Inflammatory Articular Disease in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Result of the Swiss IBD Cohort Study

BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are systemic conditions that commonly display extraintestinal manifestations. Inflammatory articular disease (IAD: axial or peripheral) is the most common extraintestinal manifestation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and the clinical characteristics associated with IAD in patients with IBD. METHODS We analyzed patients enrolled in the Swiss IBD cohort study. IAD was defined as persistent or recurrent joint pain with an inflammatory pattern (night pain, progressive relief during the day, morning stiffness lasting at least 30 minutes) or the presence of arthritis as diagnosed by the physicians. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to analyze which disease characteristics were independently associated with the presence of IAD. RESULTS A total of 2353 patients with IBD, 1359 with Crohn's disease, and 994 with ulcerative colitis (UC) were included. Forty-four percent of patients fulfilled the criteria for IAD, whereas 14.5% presented with other extraintestinal manifestations. IAD was associated with Crohn's disease, with female sex, with older age, and generally in patients with more active intestinal disease. Only in UC, IAD was further associated with tobacco smoking and with increasing body mass index. CONCLUSIONS This population of patients with IBD displays a high prevalence of IAD. IAD was more strongly associated with Crohn's disease than UC. Other risk factors for IAD were female sex, advanced age, active digestive disease, and tobacco consumption in patients with UC, which is interesting given the established association between smoking and other inflammatory arthritides.

Environmental sensing by African trypanosomes

African trypanosomes, which divide their life cycle between mammals and tsetse flies, are confronted with environments that differ widely in temperature, nutrient availability and host responses to infection. In particular, since trypanosomes cannot predict when they will be transmitted between hosts, it is vital for them to be able to sense and adapt to their milieu. Thanks to technical advances, significant progress has been made in understanding how the parasites perceive external stimuli and react to them. There is also a growing awareness that trypanosomes use a variety of mechanisms to exchange information with each other, thereby enhancing their chances of survival.

Inc. hebr. 48 - Mivḥar ha-peninim

Vorbesitzer: Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild

Mariana [Manuscrito]: melodía para banda

Número 340 en el catálogo de Vicente Galbis e Hilari García

Recuerdo de Weber [Manuscrito]: (Tomado de la sonata op.40)

Arreglo para banda de la "Sonata para piano op.49 de C.M. von Weber"

Himno al saber [Manuscrito]

Número 263 en el catálogo de Vicente Galbis e Hilari García

Otro título: Himne a València

Número 259 en el catálogo de Vicente Galbis e Hilari García, bajo el título "Himne a València"

The roles of zinc and copper sensing in fungal pathogenesis

Open Access funded by Wellcome Trust Acknowledgements ERB is funded by the BBSRC (BB/M014525/1). DW is supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (Grant Number 102549/Z/13/Z). We additionally acknowledge the MRC and University of Aberdeen for funding (MR/N006364/1) and the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377/Z/11/Z). Finally, we acknowledge FungiDB and the Candida Genome Database [ 56 and 57].

A common oscillator for perceptual rivalries?

Perceptual rivalry is an oscillation of conscious experience that takes place despite univarying, if ambiguous, sensory input. Much current interest is focused on the controversy over the neural site of binocular rivalry, a variety of perceptual rivalry for which a number of different cortical regions have been implicated. Debate continues over the relative role of higher levels of processing compared with primary visual cortex and the suggestion that different forms of rivalry involve different cortical areas. Here we show that the temporal pattern of disappearance and reappearance in motion-induced blindness (MIB) (Bonneh et al, 2001 Nature 411 798-801) is highly correlated with the pattern of oscillation reported during binocular rivalry in the same individual. This correlation holds over a wide range of inter-individual variation. Temporal similarity in the two phenomena was strikingly confirmed by the effects of the hallucinogen LSD, which produced the same, extraordinary, pattern of increased rhythmicity in both kinds of perceptual oscillation. Furthermore, MIB demonstrates the two properties previously considered characteristic of binocular rivalry. Namely the distribution of dominance periods can be approximated by a gamma distribution and, in line with Levelt's second proposition of binocular rivalry, predominance of one perceptual phase can be increased through a reduction in the predominance time of the opposing phase. We conclude that (i) MIB is a form of perceptual rivalry, and (ii) there may be a common oscillator responsible for timing aspects of all forms of perceptual rivalry.

