Peculiar Velocities of Nonlinear Structure: Voids in McVittie Spacetime

As a study of peculiar velocities of nonlinear structure, we analyze the model of a relativistic thin-shell void in the expanding universe. (1) Adopting McVittie (MV) spacetime as a background universe, we investigate the dynamics of an uncompensated void with negative MV mass. Although the motion itself is quite different from that of a compensated void, as shown by Haines & Harris (1993), the present peculiar velocities are not affected by MV mass. (2) We discuss how precisely the formula in the linear perturbation theory applies to nonlinear relativistic voids, using the results in (1) as well as the previous results for the homogeneous background (Sakai, Maeda, & Sato 1993). (3) We re-examine the effect of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Contrary to the results of Pim & Lake (1986, 1988), we find that the effect is negligible. We show that their results are due to inappropriate initial conditions. Our results (1)-(3) suggest that the formula in the linear perturbation theory is approximately valid even for nonlinear voids.Comment: 12 pages, aastex, 4 ps figures separate, Fig.2 added, to appear in Ap

The response of perennial and temporary headwater stream invertebrate communities to hydrological extremes

The headwaters of karst rivers experience considerable hydrological variability, including spates and streambed drying. Extreme summer flooding on the River Lathkill (Derbyshire, UK) provided the opportunity to examine the invertebrate community response to unseasonal spate flows, flow recession and, at temporary sites, streambed drying. Invertebrates were sampled at sites with differing flow permanence regimes during and after the spates. Following streambed drying at temporary sites, dewatered surface sediments were investigated as a refugium for aquatic invertebrates. Experimental rehydration of these dewatered sediments was conducted to promote development of desiccation-tolerant life stages. At perennial sites, spate flows reduced invertebrate abundance and diversity, whilst at temporary sites, flow reactivation facilitated rapid colonisation of the surface channel by a limited number of invertebrate taxa. Following streambed drying, 38 taxa were recorded from the dewatered and rehydrated sediments, with Oligochaeta being the most abundant taxon and Chironomidae (Diptera) the most diverse. Experimental rehydration of dewatered sediments revealed the presence of additional taxa, including Stenophylax sp. (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) and Nemoura sp. (Plecoptera: Nemouridae). The influence of flow permanence on invertebrate community composition was apparent despite the aseasonal high-magnitude flood events

Bad faith in All’s Well That Ends Well

All’s Well That Ends Well is a complicated and disturbing play that has a comic ending, but which seems anything but a comedy with a forced marriage based on bed-trickery between the reluctant Bertram and the feisty and witty Helena. Unsurprisingly, audiences have tended to side with Helena and the play has been classified as a “problem comedy” ever since William Lawrence identified this particular group of Shakespeare plays nearly a century ago. I want to argue in this essay that the play might better be classified as an “equivocation” play alongside Macbeth, Othello, and Troilus and Cressida and that the anxieties about fidelity, honesty and truthfulness in marriage need to be read in terms of the fear of religious tolerance/intolerance which dominated religious politics in the early years of James’s reign before the passing of the Oath of Allegiance (1606). The play is notable for its interest in chop logic, which the clown in particular displays throughout the play, a counterpoint to the arguments of Bertram and Helena who want very different things, but who are bound together as future husband and wife. Although the language of treason and treachery is used throughout, the play is less interested in answering the question of how far one can trust a stranger within than the issue of how far one can accommodate the needs of others. This article is published as part of a collection to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death

Trend in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children in context of social inequality: three cross-sectional surveys 2002, 2006 and 2010

