An Old Nubian Curse from the Faras Cathedral

The present paper analyses an Old Nubian inscription from the Faras Cathedral, containing a curse with a reference to Col 1:13. The publication gives a description of the inscription, a transcription with critical apparatus, and a grammatical and general commentary on the text.The present paper analyses an Old Nubian inscription from the Faras Cathedral, containing a curse with a reference to Col 1:13. The publication gives a description of the inscription, a transcription with critical apparatus, and a grammatical and general commentary on the text

Two Old Nubian Inscriptions from Akasha West

The present paper analyses two Old Nubian inscriptions found at a church in Akasha West in 1969. The first inscription was found on an ostracon and invokes Jesus Christ. The second inscription was found on the altar inside the church’s sanctuary, and refers to the Holy Altar of Michael. The publication gives a description of the inscription, a transcription with critical apparatus, and a grammatical and general commentary on the text.The present paper analyses two Old Nubian inscriptions found at a church in Akasha West in 1969. The first inscription was found on an ostracon and invokes Jesus Christ. The second inscription was found on the altar inside the church’s sanctuary, and refers to the Holy Altar of Michael. The publication gives a description of the inscription, a transcription with critical apparatus, and a grammatical and general commentary on the text

Rubrication Patterns in Two Old Nubian Manuscripts from Serra East

The present paper analyses the rubrication patterns in two Old Nubian manuscripts (known under the sigla St and SC) both originally intended for deposition at the Jesus Church in Serra East. Through a comparison with rubrication patterns in other Old Nubian manuscripts, the authors argue that the rubricated phrases in St and SC show an internal coherence that could be interpreted as a ‘second voice’ in a ‘polyphonic’ text.The present paper analyses the rubrication patterns in two Old Nubian manuscripts (known under the sigla St and SC) both originally intended for deposition at the Jesus Church in Serra East. Through a comparison with rubrication patterns in other Old Nubian manuscripts, the authors argue that the rubricated phrases in St and SC show an internal coherence that could be interpreted as a ‘second voice’ in a ‘polyphonic’ text

Twin building lattices do not have asymptotic cut-points

We show that twin building lattices have linear divergence, which implies that all asymptotic cones are without cut-points.Comment: 7 page

Long-term results of corneal wedge resections for the correction of high astigmatism

Abstract We retrospectively evaluated 41 corneal wedge resections, performed for the correction of high astigmatism in 40 patients who were spectacle and contact lens intolerant. Keratometric astigmatism decreased from an average of 11.7 diopters (range 5 to 22.5 D) preoperatively to 3.5 diopters (range 0 to 10 D) postoperatively, representing a mean reduction of 8.2D (range 0 to 16.5), or 70%. The length of follow-up averaged 11 months. Twenty-five, 15 and 9 cases had a follow-up of at least 3, 5 and 10 years, respectively. In 16 cases the keratometry readings remained stable over the years. However, in 1 case of Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy (follow-up 13 years) and 5 cases of keratoconus (follow-up 3, 4, 12, 13 and 14 years) the astigmatism gradually increased during the various follow-up periods. In 3 other cases the astigmatism gradually decreased over the years. Corneal wedge resection is an effective technique for managing high corneal astigmatism. The results remain stable over the years except in some patients with keratoconus

Veritas and Copyright: The Public Library in Peril

A response to the decision of Wiley Global to "disappear" 1,300+ of their ebooks in the ProQuest catalog at the beginning of the Fall 2022 term without any communication to university libraries at all, thus taking libraries by surprise and indicating Wiley's move away from libraries as repositories and lenders of their ebooks, passing on costs to students via increases in their student fees, described as "inclusive access" by Wiley, a troubling scenario indeed. This essay frames this aggressive move of Wiley's within the long history of copyright, the always successful litigious efforts of commercial publishers and even university presses & self-described "radical" presses to protect their copyrights against shadow libraries, so vital to the Global South, the life and death of Aaron Swartz and MIT's report on their potential responsibility for Swartz's prosecution and suicide, the current lawsuit led by Wiley against the Internet Archive, and the assaults on local libraries via book banning

Some implications of superconducting quantum interference to the application of master equations in engineering quantum technologies

In this paper we consider the modeling and simulation of open quantum systems from a device engineering perspective. We derive master equations at different levels of approximation for a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) ring coupled to an ohmic bath. We demonstrate that the master equations we consider produce decoherences that are qualitatively and quantitatively dependent on both the level of approximation and the ring's external flux bias. We discuss the issues raised when seeking to obtain Lindbladian dissipation and show, in this case, that the external flux (which may be considered to be a control variable in some applications) is not confined to the Hamiltonian, as often assumed in quantum control, but also appears in the Lindblad terms

