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Background In the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic, we need to understand the impact of immunomodulatory medications on COVID-19 symptom severity in patients with inflammatory diseases, including the type 2/Th2 polarized skin disease, atopic dermatitis (AD). Objective Because it is believed that type 1/Th1 immunity controls viral infections and that there is a Th1/Th2 counter-regulation, we hypothesized that Th2 targeting with the IL-4Rα-antagonist, dupilumab, in patients with moderate-to-severe AD would rebalance the Th1/Th2 axis, potentially leading to attenuated COVID-19 symptoms. Methods A total of 1237 patients with moderate-to-severe AD in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Department of Dermatology were enrolled in a registry. Patients were screened for COVID-19-related symptoms and assigned a severity score (asymptomatic [0]-fatal [5]). Scores were compared among 3 treatment groups: dupilumab (n = 632), other systemic treatments (n = 107), and limited/no treatment (n = 498). Demographic and comorbid covariates were adjusted by multivariate generalized logistic regression models. Results The dupilumab-treated group showed reduced incidence and severity of COVID-19 symptoms versus other treatment groups. Dupilumab-treated patients were less likely to experience moderate-to-severe symptoms versus patients on other systemics (P = .01) and on limited/no treatment (P = .04), and less likely to experience any symptoms versus patients on other systemics (P = .01). This effect was seen in our entire cohort and in the subgroup of patients with verified COVID-19 or high-risk exposure. Conclusions Patients on dupilumab experienced less severe COVID-19 manifestations and lesser symptoms compared with patients on other systemics and on limited/no treatment. These results suggest that Th2 modulation with dupilumab may have a protective effect on anti-viral immune response in patients with AD.

What universal features of the mind interact with specific ecologies to produce expressions of violent religious nationalism? To shed light on this question, we focus on a case study of the Yugoslav Wars, asking: How did different religious groups in the Balkans move from cooperative relationships to violent ones? We argue that the most prevalent theories invoked to answer this question fail to adequately explain the change, namely, both the rise and fall of violent religious nationalism in the Balkans. To that end, we employ a systemic framework of religious change to examine historical data and ethnographic interview excerpts from ex-fighters and survivors of the Yugoslav Wars. This framework takes religion as it is practiced by communities to be a complex adaptive system, and models how religions adapt to local socioecologies. In employing this framework, three questions are addressed: (1) What features of cognition contributed to religiously motivated mass violence; (2) Which constituents of the religious system triggered those features; and (3) What socioecological factors were those constituents responding to? We argue that popular support for religious violence—and eventually its rejection—involved a set of higher-order functions, which McNamara calls the centralized executive self. This decision-making system was decentered by religious specialists who raised social pressures; group rituals that sustained community engagement; and identity-markers that signaled group commitments. While support for violence was a response to community threats during state-level succession, the eventual rejection of violence by religious leaders and communities was due to socioecological factors, such as rising health threats and declining birth rates brought about by the wars.

Research has begun to illustrate a favorable efficacy and side-effect profile for many systemic agents used in pediatric dermatological conditions (i.e. atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, scleroderma, alopecia areata, chronic spontaneous urticaria, autoimmune blistering disorders, and hidradenitis suppurativa) despite not having extensive randomized clinical trials. The purpose of this article is to summarize the available data on the treatment regiments, safety, and efficacy of systemic immunosuppressants, including the newer biologics, focusing on the most up-to-date systematic reviews or randomized clinical trials. The review demonstrates that many of the present studies lack data on long-term efficacy and consist of small patient populations. Further research into the long-term safety of these systemic medications is of vital importance especially due to the chronic nature of most pediatric dermatological conditions that require the use of systemic agents. Keywords: systemics, immunosuppressant medications, biologics, pediatric dermatology conditions

Patients with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis (AD) or psoriasis often require systemic immunomodulatory therapy. The uncertainty of the potential of these therapies to increase the risk of more serious illness due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) may have caused anxiety and led to treatment discontinuation. Therefore, we conducted an anonymous questionnaire on concerns of COVID‐19 in patients with AD or psoriasis treated with systemic immunomodulatory therapy.

