1,033 research outputs found
Nuns in the Byzantine Countryside
Μέχρι σήμερα η έρευνα εστίαζε κυρίως στις περισσότερο γνωστές μοναχές αριστοκρατικής καταγωγής που ζούσαν στις μονές των αστικών κέντρων. Σε αυτό το άρθρο παρουσιάζονται στοιχεία για έναν ουσιαστικό αριθμό γυναικών μοναχών στην ύπαιθρο του ύστερου Βυζαντίου (13ος-15ος αι.). Τα στοιχεία αυτά προέρχονται κυρίως από αφιερωτικές επιγραφές σε μικρούς ναούς χωριών της Κρήτης, της Λακωνίας, της Μάνης και της Ρόδου. Πολλές από αυτές τις μοναχές ήταν ηλικιωμένες χήρες, μερικές είχαν λάβει το μοναστικό ένδυμα στη νεκρική κλίνη και άλλες ίσως είχαν ζήσει σε ένα τύπο οικίας-μονής. Scholarship has focused primarily on the better known aristocratic nuns who tended to live in urban convents. This article presents evidence for a substantial number of rural nuns in late Byzantium (13th-15th c.), derived especially from donor inscriptions in small village churches in Crete, Lakonia, Mani and Rhodes. Many of these nuns were elderly widows, some had taken the monastic habit on their deathbed, and some may have lived in a type of house monastery
Images in Churches in Late Byzantium
In late Byzantium, monastic katholika were painted with increasingly complex programs. The introduction of expanded images and texts into many church interiors not only manifests the theological training of painters and the devotional intentions of patrons, but also reveals the spiritual world of the community of faithful. Through the selection of saints, the detailed illustration of the lives of Christ, the Virgin and other holy figures, the representation of liturgical performance and chant..
Comparison of Cardiac and Non-Cardiac Biomarkers for Risk Stratification in Elderly Patients with Non-Massive Pulmonary Embolism.
Biomarkers unrelated to myocardial necrosis, such as cystatin C, copeptin, and mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM), showed promise for cardiovascular risk prediction. Knowing whether they are comparable to cardiac biomarkers such as high-sensitive cardiac-troponin T (hs-cTnT) or N-terminal pro-Brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in elderly patients with acute non-massive pulmonary embolism (NMPE) remains elusive. This study aims at comparing the prognostic accuracy of cardiac and non-cardiac biomarkers in patients with NMPE aged ≥65 years over time. In the context of the SWITCO65+ cohort, we evaluated 227 elderly patients with an available blood sample taken within one day from diagnosis. The primary study endpoint was defined as PE-related mortality and the secondary endpoint as PE-related complications. The biomarkers' predictive ability at 1, 3, 12 and 24 months was determined using C-statistics and Cox regression. For both study endpoints, C-statistics (95% confidence interval) were stable over time for all biomarkers, with the highest value for hs-cTnT, ranging between 0.84 (0.68-1.00) and 0.80 (0.70-0.90) for the primary endpoint, and between 0.74 (0.63-0.86) and 0.65 (0.57-0.73) for the secondary endpoint. For both study endpoints, cardiac biomarkers were found to be independently associated with risk, NT-proBNP displaying a negative predictive value of 100%. Among non-cardiac biomarkers, only copeptin and MR-proADM were independent predictors of PE-related mortality but they were not independent predictors of PE-related complications, and displayed lower negative predictive values. In elderly NMPE patients, cardiac biomarkers appear to be valuable prognostic to identify very low-risk individuals.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00973596
RNA protects a nucleoprotein complex against radiation damage
Radiation damage during macromolecular X-ray crystallographic data collection is still the main impediment for many macromolecular structure determinations. Even when an eventual model results from the crystallographic pipeline, the manifestations of radiation-induced structural and conformation changes, the so-called specific damage, within crystalline macromolecules can lead to false interpretations of biological mechanisms. Although this has been well characterized within protein crystals, far less is known about specific damage effects within the larger class of nucleoprotein complexes. Here, a methodology has been developed whereby per-atom density changes could be quantified with increasing dose over a wide (1.3-25.0 MGy) range and at higher resolution (1.98 Å) than the previous systematic specific damage study on a protein-DNA complex. Specific damage manifestations were determined within the large trp RNA-binding attenuation protein (TRAP) bound to a single-stranded RNA that forms a belt around the protein. Over a large dose range, the RNA was found to be far less susceptible to radiation-induced chemical changes than the protein. The availability of two TRAP molecules in the asymmetric unit, of which only one contained bound RNA, allowed a controlled investigation into the exact role of RNA binding in protein specific damage susceptibility. The 11-fold symmetry within each TRAP ring permitted statistically significant analysis of the Glu and Asp damage patterns, with RNA binding unexpectedly being observed to protect these otherwise highly sensitive residues within the 11 RNA-binding pockets distributed around the outside of the protein molecule. Additionally, the method enabled a quantification of the reduction in radiation-induced Lys and Phe disordering upon RNA binding directly from the electron density
Bridging Alone: Religious Conservatism, Marital Homogamy, and Voluntary Association Membership
