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The submeter‐scale surface morphology of ice‐covered worlds is poorly constrained by observations, but is important for understanding their physics and chemistry. In this experiment, we exposed preformed snow structures to temperature, pressure, and solar irradiance conditions similar to those on Europa and Enceladus. The sample consisted of 2‐D sinusoidal penitente‐like ridges, 2.5 cm tall with 1.25 cm spacing. Over 1 month at 165–175 K, and 10−4 Pa, the ridges decreased in height by 20% and became more triangular and less sinusoidal, evolving toward a more flat surface. This despite the fact that the troughs appear brighter than the peaks, indicating focusing of light into the troughs. This suggests that penitentes are unlikely to be stable on airless worlds with free‐molecular flow conditions, which is significant for understanding the spectral and thermal properties of these worlds, and for understanding risks for future landed spacecraft. Plain Language Summary: Ice penitentes are blade‐like ice or snow structures formed by sublimation and heating from the Sun, often seen at high altitudes on Earth's subtropical mountains, particularly the Andes. A key question is whether they can arise in vacuum, on worlds without an atmosphere such as Europa and Enceladus. This is important for understanding the physics of these worlds, as well as for understanding the terrain for future landed spacecraft. We have no high‐resolution images of these worlds to tell if such structures exist, so we use laboratory experiments to simulate these icy surfaces. In our experiment, we start with a preformed set of 2.5 cm tall penitente‐like ridges, formed using a plastic mold filled with snow. Inside a vacuum chamber, a solar‐like light source illuminated the penitentes for 60 days. During the first 2 weeks of the experiment, we kept ice temperatures between −138°C and −113°C, and we saw no changes. During the second half of the test, we raised temperatures to −98°C to −108°C. The penitentes shrank in height by 20%, and become more triangular in shape. This is an indication, consistent with model predictions, that penitentes need an atmosphere to grow, and we may not expect them on Europa and Enceladus. Key Points: This is the first ice penitente experiment under hard vacuum (free‐molecular) conditionsPreformed penitentes undergo sublimation erosion, evolving toward a flat morphology, during simulated solar irradiancePeaks are warmer than troughs, consistent with diminishing peak heights, despite visibly brighter troughs indicating focusing of light [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of a wide range of immunosuppressive therapies has revolutionized the management of patients who have undergone solid organ transplantation ( SOT). However, the cost of immunosuppressive drugs remains high. This situation has led to the development of generic equivalents, which are similar in quality, safety, and efficacy to their approved innovator drugs. There are data available for three generic brands, tacrolimus (Intas), tacrolimus (Phar OS), and tacrolimus (Sandoz). Bioequivalence has been demonstrated for generic tacrolimus (Sandoz) within a narrow therapeutic range to its innovator tacrolimus drug (Prograf) in both healthy volunteers and kidney transplant patients. Clinical experience with this generic tacrolimus formulation has also been established in both de novo and conversion patients who have undergone kidney and liver transplantation, as well as in conversion of other SOT patients, including lung and heart recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The histopathology of tendons with painful tendinopathy is often tendinosis, a fibrosis-like condition of unclear pathogenesis characterized by tissue changes including hypercellularity. The primary tendon cells (tenocytes) have been shown to express adrenoreceptors (mainly alpha-2 A) as well as markers of catecholamine production, particularly in tendinosis. It is known that adrenergic stimulation can induce proliferation in other cells. The present study investigated the effects of an exogenously administered alpha-2 adrenergic agonist in an established in vivo Achilles tendinosis model (rabbit) and also in an in vitro human tendon cell culture model. The catecholamine producing enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase and the alpha-2 A-adrenoreceptor (α2A AR) were expressed by tenocytes, and alpha-2 adrenergic stimulation had a proliferative effect on these cells, in both models. The proliferation was inhibited by administration of an α2A AR antagonist, and the in vitro model further showed that the proliferative alpha-2 A effect was mediated via a mitogenic cell signaling pathway involving phosphorylation of extracellular-signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2. The results indicate that catecholamines produced by tenocytes in tendinosis might contribute to the proliferative nature of the pathology through stimulation of the α2A AR, pointing to a novel target for future therapies. The study furthermore shows that animal models are not necessarily required for all aspects of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To develop a new stress scale and use it for investigating impact of ethnicity on perception of stress. Subjects and Methods: One thousand one hundred and twenty-four students (grades 6–9) from 14 schools filled in a questionnaire at school with questions about age, sex, use of language at home (proxy for cultural background), stress and stressors. Factor analysis and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Results: Two-stress dimensions were identified, ‘pressure’(7 items, Cronbach's alpha 0.862) and ‘activation’(4 items, Cronbach's alpha 0.767). Scores on the two scales and a separate ‘stress’ item were higher in girls and increased with grade. Use of another language than Swedish at home showed a significant effect only for activation, with lower scores in girls. The interaction effect between sex and language was significant for all variables and was due mainly to lower stress in girls using another language than Swedish at home. Conclusion: This new stress scale has some promising qualities like a condensed format, basis in a specific stress concept and formulated to be as age and culture independent as possible. Immigrant girls seem to perceive less stress than Swedish born girls, which opens up for questions about protective mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bäckman L, Jones S, Berger A-K, Laukka EJ, Small BJ (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; and University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA) Multiple cognitive deficits during the transition to Alzheimer's disease (Key Symposium). J Intern Med 2004; 256: 195–204. The literature on cognitive markers in preclinical AD is reviewed. The findings demonstrate that impairment in