Application of relativistic scattering theory of x rays to diffraction anomalous fine structure in Cu

We apply our recent first-principles formalism of magnetic scattering of circularly polarized x rays to a single Cu crystal. We demonstrate the ability of our formalism to interpret the crystalline environment related near-edge fine structure features in the resonant x-ray scattering spectra at the Cu K absorption edge. We find good agreement between the computed and measured diffraction anomalous fine structure features of the x-ray scattering spectra

Meta-analytic evidence for a novel hierarchical model of conceptual processing

Conceptual knowledge plays a pivotal role in human cognition. Grounded cognition theories propose that concepts consist of perceptual-motor features represented in modality-specific perceptual-motor cortices. However, it is unclear whether conceptual processing consistently engages modality-specific areas. Here, we performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis across 212 neuroimaging experiments on conceptual processing related to 7 perceptual-motor modalities (action, sound, visual shape, motion, color, olfaction-gustation, and emotion). We found that conceptual processing consistently engages brain regions also activated during real perceptual-motor experience of the same modalities. In addition, we identified multimodal convergence zones that are recruited for multiple modalities. In particular, the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) are engaged for three modalities: action, motion, and sound. These “trimodal” regions are surrounded by “bimodal” regions engaged for two modalities. Our findings support a novel model of the conceptual system, according to which conceptual processing relies on a hierarchical neural architecture from modality-specific to multimodal areas up to an amodal hub

Puhdistamon jälkeisen jätevedenkäsittelyn tehostaminen Taivalkosken jäteveden puhdistamolla

