Background:
Echocardiography with Doppler examination of the aortic valve provides a very accurate assessment of the transvalvular gradient and is used to monitor progression of aortic stenosis (AS). ...Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been shown to correlate with end-systolic wall stress in patients with AS.
Aim:
We hypothesized that plasma N-terminal proBNP (NT proBNP) and a newly identified cytokine cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), which has been shown to stimulate BNP production at a transcriptional level are elevated in patients with AS and correlate to the maximum trans-valvular aortic pressure gradient (TVPG).
Method:
We compared plasma NT proBNP and CT-1 in 15 AS patients five males, mean age 79 years range 60-94, mean TPVG 39.3 mmHg (20-100) with 10 controls (five male, mean age 68 years 56-79). Results are expressed as mean ranges and comparisons were by the Mann-Whitney test.
Results:
NT proBNP levels were elevated in AS patients 252.9 fmol/ml (79.2-541.8) when compared with the controls (157.2 fmol/ml 104.7-236.9, P < 0.005). Also CT-1 levels were elevated in AS patients (57.3 fmol/ml 33-86.3 when compared with the controls 28.3 fmol/ml (6.9-48.3), P < 0.0005. Both NT proBNP and CT-1 levels were correlated to the TVPG (r = 0.53 and r = 0.65, P < 0.05 and P = 0.009, respectively). On best subset analysis the strongest correlate with TVPG was CT-1 (R
2 = 38%). The addition of NT proBNP did not improve diagnostic accuracy (R
2 = 39%).
Conclusion:
These results suggest NT proBNP and CT-1 levels increase in proportion to the TVPG and could potentially be used to monitor progression of disease non-invasively. These markers may also be useful to identify the optimum time for surgery in AS.
Background: Photoproduction of mesons off quasi-free nucleons bound in the deuteron allows to study the elec- tromagnetic excitation spectrum of the neutron and the isospin structure of the ...excitation of nucleon resonances. The database for such reactions is much more sparse than for free proton targets. Purpose: Study experimentally single π0 photoproduction off quasi-free nucleons from the deuteron. Investigate nuclear effects by a comparison of the results for free protons and quasi-free protons. Use the quasi-free neutron data (corrected for nuclear effects) to test the predictions of reaction models and partial wave analysis (PWA) for γn → nπ0 derived from the analysis of the other isospin channels. Methods: High statistics angular distributions and total cross sections for the photoproduction of π0 mesons off the deuteron with coincident detection of recoil nucleons have been measured for the first time. The experiment was performed at the tagged photon beam of the Mainz Microtron (MAMI) accelerator for photon energies between 0.45 GeV and 1.4 GeV, using an almost 4π electromagnetic calorimeter composed of the Crystal Ball and TAPS detectors. A complete kinematic reconstruction of the final state removed the effects of Fermi motion. Results: Significant effects from final state interactions (FSI) were observed for participant protons in comparison to free proton targets (between 30% and almost 40%). The data in coincidence with recoil neutrons were corrected for such effects under the assumption that they are identical for participant protons and neutrons. Reaction model predictions and PWA for γn → nπ0, based on fits to data for the other isospin channels, disagreed between themselves and no model provided a good description of the new data. Conclusions: The results demonstrate clearly the importance of a measurement of the fully neutral final state for the isospin decomposition of the cross section. Model refits, for example from the Bonn-Gatchina analysis, show that the new and the previous data for the other three isospin channels can be simultaneously described when the contributions of several partial waves are modified. Finally, the results are also relevant for the suppression of the higher resonance bumps in total photoabsorption on nuclei, which are not well understood.
