Non-conservative evolution in Algols: where is the matter?

There is gathering indirect evidence suggesting non-conservative evolutions in Algols. However, the systemic mass-loss rate is poorly constrained by observations and generally set as a free parameter in binary-star evolution simulations. Moreover, systemic mass loss may lead to observational signatures that are still to be found. We investigate the impact of the outflowing gas and the possible presence of dust grains on the spectral energy distribution (SED). We used the 1D plasma code Cloudy and compared the results with the 3D Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code Skirt for dusty simulations. The circumbinary mass-distribution and binary parameters are computed with state-of-the-art binary calculations done with the Binstar evolution code. The outflowing material reduces the continuum flux-level of the stellar SED in the optical and UV. Due to the time-dependence of this effect, it may help to distinguish between different ejection mechanisms. Dust, if present, leads to observable infrared excesses even with low dust-to-gas ratios and traces the cold material at large distances from the star. By searching for such dust emission in the WISE catalogue, we found a small number of Algols showing infrared excesses, among which the two rather surprising objects SX Aur and CZ Vel. We find that some binary B[e] stars show the same strong Balmer continuum as we predict with our models. However, direct evidence of systemic mass loss is probably not observable in genuine Algols, since these systems no longer eject mass through the hotspot mechanism. Furthermore, owing to its high velocity, the outflowing material dissipates in a few hundred years. If hot enough, the hotspot may produce highly ionised species such as SiIV and observable characteristics that are typical of W Ser systems.Comment: Accepted for piblications in A&A; 21 pages, 19 figure

Муніципальні відзнаки: проблеми законодавчого регулювання в Україні

Актуальною проблемою законодавства є розробка, призначення, заснування та відзначення громадян нагородами органів місцевого самоврядування.Актуальной проблемой законодательства является разработка, назначение, основание и отмечание граждан наградами органов местного самоуправления.An urgent problem of legislation is treatment, assignment, establishment and to honour citizens by the rewards of organs of local self-government

Перевидання “Українських народних мелодій” К. Квітки: наукове значення і проблематика

The author of the article who has prepared the given anthology for republishing explains several important critical-textological principles of the methodology. Alongside with the collection never published Kvitka's "Commentary" is ready to be issued. The article speaks on the uniqueness of field and theoretical work done by a great ethnomusicologist Klyment Kvitka. The author presents the goal of the present edition of the anthology, which is to edit, to remove mistakes of the previous edition and to make a critical-textological analysis of the work. He illustrates Kvitka's specific features and approaches of ethnomusicological work as well

Results of reoperation on the upper esophageal sphincter

AbstractObjective: Reoperation on the upper esophageal sphincter is infrequent. We reviewed our experience in patients who underwent reoperation on the upper esophageal sphincter. Methods: This is a retrospective report of accumulative series from 2 separate institutions. Results: From September 1, 1976, to February 28, 1997, 37 patients underwent reoperation on the upper esophageal sphincter for recurrent or persistent obstructive symptoms. There were 29 men and 8 women. The median age was 69 years (range, 38-87 years). The original indication for the operation was a pharyngoesophageal (Zenker's) diverticulum in 33 patients (89.2%), oculopharyngeal dystrophy in 3 patients (8.1%), and muscular dystrophy in 1 patient (2.7%). One prior upper esophageal sphincter operation had been performed in 26 patients (70.3%), two operations in 9 patients (24.3%), and three operations in 2 patients (5.4%). All patients were symptomatic; 35 patients (94.6%) had dysphagia; 23 patients (62.2%) had regurgitation; and 12 patients (32.4%) had episodes of aspiration. Thirty of the patients (91.0%) with Zenker's diverticulum were found to have a recurrent or persistent diverticulum at reoperation. A diverticulectomy and cricopharyngeal myotomy were performed in 23 patients (62.2%); cricopharyngeal myotomy alone, in 7 patients (18.9%); diverticulopexy and cricopharyngeal myotomy, in 6 patients (16.2%); and diverticulectomy alone, in 1 patient (2.7%). There were no operative deaths. Complications developed in 10 patients (27.0%). Follow-up was complete in 34 patients (91.9%) and ranged from 2 to 149 months (median, 39 mo). Thirty-two patients (94.1%) were improved. Functional results were classified as excellent in 26 patients (76.5%), good in 2 patients (5.9%), fair in 4 patients (11.7%), and poor in 2 patients (5.9%). Conclusions: Reoperation for patients who have persistent or recurrent symptoms after an operation on the upper esophageal sphincter is associated with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates. Resolution of symptoms occurs in most patients. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1999;117:28-31

