51 research outputs found
On the motivations for Merleau-Pontyâs ontological research
This paper attempts to clarify Merleau-Pontyâs later work by tracing a hitherto overlooked set of concerns that were of key consequence for the formulation of his ontological research. I argue that his ontology can be understood as a response to a set of problems originating in reflections on the intersubjective use of language in dialogue, undertaken in the early 1950s. His study of dialogue disclosed a structure of meaning-formation and pointed towards a theory of truth (both recurring ontological topics) that post-Phenomenology premises could not account for. A study of dialogue shows that speakersâ positions are interchangeable, that speaking subjects are active and passive in varying degrees, and that the intentional roles of subjects and objects are liable to shift or âtransgressâ themselves. These observations anticipate the concepts of âreversibilityâ and ânarcissismâ, his later view of activity and passivity, and his later view of intentionality, and sharpened the need to adopt an intersubjective focus in ontological research
Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease
Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1ÎČ, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1ÎČ innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.
Intermolecular Vibrational Modes Speed Up Singlet Fission in Perylenediimide Crystals
We report numerical simulations based
on a non-Markovian density
matrix propagation scheme of singlet fission (SF) in molecular crystals.
Ab initio electronic structure calculations were used to parametrize
the exciton and phonon Hamiltonian as well as the interactions between
the exciton and the intramolecular and intermolecular vibrational
modes. We demonstrate that the interactions of the exciton with intermolecular
vibrational modes are highly sensitive to the stacking geometry of
the crystal and can, in certain cases, significantly accelerate SF.
This result may help in understanding the fast SF experimentally observed
in a broad range of molecular crystals and offers a new direction
for the engineering of efficient SF sensitizers
Temperature Dependent Charge Carrier Dynamics in Formamidinium Lead Iodide Perovskite
The
fundamental opto-electronic properties of organicâinorganic
hybrid perovskites are strongly affected by their structural parameters.
These parameters are particularly critical in formamidinium lead iodide
(FAPbI<sub>3</sub>), in which its large structural disorder leads
to a non-perovskite yellow phase that hinders its photovoltaic performance.
A clear understanding of how the structural parameters affect the
opto-electronic properties is currently lacking. We have studied the
opto-electronic properties of FAPbI<sub>3</sub> using microwave conductivity
measurements. We find that the mobility of FAPbI<sub>3</sub> increases
at low temperature following a phonon scattering behavior. Unlike
methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>), there are no abrupt
changes after the low-temperature ÎČ/Îł phase transition
and the lifetime is remarkably long. This absence of abrupt changes
can be understood in terms of the reduced rotational freedom and smaller
dipole moment of the formamidinium, as compared to methylammonium
QSM reconstruction challenge 2.0: A realistic in silico head phantom for MRI data simulation and evaluation of susceptibility mapping procedures
International audienceThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
- âŠ