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Objective To determine the value of cell-bound complement activation products in combination with antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-double-stranded DNA antibody (anti-dsDNA), and anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin antibody (anti-MCV) for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods This was a multicenter cross-sectional study in which 593 subjects were enrolled (210 SLE patients, 178 patients with other rheumatic diseases, and 205 healthy subjects). Complement receptor 1 levels on erythrocytes (ECR1) together with complement C4d levels on erythrocytes (EC4d), platelets (PC4d), and B cells (BC4d) were determined using fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Serologic markers were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Statistical analyses were performed using area under the curve (AUC), logistic regression, and calculations of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Results Anti-dsDNA was an insensitive (30%) but specific (>95%) marker for SLE. Levels of EC4d, BC4d, and PC4d were several times higher, and levels of ECR1 lower, in SLE patients compared to patients with other rheumatic diseases and healthy subjects. Among 523 anti-dsDNA-negative subjects, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that SLE was associated with ANA positivity (≥20 units), anti-MCV negativity (≤70 units), and elevated levels of both EC4d and BC4d (AUC 0.918, P < 0.001). A positive index score corresponding to the weighted sum of these 4 markers correctly categorized 72% of SLE patients. Specificity in relation to patients with other rheumatic diseases and healthy controls was >90%. The combination of anti-dsDNA and index score positivity yielded 80% sensitivity for SLE and 87% specificity against other rheumatic diseases. Conclusion An assay panel combining anti-dsDNA, ANA, anti-MCV, EC4d, and BC4d is sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first section of this two-part paper describes my historical geographical career, particularly the topics and issues I have pursued and the changing intellectual environment in which they have been situated. The second section offers a summary interpretation of the emerging human geography of early-modern Canada followed by some reflections on its contemporary implications. This interpretation stresses the extent to which boundaries and discontinuities marked early Canada, and contrasts a pinched Canadian experience with the land with a far more expansive American one. It shows how deeply difference was constructed and ingrained in the Canadian past, and suggests some challenges and opportunities that follow from this inheritance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the historical-geographical construction of Canada. Issues on multiculturalism; Discussion on confederation; Elaboration on patriotism.

Examines the intricacies of the equation of power resistance that surrounded the land-based fur trade in the Cordillera of British Columbia. Relocation of the fur trade capital from Europe to the North American interior; Set of assumptions and practices; Closely related strategies of Native management.

Analyzes the population geography of British Columbia in 1881. Provincial distribution of whites, Chinese and native peoples; Population geographies of the Lower Skeena/Nass, the Southwestern Plateau and the lands around the Strait of Georgia; Social categories employed in the nominal census; Relations of society and space in late-19th-century British Columbia.

Focuses on Canadian social scientist Harold Innis and his works on 19th century Canada. Production of primary resources for distant markets and the problems of transportation as characteristics of Canadian spatial economy; Emphasis on environment, technology and distance; Assessment of the fur trade; French beginnings in Canada; Innis' insistence on contextualized theory.