We describe a case of novel use of trametinib in treating arrythmia without concomitant cardiomyopathy. Our patient is a two-year-old female born with Costello syndrome due to heterozygous mutations in the HRAS gene c34 G > T p (G12C). Shortly after birth, she was diagnosed with multifocal atrial tachyarrhythmia. Her imaging studies have shown no hypertrophy or CHD. There was poor arrhythmia control despite triple antiarrhythmic therapy. Trametinib, a MEK1 and MEK2 inhibitor, was used in treating her isolated atrial arrythmia, allowing her to wean off other antiarrhythmics. Other case reports have shown trametinib to benefit certain RASopathy patients with lymphatic abnormalities, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and concurrent arrhythmias. This case demonstrates effective treatment of isolated arrhythmia without cardiomyopathy, broadening the potential indications for use of trametinib in certain RASopathy patients.

Pandemic-related restrictions in nursing homes have undermined the critical role that family and friend caregivers play in enhancing resident quality of life. We examined how family caregiver access restrictions in nursing homes were implemented and how they impacted the mutual well-being of and relationships between residents and their caregivers over time. Between March 2021 and March 2022, 24 ‘designated caregivers’ in Atlantic Canada were interviewed three times. We identified changes in family relationships and activities over time, constricted support networks, the increasing need for advocacy and monitoring, and the generally negative cumulative impacts of restrictions, especially during residents’ end-of-life. Subsequent adaptations to access restrictions allowed caregivers to contribute to essential monitoring, care relationships, and advocacy roles. We argue that the role of designated caregivers in nursing homes must be maintained during public health emergencies to ensure resident’s supportive family relationships and general well-being.

Continental-scale patterns of morphological and biological change represent broad time- and spatially averaged interpretations. Conversely, regionally focused studies of morphological variability offer an opportunity to consider patterns of biological change at more refined spatial scales, where nuanced histories may be identified. That approach is particularly applicable for areas known to have dynamic biogeographic and glacial landscapes (e.g., western Canada). We studied proboscideans from Alberta, Canada, an area thought to represent a zone of sympatry between extinct forms of mammoth (i.e., Mammuthus columbi, Mammuthus primigenius) in order to test existing taxonomic hypotheses and chronologically contextualize the regional record of mammoths through the Late Pleistocene. Morphometric analysis of sixth molars of mammoths from Alberta (n = 17) support identification of three distinct morphologies that we assign to M. columbi, M. primigenius, and intermediates of those taxa. The presence of intermediate forms is perhaps unsurprising, given both the recognition of hybridization in M. columbi and M. primigenius and the previously documented occurrence of both taxa in Alberta. Some records of M. columbi may document a broader northern geographic incursion for that taxon than previously recognized, but could also represent a much deeper time component to the history of Mammuthus in Alberta (i.e., Mammuthus trogontherii).

The basic question in perturbation analysis of Markov chains is: how do small changes in the transition kernels of Markov chains translate to chains in their stationary distributions? Many papers on the subject have shown, roughly, that the change in stationary distribution is small as long as the change in the kernel is much less than some measure of the convergence rate. This result is essentially sharp for generic Markov chains. We show that much larger errors, up to size roughly the square root of the convergence rate, are permissible for many target distributions associated with graphical models. The main motivation for this work comes from computational statistics, where there is often a tradeoff between the per-step error and per-step cost of approximate MCMC algorithms. Our results show that larger perturbations (and thus less-expensive chains) still give results with small error.

Sino-Arab Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have remained elusive over two decades of increasing economic relations and trade negotiations. Nevertheless, substantial investments and trade demonstrate the Arab region’s strategic importance to China. Recent strategic drivers of China’s engagement with the Middle East have evolved from an original energy security focus, to more recently integrating technological investments into partnerships, such as artificial intelligence and renewable energy infrastructure—complicating progress towards an FTA. Such measures can help progress achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and offer economic development opportunities, but negotiations may be hindered by concerns ranging from technological dependency to trade competition. Examining opportunities and challenges in the developing China–Arab relations, the article explores legal and policy obstacles and opportunities towards securing an FTA. With a focus on recent developments in AI and sustainability partnerships, the article analyses legal strategies and international law best practices for a model FTA for Arab countries.

In cattle, maternal metabolic health has been suggested to influence oocyte and embryo quality. Here, we examined whether maternal liver abnormalities affected in vitro oocyte maturation by screening meiotic maturation, spindle morphology, actin filaments, and lysosomes. In oocytes from the abnormal liver group, the maturation rate (80.2%) was significantly lower compared to a control group with healthy livers (90.8%; P < 0.05). Mean spindle area in oocytes of the abnormal group (50.4 ± 3.4 μm2) was significantly larger than in the control (40.8 ± 1.6 μm2; P < 0.05). Likewise, mean spindle width in the abnormal group (8.8 ± 0.3 μm) was significantly larger than in the control group (7.8 ± 0.2 μm; P < 0.05). The proportion of cells with correctly aligned chromosomes in the abnormal group (48.0%) was significantly lower than in the control (78.3%; P < 0.05). The number of cortical actin filaments in mature oocytes of the abnormal group (299.3 ± 3.7) was significantly lower than in the control (314.7 ± 3.2; P < 0.05). The number of lysosomes in mature oocytes of the abnormal group (1363.6 ± 39.0) was significantly higher than in the control (1123.4 ± 26.3; P < 0.05). In conclusion, our findings indicate that the quality of in vitro matured oocytes is lower in cattle with liver abnormalities than in healthy cattle.

