Practical "1-2-3-4-Day" Rule for Starting Direct Oral Anticoagulants After Ischemic Stroke With Atrial Fibrillation: Combined Hospital-Based Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The "1-3-6-12-day rule" for starting direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation after acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack recommends timings that may be later than used in clinical practice. We investigated more practical optimal timing of DOAC initiation according to stroke severity. METHODS: The combined data of prospective registries in Japan, Stroke Acute Management with Urgent Risk-factor Assessment and Improvement-nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (September 2011 to March 2014) and RELAXED (February 2014 to April 2016) were used. Patients were divided into transient ischemic attack and 3 stroke subgroups by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score: mild (0-7), moderate (8-15), and severe (≥16). The early treatment group was defined as patients starting DOACs earlier than the median initiation day in each subgroup. Outcomes included a composite of recurrent stroke or systemic embolism, ischemic stroke, and severe bleeding within 90 days. Six European prospective registries were used for validation. RESULTS: In the 1797 derivation cohort patients, DOACs were started at median 2 days after transient ischemic attack and 3, 4, and 5 days after mild, moderate, and severe strokes, respectively. Stroke or systemic embolism was less common in Early Group (n=785)-initiating DOACS within 1, 2, 3, and 4 days, respectively-than Late Group (n=1012) (1.9% versus 3.9%; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.50 [95% CI, 0.27-0.89]), as was ischemic stroke (1.7% versus 3.2%, 0.54 [0.27-0.999]). Major bleeding was similarly common in the 2 groups (0.8% versus 1.0%). On validation, both ischemic stroke (2.4% versus 2.2%) and intracranial hemorrhage (0.2% versus 0.6%) were similarly common in Early (n=547) and Late (n=1483) Groups defined using derivation data. CONCLUSIONS: In Japanese and European populations, early DOAC initiation within 1, 2, 3, or 4 days according to stroke severity seemed to be feasible to decrease the risk of recurrent stroke or systemic embolism and no increase in major bleeding. These findings support ongoing randomized trials to better establish the optimal timing of DOAC initiation

A POS-based preordering approach for English-to-Arabic statistical machine translation

In this work, we present a POS-based preordering approach that tackles both long- and short-distance reordering phenomena. Syntactic unlexicalized reordering rules are automatically extracted from a parallel corpus using only word alignment and a source-side language tagging. The reordering rules are used in a deterministic manner; this prevents the decoding speed from being bottlenecked in the reordering procedure. A new approach for both rule filtering and rule application is used to ensure a fast and efficient reordering. The tests performed on the IWSLT2016 English-to-Arabic evaluation benchmark show a noticeable increase in the overall Blue Score for our system over the baseline PSMT system

Absolute Electron Emission Calibration: Round Robin Tests of Au and Polyimide

Accurate determination of the absolute electron yields of conducting and insulating materials are essential for models of spacecraft charging and related processes involving charge accumulation and emission due to electron beams and plasmas. Apparatus using low-fluence pulsed electron beam sources and various methods to minimize charge accumulation have been developed at facilities around the world. This study presents a round robin comparison of such tests performed in CSIC at Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, LaSeine at Kyushu Institute of Technology, DESSE at ONEREA, and the Space Environment Effects Materials (SEEM) test facility at Utah State University. The primary objectives of the study were to determine the consistency and uncertainties of these absolute yields measurements, and to investigate the effects of the similarities and differences of the diverse facilities. Measurements were made of the absolute total, secondary and backscattered electron yields at normal incidence over the full range of incident energies accessible with each group’s instrumentation (a full range of ~5 eV to ~30 keV). Electron emission spectra at specific incident electron energies were also measured. Measurements were made for identical samples with reproducible sample preparation of two standard materials: (1) the elemental conductor Au (25 μm thick 6N high purity Au foils) and (2) the polymeric insulator polyimide (25 μm thick Kapton HNTM). Studies of the effects on electron yield of Au surface contamination—as measured with Auger Electron Spectroscopy and other techniques—were made for samples: (1) as received, (2) subject to a simple standard cleaning procedure, (3) subsequently baked out under ultrahigh vacuum, and (4) after Ar ion sputter cleaning and thermal annealing. Similarly, studies of the effects of absorbed water and volatile compounds on electron yield were made for polyimide samples: (1) unbaked and (2) subjected to a vacuum bake out. An outline of measurement and analysis techniques used by each laboratory is presented, along with methods used to calibrate the incident energies and absolute yields measured with their different electron detectors. The effects of different charge minimization and neutralization methods are compared. Various empirical and physics-based models to characterize the electron yield curves are used to parameterize the yield data. The values determined at each laboratory for the maximum yield and energy at this yield, the first and second crossover energies, and the asymptotic yield at high energy are also compiled and compared

Genome sequence of an Australian kangaroo, Macropus eugenii, provides insight into the evolution of mammalian reproduction and development.

