Objective
To elaborate normative values for a clinical psychophysical taste test (“Taste Strips”).
Background
The “Taste Strips” are a psychophysical chemical taste test. So far, no definitive ...normative data had been published and only a fairly small sample size has been investigated. In light of this shortcoming for this easy, reliable and quick taste testing device, we attempted to provide normative values suitable for the clinical use.
Setting
Normative value acquisition study, multicenter study.
Methods
The investigation involved 537 participants reporting a normal sense of smell and taste (318 female, 219 male, mean age 44 years, age range 18–87 years). The taste test was based on spoonshaped filter paper strips (“Taste Strips”) impregnated with the four (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter) taste qualities in four different concentrations. The strips were placed on the left or right side of the anterior third of the extended tongue, resulting in a total of 32 trials. With their tongue still extended, patients had to identify the taste from a list of four descriptors, i. e., sweet, sour, salty, and bitter (multiple forcedchoice). To obtain an impression of overall gustatory function, the number of correctly identified tastes was summed up for a “taste score”.
Results
Taste function decreased significantly with age. Women exhibited significantly higher taste scores than men which was true for all age groups. The taste score at the 10
th
percentile was selected as a cut-off value to distinguish normogeusia from hypogeusia. Results from a small series of patients with ageusia confirmed the clinical usefulness of the proposed normative values.
Conclusion
The present data provide normative values for the “Taste Strips” based on over 500 subjects tested.
Abstract
Flooded plants experience impaired gas diffusion underwater, leading to oxygen deprivation (hypoxia). The volatile plant hormone ethylene is rapidly trapped in submerged plant cells and is ...instrumental for enhanced hypoxia acclimation. However, the precise mechanisms underpinning ethylene-enhanced hypoxia survival remain unclear. We studied the effect of ethylene pretreatment on hypoxia survival of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) primary root tips. Both hypoxia itself and re-oxygenation following hypoxia are highly damaging to root tip cells, and ethylene pretreatments reduced this damage. Ethylene pretreatment alone altered the abundance of transcripts and proteins involved in hypoxia responses, root growth, translation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis. Through imaging and manipulating ROS abundance in planta, we demonstrated that ethylene limited excessive ROS formation during hypoxia and subsequent re-oxygenation and improved oxidative stress survival in a PHYTOGLOBIN1-dependent manner. In addition, we showed that root growth cessation via ethylene and auxin occurred rapidly and that this quiescence behavior contributed to enhanced hypoxia tolerance. Collectively, our results show that the early flooding signal ethylene modulates a variety of processes that all contribute to hypoxia survival.
The early flooding signal ethylene contributes to forthcoming hypoxia stress by modulating a plethora of processes including reactive oxygen species amelioration and growth cessation.
Abstract
We present the results of a multiplicity survey for a magnitude-limited sample of 31 classical Be stars conducted with the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer and the Mark III Stellar ...Interferometer. The interferometric observations were used to detect companions in 10 previously known binary systems. For two of these sources (66 Oph and
β
Cep) new orbital solutions were obtained, while for a third source (
υ
Sgr) our observations provide the first direct, visual detection of the hot companion to the primary star. Combining our interferometric observations with an extensive literature search, we conclude that an additional four sources (o Cas, 15 Mon,
β
Lyr, and
β
Cep) also contain wider binary components that are physical companions to the narrow binaries, thus forming hierarchical multiple systems. Among the sources not previously confirmed as spectroscopic or visual binaries, BK Cam was resolved on a number of nights within a close physical proximity of another star with relative motion possibly suggesting a physical binary. Combining our interferometric observations with an extensive literature search, we provide a detailed listing of companions known around each star in the sample, and discuss the multiplicity frequency in the sample. We also discuss the prospects for future multiplicity studies of classical Be stars by long-baseline optical interferometry.
ABSTRACT
The first FOcal Reducer low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS 2) spectropolarimetric observation of the longitudinal magnetic field of HD 54879 of the order of −600 G with a lower limit of the ...dipole strength of ∼2 kG dates back to 2014. Since then, observations showed a gradual decrease of the absolute value of the mean longitudinal magnetic field. In the course of the most recent monitoring of HD 54879 using FORS 2 spectropolarimetric observations from 2017 October to 2018 February, a longitudinal magnetic field strength change from about −300 G down to about −90 G was reported. A sudden increase of the absolute value of the mean longitudinal magnetic field and an accompanying spectral variability was detected on 2018 February 17. New FORS 2 spectropolarimetric data obtained from 2018 December to 2019 February confirm the very slow magnetic field variability, with the field decreasing from about 150 G to −100 G over 2 months. Such a slow magnetic field variability, related to the extremely slow rotation of HD 54879, is also confirmed using high-resolution High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher in polarimetric mode and Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device for the Observation of Stars spectropolarimetry. The re-analysis of the FORS 2 polarimetric spectra from 2018 February indicates that the previously reported field increase and the change of the spectral appearance was caused by improper spectra extraction and wavelength calibration using observations obtained at an insufficient signal-to-noise ratio. The presented properties of HD 54879 are discussed in the context of the Of?p spectral classification.
Abiotic stresses in plants are often transient, and the recovery phase following stress removal is critical. Flooding, a major abiotic stress that negatively impacts plant biodiversity and ...agriculture, is a sequential stress where tolerance is strongly dependent on viability underwater and during the postflooding period. Here we show that in Arabidopsis thaliana accessions (Bay-0 and Lp2-6), different rates of submergence recovery correlate with submergence tolerance and fecundity. A genome-wide assessment of ribosome-associated transcripts in Bay-0 and Lp2-6 revealed a signaling network regulating recovery processes. Differential recovery between the accessions was related to the activity of three genes: RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG D, SENESCENCE-ASSOCIATED GENE113, and ORESARA1, which function in a regulatory network involving a reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst upon desubmergence and the hormones abscisic acid and ethylene. This regulatory module controls ROS homeostasis, stomatal aperture, and chlorophyll degradation during submergence recovery. This work uncovers a signaling network that regulates recovery processes following flooding to hasten the return to prestress homeostasis.
