703 research outputs found
Retinopathy of prematurity – update on screening, treatment, recent studies and long-term outcomes
Retinopathy of prematurity, short ROP, is still one of the leading causes of childhood blindness worldwide. The management of ROP, however, has changed tremendously during the last years. This article summarizes known risk factors for ROP, preventive measures and the updated version of the German recommendations for ROP-screening and treatment. A special focus is laid on new treatment options, in particular anti-VEGF treatment, as well as the post-operative and long-term follow-up after treatment. This article also emphasizes the need for joint data collection on an international level and presents the newly-developed initiative for a European wide data collection (EU-ROP) which will be introduced in 2021. All physicians treating ROP infants are welcome to join the EU-ROP initiative
Origin and pathogenesis of nodular lymphocyte–predominant Hodgkin lymphoma as revealed by global gene expression analysis
The pathogenesis of nodular lymphocyte–predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) and its relationship to other lymphomas are largely unknown. This is partly because of the technical challenge of analyzing its rare neoplastic lymphocytic and histiocytic (L&H) cells, which are dispersed in an abundant nonneoplastic cellular microenvironment. We performed a genome-wide expression study of microdissected L&H lymphoma cells in comparison to normal and other malignant B cells that indicated a relationship of L&H cells to and/or that they originate from germinal center B cells at the transition to memory B cells. L&H cells show a surprisingly high similarity to the tumor cells of T cell–rich B cell lymphoma and classical Hodgkin lymphoma, a partial loss of their B cell phenotype, and deregulation of many apoptosis regulators and putative oncogenes. Importantly, L&H cells are characterized by constitutive nuclear factor {kappa}B activity and aberrant extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling. Thus, these findings shed new light on the nature of L&H cells, reveal several novel pathogenetic mechanisms in NLPHL, and may help in differential diagnosis and lead to novel therapeutic strategies
Is there a role for Digital X-ray Radiogrammetry as surrogate marker for radiological progression and imaging of structural integrity in rheumatoid arthritis?
Overview of the Nordic Seas CARINA data and salinity measurements
Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the data products, i.e. the three merged files with measured, calculated and interpolated values for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL) and the Southern Ocean (SO). With the adjustments the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP (Key et al., 2004) and is suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for model validation. The Arctic Mediterranean Seas include the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas. This contribution provides an overview of the CARINA data from the Nordic Seas and summarises the findings of the QC of the salinity data. One cruise had salinity data that were of questionable quality, and these have been removed from the data product. An evaluation of the consistency of the quality controlled salinity data suggests that they are consistent to at least ±0.005
Immune modulation and prevention of autoimmune disease by repeated sequences from parasites linked to self antigens
Parasite proteins containing repeats are essential invasion ligands, important for their ability to evade the host immune system and to induce immunosuppression. Here, the intrinsic suppressive potential of repetitive structures within parasite proteins was exploited to induce immunomodulation in order to establish self-tolerance in an animal model of autoimmune neurological disease. We tested the tolerogenic potential of fusion proteins containing repeat sequences of parasites linked to self-antigens. The fusion constructs consist of a recombinant protein containing repeat sequences derived from the S-antigen protein (SAg) of Plasmodium falciparum linked to a CD4 T cell epitope of myelin. They were tested for their efficacy to control the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), In addition, we used the DO11.10 transgenic mouse model to study the immune mechanisms involved in tolerance induced by SAg fusion proteins. We found that repeated sequences of P. falciparum SAg protein linked to self-epitopes markedly protected mice from EAE. These fusion constructs were powerful tolerizing agents not only in a preventive setting but also in the treatment of ongoing disease. The tolerogenic effect was shown to be antigen-specific and strongly dependent on the physical linkage of the T cell epitope to the parasite structure and on the action of anti-inflammatory cytokines like IL-10 and TGF-{beta}. Other mechanisms include down-regulation of TNF-{alpha} accompanied by increased numbers of FoxP3(+) cells. This study describes the use of repetitive structures from parasites linked to defined T cell epitopes as an effective method to induce antigen-specific tolerance with potential applicability for the treatment and prevention of autoimmune diseases
The Threshold Pion-Photoproduction of Nucleons In The Chiral Quark Model
In this paper, we show that the low energy theorem (LET) of the threshold
pion-photoproduction can be fully recovered in the quark model. An essential
result of this investigation is that the quark-pion operators are obtained from
the effective chiral Lagrangian, and the low energy theorem does not require
the constraints on the internal structures of the nucleon. The pseudoscalar
quark-pion coupling generates an additional term at order only
in the isospin amplitude . The role of the transitions between the
nucleon and the resonance and P-wave baryons are also discussed,
we find that the leading contributions to the isospin amplitudes at
are from the transition between the P-wave baryons and the nucleon and the
charge radius of the nucleon. The leading contribution from the P-wave baryons
only affects the neutral pion production, and improve the agreement with data
significantly. The transition between the resonance and the
nucleon only gives an order corrections to
Effective decrease of photoelectric emission threshold from gold plated surfaces
Many applications require charge neutralisation of isolated test bodies and
this has been successfully done using photoelectric emission from surfaces
which are electrically benign(gold) or superconducting (niobium). Gold surfaces
nominally have a high work function (\,eV)which should require deep
UV photons for photoemission. In practice it has been found that it can be
achieved with somewhat lower energy photons with indicative work functions of
(\,eV). A detailed working understanding of the process is lacking
and this work reports on a study of the photoelectric emission properties of
4.6x4.6 cm^2 gold plated surfaces, representative of those used in typical
satellite applications with a film thickness of 800 nm, and measured surface
roughnesses between 7 and 340 nm. Various UV sources with photon energies from
4.8 to 6.2 eV and power outputs from 1 nW to 1000 nW, illuminated a ~0.3 cm^2
of the central surface region at angles of incidence from 0 to 60 degrees.