La pudrición radical del aguacate es un problema devastador en todas las áreas donde se produce el cultivo en Colombia y en el mundo. En vivero y durante los dos primeros años de establecimiento del cultivo se reportan pérdidas entre 30 y 50 % y en campo, incidencias de la enfermedad hasta 75%. Esta revisión está enfocada a proponer alternativas para el Manejo Integrado de la Enfermedad, MIE, involucrando prácticas basadas en manejo cultural y biológico, uso de patrones resistentes y manejo químico. La sanidad, involucra medidas para reducir la posibilidad de introducción de la enfermedad al vivero, como: a) esterilización del sustrato con fumigantes químicos, b) buena ventilación entre plantas, c) buenos drenajes y d) tratamiento de las semillas con agua caliente o fungicidas sistémicos. El manejo cultural y biológico, hace referencia a la aplicación de prácticas que reducen la incidencia de la pudrición de las raíces, como la siembra de las plántulas en montículos y la aplicación de hongos como Trichoderma harzianum, respectivamente. El empleo de patrones resistentes como Martín Grande G755a, G755b y G755c de Guatemala, NATU-001 y CANO-008 de Colombia y, Duke 6, Duke 7 y Thomas, de México, es la alternativa más eficiente para controlar la enfermedad, complementada con el uso racional de fungicidas protectantes antes del trasplante del grupo de los ditiocarbamatos y de sistémicos en el campo de los grupos de las acilalaninas y fosfonatos, como metalaxil y fosetil-Al, respetivamente. Todas las prácticas mencionadas están enfocadas dentro del modelo logístico de Van der Plank.

Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic, immune-mediated systemic disease that affectŝ7.5 million people in the US. It can be treated with many therapies, often in combination, which include topicals, phototherapy, oral systemics, and biologics. Biologic agents target specific components of the immune system involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis including TNF-alpha, IL-12, IL-17, and IL-23. The biologic ixekizumab, approved for the treatment of moderate-severe plaque psoriasis in the US, targets IL-17. This review describes the role of IL-17 in psoriasis, the mechanism by which ixekizumab targets this cytokine, and the clinical utility of ixekizumab.

Le Cours de Linguistique Générale consacre deux chapitres à la phonologie sous les titres “Définition des phonèmes” et “Le Phonème dans la chaîne parlée”. Ces textes se présentent aujourd’hui sous le double aspect d’une question d’histoire des sciences non-résolue et d'une question théorique ouverte, l’irrésolution de la première masquant l’intérêt systémique de la seconde.Critiqués dès 1930 par les théoriciens de l’École de Prague (Troubetzkoy, Jakobson), les Principes de Phonologie de Saussure ont perdu tout crédit scientifique et sont tombés dans l’oubli. La critique des Pragois est à la fois élogieuse et sévère. Tout en se réclamant de son caractère fondateur, ils reprochent à la théorie saussurienne d’être contradictoire, mêlant, selon leurs analyses, deux disciplines devant demeurer distinctes, la phonétique et la phonologie. Les contradictions relevées par les maîtres de l’École de Prague paraissent, en effet, évidentes. D’une part Saussure écrit : “L’essentiel de la langue est étranger au caractère phonique du signe linguistique” (CLG : 21) ou “la question de l’appareil vocal est secondaire dans le problème du langage” (CLG : 26); mais d’autre part, il affirme que “la liberté de lier les espèces phonologiques (phonèmes) est limitée par la possibilité de lier les mouvements articulatoires” (CLG : 79). On ne peut, en effet, soutenir la nécessité d’une distinction stricte entre traits différentiels de langue et mécanique articulatoire et, en même temps, affirmer que la délimitation des phonèmes dépend de contraintes de l’appareil vocal. Ainsi Troubetzkoy et Jakobson reprocheront-ils au maître genevois de réintroduire la phonétique dans le débat phonologique.Mais il y a malentendu. En confrontant les critiques pragoises aux textes de Saussure, on découvre, à la place des contradictions attendues, la description d’un système double de catégories et de fonctions dont chaque partie, dûment développée, aboutit à une loi. La thèse de Saussure maintient strictement (mais subtilement) la distinction entre phonétique et phonologie, contrairement aux allégations des Pragois. Dans une lecture systémique des Principes de Phonologie de Saussure, nous n’avons trouvé ni les “contradictions” ni le “psychologisme naïf” ni non plus de “retour aux procédés de la phonétique motrice” que Jakobson avait critiqués. Il s’agit dans cet article de reconstruire et tester ce modèle saussurien discrédité. Les historiens des sciences auront alors à nous expliquer l’étonnante indifférence dans laquelle est tombée une analyse (si opérante et importante) placée au milieu du livre le plus lu de la linguistique générale., Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics (CLG in French), edited and published by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye in 1916, contains two chapters on phonology : “Definition of the Concept of Phoneme” and “The Phoneme in the Spoken Chain”. These texts were criticised by Nicolas Troubetzkoy (1949) and Roman Jakobson (1976) and judged inconsistent and as a result lost their scientific credibility and are mostly forgotten today. Prague School criticism was simultaneously laudatory and harsh. Recognizing the highly original nature of Saussure’s contribution, it was criticized for being contradictory in its amalgamation of phonetics and phonology. And clearly, some passages from the Course in General Linguistics appear to support Troubetzkoy’s and Jakobson’s claim. Yet, this view rests on a misunderstanding.Close reading of Saussure shows rather that he sought to describe a double system of categories and functions uncovering a linguistic law. Saussure’s thesis strictly – but subtly – maintains the disctinction between phonectics and phonology, contrary to the assertions of the Prague linguists.Indeed a systematic reading of Saussure’s Principes de phonologie shows no “contradiction”, no trace of any “naive psychologism”, nor a “return to procedures of motor phonetics” as Jakobson would have it. In this article, I therefore endeavor to reconstruct and test Saussure’s discredited model. I leave it to historians to explain how it is such a key and operational analysis set midway through the most widely read general linguistic treatise could have fallen into such indifference.

