Scaling of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction with magnetization in Pt/Co(Fe)B/Ir multilayers

Magnetic multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy and an interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) contain chiral domain walls and skyrmions that are promising for applications. Here, we measure the temperature dependence of the DMI in Pt/CoFeB/Ir and Pt/CoB/Ir multilayers by means of static domain imaging. First, the temperature dependences of saturation magnetization (Ms), exchange stiffness (A), and intrinsic perpendicular anisotropy (Ku) are determined. Then the demagnetized domain pattern in each multilayer is imaged by wide-field Kerr microscopy in the temperature range 9–290 K, and the characteristic domain period at each temperature is determined. We calculate the DMI constant D from an analytical expression for the domain wall energy density that treats the multilayer as a uniform medium. Scaling laws for Ku and D with the magnetization are established from the experiments. While the scaling of Ku is consistent with Callen-Callen theory, we find that the scaling of D is like that of A predicted theoretically (∼1.8)

The medical student

The Medical Student was published from 1888-1921 by the students of Boston University School of Medicine

The association between birth weight and plasma fibrinogen is abolished after the elimination of genetic influences

Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of atherothrombosis, which may be related in part to the association between low birth weight and high plasma fibrinogen. The association between birth weight and fibrinogen may be explained by intrauterine, socio-economic or genetic factors. We examined birth weight and fibrinogen in 52 dizygotic and 56 adolescent monozygotic (genetically identical) twin pairs. The dizygotic but not the monozygotic twins with the lowest birth weight from each pair had a fibrinogen level that was higher compared with their co-twins with the highest birth weight [dizygotic twins: 2.62±0.46 g

Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons as markers of the Drosophila buzzatii colonization in Australia

Background: Transposable elements (TEs) constitute an important source of genetic variability owing to their jumping and regulatory properties, and are considered to drive species evolution. Several factors that are able to induce TE transposition in genomes have been documented (for example environmental stress and inter- and intra-specific crosses) but in many instances the reasons for TE mobilisation have yet to be elucidated. Colonising populations constitute an ideal model for studying TE behaviour and distribution as they are exposed to different environmental and new demographic conditions. In this study, the distribution of two TEs, Osvaldo and Isis, was examined in two colonising populations of D. buzzatii from Australia. Comparing Osvaldo copy numbers between Australian and Old World (reported in previous studies) colonisations provides a valuable tool for elucidating the colonisation process and the effect of new conditions encountered by colonisers on TEs. Results: The chromosomal distributions of Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons in two colonising populations of D. buzzatii from Australia revealed sites of high insertion frequency (>10%) and low frequency sites. Comparisons between Osvaldo insertion profiles in colonising populations from the Old World and Australia demonstrate a tendency towards a higher number of highly occupied sites with higher insertion frequency in the Old World than in Australian populations. Tests concerning selection against deleterious TE insertions indicate that Isis is more controlled by purifying selection than Osvaldo. The distribution of both elements on chromosomal arms follows a Poisson distribution and there are non-significant positive correlations between highly occupied sites and chromosomal inversions. Conclusions: The occupancy profile of Osvaldo and Isis retrotransposons is characterised by the existence of high and low insertion frequency sites in the populations. These results demonstrate that Australian D. buzzatii populations were subjected to a founder effect during the colonisation process. Moreover, there are more sites with high insertion frequency in the Old World colonisation than in the Australian colonisation, indicating a probable stronger bottleneck effect in Australia. The results suggest that selection does not seem to play a major role, compared to demography, in the distribution of transposable elements in the Australian populations

Photo- and Electroproduction of Eta Mesons

Eta photo- and electroproduction off the nucleon is investigated in an effective lagrangian approach that contains Born terms and both vector meson and nucleon resonance contributions. In particular, we review and develop the formalism for coincidence experiments with polarization degrees of freedom. The different response functions appearing in single and double polarization experiments have been studied. We will present calculations for structure functions and kinematical conditions that are most sensitive to details of the lagrangian, in particular with regard to contributions of nucleon resonances beyond the dominant $S_{11}$(1535) resonance.Comment: 24 pages RevTeX/LaTeX2.09, NFSS1, 13 figures (in separate file (tar,gzip and uue)), accepted for publication in Z. Phys.

Author Correction: Enhanced NF-κB signaling in type-2 dendritic cells at baseline predicts non-response to adalimumab in psoriasis.

