724 research outputs found
Icebergs in the North Atlantic: Modelling circulation changes and glacio-marine deposition
In order to investigate meltwater events in the North Atlantic, a simple iceberg generation, drift, and melting routine was implemented in a high-resolution OGCM. Starting from the modelled last glacial state, every 25th day cylindrical model icebergs 300 meters high were released at 32 specific points along the coasts. Icebergs launched at the Barents Shelf margin spread a light meltwater lid over the Norwegian and Greenland Seas, shutting down the deep convection and the anti-clockwise circulation in this area. Due to the constraining ocean circulation, the icebergs produce a tongue of relatively cold and fresh water extending eastward from Hudson Strait that must develop at this location, regardless of iceberg origin. From the total amount of freshwater inferred by the icebergs, the thickness of the deposited IRD could be calculated in dependance of iceberg sediment concentration. In this way, typical extent and thickness of Heinrich layers could be reproduced, running the model for 250 years of steady state with constant iceberg meltwater inflow
Breakdown of the adiabatic limit in low dimensional gapless systems
It is generally believed that a generic system can be reversibly transformed
from one state into another by sufficiently slow change of parameters. A
standard argument favoring this assertion is based on a possibility to expand
the energy or the entropy of the system into the Taylor series in the ramp
speed. Here we show that this argumentation is only valid in high enough
dimensions and can break down in low-dimensional gapless systems. We identify
three generic regimes of a system response to a slow ramp: (A) mean-field, (B)
non-analytic, and (C) non-adiabatic. In the last regime the limits of the ramp
speed going to zero and the system size going to infinity do not commute and
the adiabatic process does not exist in the thermodynamic limit. We support our
results by numerical simulations. Our findings can be relevant to
condensed-matter, atomic physics, quantum computing, quantum optics, cosmology
and others.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Nature Physics (originally
submitted version
Detection of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect with BOSS DR11 and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope
We present a new measurement of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect using
data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Using 600 square degrees of overlapping sky area,
we evaluate the mean pairwise baryon momentum associated with the positions of
50,000 bright galaxies in the BOSS DR11 Large Scale Structure catalog. A
non-zero signal arises from the large-scale motions of halos containing the
sample galaxies. The data fits an analytical signal model well, with the
optical depth to microwave photon scattering as a free parameter determining
the overall signal amplitude. We estimate the covariance matrix of the mean
pairwise momentum as a function of galaxy separation, using microwave sky
simulations, jackknife evaluation, and bootstrap estimates. The most
conservative simulation-based errors give signal-to-noise estimates between 3.6
and 4.1 for varying galaxy luminosity cuts. We discuss how the other error
determinations can lead to higher signal-to-noise values, and consider the
impact of several possible systematic errors. Estimates of the optical depth
from the average thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal at the sample galaxy
positions are broadly consistent with those obtained from the mean pairwise
momentum signal.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 2 table
Results based on 124 cases of breast cancer and 97 controls from Taiwan suggest that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP309) in the MDM2 gene promoter is associated with earlier onset and increased risk of breast cancer
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It has been suggested that the single nucleotide polymorphism 309 (SNP309, T -> G) in the promoter region of the MDM2 gene is important for tumor development; however, with regards to breast cancer, inconsistent associations have been reported worldwide. It is speculated that these conflicting results may have arisen due to different patient subgroups and ethnicities studied. For the first time, this study explores the effect of the MDM2 SNP309 genotype on Taiwanese breast cancer patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Genomic DNA was obtained from the whole blood of 124 breast cancer patients and 97 cancer-free healthy women living in Taiwan. MDM2 SNP309 genotyping was carried out by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay. The multivariate logistic regression and the Kaplan-Meier method were used for analyzing the risk association and significance of age at diagnosis among different MDM2 SNP309 genotypes, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to the TT genotype, an increased risk association with breast cancer was apparent for the GG genotype (OR = 3.05, 95% CI = 1.04 to 8.95), and for the TG genotype (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 0.90 to 5.00) after adjusting for age, cardiovascular disease/diabetes, oral contraceptive usage, and body mass index, which exhibits significant difference between cases and controls. Furthermore, the average ages at diagnosis for breast cancer patients were 53.6, 52 and 47 years for those harboring TT, TG and GG genotypes, respectively. A significant difference in median age of onset for breast cancer between GG and TT+TG genotypes was obtained by the log-rank test (p = 0.0067).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Findings based on the current sample size suggest that the MDM2 SNP309 GG genotype may be associated with both the risk of breast cancer and an earlier age of onset in Taiwanese women.</p
Recommended from our members
Determinants of woody encroachment and cover in African savannas
Savanna ecosystems are an integral part of the African landscape and sustain the livelihoods of millions of people. Woody encroachment in savannas is a widespread phenomenon but its causes are widely debated. We review the extensive literature on woody encroachment to help improve understanding of the possible causes and to highlight where and how future scientific efforts to fully understand these causes should be focused. Rainfall is the most important determinant of maximum woody cover across Africa, but fire and herbivory interact to reduce woody cover below the maximum at many locations. We postulate that woody encroachment is most likely driven by CO2 enrichment and propose a two-system conceptual framework, whereby mechanisms of woody encroachment differ depending on whether the savanna is a wet or dry system. In dry savannas, the increased water-use efficiency in plants relaxes precipitation-driven constraints and increases woody growth. In wet savannas, the increase of carbon allocation to tree roots results in faster recovery rates after disturbance and a greater likelihood of reaching sexual maturity. Our proposed framework can be tested using a mixture of experimental and earth observational techniques. At a local level, changes in precipitation, burning regimes or herbivory could be driving woody encroachment, but are unlikely to be the explanation of this continent-wide phenomenon
Time spent with cats is never wasted: Lessons learned from feline acromegalic cardiomyopathy, a naturally occurring animal model of the human disease
<div><p>Background</p><p>In humans, acromegaly due to a pituitary somatotrophic adenoma is a recognized cause of increased left ventricular (LV) mass. Acromegalic cardiomyopathy is incompletely understood, and represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality. We describe the clinical, echocardiographic and histopathologic features of naturally occurring feline acromegalic cardiomyopathy, an emerging disease among domestic cats.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Cats with confirmed hypersomatotropism (IGF-1>1000ng/ml and pituitary mass; n = 67) were prospectively recruited, as were two control groups: diabetics (IGF-1<800ng/ml; n = 24) and healthy cats without known endocrinopathy or cardiovascular disease (n = 16). Echocardiography was performed in all cases, including after hypersomatotropism treatment where applicable. Additionally, tissue samples from deceased cats with hypersomatotropism, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and age-matched controls (n = 21 each) were collected and systematically histopathologically reviewed and compared.</p><p>Results</p><p>By echocardiography, cats with hypersomatotropism had a greater maximum LV wall thickness (6.5mm, 4.1–10.1mm) than diabetic (5.9mm, 4.2–9.1mm; Mann Whitney, p<0.001) or control cats (5.2mm, 4.1–6.5mm; Mann Whitney, p<0.001). Left atrial diameter was also greater in cats with hypersomatotropism (16.6mm, 13.0–29.5mm) than in diabetic (15.4mm, 11.2–20.3mm; Mann Whitney, p<0.001) and control cats (14.0mm, 12.6–17.4mm; Mann Whitney, p<0.001). After hypophysectomy and normalization of IGF-1 concentration (n = 20), echocardiographic changes proved mostly reversible. As in humans, histopathology of the feline acromegalic heart was dominated by myocyte hypertrophy with interstitial fibrosis and minimal myofiber disarray.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>These results demonstrate cats could be considered a naturally occurring model of acromegalic cardiomyopathy, and as such help elucidate mechanisms driving cardiovascular remodeling in this disease.</p></div
Effects of imatinib mesylate (STI571, Glivec) on the pharmacokinetics of simvastatin, a cytochrome P450 3A4 substrate, in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia
- …