6,719 research outputs found
Professor and award winning author Ilana Blumberg reads from her memoir in the Michigan Wrtiers Series
No full textProfessor and award winning author Ilana Blumberg reads from her memoir, "House of study : a Jewish woman among books". She describes the book as detailing two educations, one in the Jewish religious and cultural studies, and another in modern secular America. Her readings tell of her memories of libraries and her time studying in Israel, a new opportunity for women at the time. Blumberg also talks about studying ancient Jewish texts and compares that with her education at Columbia University and her specialty in 19th century Victorian literature. A question and answer end the session follows. Blumberg is introduced by MSU Librarian Peter Berg for the Michigan State University Libraries' Michigan Writers Series
Prognostic value of the postcoital test for spontaneous pregnancy
No full textAbstract not availableEsther Leushuis, Jan Willem van der Steeg, Pieternel Steures, Carolien Koks, Jur Oosterhuis, Petra Bourdrez, Patrick M. M. Bossuyt, Fulco van der Veen, Ben Willem J. Mol, and Peter G. A. Hompes, on behalf of the CECERM study grou
Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis
Full text linkMultiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis
Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height
Full text linkMost common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits(1), but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait(2,3). The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P<0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways
Long term outcome in subfertile couples with isolated cervical factor
No full textAbstract not availableIrma Scholten, Lobke M. Moolenaar, Judith Gianotten, Fulco van der Veen, Peter G.A. Hompes, Ben W.J. Mol, Pieternel Steure
Eligibility for sotagliflozin in a real-world heart failure population based on the SOLOIST-WHF trial enrolment criteria: Data from the swedish heart failure registry
Full text linkAims: The SOLOIST-WHF trial demonstrated efficacy of sotagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and recent worsening heart failure (HF) regardless of ejection fraction (EF). Selection criteria in trials may limit their generalizability. Therefore, we aimed to investigate eligibility for sotagliflozin based on the SOLOIST-WHF criteria in a real-world HF population. Methods and results: SOLOIST-WHF criteria were applied to patients stabilized after HF hospitalization in the Swedish HF Registry according to 1) literal scenario (all inclusion/exclusion criteria) or 2) pragmatic scenario (only criteria likely to influence treatment decisions). Of 5453 inpatients with T2DM and recent worsening HF, 51.4% had reduced EF (HFrEF), 19.1% mildly reduced (HFmrEF), and 29.5% preserved EF (HFpEF). Eligibility (literal) was: 27.2% (32.4% in HFrEF, 24.7% in HFmrEF, 19.7% in HFpEF) and eligibility (pragmatic) was 62.8% (69.1%, 60.3%, 53.4%, respectively). In the literal scenario, criteria limiting eligibility were HF duration 85 years, acute coronary syndrome < 3 months, and insufficiently high N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels. Eligible vs. non-eligible patients had more severe HF, higher cardiovascular (CV) comorbidity burden, higher use of HF treatments, and higher event rates (all-cause death 30.8 vs. 27.2 per 100 patient-years, CV death 19.1 vs. 16.6, and HF hospitalization 36.7 vs. 24.0). Conclusion: In this large, real-world HF cohort with T2DM, ∼1/3 of patients were eligible for sotagliflozin in the literal and ∼2/3 of patients in the pragmatic scenario. Eligible patients had more severe HF and higher event rates, in particular CV and HF events
Narrative support for technical documents: Formalising Rhetorical Structure Theory
No full textBusiness Process Re-engineering (BPR) is an area that requires a lot of technical documents and an important feature of a well-written document is a coherent narrative. Even though computer software has helped authors in many other aspects of writing, support for document narratives is almost non-existent. Therefore, we introduce CANS (Computer-Aided Narrative Support), a tool that uses Rhetorical Structure Theory to enhance the narrative of a document. From this narrative, the tool generates questions to prompt the author for the content of the document. CANS also allows the author to explore alternative narratives for a document. A catalogue of predefined narrative structures for popular types of documents is provided too. Our tool is still in its rudimentary stages but sufficiently complete to be demonstrated
