Prevalence and clinical significance of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

BACKGROUND: Antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) are considered to be specific for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical significance of anti-CCP in a cohort of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). METHODS: Anti-CCP were tested by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in serum samples from 109 patients with JIA (30 boys, 79 girls), with a mean age of 8.7 years (range 0.6-20.3) and mean disease duration of 3.6 years (range 3 months to 15.6 years). As control groups, anti-CCP were also tested in sera of 30 healthy children, 25 patients with juvenile onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 50 adult patients (30 with RA, 20 with SLE). RESULTS: Positive anti-CCP values were found in sera of two patients with JIA (2%), one with polyarthritis, and one with oligoarthritis. Statistical analysis showed that anti-CCP were not associated with the presence of antinuclear antibodies, raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate, or erosions. In the control groups, none of the patients with juvenile onset SLE and only one of 20 adults with SLE were positive for anti-CCP, but 19/30 (63%) adults with RA showed anti-CCP positivity. CONCLUSIONS: Anti-CCP can be detected in children with JIA, but are less frequently present than in adults with R

Nanometre-scale spectroscopic visualization of catalytic sites during a hydrogenation reaction on a Pd/Au bimetallic catalyst

ISSN:2520-115

Nanometer Scale Spectroscopic Visualization of Catalytic Sites During a Hydrogenation Reaction on a Pd/Au Bimetallic Catalyst

Understanding the mechanism of catalytic hydrogenation at the local environment requires chemical and topographic information involving catalytic sites, active hydrogen species and their spatial distribution. Here, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) was employed to study the catalytic hydrogenation of chloro-nitrobenzenethiol on a well-defined Pd(sub-monolayer)/Au(111) bimetallic catalyst (pH2=1.5 bar, 298 K), where the surface topography and chemical fingerprint information were simultaneously mapped with nanoscale resolution (≈10 nm). TERS imaging of the surface after catalytic hydrogenation confirms that the reaction occurs beyond the location of Pd sites. The results demonstrate that hydrogen spillover accelerates hydrogenation at the Au sites within 20 nm from the bimetallic Pd/Au boundary. Density functional theory was used to elucidate the thermodynamics of interfacial hydrogen transfer. We demonstrate that TERS as a powerful analytical tool provides a unique approach to spatially investigate the local structure-reactivity relationship in catalysis.</p

Blood flow, flow reserve, and glucose utilization in viable and nonviable myocardium in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to determine whether glucose uptake in viable myocardium of ischemic cardiomyopathy patients depends on rest myocardial blood flow (MBF) and the residual myocardial flow reserve (MFR). METHODS: Thirty-six patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (left ventricular ejection fraction 25 ± 10 %) were studied with N-ammonia and F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). Twenty age-matched normals served as controls. Regional MBF was determined at rest and during dipyridamole hyperemia and regional FDG extraction was estimated from regional FDG to N-ammonia activity ratios. RESULTS: Rest MBF was reduced in viable (0.42 ± 0.18 ml/min per g) and nonviable regions (0.32 ± 0.09 ml/min per g) relative to remote regions (0.68 ± 0.23 ml/min per g, p &lt; 0.001) and to normals (0.63 ± 0.13 ml/min per g). Dipyridamole raised MBFs in controls, remote, viable, and nonviable regions. MBFs at rest (p &lt; 0.05) and stress (p &lt; 0.05) in viable regions were significantly higher than that in nonviable regions, while MFRs did not differ significantly (p &gt; 0.05). Compared to MFR in remote myocardium, MFRs in viable regions were similar (1.39 ± 0.56 vs 1.70 ± 0.45, p &gt; 0.05) but were significantly lower in nonviable regions (1.23 ± 0.43, p &lt; 0.001). Moreover, the FDG and thus glucose extraction was higher in viable than in remote (1.40 ± 0.14 vs 0.90 ± 0.20, p &lt; 0.001) and in nonviable regions (1.13 ± 0.21, p &lt; 0.001). The extraction of FDG in viable regions was independent of rest MBF but correlated inversely with MFRs (r =-0.424, p &lt; 0.05). No correlation between the FDG extraction and MFR was observed in nonviable regions. CONCLUSION: As in the animal model, decreasing MFRs in viable myocardium are associated with increasing glucose extraction that likely reflects a metabolic adaptation of remodeling hibernating myocytes

Topology-commanded optical properties of bistable electric-field-induced torons in cholesteric bubble domains

Abstract Nowadays, complicated topological defects enable many experimental manipulations and configurational simulations of active soft matter for optical and photonic applications. Investigation of topological defects in soft anisotropic materials enables one to better understand three-dimensional orientation fields in cholesteric liquid crystals. Here, we describe optical properties of bistable bubble domain (BD) texture torons in a thin layer of cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC), frustrated by homeotropic anchoring conditions, and reliably switchable by a random process. The control of macroscopic optical density and diffraction efficiency of the BD texture is demonstrated by a selection of a confinement ratio of the CLC. Experimentally reconstructed CLC director profile reveals the topology of BD torons allowing consideration of naturally occurring BD texture for applications in optical and photonic devices, which are bistably switchable between active and transparent optical states