Cephalopods (nautiluses, cuttlefishes, squids and octopuses) exhibit direct development and display two major developmental modes: planktonic and benthic. Planktonic hatchlings are small and go ...through some degree of morphological changes during the planktonic phase, which can last from days to months, with ocean currents enhancing their dispersal capacity. Benthic hatchlings are usually large, miniature-like adults and have comparatively reduced dispersal potential. We examined the relationship between early developmental mode, hatchling size and species latitudinal distribution range of 110 species hatched in the laboratory, which represent 13% of the total number of live cephalopod species described to date. Results showed that species with planktonic hatchlings reach broader distributional ranges in comparison with species with benthic hatchlings. In addition, squids and octopods follow an inverse relationship between hatchling size and species latitudinal distribution. In both groups, species with smaller hatchlings have broader latitudinal distribution ranges. Thus, squid and octopod species with larger hatchlings have latitudinal distributions of comparatively minor extension. This pattern also emerges when all species are grouped by genus (n = 41), but was not detected for cuttlefishes, a group composed mainly of species with large and benthic hatchlings. However, when hatchling size was compared to adult size, it was observed that the smaller the hatchlings, the broader the latitudinal distributional range of the species for cuttlefishes, squids and octopuses. This was also valid for all cephalopod species with benthic hatchlings pooled together. Hatchling size and associated developmental mode and dispersal potential seem to be main influential factors in determining the distributional range of cephalopods.
We study the price-setting problem of a firm in the presence of both observation and menu costs. The firm optimally decides when to "review" costly information on the adequacy of its price. Upon each ...review, the firm chooses whether to adjust its price, one or more times, before the next price review. Each price adjustment entails paying a menu cost. The firm's choices map into several statistics: the frequency of price reviews, the frequency of price adjustments, the size distribution of price changes, and the hazard rate of price adjustments. The simultaneous presence of observation and menu costs produces complementarities that change the predictions of simpler models featuring one cost only. For instance, infrequent observations may reflect a high menu cost rather than high observation costs: in spite of these complementarities, we show that the ratio of the two costs is identified by several statistics on price observations and adjustments.
The understanding of the molecular‐ and colloidal‐structure of asphaltenes has seen a major progress; however, there are still issues that require answer. One of them is the location of the ...heteroatoms in the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) fused aromatic ring (FAR) region of asphaltenes. Therefore, the effect on the frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO‐LUMO) energy‐gap due to the addition of a heteroatom (N or S) to PAHs, which are candidates of the PAH region in asphaltenes, has been systematically analyzed by placing S or N in various sites of the PAH molecule. The S is introduced as a thiophenic ring in a bay region, while the N is introduced as a pyridinic‐N, which are prevalent forms in the asphaltene‐PAH. 174 PAHs are studied with five fused aromatic rings (5FAR) to 10FAR. The π‐electron allocation in resonant π‐sextets and isolated double bonds is obtained using the Y‐rule. The frontier orbitals optical transition is calculated with the ZINDO/S method. Within a FAR family an increment of π‐sextets produces and increase of the HOMO‐LUMO energy‐gap. There is a linear relationship between the Y‐rule mapping (percentage of fraction of π‐sextet bond divided by nFAR) and the HOMO‐LUMO energy‐gap. In addition, the effect on the frontier orbitals energy‐gap and on the π‐electronic allocation due to the presence of N and S is negligible; therefore, to reach conclusions related to the asphaltene‐PAH based on conclusions reached for PAH systems, with no heteroatoms, is a reasonable approach.
Heteroatoms in PAHs and in asphaltene‐PAHs: A systematic study of the effect of adding N and S atoms to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules on the frontier molecular orbitals′ (HOMO‐LUMO) energy gap and on the π‐electronic distribution is performed to understand the position of N and S atoms in the PAH region in asphaltenes.
To demonstrate the efficacy of the anti-interleukin-6 receptor monoclonal antibody tocilizumab in patients with moderate-to-severe corticosteroid-resistant Graves orbitopathy (GO).
Double-masked ...randomized clinical trial.
Setting and Participants: Thirty-two adults with moderate-to-severe corticosteroid-resistant GO from 10 medical centers in Spain were randomized (1:1). Intervention: Randomization to either 8 mg/kg body weight tocilizumab or placebo administered intravenously at weeks 0, 4, 8, and 12, and follow-up for an additional 28 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a change from baseline to week 16 of at least 2 in the clinical activity score (CAS).
The primary outcome was met by 93.3% (95% confidence interval CI 70.1%-98.8%) of the patients receiving tocilizumab and 58.8% (36%-78.3%) receiving placebo (P = .04; odds ratio, 9.8 CI 1.3-73.2). A significant difference was also observed in the proportion of patients achieving a CAS < 3 (86.7% CI 62.1%-96.2% vs 35.2% CI 17.3%-58.7%, P = .005; OR 11.9 CI 2.1-63.1) at week 16. Additionally, a larger proportion of patients with improvement in the European Group on GO–proposed composite ophthalmic score at week 16 (73.3% CI 48%-89.1% vs 29.4% CI 13.2%-53.1%; P = .03), and exophthalmos size change from baseline to week 16 (-1.5 -2.0 to 0.5 mm vs 0.0 -1.0 to 0.5 mm; P = .01) were seen with tocilizumab. One patient experienced a moderate increase in transaminases at week 8; another had an acute pyelonephritis at week 32 in the tocilizumab-treated group.
Tocilizumab offers a meaningful improvement in activity and severity in corticosteroid-resistant GO. This trial justifies further studies to characterize the role of tocilizumab in GO.
