Observational Constraints on Superbubble X-ray Energy Budgets

The hot, X-ray-emitting gas in superbubbles imparts energy and enriched material to the interstellar medium (ISM) and generates the hot ionized medium, the ISM's high-temperature component. The evolution of superbubble energy budgets is not well understood, however, and the processes responsible for enhanced X-ray emission in superbubbles remain a matter of debate. We present Chandra ACIS-S observations of two X-ray-bright superbubbles in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), DEM L50 (N186) and DEM L152 (N44), with an emphasis on disentangling the true superbubble X-ray emission from non-related diffuse emission and determining the spatial origin and spectral variation of the X-ray emission. An examination of the superbubble energy budgets shows that on the order of 50% of the X-ray emission comes from regions associated with supernova remnant (SNR) impacts. We find some evidence of mass-loading due to swept-up clouds and metallicity enrichment, but neither mechanism provides a significant contribution to the X-ray luminosities. We also find that one of the superbubbles, DEM L50, is likely not in collisional ionization equilibrium. We compare our observations to the predictions of the standard Weaver et al. model and to 1-D hydrodynamic simulations including cavity supernova impacts on the shell walls. Our observations show that mass-loading due to thermal evaporation from the shell walls and SNR impacts are the dominant source of enhanced X-ray luminosities in superbubbles. These two processes should affect most superbubbles, and their contribution to the X-ray luminosity must be considered when determining the energy available for transport to the ISM.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Validation of a Chinese version of disease specific quality of life scale (HFS-36) for hemifacial spasm in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background and object</p> <p>There was no Chinese questionnaire to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS). In this study, we aimed to validate a new disease-specific HRQoL scale for HFS (HFS-36) in Chinese version, and compared it to SF-36, a generic HRQoL scale.</p> <p>Patients and Methods</p> <p>The HFS-36 Chinese version was modified from English version of HFS-30, including subscales of mobility, activities of daily living (ADL), emotional well-being, stigma, social support, cognition, bodily discomfort, and communication. All the items were scored on the 5-point scales, ranging from 0(never) to 4(always). Patients with HFS were asked to answer HFS-36 and SF-36 questionnaires on the same day before and 6-8 weeks after Botulinum toxin (BTX) injections, respectively. The reliability and validity of HFS-36 scale were evaluated statistically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Totally, 103 patients (68 females; 35 males) were recruited in this study, with a mean age of 57.6 ± 11.5 years and a mean duration of HFS for 7.6 ± 5.8 years. The intra-class correlation (ICC) and Cronbach's α were over 0.7 in the majority of items. HFS-36 showed a good correlation to HFS severity before BTX treatment and a significant improvement of subscale scoring after BTX treatment. HFS-36 also had a significant correlation to the mental health of SF-36.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Chinese version of HFS-36 demonstrated a good reliability and validity in subscales of motility, ADL, emotion well-being, stigma and bodily discomfort. The HRQoL was significantly improved after BTX treatment assessed by HFS-36 or SF-36. Compared to SF-36, HFS-36 scale was more sensitive and specific to evaluate the HRQoL in HFS.</p

A SWAP Gate for Spin Qubits in Silicon

With one- and two-qubit gate fidelities approaching the fault-tolerance threshold for spin qubits in silicon, how to scale up the architecture and make large arrays of spin qubits become the more pressing challenges. In a scaled-up structure, qubit-to-qubit connectivity has crucial impact on gate counts of quantum error correction and general quantum algorithms. In our toolbox of quantum gates for spin qubits, SWAP gate is quite versatile: it can help solve the connectivity problem by realizing both short- and long-range spin state transfer, and act as a basic two-qubit gate, which can reduce quantum circuit depth when combined with other two-qubit gates. However, for spin qubits in silicon quantum dots, high fidelity SWAP gates have not been demonstrated due to the requirements of large circuit bandwidth and a highly adjustable ratio between the strength of the exchange coupling J and the Zeeman energy difference Delta E_z. Here we demonstrate a fast SWAP gate with a duration of ~25 ns based on quantum dots in isotopically enriched silicon, with a highly adjustable ratio between J and Delta E_z, for over two orders of magnitude in our device. We are also able to calibrate the single-qubit local phases during the SWAP gate by incorporating single-qubit gates in our circuit. By independently reading out the qubits, we probe the anti-correlations between the two spins, estimate the operation fidelity and analyze the dominant error sources for our SWAP gate. These results pave the way for high fidelity SWAP gates, and processes based on them, such as quantum communication on chip and quantum simulation by engineering the Heisenberg Hamiltonian in silicon.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures

An Updated Search of Steady TeV γ−\gamma-Ray Point Sources in Northern Hemisphere Using the Tibet Air Shower Array

Using the data taken from Tibet II High Density (HD) Array (1997 February-1999 September) and Tibet-III array (1999 November-2005 November), our previous northern sky survey for TeV $\gamma-$ray point sources has now been updated by a factor of 2.8 improved statistics. From $0.0^{\circ}$ to $60.0^{\circ}$ in declination (Dec) range, no new TeV $\gamma-$ray point sources with sufficiently high significance were identified while the well-known Crab Nebula and Mrk421 remain to be the brightest TeV $\gamma-$ray sources within the field of view of the Tibet air shower array. Based on the currently available data and at the 90% confidence level (C.L.), the flux upper limits for different power law index assumption are re-derived, which are approximately improved by 1.7 times as compared with our previous reported limits.Comment: This paper has been accepted by hepn