This chapter is devoted to an overview of the basic concepts defining Good Old-Fashioned Systemics (GOFS). The list and comments about such concepts is to be viewed as an introduction to Chap. 2, where we consider new conceptual categories, elaborated upon later when outlining the landscape of a new systemics. The reflections contained within these chapters have been made keeping in mind the current status of the discipline, the advancements, problems and approaches of contemporary science. We also review a partial list of unanswered questions raised by the original von Bertalanffy proposal of a General System Theory. In the last section, dedicated to further remarks, we briefly discuss the concept of matter, which is the basic framework itself of GOFS. This concept will be updated according to the conceptual basis for a new systemics outlined in Chap. 2 and in the rest of the book.

In this chapter we consider the conceptual framework given by multiple processes of emergence and properties of the between such processes of emergence. Multiple processes of emergence are considered establishing levels when one process occurs from mechanisms acting on entities and properties emergent in their turn from a different emergent process, horizontally or vertically – top-down or bottom-up.

“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics…” Richard Feynman, in The Character of Physical Law; MIT Press, Cambridge, Ma, 1967.

This chapter presents an overview of prospective new conceptual categories expected to characterize the new or second-generation systemics. We refuse here to call it systemics 2.0 (Minati, 2016; Minati, Abram, & Pessa, 2016) even though GOFS, or systemics 1.0, had several releases, as mentioned in Sect. 1.1, including the theory of dynamical systems, automata theory, control theory, cybernetics, games theory and system dynamics.

Starting from the last years of the past century, the number of papers and books using, within the most different scientific domains, the networks as the main conceptual tool undergo a fast growth. This circumstance allowed the introduction of the generic name of network science (see, for instance, Barabasi & Posfai, 2016; Lewis, 2009a) to denote a number of contributions having in common the fact of using the mathematical machinery of graph theory as well as of its consequences. The interest in the network science was justified by the fact that its methods allowed to obtain new and interesting results regarding collective systems.As well known, this expression denotes systems made by a large number of reciprocally interacting basic units, whose study is often very difficult by resorting to traditional mathematical tools. Despite that, the tools of network science allowed, since the first papers, not only to characterize the possible dynamical evolution of some kinds of collective systems but also to forecast in advance their survival ability in the presence of damages and their usefulness as supporters of information transmission.

