scholarly journals The discovery of biological subphenotypes in ARDS: a novel approach to targeted medicine?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Wildi ◽  
Samantha Livingstone ◽  
Chiara Palmieri ◽  
Gianluigi LiBassi ◽  
Jacky Suen ◽  
...  

AbstractThe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe lung disorder with a high morbidity and mortality which affects all age groups. Despite active research with intense, ongoing attempts in developing pharmacological agents to treat ARDS, its mortality rate remains unaltered high and treatment is still only supportive. Over the years, there have been many attempts to identify meaningful subgroups likely to react differently to treatment among the heterogenous ARDS population, most of them unsuccessful. Only recently, analysis of large ARDS cohorts from randomized controlled trials have identified the presence of distinct biological subphenotypes among ARDS patients: a hypoinflammatory (or uninflamed; named P1) and a hyperinflammatory (or reactive; named P2) subphenotype have been proposed and corroborated with existing retrospective data. The hyperinflammatory subphenotyope was clearly associated with shock state, metabolic acidosis, and worse clinical outcomes. Core features of the respective subphenotypes were identified consistently in all assessed cohorts, independently of the studied population, the geographical location, the study design, or the analysis method. Additionally and clinically even more relevant treatment efficacies, as assessed retrospectively, appeared to be highly dependent on the respective subphenotype. This discovery launches a promising new approach to targeted medicine in ARDS. Even though it is now widely accepted that each ARDS subphenotype has distinct functional, biological, and mechanistic differences, there are crucial gaps in our knowledge, hindering the translation to bedside application. First of all, the underlying driving biological factors are still largely unknown, and secondly, there is currently no option for fast and easy identification of ARDS subphenotypes. This narrative review aims to summarize the evidence in biological subphenotyping in ARDS and tries to point out the current issues that will need addressing before translation of biological subohenotypes into clinical practice will be possible.

Author(s):  
Daniele Miano

This book focuses on the Latin goddess Fortuna, one of the better known deities in ancient Italy. The earliest forms of her worship can be traced back to archaic Latium, and she was still a widely recognized allegorical figure during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The main reason for her longevity is that she was a conceptual deity, and had strong associations with chance and good fortune. When they were interacting with the goddess, communities, individuals, and gender and age groups were inevitably also interacting with the concept. These relations were not neutral: they allowed people to renegotiate the concept, enriching it with new meanings and challenging established ones. The geographical and chronological scope of this book is Italy from the archaic age to the late Republic. In this period Italy was a fragmented, multicultural and multilinguistic environment, characterized by a wide circulation of people, customs, and ideas, in which Rome played an increasingly dominant role. All available sources on Fortuna have been used: literary, epigraphic, and archaeological. The study of the goddess based on conceptual analysis will serve to construct a radically new picture of the historical development of this deity in the context of the cultural interactions taking place in ancient Italy. The book also aims at experimenting with a new approach to polytheism, based on the connection between gods and goddesses and concepts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukruti Bansal ◽  
Silvia Nagy ◽  
Antonio Padilla ◽  
Ivonne Zavala

Abstract Recent progress in understanding de Sitter spacetime in supergravity and string theory has led to the development of a four dimensional supergravity with spontaneously broken supersymmetry allowing for de Sitter vacua, also called de Sitter supergravity. One approach makes use of constrained (nilpotent) superfields, while an alternative one couples supergravity to a locally supersymmetric generalization of the Volkov-Akulov goldstino action. These two approaches have been shown to give rise to the same 4D action. A novel approach to de Sitter vacua in supergravity involves the generalisation of unimodular gravity to supergravity using a super-Stückelberg mechanism. In this paper, we make a connection between this new approach and the previous two which are in the context of nilpotent superfields and the goldstino brane. We show that upon appropriate field redefinitions, the 4D actions match up to the cubic order in the fields. This points at the possible existence of a more general framework to obtain de Sitter spacetimes from high-energy theories.


