Omen Watching, Mantic Observation, Aeromancy, and Learning to ‘See’: The Rise and Messy Multiplicity of Zhanhou 占候 in Late Han and Medieval China

This article investigates the early history of a Chinese mantic practice unattested before the late first century CE known as zhanhou 占候 (lit., omen watching; divination through observation; divination of atmo-spheric or meteorological conditions). While early occurrences of the term primarily present it as a learned form of divination used to forecast human fortune through the interpretation of anomalous emanations of qi 氣 in heaven-and-earth (e.g., wind; clouds; rain; rainbows), zhanhou is also variously classified as an astrological, Five Agents, or military technique; and variously identified as a hemerological, medical, and contemplative-visualization practice by the end of the Tang. I not only contend that zhanhou’s inherent polysemy and its multiple identities helped broaden and perpetuate its transmission during the first millennium of the Common Era, but also that the same messy multiplicity makes its early history and development difficult—but not impossible—to trace and understand. Zhanhou closely resembles many earlier named forms of astrology and divination focused on the observation and interpretation of macrocosmic qi conditions or phenomena, but late Han and early medieval writers carved out a space for zhanhou. This was done through increasingly frequent use of the term, by explicitly distinguishing it from similar families of techniques (e.g., astrology; turtle and yarrow divination; yinyang; algorithmic mantic techniques), and by identifying and constructing networks and lineages of practitioners, both of which helped form and perpetuate zhanhou’s identity as a discrete technique (shu 術). The present study compares different definitions and translations of zhanhou, analyzes a handful of late Han occurrences, and illustrates the term’s increasingly widespread medieval circulation, chiefly through biographic narratives and technical texts

4D, N=1\mathcal{N}=1 Matter Gravitino Genomics

Adinkras are graphs that encode a supersymmetric representation's transformation laws that have been reduced to one dimension, that of time. A goal of the supersymmetry ``genomics'' project is to classify all 4D, $\mathcal{N}=1$ off-shell supermultiplets in terms of their adinkras. In~previous works, the genomics project uncovered two fundamental isomer adinkras, the cis- and trans-adinkras, into which all multiplets investigated to date can be decomposed. The number of cis- and trans-adinkras describing a given multiplet define the isomer-equivalence class to which the multiplet belongs. A further refining classification is that of a supersymmetric multiplet's holoraumy: the commutator of the supercharges acting on the representation. The one-dimensionally reduced, matrix representation of a multiplet's holoraumy defines the multiplet's holoraumy-equivalence class. Together, a multiplet's isomer-equivalence and holoraumy-equivalence classes are two of the main characteristics used to distinguish the adinkras associated with different supersymmetry multiplets in higher dimensions. This paper focuses on two matter gravitino formulations, each with 20 bosonic and 20 fermionic off-shell degrees of freedom, analyzes them in terms of their isomer- and holoraumy-equivalence classes, and compares with non-minimal supergravity which is also a 20x20 multiplet. This analysis fills a missing piece in the supersymmetry genomics project, as now the isomer-equivalence and holoraumy-equivalence for representations up to spin two in component fields have been analyzed for 4D, $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetry. To handle the calculations of this research effort, we have used the Mathematica software package called Adinkra.m. This package is open-source and available for download at a GitHub Repository. Data files associated with this paper are also published open-source at a Data Repository also on GitHub.Comment: version 3, added self-gadget analysis, edited some text and references, data available at the GitHub Repository https://hepthools.github.io/Data/ that uses the Adinkra.m package available at https://hepthools.github.io/Adinkra

Particle Motion and Scalar Field Propagation in Myers-Perry Black Hole Spacetimes in All Dimensions

We study separability of the Hamilton-Jacobi and massive Klein-Gordon equations in the general Myers-Perry black hole background in all dimensions. Complete separation of both equations is carried out in cases when there are two sets of equal black hole rotation parameters, which significantly enlarges the rotational symmetry group. We explicitly construct a nontrivial irreducible Killing tensor associated with the enlarged symmetry group which permits separation. We also derive first-order equations of motion for particles in these backgrounds and examine some of their properties.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX2

Efficacy of Galcanezumab for Migraine Prevention in Patients With a Medical History of Anxiety and/or Depression: A Post Hoc Analysis of the Phase 3, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled REGAIN, and Pooled EVOLVE-1 and EVOLVE-2 Studies

