Cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis: classification and clinical and therapeutic aspects

Cryoglobulinaemia may cause cutaneous vasculitis and glomerulonephritis, potentially leading to end stage renal failure. An important proportion of cryoglobulinaemias are secondary to hepatitis C virus infection. Emerging antiviral treatment options offer a chance for causal therapy of these cases of cryoglobulinaemia. This review summarises the classification and clinical and therapeutic aspects of cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis and glomerulonephritis

Shapes of the Proton

A model proton wave function, constructed using Poincare invariance, and constrained by recent electromagnetic form factor data, is used to study the shape of the proton. Spin-dependent quark densities are defined as matrix elements of density operators in proton states of definite spin-polarization, and shown to have an infinite variety of non-spherical shapes. For high momentum quarks with spin parallel to that of the proton, the shape resembles that of a peanut, but for quarks with anti-parallel spin the shape is that of a bagel.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. C This corrects a few typos and explains some further connections with experiment

Разработка и исследование алгоритмов решения геодезических задач с использованием Web-технологий

Объектом исследования данной работы являются базовые задачи геодезии. Цель работы – разработка и введение в эксплуатацию Web-приложения выполняющего вычисления возникающие при решении базовых задач геодезии с максимальной автоматизацией.Research and modification of algorithms for solving basic problems of geodesy. Development web-based applications based on compiled algorithms

Phylogenetic definitions for 25 higher-level clade names of birds

Knowledge of the higher-level phylogenetic relationships of birds has grown substantially during the past two decades due to the application of genomic data. However, the nomenclature of higher-level taxa has not become more stable, due to the lack of regulation of taxon names above the level of superfamily by the ICZN, and the usage of rank-based nomenclature, which is not tied to clades in a phylogeny. Lack of regulation and the instability of rank-based nomenclature impede effective communication among systematists. Here we review support for higher-level avian clades using a set of 10 phylogenomic data sets, and identify clades that are supported by congruency of at least four of these. We provide formal definitions of the names of these clades based on the rules of the recently published PhyloCode. The names of 25 clades are here defined using minimum-crown-clade (n = 23), minimum-clade (n = 1) and maximum-crown-clade (n = 1) definitions. Four new names are introduced here: Dinocrypturi, Pteroclimesites, Musophagotides and Pelecanes. We also review diagnostic apomorphies of the relevant clades, and identify known synonyms and homonyms. By establishing a formal link between higher-level taxon names and well-supported phylogenetic hypotheses, our phylogenetic definitions will provide a solid basis for the stabilization of avian higher-level nomenclature

Mergers of Binary Compact Objects

We work out the effects of hypercritical accretion, which transfers mass from the secondary to the primary (first-born) neutron star (NS) in a binary, showing that the mass of the primary would end up 0.6 M_sun greater than the secondary NS in contradiction with the very nearly equal masses of the two NS's in binaries measured to date. We discuss that the primary NS evolves into a low-mass black-hole (LMBH) due to the hypercritical accretion. Using a flat distribution in the mass ratio q (q = M_secondary/M_primary), we calculated a ratio of LMBH-NS and NS-NS systems to be 5, in rough agreement with Pinsonneault and Stanek (2006). These authors emphasize the importance of "twins", which we discuss. The two NS's in the twins would be close in mass and further increase the number of mergings.Comment: 7 pages, substantial changes, accepted for publication in Ap

Weather Avoidance Guidelines for NASA Global Hawk High-Altitude Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

The current Global Hawk flight rules would probably not have been effective in the single event of greatest concern (the Emily encounter). The cloud top had not reached 50,000 ft until minutes before the encounter. The TOT and lightning data would not have been available until near the overflight time since this was a rapidly growing cell. This case would have required a lastminute diversion when lightning became frequent. Avoiding such a cell probably requires continual monitoring of the forward camera and storm scope, whether or not cloud tops have been exceeding specific limits. However, the current overflight rules as strictly interpreted would have prohibited significant fractions of the successful Global Hawk overpasses of Karl and Matthew that proved not to be hazardous. Many other high altitude aircraft (ER2 and Global Hawk) flights in NASA tropical cyclone field programs have successfully overflown deep convective clouds without incident.The convective cell that caused serious concern about the safety of the ER2 in Emily was especially strong for a tropical cyclone environment, probably as strong or stronger than any that was overflown by the ER2 in 20 previous flights over tropical cyclones. Specifically, what made that cell a safety concern was the magnitude of the vertical velocity of the updraft, at least 20 m/s (4000 ft/minute) at the time the ER2 overflew it. Such a strong updraft can generate strong gravity waves at and above the tropopause, posing a potential danger to aircraft far above the maximum altitude of the updraft itself or its associated cloud top. Indeed, the ER2 was probably at least 9000 ft above that cloud top. Cloudtop height, by itself, is not an especially good indicator of the intensity of convection and the likelihood of turbulence. Nor is overflying high cloud tops (i.e. > 50,000 ft) of particular concern unless there is other evidence of very strong convective updrafts beneath those tops in the path of the aircraft. center dot Lightning, especially lightning with a high flash rate, is well correlated with convective intensity. Lightning with a minimal flash rate (say 13 flashes per minute) is indicative of updraft speeds of about 10 m/s in the mixed phase region where charge is being separated, generally at altitudes about 2025 kft in a hurricane. That is still stronger than typical updrafts (more like 5 m/s). An unresolved issue is whether there is a high and instantaneous correlation between vertical velocity in the middle troposphere (necessary for lightning generation) and near cloud top (more direct concern for overflights)

