Stable Crank-Nicolson Discretisation for Incompressible Miscible Displacement Problems of Low Regularity

In this article we study the numerical approximation of incompressible miscible displacement problems with a linearised Crank-Nicolson time discretisation, combined with a mixed finite element and discontinuous Galerkin method. At the heart of the analysis is the proof of convergence under low regularity requirements. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits second-order convergence for smooth and robustness for rough problems.Comment: Enumath 200

Increased expression of CD154 and FAS in SLE patients' lymphocytes

An increased level of apoptotic material and B cell activation leading to autoantibody production are hallmarks of systemic lupus erythematoses (SLE). Increased FAS expression, apoptosis, and CD154-mediated signaling, enabling T-B cell interaction are involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. This study addresses the expression profile of CD154 and FAS in the peripheral blood of patients with SLE, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and normal healthy control donors. Surface markers on peripheral blood T and B cells from patients and healthy control donors were assessed using flow cytometry. The expression of CD154 and FAS were significantly increased in T and B cells of SLE patients as compared to healthy control donors and RA patients. In SLE and RA patients, FAS expression strongly correlated with CD154 expression on T cells, which was not found in healthy control donors. FAS expression was also associated with the occurrence of anti-DNA antibodies. We demonstrate high CD154 and FAS expression as a characteristic feature of SLE. This pattern may reflect simultaneous activation of apoptosis and activation of B-T cell interaction in SL

The RIN: an RNA integrity number for assigning integrity values to RNA measurements

BACKGROUND: The integrity of RNA molecules is of paramount importance for experiments that try to reflect the snapshot of gene expression at the moment of RNA extraction. Until recently, there has been no reliable standard for estimating the integrity of RNA samples and the ratio of 28S:18S ribosomal RNA, the common measure for this purpose, has been shown to be inconsistent. The advent of microcapillary electrophoretic RNA separation provides the basis for an automated high-throughput approach, in order to estimate the integrity of RNA samples in an unambiguous way. METHODS: A method is introduced that automatically selects features from signal measurements and constructs regression models based on a Bayesian learning technique. Feature spaces of different dimensionality are compared in the Bayesian framework, which allows selecting a final feature combination corresponding to models with high posterior probability. RESULTS: This approach is applied to a large collection of electrophoretic RNA measurements recorded with an Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer to extract an algorithm that describes RNA integrity. The resulting algorithm is a user-independent, automated and reliable procedure for standardization of RNA quality control that allows the calculation of an RNA integrity number (RIN). CONCLUSION: Our results show the importance of taking characteristics of several regions of the recorded electropherogram into account in order to get a robust and reliable prediction of RNA integrity, especially if compared to traditional methods

Prospective Multicenter Trial of Cervical Arthroplasty with the ROTAIO® Cervical Disc Prosthesis.

STUDY DESIGN Clinical observational study. OBJECTIVE The ROTAIO® cervical disc prosthesis is a novel unconstrained implant with a variable center of rotation aiming at physiological motion. The objective of this multicenter prospective trial was to evaluate clinical outcome and complications within 2 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS 120 patients (72 females and 48 males with median age of 43.0 years [23-60 yrs] underwent ACDA (ROTAIO®, SIGNUS Medical, Alzenau, Germany) and were prospectively followed for 24 months. Preoperative complaints were mainly associated with radiculopathy (n = 104) or myelopathy (n=16). There were 108 monosegmental and 12 bisegmental procedures including 6 hybrid constructs. Clinical outcome was evaluated at 3, 12 and 24 months in 100%, 96% and 77% of the cohort by VAS, NDI, WL-26, Patient`s Satisfaction Index (PSI), SF-36, Nurick Score, mJOA, Composite Success Rate, complications, patient`s overall satisfaction and analgesics use. RESULTS Highly significant clinical improvements were observed according to NDI and VAS (P < .0001 (arm); P < .001 (neck); P = .002 (head)) at all time points. Analgetic use could be reduced in 87.1 to 95.2%. Doctor`s visits have been reduced in 93.8% after 24 months. Patient`s overall satisfaction was high with 78.4 to 83.5% of patients. The composite success rate was 77.5% after 12 months and 76.9% after 24 months. There were no major complications in this series. Slight subsidence of the prosthesis was observed in 2 patients and 3 patients demonstrated fusion after 24 months. 2 patients developed symptomatic foraminal stenosis, so that implant removal and fusion was performed resulting in a revision rate of 1.7% in 2 years. CONCLUSION The ROTAIO® cervical disc prosthesis is a safe and efficient treatment option for symptomatic degenerative disc disease demonstrating highly significant clinical improvement and high patient`s overall satisfaction with very low revision rates at 2 years

Orbital Parameters and Spectroscopy of the Transient X-Ray Pulsar 4U 0115+63

We report on an outburst of the high mass X-ray binary 4U 0115+63 with a pulse period of 3.6s in spring 2008 as observed with INTEGRAL and RXTE. By analyzing the lightcurves we derive an updated orbital- and pulse period ephemeris of the neutron star. We also study the pulse profile variations as a function of time and energy as well as the variability of the spectral parameters. We find clear evidence for at least three cyclotron line features. In agreement with previous observations of 4U 0115+63, we detect an anti-correlation between the luminosity and the fundamental cyclotron line energy

Antibodies to the endoplasmic reticulum-resident chaperones calnexin, BiP and Grp94 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus

Objectives. To investigate the presence of autoantibodies against mammalian chaperones of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in patients with RA and other immune-mediated diseases. Methods. Sera from healthy donors, from early RA patients with two follow-up samples, patients with SLE, SSc and IBD were collected and analysed for anti-ER chaperone antibodies. Detection of serum IgG antibodies against immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (BiP), glucose-regulated protein 94 (Grp94) and calnexin was carried out using ELISA. The specificity of sera positive for individual ER chaperones was confirmed by immunoblotting. Statistical analysis was performed using Welch's t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, partial correlation and Pearson's correlation. Results. In patients with RA and SLE, autoantibody titres against BiP, Grp94 and calnexin were significantly higher than those in healthy controls. These autoantibodies were detectable in patients with early RA and titres remained stable for at least 6-12 months. Also several SSc and IBD patients exhibited autoantibodies against these ER chaperones; however, titres and frequencies were lower than in RA or SLE patients. Furthermore, anti-calnexin antibodies correlated significantly with the presence of BiP and Grp94 autoantibodies in patients with RA and SLE. Conclusion. Calnexin and Grp94 were identified as novel autoantigens in RA and calnexin in SLE. Since calnexin, Grp94 and BiP are ER-resident proteins of eukaryotic cells, our data suggest that autoantibody generation against ER chaperones is independent of initial exposure to the corresponding bacterial chaperones; rather, ER chaperones may represent genuine autoantigen