Star Poly( N

New star poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PNIPAm-b-POSS) copolymers were synthesized from octa-azido functionalized POSS (N3-POSS) and alkyne-PNIPAm, which was prepared using an alkyne-functionalized atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator (propargyl 2-bromo-2-methylpropionamide), via click chemistry. These star PNIPAm-b-POSS copolymers undergo a sharp coil-globule transition in water at above 32°C changing from a hydrophilic state below this temperature to a hydrophobic state above it, which is similar to linear PNIPAm homopolymers. More interestingly, we found that these star polymers exhibited strong blue photoluminescence in water above a lower critical solution temperature (LCST). This photoluminescence was likely due to the constrained geometric freedom and relatively rigid structure caused by intramolecular hydrogen bonding within the star PNIPAm polymers, which exhibit an intrinsic fluorescent behavior

Evaluation of an Epitypified Ophiocordyceps formosana

The substantial merit of Cordyceps s.l. spp. in terms of medicinal benefits is largely appreciated. Nevertheless, only few studies have characterized and examined the clinical complications of the use of health tonics containing these species. Here, we epitypified C. formosana isolates that were collected and characterized as Ophiocordyceps formosana based on morphological characteristics, molecular phylogenetic analyses, and metabolite profiling. Thus, we renamed and transferred C. formosana to the new protologue Ophiocordyceps formosana (Kobayasi & Shimizu) Wang, Tsai, Tzean & Shen comb. nov. Additionally, the pharmacological potential of O. formosana was evaluated based on the hot-water extract from its mycelium. The relative amounts of the known bioactive ingredients that are unique to Cordyceps s.l. species in O. formosana were found to be similar to the amounts in O. sinensis and C. militaris, indicating the potential applicability of O. formosana for pharmacological uses. Additionally, we found that O. formosana exhibited antioxidation activities in vitro and in vivo that were similar to those of O. sinensis and C. militaris. Furthermore, O. formosana also displayed conspicuously effective antitumor activity compared with the tested Cordyceps s.l. species. Intrinsically, O. formosana exhibited less toxicity than the other Cordyceps species. Together, our data suggest that the metabolites of O. formosana may play active roles in complementary medicine

Expression of CDX2 and Hepatocyte Antigen in Benign and Malignant Lesions of Gallbladder and Its Correlation with Histopathologic Type and Clinical Outcome

Recent studies have shown that both CDX2 and Hepatocyte antigen (Hep) are detected in different types of cancer and associated with clinical prognosis. However, fever studies have examined gallbladder cancer specimens, and little is known about the clinicopathological significance of both CDX2 and Hep expression in gallbladder adenocarcinomas. In present study, we examined the expression frequencies of CDX2 and Hepatocyte antigen (Hep), and explored their clinicopathologic significances in gallbladder adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect and compare the frequencies of CDX2 and Hep expression in 108 samples of gallbladder adenocarcinoma, 46 peri-tumor tissues and 35 chronic cholecystitis. The expression frequencies for CDX2 and Hep were 49/108 (45.4%) and 45/108 (41.7%) in gallbladder carcinoma; 13/46 (28.3%) and 11/46 (23.9) in peri-tumor tissues; 5/35 (14.3%) and 2/35 (5.7%) in chronic cholecystitis. The positive staining of CDX2 or Hep in gallbladder adenocarcinoma was significantly higher than that in peritumoral tissues (both, P < 0.05), and chronic cholecystits (both, P < 0.01). The expression of CDX2 or Hep was negatively correlated to grade of differentiation, tumor size and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). Elevated expression frequency of CDX2 or Hep was associated with increased overall survival (P = 0.003 or P = 0.002). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that CDX2 (P = 0.014) or Hep (P = 0.026) expression was an independent prognostic predictor in gallbladder adenocarcinoma. CDX2 and Hep might function as important biological markers in the development and prognosis of gallbladder adenocarcinoma

Genomewide association study of leprosy.

BACKGROUND: The narrow host range of Mycobacterium leprae and the fact that it is refractory to growth in culture has limited research on and the biologic understanding of leprosy. Host genetic factors are thought to influence susceptibility to infection as well as disease progression. METHODS: We performed a two-stage genomewide association study by genotyping 706 patients and 1225 controls using the Human610-Quad BeadChip (Illumina). We then tested three independent replication sets for an association between the presence of leprosy and 93 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were most strongly associated with the disease in the genomewide association study. Together, these replication sets comprised 3254 patients and 5955 controls. We also carried out tests of heterogeneity of the associations (or lack thereof) between these 93 SNPs and disease, stratified according to clinical subtype (multibacillary vs. paucibacillary). RESULTS: We observed a significant association (P<1.00x10(-10)) between SNPs in the genes CCDC122, C13orf31, NOD2, TNFSF15, HLA-DR, and RIPK2 and a trend toward an association (P=5.10x10(-5)) with a SNP in LRRK2. The associations between the SNPs in C13orf31, LRRK2, NOD2, and RIPK2 and multibacillary leprosy were stronger than the associations between these SNPs and paucibacillary leprosy. CONCLUSIONS: Variants of genes in the NOD2-mediated signaling pathway (which regulates the innate immune response) are associated with susceptibility to infection with M. leprae

High Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency of Metal Phthalocyanine/Fullerene Heterojunction Photovoltaic Device

This paper introduces the fundamental physical characteristics of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Photoelectric conversion efficiency is crucial to the evaluation of quality in OPV devices, and enhancing efficiency has been spurring on researchers to seek alternatives to this problem. In this paper, we focus on organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and review several approaches to enhance the energy conversion efficiency of small molecular heterojunction OPV devices based on an optimal metal-phthalocyanine/fullerene (C60) planar heterojunction thin film structure. For the sake of discussion, these mechanisms have been divided into electrical and optical sections: (1) Electrical: Modification on electrodes or active regions to benefit carrier injection, charge transport and exciton dissociation; (2) Optical: Optional architectures or infilling to promote photon confinement and enhance absorption

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente