When Julija Šukys was a child, her paternal grandfather, Anthony, rarely smiled, and her grandmother, Ona, spoke only in her native Lithuanian. But they still taught Šukys her family's story: that of ...a proud people forced from their homeland when the soldiers came. In mid-June 1941, three Red Army soldiers arrested Ona, forced her onto a cattle car, and sent her east to Siberia, where she spent seventeen years separated from her children and husband, working on a collective farm. The family story maintained that it was all a mistake. Anthony, whose name was on Stalin's list of enemies of the people, was accused of being a known and decorated anti-Bolshevik and Lithuanian nationalist. Some seventy years after these events, Šukys sat down to write about her grandparents and their survival of a twenty-five-year forced separation and subsequent reunion. Piecing the story together from letters, oral histories, audio recordings, and KGB documents, her research soon revealed a Holocaust-era secret-a family connection to the killing of seven hundred Jews in a small Lithuanian border town. According to KGB documents, the man in charge when those massacres took place was Anthony, Ona's husband. In Siberian Exile Šukys weaves together the two narratives: the story of Ona, noble exile and innocent victim, and that of Anthony, accused war criminal. She examines the stories that communities tell themselves and considers what happens when the stories we've been told all our lives suddenly and irrevocably change, and how forgiveness or grace operate across generations and across the barriers of life and death.
Aim
The aim of this study is to examine the functional outcomes of ona‐botulinum toxin A (BTX‐A) injection into the external urethral sphincter (EUS) for female patients with nonneurogenic ...nonrelaxing sphincter as the underlying cause of voiding dysfunction (VD).
METHOD
A retrospective analysis was performed for all the patients with the urodynamic findings of higher than expected maximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP) who received their first injection during the study period. All patients were evaluated with preoperative videourodynamic study and urethral pressure profilometry and received 100 U of EUS BTX‐A. Patients aged less than 18 years and those with neurogenic bladder were excluded. All patients were followed up with the free flow, postvoid residuals (PVR), and patient global impression of improvement (PGI‐I) scale at 6 weeks and then at 3 monthly intervals.
Result
We identified 35 female patients with a mean age of 37.5 ± 15 years (range 18–72 years) with a mean follow‐up of 20 months. More than 50% of patients had a history of prior surgical intervention and 28 (80%) patients were catheter dependent, a suprapubic catheterization, or clean intermittent self‐catheterization. Mean MUCP was 97.1 ± 22 cm of water. After treatment with BTX‐A, 21 (60%) patients were able to void per urethral (p = 0.02). The mean maximum flow rate (Qmax) improved from 8.8 to 11 mls/s and the mean PVR decreased from 200 to 149 mls (p < 0.05). On multivariate analysis, we identified high preoperative PVR, high preoperative actual MUCP, and previous surgical intervention (urethral dilatation, sacral neuromodulation, and pelvic surgery) as predictors of successful voiding restoration. The mean duration of response was 4.7 months, 46% of patients requested repeat injection, and 29% were established on maintenance injections. On the 5‐point PGI‐I score, 13 (37%), 12 (34%), and 10 (29%) patients reported good, some, and no improvement, respectively. Quality of life was also improved in 60% of patients. Two patients had transient stress urinary incontinence (for <6 weeks) and there were no significant long‐lasting adverse events.
Conclusion
EUS BTX‐A is a valid treatment option for VD considering therapeutic options are limited. The patient must be made aware of the need for repeat treatments.
Climate unpredictability and change in climatic parameters have direct influence on environment and human existence. A negative change in the climate, always have its corresponding dysfunctional ...impacts on man and the ecosystem globally or locally leading to flooding, poor agricultural yields, famine, and even death at some stages. Goal and objectives: Knowledge and information on the climatic variation parameters in an environment is very vital for environmental study assessment and proper planning. Therefore, evaluating the effect of weather variability on discharge of Ona River in Ibadan cannot be under-estimated. Methodology: A methodology to evaluate river discharge exclusively from remotely sensed data was developed. Water surface width and maximum channel width measured from satellite images of Ona River was coupled with channel slope data obtained from topographic maps created using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) were used to estimate the discharge. Landsat images were acquired for the years 1990, 2000 and 2015, which were used to determine anthropogenic activities. SRTM and Quick bird were used to model environmental changes and effects on the discharge of Ona River. The weather change effects on water discharge from Ona River in Ibadan was examined in three phases; site observation and data collection which was done in 2015 to get weather and discharge data of Ona River for each month, model simulation of temperature to determine discharge was done using regression model analysis. Results: The rainfall distribution is being revealed to have strong effect on the discharge rate (R2 = 0.77) and that of temperature on discharge rate of Ona River (R2 = 0.80). In 2015, the influence of rainfall on discharge rate was stronger (R2 = 0.85) while the discharge was 2.88m3/s. The monthly temperature-discharge gives a negative relationship (R2=0.55). There is strong negative relationship between vegetation and rainfall, -0.7. It has been projected that in 2028, the discharge rate will be reduced to 2.17 m3/s. There is evidence of dynamic responses of rivers to precipitation rate, which implied a significant response between rainfall and discharge and the negative effect of anthropogenic activities on rivers. This result can be used to predict the discharge of rivers given weather and environmental factors.
