857 research outputs found
Sympathetic cooling in a mixture of diamagnetic and paramagnetic atoms
We have experimentally realized a hybrid trap for ultracold paramagnetic
rubidium and diamagnetic ytterbium atoms by combining a bichromatic optical
dipole trap for ytterbium with a Ioffe-Pritchard-type magnetic trap for
rubidium. In this hybrid trap, sympathetic cooling of five different ytterbium
isotopes through elastic collisions with rubidium was achieved. A strong
dependence of the interspecies collisional cross section on the mass of the
ytterbium isotope was observed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Supporting Accurate Interpretation of Self-Administered Medical Test Results for Mobile Health: Assessment of Design, Demographics, and Health Condition
Background: Technological advances in personal informatics allow people to track their own health in a variety of ways, representing a dramatic change in individuals’ control of their own wellness. However, research regarding patient interpretation of traditional medical tests highlights the risks in making complex medical data available to a general audience.
Objective: This study aimed to explore how people interpret medical test results, examined in the context of a mobile blood testing system developed to enable self-care and health management.
Methods: In a preliminary investigation and main study, we presented 27 and 303 adults, respectively, with hypothetical results from several blood tests via one of the several mobile interface designs: a number representing the raw measurement of the tested biomarker, natural language text indicating whether the biomarker’s level was low or high, or a one-dimensional chart illustrating this level along a low-healthy axis. We measured respondents’ correctness in evaluating these results and their confidence in their interpretations. Participants also told us about any follow-up actions they would take based on the result and how they envisioned, generally, using our proposed personal health system.
Results: We find that a majority of participants (242/328, 73.8%) were accurate in their interpretations of their diagnostic results. However, 135 of 328 participants (41.1%) expressed uncertainty and confusion about their ability to correctly interpret these results. We also find that demographics and interface design can impact interpretation accuracy, including false confidence, which we define as a respondent having above average confidence despite interpreting a result inaccurately. Specifically, participants who saw a natural language design were the least likely (421.47 times, P=.02) to exhibit false confidence, and women who saw a graph design were less likely (8.67 times, P=.04) to have false confidence. On the other hand, false confidence was more likely among participants who self-identified as Asian (25.30 times, P=.02), white (13.99 times, P=.01), and Hispanic (6.19 times, P=.04). Finally, with the natural language design, participants who were more educated were, for each one-unit increase in education level, more likely (3.06 times, P=.02) to have false confidence.
Conclusions: Our findings illustrate both promises and challenges of interpreting medical data outside of a clinical setting and suggest instances where personal informatics may be inappropriate. In surfacing these tensions, we outline concrete interface design strategies that are more sensitive to users’ capabilities and conditions
Effect of the unpolarized spin state in spin-correlation measurement of two protons produced in the 12C(d,2He) reaction
In this note we discuss the effect of the unpolarized state in the
spin-correlation measurement of the two-proton state produced in
12C(d,2He) reaction at the KVI, Groningen. We show that in the presence of the
unpolarized state the maximal violation of the CHSH-Bell inequality is lower
than the classical limit if the purity of the state is less than . In particular, for the KVI experiment the violation of the
CHSH-Bell inequality should be corrected by a factor from the
pure state.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in J. Phys.
A fresh look at introductory data science
The proliferation of vast quantities of available datasets that are large and
complex in nature has challenged universities to keep up with the demand for
graduates trained in both the statistical and the computational set of skills
required to effectively plan, acquire, manage, analyze, and communicate the
findings of such data. To keep up with this demand, attracting students early
on to data science as well as providing them a solid foray into the field
becomes increasingly important. We present a case study of an introductory
undergraduate course in data science that is designed to address these needs.
Offered at Duke University, this course has no pre-requisites and serves a wide
audience of aspiring statistics and data science majors as well as humanities,
social sciences, and natural sciences students. We discuss the unique set of
challenges posed by offering such a course and in light of these challenges, we
present a detailed discussion into the pedagogical design elements, content,
structure, computational infrastructure, and the assessment methodology of the
course. We also offer a repository containing all teaching materials that are
open-source, along with supplemental materials and the R code for reproducing
the figures found in the paper
Understanding Non-traditional Hunters in New York: Initial Insights and Implications for Recruitment and Retention Research
Click on the PDF for an Executive Summary and the full report. Visit the HDRU website for a complete listing of HDRU publications at: http://hdru.dnr.cornell.edu
Sphingosine 1-phosphate modulates antigen capture by murine langerhans cells via the S1P2 receptor subtype
Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in the development of cutaneous contact hypersensitivity (CHS) and atopic dermatitis as they capture and process antigen and present it to T lymphocytes in the lymphoid organs. Recently, it has been indicated that a topical application of the sphingolipid sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) prevents the inflammatory response in CHS, but the molecular mechanism is not fully elucidated. Here we indicate that treatment of mice with S1P is connected with an impaired antigen uptake by Langerhans cells (LCs), the initial step of CHS. Most of the known actions of S1P are mediated by a family of five specific G protein-coupled receptors. Our results indicate that S1P inhibits macropinocytosis of the murine LC line XS52 via S1P2 receptor stimulation followed by a reduced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activity. As down-regulation of S1P2 not only diminished S1P-mediated action but also enhanced the basal activity of LCs on antigen capture, an autocrine action of S1P has been assumed. Actually, S1P is continuously produced by LCs and secreted via the ATP binding cassette transporter ABCC1 to the extracellular environment. Consequently, inhibition of ABCC1, which decreased extracellular S1P levels, markedly increased the antigen uptake by LCs. Moreover, stimulation of sphingosine kinase activity, the crucial enzyme for S1P formation, is connected not only with enhanced S1P levels but also with diminished antigen capture. These results indicate that S1P is essential in LC homeostasis and influences skin immunity. This is of importance as previous reports suggested an alteration of S1P levels in atopic skin lesions
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