Specific Heat of (Ca1-xSrx)3Ru2O7 Single Crystals

We have measured the specific heat of crystals of (Ca1-xSrx)3Ru2O7 using ac- and relaxation-time calorimetry. Special emphasis was placed on the characterization of the Neel (TN=56 K) and structural (Tc = 48 K) phase transitions in the pure, x=0 material. While the latter is believed to be first order, detailed measurements under different experimental conditions suggest that all the latent heat (with L ~ 0.3 R) is being captured in a broadened peak in the effective heat capacity. The specific heat has a mean-field-like step at TN, but its magntitude (Delta cP ~ R) is too large to be associated with a conventional itinerant electron (e.g. spin-density-wave) antiferromagnetic transition, while its entropy is too small to be associated with full ordering of localized spins. The TN transition broadens with Sr substitution while its magnitude decreases slowly. On the other hand, the entropy change associated with the Tc transition decreases rapidly with Sr substitution and is not observable for our x=0.58 sample.Comment: 17 pages, including 5 figures. submitted to Solid State commu

Sporting embodiment: sports studies and the (continuing) promise of phenomenology

Whilst in recent years sports studies have addressed the calls ‘to bring the body back in’ to theorisations of sport and physical activity, the ‘promise of phenomenology’ remains largely under-realised with regard to sporting embodiment. Relatively few accounts are grounded in the ‘flesh’ of the lived sporting body, and phenomenology offers a powerful framework for such analysis. A wide-ranging, multi-stranded, and interpretatively contested perspective, phenomenology in general has been taken up and utilised in very different ways within different disciplinary fields. The purpose of this article is to consider some selected phenomenological threads, key qualities of the phenomenological method, and the potential for existentialist phenomenology in particular to contribute fresh perspectives to the sociological study of embodiment in sport and exercise. It offers one way to convey the ‘essences’, corporeal immediacy and textured sensuosity of the lived sporting body. The use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is also critically addressed. Key words: phenomenology; existentialist phenomenology; interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); sporting embodiment; the lived-body; Merleau-Pont

The relationship between coronary calcification and the natural history of coronary artery disease

OBJECTIVES The aim of the current study was to explore the impact of plaque calcification in terms of absolute calcified plaque volume (CPV) and in the context of its percentage of the total plaque volume at a lesion and patient level on the progression of coronary artery disease.BACKGROUND Coronary artery calcification is an established marker of risk of future cardiovascular events. Despite this, plaque calcification is also considered a marker of plaque stability, and it increases in response to medical therapy.METHODS This analysis included 925 patients with 2,568 lesions from the PARADIGM (Progression of Atherosclerotic Plaque Determined by Computed Tomographic Angiography Imaging) registry, in which patients underwent clinically indicated serial coronary computed tomography angiography. Plaque calcification was examined by using CPV and percent CPV (PCPV), calculated as (CPV/plaque volume) x 100 at a per-plaque and per-patient level (summation of all individual plaques).RESULTS CPV was strongly correlated with plaque volume (r = 0.780; p < 0.001) at baseline and with plaque progression (r = 0.297; p < 0.001); however, this association was reversed after accounting for plaque volume at baseline (r = -0146; p < 0.001). In contrast, PCPV was an independent predictor of a reduction in plaque volume (r = -0.11; p < 0.001) in univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses. Patient-level analysis showed that high CPV was associated with incident major adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio: 3.01: 95% confidence interval: 1.58 to 5.72), whereas high PCPV was inversely associated with major adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio: 0.529; 95% confidence interval: 0.229 to 0.968) in multivariable analysis.CONCLUSIONS Calcified plaque is a marker for risk of adverse events and disease progression due to its strong association with the total plaque burden. When considered as a percentage of the total plaque volume, increasing PCPV is a marker of plaque stability and reduced risk at both a lesion and patient level. (C) 2021 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation.Cardiolog

Large-scale phenotyping of patients with long COVID post-hospitalization reveals mechanistic subtypes of disease