Use of suspension polymerisation and porogenic solvents for synthesis of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate beads DS
Full text linkV diplomskem delu smo z inverzno suspenzijsko polimerizacijo sintetizirali polimerna zrna na osnovi 2-hidroksietil metakrilata (HEMA). Sintezo smo izvedli z dvema zamreževaloma, N,N\u27-metilbisakril amidom (MBAA) in etilenglikol dimetakrilatom (EGDMA) ter dvema porogenima topiloma, metanol in toluen. Polimerizacijo smo sprožili termično, in sicer z dvema različnima iniciatorjema, α,α\u27-azoizobutilronitrilom (AIBN) in amonijevim peroksodisulfatom (APS). Pri HEMA zrnih, zamreženih z MBAA ali z EGDMA, smo variirali stopnjo zamreženosti med 20 in 60 mol%. Ugotovili smo, da v primeru uporabe MBAA kot zamreževala, dobimo z nižjo stopnjo zamreženosti zrna z večjim povprečnim premerom (470 m) in z višjo zamreženostjo zrna z manjšim povprečnim premerom (190 m). Nasprotno, smo z EGDMA dobili večja zrna z višjo stopnjo zamreženosti. Vrsta in delež uporabljenega zamreževala sta vplivala poleg velikosti nastalih zrn, tudi na obliko. Zrna pripravljena z 20 mol% EGDMA so bila bolj sferičnih oblik kot zrna pripravljena z 20 mol% MBAA. Tudi čas izvedbe reakcije lahko vpliva na obliko nastalih zrn. V našem primeru smo proučevali vpliv časa reakcije na sintezo poli(HEMA-ko-EGDMA) zrn, ki smo jo izvajali 4 oz. 8 ur. Ko smo uporabili 20 mol% EGDMA in reakcijo izvajali 4 h nismo dobili produkta. S podaljšanjem časa reakcije na 8 h, pa smo dobili kot končni produkt majhna zrna, ki so imela sferično obliko in le-tu in tam so bila zlepljena v manjše skupke. Z dodajanjem porogenega topila smo želeli vplivati predvsem na poroznost zrn ter povprečno BET površino, ki je variirala za naše vzorce brez dodatka porogena med 0,01 in 3,1 m2/g, z dodatkom porogena pa med 0,1 in 2,7 m2/g. Nabrekanje zrn smo določili v vodi, toluenu in etanolu ter ugotovili, da polimerna zrna zamrežena z 20 mol% MBAA nabrekajo v vseh testiranih topilih približno enako (stopnja nabrekanja za vodo 1,81, za toluen 2,19 in za etanol 2,06 mL/g), zrna zamrežena z 20 mol% EGDMA pa nabrekajo najbolj v etanolu in najmanj v toluenu. To je lahko posledica razlik v polarnosti topil.In our diploma thesis we synthesized polymeric beads with inverse suspensive polymerization on the base of 2-hydroxy ethyl metacrylate (HEMA). Synthesis was conducted with two crosslinkers, N,N\u27-Methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), and with two porogenic solvents, methanol and toluene. Polymerization was thermally initiated with two initiators, α,α’-azo-isobutyronitril (AIBN) and ammonium persulfate (APS). We varied the level of crosslinking between 20 and 60 mol% (MBAA or EDGMA). In case of the use of MBAA as a crosslinker we determined that with lower level of crosslinking we get beads with bigger average diameter (470 m) and with higher level of crosslinking we get beads with smaller average diameter (190 m). On the contrary, in the case of EGDMA, we got bigger beads with higher level of crosslinking and vice versa. Type and portion of crosslinker influenced, beside the size, also the shape of formed beads. Beads prepared with 20 mol% EGDMA were more spherical than beads prepared with 20 mol% MBAA. Time of reaction can also affect the shape of formed beads. In our case we studied the influence of the time of reaction on synthesis poly(HEMA-ko-EGDMA) beads, which was conducted for 4 or 8 hours. We did not get the product when we used 20 mol% EGDMA. With the extended time of reaction to 8 hours, we got small beads as a final product, which had spherical shape and were partially glued together into smaller conglomerations. With adding porous solvent we wanted to influence specifically on porosity of beads and average BET surface, which variated for our specimens without the addition of porogen between 0,01 and 3,1 m2/g and with the addition of porogen between 0,1 and 2,7 m2/g. We determined the swelling of beads in water, toluene and ethanol and discovered that polymeric beads crosslinked with 20 mol% MBAA swell in all tested solvents approximately the same (the level of swelling for water 1,81, for toluene 2,19 and for ethanol 2,06 mL/g), and beads crosslinked with 20 mol% EGDMA swell the best in ethanol and the least in toluene. That could be the consequence of variations in the polarity of solvent
Zechariah 9-14 as the substructure of 1 Peter’s eschatological program
No full textThe principal aim of this study is to discern what has shaped the author of 1 Peter to regard Christian suffering as a necessary (1.6) and to-be-expected (4.12) component of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ. Most research regarding suffering in 1 Peter has limited the scope of inquiry to two particular aspects—its cause and nature, and the strategies that the author of 1 Peter employs in order to enable his addressees to respond in faithfulness. There remains, however, the need for a comprehensive explanation for the source that has generated 1 Peter’s theology of Christian suffering. If Jesus truly is the Christ, God’s chosen redemptive agent who has come to restore God’s people, then how can it be that Christian suffering is a necessary part of discipleship after his coming, death and resurrection? What led the author of 1 Peter to such a startling conclusion, which seems to runs against the grain of the eschatological hopes and expectations of Jewish restoration ideology?
This thesis analyzes the appropriation of shepherd and fiery trials imagery,
and argues that the author of 1 Peter is dependent upon Zechariah 9-14 for his
theology of Christian suffering. Said in another way, the eschatological program of
Zechariah 9-14, read through the lens of the Gospel, functions as the substructure
for 1 Peter’s eschatology and thus its theology of Christian suffering.
In support of this hypothesis, this study highlights the fact that Zechariah 9-
14 was available and appropriated in early Christianity, in particular in the Passion
Narrative tradition; that the shepherd imagery of 1 Pet 2.25 is best understood
within the milieu of the Passion Narrative tradition, and that it alludes to the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that the fiery trials imagery found in 1
Peter 1.6-7 and 1 Pet 4.12 is distinct from that which we find in Greco-Roman and OT
wisdom sources, and that it shares exclusive parallels with some unique features of
the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that Zechariah 9-14 offers a more
satisfying explanation for the modification of Isa 11.2 in 1 Pet 4.14, the transition
from 4.12-19 to 5.1-4, why Peter has oriented his letter with the term διασπορά,
and why he has described his addresses as οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ; and finally that 1 Peter
contains an implicit foundational narrative that shares distinct parallels with the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14.
We can conclude that 1 Peter offers a unique vista into the way in which at
least one early Christian witness came to understand and to communicate the fact
that Christian suffering was a necessary feature of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ
Cooling rates of neutron stars and the young neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
No full textWe explore the thermal state of the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant using the recent result of Ho & Heinke that the thermal radiation of this star is well described by a carbon atmosphere model and the emission comes from the entire stellar surface. Starting from neutron star cooling theory, we formulate a robust method to extract neutrino cooling rates of thermally relaxed stars at the neutrino cooling stage from observations of thermal surface radiation. We show how to compare these rates with the rates of standard candles – stars with non-superfluid nucleon cores cooling slowly via the modified Urca process. We find that the internal temperature of standard candles is a well-defined function of the stellar compactness parameter x=rg/R, irrespective of the equation of state of neutron star matter (R and rg are circumferential and gravitational radii, respectively). We demonstrate that the data on the Cassiopeia A neutron star can be explained in terms of three parameters: f?, the neutrino cooling efficiency with respect to the standard candle; the compactness x; and the amount of light elements in the heat-blanketing envelope. For an ordinary (iron) heat-blanketing envelope or a low-mass (? 10?13 M?) carbon envelope, we find the efficiency f?? 1 (standard cooling) for x? 0.5 and f?? 0.02 (slower cooling) for a maximum compactness x? 0.7. A heat blanket containing the maximum mass (?10?8 M?) of light elements increases f? by a factor of 50. We also examine the (unlikely) possibility that the star is still thermally non-relaxe
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