IgG4-related disease is a newly recognized fibro-inflammatory condition characterized by several features: a tendency to form tumefactive lesions in multiple sites; a characteristic histopathological ...appearance; and—often but not always—elevated serum IgG4 concentrations. An international symposium on IgG4-related disease was held in Boston, MA, on 4–7 October 2011. The organizing committee comprising 35 IgG4-related disease experts from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Holland, Canada, and the United States, including the clinicians, pathologists, radiologists, and basic scientists. This group represents broad subspecialty expertise in pathology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, allergy, immunology, nephrology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, ophthalmology, and surgery. The histopathology of IgG4-related disease was a specific focus of the international symposium. The primary purpose of this statement is to provide practicing pathologists with a set of guidelines for the diagnosis of IgG4-related disease. The diagnosis of IgG4-related disease rests on the combined presence of the characteristic histopathological appearance and increased numbers of IgG4+ plasma cells. The critical histopathological features are a dense lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate, a storiform pattern of fibrosis, and obliterative phlebitis. We propose a terminology scheme for the diagnosis of IgG4-related disease that is based primarily on the morphological appearance on biopsy. Tissue IgG4 counts and IgG4:IgG ratios are secondary in importance. The guidelines proposed in this statement do not supplant careful clinicopathological correlation and sound clinical judgment. As the spectrum of this disease continues to expand, we advocate the use of strict criteria for accepting newly proposed entities or sites as components of the IgG4-related disease spectrum.
Introduction and hypothesis
Information on the prevalence, risk factors and social consequences of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) affecting women in 16 low-income and lower middle-income countries is ...reviewed.
Methods
Medline searches were performed for articles dealing with prevalence of PFD.
Results
Thirty studies were identified. The mean prevalence for pelvic organ prolapse was 19.7% (range 3.4–56.4%), urinary incontinence (UI) was 28.7% (range 5.2–70.8%) and faecal incontinence (FI) was 6.9% (range 5.3–41.0%). Risk factors for PFD are similar to those in more affluent countries particularly increased age and parity, but additionally, PFD is associated with other factors including poor nutrition and heavy work. The social consequences of PFD conditions can be devastating.
Conclusions
Pelvic organ prolapse and urinary and faecal incontinence are significant problems in developing countries. Access to health care to manage these conditions is often limited, and women usually have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.
We propose a new method to determine the electron velocity (EV) distribution function in the intracluster gas (ICG) in clusters of galaxies based on the frequency dependence of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich ...(SZ) effect. It is generally accepted that the relativistic equilibrium EV distribution is the one suggested by Jüttner. However, there is an ongoing debate on the foundation of relativistic kinetic theory, and other distributions have also been proposed. The mildly relativistic ICG provides a unique laboratory to test relativistic kinetic theories. We carried out Monte Carlo simulations to generate SZ signal from a single-temperature gas assuming the Jüttner EV distribution assuming a few percent errors. We fitted SZ models based on nonrelativistic Maxwellian, and its two relativistic generalizations, the Jüttner and modified Jüttner distributions. We found that a 1% error in the SZ signal is sufficient to distinguish between these distributions with high significance based on their different best-fit temperatures. However, in any line of sight (LOS) in a cluster, the ICG contains a range of temperatures. Using our N-body/hydrodynamical simulation of a merging galaxy cluster and assuming a 1% error in the SZ measurements in an LOS through a bow shock, we find that it is possible to distinguish between Jüttner and modified Jüttner distributions with high significance. Our results suggest that deriving ICG temperatures from fitting to SZ data assuming different EV distribution functions and comparing them to the temperature in the same cluster obtained using other observations would enable us to distinguish between the different distributions.