The concept of monetary sovereignty employed by Modern Monetary Theory has been criticised on many fronts. One of the most important criticisms points out that Modern Monetary Theorists (MMTers) ignore or underestimate problems arising from external constraints. Another important (and complementary) criticism is that MMTers focus only on purely macroeconomic aspects and ignore political and geopolitical issues. In this paper, we discuss these important criticisms and we conclude that, although the MMT concept of monetary sovereignty is useful and can be considered an analytical advance, it is incomplete and biased because it minimises macroeconomic problems arising from external constraints and because it does not take into account international political factors.

The problem of reservation in a large distributed system is analyzed via a new mathematical model. The target application is car-sharing systems. This model is motivated by the large station-based car-sharing system in France called Autolib’. This system can be described as a closed stochastic network where the nodes are the stations and the customers are the cars. The user can reserve a car and a parking space. We study the evolution of the system when the reservation of parking spaces and cars is effective for all users. The asymptotic behavior of the underlying stochastic network is given when the number N of stations and the fleet size M increase at the same rate. The analysis involves a Markov process on a state space with dimension of order $N^2$. It is quite remarkable that the state process describing the evolution of the stations, whose dimension is of order N, converges in distribution, although not Markov, to a non-homogeneous Markov process. We prove this mean-field convergence. We also prove, using combinatorial arguments, that the mean-field limit has a unique equilibrium measure when the time between reserving and picking up the car is sufficiently small. This result extends the case where only the parking space can be reserved.

Trematodes are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of platyhelminths. They parasitize all major groups of vertebrates as definitive hosts and therefore play an important role in ecosystem composition. It is estimated that 18,000 to 25,000 species of trematodes exist worldwide, of which 685 have been reported in Mexico. Although this group is an integral part of ecosystems, there are still no studies that highlight the importance of parasites, especially in conservation approaches. Here, we recompiled information on the occurrence and available genetic data of trematodes in Mexico to estimate the specific richness of their representation across the Protected Areas (PAs) and provinces of Mexico. We consulted national and international databases (e.g., GBIF, CONABIO, CNHE-UNAM) and genetic repositories (e.g., GenBank) to generate curated datasets. We obtained 6,780 records that represent 99% of species reported in Mexico (680 species), of which only 10.2% are included in PAs. For genetic data, we found information from five nuclear regions (28S, 18S, ITS1, ITS2 and 5.8S) and two mitochondrial genes (COI and NAD1) for 118 species, of which only 3.5% were associated with PAs. With these results, we provide a spatial distribution of records (occurrence and genetic data) of trematodes present in Mexico and its PAs and identify poorly represented biogeographic provinces (e.g., Sierra Madre del Sur). We also highlight that this is the first study in Mexico to include this group in a conservation approach, and we record valuable information for future studies.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterised by chronic inflammation in joints. Obesity, stress, being women and dietary pattern are important in pathogenesis. The joint damage in RA is accelerated by oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to examine the serum total antioxidant level, nutritional status and Mediterranean diet adherence of adult women with RA. Thirty-five adult women RA patients and thirty-five healthy control participated in this study (45·4 ± 11·61 and 42·5 ± 8·50 years, respectively). Nutritional status, physical activity levels and adherence to the Mediterranean diet were questioned. Physicians assessed the disease activity score of patients with RA. Serum total antioxidant and oxidant status were analysed. The serum total antioxidant status of the control group was higher, whereas the oxidative stress index and total oxidant status were lower than that of the RA group. Dietary protein, fibre, EPA, retinol, Fe, Zn and total antioxidant intake in the RA group were lower than in the control group (P < 0·05). Individuals with higher fibre intake showed a significantly lower risk for RA after adjusting for potential confounding factors (OR = 0·845, 95 % CI = 0·773–0·923, P < 0·001). The mean physical activity level of the control group was higher than that of the RA group (1·59 ± 0·10 and 1·53 ± 0·13, respectively) (P = 0·01). In conclusion, serum antioxidant parameters and dietary antioxidant intake are decreased in patients with RA. Therefore, medical treatment for these patients should be supplemented with medical nutrition therapy to achieve optimal nutritional status.

