LiBeB: High and low energy cosmic ray production and comparison with neutrino induced nucleosynthesis in SNII

We present new calculations of LiBeB production by accelerated particles with various compositions and energy spectra ranging from low energies to relativistic energies, and various ambient medium metallicities ($Z/Z_\odot$). The observed, essentially constant, Be/Fe ratio as a function of $Z/Z_\odot$ can be best understood if the metallicity of the accelerated particles (high energy or low energy) does not vary much with $Z/Z_\odot$. This could be achieved if the particles are accelerated directly from the ejecta of Type II supernovae (SNII) and not from the interstellar medium. Using the observed Be/Fe and the fact that most of the Fe at low $Z/Z_\odot$ is from SNII, we derive the energy content in accelerated particles per SNII (a few times 10$^{50}$ erg). We show that additional $^{11}$B production by neutrinos is consistent with the available data, allowing a neutrino yield from SNII less than or equal to the nominal published yields. We further show that the observed $^6$Li at low $Z/Z_\odot$ suggests that the accelerated particles responsible for the LiBeB at such $Z/Z_\odot$ are confined to low energies and have a relatively high He/O abundance.Comment: 9 pages with 4 emdedded figures, uuencoded, compressed, tared, style files included. In press Nuclei In the Cosmos, Nuclear Physics, Conference Proceeding

Meshfree finite differences for vector Poisson and pressure Poisson equations with electric boundary conditions

We demonstrate how meshfree finite difference methods can be applied to solve vector Poisson problems with electric boundary conditions. In these, the tangential velocity and the incompressibility of the vector field are prescribed at the boundary. Even on irregular domains with only convex corners, canonical nodal-based finite elements may converge to the wrong solution due to a version of the Babuska paradox. In turn, straightforward meshfree finite differences converge to the true solution, and even high-order accuracy can be achieved in a simple fashion. The methodology is then extended to a specific pressure Poisson equation reformulation of the Navier-Stokes equations that possesses the same type of boundary conditions. The resulting numerical approach is second order accurate and allows for a simple switching between an explicit and implicit treatment of the viscosity terms.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Mammography screening: views from women and primary care physicians in Crete

Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women and a leading cause of death from cancer in women in Europe. Although breast cancer incidence is on the rise worldwide, breast cancer mortality over the past 25 years has been stable or decreasing in some countries and a fall in breast cancer mortality rates in most European countries in the 1990s was reported by several studies, in contrast, in Greece have not reported these favourable trends. In Greece, the age-standardised incidence and mortality rate for breast cancer per 100.000 in 2006 was 81,8 and 21,7 and although it is lower than most other countries in Europe, the fall in breast cancer mortality that observed has not been as great as in other European countries. There is no national strategy for screening in this country. This study reports on the use of mammography among middleaged women in rural Crete and investigates barriers to mammography screening encountered by women and their primary care physicians. Methods: Design: Semi-structured individual interviews. Setting and participants: Thirty women between 45–65 years of age, with a mean age of 54,6 years, and standard deviation 6,8 from rural areas of Crete and 28 qualified primary care physicians, with a mean age of 44,7 years and standard deviation 7,0 serving this rural population. Main outcome measure: Qualitative thematic analysis. Results: Most women identified several reasons for not using mammography. These included poor knowledge of the benefits and indications for mammography screening, fear of pain during the procedure, fear of a serious diagnosis, embarrassment, stress while anticipating the results, cost and lack of physician recommendation. Physicians identified difficulties in scheduling an appointment as one reason women did not use mammography and both women and physicians identified distance from the screening site, transportation problems and the absence of symptoms as reasons for non-use. Conclusion: Women are inhibited from participating in mammography screening in rural Crete. The provision of more accessible screening services may improve this. However physician recommendation is important in overcoming women's inhibitions. Primary care physicians serving rural areas need to be aware of barriers preventing women from attending mammography screening and provide women with information and advice in a sensitive way so women can make informed decisions regarding breast caner screening

