Prevalence of celiac disease in adult patients with iron deficiency anemia of obscure origin

Background Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease which is underestimated over the world. Iron deficiency anemia can be the only presentable symptom for patients with celiac disease. Screening of patients with iron deficiency anemia of obscure origin by anti-tissue transglutaminase serum igA to diagnose celiac disease followed by upper GIT endoscopy is an important step. Objective to evaluate the prevalence of celiac disease in adult patients with iron-deficiency anemia of obscure origin. Methods The present study was a cross-sectional study which included 100 patients with a diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia recruited from Ain Shams University hospitals. All the patients were subjected to: Full history of gastrointestinal symptoms of celiac disease(CD), Age of onset of iron deficiency anemia, Complete blood picture, Serum iron, serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody immunoglobuline A, Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and duodenal biopsy to patients who had positive serology. Results The present study showed that 8% of cases with iron deficiency anemia of obscure origin were ultimately diagnosed as cases of celiac diseases while 47% were diagnosed according to duodenal biopsy as potential celiac disease (where there was positive serology and intact villous architecture according to marsh classification) and 45%of cases were non-celiac disease. Conclusion Screening for celiac disease should be considered in patients with iron deficiency anemia of obscure origin

Janabai and Gangakhed of Das Ganu: Towards ethnic unity and religious cohesion in a time of transition

The Varkari tradition of the Marathi-language area of Western India is characterised by devotion to the god Vitthal of Pandharpur as well as the medieval saint-poets who praised him in songs and longed for his company. Modern narratives present Janabai, a poetess who lived presumably during the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, as one of the Varkari saint-poets. Her rise to fame started in the last decade of the nineteenth century, and by the 1920s, although of obscure origin, she had been geographically pinned to Gangakhed on the Godavari River. The association with this tiny settlement in Marathwada was established by the famous Das Ganu, an itinerant minstrel and preacher. Janabai’s own celebrity reached its peak by the 1960s, when a sign of sanctity in the form of symbolic sandals was installed at the site which went on to become her temple in Gangakhed. In 1975 a new procession, that of Saint Janabai, was added to the list of more than 100 processions travelling at the same time each year to Pandharpur. This article looks into the process of nationalist ‘awakening’ and the manner in which fostering bonds of ethnic unity and religious cohesion have been essential for shaping shared identity. The Varkari tradition and its poets, including Janabai, became the main tools for the creation of a Marathi-language cultural environment and for the domestication of the terrain by and through the power of comprehensible Hindu symbols.

The names of the coast and forms of coastal relief in the Kostroma Region’s patois: landscape and geographical aspect

One of the most detailed systems of terms in regional dialect systems of the language is the terminology of rivers and river valleys, lakes and lake basins. We explore the repertoire of folk geographical terms used in the patois of the Kostroma Region, which are associated with such part of the river valley as the coast. We analyze language units, on the one hand, in the coordinates of the lexical and semantic group, on the other, in relation to the designated objects. We identify the correspondence of terms and their semantics to the nominated forms of coastal relief. In the plan “Program of collecting information for the lexical atlas of Russian folk patois” we consider the general names of the coast and the names that actualize its morphological characteristics – the names of low, low-level and high steep coast, the names of coastal relief forms, such as a cape and a sandbank. At the lexical and semantic level, we trace the connection of local names with the terminological system of the geographical landscape. The repertoire of the terms group under consideration includes mainly words with a transparent inner form, their semantics reflect the features of the coastal relief. At the same time, in the Kostroma Region’s patois, words of obscure origin are encountered, which can be attributed to the substrate vocabulary. In general, the nomenclature of the terms under consideration fits into the concept of the vocabulary continuity of the Kostroma patois.

Baltu un albāņu valodas seno kontaktu liecinieki Lejaskurzemē: Grobiņas dižskābarži un citi

The article deals with the semantic motivation of names denoting beech-tree (Fagus sylvatica), basing on the material recorded in subdialects of European languages as answers to the questionnaire of the Atlas Linguarum Europae and presented in a geolinguistic map. In general, ten motivational groups of names have been established, most important of them being: 1) names based on IE. *bhāg-i̯o-, cf. Engl. beech, Gm. Buche, Sp. haya, Port. faia, It. faggio, Russ., Ukr., Pol., Cz., Bulg. buk, Lith. bùkas, Latv. skābardis / guoba etc.; 2) forms derived from Latin vespices ‘shrub’, cf. Friul.Lad. vespol(a); 3) forms derived from Latin pertica ‘long perch’, cf. Fr. epache; 4) forms derived from Latin cerrus ‘oak’, cf. Rum. terş; 5) names based on Frank. *haistr- ‘young tree or bush’, cf. Fr. hêtre; 6) Hung. bükkfa, a name composed by bükk of obscure origin and meaning and fa ‘tree’; 7) forms derived from IE. *ask ‘ash-tree’, cf. Gr. όζυά, Alb. ah. Having examined the attested forms regarding their origin and semantics, the author concludes that the names to denote a beech-tree or its cognates, elm or box-tree, are rich in variants in the Baltic languages, mostly due to the influence of Standard Latvian or Lithuanian. However, beech-trees growing near Grobiņa are witnesses of ancient contacts between the Baltic and Albanian languages. Some names to denote a beech-tree can be found in Lithuanian phraseology. They frequently appear among both Latvian and Lithuanian toponyms as well as anthroponyms.

Human disease caused by Streptococcus alactolyticus: a case report of native valve infective endocarditis and review of the literature

Streptococcus alactolyticus, a member of the Streptococcus bovis/Streptoccus equinus complex, is primarily hosted in the gastrointestinal tract of animals and rarely of humans, with only scarce reports relating to human disease. We herein present a case of subacute infective endocarditis (IE) caused by S. alactolyticus in a 64-year old male with pre-existing mitral prolapse. Despite a 10-month history of low-grade fever and weight loss, the diagnosis of IE was triggered by left quadrant abdominal pain which revealed splenic infarcts on computed tomography. A definitive diagnosis of IE was subsequently established by four consecutive blood cultures positive for S.alactolyticus plus demonstration of a vegetation on the mitral valve by trans-esophageal ultrasound. Further workup revealed multiple embolic phenomena including brain and spine. A dental abscess was identified as the most probable origin of the bacteraemia, while colonoscopy revealed no evidence of cancer. The patient recovered uneventfully with antibiotic treatment and underwent successful cardiac surgery post-discharge. Although rare, IE caused by S. alactolyticus may be severe and of obscure origin; oral cavity should not be overlooked as a possible origin. Attention should be given in patients with preexisting risk factors.

Hematologic parameters in coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and their clinical implications

Coronaviruses are a class of enveloped RNA viruses that cause infections of the respiratory tract, characterized by fever, tiredness, dry cough, diarrhea, loss of smell or taste, chest pain and shortness of breath. Many patients with mysterious pneumonia were distinguished in December 2019 in Wuhan. The pneumonia of obscure origin was found to be ascribed to a novel coronavirus and described as novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP). The Chinese authorities initially reported the wave of mysterious pneumonia on December 31st, 2019 and it was declared as an outbreak of international concern on January 30th, 2020. A systematic search of relevant research was conducted, and a total of 58 primary research articles were identified, analyzed, and debated to better understand the hematologic profile in COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease) infection and its clinical implications. All the findings in this article manifest a true impression of the current interpretation of hematological findings of the SARS-COV-2 disease. Pathophysiology of COVID-19 disease can be better interpreted by taking into consideration the hematologic parameters. Clinical implications of the hematologic profile of COVID-19 patients including cytokine storm, coagulation profile, and thrombophilic complications are under-recognized. Therefore, this review focuses on the coagulation profile, cytokine storm, and its treatment options. The role of pre-existing thrombophilia in COVID-19 patients and how it could result in the poor prognosis of the disease is also debated. The recent data suggests that hypercoagulability could be the potential cause of fatalities due to COVID-19. Potential effects of tocilizumab, metronidazole, and ulinastatin in suppressing cytokine storm may help to treat SARS-COV-2 infection. This review also highlights the significance of thrombophilia testing in SARS-CoV-2 patients depending on the clinical features and especially in pregnant women.

