Pregnancy-Related Attack in Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder With AQP4-IgG: A Single-Center Study and Meta-Analysis

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the demographic characteristic of pregnancy-related attacks (PRAs) in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). In addition, we investigated the predictors of PRAs as well as the effect of immunosuppressive (IS) therapy in patients with pregnancy-related NMOSD.MethodWe retrospectively analyzed data on clinical and diagnostic characteristics, therapeutic management, and pregnancy outcomes for PRAs in AQP4-IgG-positive NMOSD patients admitted to the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. Moreover, we searched the literature (without any temporal restriction) to identify all such similar cohorts and performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of IS therapy on NMOSD patients with PRAs.ResultWe collected clinical data on 117 women with AQP4 antibody-positive NMOSD; we ultimately included 33 patients (34 pregnancies). Ten patients were relapse-free during pregnancy, and 23 (69.7%) had PRA; attacks were most common during the first trimester of the postpartum period. Maintenance of IS treatment during pregnancy was found to greatly reduce PRAs in patients with NMOSD. PRAs were associated with a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) at relapse during pregnancy and shorter time interval between the last relapse and conception. The meta-analysis suggested that maintenance of IS treatment during pregnancy can significantly reduce the RR of NMOSD (95%CI=0.35-0.62; z=5.18, p<0.0001) and had no adverse effect on the miscarriage rate. However, the unhealthy newborn occurrence among those receiving IS treatment was 3.73 times higher than that of those not receiving treatment during pregnancy (95%CI=1.40–9.91; z=2.64, p=0.008).ConclusionOur study results demonstrates that pregnancy can induce the onset or relapse of attacks in NMOSD patients. The increased NLR value and disease activity may be a predictor for PRAs in patients with NMOSD. Moreover, administration of IS treatment during pregnancy can reduce the relapse rate. However, the dosage of drugs and risks of adverse effects to the fetus need to be considered. Future prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm and extend our findings.

Temporal Restriction and Interest for the Elderly on Cultural Participation. The Case of Spanish Performing Arts 2019

This paper discusses the relationship of cultural participation in performing arts with the manifested interest. Using the data set from the Cultural Habits and Practices Survey 2018-2019 a binary probit model has been applied for the analysis. Emphasizing the role of aging in participation, especially for the group of the elderly and very old. The age variable is one of the most difficult variables to apprehend, in which the cohort effects, age itself and period should be considered. This paper is an approach to the study of the aging effect on cultural participation, which would be continued with the analysis of the Surveys in previous years. This work shows that there is no homogeneous behavior between participation and interest within the different performing arts. Presenting some of them differentiating features.

Method for prediction of ship traffic behaviour and encounter frequency

The design of new rules on seaways, such as traffic restrictions, requires determining the degree of improvement in marine traffic safety beforehand by considering the occurrence of new hazardous factors. This study proposes a method to predict the future traffic behaviour and ship encounter frequency (EF) with the introduction of a new traffic rule. First, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify the factors affecting the EF. A method of predicting future traffic behaviour and EF is presented based on the analysis of changes in the traffic flow in an area with a temporal restriction. Results show that the method appropriately predicts the location and degree of the occurrence of encounters in the sea area. The proposed method contributes to the discussion of future traffic safety, when sailing in a specific area is restricted by new regulations, installations of new offshore wind farms and fishing reefs.

عید الاضحیٰ کی قربانی سے پہلے اور اُس کے بعد کے مراسمِ عبودیت ( جاوید احمد غامدی صاحب کے موقف کا ایک تنقیدی مطالعہ)

Jāvaid Aḥmad Ghāmidī, a contemporary Muslim modernist scholar, holds that the three established rituals of ḥajj and ‘umrah can be regarded as independent rituals in religion, which he categorises asnadhar (votive offering). The ritual is performed by fulfilling three conditions: 1) abstaining from removing body hair, 2) refraining from clipping nails, and 3) trimming or shaving the head. According to Ghāmidī, all believers can perform this rite, without any spatio-temporal restriction, as a supererogatory act. The Prophet (P.B.U.H.), he believes, encouraged Muslims to voluntarily observe it on the occasion of ‘īd al-aḍḥā. This is inferred by combining the information found in two Prophetic narrations, one reported by Umm Salamah and the other by ‘Abd Allah b. ‘āmr. In Ghāmidī’s view, all believers whether or not they are offering the animal sacrifice may offer such nadhar. For doing so, they would follow the two aforestated restrictions from the beginning of Dhū al-Ḥijjah (the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar) and trim or shave their heads on the ‘Īd day after the animal has been slaughtered (if they are to offer the sacrifice) orin anytime during the day (if they are not to offer the sacrifice). This last act is seen as a token of the completion of their votive offering to God. After a careful discussion of Ghāmidī’s view, this article concludes that the religious and rational arguments put forward by Ghāmidī are insufficient to relate the three rites (separately mentioned in the above Prophetic narrations) to the corresponding rites of ḥajj and ‘umrah and generalize them, out of the context, as one standalone ritual.

