Simultaneous interplanetary scintillation and Heliospheric Imager observations of a coronal mass ejection

We describe simultaneous Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) and STEREO Heliospheric Imager (HI) observations of a coronal mass ejection (CME) on 16 May 2007. Strong CME signatures were present throughout the IPS observation. The IPS raypath lay within the field-of-view of HI-1 on STEREO-A and comparison of the observations shows that the IPS measurements came from a region within a faint CME front observed by HI-1A. This front may represent the merging of two converging CMEs. Plane-of-sky velocity estimates based on time-height plots of the two converging CME structures were 325 kms?1 and 550 kms?1 for the leading and trailing fronts respectively. The plane-of-sky velocities determined from IPS ranged from 420 ± 10 kms?1 to 520 ± 20 kms?1. IPS results reveal the presence of micro-structure within the CME front which may represent interaction between the two separate CME events. This is the first time that it has been possible to interpret IPS observations of small-scale structure within an interplanetary CME in terms of the global structure of the event

Transients influencing rocket engine ignition and popping Interim report

Engine design and operating parameters studied for effects on rocket engine ignition and poppin

EISCAT measurements of solar wind velocity and the associated level of interplanetary scintillation

International audienceA relative scintillation index can be derived from EISCAT observations of Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) usually used to study the solar wind velocity. This provides an ideal opportunity to compare reliable measurements of the solar wind velocity derived for a number of points along the line-of-sight with measurements of the overall level of scintillation. By selecting those occasions where either slow- or fast-stream scattering was dominant, it is shown that at distances from the Sun greater than 30 RS , in both cases the scintillation index fell with increasing distance as a simple power law, typically as R-1.7. The level of scintillation for slow-stream scattering is found to be 2.3 times the level for fast-stream scattering

Sex Differences in the Effect of Inflammation on Subjective Social Status: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Endotoxin in Healthy Young Adults.

It has been established that inflammation leads to a variety of changes in social experience, but one area of social experience that has been overlooked is subjective social status. Furthermore, given sex differences in the relationship between inflammation and social status, males may be more sensitive to inflammation-induced changes in social status. However, no previous studies in humans have examined this possibility. In the present study, healthy young participants (n = 115) were randomly assigned to receive either endotoxin, an experimental inflammatory challenge, or placebo. Participants reported their subjective social status at baseline (prior to injection), and approximately 2 h later (time of peak inflammatory response for the endotoxin group). Results, using ANCOVA analyses, indicated that males exposed to endotoxin, but not females, reported lower levels of subjective social status at the peak of inflammatory response (vs. placebo). These results suggest that males may be more sensitive to the effects of inflammation in certain social domains, such as perceived social status. Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01671150

Increased risk of depression in non-depressed HIV infected men with sleep disturbance: Prospective findings from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.

ObjectiveSleep disturbance is a known risk factor for depression, but it is not known whether sleep disturbance contributes to greater risk of depression in those infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+) as compared to those uninfected with HIV (HIV-).MethodsUsing data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, a population-based prospective study of men who have sex with men (MSM), self-reported sleep disturbance (>2 weeks) and depressive symptoms (Clinical Epidemiologic Scale for Depression, CES-D) were assessed every 6 months over 12 years of follow-up. Adjusted mixed effects logistic regression analyses tested whether sleep disturbance predicted depression (CES-D ≥ 16) at the immediate subsequent visit, and so on over 12 years, in non-depressed HIV+(N = 1054; 9556 person-visits) and non-depressed HIV- (N = 1217; 12,680 person-visits). In HIV+ vs. HIV- MSM, linearly estimated average incidence of depression and normalized cumulative rate of depression over 12 years were compared.ResultsIn the HIV+ MSM, sleep disturbance was associated with a significant increase in depression 6 months later (OR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.30, 1.96), which was significantly greater (P < .05) than in HIV- MSM (OR = 1.16; 95% CI, 0.94, 1.44). HIV status and sleep disturbance interacted (P < .001), such that incidence of depression and normalized cumulative rate of depression were greater in HIV+ with sleep disturbance than in HIV+ without sleep disturbance and HIV- groups (all P's < 0.001).ConclusionsHIV+ persons who report sleep disturbance represent a high risk group to be monitored for depression, and possibly targeted for insomnia treatment to prevent depression. FUND: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Developing a Research Agenda for Adult Palliative Care: A Modified Delphi Study

Background: Little is known about research priorities in adult palliative care. Identifying research priorities for adult palliative care will help in increasing research quality and translation. Objective: The aim was to identify the views of health professionals' research priorities in adult palliative care that lead to development of a palliative care research agenda in Australia. Design: A modified three-round Delphi survey. Setting/Subjects: Palliative care researchers and clinicians in Australia were invited to participate. Results: A total of 25 panelists completed round 1, 14 completed round 2, and 13 completed round 3. Round 1 resulted in 90 research priorities in 13 categories. Round 2 showed consensus agreement on 19/90 research priorities. Round 3 resulted in the top 10 research priorities of the 19 achieving consensus in round 2. Panelists agreed that research is needed on the transition to palliative care; improving communication about prognosis; increasing access to palliative care for indigenous communities, people who wish to remain at home, and people in aged care; addressing family caregivers' needs; promoting patients' and families' decision making; improving cross-cultural aspects of palliative care; determining the effects of assisted dying legislation; and improving bereavement care in rural, remote, and Aboriginal populations. Conclusions: The expert panelists identified the top 10 research priorities for adult palliative care. These identified research priorities are the most urgent topics requiring attention to increase the quality of life of patients requiring palliative care and their family members

Modifications to the Aesop's fable paradigm change New Caledonian crow performances

While humans are able to understand much about causality, it is unclear to what extent non-human animals can do the same. The Aesop's Fable paradigm requires an animal to drop stones into a water-filled tube to bring a floating food reward within reach. Rook, Eurasian jay, and New Caledonian crow performances are similar to those of children under seven years of age when solving this task. However, we know very little about the cognition underpinning these birds' performances. Here, we address several limitations of previous Aesop's Fable studies to gain insight into the causal cognition of New Caledonian crows. Our results provide the first evidence that any non-human animal can solve the U-tube task and can discriminate between water-filled tubes of different volumes. However, our results do not provide support for the hypothesis that these crows can infer the presence of a hidden causal mechanism. They also call into question previous object-discrimination performances. The methodologies outlined here should allow for more powerful comparisons between humans and other animal species and thus help us to determine which aspects of causal cognition are distinct to humans

Estimating random transverse velocities in the fast solar wind from EISCAT Interplanetary Scintillation measurements

International audienceInterplanetary scintillation measurements can yield estimates of a large number of solar wind parameters, including bulk flow speed, variation in bulk velocity along the observing path through the solar wind and random variation in transverse velocity. This last parameter is of particular interest, as it can indicate the flux of low-frequency Alfvén waves, and the dissipation of these waves has been proposed as an acceleration mechanism for the fast solar wind. Analysis of IPS data is, however, a significantly unresolved problem and a variety of a priori assumptions must be made in interpreting the data. Furthermore, the results may be affected by the physical structure of the radio source and by variations in the solar wind along the scintillation ray path. We have used observations of simple point-like radio sources made with EISCAT between 1994 and 1998 to obtain estimates of random transverse velocity in the fast solar wind. The results obtained with various a priori assumptions made in the analysis are compared, and we hope thereby to be able to provide some indication of the reliability of our estimates of random transverse velocity and the variation of this parameter with distance from the Sun