Factorization and resummation of s-channel single top quark production

In this paper we study the factorization and resummation of s-channel single top quark production in the Standard Model at both the Tevatron and the LHC. We show that the production cross section in the threshold limit can be factorized into a convolution of hard function, soft function and jet function via soft-collinear-effective-theory (SCET), and resummation can be performed using renormalization group equation in the momentum space resummation formalism. We find that in general, the resummation effects enhance the Next-to-Leading-Order (NLO) cross sections by about $3$ at both the Tevatron and the LHC, and significantly reduce the factorization scale dependence of the total cross section at the Tevatron, while at the LHC we find that the factorization scale dependence has not been improved, compared with the NLO results.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures; version published in JHE

Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Rivaroxaban in the Secondary Prevention of Acute Coronary Syndromes in Sweden.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, coronary heart disease accounts for 7 million deaths each year. In Sweden, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a leading cause of hospitalization and is responsible for 1 in 4 deaths. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this analysis was to assess the cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily (BID) in combination with standard antiplatelet therapy (ST-APT) versus ST-APT alone, for the secondary prevention of ACS in adult patients with elevated cardiac biomarkers without a prior history of stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), from a Swedish societal perspective, based on clinical data from the global ATLAS ACS 2-TIMI 51 trial, literature-based quality of life data and costs sourced from Swedish national databases. METHODS: A Markov model was developed to capture rates of single and multiple myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) major, minor, and "requiring medical attention" bleeds, revascularization events, and associated costs and utilities in patients who were stabilized after an initial ACS event. Efficacy and safety data for the first 2 years came from the ATLAS ACS 2-TIMI 51 trial. Long-term probabilities were extrapolated using safety and effectiveness of acetylsalicylic acid data, which was estimated from published literature, assuming constant rates in time. Future cost and effects were discounted at 3.0%. Univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. RESULTS: In the base case, the use of rivaroxaban 2.5 mg BID was associated with improvements in survival and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), yielding an incremental cost per QALY of 71,246 Swedish Krona (SEK) (€8045). The outcomes were robust to changes in inputs. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis demonstrated rivaroxaban 2.5 mg BID to be cost-effective in >99.9% of cases, assuming a willingness-to-pay threshold of SEK 500,000 (€56,458). CONCLUSION: Compared with ST-APT alone, the use of rivaroxaban 2.5 mg BID in combination with ST-APT can be considered a cost-effective treatment option for ACS patients with elevated cardiac biomarkers without a prior history of stroke/TIA in Sweden. FUNDING: Bayer Pharma AG

Children with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at School

Parents of 135 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) completed a mailed questionnaire about problems at school. Writing was the most frequently reported difficulty, with hand involvement causing more problems than decreased mobility. Compared to children with pauciarticular JRA, those with polyarticular or systemic JRA were significantly more likely to miss school, experience problems, participate less in physical education, have an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) developed, and receive related services. Only 39 parents had heard of PL 94-142, and only 21 of those could define the federal law. Twenty children had an IEP within the previous two years. Possible deficiencies in the implementation of PL 94-142 were discovered. This study demonstrates that the treatment of children with JRA should include efforts to: 1) identify and remediate potential performance limitations before they become problematic at school; 2) communicate this information to parents and school personnel; 3) and improve parents' awareness and understanding of PL 94-142.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67045/2/10.1177_000992288902801104.pd

JAMI: a Java library for molecular interactions and data interoperability.

BACKGROUND: A number of different molecular interactions data download formats now exist, designed to allow access to these valuable data by diverse user groups. These formats include the PSI-XML and MITAB standard interchange formats developed by Molecular Interaction workgroup of the HUPO-PSI in addition to other, use-specific downloads produced by other resources. The onus is currently on the user to ensure that a piece of software is capable of read/writing all necessary versions of each format. This problem may increase, as data providers strive to meet ever more sophisticated user demands and data types. RESULTS: A collaboration between EMBL-EBI and the University of Cambridge has produced JAMI, a single library to unify standard molecular interaction data formats such as PSI-MI XML and PSI-MITAB. The JAMI free, open-source library enables the development of molecular interaction computational tools and pipelines without the need to produce different versions of software to read different versions of the data formats. CONCLUSION: Software and tools developed on top of the JAMI framework are able to integrate and support both PSI-MI XML and PSI-MITAB. The use of JAMI avoids the requirement to chain conversions between formats in order to reach a desired output format and prevents code and unit test duplication as the code becomes more modular. JAMI's model interfaces are abstracted from the underlying format, hiding the complexity and requirements of each data format from developers using JAMI as a library

Personality and Temperament Correlates of Pain Catastrophizing in Young Adolescents

Pain catastrophizing is generally viewed as an important cognitive factor underlying chronic pain. The present study examined personality and temperament correlates of pain catastrophizing in a sample of young adolescents (N = 132). Participants completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Children, as well as scales for measuring sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation systems (BIS-BAS), and various reactive and regulative temperament traits. Results demonstrated that BIS, reactive temperament traits (fear and anger-frustration), and perceptual sensitivity were positively related to pain catastrophizing, whereas regulative traits (attention control, inhibitory control) were negatively associated with this cognitive factor. Further, regression analyses demonstrated that only BIS and the temperamental traits of fear and perceptual sensitivity accounted for a unique proportion of the variance in adolescents’ pain catastrophizing scores

Holocentric Chromosomes of Luzula elegans Are Characterized by a Longitudinal Centromere Groove, Chromosome Bending, and a Terminal Nucleolus Organizer Region