Funder: Department of HealthBiologic therapies have transformed the management of psoriasis, but clinical outcome is variable leaving an unmet clinical need for predictive biomarkers of response. Here we perform in-depth immunomonitoring of blood immune cells of 67 patients with psoriasis, before and during therapy with the anti-TNF drug adalimumab, to identify immune mediators of clinical response and evaluate their predictive value. Enhanced NF-κBp65 phosphorylation, induced by TNF and LPS in type-2 dendritic cells (DC) before therapy, significantly correlates with lack of clinical response after 12 weeks of treatment. The heightened NF-κB activation is linked to increased DC maturation in vitro and frequency of IL-17+ T cells in the blood of non-responders before therapy. Moreover, lesional skin of non-responders contains higher numbers of dermal DC expressing the maturation marker CD83 and producing IL-23, and increased numbers of IL-17+ T cells. Finally, we identify and clinically validate LPS-induced NF-κBp65 phosphorylation before therapy as a predictive biomarker of non-response to adalimumab, with 100% sensitivity and 90.1% specificity in an independent cohort. Our study uncovers important molecular and cellular mediators underpinning adalimumab mechanisms of action in psoriasis and we propose a blood biomarker for predicting clinical outcome

Tomosynthesis in pulmonary cystic fibrosis with comparison to radiography and computed tomography: a pictorial review

The purpose of this pictorial review is to illustrate chest imaging findings of cystic fibrosis (CF) using tomosynthesis (digital tomography), in comparison to radiography and computed tomography (CT). CF is a chronic systemic disease where imaging has long been used for monitoring chest status. CT exposes the patient to a substantially higher radiation dose than radiography, rendering it unsuitable for the often needed repeated examinations of these patients. Tomosynthesis has recently appeared as an interesting low dose alternative to CT, with an effective dose of approximately 0.08 mSv for children and 0.12 mSv for adults. Tomosynthesis is performed on the same X-ray system as radiography, adding only about 1 min to the normal examination time. Typical pulmonary changes in CF such as mucus plugging, bronchial wall thickening, and bronchiectases are shown in significantly better detail with tomosynthesis than with traditional radiography. In addition, the cost for a tomosynthesis examination is low compared to CT. To reduce the radiation burden of patients with CF it is important to consider low dose alternatives to CT, especially in the paediatric population. Tomosynthesis has a lower radiation dose than CT and gives a superior visualisation of pulmonary CF changes compared to radiography. It is important to further determine the role of tomosynthesis for monitoring disease progression in CF

Computer vision and machine learning for robust phenotyping in genome-wide studies

Traditional evaluation of crop biotic and abiotic stresses are time-consuming and labor-intensive limiting the ability to dissect the genetic basis of quantitative traits. A machine learning (ML)-enabled image-phenotyping pipeline for the genetic studies of abiotic stress iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) of soybean is reported. IDC classification and severity for an association panel of 461 diverse plant-introduction accessions was evaluated using an end-to-end phenotyping workflow. The workflow consisted of a multi-stage procedure including: (1) optimized protocols for consistent image capture across plant canopies, (2) canopy identification and registration from cluttered backgrounds, (3) extraction of domain expert informed features from the processed images to accurately represent IDC expression, and (4) supervised ML-based classifiers that linked the automatically extracted features with expert-rating equivalent IDC scores. ML-generated phenotypic data were subsequently utilized for the genome-wide association study and genomic prediction. The results illustrate the reliability and advantage of ML-enabled image-phenotyping pipeline by identifying previously reported locus and a novel locus harboring a gene homolog involved in iron acquisition. This study demonstrates a promising path for integrating the phenotyping pipeline into genomic prediction, and provides a systematic framework enabling robust and quicker phenotyping through ground-based systems

Is body size at birth related to circadian salivary cortisol levels in adulthood? Results from a longitudinal cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The hypothesis of fetal origins of adult disease has during the last decades received interest as an explanation of chronic, e.g. cardiovascular, disease in adulthood stemming from fetal environmental conditions. Early programming and enduring dysregulations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis), with cortisol as its end product, has been proposed as a possible mechanism by which birth weight influence later health status. However, the fetal origin of the adult cortisol regulation has been insufficiently studied. The present study aims to examine if body size at birth is related to circadian cortisol levels at 43 years.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Participants were drawn from a prospective cohort study (n = 752, 74.5%). Salivary cortisol samples were collected at four times during one day at 43 years, and information on birth size was collected retrospectively from delivery records. Information on body mass during adolescence and adulthood and on health behavior, medication and medical conditions at 43 years was collected prospectively by questionnaire and examined as potential confounders. Participants born preterm or < 2500 g were excluded from the main analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Across the normal spectrum, size at birth (birth weight and ponderal index) was positively related to total (area under the curve, AUC) and bedtime cortisol levels in the total sample. Results were more consistent in men than in women. Descriptively, participants born preterm or < 2500 g also seemed to display elevated evening and total cortisol levels. No associations were found for birth length or for the cortisol awakening response (CAR).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results are contradictory to previously reported negative associations between birth weight and adult cortisol levels, and thus tentatively question the assumption that only low birth weight predicts future physiological dysregulations.</p

Probing host pathogen cross-talk by transcriptional profiling of both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and infected human dendritic cells and macrophages

This study provides the proof of principle that probing the host and the microbe transcriptomes simultaneously is a valuable means to accessing unique information on host pathogen interactions. Our results also underline the extraordinary plasticity of host cell and pathogen responses to infection, and provide a solid framework to further understand the complex mechanisms involved in immunity to M. tuberculosis and in mycobacterial adaptation to different intracellular environments