Bibliographic impact of ICLARM

Citation analysis, ICLARM publications

The psychosocial burden of hidradenitis suppurativa: the patients' perspectives

We designed a qualitative study to interview 12 patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa. This was done by means of a semistructured interview. Questions on quality of life, the impact of their skin disease on family, friends, work, intimate relationships, treatments, etc. were asked. Patients consented to be interviewed and to be video taped to facilitate the transcription of the interviews. The interviews lasted between 30 and 60 minutes and were carried out by a psychologist and a social worker. The dermatologist had previously seen the patients and filled in a form with the Hurley Stage, years of evolution and treatment..

Inconsistent detection of extinction debts using different methods

© 2020 The Authors. Ecography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos The extinction debt, delayed species extinctions following landscape degradation, is a widely discussed concept. But a consensus about the prevalence of extinctions debts is hindered by a multiplicity of methods and a lack of comparisons among habitats. We applied three contrasting species–area relationship methods to test for plant community extinction debts in three habitats which had different degradation histories over the last century: calcareous grassland, heathland and woodland. These methods differ in their data requirements, with the first two using information on past and current habitat area alongside current species richness, whilst the last method also requires data on past species richness. The most data-intensive, and hence arguably most reliable method, identified extinction debts across all habitats for specialist species, whilst the other methods did not. All methods detected an extinction debt in calcareous grassland, which had undergone the most severe degradation. We conclude that some methods failed to detect an extinction debt, particularly in habitats that have undergone moderate degradation. Data on past species numbers are required for the most reliable method; as such data are rare, extinction debts may be under-reported

Measuring ICLARM's impact on research and researchers

For a research organization such as ICLARM which carries out long-term basic research, justifying money spent can be a difficult exercise. This articles examines different ways by which impact of ICLARM research can be measured

Measuring ICLARM's impact on research and researchers

Citation analysis, Bibliographic information, ICLARM publications

Charged and Pseudoscalar Higgs production at a Muon Collider

We consider single charged Higgs ($H^{\pm}$) and pseudoscalar Higgs ($A^0$) production in association with a gauge boson at $\mu^+\mu^-$ colliders. We find that the tree-level t-channel and s-channel contributions to $\mu^+\mu^-\to H^{\pm}W^{\mp}, A^0Z$ are enhanced for large values of $\tan\beta$, allowing sizeable cross-sections whose analogies at $e^+e^-$ colliders would be very small. These processes provide attractive new ways of producing such particles at $\mu^+\mu^-$ colliders and are superior to the conventional methods in regions of parameter space.Comment: 11 pages Latex, 5 figures, formulae added in sections 2.2 and 2.3, extra discussion in section 2.3, references adde

Recursive Polynomial Remainder Sequence and the Nested Subresultants

We give two new expressions of subresultants, nested subresultant and reduced nested subresultant, for the recursive polynomial remainder sequence (PRS) which has been introduced by the author. The reduced nested subresultant reduces the size of the subresultant matrix drastically compared with the recursive subresultant proposed by the authors before, hence it is much more useful for investigation of the recursive PRS. Finally, we discuss usage of the reduced nested subresultant in approximate algebraic computation, which motivates the present work.Comment: 12 pages. Presented at CASC 2005 (Kalamata, Greece, Septermber 12-16, 2005

Characterization of the invasive and inflammatory traits of oral Campylobacter rectus in a murine model of fetoplacental growth restriction and in trophoblast cultures

