Properties of Galaxies in and around Voids

Two surveys for intrinsically faint galaxies towards nearby voids have been conducted at the MPI f\"ur Astronomie, Heidelberg. One selected targets from a new diameter limited ($\Phi \ge 5''$) catalog with morphological criteria while the other used digitized objective prism Schmidt plates to select mainly HII dwarf galaxies. For some 450 galaxies, redshifts and other optical data were obtained. We studied the spatial distribution of the sample objects, their luminosity function, and their intrinsic properties. Most of the galaxies belong to already well known sheets and filaments. But we found about a dozen highly isolated galaxies in each sample (nearest neighborhood distance $\ge 3 h_{75}^{-1} Mpc$). These tend to populate additional structures and are not distributed homogeneously throughout the voids. As our results on 'void galaxies' still suffer from small sample statistics, I also tried to combine similar existing surveys of nearby voids to get further hints on the larger structure and on the luminosity function of the isolated galaxies. No differences in the luminosity function of sheet and void galaxies could be found. The optical and infrared properties of both samples are in the normal range for samples dominated by late-type dwarfs. Follow-up HI studies show that the isolated dwarfs in both samples have unusual high amount of neutral gas for a given luminosity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, latex, to appear in the proceedings of the 'Ringberg workshop on Large Scale Structure', hold Sep. 23-28, 199

RADIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF HIPS IN PATIENTS WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY

Objective: The spinal cord-injured patients begin to present a new configuration of forces on the joints. The hip joint is one of the most affected, because these patients generally use a wheelchair as a means of locomotion. Osteoarticular changes, such as heterotopic ossification, can be found in these patients, as evidenced by radiographic studies. This study aims to identify radiographic changes in hips of spinal cord-injured patients. Methods: 15 patients (30 hips) were evaluated and followed up at the Laboratory of Biomechanical Rehabilitation of the Musculoskeletal System of HC-Unicamp, through the analysis of radiographs of the pelvis in anterior-posterior and Lowenstein lateral positions. Results: Of the total hips, only seven (23%) had no evidence of articular damage. The prevalence of heterotopic ossification found (16.6%) was similar to the literature. Conclusion: The radiographic assessment of these patient's hips is justified by the prevalence of joint changes found. Level of Evidence II, Development of diagnostic criteria in consecutive patients (with universally applied reference "gold" standard).201313

Prognostic value of disability on mortality: 15-year follow-up of the Bambuí Cohort Study of Aging

BACKGROUND: Disability is a concern in the context of population ageing. The extent of an individual’s disability is a major determinant of whether or not they require long-term care or survival time. We investigated the effect of three disability domains as predictors of all-cause mortality over 15-year follow-up in a Brazilian socioeconomically disadvantaged and multiracial older adult population. METHODS: We estimated Cox proportional hazards models using data from 1333 community-dwelling individuals aged 60 and older from the Bambuí Cohort Study of Ageing. Disability was defined as a great difficulty or not being able to perform one and two or more activities in each domain: mobility, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and basic activities of daily living (BADL). RESULTS: The overall mortality rate was 46.1 per 1000 person-years at risk (pyrs) and it was higher in men. Among men, the fully adjusted Hazard Ratios (HRs) were 1.92 (95%CI: 1.43-2.58), 2.07 (95%CI: 1.53-2.79) and 1.65 (95%CI: 1.11-2.45), and among women 1.75 (95%CI: 1.38-2.21), 1.43 (95%CI: 1.11-1.84) and 1.43 (95%CI: 1.05-1.95), for two or more disability in mobility tasks, IADLs and BADLs, respectively, compared to those with no difficulty or some difficulty to perform all the tasks. CONCLUSION: A similar risk of death for mobility, IADL and BADL in both genders was found, suggesting that any of these domains can be used to identify risk of all-cause mortality among older adults. The number of activities with limitations in each domain was an important factor

Flexible Electronics Applications of Ge-rich andSelenium Substituted Phase-change Materials in Non-volatile Memories

