Clinical presentation, etiology, and outcome of infective endocarditis in the 21st century: the International Collaboration on Endocarditis-Prospective Cohort Study.

We sought to provide a contemporary picture of the presentation, etiology, and outcome of infective endocarditis (IE) in a large patient cohort from multiple locations worldwide. Prospective cohort study of 2781 adults with definite IE who were admitted to 58 hospitals in 25 countries from June 1, 2000, through September 1, 2005. The median age of the cohort was 57.9 (interquartile range, 43.2-71.8) years, and 72.1% had native valve IE. Most patients (77.0%) presented early in the disease (<30 days) with few of the classic clinical hallmarks of IE. Recent health care exposure was found in one-quarter of patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common pathogen (31.2%). The mitral (41.1%) and aortic (37.6%) valves were infected most commonly. The following complications were common: stroke (16.9%), embolization other than stroke (22.6%), heart failure (32.3%), and intracardiac abscess (14.4%). Surgical therapy was common (48.2%), and in-hospital mortality remained high (17.7%). Prosthetic valve involvement (odds ratio, 1.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.90), increasing age (1.30; 1.17-1.46 per 10-year interval), pulmonary edema (1.79; 1.39-2.30), S aureus infection (1.54; 1.14-2.08), coagulase-negative staphylococcal infection (1.50; 1.07-2.10), mitral valve vegetation (1.34; 1.06-1.68), and paravalvular complications (2.25; 1.64-3.09) were associated with an increased risk of in-hospital death, whereas viridans streptococcal infection (0.52; 0.33-0.81) and surgery (0.61; 0.44-0.83) were associated with a decreased risk. In the early 21st century, IE is more often an acute disease, characterized by a high rate of S aureus infection. Mortality remains relatively high.

Evangelium nach Thomas

(Résumé de l'ouvrage) Die RGG4 bietet in 15 665 Artikeln und Teilartikeln einen fundierten Überblick über Religion und Religionen, wie sie gelebt und gedacht wurden und werden. Sie bietet den neuesten Forschungsstand, dargestellt von 3 972 ausgewiesenen Kennern der jeweiligen Materie aus 74 Ländern. Die RGG4 führt die Tradition der ersten drei Auflagen fort: Aus der Mitte des evangelischen Glaubens ist weit mehr als die Theologie im Blick, nach deren Kriterien wird aber gewichtet.Die RGG4 erschließt die Themen in Form von biographischen Artikeln, Länder-, Orts-, Begriffs- und Ereignisartikeln sowie Artikeln über Gruppierungen und Institutionen. Knappe Definitionsartikel und Querverweise erleichtern die schnelle Information. Ausführliche Reihenartikel behandeln Stichworte wie "Abendmahl" oder "Christentum" aus vielerlei Perspektiven. Die RGG4 ist durch die Artikelvielfalt und die detailgenaue Darstellung ein Nachschlagewerk; zugleich ist sie eine Lehr- und Repetitionsbibliothek. Sie bringt mit einem ausgesucht lesbaren Schriftbild ein Maximum an Information auf einer Seite. Die acht Bände der RGG4 decken jeweils ganze Buchstaben ab. Der das Werk abschließende Registerband ermöglicht den Zugang zu dem in der RGG4 enthaltenen Wissen nach noch spezielleren Fragestellungen wie beispielsweise Namen und Stichworten, die keinen Haupteintrag haben. Selbstverständlich ist die RGG4 auf alterungsbeständigem Papier gedruckt, solide fadengeheftet und in Buckramleinen gebunden. Die RGG4 erhielt von der Stiftung Buchkunst die Auszeichnung "Eines der schönsten Bücher 1998. Vorbildlich gestaltet in Satz, Druck, Bild und Einband."

How to Read Bible stories

A welcome supplement to the bestselling How to Read the OT and How to Read the NT, indicating more recent developments in biblical studies especially in the area of narrative criticism.

Microfluidic processor allows rapid HER2 immunohistochemistry of breast carcinomas and significantly reduces ambiguous (2+) read-outs.

Biomarker analysis is playing an essential role in cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction. Quantitative assessment of immunohistochemical biomarker expression on tumor tissues is of clinical relevance when deciding targeted treatments for cancer patients. Here, we report a microfluidic tissue processor that permits accurate quantification of the expression of biomarkers on tissue sections, enabled by the ultra-rapid and uniform fluidic exchange of the device. An important clinical biomarker for invasive breast cancer is human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 [(HER2), also known as neu], a transmembrane tyrosine kinase that connotes adverse prognostic information for the patients concerned and serves as a target for personalized treatment using the humanized antibody trastuzumab. Unfortunately, when using state-of-the-art methods, the intensity of an immunohistochemical signal is not proportional to the extent of biomarker expression, causing ambiguous outcomes. Using our device, we performed tests on 76 invasive breast carcinoma cases expressing various levels of HER2. We eliminated more than 90% of the ambiguous results (n = 27), correctly assigning cases to the amplification status as assessed by in situ hybridization controls, whereas the concordance for HER2-negative (n = 31) and -positive (n = 18) cases was 100%. Our results demonstrate the clinical potential of microfluidics for accurate biomarker expression analysis. We anticipate our technique will be a diagnostic tool that will provide better and more reliable data, onto which future treatment regimes can be based.

