14,095 research outputs found

    Exploring the role and association of monocytes with progression of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

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    Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic fibroproliferative disease characterised by accumulation of scar tissue within the lung parenchyma. The clinical course of IPF is heterogenous and disease severity at presentation often varies among patients. Mortality and FVC decline may not accurately reflect progression of fibrosis. As such, there is an unmet need for biomarkers to prognosticate IPF. The pathogenic mechanisms underlying the disease remain incompletely understood but involve aberrations in repair pathways. The role of monocytes in IPF has gained interest due to their role in orchestrating repair. I hypothesised that monocytes, measured from standard full blood count analysis, are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in IPF. I performed three retrospective clinical studies. In Study 1, I explored association between blood leukocytes (monocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes) with (i) progression of the Indeterminate of Usual interstitial pneumonia (iUIP) CT pattern to IPF and (ii) progression of established IPF. In study 2, I explored blood leukocyte association with progression of early fibrotic-interstitial lung abnormalities (EF-ILA) and in Study 3, I explored leukocyte association with radiological progression of fibrosis per se quantified by automated CT (CALIPER). Patients were enrolled from the Oxford Interstitial lung disease (ILD) service or Oxford Radiology service. Analyses were conducted using multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression. In Study 1 monocyte and neutrophil counts were associated with progression of iUIP to IPF. In cases with established IPF neutrophils, lymphopaenia and neutrophil: lymphocyte ratio were associated with FVC decline; while both monocytes and neutrophil levels (and derived indexes) were associated with all-cause mortality. In Study 2 EF-ILA was significantly associated with all-cause mortality. Monocytes and neutrophils (and derived indexes) were significantly associated with progression of EF-ILA and mortality. In Study 3 neutrophil count demonstrated significant association with progression of total lung fibrosis, as did all leukocyte indexes, but not absolute monocyte and lymphocyte counts. The association between monocytes, neutrophils and lymphocytes with mortality and disease progression across these cohorts suggests a role for these cells in the pathogenesis of IPF and sub-clinical ILD

    Father Andrew Mullen 1790-1818: a study in early nineteenth century spirituality

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    This thesis is laid out in three parts: Part I. The life and death of Andrew Mullen. The life is based, to a large extent, on a long letter to his mother, Catherine Mullen, dated 7 January 1810. The letter gives a definite insight into his spirituality based on his membership of the Archconfraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. There is a hint that he had a premonition of an early death. Part II. The burial of Andrew Mullen and the immediate cult to him This is based on documentary evidence. Part III. Most of this part is a catalogue of testimonies taken from 1993 onwards. Then there is the conclusion on the popular devotion to Andrew Mullen stressing the theological aspect of the subject. In the course of writing the thesis it was decided to separate the documentary evidence from the oral tradition. This was advantageous in developing the thesis, and the documents provided a secure basis for the oral tradition. Two pieces of information were found in March 1997. They are death notices: 2 January 1819, The Leinster Journal and 7 January 1819, The Car low Morning Post. There is a slight discrepancy between the two on the date of his death. Also this discrepancy shows a slight difference from the date of the tombstone

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 – Supplemental material for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct

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    Supplemental material, author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct by George Wood, Daria Roithmayr and Andrew V. Papachristos in Socius</p

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Andrew Field papers

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    Andrew Field (1938- ) is a scholar, translator, and author, who has published translations of Russian literature, critical studies, biographies, fiction, essays, and travel articles. He holds degrees from Columbia University as well as a Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. From 1977 to 1979, he was a professor at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Field's papers consist of materials relating to the writing of his 1983 study of the life and work of Djuna Barnes, Djuna: the Formidable Miss Barnes (alternately entitled Djuna: The Life and Times of Djuna Barnes). Included in the collection are correspondence, manuscripts, research notes, clippings related to the book's publication and reception, and photographs. Also included is a handwritten manuscript of a poem by Barnes

    Ep. #185 - Andrew Blum

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    This recording and transcript form part of a collection of podcasts conducted by the Cultures of Energy at Rice University. Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter.Co-host Cymene reminisces this week about being the first intern hired by Wired magazine waaaay back in the day. Then (14:42) we are joined by journalist Andrew Blum (https://www.andrewblum.net)—the celebrated author of Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet—to talk about his new book, The Weather Machine (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2019). We dive deep into it, beginning with our “golden age” of meteorology, and its improved computer simulations. We talk about human presence within massive information infrastructures, his interest in place philosophy, balancing attentions to weather and climate, comparing weather banality vs. weather catastrophe; and, Andrew explains to us the different ways of interpreting the history of weather forecasting. From there we turn to the intersection of war and weather, how Cold War rivalry and internationalism helped shape the weather machine as a global cooperative project, and whether private corporations like Google and IBM will control the future of forecasting. Chemtrails and other weather conspiracies make an appearance, as does the secret Nazi invasion of Canada to build a weather station. We close talking about weather and sympathy and sharing storm stories

    Increased monocyte level is a risk factor for radiological progression in patients with early fibrotic interstitial lung abnormality

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    Background: interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) are specific spatial patterns on computed tomography (CT) scan potentially compatible with early interstitial lung disease. A proportion will progress; management involves risk stratification and surveillance. Elevated blood monocyte levels have been shown to associate with progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The aims of the present study were: 1) to estimate the proportion of “early fibrotic” (EF)-ILAs (reticular±ground-glass opacities, excluding traction bronchiectasis and honeycombing) on CT scans of patients attending all-indications thoracic CTs, and proportion demonstrating radiological progression; and 2) to explore association between peripheral blood leukocyte levels and ILA progression.Methods: we analysed all thoracic CT reports in individuals aged 45–75 years performed between January 2015 and December 2020 in one large teaching hospital (Oxford, UK) to identify patient CT reports consistent with EF-ILA. CT-contemporaneous blood leukocyte counts were examined to explore contribution to progression and all-cause mortality, using multivariate Cox regression.Results: 40 711 patients underwent thoracic CT imaging during this period. 1259 (3.1%) demonstrated the EF-ILA pattern (mean±sd age 65.4±7.32 years; 735 (47.8%) male). EF-ILA was significantly associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.87, 95% CI 1.25–2.78; p=0.002). 362 cases underwent at least one follow-on CT. Radiological progression was observed in 157 (43.4%) cases: increase in reticulation n=51, new traction bronchiectasis n=84, honeycombing n=22. Monocyte count, neutrophil count, monocyte:lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio and “systemic inflammatory response index” were significantly associated with radiological progression.Conclusion: 3.1% of subjects requiring thoracic CT during a 6-year period demonstrated EF-ILA. Monocyte levels and blood leukocyte-derived indexes were associated with radiological progression and could indicate which patients may require closer follow-up

    Servants, Aestheticism, and "The Dominance of Form"

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    The fictional representation of domestic servants reveals the relationship between aesthetic form and social domination in the work of aesthetes from Wilde to Henry James and beyond. Tracing the sources of Wilde's An Ideal Husband and Dorian Gray and James' The Ambassadors in French decadence and situating them within the history of service, I show that aestheticist depictions of servants recall, through literary form, the aesthete's dependence on servants' labor. I suggest that modernism shared this socially self-conscious concept of aesthetic form with aestheticism, precisely because it too pursued aesthetic autonomy.Published in ELH, copyright The Johns Hopkins University Press.Peer reviewe

    Interview with Andrew Knox Cass

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    Interview with Andrew Knox Cass, Author and STEM Teacher at the Energy and Environment Department. Polytechnic Institute, Aalborg. Denmark.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/digital-proximities_archive/1009/thumbnail.jp
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