This is the author accepted manuscript.The crystallization properties of Ge-rich GeSbTe (GST) and selenium substituted GeSbSeTe (GSST) alloys are investigated and the materials’ applicability for use in flexible memory devices is assessed. The electrical and structural properties of Ge-rich GST and GSST are measured as a function of temperature, where the high temperature stability of the amorphous phase is demonstrated. Finally the electrical switching of a Ge-rich flexible memory device is shown and simulations of GSST undergoing phase switching in a memory architecture suitable for integration into flexible electronics is demonstrated.PragmatI

Comparison of two DNA targets for the diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis by real-time PCR using fluorescence resonance energy transfer hybridization probes

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by the parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. It is endemic worldwide and, depending on the geographic location, 15 to 85% of the human population are asymptomatically infected. Routine diagnosis is based on serology. The parasite has emerged as a major opportunistic pathogen for immunocompromised patients, in whom it can cause life-threatening disease. Moreover, when a pregnant woman develops a primary Toxoplasma gondii infection, the parasite may be transmitted to the fetus and cause serious damnage. For these two subpopulations, a rapid and accurate diagnosis is required to initiate treatment. Serological diagnosis of active infection is unreliable because reactivation is not always accompanied by changes in antibody levels, and the presence of IgM does not necessarily indicate recent infection. Application of quantitative PCR has evolved as a sensitive, specific, and rapid method for the detection of Toxoplasma gondii DNA in amniotic fluid, blood, tissue samples, and cerebrospinal fluid. METHODS: Two separate, real-time fluorescence PCR assays were designed and evaluated with clinical samples. The first, targeting the 35-fold repeated B1 gene, and a second, targeting a newly described multicopy genomic fragment of Toxoplasma gondii. Amplicons of different intragenic copies were analyzed for sequence heterogeneity. RESULTS: Comparative LightCycler experiments were conducted with a dilution series of Toxoplasma gondii genomic DNA, 5 reference strains, and 51 Toxoplasma gondii-positive amniotic fluid samples revealing a 10 to 100-fold higher sensitivity for the PCR assay targeting the newly described 529-bp repeat element of Toxoplasma gondii. CONCLUSION: We have developed a quantitative LightCycler PCR protocol which offer rapid cycling with real-time, sequence-specific detection of amplicons. Results of quantitative PCR demonstrate that the 529-bp repeat element is repeated more than 300-fold in the genome of Toxoplasma gondii. Since individual intragenic copies of the target are conserved on sequence level, the high copy number leads to an ultimate level of analytical sensitivity in routine practice. This newly described 529-bp repeat element should be preferred to less repeated or more divergent target sequences in order to improve the sensitivity of PCR tests for the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis

Flexible Electronics Applications of Ge-Rich and Se-Substituted Phase-Change Materials in Nonvolatile Memories

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Flexible electronics which are easy to manufacture and integrate into everyday items require suitable memory technology that can function on flexible surfaces. Herein, the properties of Ge-rich GeSbTe (GST) and Se-substituted GeSbSeTe (GSST) phase-change alloys are investigated for application as nonvolatile write-once and rewritable memories in flexible electronics. These materials have a higher crystallization temperature than the archetypal composition of Ge2Sb2Te5 and hence better data retention properties. Moreover, their high crystallization temperature provides for a particularly straightforward implementation of a write-once memory configuration. Material properties of Ge-rich GST and GSST are measured as a function of temperature using four-point probe electrical testing, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Following this, the switching of flexible memory devices is investigated through both simulation and experiment. More specifically, crossbar memory devices fabricated using Ge-rich GST are experimentally fabricated and tested, while the operation of GSST pore cell structures suitable for flexible memory applications is demonstrated through simulation.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)PragmatIC Semiconductor Lt

Femtosecond control of electric currents at the interfaces of metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures

The idea to utilize not only the charge but also the spin of electrons in the operation of electronic devices has led to the development of spintronics, causing a revolution in how information is stored and processed. A novel advancement would be to develop ultrafast spintronics using femtosecond laser pulses. Employing terahertz (10$^{12}$ Hz) emission spectroscopy, we demonstrate optical generation of spin-polarized electric currents at the interfaces of metallic ferromagnetic heterostructures at the femtosecond timescale. The direction of the photocurrent is controlled by the helicity of the circularly polarized light. These results open up new opportunities for realizing spintronics in the unprecedented terahertz regime and provide new insights in all-optical control of magnetism.Comment: 3 figures and 2 tables in the main tex