Tiivistelmä. Nykyään 1960-luvulla käytetyt lammikkopuhdistamot edustavat vanhaa jätevesien puhdistustekniikkaa ja ympäri Suomen lammikoita on korvattu puhdistamouudistuksilla ja pintavalutuskentillä tai ne on suljettu. Tämän diplomityön tutkimusaiheena oli selvittää Taivalkoskella jätevesipuhdistamon lähistöllä sijaitsevan luonnontilaisen suon soveltuvuutta jätevesien jälkikäsittelyyn käytettäväksi pintavalutuskentäksi. Lisäksi työssä kartoitettiin puhdistamon alueella sijaitsevan kolmiosaisen lammikkopuhdistamon vaihtoehtoisia uusiokäyttömahdollisuuksia. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan arvioida sekä kosteikon soveltuvuutta pintavalutuskentäksi että lammikoiden käyttömahdollisuuksia tulevaisuudessa. Työn keskeisinä aiheina olivat typen poiston tehostaminen kylmissä oloissa ja luonnonmukaisten menetelmien hyödyntäminen jäteveden jälkikäsittelyssä Taivalkoskella. Luonnonsuon soveltuvuutta pintavalutuskentäksi arvioitiin perustutkimuksilla, joihin kuuluivat tulevan kentän kaltevuuden, turvepaksuuksien, hydraulisen johtavuuden, huokoisuuden, maatuneisuusasteen ja kasvillisuuden määrittäminen. Tutkimustulokset ja niistä saadut mitoitusarvot olivat vastaavanlaiset ja samaa suuruusluokkaa kuin pohjoisessa sijaitsevien Kompsansuon ja Rukan pintavalutuskenttien mitoitusarvot. Lammikkopuhdistamon soveltuvuutta uusiokäyttöön ja eri käyttötarkoituksiin arvioitiin lammille tehtyjen perusmittauksien avulla. Näihin perusmittauksiin lukeutuvat lampien happipitoisuuksien määrittäminen talviaikaan, sedimenttinäytteiden otto sekä pohjasedimentin määrän ja lammikoiden pohjankorkeuksien määrittäminen. Lisäksi lammikoiden toimintaa arvioitiin tilastollisin menetelmin velvoitetarkkailun vesinäytteiden perusteella pitkäaikaisen toiminnan näkökulmasta vuodesta 1990 vuoteen 2008, ja nykyisen toiminnan näkökulmasta ajanjaksolla 2010–2012. Vuonna 2008 Taivalkoskella tehtiin puhdistamouudistus. Lisäksi lammikoiden kesä- ja talviajan toimintaa analysoitiin tilastollisesti. Lammikoiden pohja-sedimenttinäytteiden osalta todettiin pienimmän lammikon sisältävän kohtuullisen paljon haitta-aineita. Tilastollisen analyysin perusteella lammikot puhdistavat typpeä hyvin kesäaikaan, mutta samalla kiintoaineiden vapautuminen pohjasedimenteistä heikentää Iijokeen johdettavan veden laatua. Tulosten perusteella todettiin, että kohdealueella sijaitseva kosteikko soveltuu pintavalutuskentäksi. Saatuja mittaustuloksia verrattiin elinkeino- liikenne- ja ympäristökeskuksen asettamiin pintavalutuskentän suositusarvoihin. Lammikkotulosten perusteella lammille luotiin viisi erilaista jatkotoimenpidevaihtoehtoa. Suotuisimmaksi vaihtoehdoksi nousi vaihtoehto, jossa ensimmäinen lammikko kunnostetaan esiselkeytysaltaaksi, toinen lammikko kasvipeitteiseksi vapaan vedenpinnan kosteikoksi ja kolmas lammikko pintavalutuskentän tapaiseksi kasvillisuuskentäksi. Toisen ja kolmannen lammikon väliin on suositeltu hapettavan ilmastuspadon rakentamista. Ehdotettu vaihtoehto on edullinen, pienentää pinta-alakohtaista haitta-ainekuormitusta ja pidentää viipymäaikaa, jolloin myös typen poisto paranee. Lisätutkimuksena olisi tärkeä seurata kuinka ehdotettu systeemi käytännössä toimii ympäri vuoden, ja mitkä ovat sen todelliset puhdistustulokset eri vaiheiden jälkeen.Improvement of tertiary wastewater treatment efficiency in Taivalkoski wastewater plant. Abstract. Popular pond systems built in 1960’s have been seen as an old technic to treat wastewater and nowadays they are replaced by investments of wastewater plant or by using treatment wetlands, or they are closed. This master thesis discovers the possibility of usage of nearby wetland in Taivalkoski to perform as a tertiary treatment wetland for household wastewater. In addition an old tree-parted pond system in the wastewater plant yard was investigated. The aim of investigations was to discover possible future use and value of the pond system. Due to investigation results it is possible to determine whether natural swamp is able to perform as tertiary wastewater treatment wetland. The purpose of this thesis is all together to find options to improve the effectiveness of tertiary treatment of wastewater in Taivalkoski. Main issues discussed are the effectiveness of nitrogen removal in cold conditions and the use of natural wastewater purification processes. Natural swamp near wastewater plant was investigated with basic measurements. Those basic measurements include the measurements of slope, thickness of peat, hydraulic conductivity, porosity, decomposition rate and flora. Measured values of wetland site are similar to values measured in Ruka and Kompsansuo treatment wetlands in northern Finland. Basic measurements were made also for ponds. Measurements included oxygen measurements during winter time, sediment analysis, thickness of sediment layer in the bottom of the pond and location and height of bottom. In addition, statistical analysis of operation of pond was made in the view of longer and shorter term. In addition winter and summer operation of ponds was analyzed statistically. Measured data was gathered from the annual water samples. Results show that only smallest pond has a moderate amount of harmful substances. Statistical analysis and measurements show that during summer time nitrogen removal in ponds increases. At the same time also solid substances release from the sediment layer and that decreases the quality of treated water. According to the results natural wetland near treatment plant can be used as a tertiary wastewater treatment wetland. Measured results were compared to typical values of Finnish treatment wetlands. According to pond results and analysis, five options were created for usage of old ponds. The most relevant option is option, which is combination of pre-treatment pond, vegetation field and treatment wetland. This option is innovative, cheap and it decreases the surface loading of wetlands and increases the detention time of wastewater in the process. Smaller loading and longer detention time will increase the effectiveness of total nitrogen removal. Issues of further studies can include the observation of different treatment units and their purification efficiency itself and annually

