11,747 research outputs found
Dual regimes of ion migration in high repetition rate femtosecond laser inscribed waveguides
Ion migration in high repetition rate femtosecond laser inscribed waveguides
is currently being reported in different optical glasses. For the first time we
discuss and experimentally demonstrate the presence of two regimes of ion
migration found in laser written waveguides. Regime-I, corresponds to the
initial waveguide formation mainly via light element migration (in our case
atomic weight < 31u), whereas regime-II majorly corresponds to the movement of
heavy elements. This behavior brings attention to a problem which has never
been analyzed before and that affects laser written active waveguides in which
active ions migrate changing their local spectroscopic properties. The
migration of active ions may in fact detune the pre-designed optimal values of
active photonic devices. This paper experimentally evidences this problem and
provides solutions to avert it.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Magnetization pinning in modulated nanowires: from topological protection to the "corkscrew" mechanism
Diameter-modulated nanowires offer an important paradigm to design the
magnetization response of 3D magnetic nanostructures by engineering the domain
wall pinning. With the aim to understand its nature and to control the process,
we analyze the magnetization response in FeCo modulated polycrystalline
two-segment nanowires varying the minor diameter. Our modelling indicates a
very complex behavior with a strong dependence on the disorder distribution and
an important role of topologically non-trivial magnetization structures. We
demonstrate that modulated nanowires with a small diameter difference are
characterized by an increased coercive field in comparison to the straight ones
which is explained by a formation of topologically protected walls formed by
two 3D skyrmions with opposite chiralities. For a large diameter difference we
report the occurrence of a novel pinning type called here the "corkscrew": the
magnetization of the large diameter segment forms a skyrmion tube with a core
position in a helical modulation along the nanowire. This structure is pinned
at the constriction and in order to penetrate the narrow segments the
vortex/skyrmion core size should be reduced
Ionizing Radiation, an Instrument in Chemical Evolution Studies: Scope and Perspectives
The study of synthesis and stability of molecules in different environments it’s been part of chemistry evolution and origin of life studies for more than 70 years. Various kinds of ionizing radiation have been analyzed as possible sources of energy for the transformations undergone by the first organic molecules. Now experimental and computational simulation approaches continue with different groups of organic molecules, in search for more information that help us to understand and reconstruct somehow the mechanisms that toke place on early Earth and space. In that line, this paper presents first approach of keto acids stability to ionizing radiation, an interesting group of molecules involved in the Krebs cycle and glycolysis. Preliminary results obtained by HPLC/UV analysis of irradiating aqueous solutions of 5 keto acids ranging from 3 to 6 carbons with a 60Co gamma ray source, using doses up to 53 kGy, show different stabilities and a general tendency of shifting the keto-enol equilibrium to the enol tautomer before decomposition
Serum HER-2 concentration is associated with insulin resistance and decreases after weight loss.
HER2/neu is a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor family
easily detectable in the serum of cancer patients. We aimed to evaluate
circulating HER-2 concentrations in association with insulin resistance in
healthy and obese subjects. METHODS: Insulin sensitivity (minimal model) and
serum HER-2 concentrations were evaluated in a cross sectional study in men
(cohort 1, n = 167) and longitudinally after weight loss in obese subjects
(cohort 2, n = 30). RESULTS: Serum HER-2 concentrations were positively
associated with BMI and waist circumference (both r = 0.18, p = 0.02), post-load
glucose (r = 0.28, p = 0.001) and fasting triglycerides (r = 0.26, p = 0.001);
and negatively associated with insulin sensitivity (r = -0.29, p = 0.002, n =
109). Subjects with type 2 diabetes showed significantly increased soluble serum
HER-2 concentrations. In different multivariate regression models, fasting
triglycerides emerged as the factor that independently contributed to 10-11% of
serum HER-2 variance.Serum HER-2 concentrations correlated significantly with
fasting triglycerides and insulin sensitivity index in subjects from cohort 2.
