Enhanced Distillation Under Infrared Characteristic Radiation

This chapter introduces quasi-steady water vaporization under mid-infrared (IR) radiation and the IR absorption of characteristic radiation associated with the first-kind liquid-gaseous phase transition of water. When characteristic radiation in the mid-IR spectral range is applied to water surface, the strong volumetric absorption of radiation energy in the liquid-phase causes water to be nearly isothermal. In addition to volumetric absorption, surface absorption of characteristic radiation induces vaporization of water. The complete mechanism of liquid-gaseous phase-transition radiation involves the direct surface absorption/emission of infrared energy accompanied by evaporation/condensation of water. A direct consequence of excess characteristic radiation upon water surface is the induced supersaturation. This mechanism opens up a door for enhanced distillation under characteristic radiation. Blackbody-like materials such as black anodized aluminum surfaces and metal surfaces painted in black are recommended to be heated to ~250°C to serve as economical radiation sources. For isothermal water at room temperatures, ~20% supersaturation can be induced by hemispherical Blackbody radiation with temperature ~11°C higher than the water temperature. In this situation, energy extracted from the ambient for water vaporization can be as much as 80% of latent heat. With radiation-enhanced evaporation, the production cost for distilled water is significantly reduced as compared to distillation at the boiling point

The changing association between socioeconomic circumstances and the incidence of colorectal cancer: a population-based study

Background:There is emerging evidence to suggest that the association between socioeconomic circumstances and colorectal cancer incidence has changed over recent decades.Methods:We conducted a descriptive population-based study to describe the relationship between socioeconomic circumstances and the incidence of colorectal cancer in a pre-screened population. Incident cases of colorectal cancer from the West of Scotland were identified from the Scottish Cancer Registry and European age-standardised incidence rates (EASR) were calculated. Socioeconomic circumstances were measured using the area-based Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).Results:In total, 14?051 incident cases of colorectal cancer were recorded from 1999 to 2007. Incidence of colorectal cancer was associated with increased deprivation in men but not among women; an association that became evident from 2005 onwards. From 2005 to 2007, the deprivation gap in incidence among men was 13.3 per 100?000 (95% confidence interval 3.2-23.4), with rates 19.5% lower among the least deprived compared with the most deprived. This deprivation gap now accounts for an estimated 75 excess cases per year of male colorectal cancer in the West of Scotland.Conclusion:Deprivation was associated with higher incidence rates of male, but not female, colorectal cancer before the implementation of a national bowel screening programme

Socioeconomic inequalities in cancer survival in Scotland 1986–2000

We analysed trends in 5-year survival of the 18 commonest cancers in Scotland diagnosed between 1986 and 2000 and followed up to 2004 in each of five deprivation groups based on patients postcode of residence at diagnosis. We estimated relative survival up to 5 years after diagnosis, adjusting for the different background mortality in each deprivation group by age, sex and calendar period. We estimated trends in overall survival and in the deprivation gap in survival up to 2004. Five-year survival improved for all malignancies except bladder cancer and was associated with a widening in the deprivation gap in survival. For 25 of 30 cancer–sex combinations examined, 5-year survival was lower among more deprived patients diagnosed during 1996–2000, and the deprivation gap in survival had widened since 1986–1990 for 15 of these 25 cancers, similar to the trends seen in England and Wales

Genomic Binding Profiling of the Fission Yeast Stress-Activated MAPK Sty1 and the bZIP Transcriptional Activator Atf1 in Response to H2O2

10.1371/journal.pone.0011620PLoS ONE57

Low Genetic Variation in the Heath Hen Prior to Extinction and Implications for the Conservation of Prairie-Chicken Populations

Low genetic variation is often considered to contribute to the extinction of species when they reach small population sizes. In this study we examined the mitochondrial control region from museum specimens of the Heath Hen ( Tympanuchus cupido cupido ), which went extinct in 1932. Today, the closest living relatives of the Heath Hen, the Greater ( T. c. pinnatus ), Attwater’s ( T. c. attwateri ) and Lesser ( T. pallidicinctus ) Prairie-chicken, are declining throughout most of their range in Midwestern North America, and loss of genetic variation is a likely contributor to their decline. Here we show that 30 years prior to their extinction, Heath Hens had low levels of mitochondrial genetic variation when compared with contemporary populations of prairie-chickens. Furthermore, some current populations of Greater Prairie-chickens are isolated and losing genetic variation due to drift. We estimate that these populations will reach the low levels of genetic variation found in Heath Hens within the next 40 years. Genetic variation and fitness can be restored with translocation of individuals from other populations; however, we also show that choosing an appropriate source population for translocation can be difficult without knowledge of historic population bottlenecks and their effect on genetic structure.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42596/1/10592_2005_Article_7856.pd

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Multi-scale modeling of solid rocket motors: Time integration methods from computational aerodynamics applied to stable quasi-steady motor burning

Here we consider the problem of efficiently computing the stable burn-back of a solid rocket motor when the motor is in the quasi-steady burning regime of operation. When the motor is modeled as a cavity that is filled with a compressible fluid with normal mass and momentum and energy injection from the solid propellant surface, the problem posed is a standard one in steady computational aerodynamics.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe