Highlights ► The role of progranulin (PGRN) in neuroinflammatory responses was studied. ► PGRN expression in CD68-positive microglia increased on traumatic brain injury (TBI). ► PGRN-deficient mice ...had a higher expression of CD68 and TGFβ1 in the brain after TBI. ► PGRN deficiency resulted in enhanced protein oxidation and laminin immunoreactivity. ► PGRN may suppress excessive inflammatory responses related to activated microglia after TBI.
Purpose
Pheochromocytoma crisis is a life-threatening endocrine emergency that requires prompt diagnosis and treatment. Because of its rarity, sudden onset, and lack of internationally uniform and ...validated diagnostic criteria, pheochromocytoma crisis remains to be fully clarified. Therefore, we aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of pheochromocytoma crisis through a literature review.
Methods
We performed a systematic literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE database, Igaku-Chuo-Zasshi (Japanese database), and Google Scholar to identify case reports of pheochromocytoma crisis published until February 5, 2021. Information was extracted and analyzed from the literature that reported adequate individual patient data of pheochromocytoma crisis in English or Japanese. Cases were also termed as pheochromocytoma multisystem crisis (PMC) if patients had signs of hyperthermia, multiple organ failure, encephalopathy, and labile blood pressure.
Results
In the 200 cases of pheochromocytoma crisis identified from 187 articles, the mean patient age was 43.8 ± 15.5 years. The most common symptom was headache (39.5%). The heart was the most commonly damaged organ resulting from a complication of a pheochromocytoma crisis (99.0%), followed by the lungs (44.0%) and the kidney (21.5%). PMC accounted for 19.0% of all pheochromocytoma crisis cases. After excluding 12 cases with unknown survival statuses, the mortality rate was 13.8% (26/188 cases). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that nausea and vomiting were significantly associated with a higher mortality rate.
Conclusion
Pheochromocytoma can present with different symptomatology, affecting different organ systems. Clinicians should be aware that patients with nausea or vomiting are at a higher risk of death because of pheochromocytoma crisis.
Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) has curative potential against hematological malignancies. However, there are concerns about the associated risk of non-relapse ...mortality (NRM). We performed a retrospective single-center study to assess changes in outcomes after allo-HSCT and causes of NRM over three 5-year periods. The rates of 2-year NRM and overall survival (OS) were 16% and 59%, respectively. We found a significant decrease in NRM (P<0.001), with 2-year NRM of 26, 14 and 9%, and a significant increase in OS (P=0.005), with 2-year OS of 52%, 58% and 65%, over the three periods (1998-2002, 2003-2007 and 2008-2012), respectively. Of note, a steady improvement was observed in NRM, period by period, among patients aged 50 years or older, patients who underwent HSCT from an unrelated bone marrow donor and patients who underwent HSCT with a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen. Our data showed that the improved NRM can mainly be attributed to a decreased mortality related to infection after starting systemic steroid as GVHD treatment, and a decreased mortality related to organ failure.
AbstractShear-wave velocity (Vs) offers a means to determine the seismic resistance of soil to liquefaction by a fundamental soil property. This paper presents the results of an 11-year international ...project to gather new Vs site data and develop probabilistic correlations for seismic soil liquefaction occurrence. Toward that objective, shear-wave velocity test sites were identified, and measurements made for 301 new liquefaction field case histories in China, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, and the United States over a decade. The majority of these new case histories reoccupy those previously investigated by penetration testing. These new data are combined with previously published case histories to build a global catalog of 422 case histories of Vs liquefaction performance. Bayesian regression and structural reliability methods facilitate a probabilistic treatment of the Vs catalog for performance-based engineering applications. Where possible, uncertainties of the variables comprising both the seismic demand and the soil capacity were estimated and included in the analysis, resulting in greatly reduced overall model uncertainty relative to previous studies. The presented data set and probabilistic analysis also help resolve the ancillary issues of adjustment for soil fines content and magnitude scaling factors.
There is a soliton in a superconductor having two bands (two-band superconductor), when the interband interaction is much smaller than the intraband interaction. This soliton is in a stable state. In ...the soliton the relative phase between two gap parameters rotates 0 to 2pi (or -pi to pi), where each gap resides in each band. A phase slip of the superconducting order parameter is accompanied with the soliton. The phase slip is not nx2pi where n is an integer. A soliton traps the flux inside the superconducting ring, of which magnitude is not integral multiples of the fluxoid quantum.
With the advent of the Heliophysics/Geospace System Observatory (H/GSO), a complement of multi-spacecraft missions and ground-based observatories to study the space environment, data retrieval, ...analysis, and visualization of space physics data can be daunting. The Space Physics Environment Data Analysis System (SPEDAS), a grass-roots software development platform (
www.spedas.org
), is now officially supported by NASA Heliophysics as part of its data environment infrastructure. It serves more than a dozen space missions and ground observatories and can integrate the full complement of past and upcoming space physics missions with minimal resources, following clear, simple, and well-proven guidelines. Free, modular and configurable to the needs of individual missions, it works in both command-line (ideal for experienced users) and Graphical User Interface (GUI) mode (reducing the learning curve for first-time users). Both options have “crib-sheets,” user-command sequences in ASCII format that can facilitate record-and-repeat actions, especially for complex operations and plotting. Crib-sheets enhance scientific interactions, as users can move rapidly and accurately from exchanges of technical information on data processing to efficient discussions regarding data interpretation and science. SPEDAS can readily query and ingest all International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP)-compatible products from the Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF), enabling access to a vast collection of historic and current mission data. The planned incorporation of Heliophysics Application Programmer’s Interface (HAPI) standards will facilitate data ingestion from distributed datasets that adhere to these standards. Although SPEDAS is currently Interactive Data Language (IDL)-based (and interfaces to Java-based tools such as Autoplot), efforts are under-way to expand it further to work with python (first as an interface tool and potentially even receiving an under-the-hood replacement). We review the SPEDAS development history, goals, and current implementation. We explain its “modes of use” with examples geared for users and outline its technical implementation and requirements with software developers in mind. We also describe SPEDAS personnel and software management, interfaces with other organizations, resources and support structure available to the community, and future development plans.