ABSTRACT
We report the discovery of a new example of the rare class of highly magnetized, rapidly rotating, helium enhanced, early B stars that produce anomalously wide hydrogen emission due to a ...centrifugal magnetosphere (CM). The star is Trumpler 16-26, a B1.5 V member of the Trumpler 16 open cluster. A CM was initially suspected based on hydrogen Brackett series emission observed in SDSS/APOGEE H-band spectra. Similar to the other stars of this type, the emission was highly variable and at all times remarkable due to the extreme velocity separations of the double peaks (up to 1300 km s−1.) Another clue lay in the TESS light curve, which shows two irregular eclipses per cycle when phased with the likely 0.971 8115-d rotation period, similar to the behaviour of the well-known CM host star σ Ori E. To confirm a strong magnetic field and rotation-phase-locked variability, we initiated a follow-up campaign consisting of optical spectropolarimetry and spectroscopy. The associated data revealed a longitudinal magnetic field varying between −3.1 and +1.6 kG with the period found from photometry. The optical spectra confirmed rapid rotation (v sin i = 195 km s−1), surface helium enhancement, and wide, variable hydrogen emission. Tr16-26 is thus confirmed as the 20th known, the fourth most rapidly rotating, and the faintest CM host star yet discovered. With a projected dipole magnetic field strength of Bd > 11 kG, Tr16-26 is also among the most magnetic CM stars.
Renal involvement in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) is associated with poor outcomes. The clinical significance of arteritis of the small kidney arteries has not been evaluated in detail.
In a ...multicenter cohort of patients with AAV and renal involvement, we sought to describe the clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with AAV who had renal arteritis at diagnosis, and to retrospectively analyze their prognostic value.
We included 251 patients diagnosed with AAV and renal involvement between 2000 and 2019, including 34 patients (13.5%) with arteritis. Patients with AAV-associated arteritis were older, and had a more pronounced inflammatory syndrome compared with patients without arteritis; they also had significantly lower renal survival (
=0.01). In multivariable analysis, the ANCA renal risk score, age at diagnosis, history of diabetes mellitus, and arteritis on index kidney biopsy were independently associated with ESKD. The addition of the arteritis status significantly improved the discrimination of the ANCA renal risk score, with a concordance index (C-index) of 0.77 for the ANCA renal risk score alone, versus a C-index of 0.80 for the ANCA renal risk score plus arteritis status (
=0.008); ESKD-free survival was significantly worse for patients with an arteritis involving small arteries who were classified as having low or moderate risk, according to the ANCA renal risk score. In two external validation cohorts, we confirmed the incidence and phenotype of this AAV subtype.
Our findings suggest AAV with renal arteritis represents a different subtype of AAV with specific clinical and histologic characteristics. The prognostic contribution of the arteritis status remains to be prospectively confirmed.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2011; 33: 243–250
Summary
Background Infliximab is effective for induction and maintenance of remission in children with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease (CD).
...Aim To evaluate the long‐term efficacy of infliximab treatment in paediatric CD.
Methods In this observational, multicentre study, all paediatric CD patients in The Netherlands treated with infliximab from October 1992 to November 2009 and with minimal follow‐up of 3 months since start of infliximab, were studied.
Results One hundred and fifty‐two CD patients 81M; median age at start of infliximab 15.0 years (IQR 13.1–16.4) received a median number of 10.5 infliximab infusions (IQR 6–21). Median follow‐up after start of infliximab was 25 months (IQR 13–40). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the cumulative probability of losing response to infliximab in patients who initially required repeated infusions was 13%, 40% and 50% after 1, 3 and 5 years, respectively. Seventy‐four patients (49%) needed dose adjustments, with a median time to any adjustment of 6 months.
Conclusions Duration of effect of infliximab is limited as 50% of patients on infliximab maintenance treatment lose their therapeutic response after 5 years. Dose adjustments after start of infliximab are frequently needed to regain therapeutic benefit. These findings emphasise the need for effective, long‐term treatment strategies for paediatric CD.
ABSTRACT
The O9.7 V star HD 54879 is currently the only massive magnetic star whose magnetic field geometry and rotation period are not constrained. Over the last 3 yr, we gathered additional ...observations of this star, obtained using various instruments at several astronomical facilities, with the aim to constrain the rotation period and the magnetic field geometry. The new data include the first full Stokes vector observations with the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI), installed at the Large Binocular Telescope. The acquired spectropolarimetric observations show a very slow magnetic field variability related to the extremely slow rotation of HD 54879, which is also indicated in a dynamical spectrum, displaying variability of the Hα line. The most intriguing result of our study is the discovery of differences in longitudinal magnetic field strengths measured using different least-squares deconvolution (LSD) masks containing lines belonging to different elements. It is the first time that such a differential analysis of the field strength in dependence of the used lines is carried out for a magnetic O-type star. Since the LSD Stokes I profiles of the studied O, Si, and He line masks remain stable over all observing epochs, we conclude that the detection of different field strengths using lines belonging to these elements is related to the different formation depths, with the He lines formed much higher in the stellar atmosphere compared to the silicon and the oxygen lines, and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects. Our numerical magnetospherical model suggests the presence of enhanced gas density that fills the volume inside the field lines close to the star.
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