Two types of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) are recognized; AIH-1 is characterized by the presence of anti-nuclear and/or anti-smooth muscle autoantibodies, while AIH-2 is associated with the presence of ...anti-Liver kidney microsome and/or anti-Liver Cytosol antibodies. The autoantigens targeted by AIH-2 autoantibodies are the cytochrome P450 2D6 and Formiminotransferase-cyclodeaminase for anti-LKM1 and anti-LC1 respectively. Both autoantigens are expressed in hepatocytes at higher levels than in any other cell type. Therefore, compared to AIH-1, the autoantigens targeted in AIH-2 are predominantly tissue-specific. Distinct clinical features are specific to AIH-2 compared to AIH-1, including diagnosis in younger patients (mean age 6.6 years), onset as fulminant hepatitis in very young patients (3 years of age or less), higher frequency in children than in adults and is frequently associated with extrahepatic T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. AIH-2 is also often diagnosed in patients with primary immunodeficiency. AIH-2 is associated with specific HLA class II susceptibility alleles; DQB1*0201 is considered the main determinant of susceptibility while DRB1*07/DRB1*03 is associated with the type of autoantibody present. HLA DQB1*0201 is in strong linkage disequilibrium with both HLA DRB1*03 and DRB1*07. Interestingly, as in humans, MHC and non-MHC genes strongly influence the development of the disease in an animal model of AIH-2. Altogether, these findings suggest that AIH-2 incidence is likely dependent on specific genetic susceptibility factors combined with distinct environmental triggers.
Current ultrasonic Local Positioning Systems (LPS) based on an infrastructure of beacons can provide centimeter-level accuracy employing the spread spectrum technique, which also adds robustness ...against noise. However, the strong attenuation of the acoustic waves at high frequencies, the high directionality of ultrasound transducers, and the Doppler effect caused by moving targets still affect the correct performance of LPS. These phenomena reduce the availability of these systems in weak signal coverage areas, as they are no longer able to distinguish weak arrivals from spurious peaks, failing to calculate the position of the target. In this work, the aforementioned problems are dealt with by transmitting Doppler resilient waveforms together with a validation code based on Complementary Set of Sequences. This validation code is leveraged at the receiver after Doppler compensation to reduce the number of spurious arrival candidates and therefore increase the system availability. Compared to a system with no validation, experimental tests with a moving robot have shown that the proposed system increased the availability in weak coverage areas between 20 and 25%. The robot's average 2D positioning error at rest and in motion was 4.6 cm and 6 cm, respectively.
Cephalopods are primarily active predators throughout life. Flying squids (family Ommastrephidae) represents the most widely distributed and ecologically important family of cephalopods. While the ...diets of adult flying squids have been extensively studied, the first feeding diet of early paralarvae remains a mystery. The morphology of this ontogenetic stage notably differs from other cephalopod paralarvae, suggesting a different feeding strategy. Here, a combination of Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) and DNA metabarcoding of wild-collected paralarvae gut contents for eukaryotic 18S v9 and prokaryotic 16S rRNA was applied, covering almost every life domain. The gut contents were mainly composed by fungus, plants, algae and animals of marine and terrestrial origin, as well as eukaryotic and prokaryotic microorganisms commonly found in fecal pellets and particulate organic matter. This assemblage of gut contents is consistent with a diet based on detritus. The ontogenetic shift of diet from detritivore suspension feeding to active predation represents a unique life strategy among cephalopods and allows ommastrephid squids to take advantage of an almost ubiquitous and accessible food resource during their early stages. LCM was successfully applied for the first time to tiny, wild-collected marine organisms, proving its utility in combination with DNA metabarcoding for dietary studies.
We study models where prices respond slowly to shocks because firms are rationally inattentive. Producers must pay a cost to observe the determinants of the current profit maximizing price, and hence ...observe them infrequently. To generate large real effects of monetary shocks in such a model the time between observations must be long and/or highly volatile. Previous work on rational inattentiveness has allowed for observation intervals that are either constant-but-long (e.g. Caballero, 1989 or Reis, 2006) or volatile-but-short (e.g. Reis's, 2006 example where observation costs are negligible), but not both. In these models, the real effects of monetary policy are small for realistic values of the duration between observations. We show that non-negligible observation costs produce both of these effects: intervals between observations are infrequent and volatile. This generates large real effects of monetary policy for realistic values of the average time between observations.
Background
Posthepatectomy liver failure is the most severe complication after major hepatectomies and it is associated with an insufficient future liver remnant (FLR). Associating liver partition ...and portal vein ligation (PVL) has recently been described as a revolutionary strategy to induce a rapid and large FLR volume increase. We aim to describe our surgical technique, patient management, and preliminary results with this new two-stage approach.
Technique
During the first stage, liver partition and PVL of the diseased hemiliver are performed. The completion surgery is carried out after volumetric studies have demonstrated a sufficient FLR and provided the patient is in good condition. This is usually achieved after 7 days. In the second step, the patient undergoes a completion surgery with right hepatectomy, right trisectionectomy, or left trisectionectomy.
Results
Fifteen patients with advanced liver tumors were treated. Nine patients were males and the mean age was 54 years old. The mean difference between the preoperative and postoperative FLR volume was 303 ml (
p
< 0.001), which represented a mean volume increase of 78.4 %. All resections were R0. Morbidity and mortality rates were 53 and 0 %, respectively. The average hospital stay was 19 days.
Conclusions
The presented technique was feasible and safe in the hands of experienced hepatobiliary surgeons, with satisfactory short-term results. It induces rapid liver hypertrophy and at the same time it offers the possibility of cure to patients previously declared unresectable.
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