Electricity is an important ingredient for development; however, inadequate electricity supply and its frequent fluctuations adversely affect the productivity and profits of small and medium ...enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In turn, the adverse effects pose challenges to economic growth and subsequently narrow further the low tax base in the region. Information regarding the macroeconomic effects of electricity fluctuations on the tax base in SSA is limited, thus calling for a detailed and refined study of this nature to analyse the effect of electricity fluctuations on the tax base in SSA. A bias-corrected linear dynamic estimator is employed for the analysis using a panel dataset for 41 SSA countries from 2000 to 2022. The results show that electricity consumption is positively related to the tax base in SSA while electricity fluctuation creates fiscal losses in terms of narrowing the tax base. Specifically, gross capital formation and informal economic activities are adversely affected by electricity fluctuations. This is a dramatic dampening effect that requires policy attention. The results indicate that the African governments in SSA need to increase investments in (including renovation of) the electricity infrastructures and diversify sources of energy into visible and tangible levels. This is because unreliable supply of electricity denies these countries the benefit of digital transformation, especially internet access. Sustaining the pace of stable and reliable electricity is paramount for economic growth and the growth of tax revenue in SSA countries. The article offers a highlight in energy policy review to include reliability as a prime concern for elevating economic growth and tax base in SSA countries.
Gardner Transition in Physical Dimensions Hicks, C L; Wheatley, M J; Godfrey, M J ...
Physical review letters,
2018-Jun-01, Letnik:
120, Številka:
22
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Gardner transition is the transition that at mean-field level separates a stable glass phase from a marginally stable phase. This transition has similarities with the de Almeida-Thouless ...transition of spin glasses. We have studied a well-understood problem, that of disks moving in a narrow channel, which shows many features usually associated with the Gardner transition. We show that some of these features are artifacts that arise when a disk escapes its local cage during the quench to higher densities. There is evidence that the Gardner transition becomes an avoided transition, in that the correlation length becomes quite large, of order 15 particle diameters, even in our quasi-one-dimensional system.
We report stable Ni isotope compositions (δ60/58Ni, relative to SRM986) for mafic lavas with a range of −0.16‰ to +0.20‰ (n = 44), similar to that of peridotite samples. Ocean island basalts (OIB) ...have been analysed from Iceland (n = 6), the Azores (n = 3), the Galápagos Islands (n = 2), and Lōʻihi, Hawaii (n = 1). Samples from Iceland (average δ60/58Ni = +0.13 ± 0.16‰, 2s, n = 7) display the greatest range in Ni isotope compositions from a single OIB location in this work, of +0.01‰ to +0.23‰. Samples from the Azores (average δ60/58Ni = −0.10 ± 0.10‰, 2s) and Galápagos (average δ60/58Ni = −0.01 ± 0.04‰, 2s) are generally isotopically lighter. The single Lōʻihi sample has a δ60/58Ni of +0.17‰. The lightest analysed bulk rock δ60/58Ni in this work, −0.16‰, is from the Azores island, Pico. Enriched mid ocean ridge basalts (E-MORB), which have (La/Sm)N > 1, are isotopically lighter than normal type MORB (N-MORB), as shown by data from the Mid Atlantic Ridge (n = 9) and East Pacific Rise (n = 3). All E-MORB average δ60/58Ni = +0.00 ± 0.06‰ (2s, n = 7), whereas N-MORB average δ60/58Ni = +0.14 ± 0.10‰ (2s, n = 5).
A suite of 15 mafic samples from the Cameroon Line, comprising lithologies ranging from nephelinites to hypersthene-normative basalts, have Ni isotope compositions that are identical within analytical uncertainty (average δ60/58Ni = +0.08 ± 0.06‰, 2s). Similarly, MORB samples display no relationship between δ60/58Ni and geochemical indicators of degree of partial melting or fractional crystallisation. Host lavas for two previously analysed ultramafic xenolith suites have δ60/58Ni identical to the average δ60/58Ni of their respective xenolith suites. This is consistent with previously published evidence from peridotites and komatiites that Ni isotopes are not greatly fractionated by melting. Therefore, mafic rocks may preserve the δ60/58Ni of their mantle source. Sampling a greater volume of mantle, their average Ni isotope composition +0.07 ± 0.17‰ (2s, n = 44) may also be a better representation of the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE), than estimates based purely on peridotites.