BackgroundLittle data exist on real-world treatment patterns in psoriasis, especially from European settings. ObjectiveTo estimate, for topicals, systemics and biologics, the time to non-persistency, switching, augmentation and insufficient treatment result (only for biologics), as well as to estimate the time to restart, in patients treated with each treatment class in Sweden based on registry data. MethodsThis database analysis utilized data from patients with psoriasis from several Swedish administrative registers. Patients were identified through combinations of diagnoses from two regional registers and filled prescriptions for relevant treatments from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Kaplan-Meier time-to-event (survival') functions were estimated with relevant treatment events as failure and the proportions of patients having experienced an event at specific time-points were derived from the failure rates. ResultsFor topicals, systemics and biologics the number of indexed treatment episodes were 25396, 2963, and 628 respectively. One year after treatment initiation, the proportion of patients who were classed as non-persistent with topicals, systemics and biologics were estimated at 88.3%, 47.9% and 43.2% respectively. Among patients who remained persistent, within 1year of treatment start the proportions of treatment episodes in which patients were augmented were estimated at 56.0% for topicals, 45.3% for systemics and 58.9% for biologics. In addition, within 1year of non-persistence, 49.0% of topicals, 60.8% of systemics and 80.2% of biologics treatment episodes were re-initiated, with 35.4-52.5% re-initiated on the non-persistent treatment depending on treatment class. In addition, among patients on biologics, 29.2% of treatment episodes had an insufficient treatment result within 1year of treatment start. ConclusionPersistency to psoriasis treatments may be sub-optimal and patients who remain persistent relatively frequently receive augmentation therapy or switch to another therapy. Therefore, current treatment options in psoriasis may be insufficient. (Less)

The objective of this study is to analyse the dynamics of a dense semi—deciduous forest, the forest massif of Ngotto situated in the southwest of the Central African Republic, by the systemic approach. We describe some synusial systems and three phytocoenotical systems: a system of the tracks of forestry exploitation, a system of chablis and a system of zones dominated by Marantaceae.

Discrete random sums are generally recognized as powerful analytical tools with particularly important applications in many practical fields. The present paper formulates a very wide class of discrete random sums. Applications of the formulated class in systemics, cybernetics and informatics are also established. Moreover, the paper makes quite clear the role of such applications in the description, investigation and control of the performance and evolution of a modern very complex educational organization.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to shed light on the question: how can we study clusters from a systemic perspective?Design/methodology/approachFirst, clusters are discussed from a strategic point of view, then it is determined what is meant by a systemic perspective. In part two of the paper systemics applied to the study of clusters is discussed. In the last part of the paper a systemic research strategy for the study of clusters is discussed.FindingsThe paper produces a research strategy based on three main entities: composition, environment and structure.Originality/valueThe paper develops a systemic research strategy for the study of innovation based in clusters.

In this article we present lists of concepts and approaches both of Bertalanffy’s pre-complexity General System Theory (GST) and of post-Bertalanffy Systemics dealing with complexity. We also list examples of phenomena showing such complexity and sources or generators of complexity with special regard to social systems. Such lists should be considered as a list of contents for further, more exhaustive, possibly contradictory, studies as outlined in the conclusions.

The silvicultural principles of a forest management plan for Canton Neuchâtel reveals itself as steeped in a systemic approach that allows us to consider the forest as a truly living system. In this context, it seems judicious to the author to conceive of the body forest personnel as a group of responsible people who share certain common ethics and who, in their work, promote the emergence of collective services recognised as beneficial to the state and which would be supported by public funding for the good of the entire community.

