The impact of motor symptoms on self-reported anxiety in Parkinson's disease

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety is commonly endorsed in Parkinson's disease (PD) and significantly affects quality of life. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is often used but contains items that overlap with common PD motor symptoms (e.g., “hands trembling”). Because of these overlapping items, we hypothesized that PD motor symptoms would significantly affect BAI scores. METHODS: One hundred non-demented individuals with PD and 74 healthy control participants completed the BAI. PD motor symptoms were assessed by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Factor analysis of the BAI assessed for a PD motor factor, and further analyses assessed how this factor affected BAI scores. RESULTS: BAI scores were significantly higher for PD than NC. A five-item PD motor factor correlated with UPDRS observer-rated motor severity and mediated the PD-control difference on BAI total scores. An interaction occurred, whereby removal of the PD motor factor resulted in a significant reduction in BAI scores for PD relative to NC. The correlation between the BAI and UPDRS significantly declined when controlling for the PD motor factor. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that commonly endorsed BAI items may reflect motor symptoms such as tremor instead of, or in addition to, genuine mood symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of considering motor symptoms in the assessment of anxiety in PD and point to the need for selecting anxiety measures that are less subject to contamination by the motor effects of movement disorders.Published versio

Study of CP violation in D->VV decay at BESIII

In this paper, we intend to study the problem of CP violation in $D$ meson by $D\to VV$ decay mode in which the T violating triple-product correlation is examined. That would undoubtedly be another excellent probe of New Physics beyond Standard Model. For the neutral $D$, we focus on direct CP violation without considering $D^0-\bar D^0$ oscillation. Experimentally, by a full angular analysis one may obtain such CP violating signals, and particularly it is worth mentioning that the upcoming large $D$ data samples at BES-III in Beijing will provide a great opportunity to perform it.Comment: 5 pages, 2 tables and 1 figure, version to appear in Phys. Lett.

A panel of kallikrein markers can predict outcome of prostate biopsy following clinical work-up: an independent validation study from the European Randomized Study of Prostate Cancer screening, France

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have previously shown that a panel of kallikrein markers - total prostate-specific antigen (PSA), free PSA, intact PSA and human kallikrein-related peptidase 2 (hK2) - can predict the outcome of prostate biopsy in men with elevated PSA. Here we investigate the properties of our panel in men subject to clinical work-up before biopsy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We applied a previously published predictive model based on the kallikrein panel to 262 men undergoing prostate biopsy following an elevated PSA (≥ 3 ng/ml) and further clinical work-up during the European Randomized Study of Prostate Cancer screening, France. The predictive accuracy of the model was compared to a "base" model of PSA, age and digital rectal exam (DRE).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>83 (32%) men had prostate cancer on biopsy of whom 45 (54%) had high grade disease (Gleason score 7 or higher). Our model had significantly higher accuracy than the base model in predicting cancer (area-under-the-curve [AUC] improved from 0.63 to 0.78) or high-grade cancer (AUC increased from 0.77 to 0.87). Using a decision rule to biopsy those with a 20% or higher risk of cancer from the model would reduce the number of biopsies by nearly half. For every 1000 men with elevated PSA and clinical indication for biopsy, the model would recommend against biopsy in 61 men with cancer, the majority (≈80%) of whom would have low stage <it>and </it>low grade disease at diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this independent validation study, the model was highly predictive of prostate cancer in men for whom the decision to biopsy is based on both elevated PSA and clinical work-up. Use of this model would reduce a large number of biopsies while missing few cancers.</p

Staged storage and magma convection at Ambrym Volcano, Vanuatu

New mineral-melt thermobarometry and mineral chemistry data are presented for basaltic scoriae erupted from the Mbwelesu crater of Ambrym volcano, Vanuatu, during persistent lava lake activity in 2005 and 2007. These data reveal crystallisation conditions and enable the first detailed attempt at reconstruction of the central magma plumbing system of Ambrym volcano. Pressures and temperatures of magma crystallisation at Ambrym are poorly constrained. This study focuses on characterising the magma conditions underlying the quasipermanent lava lakes at the basaltic central vents, and examines petrological evidence for magma circulation. Mineral-melt equilibria for clinopyroxene, olivine and plagioclase allow estimation of pressures and temperatures of crystallisation, and reveal two major regions of crystallisation, at 24–29 km and 11–18 km depth, in agreement with indications from earthquake data of crustal storage levels at c.25–29 km and 12–21 km depth. Temperature estimates are ~1150–1170 ºC for the deeper region, and ~1110 1140 ºC in the midcrustal region, with lower temperatures of ~1090–1100 ºC for late-stage crystallisation. More primitive plagioclase antecrysts are thought to sample a slightly more mafic melt at sub-Moho depths. Resorption textures combined with effectively constant mafic mineral compositions suggest phenocryst convection in a storage region of consistent magma composition. In addition, basalt erupted at Ambrym has predominantly maintained a constant composition throughout the volcanic succession. This, coupled with recurrent periods of elevated central vent activity on the scale of months, suggest frequent magmatic recharge via steady-state melt generation at Ambrym

Navigating through the minefield of read-across frameworks: A commentary perspective

