The evolutionary history of a mammal species with a highly fragmented range: the phylogeography of the European snow vole.

The European snow vole Chionomys nivalis has a patchy distribution restricted to rocky habitats across southern Europe and the Near and Middle East. We carried out a phylogeographic study to provide a biogeographic scenario, based on molecular data, outlining the major processes that determined the current distribution of the species. The samples include 26 snow voles from 14 different populations across the entire species range from Spain to Anatolia and Israel. Nearly complete sequences (1037 bp) of the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome b were sequenced. Relationships among haplotypes were inferred with neighbourjoining, maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony analyses and minimum spanning network. An analysis of mismatch distribution was used to cast light on past demographic expansion. We found 22 different haplotypes that fall into six distinct lineages, all but one is supported by high bootstrap values with all methods. Four lineages are allopatric (Tatra Mts., Iberia, Balkans and Middle East) while divergent haplotypes from two lineages show sympatry in the Alps and the Apennines. The basal relationships of these lineages could not be established by any tree. The mean pairwise genetic distance between lineages ranges from 2.4 to 4.2%. The shape of the mismatch distribution indicated a past expansion event dating back to between 158 000 and 84 000 years ago. These data can be interpreted with the existence of southern glacial refugia (Iberia, Balkans, Middle East and Italy) and one additional northern glacial refugium. The lack of phylogenetic resolution among lineages and the shape of mismatch distribution are indicative of a simultaneous and rapid splitting due to a relatively fast initial expansion of populations. Moreover, the analysis supports the hypothesis of the European origin of C. nivalis and its subsequent eastward dispersion during the Middle Pleistocene

Global compactness for a class of quasi-linear elliptic problems

We prove a global compactness result for Palais-Smale sequences associated with a class of quasi-linear elliptic equations on exterior domains.Comment: 19 page

Educational recommendations for the conduct, content and format of EULAR musculoskeletal ultrasound Teaching the Teachers Courses

To produce educational guidelines for the conduct, content and format of theoretical and practical teaching at EULAR musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) Teaching the Teachers (TTT) Courses

Comparison between two non-contact techniques for art digitalization

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Strategies and Alliances into Action to Improve National Collaboration

The Italian NILDE network of libraries continues to grow through the use of the NILDE system and currently comprises more than 600 Italian librarians and about 10.000 registered end-users.The system allows to daily manage and to record all the Inter-Library-Loan (ILL) operations, with a high national coverage. This paper presents the NILDE network governance and evolution and the strategies that have been put into action to improve collaboration in resource sharing among the participants. These strategies include: − release of best practices and worst practices; − activities to promote the knowledge about the network; − cooperation with the Italian national catalogs and consortia; − data analysis about ILL and its performance, related to: turn around time, reciprocity factor, requested/supplied documents imbalance analysis, analysis of ILL requested serial titles and their relationship with consortial e-only acquisitions. The availability of such a high volume of ILL data has allowed for the first time to analyze the trends and gaps of ILL and to help future cooperative acquisitions planning

Protocol for the Foot in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis trial (FiJIA): a randomised controlled trial of an integrated foot care programme for foot problems in JIA

<b>Background</b>: Foot and ankle problems are a common but relatively neglected manifestation of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Studies of medical and non-medical interventions have shown that clinical outcome measures can be improved. However existing data has been drawn from small non-randomised clinical studies of single interventions that appear to under-represent the adult population suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis. To date, no evidence of combined therapies or integrated care for juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients with foot and ankle problems exists. <b>Methods/design</b>: An exploratory phase II non-pharmacological randomised controlled trial where patients including young children, adolescents and adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and associated foot/ankle problems will be randomised to receive integrated podiatric care via a new foot care programme, or to receive standard podiatry care. Sixty patients (30 in each arm) including children, adolescents and adults diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis who satisfy the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be recruited from 2 outpatient centres of paediatric and adult rheumatology respectively. Participants will be randomised by process of minimisation using the Minim software package. The primary outcome measure is the foot related impairment measured by the Juvenile Arthritis Disability Index questionnaire's impairment domain at 6 and 12 months, with secondary outcomes including disease activity score, foot deformity score, active/limited foot joint counts, spatio-temporal and plantar-pressure gait parameters, health related quality of life and semi-quantitative ultrasonography score for inflammatory foot lesions. The new foot care programme will comprise rapid assessment and investigation, targeted treatment, with detailed outcome assessment and follow-up at minimum intervals of 3 months. Data will be collected at baseline, 6 months and 12 months from baseline. Intention to treat data analysis will be conducted. A full health economic evaluation will be conducted alongside the trial and will evaluate the cost effectiveness of the intervention. This will consider the cost per improvement in Juvenile Arthritis Disability Index, and cost per quality adjusted life year gained. In addition, a discrete choice experiment will elicit willingness to pay values and a cost benefit analysis will also be undertaken