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers of alterations in nerve tissue repair (SPON-1 and NFASC) were elevated in those with cognitive impairment and SCG3, suggestive of brain–gut axis disturbance, was elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) was persistently elevated in some individuals with long COVID, but virus was not detected in sputum. Analysis of inflammatory markers in nasal fluids showed no association with symptoms. Our study aimed to understand inflammatory processes that underlie long COVID and was not designed for biomarker discovery. Our findings suggest that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are implicated in subtypes of long COVID, which might be targeted in future therapeutic trials

Wolbachia and the antifilarial properties of tetracycline. : An untold story

The idea that tetracycline may have antifilarial properties was first proposed in 1960. Data were subsequently published on the effects of tetracycline on the development and reproduction of Brugia pahangi in both the mosquito and mammalian hosts. These studies were apparently ignored until recently. In 1998, it was suggested that the antifilarial properties of tetracycline may derive from the presence of the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia in filarial worms. In view of this renewed interest, we would like to highlight an old study on the prophylactic activity of tetracycline against three filarial species. Although this work was performed at the begining of the seventies, and presented at a congress in 1973, it has never been published. This study showed that tetracycline had a prophylactic effect against infection of the mammalian host (the gerbil Meriones unguiculatus) with B. pabangi and Litomosoides sigmodontis. On the other hand, no significant prophylactic effect of the drug was observed against Acanthocheilonema viteae in the same host. The new data on the distribution and phylogeny of Wolbachia endosymbionts in filarial nematodes, showing that A. viteae is uninfected and that B. pabangi and L. sigmodontis are infected, suggest that the activity of tetracycline on the latter two species is related to the presence of Wolbachia

Arthropod dermatoses acquired in the UK and overseas

International tourism to tropical and sub-tropical areas, both to resource-poor and developed countries, has almost trebled within the past 20 years, We examined the records of patients referred to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine over 6 years, 46 (63%) of infestations originated in the UK, Ticks were most common in the UK (19 cases, 41%) whereas myiasis was most common in travellers (18 cases, 67%), These records suggest that whereas many overseas acquired infestations are potentially dangerous if infections are transmitted, ticks constitute the greatest risk, and both domestic and exotic species may act as disease vectors

Effects of doxycycline on heartworm embryogenesis, transmission, circulating microfilaria, and adult worms in microfilaremic dogs

Tetracycline treatment of animals or humans infected with filariae that harbor Wolbachia endosymbionts blocks further embryogenesis, and existing microfilariae gradually die. This treatment also kills developing larvae and has a slow-kill effect on adult filariae, all presumably due to elimination of the Wolbachia. Also, Dirofilaria immitis microfilariae in blood collected from dogs up to 25 days after the last dose of doxycycline developed to infective L3 that were normal in appearance and motility in mosquitoes but did not continue to develop or migrate normally after subcutaneous (SC) injection into dogs. The present study was designed to determine whether heartworm microfilariae collected at later times after treatment would regain the ability to continue normal development in a dog. The study also was expected to yield valuable data on the effects of treatment on microfilariae and antigen levels and adult worms. The study was conducted in 16 dogs as two separate replicates at different times. A total of five dogs (two in Replicate A and three in Replicate B) infected either by SC injection of L3 or intravenous transplantation of adult heartworms were given doxycycline orally at 10mg/kg twice daily for 30 days, with three untreated controls. Microfilarial counts in the five treated dogs gradually declined during the 12-13 months after treatment initiation. Two dogs were amicrofilaremic before necropsy and three had 13 or fewer microfilariae/ml. Only one treated dog was negative for heartworm antigen before necropsy. Overall, treated dogs generally had fewer live adult heartworms than controls, and most of their live worms were moribund. All three control dogs remained positive for microfilariae and antigen and had many live worms. L3 from mosquitoes fed on blood collected 73-77 or 161-164 days after initiation of doxycycline treatments were injected SC into five dogs. None of the dogs injected with L3 from mosquitoes fed on blood from doxycycline-treated dogs were ever positive for microfilariae or antigen, and none had worms at necropsy; three control dogs were positive for microfilariae and antigen and had many live worms. These data indicate that doxycycline treatment of microfilaremic dogs gradually reduces numbers of microfilariae and blocks further transmission of heartworms. This latter effect should be highly effective in reducing the rate of selection of heartworms with genes that confer resistance to macrocyclic lactone preventives and microfilaricides. The data also suggest that doxycycline has a slow-kill effect on adult heartworms