Long-term observations of the pulsars in 47 Tucanae. I. A study of four elusive binary systems

For the past couple of decades, the Parkes radio telescope has been regularly observing the millisecond pulsars in 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc). This long-term timing program was designed to address a wide range of scientific issues related to these pulsars and the globular cluster where they are located. In this paper, the first of a series, we address one of these objectives: the characterization of four previously known binary pulsars for which no precise orbital parameters were known, namely 47 Tuc P, V, W and X (pulsars 47 Tuc R and Y are discussed elsewhere). We determined the previously unknown orbital parameters of 47 Tuc V and X and greatly improved those of 47 Tuc P and W. For pulsars W and X we obtained, for the first time, full coherent timing solutions across the whole data span, which allowed a much more detailed characterization of these systems. 47 Tuc W, a well-known tight eclipsing binary pulsar, exhibits a large orbital period variability, as expected for a system of its class. 47 Tuc X turns out to be in a wide, extremely circular, 10.9-day long binary orbit and its position is ~3.8 arcmin away from the cluster center, more than three times the distance of any other pulsar in 47 Tuc. These characteristics make 47 Tuc X a very different object with respect to the other pulsars of the cluster.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS, 18 pages, 11 figure

How do proteins search for their specific sites on coiled or globular DNA

It is known since the early days of molecular biology that proteins locate their specific targets on DNA up to two orders of magnitude faster than the Smoluchowski 3D diffusion rate. It was the idea due to Delbruck that they are non-specifically adsorbed on DNA, and sliding along DNA provides for the faster 1D search. Surprisingly, the role of DNA conformation was never considered in this context. In this article, we explicitly address the relative role of 3D diffusion and 1D sliding along coiled or globular DNA and the possibility of correlated re-adsorbtion of desorbed proteins. We have identified a wealth of new different scaling regimes. We also found the maximal possible acceleration of the reaction due to sliding, we found that the maximum on the rate-versus-ionic strength curve is asymmetric, and that sliding can lead not only to acceleration, but in some regimes to dramatic deceleration of the reaction.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Quantum Mechanics of Klein-Gordon Fields II: Relativistic Coherent States

We use the formulation of the quantum mechanics of first quantized Klein-Gordon fields given in the first of this series of papers to study relativistic coherent states. In particular, we offer an explicit construction of coherent states for both charged and neutral (real) free Klein-Gordon fields as well as for charged fields interacting with a constant magnetic field. Our construction is free from the problems associated with charge-superselection rule that complicated the previous studies. We compute various physical quantities associated with our coherent states and present a detailed investigation of their classical (nonquantum) and nonrelativistic limits.Comment: 32 pages, 17 figures, to appear in Ann. Phys. (NY

Caring for the patient, caring for the record: an ethnographic study of 'back office' work in upholding quality of care in general practice

© 2015 Swinglehurst and Greenhalgh; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Additional file 1: Box 1. Field notes on summarising (Clover Surgery). Box 2. Extract of document prepared for GPs by summarisers at Clover Surgery. Box 3. Fieldnotes on coding incoming post, Clover (original notes edited for brevity).This work was funded by a research grant from the UK Medical Research Council (Healthcare Electronic Records in Organisations 07/133) and a National Institute of Health Research doctoral fellowship award for DS (RDA/03/07/076). The funders were not involved in the selection or analysis of data nor did they make any contribution to the content of the final manuscript

Complete Genome Sequences of Paenibacillus Larvae Phages BN12, Dragolir, Kiel007, Leyra, Likha, Pagassa, PBL1c, and Tadhana

We present here the complete genomes of eight phages that infect Paenibacillus larvae, the causative agent of American foulbrood in honeybees. Phage PBL1c was originally isolated in 1984 from a P. larvae lysogen, while the remaining phages were isolated in 2014 from bee debris, honeycomb, and lysogens from three states in the USA

Form factors from free fermionic Fock fields, the Federbush model

By representing the field content as well as the particle creation operators in terms of fermionic Fock operators, we compute the corresponding matrix elements of the Federbush model. Only when these matrix elements satisfy the form factor consistency equations involving anyonic factors of local commutativity, the corresponding operators are local. We carry out the ultraviolet limit, analyze the momentum space cluster properties and demonstrate how the Federbush model can be obtained from the $SU(3)_3$-homogeneous sine-Gordon model. We propose a new Lagrangian which on one hand constitutes a generalization of the Federbush model in a Lie algebraic fashion and on the other a certain limit of the homogeneous sine-Gordon models.Comment: 30 pages Latex, one section adde

Does shear wave ultrasound independently predict axillary lymph node metastasis in women with invasive breast cancer?

