547 research outputs found
Constraints from CMB in the intermediate Brans-Dicke inflation
We study an intermediate inflationary stage in a Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory.
In this scenario we analyze the quantum fluctuations corresponding to adiabatic
and isocurvature modes. Our model is compared to that described by using the
intermediate model in Einstein general relativity theory. We assess the status
of this model in light of the seven-year WMAP data.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Ionic high-pressure form of elemental boron
Boron is an element of fascinating chemical complexity. Controversies have
shrouded this element since its discovery was announced in 1808: the new
'element' turned out to be a compound containing less than 60-70 percent of
boron, and it was not until 1909 that 99-percent pure boron was obtained. And
although we now know of at least 16 polymorphs, the stable phase of boron is
not yet experimentally established even at ambient conditions. Boron's
complexities arise from frustration: situated between metals and insulators in
the periodic table, boron has only three valence electrons, which would favour
metallicity, but they are sufficiently localized that insulating states emerge.
However, this subtle balance between metallic and insulating states is easily
shifted by pressure, temperature and impurities. Here we report the results of
high-pressure experiments and ab initio evolutionary crystal structure
predictions that explore the structural stability of boron under pressure and,
strikingly, reveal a partially ionic high-pressure boron phase. This new phase
is stable between 19 and 89 GPa, can be quenched to ambient conditions, and has
a hitherto unknown structure (space group Pnnm, 28 atoms in the unit cell)
consisting of icosahedral B12 clusters and B2 pairs in a NaCl-type arrangement.
We find that the ionicity of the phase affects its electronic bandgap, infrared
adsorption and dielectric constants, and that it arises from the different
electronic properties of the B2 pairs and B12 clusters and the resultant charge
transfer between them.Comment: Published in Nature 453, 863-867 (2009
The Cosmic Microwave Background and Particle Physics
In forthcoming years, connections between cosmology and particle physics will
be made increasingly important with the advent of a new generation of cosmic
microwave background (CMB) experiments. Here, we review a number of these
links. Our primary focus is on new CMB tests of inflation. We explain how the
inflationary predictions for the geometry of the Universe and primordial
density perturbations will be tested by CMB temperature fluctuations, and how
the gravitational waves predicted by inflation can be pursued with the CMB
polarization. The CMB signatures of topological defects and primordial magnetic
fields from cosmological phase transitions are also discussed. Furthermore, we
review current and future CMB constraints on various types of dark matter (e.g.
massive neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, axions, vacuum
energy), decaying particles, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe,
ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, exotic cosmological topologies, and other new
physics.Comment: 43 pages. To appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Scienc
Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for nonmetastatic breast cancer in Canada, and their associated costs
In an era of fiscal restraint, it is important to evaluate the resources required to diagnose and treat serious illnesses. As breast cancer is the major malignancy affecting Canadian women, Statistics Canada has analysed the resources required to manage this disease in Canada, and the associated costs. Here we report the cost of initial diagnosis and treatment of nonmetastatic breast cancer, including adjuvant therapies. Treatment algorithms for Stages I, II, and III of the disease were derived by age group (< 50 or ≥ 50 years old), principally from Canadian cancer registry data, supplemented, where necessary, by the results of surveys of Canadian oncologists. Data were obtained on breast cancer incidence by age, diagnostic work-up, stage at diagnosis, initial treatment, follow-up practice, duration of hospitalization and direct care costs. The direct health care costs associated with ‘standard’ diagnostic and therapeutic approaches were calculated for a cohort of 17 700 Canadian women diagnosed in 1995. Early stage (Stages I and II) breast cancer represented 87% of all incident cases, with 77% of cases occurring in women ≥ 50 years. Variations were noted in the rate of partial vs total mastectomy, according to stage and age group. Direct costs for diagnosis and initial treatment ranged from 10 897 for Stage III women < 50 years old. Except for Stage III women < 50 years old, the largest expenditure was for hospitalization for surgery, followed by radiotherapy costs. Chemotherapy was the largest cost component for Stage III women < 50 years old. This report describes the cost of diagnosis and initial treatment of nonmetastatic breast cancer in Canada, assuming current practice patterns. A second report will describe the lifetime costs of treating all stages of breast cancer. These data will then be incorporated into Statistics Canada's Population Health Model (POHEM) to perform cost-effectiveness studies of new therapeutic interventions for breast cancer, such as the cost-effectiveness of day surgery, or of radiotherapy to all breast cancer patients undergoing breast surgery. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig
Role of Cajal Bodies and Nucleolus in the Maturation of the U1 snRNP in Arabidopsis
Background: The biogenesis of spliceosomal snRNPs takes place in both the cytoplasm where Sm core proteins are added and snRNAs are modified at the 59 and 39 termini and in the nucleus where snRNP-specific proteins associate. U1 snRNP consists of U1 snRNA, seven Sm proteins and three snRNP-specific proteins, U1-70K, U1A, and U1C. It has been shown previously that after import to the nucleus U2 and U4/U6 snRNP-specific proteins first appear in Cajal bodies (CB) and then in splicing speckles. In addition, in cells grown under normal conditions U2, U4, U5, and U6 snRNAs/snRNPs are abundant in CBs. Therefore, it has been proposed that the final assembly of these spliceosomal snRNPs takes place in this nuclear compartment. In contrast, U1 snRNA in both animal and plant cells has rarely been found in this nuclear compartment. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we analysed the subnuclear distribution of Arabidopsis U1 snRNP-specific proteins fused to GFP or mRFP in transiently transformed Arabidopsis protoplasts. Irrespective of the tag used, U1-70K was exclusively found in the nucleus, whereas U1A and U1C were equally distributed between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. In the nucleus all three proteins localised to CBs and nucleoli although to different extent. Interestingly, we also found that the appearance of the three proteins in nuclear speckles differ significantly. U1-70K was mostly found in speckles whereas U1A and U1C in,90 % of cells showed diffuse nucleoplasmic in combination with CBs and nucleolar localisation. Conclusions/Significance: Our data indicate that CBs and nucleolus are involved in the maturation of U1 snRNP. Difference
Lithic technological responses to Late Pleistocene glacial cycling at Pinnacle Point Site 5-6, South Africa
There are multiple hypotheses for human responses to glacial cycling in the Late Pleistocene, including changes in population size, interconnectedness, and mobility. Lithic technological analysis informs us of human responses to environmental change because lithic assemblage characteristics are a reflection of raw material transport, reduction, and discard behaviors that depend on hunter-gatherer social and economic decisions. Pinnacle Point Site 5-6 (PP5-6), Western Cape, South Africa is an ideal locality for examining the influence of glacial cycling on early modern human behaviors because it preserves a long sequence spanning marine isotope stages (MIS) 5, 4, and 3 and is associated with robust records of paleoenvironmental change. The analysis presented here addresses the question, what, if any, lithic assemblage traits at PP5-6 represent changing behavioral responses to the MIS 5-4-3 interglacial-glacial cycle? It statistically evaluates changes in 93 traits with no a priori assumptions about which traits may significantly associate with MIS. In contrast to other studies that claim that there is little relationship between broad-scale patterns of climate change and lithic technology, we identified the following characteristics that are associated with MIS 4: increased use of quartz, increased evidence for outcrop sources of quartzite and silcrete, increased evidence for earlier stages of reduction in silcrete, evidence for increased flaking efficiency in all raw material types, and changes in tool types and function for silcrete. Based on these results, we suggest that foragers responded to MIS 4 glacial environmental conditions at PP5-6 with increased population or group sizes, 'place provisioning', longer and/or more intense site occupations, and decreased residential mobility. Several other traits, including silcrete frequency, do not exhibit an association with MIS. Backed pieces, once they appear in the PP5-6 record during MIS 4, persist through MIS 3. Changing paleoenvironments explain some, but not all temporal technological variability at PP5-6.Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada; NORAM; American-Scandinavian Foundation; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia [SFRH/BPD/73598/2010]; IGERT [DGE 0801634]; Hyde Family Foundations; Institute of Human Origins; National Science Foundation [BCS-9912465, BCS-0130713, BCS-0524087, BCS-1138073]; John Templeton Foundation to the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State Universit
Role of Cajal Bodies and Nucleolus in the Maturation of the U1 snRNP in Arabidopsis
