Cavitation in 3He-4He liquid mixtures at low temperatures

Bubble formation in solutions of 3He and 4He is studied within a density-functional approach. In particular, the temperature dependence of the cavitation pressure for different 3He concentrations is calculated at low temperatures and compared to that of pure 4He. The presence of Andreev states lowers the surface tension and, consequently, nucleation barriers are drastically reduced. This fact means that even at low 3He concentrations the cavitation process takes place at higher pressures than the spinodal pressure, which is not the case for pure 4He.

Nucleation in supersaturated solutions 3He in 4He at negative pressure.

Depending on the 3He concentration, thermal nucleation in 3-4He supersaturated liquid mixtures at negative pressures may be originated either by bubble or by 3rich drop formation. We have investigated this phenomenon within a density-functional approach, determining the regions in the pressure¿3He-concentration plane where bubbles or drops likely drive the nucleation process. As an illustrative example, we also give the homogeneous nucleation pressure corresponding to 50 and 100 mK temperature.

Generating vortex rings in Bose-Einstein condensates in the line-source approximation

We present a numerical method for generating vortex rings in Bose-Einstein condensates confined in axially symmetric traps. The vortex ring is generated using the line-source approximation for the vorticity, i.e., the curl of the superfluid velocity field is different from zero only on a circumference of a given radius located on a plane perpendicular to the symmetry axis and coaxial with it. The particle density is obtained by solving a modified Gross-Pitaevskii equation that incorporates the effect of the velocity field. We discuss the appearance of density profiles, the vortex core structure, and the vortex nucleation energy, i.e., the energy difference between vortical and ground-state configurations. This is used to present a qualitative description of the vortex dynamics.

K-Rb Fermi-Bose mixtures: Vortex states and sag

We study a confined mixture of bosons and fermions in the quantal degeneracy regime with attractive boson-fermion interaction. We discuss the effect that the presence of vortical states and the displacement of the trapping potentials may have on mixtures near collapse, and investigate the phase stability diagram of the K-Rb mixture in the mean-field approximation supposing in one case that the trapping potentials felt by bosons and fermions are shifted from each other, as it happens in the presence of a gravitational sag, and in another case, assuming that the Bose condensate sustains a vortex state. In both cases, we have obtained an analytical expression for the fermion effective potential when the Bose condensate is in the Thomas-Fermi regime, that can be used to determine the maxima of the Fermionic density. We have numerically checked that the values one obtains for the location of these maxima using the analytical formulas remain valid up to the critical boson and fermion numbers, above which the mixture collapses.

HLA class II antigens (DR, DQ LOCI) and peripheral arthritis in ankylosing spondylitis.

Fifty one patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were typed for HLA-A, B, C, DR, and DQ antigens. The antigen frequencies were compared with those of a normal population and with a B27 positive control group. All but one of the patients with AS were HLA-B27 positive. A positive linkage disequilibrium between Cw1, Cw2, DR1, and the B27 antigen was observed. Patients with AS showed a significant increase in DQw2 antigen compared with the B27 positive control group. No differences in antigenic frequencies were observed in patients having peripheral arthritis and patients with only axial involvement. Seven out of nine patients (78%) with an erosive peripheral arthritis were DR7 positive, suggesting that DR7 or genes closely linked could be related with a more aggressive peripheral joint involvement in patients with AS.

Buenos libros, malas lectoras: la enfermedad moral de las mujeres del siglo XIX

El seu article parteix de l'afirmació que el destí de les dones al segle XIX està marcat, en la ficció, pel "bovarysme", malaltia que proposa que les dones s'emmalalteixen i moren perquè llegeixen malament. El treball analitza aquest problema de la "mala lectura" traçant un recorregut que va des de Fernán Caballero fins a Freud i es comenten alguns episodis de lectura que apareixen en la "Autobiografía" de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Clemencia, Amalia, Madame Bovary, María, La regenta i El caso Dora. Her article departs from the statement that the destiny of women in the 19th century is determined, in fiction, by "bovarysm", an illness which proposes that women get sick and die because they read incorrectly. The work analyzes this problem of "bad reading" tracing a journey from Fernán Caballero to Freud, and comments on several episodes about the act of reading, from Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda's "Autobiography", Clemencia, Amalia, Madame Bovary, María, La Regenta and Dora's Case.