Completely resected N1 non–small cell lung cancer: Factors affecting recurrence and long-term survival

ObjectiveN1 disease in non–small cell lung cancer represents a heterogeneous patient subgroup with a 5-year survival of approximately 40%. Few reports have evaluated the correlation between N1 disease and tumor recurrence or which subgroup of patients would most benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.MethodsFrom 1997 through 2002, all patients with pathologic T1-4 N1 M0 non–small cell lung cancer who had a complete resection with systematic mediastinal lymphadenectomy were retrospectively analyzed and evaluated for factors associated with recurrence and long-term survival.ResultsOne hundred eighty patients with N1 disease were evaluated. Sixty-six (37%) patients had either locoregional recurrence (n = 39 [22%]), distant metastasis (n = 41 [23%]), or both during follow-up. Univariate analysis demonstrated that visceral pleural invasion and age were associated with locoregional recurrence, whereas visceral pleural invasion, distinct N1 metastasis (as opposed to direct N1 invasion by the primary tumor), and multistation lymph node involvement were associated with distant metastasis (P < .05). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that visceral pleural invasion, multistation N1 involvement, and distinct N1 metastasis were the only independent predisposing factors for locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis. Overall 5-year survival was 42.5%. Survival was significantly decreased by advanced pathologic T classification (P = .015), visceral pleural invasion (P < .0001), and higher tumor grade (P = .014).ConclusionsIn patients with N1-positive non–small cell lung cancer, visceral pleural invasion, multistation N1 disease, and distinct N1 metastasis are independent predictors of subsequent locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis. Advanced T classification, visceral pleural invasion, and higher tumor grade were predictors of poor survival. These patients represent a subgroup of patients with N1 disease who might benefit from additional therapy, including adjuvant chemotherapy

Dilemmatic human-animal boundaries in Britain and Romania: Post-materialist and materialist dehumanization

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 The British Psychological SocietyTheories of dehumanization generally assume a single clear-cut, value-free and non-dilemmatic boundary between the categories ‘human’ and ‘animal.’ The present study highlights the relevance of dilemmas involved in drawing that boundary. In 6 focus groups carried out in Romania and Britain, 42 participants were challenged to think about dilemmas pertaining to animal and human life. Four themes were identified: rational autonomy, sentience, speciesism, and maintaining materialist and postmaterialist values. Sentience made animals resemble humans, while humans’ rational autonomy made them distinctive. Speciesism underlay the human participants’ prioritization of their own interests over those of animals, and a conservative consensus that the existing social system could not change supported this speciesism when it was challenged. Romanian participants appealed to Romania’s lack of modernity and British participants to Britain’s modernity to justify such conservatism. The findings suggest that the human-animal boundary is not essentialized; rather it seems that such boundary is constructed in a dilemmatic and post hoc way. Implications for theories of dehumanization are discussed

Sea-level constraints on the amplitude and source distribution of Meltwater Pulse 1A.

During the last deglaciation, sea levels rose as ice sheets retreated. This climate transition was punctuated by periods of more intense melting; the largest and most rapid of these—Meltwater Pulse 1A—occurred about 14,500 years ago, with rates of sea-level rise reaching approximately 4 m per century1, 2, 3. Such rates of rise suggest ice-sheet instability, but the meltwater sources are poorly constrained, thus limiting our understanding of the causes and impacts of the event4, 5, 6, 7. In particular, geophysical modelling studies constrained by tropical sea-level records1, 8, 9 suggest an Antarctic contribution of more than seven metres, whereas most reconstructions10 from Antarctica indicate no substantial change in ice-sheet volume around the time of Meltwater Pulse 1A. Here we use a glacial isostatic adjustment model to reinterpret tropical sea-level reconstructions from Barbados2, the Sunda Shelf3 and Tahiti1. According to our results, global mean sea-level rise during Meltwater Pulse 1A was between 8.6 and 14.6 m (95% probability). As for the melt partitioning, we find an allowable contribution from Antarctica of either 4.1 to 10.0 m or 0 to 6.9 m (95% probability), using two recent estimates11, 12 of the contribution from the North American ice sheets. We conclude that with current geologic constraints, the method applied here is unable to support or refute the possibility of a significant Antarctic contribution to Meltwater Pulse 1A