Role of autoimmunity in patients transplanted for acute liver failure of unknown origin: a clinical and graft-biopsy analysis

Abstract Background The etiology and prognosis of acute liver failure (ALF) remains unknown in a significant proportion of cases. Signs of autoimmunity may be present, but no consistent pattern has been observed. We aimed to analyse if pretransplant immunological findings, HLA haplotypes and clinical features among patients with unknown etiology differ from those of autoimmune or other known etiology. We also analysed whether such signs impact post-transplant biopsy findings or complications. Methods All adult ALF patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) in Finland during 1987-2015 were followed to 2016. Data were from the LT registry, pathology database and patient records. 124 patients were included in the analysis. Study subgroups were acute autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) (n=25), known non-AIH etiology (n=54), and unknown etiology (n=45). Results The unknown etiology group differed from the known non-AIH group with regard to the following pretransplant autoimmunity-associated features: positive pANCA (35% vs 8%; P=0.02), higher mean IgA (3.2±1.7 vs 2.1±1.4, P=0.006) and IgG (12.7±4.3 vs 8.5±3.6, P=0.001). AIH-associated HLA haplotypes B8, DR3 and B8DR3 were more common in the AIH group (40%, 44% and 36%) and in the unknown group (29%, 33% and 29%) than in the known non-AIH group (11%, 17% and 11%) or in the Finnish general population (17%, 18% and 8%). However, these findings had no association with protocol biopsies, extrahepatic autoimmune diseases or survival. Patients with ≥1 rejection episode had higher pretransplant IgA (3.7±2.3 vs 2.6±1.2, P=0.02) and IgG (16.4±10.2 vs 12.4±6.8, P=0.03) than those without rejections. Conclusions Autoimmunity-associated pretransplant laboratory findings and HLA haplotypes were common in ALF of unknown etiology, but showed minimal predictive value for post-transplant biopsy findings, clinical complications or survival.Peer reviewe

Relativistic theory of magnetic scattering of x rays: Application to ferromagnetic iron

We present a detailed description of a first-principles formalism for magnetic scattering of circularly polar- ized x rays from solids in the framework of the fully relativistic spin-polarized multiple-scattering theory. The scattering amplitudes are calculated using a standard time-dependent perturbation theory to second order in the electron-photon interaction vertex. Particular attention is paid to understanding the relative importance of the positive- and negative-energy solutions of the Dirac equation to the scattering amplitude. The advantage of the present theory as compared with other recent works on magnetic x-ray scattering is that, being fully relativistic, spin-orbit coupling and spin-polarization effects are treated on an equal footing. Second, the electron Green’s function expressed in terms of the path operators in the multiple-scattering theory allows us to include the contribution of the crystalline environment to the scattering amplitude. To illustrate the use of the method we have done calculations on the anomalous magnetic scattering at the K , L_II , and L_III absorption edges of ferromagnetic iron

Self-reported health problems and obesity predict sickness absence during a 12-month follow-up : a prospective cohort study in 21 608 employees from different industries

Objectives To study whether self-reported health problems predict sickness absence (SA) from work in employees from different industries. Methods The results of a health risk appraisal (HRA) were combined with archival data of SA of 21 608 employees (59% female, 56% clerical). Exposure variables were self-reported health problems, labelled as ' work disability (WD) risk factors' in the HRA, presence of problems with occupational well-being and obesity. Age, socioeconomic grading and the number of SA days 12 months before the survey were treated as confounders. The outcome measure was accumulated SA days during 12-month follow-up. Data were analysed separately for males and females. A Hurdle model with negative binomial response was used to analyse zero-inflated count data of SA. Results The HRA results predicted the number of accumulated SA days during the 12-month follow-up, regardless of occupational group and gender. The ratio of means of SA days varied between 2.7 and 4.0 among those with ' WD risk factors' and the reference category with no findings, depending on gender and occupational group. The lower limit of the 95% CI was at the lowest 2.0. In the Hurdle model, ' WD risk factors', SA days prior to the HRA and obesity were additive predictors for SA and/or the accumulated SA days in all occupational groups. Conclusion Self-reported health problems and obesity predict a higher total count of SA days in an additive fashion. These findings have implications for both management and the healthcare system in the prevention of WD. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.Peer reviewe

