Background/Introduction.
Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) is a chronic demyelinating disorder that has been increasingly recognized since the serum antibody ...became commercially available in 2017. The most common clinical presentation is optic neuritis, and first line acute treatment is intravenous (IV) steroids. However, there are many questions that remain unanswered. For clinicians and patients, the primary question is whether relapses will occur and whether to treat with chronic therapy.
This retrospective chart review examined characteristics of thirty-three known adult MOGAD cases at a single institute. Data was collected on patient demographics, clinical presentation, objective diagnosis with MRI and serum antibody levels, acute and chronic treatment and disease outcomes.
Our MOGAD cases revealed a slight female to male predominance of 1.5:1. No racial groups were affected disproportionately, and age of symptom onset spanned a large range with a median of 40 years. The most common clinical and radiologic presentation was optic neuritis followed by transverse myelitis and brainstem symptoms/lesions. IV methylprednisolone was used in the vast majority of cases for acute treatment. 83.3% of our patients were treated with chronic therapy at some point during their disease course. Therapies include rituximab, IVIG, ocrelizumab, mycophenolate mofetil and ofatumumab. The majority of our patients were treated with rituximab and we did not see a significant benefit of yearly relapse reduction for rituximab versus other therapies. Our cohort had a higher-than- expected percentage of cases with relapsing disease (56.3%) compared to monophasic (43.8%).
Our study confirms prior data regarding the demographics, clinical presentation and radiologic presentation of MOGAD. There is no consensus on whether maintenance therapy should be started for MOGAD cases with a single clinical event. Our cohort showed a higher relapse rate than has been reported previously and all known relapses occurred within one year of diagnosis. More data is necessary to confirm risk of relapse in the years following diagnosis. In addition, further data on biomarkers are needed to predict the disease course could help guide management.
•The most common clinical presentation for adults withMOGAD is optic neuritis.•First line acute treatment for MOGAD is high dose IV steroids.•MOGAD affects females > males with a ratio of 1.5:1 and affects a wide range of ages.•Maintenance treatment with rituximab did not show a statistically significant benefit compared to other maintenance therapies.•The majority of our MOGAD cases had a relapsing course and relapses were more likely to occur in the first year.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Measurements of neutrino oscillations using the disappearance of muon neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI neutrino beam as observed by the two MINOS detectors are reported. New analysis methods have ...been applied to an enlarged data sample from an exposure of 7.25×10(20) protons on target. A fit to neutrino oscillations yields values of |Δm(2)|=(2.32(-0.08)(+0.12))×10(-3) eV(2) for the atmospheric mass splitting and sin(2)(2θ)>0.90 (90% C.L.) for the mixing angle. Pure neutrino decay and quantum decoherence hypotheses are excluded at 7 and 9 standard deviations, respectively.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
As well as leading to a loss of biodiversity (i.e. species richness and abundance), human activities also affect ecosystem functioning. Documenting how the suite of ecological roles changes following ...disturbance provides a complementary source of information for conservation management. To this end, we measured mammal diversity in terms of community structure (i.e. abundance, composition and species richness) and functional diversity in three sites differing in conservation effort in a tropical rainforest in Cameroon. Results show that sites without primary or secondary conservation efforts had lower mammal abundances and an altered mammal composition but similar species richness compared to better‐protected areas. In terms of functional diversity, we found more variation of traits (i.e. FDis) in the site with primary conservation and higher abundances of functionally unique species (i.e. FOri) in sites with either primary or secondary conservation efforts. We found no overall difference in the abundance of specialist and generalist species between sites (i.e. FSpe). We identified several drivers affecting abundance, species richness and functional diversity of mammal communities, although there did not appear to be a common driver affecting all mammal diversity measures in a similar way. Our results suggest that, in addition to preserving mammal abundance and community composition, conservation efforts (both primary and secondary) are able to contribute to maintaining higher levels of functional diversity compared to areas devoid of conservation. We demonstrate that functional diversity metrics can provide valuable additional information about the status of mammal communities that can be used to better inform conservation management.
