Broncho-alveolar lavage fluid recovery correlates with airway neutrophilia in lung transplant patients

SummaryBroncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) is important to assess airway inflammation. There is debate about the volume instilled, but the variation of BAL fluid recovery (BFR) has received little attention. We investigated the association between BFR and rejection/infection status after lung transplantation (LTx).We combined clinical findings, FEV1, transbronchial biopsies and BAL analysis (BFR, interleukin-8 (IL8), cell counts, microbiology) of 115 samples/LTx patients. The patients were divided into 4 groups: stable (subdivided in colonized and non-colonized), acute rejection (AR), Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS) and infection.BFR was significantly lower in AR, BOS and infection, and correlated with the severity of AR and BOS. A 10ml decrease of BFR was associated with a FEV1 decrease of 4.4% and a %neutrophils and IL8 increase of 9.6% and 9.7pg/ml, respectively. Colonized stable patients had no significant differences in airway inflammation, FEV1 and BFR compared to the non-colonized stable patients.We conclude that a low BFR is an indicator of lung rejection or infection. BFR variation is related to airway obstruction and neutrophilic inflammation, which can cause an increased compliance of the airway wall, making it more collapsible. Airway colonization in stable patients had no effect on airway inflammatory parameters, BFR and FEV1

Insights on the Formation, Evolution, and Activity of Massive Galaxies From Ultra-Compact and Disky Galaxies at z=2-3

We present our results on the structure and activity of massive galaxies at z=1-3 using one of the largest (166 with M_star>=5e10 M_sun) and most diverse samples of massive galaxies derived from the GOODS-NICMOS survey: (1) Sersic fits to deep NIC3/F160W images indicate that the rest-frame optical structures of massive galaxies are very different at z=2-3 compared to z~0. Approximately 40% of massive galaxies are ultra-compact (r_e<=2 kpc), compared to less than 1% at z~0. Furthermore, most (~65%) systems at z=2-3 have a low Sersic index n<=2, compared to ~13% at z~0. We present evidence that the n<=2 systems at z=2-3 likely contain prominent disks, unlike most massive z~0 systems. (2) There is a correlation between structure and star formation rates (SFR). The majority (~85%) of non-AGN massive galaxies at z=2-3, with SFR high enough to yield a 5 sigma (30 micro Jy) 24 micron Spitzer detection have low n<=2. Such n<=2 systems host the highest SFR. (3) The frequency of AGN is ~40% at z=2-3. Most (~65%) AGN hosts have disky (n<=2) morphologies. Ultra-compact galaxies appear quiescent in terms of both AGN activity and star formation. (4) Large stellar surface densities imply massive galaxies at z=2-3 formed via rapid, highly dissipative events at z>2. The large fraction of n<=2 disky systems suggests cold mode accretion complements gas-rich major mergers at z>2. In order for massive galaxies at z=2-3 to evolve into present-day massive E/S0s, they need to significantly increase (n, r_e). Dry minor and major mergers may play an important role in this process.Comment: 49 pages, 22 figures; accepted by ApJ, minor changes from version v

Exploring gastrointestinal variables affecting drug and formulation behavior: methodologies, challenges and opportunities

Various gastrointestinal (GI) factors affect drug and formulation behavior after oral administration, including GI transfer, motility, pH and GI fluid volume and composition. An in-depth understanding of these physiological and anatomical variables is critical for a continued progress in oral drug development. In this review, different methodologies (invasive versus non-invasive) to explore the impact of physiological variables on formulation behavior in the human GI tract are presented, revealing their strengths and limitations. The techniques mentioned allow for an improved understanding of the role of following GI variables: gastric emptying (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scintigraphy, acetaminophen absorption technique, ultrasonography, breath test, intraluminal sampling and telemetry), motility (MRI, small intestinal/colonic manometry and telemetry), GI volume changes (MRI and ultrasonography), temperature (telemetry) and intraluminal pH (intraluminal sampling and telemetry)

Land use and soil characteristics affect soil organisms differently from above-ground assemblages

Background: Land-use is a major driver of changes in biodiversity worldwide, but studies have overwhelmingly focused on above-ground taxa: the effects on soil biodiversity are less well known, despite the importance of soil organisms in ecosystem functioning. We modelled data from a global biodiversity database to compare how the abundance of soil-dwelling and above-ground organisms responded to land use and soil properties. Results: We found that land use affects overall abundance differently in soil and above-ground assemblages. The abundance of soil organisms was markedly lower in cropland and plantation habitats than in primary vegetation and pasture. Soil properties influenced the abundance of soil biota in ways that differed among land uses, suggesting they shape both abundance and its response to land use. Conclusions: Our results caution against assuming models or indicators derived from above-ground data can apply to soil assemblages and highlight the potential value of incorporating soil properties into biodiversity models.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/L002515/1 and NE/M014533/1. European Union funding: 81794

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

Naar een coherente gezagsregeling over minderjarigen.

De voorbije decennia ontstonden nieuwe procreatietechnieken (bv. kunstmatige inseminatie) en werden bepaalde (nieuwe) samenlevingsvormen juridisch erkend (bv. door openstelling van het huwelijk voor koppels van gelijk geslacht). Het gevolg van deze ontwikkelingen is dat er actueel heel wat personen een kind feitelijk (mee) opvoeden, zonder met dat kind juridisch enige binding te hebben en zelfs te kunnen vestigen. Deze feitelijke situaties kunnen voor pijnlijke verrassingen zorgen. Een kind kan geconfronteerd worden met een breuk met een persoon door wie het vaak jaren werd opgevoed en verzorgd.In de situatie waarin een kind slechts een enkele ouder heeft ten aanzien van wie de afstamming uitwerking heeft, maar op duurzame wijze heeft geleefd binnen een gezin dat uit die ouder en een derde wordt gevormd die beiden instaan voor het onderhoud van het kind, oordeelde het Arbitragehof bij arrest van 8 oktober 2003 (nr. 134/2003) reeds (...) dat die categorie van kinderen zonder toelaatbare verantwoording verschillend wordt behandeld. Het komt volgens het constitutionele hof evenwel aan de wetgever toe, om in die situaties te bepalen in welke vorm, onder welke voorwaarden en volgens welke procedure het ouderlijk gezag, in het belang van het kind, zou kunnen worden uitgebreid tot andere personen die geen afstammingsband hebben met het kind.De wetgever wordt bijgevolg voor een nieuwe uitdaging geplaatst. Het weinig transparante gezagsrecht dat door de verscheidene hervormingen van de afgelopen decennia er nog minder coherent op geworden is, toont aan dat een grondige voorafgaande studie wenselijk is.In dit doctoraal onderzoek wordt onderzocht wie, rekening houdende met de ontwikkelingen die zich hebben voorgedaan op het vlak van relatievormen en voortplantingstechnieken, gezag over een minderjarige moet bekomen, hoe dat gezag juridisch moet worden gevestigd en of dat gezag in bepaalde situaties anders dan in de huidige regelgeving moet worden ingevuld.De problematiek wordt vanuit twee invalshoeken benaderd. Enerzijds wordt de band tussen de afstamming en het ouderlijk gezag in vraag gesteld. Anderzijds wordt de vraag opgeworpen of bepaalde componenten van gezag niet aan personen die geen afstammingsband hebben, contractueel, wettelijk dan wel krachtens een rechterlijke beslissing kunnen worden overgedragen.status: publishe