Chess without draws

The prevalence of draws in chess is an increasing concern: in the ICCF’s 2017 ‘MT van Oosteram’ Correspondence event, all 56 games were drawn. This article reports a ‘Mobility Chess’ proposal by ‘Aloril’ which addresses this problem. He prefers to retain his anonymity but should be regarded as the primary author of this paper. He has defined a logical sequence of increasingly subtle and decreasingly rewarded ‘winning’ goals G k . Each position in itself associates with both an immediate achievement A j of goal G j – and an ultimate, best-achievable goal G k , k ⩽ j. Therefore, Aloril has eliminated the draw in Mobility Chess and shown how Chess can reduce the incidence of draws as much as required.

Spirals, spikes and spinning wheels: Temporal models challenging the sustainability agenda in relation to fast fashion consumption

Fast fashion has entered the political arena with specific reference to sustainability. To date the agenda has largely been informed by an examination of production methodologies and techniques documenting the rapid turnover of trends, the speed and efficiency of the production process and the lack of socially cohesive labour practices that it consistently engenders. Whilst governments seek to raise awareness and begin to generate initiatives to tackle the environmental fall out of fast fashion, this article turns its attention to the temporal patterns of consumer behaviour and why such a high percentage of what we buy is readily discarded soon after point of purchase. All stages in this linear model of consumption, it is argued, are shaped by a very specific relationship to time that ultimately informs our buying habits. Utilizing the work of the philosopher A. N. Whitehead and adopting a more psychosocial approach to fashion consumption, this article recognizes that even when purposefully seeking to consume sustainably, a greater need to align our use of time with a results-driven mindset locates the acquisition of something new as a highly achievable goal. As a consequence, rather than positioning the rationale for fashion purchases in the context of conspicuous consumption and emulation, here it functions to mitigate a lack of temporal control in other areas of our lives. In response, it is proposed that any successful attempts at tackling the problems associated with fast fashion must also seek to understand the temporal dynamics of consumption. For whilst governments’ attention is turned to ways to reduce the environmental impact associated with the production of clothing, increasing consumer demand derived from ‘neophilia’ will negate and indeed overturn any successes achieved. The conclusion will therefore suggest that promotional culture has a duty to explore ways in which it might engender greater emotional attachments to what we own. Future research into brand messaging, exploring the consequences of placing emphasis on quality over quantity and a subsequent potential deepening of a sense of brand loyalty, is also recommended as a way forward.

Using Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Advance Juvenile Justice Reform: Experiences in 10 Communities

The Annie E. Casey Foundation created its national deep-end initiative to support local jurisdictions to develop and implement practices, policies, and programs that prevent youth involved in the juvenile justice system—especially for youth of color—from being sent to out-of-home placements. This article presents findings about the role that partnerships played across 10 communities in the initiative, leveraging data collected through interviews and a web-based stakeholder survey. As part of the deep-end initiative, stakeholders developed partnerships with multiple entities, though they reported partnering with community organizations, youth, and families less than with juvenile justice agencies. Family engagement emerged broadly and consistently as a priority, but stakeholders infrequently mentioned youth engagement. Sites with more collaboration typically had stronger implementation, suggesting that successful collaboration goes hand in hand with implementing broader reform activities. Developing diverse partnerships to engage in juvenile justice reform is an achievable goal that can advance reform efforts.

South Korea–Russia Rapprochement

The relations between South Korea and Russia have qualitatively improved with Moon Jae-In’s New Northern Policy. Although a Russia–South Korea– North Korea trilateral cooperation remains unclear, South Korea has institutionalised bilateral relationships with Russia. Both geopolitics and geo-economy play prominent roles in the ROK–Russia relations and increasing support for an economic agenda is a considerably achievable goal for both countries.

OP0119 SHOULD WE USE BIODMARDS IN FIRST INTENTION IN EARLY RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS?: RESULTS AT 5 YEARS FROM THE ERA LOUVAIN BRUSSELS COHORT

