Boundary-driven instability

We analyse a reaction-diffusion system and show that complex spatial patterns can be generated by imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions on one or more of the reactant concentrations. This pattern persists even when the homogeneous steady state with Neumann conditions is stable

Quasi one dimensional 4^4He inside carbon nanotubes

We report results of diffusion Monte Carlo calculations for both $^4$He absorbed in a narrow single walled carbon nanotube (R = 3.42 \AA) and strictly one dimensional $^4$He. Inside the tube, the binding energy of liquid $^4$He is approximately three times larger than on planar graphite. At low linear densities, $^4$He in a nanotube is an experimental realization of a one-dimensional quantum fluid. However, when the density increases the structural and energetic properties of both systems differ. At high density, a quasi-continuous liquid-solid phase transition is observed in both cases.Comment: 11 pages, 3ps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (RC

The global burden of falls: Global, regional and national estimates of morbidity and mortality from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: Falls can lead to severe health loss including death. Past research has shown that falls are an important cause of death and disability worldwide. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (GBD 2017) provides a comprehensive assessment of morbidity and mortality from falls. Methods: Estimates for mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were produced for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017 for all ages using the GBD 2017 framework. Distributions of the bodily injury (eg, hip fracture) were estimated using hospital records. Results: Globally, the age-standardised incidence of falls was 2238 (1990-2532) per 100 000 in 2017, representing a decline of 3.7% (7.4 to 0.3) from 1990 to 2017. Age-standardised prevalence w

A global research priority agenda to advance public health responses to fatty liver disease

Background & aims An estimated 38% of adults worldwide have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). From individual impacts to widespread public health and economic consequences, the implications of this disease are profound. This study aimed to develop an aligned, prioritised fatty liver disease research agenda for the global health community. Methods Nine co-chairs drafted initial research priorities, subsequently reviewed by 40 core authors and debated during a three-day in-person meeting. Following a Delphi methodology, over two rounds, a large panel (R1 n = 344, R2 n = 288) reviewed the priorities, via Qualtrics XM, indicating agreement using a four-point Likert-scale and providing written feedback. The core group revised the draft priorities between rounds. In R2, panellists also ranked the priorities within six domains: epidemiology, models of care, treatment and care, education and awareness, patient and community perspectives, and leadership and public health policy. Results The consensus-built fatty liver disease research agenda encompasses 28 priorities. The mean percentage of ‘agree’ responses increased from 78.3 in R1 to 81.1 in R2. Five priorities received unanimous combined agreement (‘agree’ + ‘somewhat agree’); the remaining 23 priorities had >90% combined agreement. While all but one of the priorities exhibited at least a super-majority of agreement (>66.7% ‘agree’), 13 priorities had 90% combined agreement. Conclusions Adopting this multidisciplinary consensus-built research priorities agenda can deliver a step-change in addressing fatty liver disease, mitigating against its individual and societal harms and proactively altering its natural history through prevention, identification, treatment, and care. This agenda should catalyse the global health community’s efforts to advance and accelerate responses to this widespread and fast-growing public health threat. Impact and implications An estimated 38% of adults and 13% of children and adolescents worldwide have fatty liver disease, making it the most prevalent liver disease in history. Despite substantial scientific progress in the past three decades, the burden continues to grow, with an urgent need to advance understanding of how to prevent, manage, and treat the disease. Through a global consensus process, a multidisciplinary group agreed on 28 research priorities covering a broad range of themes, from disease burden, treatment, and health system responses to awareness and policy. The findings have relevance for clinical and non-clinical researchers as well as funders working on fatty liver disease and non-communicable diseases more broadly, setting out a prioritised, ranked research agenda for turning the tide on this fast-growing public health threat

Non-linear image processing

Processing of nuclear medicine images is generally performed by essentially linear methods with the non-negativity condition being applied as the only non-linear process. The various methods used: matrix methods in signal space and Fourier or Hadamard transforms in frequency or sequency space are essentially equivalent. Further improvement in images can be obtained by the use of inherently non-linear methods. The recent development of an approximation to a least-difference method (as opposed to a least-square method) has led to an appreciation of the effects of data bounding and to the development of a more powerful process. Data bounding (modification of statistically improbable data values) is an inherently non-linear method with considerable promise. Strong bounding depending on two-dimensional least-squares fitting yields a reduction of mottling (buttermilk effect) not attainable with linear processes. A pre- bounding process removing very bad points is used to protect the strong bounding process from incorrectly modifying data points due to the weight of an extreme but yet unbounded point as the fitting area approaches it. (auth