© 2020 Eli Lilly and Company. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain published by Wiley Periodicals LLC, on behalf of American Headache Society Objective: This post hoc analysis evaluated the efficacy of galcanezumab for the prevention of migraine in patients with and without comorbid anxiety and/or depression. Background: Patients with migraine have a higher risk of anxiety and/or depression. Given the high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and their potential negative prognostic impact, determining the efficacy of migraine treatments in patients with these comorbidities is important. Methods: The results of 2 phase 3 episodic migraine studies of patients with 4-14 migraine headache days (MHD) per month were pooled. A third chronic migraine study, which was evaluated separately, enrolled patients with ≥15 headache days per month, of which ≥8 had migraine-like features. Patients in all 3 studies were randomized 2:1:1 to placebo, galcanezumab 120 mg, or galcanezumab 240 mg. The efficacy of galcanezumab on migraine was measured in subgroups of patients with anxiety and/or depression (current or past) and patients without. A repeated measures model was used to compare treatment groups within each subgroup and to test for consistency of treatment effect across the anxiety/depression subgroups (subgroup-by-treatment interaction) during the double-blind treatment phases. Results: Among 1773 intent-to-treat patients with episodic migraine, both doses of galcanezumab demonstrated statistically significant improvements relative to placebo in overall number of MHD for the subgroups of patients with anxiety and/or depression (mean change difference from placebo [95% CI]: −2.07 [−2.81, −1.33] for galcanezumab 120 mg [P \u3c.001], −1.91 [−2.78, −1.04] for 240 mg [P \u3c.001]) and without anxiety and/or depression (mean change difference from placebo [95% CI]: −1.92 [−2.36, −1.47] for 120 mg [P \u3c.001], −1.77 [−2.20, −1.33] for 240 mg [P \u3c.001]), as was observed for the secondary outcomes of MHD with acute medication use and functional impairment. Among 1113 intent-to-treat patients with chronic migraine, those with anxiety and/or depression had significant reductions in overall MHD frequency with the 240-mg dose (mean change difference from placebo [95% CI]: −1.92 [−3.52, −0.33]; P =.018), whereas significant reductions were observed at both the 120-mg (mean change difference from placebo [95% CI]: −2.29 [−3.26, −1.31]; P \u3c.001) and 240-mg (−1.85 [−2.83, −0.87]; P \u3c.001) doses in patients without anxiety and/or depressions. Significant reductions (P \u3c.01) in MHD with acute medication use were observed at both doses within both anxiety/depression subgroups and for overall functional impairment for patients without anxiety and/or depression, though neither dose significantly reduced overall functional impairment beyond placebo in the subgroup with anxiety and/or depression. In the episodic and chronic migraine studies, the subgroup-by-treatment interaction was not statistically significant for MHD, MHD with acute medication use, or functional impairment (chronic study only), suggesting a lack of evidence of differential effect between subgroups. Furthermore, differences between subgroups in the mean change differences from placebo, as well as overlapping 95% confidence intervals for the subgroups, indicated lack of a clinical or statistical difference between subgroups for these outcome variables. There was a significantly higher percentage of patients with episodic migraine attaining ≥50%, ≥75%, and 100% reductions, and a higher percentage of patients with chronic migraine attaining ≥50% and ≥75% reductions from baseline with galcanezumab compared with placebo, regardless of medical history of anxiety and/or depression. Conclusions: A medical history of anxiety and/or depression does not seem to interfere with response to galcanezumab among patients with episodic migraine, and both doses of galcanezumab appear efficacious for these individuals regardless of this psychiatric history. Among patients with chronic migraine and comorbid anxiety and/or depression, the 240-mg dose, but not the 120-mg dose, significantly decreased overall MHD, but neither dose resulted in significantly greater functional improvement. Patients with migraine and comorbid anxiety and/or depression often require additional interventions, and this may be more important in chronic migraine

Modern Neurosurgical Techniques for Surgical Excision of Neoplasms

Background: Neurosurgical excision of brain tumors is still regarded as the first line treatment for multiple neoplasms, including meningiomas, gliomas, and metastatic tumors. Advances in technology have allowed neurosurgeons to utilize various approaches that significantly reduce mortality and surgical morbidity. However, the high risk of neurological deficit and tumor recurrence remains. Here, we analyze three neurosurgical approaches: craniotomy, microsurgery with tubular retraction, and tumor ablation. While craniotomy remains as the first line treatment for most brain tumors, we hypothesize that microsurgery and ablation will show greater success of tumor removal with fewer complications. Methods: Published literature was reviewed from PubMed using search terms “neurosurgical techniques,” “brain neoplasm,” “tubular retractor,” “craniotomy,” “stereotactic radiosurgery,” or “ablation” in varying combinations with boolean commands. Only papers that provided relevant data on extent of resection (EOR) and perioperative or postoperative neurological complications were included. Articles were not screened for identification of brain tumor or patient demographics. Results: Ten articles that complied with the inclusion criteria were incorporated in the literary review. Craniotomy resulted in an EOR average of \u3e77% across all studies, with a complication average of84% and a75% and Conclusion: Brain neoplasms portray a significant challenge for neurosurgeons because of the brain’s variety of tumor etiologies, location, and extreme sensitivity; these reasons prohibit a singular method to be established. Tumor ablation, when compared to craniotomy and microsurgery with tubular retractors, demonstrated the highest rate of EOR with the least resulting neurological deficits or surgical complications. Craniotomy and microsurgery had comparable EOR, but craniotomy had a higher percentage of morbidities. It is important to note that multiple strategies for craniotomy are performed and there are several modalities of tumor ablation technology, creating a challenge in accurately comparing each approach. It is also worth mentioning that in all cases, the rate of morbidity and mortality correlated to the tumor’s size, location, and etiology (i.e., primary tumor vs. metastasis), and the patient’s age