This study describes how mammal community structure (i.e. abundance, richness and composition) and functional diversity (FDis, FOri and FSpe) co‐vary over sites with different conservation efforts in the tropical rainforest in Cameroon. We found that primary and secondary conservation efforts have a positive effect on some, but not all, measures of mammal community structure and functional diversity and that a lack of conservation effort is associated with an impoverished mammal community structure and loss of functional diversity. We highlight that measures of mammal community structure and functional diversity do not capture the same changes in mammal communities and should be used to complement each other to ensure effective conservation management.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Results are reported from a search for active to sterile neutrino oscillations in the MINOS long-baseline experiment, based on the observation of neutral-current neutrino interactions, from an ...exposure to the NuMI neutrino beam of 7.07×10(20) protons on target. A total of 802 neutral-current event candidates is observed in the Far Detector, compared to an expected number of 754 ± 28(stat) ± 37(syst) for oscillations among three active flavors. The fraction f(s) of disappearing ν(μ) that may transition to ν(s) is found to be less than 22% at the 90% C.L.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
We studied single neutral pion production via muon antineutrino charged-current interactions in plastic scintillator (CH) using the MINERvA detector exposed to the NuMI low-energy, wideband ...antineutrino beam at Fermilab. Measurement of this process constrains models of neutral pion production in nuclei, which is important because the neutral-current analog is a background for appearance oscillation experiments. Furthermore, the differential cross sections for π0 momentum and production angle, for events with a single observed π0 and no charged pions, are presented and compared to model predictions. These results comprise the first measurement of the π0 kinematics for this process.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Research programmes have been shown to exert a positive impact on faunal communities, but few studies provide empirical evidence. In this study, we surveyed three neighbouring sites, differing in ...terms of official protection status and level of active management, in the Dja Conservation Complex, southeast Cameroon. We recorded signs of human activity and anthropogenic pressures and found that they significantly differed by site. We assessed chimpanzee and gorilla relative abundance using nest count surveys. We found that chimpanzee nest abundance was related to the presence of active management, but both active management and availability of suitable habitat affected gorilla nest abundance. Our results suggest that gorillas are more tolerant of human activity. We also provide evidence that the presence and activities of the conservation research project Projet Grands Singes served to actively deter poachers and limit hunting of great apes as a result of researcher presence, community sensitization and of valuing living apes and intact forests by local people. Such empirical evidence for the positive effect of research activity on biodiversity preservation should encourage continued investment in such programmes as part of a landscape‐wide, multi‐stakeholder conservation management of great ape habitats.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This Letter reports the first direct observation of muon antineutrino disappearance. The MINOS experiment has taken data with an accelerator beam optimized for ν(μ) production, accumulating an ...exposure of 1.71 × 10²⁰ protons on target. In the Far Detector, 97 charged current ν(μ) events are observed. The no-oscillation hypothesis predicts 156 events and is excluded at 6.3σ. The best fit to oscillation yields |Δm²| = 3.36(-0.40)(+0.46)(stat) ± 0.06(syst) × 10⁻³ eV², sin²(2θ) = 0.86(-0.12)(+0.11)(stat) ± 0.01(syst). The MINOS ν(μ) and ν(μ) measurements are consistent at the 2.0% confidence level, assuming identical underlying oscillation parameters.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Most forest habitats in Cameroon support villages whose inhabitants are heavily reliant on the forests for their everyday needs. We assessed the socio-economic status and natural resource use of 3 ...villages bordering Mawambi Hills, an unprotected forest in southwest Cameroon, home to both the Critically Endangered Cross River gorilla Gorilla gorilla diehli and the Endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ellioti. This forest likely hosts one of the largest sub-populations of Cross River gorillas in Cameroon and is vulnerable to human influence given that it lies in close proximity to surrounding villages and is less hilly than other Cross River gorilla habitats. We show that employment opportunities in surrounding villages are rare, and people rely on agriculture and the collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), such as eru Gnetum spp. and bush mango Irvingia spp., for food and income. We also show that areas of heavy human activity coincide spatially with great ape nest sites and raise concerns about the potential impact of human activities on great ape survival at the site. We call for (1) sustainable harvesting and marketing of NTFPs, (2) the introduction of alternative livelihood opportunities (e.g. beekeeping and on-farm production of NTFPs), (3) active wildlife law enforcement to safe-guard the persistence of great apes, and (4) the introduction of a community-based forest management programme that will enable communities to secure the rights to use and manage surrounding forest resources legally.
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