Retinal detachment in black South Africans

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachments seen in black patients attending King Edward VIII Hospital Ophthalmology Clinic over a 5-year period from January 1987 to December 1991 were reviewed. Penetrating trauma and diabetic retinopathy were excluded. There were 114 detachments in 112 patients, which gave incidence of 0,46/100 000 of the population served per annum. This confirms the low incidence of this disorder found in black patients in other series. Patients were comparatively young (37,5% less than 30 years of age), men outnumbered women 2:1, and the incidence of blunt trauma was high (29,8%). Over one-third (36,6%) presented with a blind or poorly sighted opposite eye. Late presentation was common. Large posterior breaks occurred in 15,7% of detachments with severe proliferative vitreoretinopathy in 33,3%. These last characteristics accounted for the use of vitrectomy with tamponade as a primary surgical procedure in 32,5% of cases and contributed to the relatively low success rate ofreattachment (72,8%). Some of the findings may be influenced by social disadvantage, but the reason for the low incidence of retinal detachment in black patients is not known. A stronger adherence of the retina to the retinal pigment epithelium in black patients is postulated

Strategy for Mitigating DKA Risk in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes on Adjunctive Treatment with SGLT Inhibitors: A STICH Protocol

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious complication of diabetes that occurs primarily in type 1 diabetes (T1D), although it may also affect patients with other forms of insulin-dependent diabetes and may occur in new-onset type 2 diabetes. Insulin deficiency is associated with an increase in glucagon and excessive lipolysis with increased oxidation of fatty acids to ketone bodies in the liver and ketonemia. Ketosis may advance to metabolic acidosis. For DKA to be diagnosed, both ketosis and acidosis must be present. If not recognized and/or treated early, it can become serious and life-threatening; 168,000 patients were admitted to U.S. hospitals for DKA in 2014

Femmes politiques françaises européistes au temps des fondateurs de l'Europe communautaire (1948-1958)

L’absence de figures féminines reconnues dans les débuts de la construction européenne a eu pour double effet de faire oublier que très tôt certaines élues se sont engagées pour l’idée européenne et de laisser penser que les femmes politiques n’ont joué aucun rôle dans la construction communautaire. Afin de rétablir la contribution des femmes, particulièrement des Françaises qui ont été les plus nombreuses, on peut tenter de répondre à plusieurs questions. Et commencer par quantifier le phénomène : combien de femmes politiques, donc élues et/ou assumant certaines responsabilités dans les assemblées et/ou dans les partis politiques, ont fait partie des européistes des années 1950 ? La question des ressorts et des formes de l’engagement européen est également fondamentale. La préservation de la paix est évidemment la finalité de la cause européiste dans les années 1950, mais sont-elles pacifistes ? S’engagent-elles, comme des hommes, après avoir participé à la Résistance ? Sont-elles plutôt de gauche ou démocrates-chrétiennes ? Quelle Europe veulent-elles construire en termes de périmètre et de modèle institutionnel ? On peut enfin se demander si leur combat européiste commun crée entre elles certaines formes de solidarité, au-delà des clivages politiques ? Et comment conjuguent-elles, ou pas, européisme et féminisme

Wacana Kritis Berita Online Kasus Penyadapan Pembicaraan Telepon Elit Indonesia oleh Agen Rahasia Australia

News on online portal has advantages over news on conventional media in constructing reality and affecting the audiences. This research aims to analyze online text news about Indonesian\u27s political elites phone-tapping by Australian intelligence agency in Indonesian and Australian online news portal. This research uses text analyzing technique with interpretative explanation application. Data collection were done by observation on four online news portals, and then continued by data selection in the form of related news text. This news text is acquaired by using search engine in the internet. Collected data then being analyzed using Van Dijk Critical Discourse Analysis to apprehend the social discourses constructed by the online news portals, ideologies behind it, and the impact of those news publication on Indonesia-Australia diplomatic relationship. The results of this research indicates that there is a difference in discourses between Australia and Indonesia\u27s online news portal regarding the phone-tapping of Indonesia\u27s political elites by the Australian intelligence agency. Reality construction which is built by those news portals shows some differences, caused by disparities of press system and communication cultures between the two nations. Besides that, media ideologies also affects that phone-tapping publication. Those news publication in the process inflicts reaction on the people of the two nations, which affects the diplomatic relations between the two country

Historicité et subjectivité du parcours européiste de Louise Weiss

Tous les écrits, films ou expositions réalisés sur la vie de Louise Weiss (1893-1983) insistent sur le fait qu’elle est méconnue, alors qu’elle a pu avoir une certaine influence. Elle est ainsi considérée comme une précurseure de l’unification de l’Europe et non comme une constructrice, son engagement européiste étant en quelque sorte entre parenthèses au moment où les fondateurs ont posé les bases de la construction européenne. Dans ses écrits, Louise Weiss a modelé elle-même la trace qu’elle voulait laisser dans l’histoire et pris grand soin de mettre en scène son rôle dans différents combats du siècle : la paix, le vote des femmes, la résistance, l’Europe. Elle a ainsi (re)construit une trajectoire personnelle en l’articulant à l’histoire et sans résister à la tentation téléologique. L’objectif de cette contribution est évaluer les modalités de l’engagement européiste de Louise Weiss

Neural changes following cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis: A longitudinal study

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that persistent positive symptoms, particularly delusions, can be improved by cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis. Heightened perception and processing of threat are believed to constitute the genesis of delusions. The present study aimed to examine functional brain changes following cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis. The study involved 56 outpatients with one or more persistent positive distressing symptoms of schizophrenia. Twenty-eight patients receiving cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis for 6–8 months in addition to their usual treatment were matched with 28 patients receiving treatment as usual. Patients’ symptoms were assessed by a rater blind to treatment group, and they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during an affect processing task at baseline and end of treatment follow-up. The two groups were comparable at baseline in terms of clinical and demographic parameters and neural and behavioural responses to facial and control stimuli. The cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis with treatment-as-usual group (22 subjects) showed significant clinical improvement compared with the treatment-as-usual group (16 subjects), which showed no change at follow-up. The cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis with treatment-as-usual group, but not the treatment-as-usual group, showed decreased activation of the inferior frontal, insula, thalamus, putamen and occipital areas to fearful and angry expressions at treatment follow-up compared with baseline. Reduction of functional magnetic resonance imaging response during angry expressions correlated directly with symptom improvement. This study provides the first evidence that cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis attenuates brain responses to threatening stimuli and suggests that cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis may mediate symptom reduction by promoting processing of threats in a less distressing way

Magnetic field effects and magnetic anisotropy in lightly doped La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4

The effects of the application of a magnetic field on the diagonal stripe spin-glass phase is studied in lightly doped La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 (x=0.014 and 0.024). With increasing magnetic field, the magnetic elastic intensity at the diagonal incommensurate (DIC) positions (1,\pm\epsilon,0) decreases as opposed to the increase seen in superconducting samples. This diminution in intensity with increasing magnetic field originates from a spin reorientation transition, which is driven by the antisymmetric exchange term in the spin Hamiltonian. On the other hand, the transition temperature, the incommensurability, and the peak width of the diagonal incommensurate correlations are not changed with magnetic field. This result suggests that the magnetic correlations are determined primarily by the charge disproportionation and that the geometry of the diagonal incommensurate magnetism is also determined by effects, that is, stripe formation which are not purely magnetic in origin. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antisymmetric exchange is nevertheless important in determining the local spin structure in the DIC stripe phase.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Comparison of Protocols to Reduce Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Prescribed a Sodium–Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitor

OBJECTIVE Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are approved for type 1 diabetes in Europe and Japan, with off-label use in type 1 diabetes in the United States. Although there were no consistent approaches to risk mitigation in clinical trials of these agents, protocols have been developed to try to reduce the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). However, a validated risk mitigation strategy does not exist. We reviewed available DKA risk mitigation protocols to better understand the various strategies currently in use. METHODS We conducted a search of the published medical literature and other medical information sources, including conference presentations, for protocols. We then categorized the information provided into guidance on patient se-lection, initiation of SGLT2 inhibitors, ketone monitoring, necessary patient action in the event of ketosis or DKA, and inpatient treatment of ketosis or DKA. RESULTS Patient selection is generally similar among the protocols, although some require a minimum BMI and insulin dose. All protocols advocate routine measurement of ketones, although some insist on blood ketone tests. Although action steps for ketosis varies, all protocols advocate rapid patient intervention. The importance of evaluating ketones and acid-base balance even in the absence of hyperglycemia is emphasized by all protocols, as is the need to continue administering insulin until ketosis has resolved. CONCLUSION DKA risk mitigation must be pursued systematically in individuals with type 1 diabetes, although the best strategy remains to be determined. Given the ongoing need for adjunctive therapies in type 1 diabetes and current use of SGLT2 inhibitors for this purpose, additional education and research are crucial, especially in the hospital environment, where DKA may not be diagnosed promptly and treated appropriately

Elicitin genes in Phytophthora infestans are clustered and interspersed with various transposon-like elements

Sequencing and annotation of a contiguous stretch of genomic DNA (112.3 kb) from the oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans revealed the order, spacing and genomic context of four members of the elicitin (inf) gene family. Analysis of the GC content at the third codon position (GC3) of six genes encoded in the region, and a set of randomly selected coding regions as well as random genomic regions, showed that a high GC3 value is a general feature of Phytophthora genes that can be exploited to optimize gene prediction programs for Phytophthora species. At least one-third of the annotated 112.3-kb P. infestans sequence consisted of transposons or transposon-like elements. The most prominent were four Tc3/gypsy and Tc1/copia type retrotransposons and three DNA transposons that belong to the Tc1/mariner, Pogo and PiggyBac groups, respectively. Comparative analysis of other available genomic sequences suggests that transposable elements are highly heterogeneous and ubiquitous in the P. infestans genome