X-ray structure of a soluble Rieske-type ferredoxin from Mus musculus

The X-ray crystal structure of a soluble Rieske ferredoxin from M. musculus was solved at 2.07 Å resolution, revealing an iron–sulfur cluster-binding domain with similar architecture to the Rieske-type domains of bacterial aromatic dioxygenases. The ferredoxin was also shown to be capable of accepting electrons from both eukaryotic and prokaryotic oxidoreductases

Resolvin D1 prevents injurious neutrophil swarming in transplanted lungs

Neutrophils are the primary cell type involved in lung ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), which remains a frequent and morbid complication after organ transplantation. Endogenous lipid mediators that become activated during acute inflammation-resolution have gained increasing recognition for their protective role(s) in promoting the restoration of homeostasis, but their influence on early immune responses following transplantation remains to be uncovered. Resolvin D1,

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 signaling in adult cardiomyocytes increases contractility and results in a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors are highly conserved signaling molecules that have been implicated in postnatal cardiac remodeling. However, it is not known whether cardiomyocyte-expressed FGF receptors are necessary or sufficient for ventricular remodeling in the adult heart. To determine whether cardiomyocytes were competent to respond to an activated FGF receptor, and to determine if this signal would result in the development of hypertrophy, we engineered a doxycycline (DOX)-inducible, cardiomyocyte-specific, constitutively active FGF receptor mouse model (αMHC-rtTA, TRE-caFgfr1-myc). Echocardiographic and hemodynamic analysis indicated that acute expression of caFGFR1 rapidly and directly increased cardiac contractility, while chronic expression resulted in significant hypertrophy with preservation of systolic function. Subsequent histologic analysis showed increased cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area and regions of myocyte disarray and fibrosis, classic features of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Analysis of downstream pathways revealed a lack of clear activation of classical FGF-mediated signaling pathways, but did demonstrate a reduction in Serca2 expression and troponin I phosphorylation. Isolated ventricular myocytes showed enhanced contractility and reduced relaxation, an effect that was partially reversed by inhibition of actin-myosin interactions. We conclude that adult cardiomyocytes are competent to transduce FGF signaling and that FGF signaling is sufficient to promote increased cardiomyocyte contractility in vitro and in vivo through enhanced intrinsic actin-myosin interactions. Long-term, FGFR overexpression results in HCM with a dynamic outflow tract obstruction, and may serve as a unique model of HCM

NFĸB signaling drives myocardial injury via CCR2+ macrophages in a preclinical model of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

Nuclear factor κ-B (NFκB) is activated in iPSC-cardiac myocytes from patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) under basal conditions, and inhibition of NFκB signaling prevents disease in Dsg2mut/mut mice, a robust mouse model of ACM. Here, we used genetic approaches and single-cell RNA-Seq to define the contributions of immune signaling in cardiac myocytes and macrophages in the natural progression of ACM using Dsg2mut/mut mice. We found that NFκB signaling in cardiac myocytes drives myocardial injury, contractile dysfunction, and arrhythmias in Dsg2mut/mut mice. NFκB signaling in cardiac myocytes mobilizes macrophages expressing C-C motif chemokine receptor-2 (CCR2+ cells) to affected areas within the heart, where they mediate myocardial injury and arrhythmias. Contractile dysfunction in Dsg2mut/mut mice is caused both by loss of heart muscle and negative inotropic effects of inflammation in viable muscle. Single nucleus RNA-Seq and cellular indexing of transcriptomes and epitomes (CITE-Seq) studies revealed marked proinflammatory changes in gene expression and the cellular landscape in hearts of Dsg2mut/mut mice involving cardiac myocytes, fibroblasts, and CCR2+ macrophages. Changes in gene expression in cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts in Dsg2mut/mut mice were dependent on CCR2+ macrophage recruitment to the heart. These results highlight complex mechanisms of immune injury and regulatory crosstalk between cardiac myocytes, inflammatory cells, and fibroblasts in the pathogenesis of ACM