Shear wave elastography (SWE) shows promise as an adjunct to greyscale ultrasound examination in assessing breast masses. In breast cancer, higher lesion stiffness on SWE has been shown to be associated with features of poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to assess whether lesion stiffness at SWE is an independent predictor of lymph node involvement. Patients with invasive breast cancer treated by primary surgery, who had undergone SWE examination were eligible. Data were retrospectively analysed from 396 consecutive patients. The mean stiffness values were obtained using the Aixplorer(®) ultrasound machine from SuperSonic Imagine Ltd. Measurements were taken from a region of interest positioned over the stiffest part of the abnormality. The average of the mean stiffness value obtained from each of two orthogonal image planes was used for analysis. Associations between lymph node involvement and mean lesion stiffness, invasive cancer size, histologic grade, tumour type, ER expression, HER-2 status and vascular invasion were assessed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. At univariate analysis, invasive size, histologic grade, HER-2 status, vascular invasion, tumour type and mean stiffness were significantly associated with nodal involvement. Nodal involvement rates ranged from 7 % for tumours with mean stiffness <50 kPa to 41 % for tumours with a mean stiffness of >150 kPa. At multivariate analysis, invasive size, tumour type, vascular invasion, and mean stiffness maintained independent significance. Mean stiffness at SWE is an independent predictor of lymph node metastasis and thus can confer prognostic information additional to that provided by conventional preoperative tumour assessment and staging

Prescribing of antidiabetic medicines before, during and after pregnancy:a study in seven European regions

Aim: To explore antidiabetic medicine prescribing to women before, during and after pregnancy in different regions of Europe.Methods: A common protocol was implemented across seven databases in Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Italy (Emilia Romagna/Tuscany), Wales and the rest of the UK. Women with a pregnancy starting and ending between 2004 and 2010, (Denmark, 2004-2009; Norway, 2005-2010; Emilia Romagna, 2008-2010), which ended in a live or stillbirth, were identified. Prescriptions for antidiabetic medicines issued (UK) or dispensed (non-UK) during pregnancy and/or the year before or year after pregnancy were identified. Prescribing patterns were compared across databases and over calendar time.Results: 1,082,673 live/stillbirths were identified. Pregestational insulin prescribing during the year before pregnancy ranged from 0.27% (CI95 0.25-0.30) in Tuscany to 0.45% (CI95 0.43-0.47) in Norway, and increased between 2004 and 2009 in all countries. During pregnancy, insulin prescribing peaked during the third trimester and increased over time; third trimester prescribing was highest in Tuscany (2.2%) and lowest in Denmark (0.5%). Of those prescribed an insulin during pregnancy, between 50.5% in Denmark and 88.8% in the Netherlands received an insulin analogue alone or in combination with human insulin, this proportion increasing over time. Oral products were mainly metformin and prescribing was highest in the 3 months before pregnancy. Metformin use during pregnancy increased in some countries. Conclusion: Pregestational diabetes is increasing in many areas of Europe. There is considerable variation between and within countries in the choice of medication for treating pregestational diabetes in pregnancy, including choice of insulin analogues and oral antidiabetics, and very large variation in the diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes despite international guidelines. <br/

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor prescribing before, during and after pregnancy:a population-based study in six European regions

ObjectiveTo explore the prescribing patterns of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) before, during and after pregnancy in six European population-based databases.DesignDescriptive drug utilisation study.SettingSix electronic healthcare databases in Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy (Emilia Romagna/Tuscany), Wales and the rest of the UK.PopulationAll women with a pregnancy ending in a live or stillbirth starting and ending between 2004 and 2010.MethodsA common protocol was implemented across databases to identify SSRI prescriptions issued (UK) or dispensed (non-UK) in the year before, during or in the year following pregnancy.Main outcome measuresThe percentage of deliveries in which the woman received an SSRI prescription in the year before, during or in the year following pregnancy. We also compared the choice of SSRIs and changes in prescribing over the study period.ResultsIn total, 721 632 women and 862943 deliveries were identified. In the year preceding pregnancy, the prevalence of SSRI prescribing was highest in Wales [9.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI95), 9.4-9.8%] and lowest in Emilia Romagna (3.3%; CI95, 3.2-3.4%). During pregnancy, SSRI prescribing had dropped to between 1.2% (CI95, 1.1-1.3%) in Emilia Romagna and 4.5% (CI95, 4.3-4.6%) in Wales. The higher UK pre-pregnancy prescribing rates resulted in higher first trimester exposures. After pregnancy, SSRI prescribing increased most rapidly in the UK. Paroxetine was more commonly prescribed in the Netherlands and Italian regions than in Denmark and the UK.ConclusionsThe higher SSRI prescribing rates in the UK, compared with other European regions, raise questions about differences in the prevalence and severity of depression and its management in pregnancy across Europe.</p