multiple cognitive domains is typically observed several years before clinical diagnosis. Measures of executive functioning, episodic memory and perceptual speed appear to be most effective at identifying at-risk individuals. The fact that these cognitive domains are most implicated in normal cognitive aging suggests that the cognitive deficit observed preclinically is not qualitatively different from that observed in normal aging. The degree of cognitive impairment prior to the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) appears to generalize relatively well across major study characteristics, including sample ascertainment procedures, age and cognitive status of participants, as well as time to diagnosis of dementia. In episodic memory, there is evidence that the size of the preclinical deficit increases with increasing cognitive demands. The global cognitive impairment observed is highly consistent with observations that multiple brain structures and functions are affected long before the diagnosis of AD. However, there is substantial overlap in the distribution of cognitive scores between those who will and those who will not be diagnosed with AD, hence limiting the clinical utility of cognitive markers for early identification of cases. Future research should consider combining cognitive indicators with other types of markers (i.e. social, somatic, genetic, brain-based) in order to increase prediction accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Winblad B, Palmer K, Kivipelto M, Jelic V, Fratiglioni L, Wahlund L-O, Nordberg A, Bäckman L, Albert M, Almkvist O, Arai H, Basun H, Blennow K, de Leon M, DeCarli C, Erkinjuntti T, Giacobini E, Graff C, Hardy J, Jack C, Jorm A, Ritchie K, van Duijn C, Visser P, Petersen RC (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine Sendai, Miyagi, Japan; Uppsala University, Sweden; Gothenburg University, Sweden; New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA; Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; University of Geneva Medical School, Switzerland; National Institute on Aging/National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; French National Institute of Medical Research (INSERM), Montpellier, France; Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; University of Maastricht, The Netherlands). Mild cognitive impairment – beyond controversies, towards a consensus: report of the International Working Group on Mild Cognitive Impairment (Key Symposium). J Intern Med 2004; 256: 240–246. The First Key Symposium was held in Stockholm, Sweden, 2–5 September 2003. The aim of the symposium was to integrate clinical and epidemiological perspectives on the topic of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). A multidisciplinary, international group of experts discussed the current status and future directions of MCI, with regard to clinical presentation, cognitive and functional assessment, and the role of neuroimaging, biomarkers and genetics. Agreement on new perspectives, as well as recommendations for management and future research were discussed by the international working group. The specific recommendations for the general MCI criteria include the following: (i) the person is neither normal nor demented; (ii) there is evidence of cognitive deterioration shown by either objectively measured decline over time and/or subjective report of decline by self and/or informant in conjunction with objective cognitive deficits; and (iii) activities of daily living are preserved and complex instrumental functions are either intact or minimally impaired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SummaryAim: To explore whether the lowering of insulin relates to changes in leptin following weight reduction after vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) in seven grossly obese women (BMI 45.9 ± 1.5 kg/m2). Results: At 6–24 months after VBG, BMI was reduced to 31.3 ± 0.9 kg/m2 (p < 0.018), leptin from 43 ± 9 to 12 ± 2 ng/ml (p < 0.018) and insulin from 172 ± 19 to 71 ± 2 pmol/l (p=0.018). The reduction in leptin correlated to the reduction in insulin (r = 0.94, p = 0.002) but not to that of BMI (r = 0.05, NS). Conclusion: Reduction in insulin seems more important for reduction in leptin than lowering of BMI, suggesting a close association between leptin and insulin in obese subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Actinins form antiparallel homodimers that are able to cross-link actin filaments. The protein contains three domains: an N-terminal actin-binding domain followed by a central rod domain and a calmodulin-like EF-hand domain at the C-terminus. Here, crystallization of the rod domain of Entamoeba histolytica α-actinin-2 is reported; it crystallized in space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 47.8, b = 79.1, c = 141.8 Å. A Matthews coefficient V(M) of 2.6 Å(3) Da(-1) suggests that there are two molecules and 52.5% solvent content in the asymmetric unit. A complete native data set extending to a d-spacing of 2.8 Å was collected on beamline I911-2 at MAX-lab, Sweden., (© 2011 International Union of Crystallography. All rights reserved.)

Ninety-eight patients (26 females), who presented with erosive and/or ulcerative oesophagitis, despite at least a 3-month period of treatment with standard doses of cimetidine (greater than or equal to 1200 mg daily) or ranitidine (greater than or equal to 300 mg daily), were included in a double-blind, randomized trial to compare omeprazole (40 mg o.m.) with a high dose of ranitidine (300 mg b.d.). The treatment was given for 4-12 weeks; endoscopy assessment and laboratory screening were performed on entry to the trial and thereafter every fourth week. Endoscopic healing was defined as complete epithelialization of all macroscopic erosions or ulcers in the squamous epithelium. An 'intention-to-treat' analysis of the clinical data revealed omeprazole to be superior to ranitidine: 63% of those patients who were given omeprazole were healed endoscopically after a 4-week period of treatment, compared with only 17% of those given ranitidine. This difference in healing rate persisted during the 12-week study period (90% vs 47% after 12 weeks; P less than 0.0001). Reflux symptoms were more rapidly and completely relieved with omeprazole: heartburn resolved completely in 86% of patients treated with omeprazole for 4 weeks compared with 32% in the ranitidine group (P less than 0.0001). The mean basal gastrin concentrations increased only in those given omeprazole from 18.9 pmol/L at pre-entry to a mean value of 31.7 pmol/L on the last day of omeprazole administration. In ranitidine-treated patients no significant increase in basal gastrin concentration was observed. Both drugs were well tolerated with few adverse events, which were mainly mild and transient. These results demonstrate the superiority of omeprazole over a high dose of ranitidine in the treatment of resistant reflux oesophagitis.