BACKGROUND: We present the genome sequence of the tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, which is a member of the kangaroo family and the first representative of the iconic hopping mammals that symbolize Australia to be sequenced. The tammar has many unusual biological characteristics, including the longest period of embryonic diapause of any mammal, extremely synchronized seasonal breeding and prolonged and sophisticated lactation within a well-defined pouch. Like other marsupials, it gives birth to highly altricial young, and has a small number of very large chromosomes, making it a valuable model for genomics, reproduction and development. RESULTS: The genome has been sequenced to 2 × coverage using Sanger sequencing, enhanced with additional next generation sequencing and the integration of extensive physical and linkage maps to build the genome assembly. We also sequenced the tammar transcriptome across many tissues and developmental time points. Our analyses of these data shed light on mammalian reproduction, development and genome evolution: there is innovation in reproductive and lactational genes, rapid evolution of germ cell genes, and incomplete, locus-specific X inactivation. We also observe novel retrotransposons and a highly rearranged major histocompatibility complex, with many class I genes located outside the complex. Novel microRNAs in the tammar HOX clusters uncover new potential mammalian HOX regulatory elements. CONCLUSIONS: Analyses of these resources enhance our understanding of marsupial gene evolution, identify marsupial-specific conserved non-coding elements and critical genes across a range of biological systems, including reproduction, development and immunity, and provide new insight into marsupial and mammalian biology and genome evolution

Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 variant

SARS-CoV-2オミクロンBA.2.75株（通称ケンタウロス）のウイルス学的性状の解明. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-10-12.The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 variant emerged in May 2022. BA.2.75 is a BA.2 descendant but is phylogenetically distinct from BA.5, the currently predominant BA.2 descendant. Here, we show that BA.2.75 has a greater effective reproduction number and different immunogenicity profile than BA.5. We determined the sensitivity of BA.2.75 to vaccinee and convalescent sera as well as a panel of clinically available antiviral drugs and antibodies. Antiviral drugs largely retained potency but antibody sensitivity varied depending on several key BA.2.75-specific substitutions. The BA.2.75 spike exhibited a profoundly higher affinity for its human receptor, ACE2. Additionally, the fusogenicity, growth efficiency in human alveolar epithelial cells, and intrinsic pathogenicity in hamsters of BA.2.75 were greater than those of BA.2. Our multilevel investigations suggest that BA.2.75 acquired virological properties independent of BA.5, and the potential risk of BA.2.75 to global health is greater than that of BA.5

Atomic Force Microscopy study of Lrp Protein-DNA interaction at the solid-liquid interface. Shunsuke Toyoda & Karen Stella

A phase variation control mechanism involving Pap B, Pap I, catabolite activator protein (CAP), leucine responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) and deoxyadenosine methylase (Dam) regulate the expression of pyelonephritis-associated pilus(Pap). This study centers on elucidating the role of Lrp in the transcription of Pap pilus. Specifically, we will measure the translocation of Lrp bound to plasmid DNA of Escherichia coli induced by Pap I.A hypothesis is that three Lrp dimers interact with the Pap I and translocate 102 base pairs from a GATC-II to a GATC-I sequence.In preparation for this measurement, we have obtained Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) images that show Lrp bound to a particular binding site on DNA in buffer solution

Effects of vanadium addition on strain distribution, crack initiation and propagation during low-cycle fatigue test in ferrite and martensite dual-phase steel

Effects of vanadium (V) addition on strain distribution, crack initiation and propagation behavior during low-cycle fatigue test in ferrite and martensite dual phase (DP) steel were revealed. V addition effectively extended the low-cycle fatigue life, even though the tensile properties were approximately identical between V-added DP and DP steels. The stress amplitude suddenly decreased just before fracture in the V-added DP steel. The fatigue crack initiated from the surface and propagated inside, and the brittle fracture occurred in the crack propagation region in the V-added DP steel. The strain distribution introduced during the low-cycle fatigue test was more inhomogeneous for the V-added DP steel than that for the DP steel, and the fatigue crack was generated from the high-strain region. Considering that the number of cycles for crack initiation in the V-added DP steel was larger than that in DP steel, the inhomogeneous strain distribution in the V-added steel promoted crack nucleation but suppressed crack growth in the crack initiation stage. Cracks propagated independent of the strain distribution in the V-added DP steel in the crack propagation stage. The crack propagation rate in the V-added DP steel was remarkably higher than that in DP steel in the crack propagation stage. Thus, V addition effectively extended the number of cycles for crack initiation but caused brittle fracture and faster crack propagation.Web of Science62102134213