Thrombotic antiphospholipid syndrome: A practical guide to diagnosis and management

Thrombotic antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is characterised by venous, arterial and/or small vessel thrombosis in the context of persistently positive antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL). The diagnosis and management of thrombotic APS continues to prove challenging for clinicians. We provide a practical guide to the diagnosis of APS including who to test for aPL and which tests to do. We also consider clinical practice points on the management of venous, arterial and small vessel thrombosis, in the context of first and recurrent thrombotic events. Non-criteria manifestations of APS are reviewed. An approach to recurrent thrombosis and anticoagulant-refractory APS is discussed, with options including increasing the anticoagulation intensity of vitamin K antagonists, switching to low-molecular-weight-heparin, the use of fondaparinux and/or the addition of antiplatelet treatment. Adjunctive options such as vitamin D, hydroxychloroquine and statins are also addressed

Semi-classical buckling of stiff polymers

A quantitative theory of the buckling of a worm like chain based on a semi-classical approximation of the partition function is presented. The contribution of thermal fluctuations to the force-extension relation that allows to go beyond the classical Euler buckling is derived in the linear and non-linear regime as well. It is shown that the thermal fluctuations in the nonlinear buckling regime increase the end-to-end distance of the semiflexible rod if it is confined to 2 dimensions as opposed to the 3 dimensional case. Our approach allows a complete physical understanding of buckling in D=2 and in D=3 below and above the Euler transition.Comment: Revtex, 17 pages, 4 figure

Modern Techniques for Memorizing Foreign Words

The article describes a comparative experiment studying the efficiency of five popular techniques which improve people's ability to memorize foreign words. The best results were achieved using two techniques: watching English movies with subtitles and writing letters in English

Behavioral accounting theory in the scope of financial reporting and auditing applications

Psikoloji bilimi ile finansın kesişimi olarak nitelendirilebilecek olan davranışsal finans uzun yıllardır finans literatüründe yer almasına ve oldukça çok sayıda akademik çalışmaya konu olmasına rağmen davranışsal muhasebe bu bağlamda daha geride kalmıştır. Oysa ki Amerika Muhasebe Birliği’nin (AAA) muhasebe eğitiminde psikoloji ile ilgili konuları dahil etme yönündeki çağrısı 1970’li yıllara kadar geriye gitmektedir. Finansal raporları hazırlayan muhasebecilerin sıklıkla mesleki yargılarına göre karar vermek durumunda kalmaları ve raporların bu doğrultuda şekillenmesinin yanı sıra bu raporları denetleyenlerin mesleki şüphecilik ile hareket ediyor oluşu davranışsal muhasebenin etki alanını ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı davranışsal muhasebenin teorik altyapısını ve ilgili olduğu teorileri ortaya koymak ve finansal raporlama ve denetim uygulamalarındaki yansımalarını incelemektir. Bu doğrultuda ilgili finansal raporlama ve denetim standartları da ele alınmaktadır.Although behavioral finance, that can be described as the intersection of psychology and finance, has been in the financial literature for many years and is subject to a great number of academic studies, behavioral accounting has lagged behind in this context despite the call of the American Accounting Association (AAA) to include psychology-related issues in accounting education goes back to the 1970s. Accountants who prepare financial reports frequently make decisions according to professional judgment so they shape the financial reports accordingly; auditors of these reports are acted with professional skepticism. These two facts reveals the domain of behavioral accounting. The aim of the current study is to demonstrate the theoretical background of behavioral accounting and other theories linked and to examine the implications of financial reporting & auditing practices. In this respect, related financial reporting and auditing standards are also addressed.Publisher's Versio

Competitive ability of <i>Escherichia coli</i> strains in the intestinal microbiota of patients with Crohn's disease and healthy volunteers: physiological, biochemical and genetic characteristics

Introduction. Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammation of various parts of the gastrointestinal tract with an increased proportion of Escherichia coli. However, the role of E. coli in disease remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the competitive abilities of E. coli strains from CD patients and healthy volunteers, and to identify the biochemical and genetic determinants underlying these features. Materials and methods. The antagonistic activity was assessed by co-cultivation of 11 clinical E. coli strains inhibiting the growth of the K-12, with Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumonia and Salmonella enterica. To elucidate the mechanism of antagonistic activity, the evaluation of biochemical properties and a comparative genomic analysis were used. Results and discussion. Genes of bacteriocin production systems were identified in genomes of 11 strains from CD patients and healthy volunteers active against the E. coli K-12 strain. Three strains from healthy individuals demonstrated activity against several Enterobacteriaceae bacteria. The strains biochemical properties were typical of representatives of E. coli. Strains 1_34_12, active against E. cloacae, and 1_45_11, inhibiting all tested enterobacteria, are phylogenetically related to the laboratory strain K-12. Strain 1_39_1, active against K. pneumonia and S. enterica, is phylogenetically close to the Nissle1917, contains the genes for colibactin biosynthesis and a variant of the fimH gene that increases the adhesive ability of bacteria. Conclusion. The identified E. coli strains are able to displace Enterobacteriaceae bacteria and can be used to study the bacteria-bacteria and host-bacteria interactions, to understand their role in gut homeostasis and intestinal inflammation

Omics approaches in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, which represents 80% of pancreatic cancers, is mainly diagnosed when treatment with curative intent is not possible. Consequently, the overall five-year survival rate is extremely dismal—around 5% to 7%. In addition, pancreatic cancer is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death by 2030. Therefore, advances in screening, prevention and treatment are urgently needed. Fortunately, a wide range of approaches could help shed light in this area. Beyond the use of cytological or histological samples focusing in diagnosis, a plethora of new approaches are currently being used for a deeper characterization of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, including genetic, epigenetic, and/or proteo-transcriptomic techniques. Accordingly, the development of new analytical technologies using body fluids (blood, bile, urine, etc.) to analyze tumor derived molecules has become a priority in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma due to the hard accessibility to tumor samples. These types of technologies will lead us to improve the outcome of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients

Unlocking opioid neuropeptide dynamics with genetically encoded biosensors

Neuropeptides are ubiquitous in the nervous system. Research into neuropeptides has been limited by a lack of experimental tools that allow for the precise dissection of their complex and diverse dynamics in a circuit-specific manner. Opioid peptides modulate pain, reward and aversion and as such have high clinical relevance. To illuminate the spatiotemporal dynamics of endogenous opioid signaling in the brain, we developed a class of genetically encoded fluorescence sensors based on kappa, delta and mu opioid receptors: κLight, δLight and µLight, respectively. We characterized the pharmacological profiles of these sensors in mammalian cells and in dissociated neurons. We used κLight to identify electrical stimulation parameters that trigger endogenous opioid release and the spatiotemporal scale of dynorphin volume transmission in brain slices. Using in vivo fiber photometry in mice, we demonstrated the utility of these sensors in detecting optogenetically driven opioid release and observed differential opioid release dynamics in response to fearful and rewarding conditions