Campylobacter species (C. jejuni, C. fetus) are enteric abortifacient bacteria in humans and ungulates. Campylobacter rectus is a periodontal pathogen associated with human fetal exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes including preterm delivery. Experiments in pregnant mice have demonstrated that C. rectus can translocate from a distant site of infection to the placenta to induce fetal growth restriction and impair placental development. However, placental tissues from human, small-for-gestational age deliveries have not been reported to harbor C. rectus despite evidence of maternal infection and fetal exposure by fetal IgM response. This investigation examined the temporal relationship between the placental translocation of C. rectus and the effects on fetal growth in mice. BALB/c mice were infected at gestational day E7.5 to examine placental translocation of C. rectus by immunohistology. C. rectus significantly decreased fetoplacental weight at E14.5 and at E16.5. C. rectus was detected in 63% of placentas at E14.5, but not at E16.5. In in vitro trophoblast invasion assays, C. rectus was able to effectively invade human trophoblasts (BeWo) but not murine trophoblasts (SM9-1), and showed a trend for more invasiveness than C. jejuni. C. rectus challenge significantly upregulated both mRNA and protein levels of IL-6 and TNFα in a dose-dependent manner in human trophoblasts, but did not increase cytokine expression in murine cells, suggesting a correlation between invasion and cytokine activation. In conclusion, the trophoblast-invasive trait of C. rectus that appears limited to human trophoblasts may play a role in facilitating bacterial translocation and placental inflammation during early gestation

A Community Program of Integrated Care for Frail Older Adults : +AGIL Barcelona

Objectives: To assess the 3-month impact on physical function of a program for community-dwelling frail older adults, based on the integration of primary care, geriatric medicine, and community resources, implemented in \u201creal life\u201d. Design: Interventional cohort study. Setting: Primary care in Barcelona, Spain. Participants: Individuals aged 6580 years (n=134), presenting at least one sign of frailty (i.e., slow gait speed, weakness, memory complaints, involuntary weight loss, poor social support). Intervention: After frailty screening by the primary care team, candidates were referred to a geriatric team (geriatrician + physical therapist), who performed a comprehensive geriatric assessment and designed a tailored multidisciplinary intervention in the community, including a) multi-modal physical activity (PA) sessions, b) promotion of adherence to a Mediterranean diet c) health education and d) medication review. Measurements: Participants were assessed based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment including physical performance (Short Physical Performance Battery -SPPB- and gait speed), at baseline and at a three month follow-up. Results: A total of 112 (83.6%) participants (mean age=80.8 years, 67.9% women) were included in this research. Despite being independent in daily life, participants\u2019 physical performance was impaired (SPPB=7.5, SD=2.1, gait speed=0.71, SD=0.20 m/sec). After three months, 90.2% of participants completed 657.5 physical activity sessions. The mean improvements were +1.47 (SD 1.64) points (p<0.001) for SPPB, +0.08 (SD 0.13) m/sec (p<0.001) for gait speed, 125.5 (SD 12.10) sec (p<0.001) for chair stand test, and 53% (p<0.001) improved their balance. Results remained substantially unchanged after stratifying the analyses according to the severity of frailty. Conclusions: Our results suggested that a \u201creal-world\u201d multidisciplinary intervention, integrating primary care, geriatric care, and community services may improve physical function, a marker of frailty, within 3 months. Further studies are needed to address the long-term impact and scalability of this implementation program

The Influence of Free Quintessence on Gravitational Frequency Shift and Deflection of Light with 4D momentum

Based on the 4D momentum, the influence of quintessence on the gravitational frequency shift and the deflection of light are examined in modified Schwarzschild space. We find that the frequency of photon depends on the state parameter of quintessence $w_q$: the frequency increases for $-1<w_q<-1/3$ and decreases for $-1/3<w_q<0$. Meanwhile, we adopt an integral power number $a$ ($a = 3\omega_q + 2$) to solve the orbital equation of photon. The photon's potentials become higher with the decrease of $\omega_q$. The behavior of bending light depends on the state parameter $\omega_q$ sensitively. In particular, for the case of $\omega_q = -1$, there is no influence on the deflection of light by quintessence. Else, according to the H-masers of GP-A redshift experiment and the long-baseline interferometry, the constraints on the quintessence field in Solar system are presented here.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables. European Physical Journal C in pres