Serotonin receptor 5-HT7 in Drosophila mushroom body neurons mediates larval appetitive olfactory learning

Serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine are critical neuromodulators known to regulate a range of behaviors in invertebrates and mammals, such as learning and memory. Effects of both serotonin and dopamine are mediated largely through their downstream G-protein coupled receptors through cAMP-PKA signaling. While the role of dopamine in olfactory learning in Drosophila is well described, the function of serotonin and its downstream receptors on Drosophila olfactory learning remain largely unexplored. In this study we show that the output of serotonergic neurons, possibly through points of synaptic contacts on the mushroom body (MB), is essential for training during olfactory associative learning in Drosophila larvae. Additionally, we demonstrate that the regulation of olfactory associative learning by serotonin is mediated by its downstream receptor (d5-HT7) in a cAMP-dependent manner. We show that d5-HT7 expression specifically in the MB, an anatomical structure essential for olfactory learning in Drosophila, is critical for olfactory associative learning. Importantly our work shows that spatio-temporal restriction of d5-HT7 expression to the MB is sufficient to rescue olfactory learning deficits in a d5-HT7 null larvae. In summary, our results establish a critical, and previously unknown, role of d5-HT7 in olfactory learning.

Restricted and reversed aspectual contrasts

In this chapter, Scottish Gaelic data are presented as evidence for the necessity of two modifications to Cowper’s (1998 and forward) feature geometry for tense and aspectual contrasts. Both modifications involve dependencies on the PRECEDENCE feature, which in Cowper’s geometry of English is responsible for the past tense marker -ed and the past participle morpheme -en/-ed. The first modification is a RESTRICTED feature. This feature is used to encode the temporal restriction between event and reference times in the near perfect and near prospective aspects found in Scottish Gaelic. The second modification is a REVERSED feature, which reverses the temporal ordering of two times. This feature is argued to mark unrestricted and restricted prospective aspects. It is claimed that certain future-like meanings in Scottish Gaelic do not involve a modal feature like IRREALIS but rather the proposed REVERSED feature.

New subfamily Indovolutinae and other volutids (Volutidae, Gastropoda) from the Eocene of Kutch, western India and their paleobiogeographic implications

Seven species belonging to the gastropod family Volutidae are reported for the first time from Kutch, Gujarat, India. They are Prestrombus aff. Prestrombus rockei Cox, 1931, Indovoluta humberti (d'Archiac and Haime, 1854), Indovoluta multidentata (d'Archiac and Haime, 1854), Involuta daviesi Cox, 1931, Involuta coxi new species, Athleta (Volutocorbis) harnaiensis Cox, 1931, and Lyria cf. Lyria punjabensis Eames, 1952. Indovolutinae new subfamily, constituted of the Paleogene genera Prestrombus Douvillé, 1929, Indovoluta Eames, 1956, Involuta Cox, 1931, and Lyrischapa Aldrich, 1911, and the Cretaceous genus Gosavia Stoliczka, 1865, is proposed. These forms have elaborate development of columellar plaits. All of these genera evolved in the western part of the Indian subcontinent. They, except Lyrischapa, also largely remained restricted to this area. Lyrischapa flourished in the Americas after possibly migrating through the southern margin of the relict Tethys Ocean and crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It is argued that the geographic and temporal restriction of this new subfamily was due to lecithotrophic larval development.UUID: http://zoobank.org/14bc056f-1d2e-4674-b624-9eb8e856a1f0

The WT1-like transcription factor Klumpfuss maintains lineage commitment in the intestine

Stem cell (SC) lineages in barrier epithelia exhibit a high degree of plasticity. Mechanisms that govern the precise specification of SC daughter cells during regenerative episodes are therefore critical to maintain homeostasis. One such common mechanism is the transient activation of the Notch (N) signaling pathway. N controls the choice between absorptive and entero-endocrine cell fates in both the mammalian small intestine and theDrosophilamidgut, yet how precisely N signaling promotes lineage restriction in progenitor cells remains unclear. Here, we describe a role for the WT1-like transcription factor Klumpfuss (Klu) in restricting the fate ofDrosophilaenteroblasts (EBs) downstream of N activation. Klu is transiently induced in Notch-positive EBs and its transient activity restricts cell fate towards the enterocyte (EC) lineage. Transcriptomics and DamID profiling show that Klu suppresses enteroendocrine (EE) cell fates by repressing E(Spl)m8-HLH and Phyllopod, both negative regulators of the proneural gene Scute, which is essential for EE differentiation. At the same time, Klu suppresses cell cycle genes, committing EBs to differentiation. Klu-mediated repression of its own transcription further sets up a negative feedback loop that ensures temporal restriction of Klu-mediated gene regulation, and is essential for subsequent differentiation of ECs. Our findings define a transient cell state in which EC lineage restriction is cemented, and establish a hierarchy of transcriptional programs critical in executing a differentiation program downstream of initial induction events governed by N signaling.