Weight loss led to a significant decrease of serum HER-2 concentrations. The
change in serum HER-2 concentrations were significantly associated with the
change in percent body fat and fasting triglycerides in young (below the median
age of the cohort) subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Serum HER-2 concentrations might be
implicated in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance and associated
comorbidities
PANIC: the new panoramic NIR camera for Calar Alto
PANIC is a wide-field NIR camera, which is currently under development for
the Calar Alto observatory (CAHA) in Spain. It uses a mosaic of four Hawaii-2RG
detectors and covers the spectral range from 0.8-2.5 micron(z to K-band). The
field-of-view is 30x30 arcmin. This instrument can be used at the 2.2m
telescope (0.45arcsec/pixel, 0.5x0.5 degree FOV) and at the 3.5m telescope
(0.23arcsec/pixel, 0.25x0.25 degree FOV). The operating temperature is about
77K, achieved by liquid Nitrogen cooling. The cryogenic optics has three flat
folding mirrors with diameters up to 282 mm and nine lenses with diameters
between 130 mm and 255 mm. A compact filter unit can carry up to 19 filters
distributed over four filter wheels. Narrow band (1%) filters can be used. The
instrument has a diameter of 1.1 m and it is about 1 m long. The weight limit
of 400 kg at the 2.2m telescope requires a light-weight cryostat design. The
aluminium vacuum vessel and radiation shield have wall thicknesses of only 6 mm
and 3 mm respectively.Comment: This paper has been presented in the SPIE of Astronomical Telescopes
and Instrumentation 2008 in Marseille (France
Muscle thickness and echogenicity measured by ultrasound could detect local sarcopenia and malnutrition in older patients hospitalized for hip fracture
Background: The aim of this work was to assess whether the muscle thickness and echogenicity were associated with dysphagia, malnutrition, sarcopenia, and functional capacity in acute hospital admission for a hip fracture. Methods: Observational study that assessed nutritional status by Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition, risk of dysphagia and sarcopenia by European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People and Barthel functional index. We measured muscle thickness and echogenicity of masseter, bicipital, and quadriceps rectus femoris (RF) and vastus intermedius (VI) by ultrasound. Results: One hundred and one patients were included in the study (29.7% sarcopenia and 43.8% malnutrition). Logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index showed an inverse association of the masseter thickness with both sarcopenia (OR: 0.56) and malnutrition (OR: 0.38) and quadriceps with sarcopenia (OR: 0.74). In addition, patients at high risk of dysphagia had lower masseter thickness (p: 0.0001) while patients able to self-feeding had thicker biceps (p: 0.002) and individuals with mobility on level surfaces higher thickness of biceps (p: 0.008) and quadriceps (p: 0.04). Conclusion: Thickness of the masseter was associated with risk of dysphagia, biceps with the ability to self-feed, and that of the quadriceps RF-VI with mobility
A1298C polymorphism in the MTHFR gene predisposes to cardiovascular risk in rheumatoid arthritis
8 páginas, 1 figura, 3 tablas.-- et al.[Introduction]:
We determined the contribution of the methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677 C>T and 1298 A>C gene polymorphisms to the susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We also assessed whether these two MTHFR gene polymorphisms may be implicated in the development of cardiovascular (CV) events and subclinical atherosclerosis manifested by the presence of endothelial dysfunction, in a series of Spanish patients with RA.
[Methods]:
Six hundred and twelve patients fulfilling the 1987 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for RA, seen at the rheumatology outpatient clinics of Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo and Hospital San Carlos, Madrid, were studied. Patients and controls (n = 865) were genotyped using predesigned TaqMan SNP genotyping assays.
[Results]:
No significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies for the MTHFR gene polymorphisms between RA patients and controls were found. Also, no association between the MTHFR 677 C>T polymorphism and CV events or endothelial dysfunction was observed. However, the MTHFR 1298 allele C frequency was increased in patients with CV events after 5 years (38.7% versus 30.3%; odds ratio = 1.45; 95% confidence interval = 1.00 to 2.10; P = 0.04) and 10 years (42.2% versus 31.0%; odds ratio = 1.62; 95% confidence interval = 1.08 to 2.43; P = 0.01) follow up. Moreover, patients carrying the MTHFR 1298 AC and CC genotypes had a significantly decreased flow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation (4.3 ± 3.9%) compared with those carrying the MTHFR 1298 AA genotype (6.5 ± 4.4%) (P = 0.005).
[Conclusions]:
Our results show that the MTHFR 1298 A>C gene polymorphism confers an increased risk for subclinical atherosclerosis and CV events in patients with RA.The present study was supported by two grants from Fondo de Investigaciones
Sanitarias PI06-0024 and PS09/00748 (Spain). This work was partially
supported by RETICS Program RD08/0075 (RIER) from the Instituto de Salud
Carlos III.Peer reviewe
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