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- Ridell, Malin, 1942
(författare)
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New options in Tuberculosis Care: Visions for the future are crucial for controlling the disease.
- 2016
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Ingår i: International journal of mycobacteriology. - : Medknow. - 2212-554X .- 2212-5531. ; 5:Suppl 1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The current strategies for controlling tuberculosis (TB) are not sufficient. Improved prophylactic and diagnostic tools are imperative, being crucial for decreasing TB incidence and mortality and for preventing outbreaks. Furthermore, new and better drugs are badly needed, particularly considering the increase in cases with multidrug-resistant strains. The current TB vaccine-the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine-has a preventive impact on disseminated TB in children, but little effect on the most common form of TB, that is, lung TB in adults and young adults. For many years extensive scientific efforts have been made in order to develop new vaccines against TB that are better and more effective than Bacillus Calmette-Guérin. No such vaccine exists, however, to date. During the last few years it has become increasingly clear that TB patients can be infected with more than one strain and that a previous TB infection increases rather than decreases the risk for getting a new one. Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms are thus not capable of inducing protective immunity to such an extent that a new TB infection is prevented. This phenomenon highlights the problems of developing effective vaccines against TB. A new TB vaccine based on general immunological protection models would in all probability only have a limited capacity to hamper TB incidence and mortality. The question whether or not it is feasible to make a vaccine of sufficient efficacy must therefore be discussed. Prophylaxis is practically always far better than therapy and we all wish we had an effective TB vaccine. However, considering the problems with vaccines, scientific efforts could well focus on developing new therapies rather than new vaccines. New scientific approaches are highly necessary and we need ideas and visions. Some examples of recent projects will hereby be presented. One study concerns the mycobacterial cell envelope and its unique macromolecules as targets for new drugs. Another study concerns new ways of administrating the drugs which could enhance the effects of new as well as of already available drugs. In addition, what can be learnt from cancer therapy-is supporting the patient's own defense by immune modularly methods a possible approach? We also need to look back since ample knowledge on TB has been assembled during many years. Unfortunately some of this valuable knowledge is about to be forgotten, particularly, the experience from the time when TB was an incurable disease.
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- Goodfellow, Bradley W., et al.
(författare)
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The chemical, mechanical, and hydrological evolution of weathering granitoid
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface. - 2169-9003 .- 2169-9011. ; 121:8, s. 1410-1435
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Surprisingly few studies connect the chemical, mechanical, and hydrological evolution of rock as it weathers to saprolite and soil. We assess this coevolution in granodiorite from Monterey Peninsula, California, by measuring changes in bulk chemistry, mineralogy, volumetric strain, the oxidation state of Fe in biotite crystals, tensile strength, abrasion rate, connected porosity, and hydraulic conductivity in samples covering a range of weathering grades. We identify the oxidative dissolution of biotite as the key chemical reaction because of the volumetric expansion that accompanies formation of altered biotite and precipitation of ferrihydrite. We show how the associated accumulation of elastic strain produces an energy density that is sufficient to support rock fracturing over length scales equivalent to constituent crystals. The resulting intragranular and intergranular cracking profoundly reduces tensile strength and increases the abrasion rate, connected porosity, and hydraulic conductivity of the rock matrix. These changes increase the rate of plagioclase weathering, and ultimately the rock disintegrates into grus and clay. Major changes in rock properties can occur with only minor element leaching, and the threshold behavior of weathering that arises from the coevolution of chemical, hydrological, and mechanical properties may be difficult to capture using simplified weathering models that fail to incorporate these properties. Our results, which combine the mechanical and hydrological evolution of weathering rock with more common measurements of chemical changes, should help to more accurately model the effects of, and mechanical and hydrological feedbacks upon, chemical weathering of rock.
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- Kungsman, Jimmy, et al.
(författare)
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Complex absorbing potential method for systems
- 2010
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Ingår i: Dissertationes Mathematicae. - : Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences. - 0012-3862 .- 1730-6310. ; :469, s. 5-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Complex Absorbing Potential (CAP) method is widely used to compute resonances in Quantum Chemistry, both for scalar valued and matrix valued Hamiltonians. In the semiclassical limit h -> 0 we consider resonances near the real axis and we establish the CAP method rigorously in an abstract matrix valued setting by proving that resonances are perturbed eigenvalues of the nonselfadjoint CAP Hamiltonian, and vice versa. The proof is based on pseudodifferential operator theory and microlocal analysis.
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- Kungsman, Jimmy, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Complex absorbing potential method for the perturbed Dirac operator
- 2014
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Ingår i: Communications in Partial Differential Equations. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0360-5302 .- 1532-4133. ; 39:8, s. 1451-1478
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Complex Absorbing Potential (CAP) method is widely used to compute resonances in Quantum Chemistry, both for nonrelativis- tic and relativistic Hamiltonians. In the semiclassical limit h → 0 we consider resonances near the real axis and we establish the CAP method rigorously for the perturbed Dirac operator by proving that individual resonances are perturbed eigenvalues of the nonselfadjoint CAP Hamiltonian, and vice versa. The proofs are based on pseudod- ifferential operator theory and microlocal analysis.
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- Ravon, Nicolas A, et al.
(författare)
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Signs of carotid calcification from dental panoramic radiographs are in agreement with Doppler sonography results.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Periodontology. - 0303-6979 .- 1600-051X. ; 30:12, s. 1084-1090
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Duplex ultrasonography (DS) is a frequently used noninvasive method for assessing carotid artery stenosis. The level of agreement between panoramic radiographs (PMX) findings of radiopacities in the area of C3-C4 and DS results has not been established.AIMS: (1) to examine the level of agreement between DS results and PMX signs of carotid calcification and (2) to evaluate the association between periodontitis and DS results.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eighty-three subjects who had received a DS assessment at the University of Washington Medical Center within 36 months volunteered for a periodontal examination, including assessments of probing pocket depth (PPD), attachment level (PAL), evidence of bleeding on probing and bone loss from PMX. Two examiners independently analyzed the radiographs for evidence of carotid calcifications. The distance between the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) to bone level (BL) CEJ-BL was used to assess alveolar bone loss as a criteria for periodontitis.RESULTS: Twenty-nine subjects (34.9%) presented with positive DS readings. The Mantel-Haentszel common odds ratio estimate for a positive DS score and periodontitis (> 30% of teeth with distance CEJ-BL > or = 4.0 mm) was 38.4 (95% CI: 10.6-138.7, p < 0.0001). For nonsmokers only (n = 72) the odds ratio was 43.0 (95% CI: 16.7-1178.0, p < 0.0001). Evidence of bleeding on probing was 16% of sites both in the DS-positive and -negative subjects. Subjects with a positive DS result had significantly more teeth with clinical evidence of attachment loss > or = 5.0 mm (p < 0.001). The odds ratio of having periodontitis (CEJ-BL > or = 4.0 mm at > or = 30% of the teeth) and medical records confirmed diagnosis of either a stroke or an infarct or both was 7.8 (95% CI: 2.6-23.8, p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with positive DS readings of the carotid arteries due to calcified arterial plaque are accurately detected by means of conventional PMX. The likelihood of being DS positive and having radiographic evidence of periodontitis is high. A dose-response relationship between the extent of carotid calcification and severity of periodontitis was demonstrated, supporting the hypothesis of an association between periodontitis and cardiovascular diseases.
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