Buenos libros, malas lectoras: la enfermedad moral de las mujeres del siglo XIX

El seu article parteix de l'afirmació que el destí de les dones al segle XIX està marcat, en la ficció, pel "bovarysme", malaltia que proposa que les dones s'emmalalteixen i moren perquè llegeixen malament. El treball analitza aquest problema de la "mala lectura" traçant un recorregut que va des de Fernán Caballero fins a Freud i es comenten alguns episodis de lectura que apareixen en la "Autobiografía" de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Clemencia, Amalia, Madame Bovary, María, La regenta i El caso Dora. Her article departs from the statement that the destiny of women in the 19th century is determined, in fiction, by "bovarysm", an illness which proposes that women get sick and die because they read incorrectly. The work analyzes this problem of "bad reading" tracing a journey from Fernán Caballero to Freud, and comments on several episodes about the act of reading, from Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda's "Autobiography", Clemencia, Amalia, Madame Bovary, María, La Regenta and Dora's Case.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of antibodies against chimeric fibrin/filaggrin citrullinated synthetic peptides in rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Evidence suggests that citrullinated fibrin(ogen) may be a potential in vivo target of anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPA) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We compared the diagnostic yield of three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests by using chimeric fibrin/filaggrin citrullinated synthetic peptides (CFFCP1, CFFCP2, CFFCP3) with a commercial CCP2-based test in RA and analyzed their prognostic values in early RA. Methods: Samples from 307 blood donors and patients with RA (322), psoriatic arthritis (133), systemic lupus erythematosus (119), and hepatitis C infection (84) were assayed by using CFFCP- and CCP2-based tests. Autoantibodies also were analyzed at baseline and during a 2-year follow-up in 98 early RA patients to determine their prognostic value. Results: With cutoffs giving 98% specificity for RA versus blood donors, the sensitivity was 72.1% for CFFCP1, 78.0% for CFFCP2, 71.4% for CFFCP3, and 73.9% for CCP2, with positive predictive values greater than 97% in all cases. CFFCP sensitivity in RA increased to 80.4% without losing specificity when positivity was considered as any positive anti-CFFCP status. Specificity of the three CFFCP tests versus other rheumatic populations was high (> 90%) and similar to those for the CCP2. In early RA, CFFCP1 best identified patients with a poor radiographic outcome. Radiographic progression was faster in the small subgroup of CCP2-negative and CFFCP1-positive patients than in those negative for both autoantibodies. CFFCP antibodies decreased after 1 year, but without any correlation with changes in disease activity. Conclusions: CFFCP-based assays are highly sensitive and specific for RA. Early RA patients with anti-CFFCP1 antibodies, including CCP2-negative patients, show greater radiographic progression.

Percepción del dolor en pacientes postoperados de cirugía cardiaca

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience, associated with tissue damage, that is a reality linked to the surgical procedure and the postoperative period. Objective: Knowing the degree of pain experienced by patients after cardiac surgery, depending on the type of intervention they underwent, over the post-operative period in an intensive care unit (ICU). Method: Descriptive observational study. Pain was assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS), going from 0 to 10, thereby obtaining the first VAS1 assessment at 2 h post-extubation and every 8 hours thereafter up to 48 hours or until discharge to floor VAS7. It included patients having undergone cardiac surgery [valve surgery, bypass, combined procedure (including valve surgery and bypass) and mediastinitis]. Data were processed using Spss.v 20. Results: 120 patients 70 years old on average (standard deviation (SD): 13.3 years old) were included, out of which 70% were male. 40.8% of them had underwent bypass coronary revascularization. Patients subjected to the bypass technique showed an VAS1 mean value of 4.35 (SD: 2.45), unlike those subjected to valve surgery, who showed a mean value of 2.89 (SD: 2.27), those subjected to the combined procedure, who showed a mean value of 3.87 (SD: 2.90), and those with mediastinitis, who showed a mean value of 3.33 (SD: 3.51); (p < 0.031). 28.5% of patients had underwent revascularization (n = 49 ) by an internal mam mary artery (IMA) graft. These patients showed a mean value for VAS1 of 5.4 (SD: 1.89), unlike those who had underwent a combined procedure [IMA and saphenous vein (SV)], who showed a mean value of 3.9 (SD: 2.6), and those who had underwent a SV procedure , who showed a mean value of 3.5 (SD: 2.1); (p < 0.045). Conclusions: Patients having underwent bypass and IMA procedures perceive more pain than in other cardiac surgery and graft interventions

Diagnostic and prognostic value of antibodies against chimeric fibrin/filaggrin citrullinated synthetic peptides in rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Evidence suggests that citrullinated fibrin(ogen) may be a potential in vivo target of anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPA) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We compared the diagnostic yield of three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests by using chimeric fibrin/filaggrin citrullinated synthetic peptides (CFFCP1, CFFCP2, CFFCP3) with a commercial CCP2-based test in RA and analyzed their prognostic values in early RA. Methods: Samples from 307 blood donors and patients with RA (322), psoriatic arthritis (133), systemic lupus erythematosus (119), and hepatitis C infection (84) were assayed by using CFFCP- and CCP2-based tests. Autoantibodies also were analyzed at baseline and during a 2-year follow-up in 98 early RA patients to determine their prognostic value. Results: With cutoffs giving 98% specificity for RA versus blood donors, the sensitivity was 72.1% for CFFCP1, 78.0% for CFFCP2, 71.4% for CFFCP3, and 73.9% for CCP2, with positive predictive values greater than 97% in all cases. CFFCP sensitivity in RA increased to 80.4% without losing specificity when positivity was considered as any positive anti-CFFCP status. Specificity of the three CFFCP tests versus other rheumatic populations was high (> 90%) and similar to those for the CCP2. In early RA, CFFCP1 best identified patients with a poor radiographic outcome. Radiographic progression was faster in the small subgroup of CCP2-negative and CFFCP1-positive patients than in those negative for both autoantibodies. CFFCP antibodies decreased after 1 year, but without any correlation with changes in disease activity. Conclusions: CFFCP-based assays are highly sensitive and specific for RA. Early RA patients with anti-CFFCP1 antibodies, including CCP2-negative patients, show greater radiographic progression.