Pion-Lambda-Sigma Coupling Extracted from Hyperonic Atoms

The latest measurements of the atomic level width in Sigma-hyperonic Pb atom offer the most accurate datum in the region of low-energy Sigma-hyperon physics. Atomic widths are due to the conversion of Sigma-nucleon into Lambda-nucleon. In high angular momentum states this conversion is dominated by the one-pion exchange. A joint analysis of the data of the scattering of negative-Sigma on proton converting into a Lambda and a neutron and of the atomic widths allows to extract a pseudovector pion-hyperon-Sigma coupling constant of 0.048 with a statistical error of +-0.005 and a systematic one of +-0.004. This corresponds to a pseudoscalar coupling constant of 13.3 with a statistical uncertainty of 1.4 and a systematic one of 1.1.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, Use of Revtex.st

The Lentiviral Integrase Binding Protein LEDGF/p75 and HIV-1 Replication

Retroviral replication proceeds through a stable proviral DNA intermediate, and numerous host cell factors have been implicated in its formation. In particular, recent results have highlighted an important role for the integrase-interactor lens epithelium-derived growth factor (LEDGF)/p75 in lentiviral integration. Cells engineered to over-express fragments of LEDGF/p75 containing its integrase-binding domain but lacking determinants essential for chromatin association are refractory to HIV-1 infection. Furthermore, both the levels of HIV-1 integration and the genomic distribution of the resultant proviruses are significantly perturbed in cells devoid of endogenous LEDGF/p75 protein. A strong bias towards integration along transcription units is a characteristic feature of lentiviruses. In the absence of LEDGF/p75, HIV-1 in large part loses that preference, displaying concomitant integration surges in the vicinities of CpG islands and gene promoter regions, elements naturally targeted by other types of retroviruses. Together, these findings highlight that LEDGF/p75 is an important albeit not strictly essential cofactor of lentiviral DNA integration, and solidify a role for chromatin-associated LEDGF/p75 as a receptor for lentiviral preintegration complexes. By now one of the best characterized virus–host interactions, the integrase-LEDGF/p75 interface opens a range of opportunities for lentiviral vector targeting for gene therapy applications as well as for the development of novel classes of antiretroviral drugs

Localization of Events in Space-Time

The present paper deals with the quantum coordinates of an event in space-time, individuated by a quantum object. It is known that these observables cannot be described by self-adjoint operators or by the corresponding spectral projection-valued measure. We describe them by means of a positive-operator-valued (POV) measure in the Minkowski space-time, satisfying a suitable covariance condition with respect to the Poincare' group. This POV measure determines the probability that a measurement of the coordinates of the event gives results belonging to a given set in space-time. We show that this measure must vanish on the vacuum and the one-particle states, which cannot define any event. We give a general expression for the Poincare' covariant POV measures. We define the baricentric events, which lie on the world-line of the centre-of-mass, and we find a simple expression for the average values of their coordinates. Finally, we discuss the conditions which permit the determination of the coordinates with an arbitrary accuracy.Comment: 31 pages, latex, no figure

Grb2 depletion under non-stimulated conditions inhibits PTEN, promotes Akt-induced tumor formation and contributes to poor prognosis in ovarian cancer

In the absence of extracellular stimulation the adaptor protein growth factor receptor-bound protein (Grb2) and the phospholipase Plcγ1 compete for the same binding site on fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2). Reducing cellular Grb2 results in upregulation of Plcγ1 and depletion of the phospholipid PI(4,5)P2. The functional consequences of this event on signaling pathways are unknown. We show that the decrease in PI(4,5)P2 level under non-stimulated conditions inhibits PTEN activity leading to the aberrant activation of the oncoprotein Akt. This results in excessive cell proliferation and tumor progression in a xenograft mouse model. As well as defining a novel mechanism of Akt phosphorylation with important therapeutic consequences, we also demonstrate that differential expression levels of FGFR2, Plcγ1 and Grb2 correlate with patient survival. Oncogenesis through fluctuation in the expression levels of these proteins negates extracellular stimulation or mutation and defines them as novel prognostic markers in ovarian cancer