1,581 research outputs found
A longitudinal, observational study examining the relationships of patient satisfaction with services and mental well-being to their clinical course in young people with Type 1 diabetes mellitus during transition from child to adult health services
AIM: We hypothesized that participant well-being and satisfaction with services would be positively associated with a satisfactory clinical course during transition from child to adult health care.
METHODS: Some 150 young people with Type 1 diabetes mellitus from five diabetes units in England were recruited to a longitudinal study of transition. Each young person was visited at home four times by a research assistant; each visit was 1 year apart. Satisfaction with services (Mind the Gap; MTG) and mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale; WEMWBS) were captured. Change in HbA1c , episodes of ketoacidosis, clinic and retinal screening attendance were used to assess clinical course. In total, 108 of 150 (72%) young people had sufficient data for analysis at visit 4.
RESULTS: Mean age at entry was 16 years. By visit 4, 81.5% had left paediatric healthcare services. Median HbA1c increased significantly (P = 0.01) from 69 mmol/mol (8.5%) at baseline to 75 mmol/mol (9.0%) at visit 4. WEMWBS scores were comparable with those in the general population at baseline and were stable over the study period. MTG scores were also stable. By visit 4, some 32 individuals had a 'satisfactory' and 76 a 'suboptimal' clinical course. There were no significant differences in average WEMWBS and MTG scores between the clinical course groups (P = 0.96, 0.52 respectively); nor was there a significant difference in transfer status between the clinical course groups.
CONCLUSIONS: The well-being of young people with diabetes and their satisfaction with transition services are not closely related to their clinical course. Investigating whether innovative psycho-educational interventions can improve the clinical course is a research priority
Anomalous electric conductions in KSbO3-type metallic rhenium oxides
Single crystals of KSbO3-type rhenium oxides, La4Re6Orho(T)=\rho_{0}+AT^{n}(n \approx 1.6)$ in
a wide temperature range between 5 K and 300 K, which is extraordinary for
three-dimensional metals without strong electron correlations. The resistivity
of Bi3Re3O11 shows an anomaly around at 50 K, where the magnetic susceptibility
also detects a deviation from ordinary Pauli paramagnetism.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. J. Phys. Soc. Japan, in pres
Quantum Dynamics of the Slow Rollover Transition in the Linear Delta Expansion
We apply the linear delta expansion to the quantum mechanical version of the
slow rollover transition which is an important feature of inflationary models
of the early universe. The method, which goes beyond the Gaussian
approximation, gives results which stay close to the exact solution for longer
than previous methods. It provides a promising basis for extension to a full
field theoretic treatment.Comment: 12 pages, including 4 figure
In vivo targeted DamID identifies CHD8 genomic targets in fetal mouse brain.
Funder: Royal SocietyFunder: Agouron InstituteGenetic studies of autism have revealed causal roles for chromatin remodeling gene mutations. Chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 8 (CHD8) encodes a chromatin remodeler with significant de novo mutation rates in sporadic autism. However, relationships between CHD8 genomic function and autism-relevant biology remain poorly elucidated. Published studies utilizing ChIP-seq to map CHD8 protein-DNA interactions have high variability, consistent with technical challenges and limitations associated with this method. Thus, complementary approaches are needed to establish CHD8 genomic targets and regulatory functions in developing brain. We used in utero CHD8 Targeted DamID followed by sequencing (TaDa-seq) to characterize CHD8 binding in embryonic mouse cortex. CHD8 TaDa-seq reproduced interaction patterns observed from ChIP-seq and further highlighted CHD8 distal interactions associated with neuronal loci. This study establishes TaDa-seq as a useful alternative for mapping protein-DNA interactions in vivo and provides insights into the regulatory targets of CHD8 and autism-relevant pathophysiology associated with CHD8 mutations
Syncytial Hepatitis of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) is Associated With Orthomyxovirus-Like Virions in Hepatocytes
Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the presented work expands on the ultrastructural findings of an earlier report on âsyncytial hepatitis,â a novel disease of tilapia (SHT). Briefly, TEM confirmed the presence of an orthomyxovirus-like virus within the diseased hepatocytes but not within the endothelium. This was supported by observing extracellular and intracellular (mostly intraendosomal), 60â100 nm round virions with a trilaminar capsid containing up to 7 electron-dense aggregates. Other patterns noted included enveloped or filamentous virions and virion-containing cytoplasmic membrane folds, suggestive of endocytosis. Patterns atypical for orthymyxovirus included the formation of syncytia and the presence of virions within the perinuclear cisternae (suspected to be the Golgi apparatus). The ultrastructural morphology of SHT-associated virions is similar to that previously reported for tilapia lake virus (TiLV). A genetic homology was investigated using the available reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) probes for TiLV and comparing clinically sick with clinically normal fish and negative controls. By RT-PCR analysis, viral nucleic acid was detected only in diseased fish. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that a virus is causally associated with SHT, that this virus shares ultrastructural features with orthomyxoviruses, and it presents with partial genetic homology with TiLV (190 nucleotides). </jats:p
Atmospheric characterization of Proxima b by coupling the Sphere high-contrast imager to the Espresso spectrograph
Context. The temperate Earth-mass planet Proxima b is the closest exoplanet
to Earth and represents what may be our best ever opportunity to search for
life outside the Solar System. Aims. We aim at directly detecting Proxima b and
characterizing its atmosphere by spatially resolving the planet and obtaining
high-resolution reflected-light spectra. Methods. We propose to develop a
coupling interface between the SPHERE high-contrast imager and the new ESPRESSO
spectrograph, both installed at ESO VLT. The angular separation of 37 mas
between Proxima b and its host star requires the use of visible wavelengths to
spatially resolve the planet on a 8.2-m telescope. At an estimated
planet-to-star contrast of ~10^-7 in reflected light, Proxima b is extremely
challenging to detect with SPHERE alone. However, the combination of a
~10^3-10^4 contrast enhancement from SPHERE to the high spectral resolution of
ESPRESSO can reveal the planetary spectral features and disentangle them from
the stellar ones. Results. We find that significant but realistic upgrades to
SPHERE and ESPRESSO would enable a 5-sigma detection of the planet and yield a
measurement of its true mass and albedo in 20-40 nights of telescope time,
assuming an Earth-like atmospheric composition. Moreover, it will be possible
to probe the O2 bands at 627, 686 and 760 nm, the water vapour band at 717 nm,
and the methane band at 715 nm. In particular, a 3.6-sigma detection of O2
could be made in about 60 nights of telescope time. Those would need to be
spread over 3 years considering optimal observability conditions for the
planet. Conclusions. The very existence of Proxima b and the SPHERE-ESPRESSO
synergy represent a unique opportunity to detect biosignatures on an exoplanet
in the near future. It is also a crucial pathfinder experiment for the
development of Extremely Large Telescopes and their instruments (abridged).Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, revised version accepted to A&
Exact and approximate dynamics of the quantum mechanical O(N) model
We study a quantum dynamical system of N, O(N) symmetric, nonlinear
oscillators as a toy model to investigate the systematics of a 1/N expansion.
The closed time path (CTP) formalism melded with an expansion in 1/N is used to
derive time evolution equations valid to order 1/N (next-to-leading order). The
effective potential is also obtained to this order and its properties
areelucidated. In order to compare theoretical predictions against numerical
solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation, we consider two initial
conditions consistent with O(N) symmetry, one of them a quantum roll, the other
a wave packet initially to one side of the potential minimum, whose center has
all coordinates equal. For the case of the quantum roll we map out the domain
of validity of the large-N expansion. We discuss unitarity violation in the 1/N
expansion; a well-known problem faced by moment truncation techniques. The 1/N
results, both static and dynamic, are also compared to those given by the
Hartree variational ansatz at given values of N. We conclude that late-time
behavior, where nonlinear effects are significant, is not well-described by
either approximation.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figrures, revte
Quantum field dynamics of the slow rollover in the linear delta expansion
We show how the linear delta expansion, as applied to the slow-roll
transition in quantum mechanics, can be recast in the closed time-path
formalism. This results in simpler, explicit expressions than were obtained in
the Schr\"odinger formulation and allows for a straightforward generalization
to higher dimensions. Motivated by the success of the method in the
quantum-mechanical problem, where it has been shown to give more accurate
results for longer than existing alternatives, we apply the linear delta
expansion to four-dimensional field theory.
At small times all methods agree. At later times, the first-order linear
delta expansion is consistently higher that Hartree-Fock, but does not show any
sign of a turnover. A turnover emerges in second-order of the method, but the
value of at the
turnover. In subsequent applications of the method we hope to implement the
calculation in the context of an expanding universe, following the line of
earlier calculations by Boyanovsky {\sl et al.}, who used the Hartree-Fock and
large-N methods. It seems clear, however, that the method will become
unreliable as the system enters the reheating stage.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, revised version with extra section 4.2 including
second order calculatio
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