We present the first and direct comparison between magnetospheric plasma waves and polar mesosphere winter echoes (PMWE) simultaneously observed by the conjugate observation with Arase satellite and ...high‐power atmospheric radars in both hemispheres, namely, the Program of the Antarctic Syowa Mesosphere, Stratosphere, and Troposphere/Incoherent Scatter Radar at Syowa Station (SYO; −69.00°S, 39.58°E), Antarctica, and the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System at Andøya (AND; 69.30°N, 16.04°E), Norway. The PMWE were observed during 03–07 UT on 21 March 2017, just after the arrival of corotating interaction region in front of high‐speed solar wind stream. An isolated substorm occurred at 04 UT during this interval. Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves and whistler mode chorus waves were simultaneously observed near the magnetic equator and showed similar temporal variations to that of the PMWE. These results indicate that chorus waves as well as EMIC waves are drivers of precipitation of energetic electrons, including relativistic electrons, which make PMWE detectable at 55‐ to 80‐km altitude. Cosmic noise absorption measured with a 38.2‐MHz imaging riometer and low‐altitude echoes at 55–70 km measured with an medium‐frequency radar at SYO also support the relativistic electron precipitation. We suggest a possible scenario in which the various phenomena observed in near‐Earth space, such as magnetospheric plasma waves (EMIC waves and chorus waves), pulsating auroras, cosmic noise absorption, and PMWE, can be explained by the interaction between the high‐speed solar wind containing corotating interaction regions and the magnetosphere.
Key Points
EMIC waves and chorus waves in the magnetosphere and PMWE in the mesosphere were observed simultaneously by the conjugate observation
PMWE were detected by the PANSY and MAARSY radars in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres during the equinox period
The temporal variation of the chorus wave power was quite similar to those of PMWE powers observed in both hemispheres
While many clinical guidelines recommend screening for osteoporosis for early detection and treatment, there is great diversity in the case-finding strategies globally. We sought to compare ...case-finding strategies, focusing on the approaches used in European and Asian countries. This article provides an overview of the current case-finding strategies in the UK, Germany (including Austria and German-speaking regions of Switzerland), China, Japan, and Korea. We conducted a review of current treatment guidelines in each country and included expert opinions from key opinion leaders. Most countries define osteoporosis among patients with a radiographically identified fracture of the hip or the vertebrae. However, for other types of fractures, or in the absence of a fracture, varying combinations of risk-factor assessment and areal bone mineral density (aBMD) assessed by dual X-ray absorptiometry are used to define osteoporosis cases. A T-score ≤ − 2.5 is accepted to identify osteoporosis in the absence of a fracture; however, not all countries accept DXA alone as the sole criteria. Additionally, the critera for requiring clinical risk factors in addition to aBMD differ across countries. In most Asian countries, aBMD scanning is only provided beyond a particular age threshold. However, all guidelines recommend fracture risk assessment in younger ages if risk factors are present. Our review identified that strategies for case-finding differ regionally, particularly among patients without a fracture. More homogenized ways of identifying osteoporosis cases are needed, in both the Eastern and the Western countries, to improve osteoporosis case-finding before a fracture occurs.
Case-finding in osteoporosis is essential to initiate treatment and minimize fracture risk. We identified differences in case-finding strategies between Eastern and Western countries. In the absence of a diagnosed fracture, varying combinations of risk factors and bone density measurements are used. Standardized case-finding strategies may help improve treatment rates.
Space charge accumulation in low-density polyethylene film containing a small amount of MgO nanoparticles (LDPE/MgO nanocomposite film) subjected to an electric field greater than 100 kV/mm has been ...studied using an improved pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) system. No marked space charge accumulation was observed in LDPE/MgO nanocomposite films. To determine the mechanism of no space charge accumulation in the LDPE/MgO nanocomposite film, we compared electric potential wells produced by a permanent dipole moment such as that of carbonyl groups (C=0) and an induced dipole consisting of MgO nanoparticles (spherical dielectrics) under a high electric field to create a trapping site for electric charge carriers. The trapping depth created by the permanent dipole moment such as that of the carbonyl groups (C=0) of chemical defects is approximately 0.45 eV. However, the potential well induced by high-permittivity dielectric nanoparticles (MgO) is about 1.5 to 5.0 eV, which is much deeper than that induced by chemical defects. The suppression of space charge formation is explained using the potential well model consisting of a dipole induced by a high-permittivity dielectric nanoparticle. We explained the suppression mechanism of charge accumulation in the LDPE/MgO film that contains deep traps.
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