OBJECTIVE This study was undertaken to assess the predictive ability of 4 established cardiovascular (CV) risk models for the 10-year risk of fatal and non-fatal CV diseases in European patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS Prospectively collected data from the Nijmegen early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) inception cohort was used. Discriminatory ability for CV risk prediction was estimated...

Heparan sulfate/heparin class of proteoglycans (HSPG) have been shown to function in cellular attachment and infection of numerous viruses including picornaviruses. Coxsackievirus A9 (CV-A9) and human parechovirus 1 (HPeV-1) are integrin-binding members in the family Picornaviridae. CV-A9 Griggs and HPeV-1 Harris (prototype) strains have been reported not to bind to heparin, but it was recently...

There is an emerging consensus that parasitoids are limited by the number of eggs which they can lay as well as the amount of time they can search for their hosts. Since egg limitation tends to destabilize host-parasitoid dynamics, successful control of insect pests by parasitoids requires additional stabilizing mechanisms such as heterogeneity in the distribution of parasitoid attacks and host...

Contingent valuation (CV) has become one of the most widely used non-market valuation techniques. CV’s prominence is due to its flexibility and ability to estimate total value, including passive use value. Its use and the inclusion of passive use value in benefit-cost analyses and environmental litigation are the subject of a contentious debate. This paper discusses key areas of the debate over...

Collective variable (CV) or order parameter based enhanced sampling algorithms have achieved great success due to their ability to efficiently explore the rough potential energy landscapes of complex systems. However, the degeneracy of microscopic configurations, originating from the orthogonal space perpendicular to the CVs, is likely to shadow “hidden barriers” and greatly reduce the efficien...

In Drosophila, the BMP binding protein Short gastrulation (Sog) both enhances and inhibits BMP activity in a spatially dependent manner, likely by facilitating transport of BMPs. In this report we examine the properties of a second Sog-like protein, Crossveinless 2 (Cv-2), and show that like Sog, it is a secreted BMP-binding protein that can either augment or inhibit BMP signaling. Unlike Sog h...

S5 File. Supporting Tables. Table A. The expression profiles of all expressed genes in developing fruit of A. chinensis cv. 'Hongyang'. Table B. List of novel transcripts, alternative splicing and genes extended identified through analysis of the 'Hongyang' transcriptome. Table C. Verification of RNA-seq results by qPCR in A. chinensis cv. 'Hongyang'. Table D. Differentially expressed genes bet...

BACKGROUND Gout and hyperuricaemia may be associated with increased cardiovascular risk, but analyses in different populations show conflicting results. This study investigates the impact of serum uric acid, inflammation and traditional CV risk parameters on CV event risk in patients with gouty arthritis and patients with non-gouty rheumatic disease. METHODS cross-sectional and prospective mu...

BACKGROUND Elevated resting heart rate (HR) and low systolic blood pressure (SBP) are related to poor outcomes in heart failure (HF). The association between visit-to-visit variation in SBP and HR and risk in HF is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS In Systolic Heart Failure Treatment with the If inhibitor ivabradine Trial (SHIFT) patients, we evaluated relationships between mean HR, mean SBP, and ...

BACKGROUND This study evaluated the prevalence of ideal cardiovascular (CV) health in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study and determined its relationship with prevalent retinopathy, wider retinal venular diameters, and narrower arteriolar diameters, which are risk markers for subclinical cerebrovascular disease and are associated with increased stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD) ...