Immunohistochemical Expression of Somatostatin Receptor Subtypes in a Panel of Neuroendocrine Neoplasias

Neuroendocrine neoplasias (NENs) are known to express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) 1-5, which are G-protein-coupled cell membrane receptors. Somatostatin receptor imaging and therapy utilizes the SSTR expression. Synthetic somatostatin analogs with radioligands are used to detect primary tumors, metastases, and recurrent disease. Receptor analogs are also used for treating NENs. Furthermore, commercially available SSTR antibodies can be used for the immunohistochemical (IHC) detection of SSTRs. We investigated different SSTR antibody clones applying diverse IHC protocol settings to identify reliable clones and feasible protocols for NENs. A tissue microarray including NENs from 12 different primary sites were stained. Only UMB clones were able to localize SSTR on the cell membranes of NENs. SSTR2 (UMB1) emerged as the most common subtype followed by SSTR5 (UMB4) and SSTR1 (UMB7). SSTR3 (UMB5) expression was mainly cytoplasmic. Yet, SSTR4 expression was weak and located primarily in the cytoplasm. Thus, appropriate IHC protocols, including proper positive and negative controls, represent requirements for high-quality NEN diagnostics and for planning personalized therapy.Peer reviewe

Long-term clinical and economic outcomes in previously untreated paediatric patients with severe haemophilia A : A nationwide real-world study with 700 person-years

AimFor previously untreated patients (PUPs) with severe haemophilia A in Finland for the past 2 decades, the standard practice has been to start early primary prophylaxis. We evaluated the long-term clinical outcomes and costs of treatment with high-dose prophylaxis in PUPs from birth to adolescence, including immune tolerance induction (ITI). MethodsFrom the medical records of all PUPs born between June 1994 and May 2013 in Finland, we retrospectively extracted data on clinical outcomes and healthcare use. Using linear mixed models, we analysed longitudinal clinical outcome data. To analyse skewed cost data, including zero costs, we applied hurdle regression. ResultsAll 62 patients received early regular prophylaxis; totally, they have had treatment for nearly 700 patient-years. The median age of starting home treatment was 1.1years. The mean (SD) annual treatment costs (Europerkg) were 4391Euro (3852). For ages 1-3, ITI comprised over half of the costs; in other groups, prophylactic FVIII treatment dominated. With these high costs, however, clinical outcomes were desirable; median (IQR) ABR was low at 0.19 (0.07-0.46) and so was AJBR at 0.06 (0-0.24). Thirteen (21%) patients developed a clinically significant inhibitor, 10 (16%) with a high titre. All ITIs were successful. The mean costs for ITI were 383448Euro (259085). The expected ITI payback period was 1.81 (95% CI 0.62-12.12) years. ConclusionsEarly high-dose prophylaxis leads to excellent long-term clinical outcomes, and early childhood ITI therapy seems to turn cost-neutral generally already in 2years.Peer reviewe

Study of stress-strain relation for paper roll

In the present method a wound roll of paper is loaded against a nip roller and the measured values of the nip width and the roll indentation are compared with the corresponding calculated values of the non-linear problem. The nip width is measured by a sensitive sensor film and the roll indentation by a laser displacement sensor. The nonlinear numerical problem is solved using the Finite Element Method with four-node isoparametric quadrilateral elements and Newton-Raphson-type iteration. A suitable form of the constitutive equation and the stress state dependence of the moduli of the incremental stress-strain law will be discussed. A least squares fit to the experimental results determines the values of the paper roll elastic moduli