Ona Basin is a small intra-oceanic basin located in the southwestern corner of the Scotia Sea. This region is crucial for an understanding of the early phases of opening of Drake Passage, since it ...may contain the oldest oceanic crust of the entire western Scotia Sea, where conflicting age differences from Eocene to Oligocene have been proposed to date. The precise timing of the gateway opening between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, moreover, has significant paleoceanographic and global implications. Two sub-basins are identified in this region, the eastern and western Ona basins, separated by the submarine relief of the Ona High. A dense geophysical data set collected during the last two decades is analyzed here. The data include multichannel seismic reflection profiles, and magnetic and gravimetric data.
The oceanic basement is highly deformed by normal, reverse and transcurrent faults, as well as affected by deep intrusions from the mantle. The initial extension and continental thinning, with subsequent oceanic spreading, were followed by compression and thrusting. Several elongated troughs, bounded by faults, depict a thick sequence of depositional units in the basin. Eight seismic units are identified in a deep trough of the eastern Ona Basin. The deposits reach a thickness of 5km, a consistent value not previously reported from the Scotia Sea. A body of chaotic seismic facies is also observed above the thinned continental crust of the Ona High. Magnetic seafloor anomalies older than C10 (~28.5Ma) may be present in the region. The anomalies could include up to chron C12r (~32Ma), although their identification is difficult, since the amplitude is subdued and the original oceanic crust was highly deformed by later faulting and thrusting. The magnetic anomaly distribution is not congruent with seafloor spreading from a single ridge. The basin plain is tilted and subducted southwestward below the South Shetland Islands Block, particularly in the western part, where an accretionary prism is identified. Such tectonics, locally affecting up to the most recent deposits, imply that a portion of the primitive oceanic crust is absent. Based on the stratigraphy of the deposits and the magnetic anomalies, an age of 44Ma is postulated for the initiation of oceanic spreading in the eastern Ona basin, while spreading in the western Ona Basin would have occurred during the early Oligocene.
The tectonics, depositional units and the age of the oceanic crust provide additional evidence regarding the Eocene opening of Drake Passage. The initial tectonic fragmentation of the South America–Antarctic Bridge, followed by oceanic spreading, was characterized by jumping of the spreading centers. An Eocene spreading center in the eastern Ona Basin was the precursor of the Scotia Sea. A model comprising four tectonic evolutionary phases is proposed: Phase I, Pacific subduction — Paleocene to middle Eocene; Phase II, eastern Ona back-arc spreading — middle to late Eocene; Phase III, ridge jumping and western Ona back-arc spreading — early Oligocene; and Phase IV, ridge jumping and West Scotia Ridge spreading — early Oligocene to late Miocene.
The development of shallow gateways allowed for an initial connection between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and, hence, initiated the thermal isolation of Antarctica during the middle and late Eocene. Deep gateways that enhanced the full isolation of Antarctica developed in Drake Passage from the Eocene/Oligocene transition onward. A significant correlation is observed between the tectonics, stratigraphic units and major climate events, thereby indicating the influence of the local tectonic and paleoceanographic events of the Southern Ocean on global evolution.
•Eight seismic units reach 5km thickness not previously reported from the Scotia Sea•Spreading magnetic anomalies probably to C12r are not consistent with a single ridge•Western Scotia Sea developed in four tectonic phases starting in middle Eocene•Drake Passage shallow gateways existed at 44Ma but oceanic gateways at 33-30Ma•Ona Basin growth patterns reveal a correlation with Southern Ocean global events
The librarian walks the streets of her beloved Paris. An old lady with a limp and an accent, she is invisible to most. Certainly no one recognizes her as the warrior and revolutionary she was, when ...again and again she slipped into the Jewish ghetto of German-occupied Vilnius to carry food, clothes, medicine, money, and counterfeit documents to its prisoners. Often she left with letters to deliver, manuscripts to hide, and even sedated children swathed in sacks. In 1944 she was captured by the Gestapo, tortured for twelve days, and deported to Dachau.