Avaliou-se a eficácia de lactonas macrocíclicas (ivermectina e moxidectina) sobre a eventual ocorrência de efeitos colaterais e acompanharam-se, após a alta parasitológica, por 12 meses, os cães tratados, visando detectar a recidiva do quadro dermatopático. Dos 63 animais, 59% eram fêmeas, 76% apresentavam precisa definição racial e 67% tinham pelame curto. A ivermectina (0,6mg/kg/dia) foi administrada por via oral a 31 cães, e a moxidectina (0,5mg/kg/cada 72 horas), pela mesma via, a 32 animais. Os tempos médios para a obtenção da primeira negativação do exame parasitológico do raspado cutâneo e para a consecução da alta foram, respectivamente, de 90 e 130 dias para a ivermectina e de 108 e 147 dias para a moxidectina. A ivermectina acarretou menos (16,1%) efeitos colaterais em relação à moxidectina (37,5%) (P=0,03). As recidivas foram, respectivamente, 10,3% e 13% para ivermectina e moxidectina. Não houve diferença entre os dois protocolos de terapia quanto aos percentuais de recidiva (P=0,67) e eficácia (P=0,61). Ambas as lactonas macrocíclicas mostraram-se eficazes: ivermectina 89,7% e moxidectina 87%. The efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin for treatment of generalized canine demodicosis, was evaluated to detect the eventual occurrence of side effects caused by the use of these drugs, and to follow the treated dogs for 12 months after obtaining parasitologic cure. Of 63 dogs, 59% were females, 76% were defined as purebred and 67% had short hair. Ivermectin (0.6mg/kg/daily) was orally administered to 31 dogs and moxidectin (0.5mg/kg/every 72 hours) to 32 dogs. The average number of days to obtain the first negative skin scraping results and the parasitologic cure were, respectively, 90 and 130 days for ivermectin, and 108 and 147 days for moxidectin. Ivermectin caused fewer side effects (16.1%) than moxidectin (37.5%) (P0.67) and efficacy (P>0.61). Both drugs were effective and safe to treat generalized canine demodicosis: ivermectin 89.7% and moxidectin 87.0%.

PurposeConceptual discussion of central viewpoints of Heinz von Foerster including parallels to the thinking of Gregory Bateson. Application to systems theory and social problems.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis and discussion of selected publications of both authors.FindingsCoining the term of “systemics” instead of “second‐order cybernetics”, limits of systemic thinking, flaws in ignoring these limits for example, in the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann.Originality/valueDefinition of “systemic”, parallels between Foerster and Bateson.

The usefulness of the software program, Systemics 1.0 (O'Halloran and Judd 2002) for research and teaching Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is examined in this paper. Systemics 1.0 is software which contains a pre-programmed SFL grammar at the rank of word, word group, clause, clause complex and discourse stratum. The software is designed to overcome the physical constraints of text analysis through features such as pull-down menus containing the grammatical systems, and search and print facilities. As the 'standard' grammar in Systemics 1.0 can be modified, discourse analyses undertaken with the software can incorporate other theoretical per spectives. Following a discussion of the functionality of the software, the ways in which the design features and interfaces in Systemics 1.0 shape the users' perceptions of systemic functional theory and practice are considered. This includes a discussion of the limitations of the program, together with recommendations for possible future developments in SFL software.

When single solutions of bionics are integrated into whole strategies, one can speak of systemics. This includes, for example, environmentally suitable packages that—if they should become effective—must be bound into a overall strategy which leads from concept to recycling. Questions, how social living organisms or ecosystem manage complex organisation problems, belong just to this as well as an effective network organisation, swarm intelligence, management close to bionics and joint-up thinking.

Upholds the equivalence between the sociological notion of reflexivity and the idea of self‐reference, which epistemologically and structurally distinguish those complex systems where humans participate as elements. Once there is a conceptual bridge between sociology and cybernetics, the reflexivity processes are analysed, and the expression feed‐before is proposed for the corresponding circuits, as they operate after the input, but before the output characteristic of the other complex systems is produced. After distinguishing between micro‐ and macro‐reflexivity, studies mutual connections and submits graphic designs of both types of circuit. Also briefly analyses the tempo of social reflexivity, while deducing the consequences regarding the predictability of social dynamics.

Considers the question: how can we study organizational fields from a systemic angle of incidence? First determines what is meant by a systemic perspective, and then what is meant by an organizational field. Designs a superior methodological scheme, where the main entities in the systemic approach are clarified. Looks at the underlying process for each of the main entities in the research scheme. Develops a systemic research strategy for the study of organizational fields.