Background:Early effective treatment has led to major improvements in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (ERA). Low disease activity and remission are achieved earlier and in higher frequency when the initial treatment in rheumatoid arthritis includes a combination of methotrexate (MTX) with a bDMARD compared to MTX alone.Objectives:The aim of this study is to retrospectively analyse and compare the benefit of a treatment with methotrexate (MTX) alone or combined with a bDMARD as an induction therapy during 5 years of follow-up in early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) patients.Methods:We included ERA patients from the UCLouvain Brussels cohort who met the ACR/EULAR 2010 classification criteria and were naïve to DMARDs. Treatments were initiated based on the decision of a senior rheumatologist. bDMARDs induction therapy was usually limited to 6 or 12 months. We collected patient characteristics at baseline and clinical response was analysed at 6 months, 1 year, 3 years and 5 years.Results:Data from 470 eligible ERA patients were collected. The average age of the population is 48.9 years; 70.5% of the patients are women; 27.3% are smokers and 68.8% are positive for anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA). 281 patients (59.8 %) initiated MTX as a monotherapy (MTX group) compared to 189 patients (40.2%) who received a bDMARD (Bio group).At baseline, the disease activity is the main factor that favors the initiation of bDMARDs (DAS28-CRP 5.2 vs 4.5, p<0.001) followed by HAQ (1.32 vs 1.15, p=0.009), ACPA positivity (77.8% vs 62.5%, p=0.0006), rheumatoid factor positivity (71.5% vs 60.2%, p=0.0134). Other parameters such as age, gender, smoking habits or baseline erosion were similar between groups.391 patients were followed up to 5 years. We then divided each of the two groups into two subgroups according to the last treatment they received at 5 years. Figure 1 shows the percentage of DAS28-CRP remission during time in each of the four groups (MTX->MTX (n=134), MTX->BIO (n=103); BIO->MTX (n=95), BIO->BIO (n=59);Figure 1.DAS28-CRP remission rate during time in each of the four groups (MTX->MTX (n=134), MTX->BIO (n=103); BIO->MTX (n=95), BIO->BIO (n=59).At 12 months, DAS28-CRP response rate was statistically significantly higher in MTX>MTX and BIO>MTX groups compared to the two other groups. As expected, the remission rate was rescued in the group MTX->Bio after 12 months.Interestingly, ERA patients initially treated by a bDMARD followed by a MTX maintenance therapy experienced a stable and sustained rate of remission.Conclusion:Longterm remission is an achievable goal in ERA followed in daily clinic. Our results suggest that a bDMARD induction therapy followed by MTX maintenance therapy could be a good option in severe case of ERA.References:[1]Smolen JS and al. D. EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs: 2019 update. Ann Rheum Dis. 2020 Jan 22.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Repurposing NASVAC, a hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine, for pre- and postexposure prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the subsequent coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) have led to tens of millions of cases and millions of deaths around the world. Although more than a year has passed since the emergence of COVID-19, more waves of the pandemic, with new variants of the deadly virus, have been reported. It seems that the virus will continue to infect people for years or decades to come and thus lead to more illnesses and deaths. The experiences last year regarding limiting the transmission of the virus indicate that one or more traditional methods of containment may not be effective; further, even vaccination may not give immunity to society. On the other hand, eliminating the virus using drugs capable of eradicating SARS-CoV-2 from the infected host may not be an achievable goal. Based on these realities and after exploring the mechanism underlying the acquisition of the virus and pathogenesis of COVID-19, we assumed that immune therapy may be a practical option for the containment of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we repurposed an immune modulator containing two antigens of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) (termed NASVAC, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, CIGB, Havana, Cuba), to gain insight into its role against SARS-CoV-2. NASVAC induced cytokines of innate immunity following nasal administration and prevented all 20 volunteers from being diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 during the two weeks of usage. Four volunteers were infected with SARS-CoV-2 two weeks after the end of NASVAC administration; three of them showed almost no symptoms and recovered without any intervention, and one with several comorbidities attended a hospital for four days and recovered completely. In conclusion, the administration of NASVAC to subjects at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection was safe. The pattern of cytokine responses and absence of infection or mild COVID-19 infection of the subjects involved in the study are preliminary evidence indicating that this product may prevent or suppress SARS-CoV-2 infection at the initial stages of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition and/or replication and deserve further exploratory trials to confirm the capacity of NASVAC as pre/postexposure prophylaxis or pre-emptive therapy in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Evangelical and Catholic Timespace in Work: An Argument against a Homeless Eschatology

This article engages with how religion and economy relate to each other in faith-based businesses. It also elaborates on a recurrent idea in theological literature that reflections on different visions of time can advance theological analyses of the relationship between Christianity and capitalism. More specifically, this article brings results from an ethnographic study of two faith-based businesses into conversation with the ethicist Luke Bretherton’s presentation of different understandings of the relationship between Christianity and capitalism. Using Theodore Schatzki’s theory of timespace, the article examines how time and space are constituted in two small faith-based businesses that are part of the two networks Business as Mission (evangelical) and Economy of Communion (catholic) and how the different timespaces affect the religious-economic configurations in the two cases and with what moral implications. The overall findings suggest that the timespace in the Catholic business was characterized by struggling caused by a tension between certain ideals on how religion and economy should relate to each other on the one hand and how the practice evolved on the other hand. Furthermore, the timespace in the evangelical business was characterized by confidence, caused by the business having a rather distinct and achievable goal when it came to how they wanted to be different and how religion should relate to economy. There are, however, nuances and important resemblances between the cases that cannot be explained by the businesses’ confessional and theological affiliations. Rather, there seems to be something about the phenomenon of tension-filled and confident faith-based businesses that causes a drive in the practices towards the common good. After mapping the results of the empirical study, I discuss some contributions that I argue this study brings to Bretherton’s presentation of the relationship between Christianity and capitalism.

Effectiveness of individually tailored exercise on functional capacity and mobility in nursing home residents

Deterioration of physical and functional capacities is often seen in nursing homes. The present study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of an individually tailored physical exercise intervention on mobility and functional decline in nursing home residents in a 1-year follow-up period. Information on gender, age, education, profession and cognitive status was collected at baseline and at 6 and 12 months of the intervention. The decline in functional capacity and mobility was assessed using the Barthel index. Some 221 participants were included. Results from the multivariate logistic regression showed how residents who never participated in physical activities had a five-fold higher risk of mobility decline compared with residents who did engage for the whole follow-up time. A lower effect was seen in residents who participated for only 6 months. Although dementia appeared to be a significant predictor of decline, a substantial stabilisation in mobility capacity was noted in patients with both mild and severe dementia performing exercise. The findings suggest that preventing or slowing physical decline in nursing home residents is an achievable goal, and even those with a higher degree of cognitive decline may benefit from a tailored physical activity plan.