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intermittent monitoring of food intake at the population level is essential for the planning and evaluation of national dietary intervention programs. Social-economic changes in Lithuania have likely affected dietary habits, but only a limited number of temporal studies on food intake trends among young population groups have been published. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children from 2002 to 2010, and to explore the association of these changes with the respondents' reported socio-economic status (SES).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used Lithuanian data from the cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Analyses were conducted on comparable questionnaire-based data from children aged 11, 13 and 15 (total n = 17,189) from a random sample of schools. A food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate frequencies of food consumption. Logistic regression was used to examine the affects of changing social variables on reported diet trends.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Lithuania, school-aged children have low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Only 21.1% of boys and 27.1% of girls reported daily fruit consumption. Similarly, 24.9% of boys and 29.6% of girls disclosed vegetable intake at least once daily. Comparing 2010 to 2002, the proportion of girls who consumed fruits daily increased from 24.2% to 31.0% (p < 0.001) but the proportion of boys who consumed vegetables daily decreased from 29.3% to 23.1% (p < 0.001). In 2006, for both sexes, there were observed increases in regular (at least five days a week) intake of sweets and chocolates, biscuits and pastries, and soft drinks; however, in the next survey (2010) these figures decreased. In addition, between 2006 and 2010, a substantial decrease in regular consumption of chips and fast food was also detected. Fruit and vegetable consumption as well as intake of sweets and chocolates, biscuits and pastries and soft drinks increased with family social-economic status and family material wealth. Trends in consumption of fruits, and other foods, and their association with changing social variables were demonstrated using the ORs estimated by three logistic models, using 2002 as the reference point. Changes in social variables from 2002 to 2010 affected the likelihood of daily consumption of fruits among boys by 22.5% (the corresponding OR decreased from 1.11 to 0.86) and among girls by 34.0% (the corresponding OR decreased from 1.41 to 1.12). Over the study period, changing social variables had little impact on the daily consumption of vegetables and other foods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the food consumption trends observed in Lithuania, increases in consumption of fruits and vegetables should be promoted, along with a reduction in the intake of less healthy choices, such as soft drinks and high-fat, high-sugar snack foods, by diminishing social inequalities in food consumption.</p

Emilin1 gene and essential hypertension: a two-stage association study in northern Han Chinese population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Elastogenesis of elastic extracellular matrix (ECM) which was recognized as a major component of blood vessels has been believed for a long time to play only a passive role in the dynamic vascular changes of typical hypertension. Emilin1 gene participated in the transcription of ECM's formation and was recognized to modulate links TGF-β maturation to blood pressure homeostasis in animal study. Recently relevant advances urge further researches to investigate the role of Emilin1 gene in regulating TGF-β signals involved in elastogenesis and vascular cell defects of essential hypertension (EH).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We designed a two-stage case-control study and selected three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs3754734, rs2011616 and rs2304682 from the HapMap database, which covered Emilin1 gene. Totally 2,586 subjects were recruited from the International Collaborative Study of Cardiovascular Disease in Asia (InterASIA). In stage 1, all the three SNPs of the Emilin1 gene were genotyped and tested within a subsample including 503 cases and 490 controls, significant SNPs would enter into stage 2 including 814 cases with hypertension and 779 controls and analyze on the basis of testing total 2,586 subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In stage 1, single locus analyses showed that SNPs rs3754734 and rs2011616 had significant association with EH (P < 0.05). In stage 2, weak association for dominant model were observed by age stratification and odds ratio (ORs) of TG+GG vs. TT of rs3754734 were 0.768 (0.584-1.009), 0.985 (0.735-1.320) and 1.346 (1.003-1.806) in < 50, 50-59 and ≥ 60 years group and ORs of GA+AA vs. GG of rs2011616 were 0.745 (0.568-0.977), 1.013 (0.758-1.353) and 1.437 (1.072-1.926) in < 50, 50-59 and ≥ 60 years group respectively. Accordingly, significant interactions were detected between genotypes of rs3754734 and rs2011616 and age for EH, and ORs were 1.758 (1.180-2.620), P = 0.006 and 1.903 (1.281-2.825), P = 0.001, respectively. Results of haplotypes analysis showed that there weren't any haplotypes associated with EH directly, but the interaction of hap2 (GA) and age-group found to be significant after being adjusted for the covariates, OR was 1.220 (1.031-1.444), P value was 0.020.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings don't support positive association of Emilin1 gene with EH, but the interaction of age and genotype variation of rs3754734 and rs2011616 might increase the risk to hypertension.</p

Validation of food store environment secondary data source and the role of neighborhood deprivation in Appalachia, Kentucky