Structure-function correspondences in Broca’s aphasia: Evidence from MRI and comprehension of verb phrase ellipsis constructions

We describe an effort to map lesion to behavior by studying the comprehension of complex VP-Ellipsis constructions (e.g., The policeman defended the child, and the dedicated fireman did___ too…) in participants with Broca‟s aphasia. We quantified the lesions of our individual participants using cytoarchitectonic probability maps of the human brain. We found that our Broca participants evinced delayed priming of the object in the ellipsis clause, while off-line comprehension was largely spared. Structure-function analyses revealed that lesions in both temporal and frontal areas participated in the behavioral outcomes, though each region seems to have played a distinct role

A CESA from Griffithsia monilis (Rhodophyta, Florideophyceae) has a family 48 carbohydrate-binding module

Cellulose synthases form rosette terminal complexes in the plasma membranes of Streptophyta and various linear terminal complexes in other taxa. The sequence of a putative CESA from Griffithsia monilis (Rhodophyta, Floridiophyceae) was deduced using a cloning strategy involving degenerate primers, a cDNA library screen, and 5′ and 3′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). RACE identified two alternative transcriptional starts and four alternative polyadenylation sites. The first translation start codon provided an open reading frame of 2610 bp encoding 870 amino acids and was PCR amplified without introns from genomic DNA. Southern hybridization indicated one strongly hybridizing gene with possible weakly related genes or pseudogenes. Amino acid sequence analysis identified a family 48 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) upstream of the protein's first predicted transmembrane domain. There are broad similarities in predicted 3D structures of the family 48 modules from CESA, from several glycogen- and starch-binding enzymes, and from protein kinases, but there are substitutions at some residues thought to be involved in ligand binding. The module in G. monilis CESA will be on the cytoplasmic face of the plasma membrane so that it could potentially bind either low molecular weight ligands or starch which is cytosolic rather than inside membrane-bound plastids in red algae. Possible reasons why red algal CESAs have evolved family 48 modules perhaps as part of a system to regulate cellulose synthase activity in relation to cellular carbohydrate status are briefly discussed

Rare mutations in SQSTM1 modify susceptibility to frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Mutations in the gene coding for Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1) have been genetically associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Paget disease of bone. In the present study, we analyzed the SQSTM1 coding sequence for mutations in an extended cohort of 1,808 patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), ascertained within the European Early-Onset Dementia consortium. As control dataset, we sequenced 1,625 European control individuals and analyzed whole-exome sequence data of 2,274 German individuals (total n = 3,899). Association of rare SQSTM1 mutations was calculated in a meta-analysis of 4,332 FTLD and 10,240 control alleles. We identified 25 coding variants in FTLD patients of which 10 have not been described. Fifteen mutations were absent in the control individuals (carrier frequency < 0.00026) whilst the others were rare in both patients and control individuals. When pooling all variants with a minor allele frequency < 0.01, an overall frequency of 3.2 % was calculated in patients. Rare variant association analysis between patients and controls showed no difference over the whole protein, but suggested that rare mutations clustering in the UBA domain of SQSTM1 may influence disease susceptibility by doubling the risk for FTLD (RR = 2.18 [95 % CI 1.24-3.85]; corrected p value = 0.042). Detailed histopathology demonstrated that mutations in SQSTM1 associate with widespread neuronal and glial phospho-TDP-43 pathology. With this study, we provide further evidence for a putative role of rare mutations in SQSTM1 in the genetic etiology of FTLD and showed that, comparable to other FTLD/ALS genes, SQSTM1 mutations are associated with TDP-43 pathology