INTRODUCTION: Whether low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with worse rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outcomes in countries with general tax-financed healthcare systems (such as Sweden) remains to be elucidated. Our aim was to investigate the influence of educational background (achieving university/college degree (high) or not (low)) on the outcomes of early RA, in terms of disease activity (DA

Research on the sourcing of siliceous raw materials in Prehistory has taken a step forward with the addition of geochemical techniques and elemental analysis to the archaeopetrological method. Counter to the macroscopic techniques, which retain an elevated subjective percentage in their results, geochemical techniques and especially LA-ICP-MS analysis generate objective, quantifiable and usable da

Det är trångt i kön till läkarutbildningen. Därför har Lunds universitet beslutat att utgå från skolbetyg vid antagning till utbildningen och att använda högskoleprovresultat som skiljekriterium vid lika meriter. Det skriver Stefan Lindgren, programdirektör, Lena Sandberg, nämndsekreterare, och Nils Danielsen, ordförande för läkarprogrammet vid Lunds universitet.

The study of airborne bacteria relies on a sampling strategy that preserves their integrity and in situ physiological state, e.g. viability, cultivability, metabolic activity, and ice-nucleation activity. Because ambient air harbors low concentrations of bacteria, an effective bioaerosol sampler should have a high sampling efficiency and a high airflow. We characterize a high-flow-rate impinger wi

Context. High-resolution spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces aims at obtaining spectral-line profiles that are free from rotational broadening; the gradual changes of these profiles from disk center toward the stellar limb reveal properties of atmospheric fine structure, which are possible to model with 3D hydrodynamics. Aims. Previous such studies have only been carried out fo

Self-other similarity judgment asymmetry refers to the tendency of people to judge others to be more similar to themselves than they judge themselves to be similar to others. This effect can be explained with both a cognitive model (Tversky, 1977) and a motivational explanation (Codol, 1987). Recent research has provided initial evidence for the core assumption of the motivational explanation and

CHD7 is one of nine members of the chromodomain helicase DNA-binding domain family of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling enzymes found in mammalian cells. De novo mutation of CHD7 is a major cause of CHARGE syndrome, a genetic condition characterized by multiple congenital anomalies. To gain insights to the function of CHD7, we used the technique of chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by massiv

Human intrahepatic lymphocytes are enriched in CD1d-unrestricted T cells coexpressing NKR. Although the origin of this population remains controversial, it is possible to speculate that the hepatic microenvironment, namely epithelial cells or the cytokine milieu, may play a role in its shaping. IL-15 is constitutively expressed in the liver and has a key role in activation and survival of innate a

Quaternary ammonium (QA) cations with high alkaline stability are crucial for the long term performance of anion-exchange membrane (AEM) fuel cells. Here, we have tethered poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) with 8 different hetero-cycloaliphatic QA cations via pentyl spacer chains. The thermal and alkaline stability, as well as hydroxide ion conductivity, were systematically evaluated with the primary ai

The detection and characterization of large populations of pebbles in protoplanetary disks have motivated the study of pebble accretion as a driver of planetary growth. This review covers all aspects of planet formation by pebble accretion, from dust growth over planetesimal formation to the accretion of protoplanets and fully grown planets with gaseous envelopes. Pebbles are accreted at a very hi

Prior treatment exposure in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma may affect outcomes with subsequent therapies. We analyzed efficacy and safety according to prior treatment in the phase 3 TOURMALINE-MM1 study of ixazomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone (ixazomib-Rd) versus placebo-Rd. Patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma received ixazomib-Rd or placebo-Rd. Efficacy and safet

Introduction of new myeloma therapies offers new options for patients refractory to immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) and proteasome inhibitors (PIs). In this multicenter study, patients with relapsed multiple myeloma, who have received at least three prior lines of therapy, are refractory to both an IMiD (lenalidomide or pomalidomide) and a PI (bortezomib or carfilzomib), and have been exposed to an

Tools for sound synthesis and acoustic analysis. Performs parametric synthesis of sounds with harmonic and noise components such as animal vocalizations or human voice. Also includes tools for spectral analysis, pitch tracking, audio segmentation, self-similarity matrices, and morphing.

Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims. In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrom

We study several problems of clearing subgraphs by mobile agents in digraphs. The agents can move only along directed walks of a digraph and, depending on the variant, their initial positions may be pre-specified. In general, for a given subset S of vertices of a digraph D and a positive integer k, the objective is to determine whether there is a subgraph H = (VH, AH) of D such that (a) S ⊆ VH, (b

This paper deals with a two-echelon spare parts inventory system with one central warehouse and a number of local warehouses facing Poisson demand. Normally, the local warehouses replenish stock from the central warehouse. However, if a demand cannot be satisfied within a pre-determined time window, an emergency shipment is requested from an outside supplier. Moreover, as in practice, this outside

Relay autotuning has proven very successful for single-input single-output systems. This paper proposes an identification method for relay autotuning of systems with two inputs and two outputs (TITO systems). The combination of asymmetric relay feedback and output error identification admits short tuning time, without the need for limit cycle convergence. The method is successfully demonstrated on

Purpose: The inappropriate irrigation is accelerating the soil salinization in western irrigation districts of China. The amelioration of salinized land must be based on large amount of water content and salinity data. Plastic coated TDR has been designed to measure water content accurately in highly saline soil, but the soil bulk electrical conductivity cannot be measured due to the coated materi