Background: The biogenesis of spliceosomal snRNPs takes place in both the cytoplasm where Sm core proteins are added and snRNAs are modified at the 59 and 39 termini and in the nucleus where snRNP-specific proteins associate. U1 snRNP consists of U1 snRNA, seven Sm proteins and three snRNP-specific proteins, U1-70K, U1A, and U1C. It has been shown previously that after import to the nucleus U2 and U4/U6 snRNP-specific proteins first appear in Cajal bodies (CB) and then in splicing speckles. In addition, in cells grown under normal conditions U2, U4, U5, and U6 snRNAs/snRNPs are abundant in CBs. Therefore, it has been proposed that the final assembly of these spliceosomal snRNPs takes place in this nuclear compartment. In contrast, U1 snRNA in both animal and plant cells has rarely been found in this nuclear compartment. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we analysed the subnuclear distribution of Arabidopsis U1 snRNP-specific proteins fused to GFP or mRFP in transiently transformed Arabidopsis protoplasts. Irrespective of the tag used, U1-70K was exclusively found in the nucleus, whereas U1A and U1C were equally distributed between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. In the nucleus all three proteins localised to CBs and nucleoli although to different extent. Interestingly, we also found that the appearance of the three proteins in nuclear speckles differ significantly. U1-70K was mostly found in speckles whereas U1A and U1C in,90 % of cells showed diffuse nucleoplasmic in combination with CBs and nucleolar localisation. Conclusions/Significance: Our data indicate that CBs and nucleolus are involved in the maturation of U1 snRNP. Difference
Phylogeny and Classification of the Trapdoor Spider Genus Myrmekiaphila: An Integrative Approach to Evaluating Taxonomic Hypotheses
Background: Revised by Bond and Platnick in 2007, the trapdoor spider genus Myrmekiaphila comprises 11 species. Species delimitation and placement within one of three species groups was based on modifications of the male copulatory device. Because a phylogeny of the group was not available these species groups might not represent monophyletic lineages; species definitions likewise were untested hypotheses. The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the phylogeny of Myrmekiaphila species using molecular data to formally test the delimitation of species and species-groups. We seek to refine a set of established systematic hypotheses by integrating across molecular and morphological data sets. Methods and Findings: Phylogenetic analyses comprising Bayesian searches were conducted for a mtDNA matrix composed of contiguous 12S rRNA, tRNA-val, and 16S rRNA genes and a nuclear DNA matrix comprising the glutamyl and prolyl tRNA synthetase gene each consisting of 1348 and 481 bp, respectively. Separate analyses of the mitochondrial and nuclear genome data and a concatenated data set yield M. torreya and M. millerae paraphyletic with respect to M. coreyi and M. howelli and polyphyletic fluviatilis and foliata species groups. Conclusions: Despite the perception that molecular data present a solution to a crisis in taxonomy, studies like this demonstrate the efficacy of an approach that considers data from multiple sources. A DNA barcoding approach during the species discovery process would fail to recognize at least two species (M. coreyi and M. howelli) whereas a combine
How to evaluate sexual health in cancer patients:Development of the EORTC sexual health questionnaire for cancer patients
Background: The aim of the study is to describe the development of a comprehensive European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire to assess sexual health of female and male cancer patients and for cancer survivors. Methods: According to the EORTC guidelines, the development of an EORTC sexual health questionnaire is typically organised in four phases. The first phases comprise a literature search following interviews with patient and health care professionals (HCPs) (phase 1) and the operationalization into items (phase 2). The translation process is formally conducted according to the EORTC QLG Translation guidelines with a rigorous forward-backward procedure supported by native speakers. Results: Studies on sexuality in oncology patients which were identified by a literature search predominantly focused on issues of activity, experiences of sexual dysfunction, and satisfaction with sexual functioning. The literature review identified themes beyond these aspects. In total 53 potentially relevant issues were presented to 107 patients and 83 HCPs, different evaluations were found. Conclusions: A questionnaire that includes physical, psychological, and social aspects of sexuality of cancer survivors will be needed. Pre-testing and validation of the questionnaire will be done in future (phases 3 and 4). Divergent ratings of patients and professionals should be further investigated. Keywords: Cancer; sexual health; European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) sexual health questionnair
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