Nuclear matrix protein 2 antibody-positive adult dermatomyositis: a case report and review of the literature

Dermatomyositis is a clinically heterogenous inflammatory myopathy with unique cutaneous features. Myositis-specific antibodies can aid in diagnosis and anticipation of patient prognosis. Herein, we report a 22-year-old man who presented with multifocal erythematous plaques with violaceous papules on his bilateral elbows, neck, and face. He was diagnosed with biopsy-proven dermatomyositis and determined to be seropositive for nuclear matrix protein 2 antibody (NXP-2). He was treated with systemic corticosteroids, then intravenous methylprednisolone and azathioprine, and ultimately achieved greatest treatment response with intravenous immune globulin therapy

Quantifying, predicting, and exploiting uncertainties in marine environments

Following the scientific, technical, and field trial initiatives ongoing since the Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment (MREA) conferences in 2003, 2004, and 2007, the MREA10 conference provided a timely opportunity to review the progress on various aspects of MREA, with a particular emphasis on marine environmental uncertainty management. A key objective of the conference was to review the present state of the art in quantifying, predicting, and exploiting marine environmental uncertainties. The integration of emerging environmental monitoring and modeling techniques into data assimilation streams and their subsequent exploitation at an operational level involves a complex chain of nonlinear uncertainty transfers, including human factors. Accordingly, the themes for the MREA10 conference were selected to develop a better understanding of uncertainty, from its inception in the properties being measured and instrumentation employed to its eventual impact in the applications that rely upon environmental information. Contributions from the scientific community were encouraged on all aspects of environmental uncertainties: their quantification, prediction, understanding, and exploitation. Contributions from operational communities, the consumers of environmental information who have to cope with uncertainty, were also encouraged. All temporal and spatial scales were relevant: tactical, operational, and strategic, including uncertainty studies for topics with long-term implications. Manuscripts reporting new technical and theoretical developments in MREA, but acknowledging effects of uncertainties to be accounted for in future research, were also included. The response was excellent with 87 oral presentations (11 of which were invited keynote speakers) and 24 poster presentations during the conference. A subset of these presentations was submitted to this topical issue, and 22 manuscripts were published by Ocean Dynamics. The following section includes an overview of the conference themes and summary of the published manuscripts.United States. Office of Naval Research (grant N00014-08-1-0586 (QPE))United States. Office of Naval Research (grant N00014-08-1-1097 (ONR6.1))United States. Office of Naval Research (grant N00014-08-1-0680 (PLUS-SEAS)

Standards of diabetic care successes and failures of a patient education policy

Objective. To determine: (i) some aspects of the quality of medical care provided for adult diabetic patients in primary care settings; and (ii) changes in these variables 1 year after attending a specialist diabetes clinic that provided 2 - 3 hours of self-care education. Design. An analysis of the prevalences of obesity, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia at entry and 1 year later.Setting. Diabetes Clinic, Johannesburg Hospital, South Africa.Patients. Ninety randomly selected adult diabetic patients (46 black), with duration of diabetes ≥1 year at the first assessment.Results. At entry insulin-treated (N = 46) and non-insulintreated (N = 44) subjects showed prevalences of obesity (body mass index > 30) of 17% and 36%, respectively; there was unsatisfactory glycaemic control (haemoglobin A1C ≥ 9.5%) in 72% and 64%; untreated hypertension (blood pressure > 160/90 mmHg) in 24% and 23%; and untreated hypercholesterolaemia (> 7.0 mmol/l) in 15% and 11%. One year later weight had increased only in the non-insulintreated patients (+ 1.9 kg, P < 0.01). Mean HbA1C had improved (P < 0.D1 in both groups), but remained unsatisfactory in 49% of patients. Blood pressure control was poor in 14 of the 22 hypertensive patients; and hypercholesterolaemia persisted in 11 subjects. At presentation the patterns of poor control were similar in black and white patients, and the rates of improvement were comparable.Conclusion. There was a low rate of overall metabolic control of diabetes and its associations in primary care settings, with only limited improvements as a result of attending a dedicated diabetes clinic

Decision support for counter-piracy operations: analysis of correlations between attacks and METOC conditions using machine learning techniques

Correlation between Meteorological and Oceanographic (METOC) data and sea piracy attacks in the Horn of Africa/Indian Ocean area is assessed and optimally exploited by using a machine learning approach based on the concept of a one-class classifier. The trained algorithms and METOC forecast models are used as inputs to forecast the piracy risk related to environmental conditions over the region of interest. Performance evaluation strategies are provided to assess the goodness of piracy risk maps used in daily counter piracy operation support. The research, through a rigorous analytical/statistical approach, confirms the existence of the correlation between METOC and sea piracy attacks and the algorithm evaluation procedure shows that the machine learning approach to the piracy risk prediction outperforms the classical threshold based method of modeling piracy group operational limits

The Integration of the Free Fall Cone Penetrometer (FFCPT) with the Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) for the Rapid Assessment of Seabed Characteristics

The Free-Fall Cone Penetrometer (FFCPT) is an instrument for the rapid assessment of seabed characteristics, such as grain size and shear strength. The FFCPT also acquires water column sound speed data during its descent to the seabed. The data collection process is very efficient when the FFCPT is deployed by an automated winch system, the Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP). This paper presents engineering, seabed, and SVP data that have been collected from a vessel moving at speeds from 4 to 8 knots.El Perfilador-Registrador Cônico de Calda Libre ( ‘Free-Fall Cone Penetrometer - FFCPT') es un instrumento que se usa para la râpida evaluaciôn de caractensticas del fondo marino, como el tamaho prédominante de los granos de los sedimentos y la resistencia al corte. El FFCPT adquiere también datos sobre la velocidad y la presiôn (SVP) de la columna de agua durante su descenso al fondo marino. El proceso de recogida de datos es muy eficaz cuando el FFCPT se despliega mediante un sistema de guinche automatizado, el Perfilador para Buque en Movimiento (‘Moving Vessel Profiler - MVP'). Este artîculo présenta datos de ingenieria, del fondo marino y de SVP, que han sido recogidos utilizando un FFCPT integrado a un MVP, a partir de un buque que navegaba a velocidades que oscilaban entre 4 y 8 nudos.Le pénétromètre à cône à chute libre (FFCPT) est un instrument d’évaluation rapide des caractéristiques des fonds marins, comme par exemple la dimension prédominante des grains des sédiments et la résistance du sol non drainé au cisaillement. Le FFCPT procède également à l'acquisition des données sur la vitesse du son et la pression (SVP) dans la colonne d'eau lors de sa descente vers le fond de la mer. Le processus de collecte des données est très efficace lorsque le FFCPT est utilisé avec un système de treuil automatisé, le profileur de bâtiment en mouvement (MVP). L’article qui suit traite de l’ingénierie, du fond de la mer et des données SVP qui ont été collectées à l'aide d'un pénétromètre FFCPT intégré dans un profileur MVP, à partir d’un bâtiment se déplaçant à des vitesses allant de 4 à 8 noeuds

Global citizens: Who are they?

A growing desire to instigate global citizenship programmes in Higher Education (HE) has led to the development of optional structured opportunities for students to engage in prosocial activities. One of the challenges facing such programmes is to demonstrate and plan for the personal growth of those students. This paper reports the dispositional, prosocial and attitudinal characteristics; knowledge and skills; and perceptions of social justice that students who undertake these activities bring to their initial participation. The findings indicate, that in comparison to a control group, the students differ significantly in a number of important ways (e.g. conscientiousness, extraversion, openness; Machiavellianism, prosocial behaviour; self-esteem; skills relating to social action and tolerance and understanding and their concern regarding social problems). However, consideration should be given to the ways in which those students can be developed within a framework for social justice. Further, recruitment procedures for citizenship programmes in general should encourage the participation of a more diverse group of students than currently appears to be the case

Childhood socioeconomic position and objectively measured physical capability levels in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p><b>Background:</b> Grip strength, walking speed, chair rising and standing balance time are objective measures of physical capability that characterise current health and predict survival in older populations. Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood may influence the peak level of physical capability achieved in early adulthood, thereby affecting levels in later adulthood. We have undertaken a systematic review with meta-analyses to test the hypothesis that adverse childhood SEP is associated with lower levels of objectively measured physical capability in adulthood.</p> <p><b>Methods and Findings:</b> Relevant studies published by May 2010 were identified through literature searches using EMBASE and MEDLINE. Unpublished results were obtained from study investigators. Results were provided by all study investigators in a standard format and pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. 19 studies were included in the review. Total sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from N = 17,215 for chair rise time to N = 1,061,855 for grip strength. Although heterogeneity was detected, there was consistent evidence in age adjusted models that lower childhood SEP was associated with modest reductions in physical capability levels in adulthood: comparing the lowest with the highest childhood SEP there was a reduction in grip strength of 0.13 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.06, 0.21), a reduction in mean walking speed of 0.07 m/s (0.05, 0.10), an increase in mean chair rise time of 6% (4%, 8%) and an odds ratio of an inability to balance for 5s of 1.26 (1.02, 1.55). Adjustment for the potential mediating factors, adult SEP and body size attenuated associations greatly. However, despite this attenuation, for walking speed and chair rise time, there was still evidence of moderate associations.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Policies targeting socioeconomic inequalities in childhood may have additional benefits in promoting the maintenance of independence in later life.</p&gt

BMQ

BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals