Serum pentraxin 3 in systemic lupus erythematosus: A potential indicator of cutaneous disease activity.

BACKGROUND: Although skin manifestations are common in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), there is still a lack of a diagnostic marker for cutaneous involvement. Pentraxin3 (PTX3) has been studied in SLE patients; however, it has not been investigated in relation to cutaneous manifestations. OBJECTIVE: To assess the serum PTX3 level in SLE patients, and to investigate its relationship with disease activity as well as with variable skin manifestations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-four patients with SLE (17 patients with skin manifestations and 17 without) and 30 healthy subjects were included in the study. Patients were evaluated clinically for systemic and skin manifestations of SLE. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI-2k) and Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Activity and Severity Index (CLASI) scores were calculated. Serum level of PTX3 was measured in patients and controls using ELISA. RESULTS: Higher serum PTX3 level was found in SLE patients compared to controls (p < 0.001). Patients with skin manifestations showed higher SLEDAI-2k scores and had higher PTX3 level compared to those without skin manifestations (p = 0.015 and p < 0.001, respectively). PTX3 showed higher levels in association with malar rash (p < 0.001), mucosal ulcers (p < 0.001), alopecia (p < 0.001), and purpuric eruption (p = 0.002). Moreover, PTX3 level positively correlated with CLASI scores (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results reinforce the important role of Pentraxin3 in SLE patients with skin manifestations, and it may be considered an interesting biomarker for the pattern and extent of cutaneous involvement in SLE.

Addressed Combined Fiber-Optic Sensors as Key Element of Multisensor Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Systems.

The design and usage of the addressed combined fiber-optic sensors (ACFOSs) and the multisensory control systems of the greenhouse gas concentration on their basis are investigated herein. The main development trend of the combined fiber-optic sensors (CFOSs), which consists of the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and the Fabry-Perot resonator (FPR), which are successively formed at the optical fiber end, is highlighted. The use of the addressed fiber Bragg structures (AFBSs) instead of the FBG in the CFOSs not only leads to the significant cheapening of the sensor system due to microwave photonics interrogating methods, but also increasing its metrological characteristics. The structural scheme of the multisensory gas concentration monitoring system is suggested. The suggested scheme allows detecting four types of greenhouse gases (CO2, NO2, CH4 and Ox) depending on the material and thickness of the polymer film, which is the FPR sensitive element. The usage of the Karhunen-Loève transform (KLT), which allows separating each component contribution to the reflected spectrum according to its efficiency, is proposed. In the future, this allows determining the gas concentration at the AFBS address frequencies. The estimations show that the ACFOS design in the multisensory system allows measuring the environment temperature in the range of -60…+300 °C with an accuracy of 0.1-0.01 °C, and the gas concentration in the range of 10…90% with an accuracy of 0.1-0.5%.

Algorithm of FBG Spectrum Distortion Correction for Optical Spectra Analyzers with CCD Elements.

Nonlinear spectrum distortions are caused by the peculiarities of the operation of charge-coupled device elements (CCD), in which the signal exposition time (Time of INTegration-TINT) is one of the significant parameters. A change of TINT on a CCD leads to a nonlinear distortion of the resulting spectrum. A nonlinear distortion of the spectrum, in turn, leads to errors in determining the central wavelength of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and spectrally sensitive sensors, which, in general, negatively affects the accuracy of the measuring systems. This paper proposes an algorithm for correcting the nonlinear distortions of the spectrum obtained on a spectrum analyzer using CCD as a receiver. It is shown that preliminary calibration of the optical spectrum analyzer with subsequent mathematical processing of the signal makes it possible to make corrections in the resulting spectrum, thereby leveling the errors caused by measurements at different TINT.