The structure of holocentric chromosomes was analyzed in mitotic cells of Luzula elegans. Light and scanning electron microscopy observations provided evidence for the existence of a longitudinal groove along each sister chromatid. The centromere-specific histone H3 variant, CENH3, colocalized with this groove and with microtubule attachment sites. The terminal chromosomal regions were CENH3-negative. During metaphase to anaphase transition, L. elegans chromosomes typically curved to a sickle-like shape, a process that is likely to be influenced by the pulling forces of microtubules along the holocentric axis towards the corresponding microtubule organizing regions. A single pair of 45S rDNA sites, situated distal to Arabidopsis-telomere repeats, was observed at the terminal region of one chromosome pair. We suggest that the 45S rDNA position in distal centromere-free regions could be required to ensure chromosome stability. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Quantum Engineering With Hybrid Magnonic Systems and Materials (Invited Paper)

Quantum technology has made tremendous strides over the past two decades with remarkable advances in materials engineering, circuit design, and dynamic operation. In particular, the integration of different quantum modules has benefited from hybrid quantum systems, which provide an important pathway for harnessing different natural advantages of complementary quantum systems and for engineering new functionalities. This review article focuses on the current frontiers with respect to utilizing magnons for novel quantum functionalities. Magnons are the fundamental excitations of magnetically ordered solid-state materials and provide great tunability and flexibility for interacting with various quantum modules for integration in diverse quantum systems. The concomitant-rich variety of physics and material selection enable exploration of novel quantum phenomena in materials science and engineering. In addition, the ease of generating strong coupling with other excitations makes hybrid magnonics a unique platform for quantum engineering. We start our discussion with circuit-based hybrid magnonic systems, which are coupled with microwave photons and acoustic phonons. Subsequently, we focus on the recent progress of magnon–magnon coupling within confined magnetic systems. Next, we highlight new opportunities for understanding the interactions between magnons and nitrogen-vacancy centers for quantum sensing and implementing quantum interconnects. Lastly, we focus on the spin excitations and magnon spectra of novel quantum materials investigated with advanced optical characterization

Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Q169 Is Essential for Telomerase Function In Vitro and In Vivo

BACKGROUND:Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that maintains the telomeres of linear chromosomes and preserves genomic integrity. The core components are a catalytic protein subunit, the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), and an RNA subunit, the telomerase RNA (TR). Telomerase is unique in its ability to catalyze processive DNA synthesis, which is facilitated by telomere-specific DNA-binding domains in TERT called anchor sites. A conserved glutamine residue in the TERT N-terminus is important for anchor site interactions in lower eukaryotes. The significance of this residue in higher eukaryotes, however, has not been investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:To understand the significance of this residue in higher eukaryotes, we performed site-directed mutagenesis on human TERT (hTERT) Q169 to create neutral (Q169A), conservative (Q169N), and non-conservative (Q169D) mutant proteins. We show that these mutations severely compromise telomerase activity in vitro and in vivo. The functional defects are not due to abrogated interactions with hTR or telomeric ssDNA. However, substitution of hTERT Q169 dramatically impaired the ability of telomerase to incorporate nucleotides at the second position of the template. Furthermore, Q169 mutagenesis altered the relative strength of hTERT-telomeric ssDNA interactions, which identifies Q169 as a novel residue in hTERT required for optimal primer binding. Proteolysis experiments indicate that Q169 substitution alters the protease-sensitivity of the hTERT N-terminus, indicating that a conformational change in this region of hTERT is likely critical for catalytic function. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We provide the first detailed evidence regarding the biochemical and cellular roles of an evolutionarily-conserved Gln residue in higher eukaryotes. Collectively, our results indicate that Q169 is needed to maintain the hTERT N-terminus in a conformation that is necessary for optimal enzyme-primer interactions and nucleotide incorporation. We show that Q169 is critical for the structure and function of human telomerase, thereby identifying a novel residue in hTERT that may be amenable to therapeutic intervention

Anti-plasmodial polyvalent interactions in Artemisia annua L. aqueous extract – possible synergistic and resistance mechanisms

Artemisia annua hot water infusion (tea) has been used in in vitro experiments against P. falciparum malaria parasites to test potency relative to equivalent pure artemisinin. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometric analyses were employed to determine the metabolite profile of tea including the concentrations of artemisinin (47.5±0.8 mg L-1), dihydroartemisinic acid (70.0±0.3 mg L-1), arteannuin B (1.3±0.0 mg L-1), isovitexin (105.0±7.2 mg L-1) and a range of polyphenolic acids. The tea extract, purified compounds from the extract, and the combination of artemisinin with the purified compounds were tested against chloroquine sensitive and chloroquine resistant strains of P. falciparum using the DNA-intercalative SYBR Green I assay. The results of these in vitro tests and of isobologram analyses of combination effects showed mild to strong antagonistic interactions between artemisinin and the compounds (9-epi-artemisinin and artemisitene) extracted from A. annua with significant (IC50 <1 μM) anti-plasmodial activities for the combination range evaluated. Mono-caffeoylquinic acids, tri-caffeoylquinic acid, artemisinic acid and arteannuin B showed additive interaction while rosmarinic acid showed synergistic interaction with artemisinin in the chloroquine sensitive strain at a combination ratio of 1:3 (artemisinin to purified compound). In the chloroquine resistant parasite, using the same ratio, these compounds strongly antagonised artemisinin anti-plasmodial activity with the exception of arteannuin B, which was synergistic. This result would suggest a mechanism targeting parasite resistance defenses for arteannuin B’s potentiation of artemisinin