To allow rhizobial infection of legume roots, plant cell walls must be locally degraded for plant-made infection threads (ITs) to be formed. Here we identify a Lotus japonicus nodulation pectate ...lyase gene (LjNPL), which is induced in roots and root hairs by rhizobial nodulation (Nod) factors via activation of the nodulation signaling pathway and the NIN transcription factor. Two Ljnpl mutants produced uninfected nodules and most infections arrested as infection foci in root hairs or roots. The few partially infected nodules that did form contained large abnormal infections. The purified LjNPL protein had pectate lyase activity, demonstrating that this activity is required for rhizobia to penetrate the cell wall and initiate formation of plant-made infection threads. Therefore, we conclude that legume-determined degradation of plant cell walls is required for root infection during initiation of the symbiotic interaction between rhizobia and legumes.
Abstract
Objective
To analyse the prognosis and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with primary SS.
Methods
We searched for patients with primary SS presenting with SARS-CoV-2 infection ...(defined following and according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidelines) among those included in the Big Data Sjögren Registry, an international, multicentre registry of patients diagnosed according to the 2002/2016 classification criteria.
Results
A total of 51 patients were included in the study (46 women, mean age at diagnosis of infection of 60 years). According to the number of patients with primary SS evaluated in the Registry (n = 8211), the estimated frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 0.62% (95% CI 0.44, 0.80). All but two presented with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, including fever (82%), cough (57%), dyspnoea (39%), fatigue/myalgias (27%) and diarrhoea (24%), and the most frequent abnormalities included raised lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (88%), CRP (81%) and D-dimer (82%) values, and lymphopenia (70%). Infection was managed at home in 26 (51%) cases and 25 (49%) required hospitalization (five required admission to ICU, four died). Compared with patients managed at home, those requiring hospitalization had higher odds of having lymphopenia as laboratory abnormality (adjusted OR 21.22, 95% CI 2.39, 524.09). Patients with comorbidities had an older age (adjusted OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00, 1.11) and showed a risk for hospital admission six times higher than those without (adjusted OR 6.01, 95% CI 1.72, 23.51) in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusion
Baseline comorbidities were a key risk factor for a more complicated COVID-19 in patients with primary SS, with higher rates of hospitalization and poor outcomes in comparison with patients without comorbidities.
.
The scalar dipole polarizabilities,
α
E
1
and
β
M
1
, are fundamental properties related to the internal dynamics of the nucleon. The currently accepted values of the proton polarizabilities were ...determined by fitting to unpolarized proton Compton scattering cross section data. The measurement of the beam asymmetry
Σ
3
in a certain kinematical range provides an alternative approach to the extraction of the scalar polarizabilities. At the Mainz Microtron (MAMI) the beam asymmetry was measured for Compton scattering below pion photoproduction threshold for the first time. The results are compared with model calculations and the influence of the experimental data on the extraction of the scalar polarizabilities is determined.
The double-polarization observable E and helicity-dependent cross sections σ1/2, σ3/2 have been measured for the photoproduction of π0 pairs off quasifree protons and neutrons at the Mainz MAMI ...accelerator with the Crystal Ball/TAPS setup. A circularly polarized photon beam was produced by bremsstrahlung from longitudinally polarized electrons and impinged on a longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target. The reaction products were detected with an almost 4 π covering calorimeter. The results reveal for the first time the helicity- and isospin-dependent structure of the γN → Nπ0 π0 reaction. They are compared to predictions from reaction models in view of nucleon resonance contributions and also to a refit of one model that predicted results for the proton and for the neutron target. The comparison of the prediction and the refit demonstrates the large impact of the new data.
An experimental study of the η′→π0π0η→6γ decay has been conducted with the best up-to-date statistical accuracy, by measuring η′ mesons produced in the γp→η′p reaction with the A2 tagged-photon ...facility at the Mainz Microtron, MAMI. The results obtained for the standard parametrization of the η′→π0π0η matrix element are consistent with the most recent results for η′→ππη decays, but have smaller uncertainties. The available statistics and experimental resolution allowed, for the first time, an observation of a structure below the π+π− mass threshold, the magnitude and sign of which, checked within the framework of the nonrelativistic effective-field theory, demonstrated good agreement with the cusp that was predicted based on the ππ scattering length combination, a0−a2, extracted from K→3π decays.
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