Recognition of cancer warning signs and anticipated time to help-seeking in a population sample of adults in the UK

Background: Not recognising a symptom as suspicious is a common reason given by cancer patients for delayed help-seeking; but inevitably this is retrospective. We therefore investigated associations between recognition of warning signs for breast, colorectal and lung cancer and anticipated time to help-seeking for symptoms of each cancer. Methods: Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with a population-representative sample (N=6965) of UK adults age greater than or equal to50 years, using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer scale. Anticipated time to help-seeking for persistent cough, rectal bleeding and breast changes was categorised as >2 vs less than or equal to2 weeks. Recognition of persistent cough, unexplained bleeding and unexplained lump as cancer warning signs was assessed (yes/no). Associations between recognition and help-seeking were examined for each symptom controlling for demographics and perceived ease of health-care access. Results: For each symptom, the odds of waiting for >2 weeks were significantly increased in those who did not recognise the related warning sign: breast changes: OR=2.45, 95% CI 1.47–4.08; rectal bleeding: OR=1.77, 1.36–2.30; persistent cough: OR=1.30, 1.17–1.46, independent of demographics and health-care access. Conclusion: Recognition of warning signs was associated with anticipating faster help-seeking for potential symptoms of cancer. Strategies to improve recognition are likely to facilitate earlier diagnosis

Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning

Background: In this study we investigated the association between instrumental music training in childhood and outcomes closely related to music training as well as those more distantly related. Methodology/Principal Findings: Children who received at least three years (M = 4.6 years) of instrumental music training outperformed their control counterparts on two outcomes closely related to music (auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills) and on two outcomes distantly related to music (vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills). Duration of training also predicted these outcomes. Contrary to previous research, instrumental music training was not associated with heightened spatial skills, phonemic awareness, or mathematical abilities. Conclusions/Significance: While these results are correlational only, the strong predictive effect of training duration suggests that instrumental music training may enhance auditory discrimination, fine motor skills, vocabulary, and nonverba

The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope II. Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS)

We provide an overview of the capabilities and performance of the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) when used in its multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) mode employing a novel Micro Shutter Array (MSA) slit device. The MSA consists of four separate 98 arcsec $\times$ 91 arcsec quadrants each containing $365\times171$ individually addressable shutters whose open areas on the sky measure 0.20 arcsec $\times$ 0.46 arcsec on a 0.27 arcsec $\times$ 0.53 arcsec pitch. This is the first time that a configurable multi-object spectrograph has been available on a space mission. The levels of multiplexing achievable with NIRSpec MOS mode are quantified and we show that NIRSpec will be able to observe typically fifty to two hundred objects simultaneously with the pattern of close to a quarter of a million shutters provided by the MSA. This pattern is fixed and regular, and we identify the specific constraints that it yields for NIRSpec observation planning. We also present the data processing and calibration steps planned for the NIRSpec MOS data. The significant variation in size of the mostly diffraction-limited instrument point spread function over the large wavelength range of 0.6-5.3 $\mu$m covered by the instrument, combined with the fact that most targets observed with the MSA cannot be expected to be perfectly centred within their respective slits, makes the spectrophotometric and wavelength calibration of the obtained spectra particularly complex. These challenges notwithstanding, the sensitivity and multiplexing capabilities anticipated of NIRSpec in MOS mode are unprecedented, and should enable significant progress to be made in addressing a wide range of outstanding astrophysical problems

The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope II. Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS)

We provide an overview of the capabilities and performance of the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) when used in its multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) mode employing a novel Micro Shutter Array (MSA) slit device. The MSA consists of four separate 98 arcsec $\times$ 91 arcsec quadrants each containing $365\times171$ individually addressable shutters whose open areas on the sky measure 0.20 arcsec $\times$ 0.46 arcsec on a 0.27 arcsec $\times$ 0.53 arcsec pitch. This is the first time that a configurable multi-object spectrograph has been available on a space mission. The levels of multiplexing achievable with NIRSpec MOS mode are quantified and we show that NIRSpec will be able to observe typically fifty to two hundred objects simultaneously with the pattern of close to a quarter of a million shutters provided by the MSA. This pattern is fixed and regular, and we identify the specific constraints that it yields for NIRSpec observation planning. We also present the data processing and calibration steps planned for the NIRSpec MOS data. The significant variation in size of the mostly diffraction-limited instrument point spread function over the large wavelength range of 0.6-5.3 $\mu$m covered by the instrument, combined with the fact that most targets observed with the MSA cannot be expected to be perfectly centred within their respective slits, makes the spectrophotometric and wavelength calibration of the obtained spectra particularly complex. These challenges notwithstanding, the sensitivity and multiplexing capabilities anticipated of NIRSpec in MOS mode are unprecedented, and should enable significant progress to be made in addressing a wide range of outstanding astrophysical problems

The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope: IV. Capabilities and predicted performance for exoplanet characterization

The Near-Inrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a very versatile instrument, offering multiobject and integral field spectroscopy with varying spectral resolution ($\sim$30 to $\sim$3000) over a wide wavelength range from 0.6 to 5.3 micron, enabling scientists to study many science themes ranging from the first galaxies to bodies in our own Solar System. In addition to its integral field unit and support for multiobject spectroscopy, NIRSpec features several fixed slits and a wide aperture specifically designed to enable high precision time-series and transit as well as eclipse observations of exoplanets. In this paper we present its capabilities regarding time-series observations, in general, and transit and eclipse spectroscopy of exoplanets in particular. Due to JWST's large collecting area and NIRSpec's excellent throughput, spectral coverage, and detector performance, this mode will allow scientists to characterize the atmosphere of exoplanets with unprecedented sensitivity

Adaptation and Convergent Evolution within the Jamesonia-Eriosorus Complex in High-Elevation Biodiverse Andean Hotspots

The recent uplift of the tropical Andes (since the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene) provided extensive ecological opportunity for evolutionary radiations. We test for phylogenetic and morphological evidence of adaptive radiation and convergent evolution to novel habitats (exposed, high-altitude páramo habitats) in the Andean fern genera Jamesonia and Eriosorus. We construct time-calibrated phylogenies for the Jamesonia-Eriosorus clade. We then use recent phylogenetic comparative methods to test for evolutionary transitions among habitats, associations between habitat and leaf morphology, and ecologically driven variation in the rate of morphological evolution. Páramo species (Jamesonia) display morphological adaptations consistent with convergent evolution in response to the demands of a highly exposed environment but these adaptations are associated with microhabitat use rather than the páramo per se. Species that are associated with exposed microhabitats (including Jamesonia and Eriorsorus) are characterized by many but short pinnae per frond whereas species occupying sheltered microhabitats (primarily Eriosorus) have few but long pinnae per frond. Pinnae length declines more rapidly with altitude in sheltered species. Rates of speciation are significantly higher among páramo than non-páramo lineages supporting the hypothesis of adaptation and divergence in the unique Páramo biodiversity hotspot

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT