward and Peter J Kelly in European Stroke Journal</p