Stochastic model for the dynamics of interacting Brownian particles

Using the scheme of mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics, we construct the one- and two- particle Fokker-Planck equations for a system of interacting Brownian particles. By means of these equations we derive the corresponding balance equations. We obtain expressions for the heat flux and the pressure tensor which enable one to describe the kinetic and potential energy interchange of the particles with the heat bath. Through the momentum balance we analyze in particular the diffusion regime to obtain the collective diffusion coefficient in terms of the hydrodynamic and the effective forces acting on the Brownian particles.Comment: latex fil

The neglected role of insulin-like growth factors in the maternal circulation regulating fetal growth

Maternal insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) play a pivotal role in modulating fetal growth via their actions on both the mother and the placenta. Circulating IGFs influence maternal tissue growth and metabolism, thereby regulating nutrient availability for the growth of the conceptus. Maternal IGFs also regulate placental morphogenesis, substrate transport and hormone secretion, all of which influence fetal growth either via indirect effects on maternal substrate availability, or through direct effects on the placenta and its capacity to supply nutrients to the fetus. The extent to which IGFs influence the mother and/or placenta are dependent on the species and maternal factors, including age and nutrition. As altered fetal growth is associated with increased perinatal morbidity and mortality and a greater risk of developing degenerative diseases in adult life, understanding the role of maternal IGFs during pregnancy is essential in order to identify mechanisms underlying altered fetal growth and offspring programming

Endoscopic Ultrasound and Related Technologies for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pancreatic Disease - Research Gaps and Opportunities: Summary of a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Workshop

A workshop was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to address the research gaps and opportunities in pancreatic endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). The event occurred on July 26, 2017 in 4 sessions: (1) benign pancreatic diseases, (2) high-risk pancreatic diseases, (3) diagnostic and therapeutics, and (4) new technologies. The current state of knowledge was reviewed, with identification of numerous gaps in knowledge and research needs. Common themes included the need for large multicenter consortia of various pancreatic diseases to facilitate meaningful research of these entities; to standardize EUS features of different pancreatic disorders, the technique of sampling pancreatic lesions, and the performance of various therapeutic EUS procedures; and to identify high-risk disease early at the cellular level before macroscopic disease develops. The need for specialized tools and accessories to enable the safe and effective performance of therapeutic EUS procedures also was discussed

David Hume on Banking and Hoarding

David Hume opposes banks and favors hoarding. The only bank he reluctantly approves of is a public, 100% reserve bank. Other banks increase money supply and prices, hindering exports and economic growth. For Hume, a 100% reserve public bank would lead to ‘‘the destruction of paper-credit’’ ([1752] 1985, p. 285), fostering economic growth instead by preventing inflation. Additionally, a 100% reserve bank hoards a large quantity of gold and silver, which is available in case of national emergency

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available

Low Clinical Burden of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Infection during Pregnancy on the Island of La Réunion

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women have been identified as a group at risk, both for respiratory complications than for the admissions to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic (pdm). The purpose of this prospective register-based cohort-study was to characterize the clinical virulence of the pdm (H1N1/09)v during pregnancy in La Réunion. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Over a twelve-week pdm wave (13 July to 3 October 2009), 294 pregnant women presented with an influenza-like illness (ILI) to one of the three maternity departments of the South Reunion area, Indian Ocean. Out of these, 278 were checked by RT-PCR for influenza viruses (157 positive and 121 negative, of whom, 141 with pdm flu and 132 with ILIs of non pdm origin, 5 untyped). The median body temperature was higher in women experiencing pdm flu than in those with non pdm ILI (38.9 degrees C versus 38.3 degrees C, P<0.0001), without evidence linked to circulating viremia. Oseltamivir was given for 86% of pdm flu cases in a median time inferior than 48 hrs (range 0-7 days). The hospitalization rate for pdm flu was of 60% and not associated with underlying conditions. Six viral pneumonia and fourteen asthma attacks were observed among 84 hospitalized pdm flu cases, of whom, only one led to the ICU for an acute lung injury. No maternal death occurred during the pdm wave. None adverse pregnancy outcome was associated with pdm flu. No congenital birth defect, nor early-onset neonatal influenza infection was attributable to pdm flu exposure. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This report mitigates substantially the presumed severity of pandemic H1N1/09 influenza infection during pregnancy. The reasons for which the clinical burden of H1N1/09 influenza virus may differ worldwide raise questions about a differential local viral-strain effect and public health preparedness, notably in timely access to special care and antiviral treatments

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio