Strong Directional Out-of-Plane Scattering in Multiple Ionizing Highly Charged Ion-Atom Collisions

The azimuthal ({phi}{sub r}) and polar angle ({theta}{sub r}) scattering of projectiles in coincidence with recoil ions has been studied for 0.53 MeV/u F{sup 8+} + Ne. For high degree of ionization of the target we find the resultant transverse momentum of all electrons emitted into the continuum to increase with the number of ejected electrons and to have a direction mostly not co-planar with the scattering plane

Observation of enhanced chiral asymmetries in the inner-shell photoionization of uniaxially oriented methyloxirane enantiomers

Most large molecules are chiral in their structure: they exist as two enantiomers, which are mirror images of each other. Whereas the rovibronic sublevels of two enantiomers are almost identical, it turns out that the photoelectric effect is sensitive to the absolute configuration of the ionized enantiomer - an effect termed Photoelectron Circular Dichroism (PECD). Our comprehensive study demonstrates that the origin of PECD can be found in the molecular frame electron emission pattern connecting PECD to other fundamental photophysical effects as the circular dichroism in angular distributions (CDAD). Accordingly, orienting a chiral molecule in space enhances the PECD by a factor of about 10

Synergistic Parasite-Pathogen Interactions Mediated by Host Immunity Can Drive the Collapse of Honeybee Colonies

The health of the honeybee and, indirectly, global crop production are threatened by several biotic and abiotic factors, which play a poorly defined role in the induction of widespread colony losses. Recent descriptive studies suggest that colony losses are often related to the interaction between pathogens and other stress factors, including parasites. Through an integrated analysis of the population and molecular changes associated with the collapse of honeybee colonies infested by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, we show that this parasite can de-stabilise the within-host dynamics of Deformed wing virus (DWV), transforming a cryptic and vertically transmitted virus into a rapidly replicating killer, which attains lethal levels late in the season. The de-stabilisation of DWV infection is associated with an immunosuppression syndrome, characterized by a strong down-regulation of the transcription factor NF-κB. The centrality of NF-κB in host responses to a range of environmental challenges suggests that this transcription factor can act as a common currency underlying colony collapse that may be triggered by different causes. Our results offer an integrated account for the multifactorial origin of honeybee losses and a new framework for assessing, and possibly mitigating, the impact of environmental challenges on honeybee health

Characterisation of the British honey bee metagenome

Numerous microbial symbionts, both commensal and pathogenic, are associated with honey bees. Here, the authors genomically characterize this ‘metagenome’ of the British honey bee, identifying a diversity of commensal microbes as well as known and putative pathogen

'She called her partner - hence she is needy':depressed patients show increased tendencies to make spontaneous trait inferences

BackgroundInterpersonal stress generation is an important maintaining factor in major depression; however, little is known about the psychological mechanisms that undermine interpersonal functioning. This study investigated the role of deficits in person perception to this regard.MethodDepressed patients (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 20) completed a false recognition task that measured participants' tendencies to make spontaneous trait inferences (STIs), that is to spontaneously ascribe personality traits to other people. Participants then reported interpersonal daily hassles for one week following the task.ResultsTendencies to make STIs were significantly higher in depressed patients, particularly those with a history of childhood trauma. The degree to which participants made STIs was significantly related to depression severity, and predicted the occurrence of interpersonal daily hassles during follow-up across, but not within groups.ConclusionsThe results suggest that depressed patients show characteristic biases in person perception that may contribute to the generation of interpersonal stress.</jats:sec

The impact of tinnitus distress on cognition

Tinnitus is the chronic perception of a phantom sound with different levels of related distress. Past research has elucidated interactions of tinnitus distress with audiological, affective and further clinical variables. The influence of tinnitus distress on cognition is underinvestigated. Our study aims at investigating specific influences of tinnitus distress and further associated predictors on cognition in a cohort of n = 146 out-ward clinical tinnitus patients. Age, educational level, hearing loss, Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) score, tinnitus duration, speech in noise (SIN), stress, anxiety and depression, and psychological well-being were included as predictors of a machine learning regression approach (elastic net) in three models with scores of a multiple choice vocabulary test (MWT-B), or two trail-making tests (TMT-A and TMT-B), as dependent variables. TQ scores predicted lower MWT-B scores and higher TMT-B test completion time. Stress, emotional, and psychological variables were not found to be relevant predictors in all models with the exception of small positive influences of SIN and depression on TMT-B. Effect sizes were small to medium for all models and predictors. Results are indicative of specific influence of tinnitus distress on cognitive performance, especially on general or crystallized intelligence and executive functions. More research is needed at the delicate intersection of tinnitus distress and cognitive skills needed in daily functioning

Investigations of molecular orbitals with accel-decel beams

Quasimolecular transition energies can be found directly from the impact-parameter dependence of interference structure observed in measured K x-ray spectra. As these experiments require a K-vacancy bearing projectile at collision velocities small compared to the equivalent K-shell electron velocity, the accel-decel technique has to be used. Such an experiment was performed at the BNL Tandem Accel-Decel Facility for collisions of Cl/sup 16 +/ with Ar at energies ranging from 2.5 to 20 MeV. A new method of analysis using the uniform asymptotic approximation is described here. Quasimolecular transition energies derived using this method are compared to results of a previous analysis based on the determination of the relative positions of maxima and minima in the interference patterns. 6 references, 3 figures