Read-across is a popular data gap filling technique used within analogue and category approaches for both regulatory and product stewardship purposes. In recent years there have been many efforts focused on the challenges involved in read-across development, its scientific justification and documentation for both chemical hazard and risk assessment purposes. Here, we summarise a selection of the read-across frameworks published in technical guidance documents or in the literature, and review their respective similarities and differences. There was a great deal of consensus between the different frameworks in terms of the general steps outlined and the similarity contexts considered although the terminology, decision context (chemical hazard and/or risk assessment purposes) and scope varied. A harmonised hybrid framework is proposed to help reconcile the common guiding principles and steps of the read-across process which should be helpful in expanding the scope and decision context of the existing frameworks. This harmonised framework is also intended to illustrate where generalised and systematic read-across approaches taking into consideration new approach methodology (NAM) information can be applied

Chiral Polymerization in Open Systems From Chiral-Selective Reaction Rates

We investigate the possibility that prebiotic homochirality can be achieved exclusively through chiral-selective reaction rate parameters without any other explicit mechanism for chiral bias. Specifically, we examine an open network of polymerization reactions, where the reaction rates can have chiral-selective values. The reactions are neither autocatalytic nor do they contain explicit enantiomeric cross-inhibition terms. We are thus investigating how rare a set of chiral-selective reaction rates needs to be in order to generate a reasonable amount of chiral bias. We quantify our results adopting a statistical approach: varying both the mean value and the rms dispersion of the relevant reaction rates, we show that moderate to high levels of chiral excess can be achieved with fairly small chiral bias, below 10%. Considering the various unknowns related to prebiotic chemical networks in early Earth and the dependence of reaction rates to environmental properties such as temperature and pressure variations, we argue that homochirality could have been achieved from moderate amounts of chiral selectivity in the reaction rates.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Origins of Life and Evolution of Biosphere

The developmental dynamics of terrorist organizations

We identify robust statistical patterns in the frequency and severity of violent attacks by terrorist organizations as they grow and age. Using group-level static and dynamic analyses of terrorist events worldwide from 1968-2008 and a simulation model of organizational dynamics, we show that the production of violent events tends to accelerate with increasing size and experience. This coupling of frequency, experience and size arises from a fundamental positive feedback loop in which attacks lead to growth which leads to increased production of new attacks. In contrast, event severity is independent of both size and experience. Thus larger, more experienced organizations are more deadly because they attack more frequently, not because their attacks are more deadly, and large events are equally likely to come from large and small organizations. These results hold across political ideologies and time, suggesting that the frequency and severity of terrorism may be constrained by fundamental processes.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, supplementary materia

On visual pigment templates and the spectral shape of invertebrate rhodopsins and metarhodopsins

The absorbance spectra of visual pigments can be approximated with mathematical expressions using as single parameter the absorbance peak wavelength. A comparison of the formulae of Stavenga et al. in Vision Res 33:1011–1017 (1993) and Govardovskii et al. in Vis Neurosci 17:509–528 (2000) applied to a number of invertebrate rhodopsins reveals that both templates well describe the normalized α-band of rhodopsins with peak wavelength > 400 nm; the template spectra are virtually indistinguishable in an absorbance range of about three log units. The template formulae of Govardovskii et al. in Vis Neurosci 17:509–528 (2000) describe the rhodopsin spectra better for absorbances below 10−3. The template predicted spectra deviate in the ultraviolet wavelength range from each other as well as from measured spectra, preventing a definite conclusion about the spectral shape in the wavelength range <400 nm. The metarhodopsin spectra of blowfly and fruitfly R1-6 photoreceptors derived from measured data appear to be virtually identical. The established templates describe the spectral shape of fly metarhodopsin reasonably well. However, the best fitting template spectrum slightly deviates from the experimental spectra near the peak and in the long-wavelength tail. Improved formulae for fitting the fly metarhodopsin spectra are proposed

Significance of cyclonic SubTropical Oceanic Rings of Magnitude (STORM) eddies for the carbon budget of the euphotic layer in the subtropical northeast Atlantic

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2003. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 108, C12 (2003): 3383, doi:10.1029/2003JC001884.The interannual and seasonal variability of cyclonic eddies budded from the Azores Current during the period 1993–1999 in the northeast subtropical Atlantic region (20°N–34°N; 19°W–35°W) was studied by using TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1/2 altimeter images, the operational ocean mesoscale forecasting system SOPRANE, and a mesoscale eddies automatic detection system. Seventeen cyclonic eddies were detected and monitored for time periods ranging from 50 to 360 days. They were characterized by mean westward velocity, amplitude, diameter, and eccentricity of about 2 km d−1, 8 cm, 187 km and 0.7, respectively. The generation of cyclonic eddies was subjected to an important interannual variability, especially in 1995 when the activity of cyclonic eddies in the northeast Atlantic was more intense and associated with parallel changes in the eddy energy of the Azores Current. Seventy-five percent of the mesoscale features were generated throughout the October–February period. Significant relationships were found between the seasonal NAO index and both the annual eddy kinetic and potential energy in the Azores Current region and also the total annual area occupied by STORM eddies, calculated with a 1-year phase lag. The outcome of this study was used to estimate the contribution of STORM eddies to the organic carbon deficit measured in the northeast subtropical Atlantic. On average, these eddies accounted for <1% of the net community production in the region.This work has been done by CLS under contract (98.87.064.00.470.29.25) with SHOM/ CMO. This study was funded by the European Commission under the CANIGO contract MAS3CT960060 and CICYT. B. Mouriño was supported by a FPU fellowship from the Ministerio de Educacio´n y Cultura (Spain)