Does interhemispheric competition mediate motion-induced blindness? A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Motion-induced blindness (MIB) is a phenomenon, perhaps related to perceptual rivalry, where stationary targets disappear and reappear in a cyclic mode when viewed against a background (mask) of coherent, apparent 3-D motion. Since MIB has recently been shown to share similar temporal properties with binocular rivalry, we probed the appearance-disappearance cycle of MIB using unilateral, single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-a manipulation that has previously been shown to influence binocular rivalry. Effects were seen for both hemispheres when the timing of TMS was determined prospectively on the basis of a given subject's appearance-disappearance cycle, so that it occurred on average around 300 ms before the time of perceptual switch. Magnetic stimulation of either hemisphere shortened the time to switch from appearance to disappearance and vice versa. However, TMS of left posterior parietal cortex more selectively shortened the disappearance time of the targets if delivered in phase with the disappearance cycle, but lengthened it if TMS was delivered in the appearance phase after the perceptual switch. Opposite effects were seen in the right hemisphere, although less marked than the left-hemisphere effects. As well as sharing temporal characteristics with binocular rivalry, MIB therefore seems to share a similar underlying mechanism of interhemispheric modulation. Interhemispheric switching may thus provide a common temporal framework for uniting the diverse, multilevel phenomena of perceptual rivalry.

Esti mesék a kockázatról

Amikor ezt a dolgozatot elkezdtem, még arra gondoltam, hogy csak az operációkutatás közismert modellje, a raktárkészletezés matematikai elmélete és a likviditáskezelés közötti párhuzamról fogok írni. A dolgozat írása közben törtek ki a Buda-Cash és a Quaestor körüli, azt kell mondanom, ügyeletes botrányok. Ugyancsak ebben az időszakban kapott újabb lendületet a devizahitelezéssel kapcsolatos vita: ki mikor mit hibázott, illetve volt-e bárki, aki ne hibázott volna? A Buda-Cash- és a Quaestor-ügyben felmerülő, legmeglepőbb fordulat az állítólagos több százmilliárd forint veszteségen túl az volt, hogy mindezt tizenöt év áldozatos munkájával sikerült összehozni. Még ha ezek az információk első felindulásból született megjegyzések, akkor is magyarázatra szorulnak. Így vagy úgy. Ha igaz, akkor hogyan képzelhető ez el, ha nem igaz, akkor miből ered az a látszat, hogy ez így történt? A felmerülő kérdések és az ellentmondások nyilvánvalóak. A legfőbb kérdés azonban a következő: mit is csinálnak a kockázatkezelők? Miért is fizetjük őket? Mennyire bízhatunk bennük?

A systematic literature review of the current trends and challenges of internationalization of higher education in Latin America

This paper aims to consolidate a sample of existing academic literature on the modes, trends, risks and challenges of the internationalization of higher education in Latin America published over the last 15 years -- Following a systematic literature review methodology, it was seeking to analyze and synthesize a sample of 25 published academic articles on the specifically chosen topic -- As a consequence of this review, it was found that progress has been made on the subject and there is an awareness of the impact it has on quality, international indicators still lag far behind those of more developed regions -- The creation and implementation of accreditation and evaluations processes, the commodification of higher education and the presence of new providers and regionalization efforts were perceived as trending topics in the publications -- Risks and challenges such as lack of governmental support and brain drain, are respectively perceived by researchers as the most concerning -- Finally, an emphasis is made on the comprehensiveness that must characterize this process in order to be successful, meaning that it should “embrace all the educational processes” (Gacel-Ávila, 2007, 406)