Memorias conflictivas en "El desierto" de Carlos Franz

Los acontecimientos históricos de la novela El desierto de Carlos Franz cubren la dictadura chilena y la transición entre 1973 y 2005. En este trabajo se analiza la manera de tratar los temas de la memoria histórica siguiendo el modelo de tragedia griega, especialmente la interacción entre lo apolíneo y lo dionisíaco elaborados por Friedrich Nietzsche. Tomando como punto de partida el proceso de la memoria histórica alemana, el autor representa el trauma chileno como una cuestión universal con un enfoque transnacional y cosmopolita. Desde el punto de vista trágico, integrado con los conceptos de la biopolítica, el análisis de El desierto cuestiona los problemas de la culpa, de la responsabilidad individual y colectiva, de la práctica de la violencia y la justicia. Sin embargo, no es posible dar con una solución racional. El estilo narrativo de la novela juega un papel fundamental en la presentación de la libertad humana como enigma. La estructura discontinua de la trama, basada en escenas simbólicas y elipsis referenciales entre otras técnicas literarias, concluye con un final circular, nihilista. Se subraya así el origen oscuro del mal y su resistencia fatal contra la esperanza de que pueda haber una civilización habitable. The historical events of the novel El desierto by Carlos Franz concern the Chilean dictatorship and the transition between 1973 and 2005. In this paper we discuss how the topics of historical memory are dealt with following the model of Greek tragedy. It is especially based on the interaction between the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles elaborated by Friedrich Nietzsche. Starting with the process of German historical memory, the author represents the Chilean trauma as a universal question with both a transnational and a cosmopolitan approach. From the tragic point of view, integrated with the concepts of biopolitics, the analysis of El desierto questions the issues of guilt, of individual and collective responsibility, of the practice of violence and justice. However, no rational solution can ultimately be found. The novel’s narrative style plays a fundamental role in the presentation of human freedom as an enigma. The discontinuous structure of the plot, based on symbolic scenes and referential ellipses among other literary techniques, concludes with a circular, nihilistic ending. It underlines the obscure origin of evil and its fatal endurance beyond hope for any livable civilization.

Between syntax and semantics

The East Baltic conditional mood (e.g. Old Lithuanian duotumbiau‘I would give’) must certainly represent a recent innovation of this branch of Indo- European, but its origin raises considerable problems. At first glance it derives from a periphrasis combining the inherited supine (e.g. *duotun‘giving’) and an auxiliary *bi-of obscure origin, probably an optative or an indicative preterite of *bhuH-‘to be’. Semantically, this periphrastic structure is difficult to account for, especially if one recalls that the supine is limited to the expression of finality after verbs of motion, which cannot have been the case with an auxiliary ‘to be’. In addition, the absence of an auxiliary in the third person in Lithuanian (e.g. duotų ‘he/they would give’) and throughout the paradigm in Latvian (e.g. es, tu, viņšduotu‘I, you, he would give’, etc.) requires an explanation. In this paper I try to give a full account of the prehistory of the East Baltic conditional mood, relying on Stang’s analysis but with a more precise scenario to explain some syntactic and semantic aspects which have not yet received the attention they deserve.

VALENTINES AND THE VICTORIAN IMAGINATION:MARY BARTONANDFAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

The custom of celebrating Valentine'sDay dates back to the Middle Ages. The emergence of Valentine's Day as a commercial holiday, exploited above all by the greeting card industry, is more recent. In Britain, Valentine's Day cards emerged in the eighteenth century. As David Vincent writes,The observance of 14 February underwent a metamorphosis during the eighteenth century which was later to befall many other customs. What had begun as an exchange of gifts, with many local variations of obscure origin, was gradually transformed into an exchange of tokens and letters, which in turn began to be replaced by printed messages from the end of the century. (44)Early examples of pre-printed Valentine's Day stationery and manuals for the composition of the perfect valentine reveal that existing folk customs were swiftly adapted by modern print culture and an increasingly literate population. However, it was the 1840 introduction of Rowland Hill's penny post in Britain, alongside concomitant advances in American and European postal infrastructure, which led to a veritable explosion in the exchange of valentines, moulding the practice into a shape still recognisable today (see Golden 222). Hill not only democratised access to written communication by lowering prices, he also anonymised epistolary exchange. Prepaid stamps and pillar post boxes made it possible to correspond with anyone, anywhere, without giving away one's identity. And while sending an anonymous letter would have been perceived as a violation of epistolary decorum during the remainder of the year, on Valentine's Day it was not only acceptable but, as Farmer Boldwood hints in Thomas Hardy'sFar from the Madding Crowd(1874), expected. The opportunity for anonymous correspondence generated an enthusiastic response.