Hyperfrontality and hypoconnectivity during refreshing in schizophrenia.

Anomalous activations of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and posterior cerebral areas have been reported in previous studies of working memory in schizophrenia. Several interpretations have been reported: e.g., neural inefficiency, the use of different strategies and differences in the functional organization of the cerebral cortex. To better understand these abnormal activations, we investigated the cerebral bases of a working memory component process, namely refreshing (i.e., thinking briefly of a just-activated representation). Fifteen patients with schizophrenia and 15 control subjects participated in this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Participants were told that whenever they saw a word on the screen, they had to read it silently to themselves (read and repeat conditions), and when they saw a dot, they had to think of the just-previous word (refresh condition). The refresh condition (in comparison with the read condition) was associated with significantly increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus and significantly decreased connectivity within the prefrontal cortex and between the prefrontal and parietal cortices in patients with schizophrenia in comparison with control subjects. These results suggest that prefrontal dysfunctions in schizophrenia might be related to a defective ability to initiate (rather than to execute) specific cognitive processes.

An image quality comparison of standard and dual-side read CR systems for pediatric radiology.

An objective analysis of image quality parameters was performed for a computed radiography (CR) system using both standard single-side and prototype dual-side read plates. The pre-sampled modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) for the systems were determined at three different beam qualities representative of pediatric chest radiography, at an entrance detector air kerma of 5 microGy. The NPS and DQE measurements were realized under clinically relevant x-ray spectra for pediatric radiology, including x-ray scatter radiations. Compared to the standard single-side read system, the MTF for the dual-side read system is reduced, but this is offset by a significant decrease in image noise, resulting in a marked increase in DQE (+40%) in the low spatial frequency range. Thus, for the same image quality, the new technology permits the CR system to be used at a reduced dose level.

Etude de la torpeur chez Suncus etruscus (Savi, 1822) (Soricidae, Insectivora) en captivité

Some aspects of torpor have been studied among captive Suncus etruscus by recording the nest temperature. Torpors show a circadian pattern and occur spontaneously or can be induced by food shortage. Body temperature can be controlled during torpor, remaining relatively high at low ambiant temperatures. At 20° C, spontaneous torpors seem to be less deep than induced tropors, but both show similar patterns at 5-8 ° C. Spontaneous torpors begin between 01°° and 06°°, whereas the onset of diet induced torpors seems to depend also on food exhausting. The rates of activity (A) and of torpor (T) show under constant conditions a daily variability. Increase of T is linked with a decrease of A and the relationship could agree with A(%) = Ao( 1-T/100), where Ao is daily rate of activity when T = 0. Occurence of torpor among other Soricidae, possible occurence among free living Suncus etruscus and energy saving are discussed

Substantial deletion overlap among divergent Arabidopsis genomes revealed by intersection of short reads and tiling arrays.

ABSTRACT: Identification of small polymorphisms from next generation sequencing short read data is relatively easy, but detection of larger deletions is less straightforward. Here, we analyzed four divergent Arabidopsis accessions and found that intersection of absent short read coverage with weak tiling array hybridization signal reliably flags deletions. Interestingly, individual deletions were frequently observed in two or more of the accessions examined, suggesting that variation in gene content partly reflects a common history of deletion events.

L'utilisation de l'Evangile de Thomas dans la recherche actuelle sur les paroles de Jésus

(Résumé de l'ouvrage) Ce volume regroupe des travaux menés sur le Jésus de l'histoire par des spécialistes de cette question fondatrice. Celle-ci connait, en effet, de vigoureuses impulsions dues à l'application de nouvelles méthodologies aux effets inattendus: sociologie du judaisme ancien, anthropologie des sociétés agraires, utilisation des écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Pour la première fois, des savants mondialement réputés sont présentés en français tels John S. Kloppenborg (Toronto) ou Ed P. Sanders (Durham). L'ouvrage est construit en sept parties: l'état de la recherche, le judaisme au temps de Jésus, le coeur de la théologie de Jésus, la tradition extracanonique chrétienne et la question du Jésus historique, Jésus dans le Nouveau Testament, les lectures juives de Jésus, le Jésus historique et la théologie.