The sulfide-free metasomatic rocks with chalcophile metals from the Nežilovo ore field, near Veles, Republic of North Macedonia belong to a rare kind of ore. The mineralogy and petrology of these rocks were studied in detail and can be considered as a standard description for ores of this type. A characteristic feature of Nežilovo-type ores is a wide variety of accessory oxide minerals containing chalcophile elements (Zn, Pb, Sb, Cu and As). The new nolanite-supergroup mineral zincorinmanite-(Zn), ideally (Fe3+2Zn)SbZnO7(OH), was discovered in the Nežilovo ore. The associated minerals are quartz, baryte, gahnite, Zn-bearing phlogopite, together with accessory hematite, almeidaite, a Pb-analogue of hydroxycalcioroméite and an insufficiently studied Sb-rich högbomite-supergroup mineral. Zincorinmanite-(Zn) forms lamellar to tabular subhedral single-crystal grains up to 0.5 mm across and up to 40 μm thick. The colour and streak are black and the lustre is submetallic. The new mineral is brittle, with the Mohs’ hardness of 6. No cleavage is observed. The fracture is uneven. The calculated density is 5.446 g·cm–3. In reflected light, zincorinmanite-(Zn) is light grey, no pleochroism is observed. The reflectance values (Rmin, %/Rmax, %/λ, nm) are: 12.6/13.7/470, 12.1/13.2/546, 11.8/12.8/589 and 11.5/12.2/650. The Raman spectrum shows bands corresponding to the O–H and Sb–O stretching vibrations and (Fe3+,M2+)–O–H bending modes. The chemical composition is (electron microprobe data, with iron divided into Fe2O3 and FeO based on the charge balance and H2O calculated from the structural data, wt.%): MgO 1.42, MnO 0.44, FeO 2.04, ZnO 22.55, Al2O3 1.95, Fe2O3 35.59, TiO2 1.51, Sb2O5 33.05, H2O 1.18, total 99.73. The empirical formula is [(Fe3+2.12Al0.18)(Zn0.32Mg0.16Fe2+0.13Mn0.03)Ti0.06]Σ3.00(Sb0.97Ti0.03)Σ1.00Zn1.00O7[(OH)0.61O0.39]Σ1.00. The crystal structure was determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data and refined to R = 0.0191. Zincorinmanite-(Zn) is hexagonal, space group P63mc, a = 5.9720(1), c = 9.3578(1) Å and V = 289.031(8) Å3 (Z = 2). The new mineral is isostructural with other members of the nolanite group. The strongest lines of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern [d, Å (I, %) – hkl] are: 5.176 (46) – 100; 3.473 (77) – 102; 2.989 (46) – 110; 2.674 (86) – 103; 2.520 (100) – 112; and 2.496 (42) – 201.

In this article, by the use of nth derivative characterization, we obtain several some sufficient conditions for all solutions of the complex linear differential equation

$$ \begin{align*}f^{(n)}+A_{n-1}(z)f^{(n-1)}+\ldots+A_1(z)f'+A_0(z)f=A_n(z) \end{align*} $$

$A_i(z) (i=0,1,\ldots ,n)$

Leveraging blockchain technology in the energy sector holds immense potential, particularly in facilitating decentralised energy systems. However, the legal and regulatory landscapes of several countries, including Malaysia and Australia, pose significant obstacles to its effective implementation. This article examines the specific legal and regulatory hurdles hindering the incorporation of P2P energy trading systems in these two jurisdictions: Malaysia and Australia. Through a comparative analysis, the authors aim to provide valuable insights for policymakers and regulators seeking to develop comprehensive frameworks that encourage blockchain adoption in the energy sector. The article highlights the need to address the under-inclusiveness of laws, legal uncertainty around novel blockchain-based concepts like smart contracts, and the obsolescence of legal frameworks designed for traditional centralised energy systems. By examining Malaysia’s and Australia’s unique challenges, the article seeks to contribute to a broader understanding of the complexities of adapting legal and regulatory frameworks to accommodate this transformative technology.

Research on female leadership has documented that female-led firms tend to engage in lower risk-taking activities than male-led firms and attributed it to females' higher propensity for risk aversion. Nevertheless, this claim and its associated findings have been increasingly challenged. In this article, we address the unclear pattern of females' risk preference in leadership by contextualizing the effect of chair gender on corporate acquisitions in the context of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. Drawing on expectancy violation theory, we propose that female chairs are more inclined to take risks when they operate in contexts that encourage female agency. We further explore self-affirmation mechanisms through two moderators: gender stereotype threats and self-efficacy. An analysis of chairs of 1,265 publicly listed SOEs in China from 2008 to 2020 supports predictions that female chairs are more likely than male chairs to engage in firm acquisitions. The effects are amplified under low levels of female executive representation and high levels of political appointments held by female chairs. The study shows that context determines how extensively gender affects risk-taking. It offers new insights into when and why female leaders exhibit higher levels of risk-taking in Chinese SOEs.