The formulation, investigation, and application of stochastic models constitute research activities of exceptional theoretical and practical importance. In particular, stochastic discounting models are adopted as strong analytical tools with very extensive applicability for solving difficult problems in a very wide variety of practical disciplines. The main research intention of the paper is the theoretical investigation of a formulated stochastic discounting model. More precisely, the paper establishes sufficient conditions for embedding the formulated stochastic discounting model into the extremely useful class of random contractions of Bernoulli selecting processes. Moreover, the paper makes quite clear the role of the formulated stochastic model in the leading discipline of systemics.

Systemic functional linguistics (SFL; http://www.isfla.org/Systemics/index.html) was founded in the 1960s by M. A. K. Halliday, who developed the theory between the 1930s and 1950s from the work of J. R. Firth and his colleagues in London, among others (Halliday, 1967–8). Keywords: discourse analysis; language and social interaction; grammar

Efficacy of biologic therapies for psoriasis has been demonstrated in randomized trials, but effectiveness in real-world settings has yet to be fully determined.To compare clinical improvement and treatment satisfaction with biologic versus other therapies in patients with plaque psoriasis.European dermatologists recruited psoriasis patients into an observational study. Dermatologists reported disease severity before and after starting current therapy; dermatologists and patients reported treatment satisfaction.These analyses included 2151 patients: topicals, n = 453; phototherapy, n = 666; conventional systemics, n = 683; biologics, n = 349. The percentage with severe disease declined from 70% before to 15% after biologics, a significantly greater decline than other therapies: topicals, 22-10%; phototherapy, 20-11%; conventional systemics, 49-15% (all p ≤ 0.03). Significantly more patients (59%) receiving biologics were satisfied with treatment versus topicals (45%), phototherapy (34%), or conventional systemics (50%) (all p0.001). Significantly more dermatologists were satisfied with biologics (60%) versus topicals (35%), phototherapy (26%), or conventional systemics (42%) (all p0.001).In this study, more patients receiving biologic therapies improved from severe to moderate or mild psoriasis than patients on other treatments. More patients with plaque psoriasis and their dermatologists were satisfied with biologics than any other treatment.

In the previous chapters it was claimed that one of the peculiarities of modern science since its birth five centuries ago is that it looks for systems—that is, complex objects with global or emergent properties. This attitude leads to analyzing wholes, as well as to placing them in their contexts.

Agonistic antagonistic general system theory and praxis were born in the medical field, but may be defined now from an epistemological and biomathematical point of view, and are used in other fields. Reviews classical notions in General Systems Theory (GST), such as auto‐organization, hierarchy, the “middle way” etc. Discusses bilateral strategies, which are seemingly contradictory and the paradoxical unilateral strategy. Suggests that, if the efficient control of certain systems is at stake in such strategies, they ought to be scrutinized by the cybernetical community.

Eleven fungicides were screened, over three seasons, for efficacy against crucifer downy mildew, Peronospora parasitica, on cabbage seedlings grown in 24-modular polystyrene trays. Starting 10 days after emergence, seedlings were treated with weekly foliar applications of fungicide formulations. Percentage disease severity was assessed weekly using a visual rating scale; the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) was calculated for each treatment. A single assessment of final disease severity was an inadequate parameter for comparison of fungicide efficacy. However, AUDPC facilitated clear separation of treatments and provided an integrated measure of disease control. The mixture of cymoxanil and mancozeb was consistently found to be the most effective fungicide against crucifer downy mildew. Other fungicides that provided control included systemics (oxadixyl as a mixture with mancozeb and propamocarb) and protectants (mancozeb, chlorothalonil and cupric hydroxide). All metalaxyl-based fungicides were ineffective.

In response to the call that systems practitioners need to produce a “second epistemological break” corresponding to a shift of interest from “systems science” to “systems rationality,” it is submitted that the preparation for this “break” has already been carried out. It is shown that systems rationality is firmly established and central to the French school of thought in systemics and that the philosophical groundwork has been extensively laid out by Edgar Morin. A very limited expose of Morin's work is presented in support of this claim.