Background Based on the need for better measurement of the retail food environment in rural settings and to examine how deprivation may be unique in rural settings, the aims of this study were: 1) to validate one commercially available data source with direct field observations of food retailers; and 2) to examine the association between modified neighborhood deprivation and the modified retail food environment score (mRFEI). Methods Secondary data were obtained from a commercial database, InfoUSA in 2011, on all retail food outlets for each census tract. In 2011, direct observation identifying all listed food retailers was conducted in 14 counties in Kentucky. Sensitivity and positive predictive values (PPV) were compared. Neighborhood deprivation index was derived from American Community Survey data. Multinomial regression was used to examine associations between neighborhood deprivation and the mRFEI score (indicator of retailers selling healthy foods such as low-fat foods and fruits and vegetables relative to retailers selling more energy dense foods). Results The sensitivity of the commercial database was high for traditional food retailers (grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores), with a range of 0.96-1.00, but lower for non-traditional food retailers; dollar stores (0.20) and Farmer’s Markets (0.50). For traditional food outlets, the PPV for smaller non-chain grocery stores was 38%, and large chain supermarkets was 87%. Compared to those with no stores in their neighborhoods, those with a supercenter [OR 0.50 (95% CI 0.27. 0.97)] or convenience store [OR 0.67 (95% CI 0.51, 0.89)] in their neighborhood have lower odds of living in a low deprivation neighborhood relative to a high deprivation neighborhood. Conclusion The secondary commercial database used in this study was insufficient to characterize the rural retail food environment. Our findings suggest that neighborhoods with high neighborhood deprivation are associated with having certain store types that may promote less healthy food options

Regulatory T Cell Expansion in HTLV-1 and Strongyloidiasis Co-infection Is Associated with Reduced IL-5 Responses to Strongyloides stercoralis Antigen

Human strongyloidiasis varies from a mild, controlled infection to a severe frequently fatal disseminated infection depending on the hosts. Patients infected with the retrovirus HTLV-1 have more frequent and more severe forms of strongyloidiasis. It is not clear how human strongyloidiasis is controlled by the immune system and how HTLV-1 infection affects this control. We hypothesize that HTLV-1 leads to dissemination of Strongyloides stercoralis by augmenting regulatory T cell numbers, which in turn down regulate the immune response to the parasite. In our study, patients with HTLV-1 and Strongyloides co-infection had higher parasite burdens than patients with only strongyloidiasis. Eosinophils play an essential role in control of strongyloidiasis in animal models, and eosinophil counts were decreased in the HTLV-1 and Strongyloides stercoralis co-infected subjects compared to patients with only strongyloidiasis. The proportion of T cells with a regulatory cell phenotype was increased in HTLV-1 positive subjects co-infected with strongyloidiasis compared to patients with only strongyloidiasis. IL-5 is a key host molecule in stimulating eosinophil production and activation, and Strongyloides stercoralis antigen-specific IL-5 responses were reduced in strongyloidiasis/HTLV-1 co-infected patients. Reduced IL-5 responses and eosinophil counts were inversely correlated to the number of regulatory T cells. These findings suggest a role for regulatory T cells in susceptibility to Strongyloides hyperinfection

Cyclophosphamide Chemotherapy Sensitizes Tumor Cells to TRAIL-Dependent CD8 T Cell-Mediated Immune Attack Resulting in Suppression of Tumor Growth

Background: Anti-cancer chemotherapy can be simultaneously lymphodepleting and immunostimulatory. Pre-clinical models clearly demonstrate that chemotherapy can synergize with immunotherapy, raising the question how the immune system can be mobilized to generate anti-tumor immune responses in the context of chemotherapy. Methods and Findings: We used a mouse model of malignant mesothelioma, AB1-HA, to investigate T cell-dependent tumor resolution after chemotherapy. Established AB1-HA tumors were cured by a single dose of cyclophosphamide in a CD8 T cell- and NK cell-dependent manner. This treatment was associated with an IFN-α/β response and a profound negative impact on the anti-tumor and total CD8 T cell responses. Despite this negative effect, CD8 T cells were essential for curative responses. The important effector molecules used by the anti-tumor immune response included IFN-γ and TRAIL. The importance of TRAIL was supported by experiments in nude mice where the lack of functional T cells could be compensated by agonistic anti-TRAIL-receptor (DR5) antibodies. Conclusion: The data support a model in which chemotherapy sensitizes tumor cells for T cell-, and possibly NK cell-, mediated apoptosis. A key role of tumor cell sensitization to immune attack is supported by the role of TRAIL in tumor resolution and explains the paradox of successful CD8 T cell-dependent anti-tumor responses in the absence of CD8 T cell expansion