Flamingos at Laguna Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama

Flamingos are wading birds and I had the opportunity to see different kinds in the Andes. The word flamingo comes from the Spanish flamengo, flame-colored, but you might think of flamenco as a mnemonic.

At Laguna Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama one can watch different species, like the Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis), James's flamingo
(Phoenicoparrus jamesi) [?] and Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus), but I’m not an ornithologist and won’t try to differentiate. Flamingo feed on small brine shrimp and or algae much like baleen whales filter krill. It’s strange that baleen whales aren’t pink like flamingos as the color of the plumage is pink because of beta-carotenes and krill is rich in astaxanthin, a beta-carotene that colors at least salmon.

Laguna Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama is at 2300 m altitude and I’ll show only pictures I’ve taken there in this blogpost.

 

Lots of salt

 

Different colors due to different age and content of betacarotenes in the food

 

The flamingo pose

 

In flight

 

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalreservat_Los_Flamencos

Sacred Sones in Peru like at Saksaywaman or Machu Picchu and the misuse of these

"Keiner ist so verrückt, dass er nicht einen noch

Verrückteren fände, der ihn versteht."

Die Harzreise von Heinrich Heine

When you go to Saksaywaman or Machu Picchu you will find quite a lot of stones used at terrace walls or buildings, which attract even more eccentrics and esoteric people. They believe that the stones are emitting energy and that they can receive this energy. But if you look soberly and in a more scientific way at it: which kind of energy are the big boulders emitting? How can on measure this energy? Somehow I felt reminded of: “No one is so crazy that he doesn‘t find someone even more insane, who understands him.” Translated from the German text above. And no, it isn’t by Friedrich Nietzsche, it’s by Heinrich Heine, who has written this line in “Die Harzreise” – The Journey to the Harz.

Let’s have a couple of looks at this strange phenomenon. 

 

No go and touch any more!

 

Oh, we'll find another big stone.

 

Or we let the sourroundings replenish us with energy.

 

A harless big slab of stone?

 

Not so harmless - it leads to mass hysteria.

Progressing Autumn

The funeral pyre

Made of garbage and debris

But sparks hit the night

Slow moon’s arising

Leaves have already hit the ground

Last cricket has died

The sun has hidden

Yesterday’s pale afterglow

Crickets have gone, too

Wind moving

Curled leaves

Like hurrying mice

 

Some haiku in German:

Nebel in Bäumen

Umgeben von Dunkelheit

Tropfen auf Blättern

Ilex vor Ziegeln

Grau gefärbt vom November

Lachen der Kinder

Duft von frischem Holz

Der DachFirst ist errichtet

Leere Fenster noch

Die Kronen entlaubt

„Und aus den Wiesen steiget ...“

Mondlicht auf Allem

BI 655064, an Antagonistic Anti-CD40 Antibody, in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis at the 2016 Annual Meetings of EULAR and ACR

I have been interested in CD-40 for a couple of years now. Boehringer Ingelheim has developed a CD40 antigen inhibitor, BI 655064. Boehringer Ingelheim has terminated a phase I trial for immune thrombocytopenic purpura in the US this September. Adisinsight didn’t show any new reports on phase 1 studies in rheumatoid arthritis, which is strange as there had been two abstracts at the EULAR 2016 Annual Meeting in London and one abstract at the ACR 2016 Annual Meeting in Washington, which concluded just a couple of days ago.

S. Visvanathan and collegues presented at the EULAR 2016 [FRI0231]:“Treatment with BI 655064 (antagonistic anti-CD40 antibody) modulates biomarkers associated with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)”. In conclusions we read: These results demonstrate that treatment of RA patients with BI 655064 decreases activated B cell subsets, inhibits the production of pathogenic autoantibodies, and reduces the level of circulaiting inflammatory and bone resorption biomarkers at 12 wks  [weeks].”

S. Daniluk and collegues presented at the EULAR 2016 [SAT0147]: “Safety and efficacy of BI 655064, an antagonistic Anti-CD40 antibody in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients”. In conclusions the authors tell us: “In this relatively small proof-of-clinical-concept trial, treatment of

MTX IR RA patients with BI 655064 did not indicate a relevant safety concern and showed moderate efficacy, which might have been impacted by the relatively high placebo response rate and the imbalance in baseline CRP.”

S. Visvanathan and collegues presented at the ACR 2016 [1588]: “Treatment with BI 655064 (Antagonistic Anti-CD40 Antibody) Modulates Clinical and Biomarker Parameters Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)”.In conclusion we read: “Treatment of MTX-IR RA [methotrexate inadequate responders rheumatoid arthritis] patients with BI 655064 resulted in moderate efficacy, […]. Treatment with BI 655064 decreased selected activated B cell subsets, inhibited RF [rheumatoid factor] production, and reduced levels of select circulating inflammatory and

bone resorption biomarkers through 12 wks [weeks] in RA patients.”

The studies show moderate efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis patients with inadequate response to MTX and a reduction of circulating inflammatory and bone resorption biomarkers, which might be a hint at the possibility to reduce or stop radiographic progression. Half a year ago AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim announced sharing responsibility for future clinical development. “AbbVie gains rights to an anti-CD-40 antibody, BI 655064, currently in Phase 1 development. [March 2016]”.  Hopefully, a phase 2 study is initiated soon.

Links:

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/08/targeting-cd-40-preliminaries-at-eular.html

http://adisinsight.springer.com/drugs/800035513

S. Visvanathan, M. Ramanujam, C. Schoelch, R. Vinisko,U. Mueller-Ladner, S. Padula, J.S. Fine, J. Steffgen: FRI0231 / TREATMENT WITH BI 655064 (ANTAGONISTIC ANTI-CD40 ANTIBODY) MODULATES BIOMARKERS ASSOCIATED WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA). DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-eular.2051

S. Daniluk, R. Ptaszynski, U. Mueller-Ladner, A. Petrikova, H. Kellner, E. Dokoupilova, B. Kwiatkowska, R. Alten, C. Schwabe, B. Rosenstock, T. Doan11, R. Thiedmann , F. Fleischer, J. Hilbert, S. Visvanathan, S. Padula, J. Steffgen: SAT0147 / SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF BI 655064, AN ANTAGONISTIC ANTI-CD40 ANTIBODY IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA) PATIENTS. DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-eular.1271

Sudha Visvanathan, Meera Ramanujam, Corinna Schoelch, Patrick Baum, Richard Vinisko, Ralf Thiedmann, Ulf Müller-Ladner, Stefan Daniluk, Rafal Ptaszyński, Steven Padula, Jay S. Fine and Jürgen Steffgen [1588]: “Treatment with BI 655064 (Antagonistic Anti-CD40 Antibody) Modulates Clinical and Biomarker Parameters Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)”. http://acrabstracts.org/abstract/treatment-with-bi-655064-antagonistic-anti-cd40-antibody-modulates-clinical-and-biomarker-parameters-associated-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-ra

AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim announce global collaboration on promising immunology compounds  https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/press-release/abbvie-boehringer-ingelheim-immunology-compounds

 

 

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