This study characterizes social insularity of religiously conservative American married couples by examining patterns of voluntary associationmembership. Constructing a dataset of 3938 marital dyads from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the author investigates whether conservative religious homogamy encourages membership in religious voluntary groups and discourages membership in secular voluntary groups. Results indicate that couples’ shared affiliation with conservative denominations, paired with beliefs in biblical authority and inerrancy, increases the likelihood of religious group membership for husbands and wives and reduces the likelihood of secular group membership for wives, but not for husbands. The social insularity of conservative religious groups appears to be reinforced by homogamy—particularly by wives who share faith with husbands
Traffic Grooming in Unidirectional WDM Rings with Bounded Degree Request Graph
Traffic grooming is a major issue in optical networks. It refers to grouping
low rate signals into higher speed streams, in order to reduce the equipment
cost. In SONET WDM networks, this cost is mostly given by the number of
electronic terminations, namely ADMs. We consider the case when the topology is
a unidirectional ring. In graph-theoretical terms, the traffic grooming problem
in this case consists in partitioning the edges of a request graph into
subgraphs with a maximum number of edges, while minimizing the total number of
vertices of the decomposition. We consider the case when the request graph has
bounded maximum degree , and our aim is to design a network being able
to support any request graph satisfying the degree constraints. The existing
theoretical models in the literature are much more rigid, and do not allow such
adaptability. We formalize the problem, and solve the cases (for all
values of ) and (except the case C=4). We also provide lower
and upper bounds for the general case
Implementing Survivorship Care Plans for Colon Cancer Survivors
To evaluate the feasibility, usability, and satisfaction of a survivorship care plan (SCP) and identify the optimum time for its delivery during the first 12 months after diagnosis
Observation of an Excited Bc+ State
Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb-1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of s=7, 8, and 13 TeV, the observation of an excited Bc+ state in the Bc+π+π- invariant-mass spectrum is reported. The observed peak has a mass of 6841.2±0.6(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the Bc+ mass. It is consistent with expectations of the Bc∗(2S31)+ state reconstructed without the low-energy photon from the Bc∗(1S31)+→Bc+γ decay following Bc∗(2S31)+→Bc∗(1S31)+π+π-. A second state is seen with a global (local) statistical significance of 2.2σ (3.2σ) and a mass of 6872.1±1.3(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, and is consistent with the Bc(2S10)+ state. These mass measurements are the most precise to date
Beyond the trailing spouse: the commuter partnership as an alternative to family migration
Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination in adults undergoing immunosuppressive treatment for inflammatory diseases - a longitudinal study.
INTRODUCTION: Patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy are at increased risk of infection. Community-acquired pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease account for substantial morbidity and mortality in this population and may be prevented by vaccination. Ideally, immunization to pneumococcal antigens should take place before the start of immunosuppressive treatment. Often, however, the treatment cannot be delayed. Little is known about the efficacy of pneumococcal vaccines during immunosuppressive treatment. The objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of vaccine-naïve, immunosuppressed adults with inflammatory diseases seroprotected against Streptococcus pneumoniae and to assess factors associated with the immunogenicity, clinical impact and safety of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) in seronegative subjects.
METHODS: This observational study included patients 18 years of age and older who were receiving prednisone ≥20 mg/day or other immunosuppressive drugs. Exclusion criteria were PPV administration in the previous 5 years, intravenous immunoglobulins and pregnancy. Serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels against six pneumococcal serotypes were measured. Seropositivity was defined as IgG of 0.5 μg/ml or greater for at least four of six serotypes. Seronegative patients received PPV, and seropositive patients were included as a comparison group. Vaccine response and tolerance were assessed after 4-8 weeks. Disease activity was evaluated on the basis of the Physician Global Assessment scores. Serology was repeated after 1 year, and information on any kind of infection needing medical attention was collected. Outcomes were the proportion of seropositivity and infections between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.
RESULTS: Of 201 included patients, 35 received high-dose corticosteroids and 181 were given immunosuppressive drugs. Baseline seronegativity in 60 (30 %) patients was associated with corticotherapy and lower total IgG. After PPV, disease activity remained unchanged or decreased in 81 % of patients, and 87 % became seropositive. After 1 year, 67 % of vaccinated compared with 90 % of observed patients were seropositive (p < 0.001), whereas the rate of infections did not differ between groups. Those still taking prednisone ≥10 mg/day tended to have poorer serological responses and had significantly more infections.
CONCLUSIONS: PPV was safe and moderately effective based on serological response. Seropositivity to pneumococcal antigens significantly reduced the risk of infections. Sustained high-dose corticosteroids were associated with poor vaccine response and more infections
- …