2021 ◽  
pp. 209653112098296
Author(s):  
Yan Tang

Purpose: This study explores a novel approach to compiling life-oriented moral textbooks for elementary schools in China, specifically focusing on Morality and Law. Design/Approach/Methods: Adopting Aristotle’s Poetics as its theoretical perspective, this study illustrates and analyzes the mimetic approach used in compiling the life-oriented moral education textbook, Morality and Law. Findings: The mimetic approach involves imitating children's real activities, thoughts, and feelings in textbooks. The mimetic approach to compiling life-oriented moral textbooks comprises three strategies: constructing children's life events as building blocks for textbook compilation, designing an intricate textual device exposing the wholeness of children's life actions, and designing inward learning activities leading to children's inner worlds. Originality/Value: From the perspective of Aristotle's Poetics, the approach to compilation in Morality and Law can be defined as mimetic. And the compilation activity in the life-oriented moral education textbook also can be described as a processes of mimesis. So this article presents a new approach to compile moral education textbooks, and  an innovative way to understand the nature of one compiling activity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Hashemi Amin ◽  
Mahtab Ghaemi ◽  
Sayyed Mostafa Mostafavi ◽  
Ladan Goshayeshi ◽  
Khadijeh Rezaei ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Gastric cancer (GC) is a multifactorial disease and the fifth most frequent diagnosed cancer worldwide. It accounts for one third of cancer-related mortalities. Geospatial analysis using geographical information systems (GIS) can provide an efficient solution to identify spatial disparities associated with GC. As such, GIS enables policymakers to control cancer in a better way and identify the regions where interventions are needed. This study aims to publish a comprehensive dataset, which was applied to conduct a spatial analysis of GC patients in the city of Mashhad, Iran. Data description We provide a personal geodatabase, a Microsoft Access database that can store, query, and manage both spatial and non-spatial data, which contains four feature classes. “Male_Stomach_Cancer_Patients” and “Female_Stomach_Cancer_Patients” are point feature classes, which show the age and geographical location of 1156 GC cancer patients diagnosed between 2014 and 2017. “Air_Polution_Mashhad” is another point feature class that reveals the amount of six air pollutants, which was taken from Mashhad Environmental Pollutants Monitoring Center between 2017 and 2018. Finally, “Stomach_Cancer_and_Risk_Factors” is a polygon feature class of neighborhood division of Mashhad, consisting of contributor risk factors including dietary habits, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index and population by age groups for all 165 city neighborhoods.


2007 ◽  
Vol 280-283 ◽  
pp. 1805-1806
Author(s):  
Zhi Jun Cao ◽  
Jia Chen Liu ◽  
Li Bin Liu ◽  
Hao Ye ◽  
Yan Qiu Wei

A new approach was developed for surface modification of metallic surface. By treating nano-zirconia particles and metal surface in different charge state, nano-zirconia particles can be dispersedly inlaid in metal surface owing to electrostatic and nanometer effects. By using this method, metal components of complex shapes, especially those having inside surfaces, might be easily improved, i.e., enhanced surface hardness and wear rate.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind H. Whiting

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the changes in gender‐biased employment practices that it is perceived have occurred in New Zealand accountancy workplaces over the last 30 years, using Oliver's model of deinstitutionalization.Design/methodology/approachSequential interviewing was carried out with 69 experienced chartered accountants and three human resource managers, and at a later date with nine young female accountants.FindingsEvidence is presented of perceived political, functional and social pressures cumulatively contributing to deinstitutionalization of overt gender‐biased employment practices, with social and legislative changes being the most influential. Deinstitutionalization appears incomplete as some more subtle gender‐biased practices still remain in New Zealand's accountancy workplaces, relating particularly to senior‐level positions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study adds to understanding of how professions evolve. The purposeful bias in the sample selection, the small size of two of the interviewee groups, and the diversity in the interviewees' workplaces are recognized limitations.Practical implicationsIdentification of further cultural change is required to deinstitutionalize the more subtle gender‐biased practices in accountancy organizations. This could help to avoid a serious deficiency of senior chartered accountants in practice in the future.Originality/valueThis paper represents one of a limited number of empirical applications of the deinstitutionalization model to organizational change and is the first to address the issue of gender‐biased practices in a profession. The use of sequential interviewing of different age groups, in order to identify and corroborate perceptions of organizational change is a novel approach.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. CMC.S2118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hala Mahfouz Badran ◽  
Mohamed Fahmy Elnoamany ◽  
Tarek Salah Khalil ◽  
Mostafa Mohamed Ezz Eldin