Final extrinsic quantum yields in the range 10 ppm to 44 ppm were reliably
obtained during 8 campaigns, covering a ~3 year period, but with intermediate
long-term variations lasting several weeks and, in some cases, bake-out
procedures at up to 200 C. Experimental results were obtained in a vacuum
system with a baseline pressure of ~10^{-7} mbar at room temperature. A working
model, designed to allow accurate simulation of any experimental configuration,
is proposed.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figure
Near Real Time Data Processing In ICOS RI
This paper describes the implementation of (near)
real-time (NRT) data processing in the recently launched
European environmental research infrastructure ICOS. NRT
applications include handling of raw sensor data (including safe
storage and quality control), processing and evaluation of
greenhouse gas mixing ratios and exchange fluxes, and the
provision of data to the RI’s user communities
The P_33(1232) resonance contribution into the amplitudes M_{1+}^{3/2},E_{1+}^{3/2},S_{1+}^{3/2} from an analysis of the p(e,e'p)\pi^0 data at Q^2 = 2.8, 3.2, and 4 (GeV/c)^2 within dispersion relation approach
Within the fixed-t dispersion relation approach we have analysed the TJNAF
and DESY data on the exclusive p(e,e'p)\pi^0 reaction in order to find the
P_{33}(1232) resonance contribution into the multipole amplitudes
M_{1+}^{3/2},E_{1+}^{3/2},S_{1+}^{3/2}. As an input for the resonance and
nonresonance contributions into these amplitudes the earlier obtained solutions
of the integral equations which follow from dispersion relations are used. The
obtained values of the ratio E2/M1 for the \gamma^* N \to P_{33}(1232)
transition are: 0.039\pm 0.029, 0.121\pm 0.032, 0.04\pm 0.031 for Q^2= 2.8,
3.2, and 4 (GeV/c)^2, respectively. The comparison with the data at low Q^2
shows that there is no evidence for the presence of the visible pQCD
contribution into the transition \gamma N \to P_{33}(1232) at Q^2=3-4 GeV^2.
The ratio S_{1+}^{3/2}/M_{1+}^{3/2} for the resonance parts of multipoles is:
-0.049\pm 0.029, -0.099\pm 0.041, -0.085\pm 0.021 for Q^2= 2.8, 3.2, and 4
(GeV/c)^2, respectively. Our results for the transverse form factor G_T(Q^2) of
the \gamma^* N \to P_{33}(1232) transition are lower than the values obtained
from the inclusive data. With increasing Q^2, Q^4G_T(Q^2) decreases, so there
is no evidence for the presence of the pQCD contribution here too
Low-Energy Compton Scattering of Polarized Photons on Polarized Nucleons
The general structure of the cross section of scattering with
polarized photon and/or nucleon in initial and/or final state is systematically
described and exposed through invariant amplitudes. A low-energy expansion of
the cross section up to and including terms of order is given which
involves ten structure parameters of the nucleon (dipole, quadrupole,
dispersion, and spin polarizabilities). Their physical meaning is discussed in
detail. Using fixed-t dispersion relations, predictions for these parameters
are obtained and compared with results of chiral perturbation theory. It is
emphasized that Compton scattering experiments at large angles can fix the most
uncertain of these structure parameters. Predictions for the cross section and
double-polarization asymmetries are given and the convergence of the expansion
is investigated. The feasibility of the experimental determination of some of
the struture parameters is discussed.Comment: 41 pages of text, 9 figures; minor revisions prior to publication in
Phys. Rev.
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