The δ60/58Ni of MORB co-varies with La/Sm, Rb/Sr, europium anomaly (Eu/Eu*), and K2O/(K2O + Na2O). The relationships between these parameters and δ60/58Ni are consistent with mixing between two model endmembers. One could be depleted MORB or depleted MORB mantle (DMM) with a relatively heavy Ni isotope composition; the other a more enriched endmember that has isotopically lighter δ60/58Ni. The link between lighter δ60/58Ni and enriched lithologies in the mantle is further supported by published evidence of light Ni isotope compositions associated with some pyroxenite xenoliths. However, the curvature of the apparent mixing arrays defined by basalts is hard to reconcile with admixing of geochemically enriched but isotopically fractionated oceanic crustal lithologies. High Ni enriched magmas such as kimberlites may be a closer match to the enriched endmember. However, this needs further study.
We relate the structure factor S(k→0) in a system of jammed hard spheres of number density ρ to its complexity per particle Σ(ρ) by the formula S(k→0)=-1/ρ^{2}Σ^{″}(ρ)+2ρΣ^{'}(ρ). We have verified ...this formula for the case of jammed disks in a narrow channel, for which it is possible to find Σ(ρ) and S(k) analytically. Hyperuniformity, which is the vanishing of S(k→0), will therefore not occur if the complexity is nonzero. An example is given of a jammed state of hard disks in a narrow channel which is hyperuniform when generated by dynamical rules that produce a nonextensive complexity.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) control gene expression through both translational repression and degradation of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). However, the interplay between these processes and the precise ...molecular mechanisms involved remain unclear. Here, we show that translational inhibition is the primary event required for mRNA degradation. Translational inhibition depends on miRNAs impairing the function of the elF4F initiation complex. We define the RNA helicase elF4A2 as the key factor of elF4F through which miRNAs function. We uncover a correlation between the presence of miRNA target sites in the 3’ untranslated region (3’UTR) of mRNAs and secondary structure in the 5’UTR and show that mRNAs with unstructured 5’UTRs are refractory to miRNA repression. These data support a linear model for miRNA-mediated gene regulation in which translational repression via elF4A2 is required first, followed by mRNA destabilization.
Abstract
Twenty years of monthly or more frequent repeat expendable bathythermograph data are used to estimate the mean geostrophic velocity and transport relative to 750 m of the Indonesian ...Throughflow (ITF) and its partitioning through the major outflow straits into the Indian Ocean. Ekman transports are estimated from satellite and atmospheric reanalysis wind climatologies. A subsurface maximum near 100 m characterizes the geostrophic ITF, but Ekman flows drive a warm near-surface component as well. A subsurface intensified fresh Makassar Jet feeds the Lombok Strait Throughflow (∼2 Sv; 1Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) and an eastward flow along the Nusa Tenggara island chain the Nusa Tenggara Current (6 Sv). This flow feeds a relatively cold 3.0-Sv flow through the Ombai Strait and Savu Sea. About 4–5 Sv pass through Timor Passage, fed by both the Nusa Tenggara Current and likely warmer and saltier flow from the eastern Banda Sea. The Ombai and Timor Throughflow feature distinctly different shear profiles; Ombai has deep-reaching shear with a subsurface velocity maximum near 150 m and so is cold (∼15.5°–17.1°C), while Timor Passage has a surface intensified flow and is warm (∼21.6°–23°C). At the western end of Timor Passage the nascent South Equatorial Current is augmented by recirculation from a strong eastward shallow flow south of the passage. South of the western tip of Java are two mean eastward flows—the very shallow, warm, and fresh South Java Current and a cold salty South Java Undercurrent. These, along with the inflow of the Eastern Gyral Current, recirculate to augment the South Equatorial Current, and greatly increase its salinity compared to that at the outflow passages. The best estimate of the 20-yr-average geostrophic plus Ekman transport is 8.9 ± 1.7 Sv with a transport-weighted temperature of 21.2°C and transport-weighted salinity of 34.73 near 110°E. The warm temperatures of the flow can be reconciled with the much cooler estimates based on mooring data in Makassar Strait by accounting for an unmeasured barotropic and deep component, and local surface heat fluxes that warm the ITF by 2°–4°C during its passage through the region.
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