Background Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major public health problem which in turn imposes a significant burden on health care systems because of high morbidity and mortality. Although the multifactorial etiology of CAD increases with age, but in recent years, the incidence is increasing among younger age groups. Objectives In this study we aimed to evaluate the effect of age on risk profile, inflammatory response and the angiographic findings in patients with ACS. Patients and Methods The study comprised 253 ACS patients. Seventy six (30%) with UA, 56 (22%) with NSTEMI and 121(48%) with STEMI diagnosis. The value of Hs-CRP, lipid profile, cardiac enzymes, risk factors, EF% and angiographic score were analyzed and compared in different age groups. Results Group 1 (n = 68) with age <45 years, group II (n = 110) with age ≥45-<65 years and group III (n = 75) ≥65 years. Group I had more prevalence of male sex, smoking, family history, hypertriglyceridemia and low levels of HDL (P < 0.01), higher incidence of STEMI (P < 0.01) and lower prevalence of UA (P < 0.01). Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and female gender were more common in older groups. Hs-CRP was significantly lower in the young age (group I). Group I showed a preponderance of single-vessel disease, lower coronary atherosclerotic score and prevalent left anterior descending artery (LAD) involvement compared with older age groups. Hs-CRP was positively correlated to severity of CAD only in older groups. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that age, male gender, cardiac enzymes and EF% were common predictors of multivessel disease. Smoking was independent predictor in young patients <45 years while diabetes and Hs-CRP was the key predictor in older patient groups. Conclusion Young patients with ACS had different clinical, angiographic and biochemical profile. Hs-CRP peak concentration did not correlate with angiographic findings in young patients that could be attributed to different risk profile and discrete underlying mechanism.


Author(s):  
Anatoly E Martynyuk ◽  
Ling-Sha Ju ◽  
Timothy E Morey

Abstract Most surgical procedures require general anesthesia, which is a reversible deep sedation state lacking all perception. The induction of this state is possible because of complex molecular and neuronal network actions of general anesthetics (GAs) and other pharmacological agents. Laboratory and clinical studies indicate that the effects of GAs may not be completely reversible upon anesthesia withdrawal. The long-term neurocognitive effects of GAs, especially when administered at the extremes of ages, are an increasingly recognized health concern and the subject of extensive laboratory and clinical research. Initial studies in rodents suggest that the adverse effects of GAs, whose actions involve enhancement of GABA type A receptor activity (GABAergic GAs), can also extend to future unexposed offspring. Importantly, experimental findings show that GABAergic GAs may induce heritable effects when administered from the early postnatal period to at least young adulthood, covering nearly all age groups that may have children after exposure to anesthesia. More studies are needed to understand when and how the clinical use of GAs in a large and growing population of patients can result in lower resilience to diseases in the even larger population of their unexposed offspring. This minireview is focused on the authors’ published results and data in the literature supporting the notion that GABAergic GAs, in particular sevoflurane, may upregulate systemic levels of stress and sex steroids and alter expressions of genes that are essential for the functioning of these steroid systems. The authors hypothesize that stress and sex steroids are involved in the mediation of sex-specific heritable effects of sevoflurane.


1990 ◽  
Vol 206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tongsan D. Xiao ◽  
Peter R. Strutt ◽  
Kenneth E. Gonsalves

ABSTRACTA new approach has been developed for the synthesis of nanoscale ceramic powder materials from liquid organosilazane precursors. This technique, by exploiting fast kinetic chemical and physical reactions, makes it possible to synthesize significant quantities of material in a relatively short time. In the current approach aerosols of a silazane monomer, (CH3SiHNH)n, (n = 3 or 4), of mol. wt. 280–320, are injected into the beam of a cw industrial CO2 laser to obtain nanoscale ceramic powders. Injection of the aerosol into the laser-beam results in a high-temperature plume. Rapid condensation of the molecular precursor species emerging from the laser plume results in the formation of preceramic polymer particles, with an average diameter of 62 nm. One attractive feature of this process is that 70 wt.% of the liquid precursor is converted into nanoscale powders. Another feature is that only a further 10 wt.% loss occurs during post thermal treatment to form the end-product.


2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. H. Stumpf ◽  
Thomas Thorne

Summary It has previously been shown that subnets differ from global networks from which they are sampled for all but a very limited number of theoretical network models. These differences are of qualitative as well as quantitative nature, and the properties of subnets may be very different from the corresponding properties in the true, unobserved network. Here we propose a novel approach which allows us to infer aspects of the true network from incomplete network data in a multi-model inference framework. We develop the basic theoretical framework, including procedures for assessing confidence intervals of our estimates and evaluate the performance of this approach in simulation studies and against subnets drawn from the presently available PIN network data in Saccaromyces cerevisiae. We then illustrate the potential power of this new approach by estimating the number of interactions that will be detectable with present experimental approaches in sfour eukaryotic species, inlcuding humans. Encouragingly, where independent datasets are available we obtain consistent estimates from different partial protein interaction networks. We conclude with a discussion of the scope of this approaches and areas for further research


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