Airway macrophages display decreased expression of receptors mediating and regulating scavenging in early cystic fibrosis lung disease

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) airway disease is characterized by chronic inflammation, featuring neutrophil influx to the lumen. Airway macrophages (AMs) can promote both inflammation and resolution, and are thus critical to maintaining and restoring homeostasis. CF AM functions, specifically scavenging activity and resolution of inflammation, have been shown to be impaired, yet underlying processes remain unknown. We hypothesized that impaired CF AM function results from an altered expression of receptors that mediate or regulate scavenging, and set out to investigate changes in expression of these markers during the early stages of CF lung disease. Methods: Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected from 50 children with CF aged 1, 3 or 5 years. BALF cells were analyzed using flow cytometry. Expression levels of surface markers on AMs were expressed as median fluorescence intensities (MFI) or percentage of AMs positive for these markers. The effect of age and neutrophilic inflammation, among other variables, on marker expression was assessed with a multivariate linear regression model.Results: AM expression of scavenger receptor CD163 decreased with age (p = 0.016) and was negatively correlated with BALF %neutrophils (r = -0.34, p = 0.016). AM expression of immune checkpoint molecule SIRPα also decreased with age (p = 0.0006), but did not correlate with BALF %neutrophils. Percentage of AMs expressing lipid scavenger CD36 was low overall (mean 20.1% ± 16.5) and did not correlate with other factors. Conversely, expression of immune checkpoint PD-1 was observed on the majority of AMs (mean PD-1pos 72.9% ± 11.8), but it, too, was not affected by age or BALF %neutrophils. Compared to matched blood monocytes, AMs had a higher expression of CD16, CD91, and PD-1, and a lower expression of CD163, SIRPα and CD36. Conclusion: In BALF of preschool children with CF, higher age and/or increased neutrophilic inflammation coincided with decreased expression of scavenger receptors on AMs. Expression of scavenging receptors and regulators showed a distinctly different pattern in AMs compared to blood monocytes. These findings suggest AM capacity to counter inflammation and promote homeostasis reduces during initiation of CF airway disease and highlight new avenues of investigation into impaired CF AM function.</p

Preconception insulin resistance and neonatal birth weight in women with obesity:role of bile acids

Research question: Does maternal preconception insulin resistance affect neonatal birth weight among women with obesity? Is insulin resistance associated with circulating bile acids? Do bile acids influence the association between maternal preconception insulin resistance and neonatal birth weight? Design: An exploratory post-hoc analysis of the LIFEstyle randomized controlled trial comparing lifestyle intervention with conventional infertility treatment in women with a BMI of ≥29 kg/m2. Fasting blood samples were collected at randomization and after 3 and 6 months in 469 women. Insulin resistance was quantified using the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Bile acid sub-species were determined by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Singletons were included (n = 238). Birth weight Z-scores were adjusted for age, offspring gender and parity. Multilevel analysis and linear regressions were used. Results: A total of 913 pairs of simultaneous preconception HOMA-IR (median [Q25; Q75]: 2.96 [2.07; 4.16]) and total bile acid measurements (1.79 [1.10; 2.94]) µmol/l were taken. Preconception HOMA-IR was positively associated with total bile acids (adjusted B 0.15; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.22; P < 0.001) and all bile acid sub-species. At the last measurement before pregnancy, HOMA-IR (2.71 [1.91; 3.74]) was positively related to birth weight Z-score (mean ± SD 0.4 ± 1.1; adjusted B 0.08; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.14; P = 0.03). None of the preconception bile acids measured were associated with birth weight. Conclusion: Maternal preconception insulin resistance is an important determinant of neonatal birth weight in women with obesity, whereas preconception bile acids are not

Meditation-based interventions for family caregivers of people with dementia: a review of the empirical literature

Objectives: Providing care for a family member with dementia is associated with increased risk of adverse mental health sequelae. Recently, interventions utilising meditation-based techniques have been developed with the aim of reducing psychological distress among dementia caregivers. The present review aimed to critically evaluate the extant empirical literature in order to determine: (1) whether meditation-based interventions can reduce depression among dementia caregivers and (2) whether meditation-based interventions can reduce subjective burden among dementia caregivers. Method: After adhering to inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of eight studies were included in the present review. Methodological quality was assessed using one of two scales dependent on study design. Results: The results provide tentative evidence that meditation-based interventions do indeed improve levels of depression and burden in family dementia caregivers. Conclusions: The review highlighted the strengths and weakness of the studies’ methodological designs. Whilst this novel review offers evidence in support of meditation-based interventions to improve the psychological distress of family dementia caregivers, future research should direct efforts to conduct larger scale, more rigorous studies. Clinical implications of the findings are also discussed