Q2Q^2 Independence of QF2/F1QF_2/F_1, Poincare Invariance and the Non-Conservation of Helicity

A relativistic constituent quark model is found to reproduce the recent data regarding the ratio of proton form factors, $F_2(Q^2)/F_1(Q^2)$. We show that imposing Poincare invariance leads to substantial violation of the helicity conservation rule, as well as an analytic result that the ratio $F_2(Q^2)/F_1(Q^2)\sim 1/Q$ for intermediate values of $Q^2$.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. C typos corrected, references added, 1 new figure to show very high Q^2 behavio

Melanoma Screening with Cellular Phones

Background. Mobile teledermatology has recently been shown to be suitable for teledermatology despite limitations in image definition in preliminary studies. The unique aspect of mobile teledermatology is that this system represents a filtering or triage system, allowing a sensitive approach for the management of patients with emergent skin diseases. Methodology/Principal Findings. In this study we investigated the feasibility of teleconsultation using a new generation of cellular phones in pigmented skin lesions. 18 patients were selected consecutively in the Pigmented Skin Lesions Clinic of the Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Graz, Graz (Austria). Clinical and dermoscopic images were acquired using a Sony Ericsson with a built-in two-megapixel camera. Two teleconsultants reviewed the images on a specific web application (http://www.dermahandy.net/default.asp) where images had been uploaded in JPEG format. Compared to the face-to-face diagnoses, the two teleconsultants obtained a score of correct telediagnoses of 89% and of 91.5% reporting the clinical and dermoscopic images, respectively. Conclusions/Significance. The present work is the first study performing mobile teledermoscopy using cellular phones. Mobile teledermatology has the potential to become an easy applicable tool for everyone and a new approach for enhanced self-monitoring for skin cancer screening in the spirit of the eHealth program of the European Commission Information for Society and Media

A systematic analysis of host factors reveals a Med23-interferon-λ regulatory axis against herpes simplex virus type 1 replication

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic virus causing vesicular oral or genital skin lesions, meningitis and other diseases particularly harmful in immunocompromised individuals. To comprehensively investigate the complex interaction between HSV-1 and its host we combined two genome-scale screens for host factors (HFs) involved in virus replication. A yeast two-hybrid screen for protein interactions and a RNA interference (RNAi) screen with a druggable genome small interfering RNA (siRNA) library confirmed existing and identified novel HFs which functionally influence HSV-1 infection. Bioinformatic analyses found the 358 HFs were enriched for several pathways and multi-protein complexes. Of particular interest was the identification of Med23 as a strongly anti-viral component of the largely pro-viral Mediator complex, which links specific transcription factors to RNA polymerase II. The anti-viral effect of Med23 on HSV-1 replication was confirmed in gain-of-function gene overexpression experiments, and this inhibitory effect was specific to HSV-1, as a range of other viruses including Vaccinia virus and Semliki Forest virus were unaffected by Med23 depletion. We found Med23 significantly upregulated expression of the type III interferon family (IFN-λ) at the mRNA and protein level by directly interacting with the transcription factor IRF7. The synergistic effect of Med23 and IRF7 on IFN-λ induction suggests this is the major transcription factor for IFN-λ expression. Genotypic analysis of patients suffering recurrent orofacial HSV-1 outbreaks, previously shown to be deficient in IFN-λ secretion, found a significant correlation with a single nucleotide polymorphism in the IFN-λ3 (IL28b) promoter strongly linked to Hepatitis C disease and treatment outcome. This paper describes a link between Med23 and IFN-λ, provides evidence for the crucial role of IFN-λ in HSV-1 immune control, and highlights the power of integrative genome-scale approaches to identify HFs critical for disease progression and outcome