Diffusion of an e-learning programme among Danish General Practitioners: A nation-wide prospective survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We were unable to identify studies that have considered the diffusion of an e-learning programme among a large population of general practitioners. The aim of this study was to investigate the uptake of an e-learning programme introduced to General Practitioners as part of a nation-wide disseminated dementia guideline.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A prospective study among all 3632 Danish GPs. The GPs were followed from the launching of the e-learning programme in November 2006 and 6 months forward. Main outcome measures: Use of the e-learning programme. A logistic regression model (GEE) was used to identify predictors for use of the e-learning programme.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the study period, a total of 192 different GPs (5.3%) were identified as users, and 17% (32) had at least one re-logon. Among responders at first login most have learnt about the e-learning programme from written material (41%) or from the internet (44%). A total of 94% of the users described their ability of conducting a diagnostic evaluation as good or excellent. Most of the respondents used the e-learning programme due to general interest (90%). Predictors for using the e-learning programme were Males (OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.1; 2.0) and members of Danish College of General Practice (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.5; 3.1), whereas age, experience and working place did not seem to be influential.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Only few Danish GPs used the e-learning programme in the first 6 months after the launching. Those using it were more often males and members of Danish College of General Practice. Based on this study we conclude, that an active implementation is needed, also when considering electronic formats of CME like e-learning.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00392483.</p

Validity of ultrasonography and measures of adult shoulder function and reliability of ultrasonography in detecting shoulder synovitis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using magnetic resonance imaging as a gold standard

Objective. To assess the intra- and interobserver reproducibility of musculoskeletal ultrasonography (US) in detecting in.ammatory shoulder changes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and to determine the agreement between US and the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a gold standard. Methods. Eleven rheumatologists investigated 10 patients in 2 rounds independently and blindly of each other by US. US results were compared with shoulder function tests and MRI. Results. The positive and negative predictive values (NPVs) for axillary recess synovitis (ARS) were 0.88 and 0.43, respectively, for posterior recess synovitis (PRS) were 0.36 and 0.97, respectively, for subacromial/subdeltoid bursitis (SASB) were 0.85 and 0.28, respectively, and the NPV for biceps tenosynovitis (BT) was 1.00. The intraobserver kappa was 0.62 for ARS, 0.59 for PRS, 0.51 for BT, and 0.70 for SASB. The intraobserver kappa for power Doppler US (PDUS) signal was 0.91 for PRS, 0.77 for ARS, 0.94 for SASB, and 0.53 for BT. The interobserver maximum kappa was 0.46 for BT, 0.95 for ARS, 0.52 for PRS, and 0.61 for SASB. The interobserver reliability of PDUS was 1.0 for PRS, 0.1 for ARS, 0.5 for BT, and 1.0 for SASB. P values for the SPADI and DASH versus cuff tear on US were 0.02 and 0.01, respectively; all other relationships were not significant. Conclusion. Overall agreements between gray-scale US and MRI regarding synovitis of the shoulder varied considerably, but excellent results were seen for PDUS. Measures of shoulder function have a poor relationship with US and MRI. Improved standardization of US scanning technique could further reliability of shoulder US. © 2010, American College of Rheumatology