This article reviews the dental literature concerning the potential impact of the removable prosthesis (RP) on the health status of patients with certain systemic diseases. Literature was surveyed using Medline/PubMed database resources, as well as a manual search, up to 2015 to identify appropriate articles that addressed the aim of this review. The research used keywords about associations between RP and six pathologies: Human immunodeficiency virus infection, diabetes mellitus, pulmonary diseases, gastric-Helicobacter pylori, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Analysis of literature showed that in patients with dentures having one or more of the six general conditions listed, Candida albicans organism is more frequently found in the oral flora compared to healthy denture wearer. Although causality has not been established and pending further research on this topic, the hygienic practices necessary to minimize the risk of numerous pathologies should be strengthened in the case of these patients, all the more in the presence of physical or psychological disability. The relationship between the general diseases and increasing of oral candidiasis denture patients is not explained. Therefore, attention to oral hygiene and professional care for removing C. albicans may be beneficial in these medically compromised patients.

General Systems Theory produced many cultural and scientific results and approaches based on some fundamental aspects like the interaction between components, distinguished from relation. Inter-disciplinarity is introduced as the disciplinary study of systemic properties. Trans-disciplinarity is introduced as the study of systemic properties in general and of relationships among them. Finally Systemics is introduced as cultural generalization of the principles contained in the General Systems Theory. In reference to many new scientific disciplinary results we introduce the need to update the concepts and models of Systemics. We introduce a short review of those results, like Collective Phenomena; Phase Transitions in physics; Dynamical Usage of Models (DYSAM); Multiple systems, emerging from the same elements, but having simultaneous different interactions among them; Uncertainty Principles; Laws of scaling; Modelling emergence; Systemic meaning of new theorizations like Quantum Field Theories (QFT) in physics with related applications in biology, in studying the brain, consciousness, and in dealing with long-range correlations. The study of emergence undertaken in many disciplinary fields, like Physics, Biology, Artificial Life, Information Technology and Economics, has been realized focusing on the web of fundamental problems of General Systems Theory like the transition between non-systemic and systemic phases. The problem of modelling emergence relates to modelling processes of interaction between components and the observer. Dealing with those new problems and results calls for new theoretical approaches for Systemics. The change is expected to be so innovative to name this process with particular reference to emergence: Systemics of emergence or Second Systemics. We stress the need that the systems community, honouring its tradition and mission, be active part and leads this process, while at the present the most important research activities on Systemics seem to take place disciplinarily, out from the system community.

International audience; The aim of this paper is to give empirical evidence of the fundamental mechanisms underlying the resource systemics: time compression diseconomies, asset mass efficiency, and interconnectedness of assets. It assumes that time, resource properties and interactions are the critical elements leading to accumulation of idiosyncratic resources, firm performance and survival. Results from a Cox regression on a simulated dataset confirm the protective effects of time compression diseconomies, asset mass efficiency, and interconnectedness of assets against firm's death.

Background Tofacitinib (CP-690,550) is a novel Janus kinase inhibitor in development as an oral formulation for the treatment of several inflammatory diseases including psoriasis. Objectives This phase 2a study aimed to assess the efficacy, systemic safety, local tolerability and systemic pharmacokinetics of topical tofacitinib in mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis. Methods Two tofacitinib ointment formulations were evaluated in this multicentre, double-blind, vehicle-controlled trial (NCT01246583). Seventy-one patients were randomized 2 : 1 : 2 : 1 to 2% tofacitinib ointment 1, vehicle 1, 2% tofacitinib ointment 2 and vehicle 2, each administered twice daily for 4 weeks to a single fixed 300 cm2 treatment area containing a target plaque with or without one or more nontarget plaques and normal skin. Results The primary endpoint of percentage change from baseline in the Target Plaque Severity Score at week 4 demonstrated statistically significant improvement for ointment 1 [least squares mean (LSM) –54·4%] vs. vehicle 1 (LSM –41·5%), but not ointment 2 (LSM –24·2%) vs. vehicle 2 (LSM –17·2%). Secondary endpoints (target plaque area and Itch Severity Item) improved similarly for tofacitinib ointment vs. corresponding vehicle. Adverse event (AE) occurrence was similar across treatment groups. All AEs were mild or moderate and none were serious or led to subject discontinuation. One application-site AE (erythema) was reported. Tofacitinib mean systemic exposure was minimal and was greater for ointment 1 than for ointment 2. Conclusions Tofacitinib ointment 1 was well tolerated and efficacious compared with vehicle for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. Further study of topical tofacitinib for psoriasis treatment is warranted.