ThroughEpistolophilia, Julija Šukys follows the letters and journals-the "life-writing"-of this woman, Ona Šimaitė (1894-1970). A treasurer of words, Šimaitė carefully collected, preserved, and archived the written record of her life, including thousands of letters, scores of diaries, articles, and press clippings. Journeying through these words, Šukys negotiates with the ghost of Šimaitė, beckoning back to life this quiet and worldly heroine-a giant of Holocaust history (one of Yad Vashem's honored "Righteous Among the Nations") and yet so little known. The result is at once a mediated self-portrait and a measured perspective on a remarkable life. It reveals the meaning of life-writing, how women write their lives publicly and privately, and how their words attach them-and us-to life.
•Synthesis and characterization of two 4-acylhydrazone-5-pyrazolones and three zinc(II) complexes.•SCXRD study revealed that complexes 1 and 3 displays a distorted octahedral and complex 2 displays ...distorted square pyramidal geometry.•The ligands and the complexes have been screened for in silico and in vitro antimalarial activity against plasmodium falciparum.
Two novel 4-acylhydrazone-5-pyrazolones (L1=(Z)-N'-((4-chlorophenyl)(3-methyl-5-oxo-1-(p-tolyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene)benzohydrazide and L2 = (Z)-N'-((4-chlorophenyl)(1-(3-chlorophenyl)-3-methyl-5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene)benzohydrazide) were synthesized from 4-acyl-5-pyrazolone and benzoyl hydrazide and assessed for in silico and in vitro antimalarial activity. One binary zinc(II) complex 1 Zn(L1)2DMF was synthesized from L1. Two mixed ligands complexes 2 Zn(L2)(bpy)(OAc)EtOH and 3 Zn(L2)(phen)(H2O) were synthesized from L2 with 2,2′-bipyridine and 1, 10-phenanthroline respectively. Ligands and complexes were characterized by 1H NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, Single crystal X-ray diffraction and conductance measurement. All compounds displayed decent outcomes in in vitro antimalarial activity.
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Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder that causes muscle atrophy and weakness. While no specific therapies existed until a few years ago, several effective ...disease-modifying treatments have become available in recent years. However, there are currently no recommendations on the management of therapy sequencing involving these new treatments. A 4-months-old girl with SMA type 1 and two copies of SMN2 was started on treatment with nusinersen resulting in significant improvement in her motor and respiratory function. However, after six doses, treatment was changed to Zolgensma
®
due to caregiver’s decision. In the months following the administration, the patient showed significant clinical improvement in motor performance. After 12 months, the child started therapy with risdiplam in another country. One year after the start of therapy with risdiplam further improvements in both motor and bulbar functions were highlighted. This case report raises a question: is a multiple consecutive theraphy more effective than monotherapy in SMA treatment? These results suggest the need to further explore the potential efficacy of a multidrug treatment.
•A pretreatment method combining glycerol and CH3ONa was investigated.•CH3ONa with glycerol pretreatment improves validly the TFSY of substrates.•TFSY and TFSC reached 0.5666g/g and 17.75g/L under ...optimal conditions, respectively.•Structural analysis showed that CWGP increased SCB accessibility efficiency.
Sodium methoxide (CH3ONa) with glycerol pretreatment (CWGP) was performed to improve the enzymatic digestibility of sugarcane bagasse (SCB). Response surface methodology was utilized to optimize the CWGP parameters for pretreating SCB from the perspective of total fermentable sugar yield (TFSY) and total fermentable sugar concentration (TFSC). Under the optimal CWGP conditions, 0.5666g/g of TFSY (0.82% CH3ONa, 1.11h, 150°C) and 17.75g/L of TFSC (0.87% CH3ONa, 1.38h, 149.27°C) were achieved, corresponding to delignification of 79.05% and 79.34%, respectively. Compared the pretreatment using glycerol or CH3ONa alone, the CWGP has significant synergies to enhance the enzymatic efficiency of SCB. The physical and chemical characteristics of untreated and pretreated SCBs were analyzed using FT-IR, XRD, and SEM, and the results suggest that CWGP significantly increased the susceptibility of the substrates to enzymatic digestibility. Ultimately, CWGP might be a prospective candidate for the pretreatment process of enzyme-based lignocellulosic biorefineries.
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