A dynamic disorderlinked reversible phase transition in a new chloroform solvate of cisdichloridobis(triethylphosphane)platinum(II)

The title compound, cisdichloridobis(triethylphosphane)platinum(II) chloroform monosolvate, [PtCl2(C6H15P) 2]·CHCl3, has been obtained from ligand scrambling in the cis-[PtCl2(Cyp2PCl)(PEt3)] (Cyp = cyclopentyl) system in CHCl3 solvent. Unlike the two previously reported unsolvated polymorphs, which are both monoclinic, the compound crystallizes in an orthorhombic setting. Furthermore, the system exhibits a reversible temperaturedependent structural phase transition, coupling a reduction in anisotropic displacement parameters and a reduction in crystallographic symmetry on cooling. The hightemperature phase adopts space group Pnma with the complex and solvent molecules sitting across a crystallographic mirror plane (Z� = 0.5). The low-temperature phase adopts the space group P212121 with Z� = 1. © 2011 International Union of Crystallography

Stereochemically inactive lone pairs in phosphorus(iii) compounds: The characterisation of some derivatives with the 2,5-(CF3) 2C6H3 (Ar) substituent and their complexation behaviour towards Pt(ii) species

Some new phosphorus(iii) derivatives Ar2PX (X = Br, Cl, F or H), ArPX2 (X = Br or Cl), Ar3P and ArtBuPCl, with the 2,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl (Ar) substituent on phosphorus, have been prepared, and characterised by 31P and 19F NMR solution-state spectroscopy. The complexing ability of Ar2PX, Ar 3P and ArtBuPCl towards the dimeric platinum(ii) complexes [PtY(μ-Y)(PEt3)]2 (Y = Cl or Br, the latter for X = Br only) has also been investigated. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies at low temperature have been carried out for Ar3P, Ar2PCl and the hydrolysis or oxidation products Ar2P(H)OH and Ar 2P(O)OH. The structures of Ar3P and Ar2PCl are particularly interesting as in each compound the geometry around P is approximately octahedral. In Ar3P there are three short contacts to fluorine as well as the three bonded C atoms for both of the independent molecules in the unit cell. For Ar2PCl there are two short P-F contacts, and the octahedron is completed by a weak P-P interaction to a neighbouring molecule. In both instances the lone pair on the P(iii) centre appears to be stereochemically inactive, and does not play a significant role in the structure. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry

Supplementary Material for: A Mechanistic Study of the Effect of Doxorubicin/Adriamycin on the Estrogen Response in a Breast Cancer Model

<strong><em>Objective:</em></strong> Estrogen treatment limits the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer cell lines, suggesting that estrogen pathway signaling may confer chemotherapeutic resistance. This study investigates the molecular responses of ER+ breast cancer cell lines to the chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin, in the presence or absence of estrogen. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> ER+ MCF-7 and T47-D cells were cultured in hormone-starved or estrogen-containing media with or without doxorubicin at concentrations mimicking the low concentrations seen in plasma and tumor microenvironments in humans following typical bolus administration. Protein levels, phosphorylations, and interactions of estrogen-signaling molecules were assessed following these treatments, as well the effects of ER signaling inhibitors on cell proliferation. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Surprisingly, estrogen and doxorubicin co-treatment markedly induced pro-growth alterations compared to doxorubicin alone and modestly enhanced estrogen alone-induced changes. Several inhibitors suppressed cell proliferation in the presence of doxorubicin and estrogen. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> These findings demonstrate that molecular changes caused by doxorubicin in ER+ breast cancer cells can be reversed by estrogen, providing molecular evidence for the poorer responses of ER+ tumors to doxorubicin in the presence of physiologic estrogen levels. Our results also suggest that the addition of drugs targeting the ER, EGFR, the SFKs, MEK, PI3K, and/or the MMP proteins to a conventional chemotherapy regimen may improve chemosensitivity