DDFT calibration and investigation of an anisotropic phase-field crystal model

The anisotropic phase-field crystal model recently proposed and used by Prieler et al. [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21, 464110 (2009)] is derived from microscopic density functional theory for anisotropic particles with fixed orientation. Further its morphology diagram is explored. In particular we investigated the influence of anisotropy and undercooling on the process of nucleation and microstructure formation from atomic to the microscale. To that end numerical simulations were performed varying those dimensionless parameters which represent anisotropy and undercooling in our anisotropic phase-field crystal (APFC) model. The results from these numerical simulations are summarized in terms of a morphology diagram of the stable state phase. These stable phases are also investigated with respect to their kinetics and characteristic morphological features.Comment: It contain 13 pages and total of 7 figure

Bcc crystal-fluid interfacial free energy in Yukawa systems

We determine the orientation-resolved interfacial free energy between a body-centered-cubic (bcc) crystal and the coexisting fluid for a many-particle system interacting via a Yukawa pair potential. For two different screening strengths, we compare results from molecular dynamics computer simulations, density functional theory, and a phase-field-crystal approach. Simulations predict an almost orientationally isotropic interfacial free energy of 0.12k B T/a 2 (with k B T denoting the thermal energy and a the mean interparticle spacing), which is independent of the screening strength. This value is in reasonable agreement with our Ramakrishnan-Yussouff density functional calculations, while a high-order fitted phase-field-crystal approach gives about 2−3 times higher interfacial free energies for the Yukawa system. Both field theory approaches also give a considerable anisotropy of the interfacial free energy. Our result implies that, in the Yukawa system, bcc crystal-fluid free energies are a factor of about 3 smaller than face-centered-cubic crystal-fluid free energies.Peer reviewe

Febuxostat, But Not Allopurinol, Markedly Raises the Plasma Concentrations of the Breast Cancer Resistance Protein Substrate Rosuvastatin

Xanthine oxidase inhibitors febuxostat and allopurinol are commonly used in the treatment of gout. Febuxostat inhibits the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) in vitro. Rosuvastatin is a BCRP substrate and genetic variability in BCRP markedly affects rosuvastatin pharmacokinetics. In this study, we investigated possible effects of febuxostat and allopurinol on rosuvastatin pharmacokinetics. In a randomized crossover study with 3 phases, 10 healthy volunteers ingested once daily placebo for 7 days, 300 mg allopurinol for 7 days, or placebo for 3 days, followed by 120 mg febuxostat for 4 days, and a single 10 mg dose of rosuvastatin on day 6. Febuxostat increased the peak plasma concentration and area under the plasma concentration-time curve of rosuvastatin 2.1-fold (90% confidence interval 1.8-2.6; P = 5 x 10(-5)) and 1.9-fold (1.5-2.5; P = 0.001), but had no effect on rosuvastatin half-life or renal clearance. Allopurinol, on the other hand, did not affect rosuvastatin pharmacokinetics. In vitro, febuxostat inhibited the ATP-dependent uptake of rosuvastatin into BCRP-overexpressing membrane vesicles with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 0.35 mu M, whereas allopurinol showed no inhibition with concentrations up to 200 mu M. Taken together, the results suggest that febuxostat increases rosuvastatin exposure by inhibiting its BCRP-mediated efflux in the small intestine. Febuxostat may, therefore, serve as a useful index inhibitor of BCRP in drug-drug interaction studies in humans. Moreover, concomitant use of febuxostat may increase the exposure to BCRP substrate drugs and, thus, the risk of dose-dependent adverse effects.Peer reviewe

Sukupuoli ja matemaattis-luonnontieteelliset ja tekniset alat vanhempien ja nuorten välisissä koulutus- ja urakeskusteluissa

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin yläkoululaisten vanhempien näkemyksiä sukupuolen merkityksestä nuoren koulutus- ja uravalinnoissa ja niihin liittyvissä keskusteluissa. Tutkimusaineisto (N=103) kerättiin sähköisellä kyselylomakkeella. Tulosten mukaan lähes puolet vanhemmista ei keskustele lastensa kanssa sukupuolen vaikutuksesta koulutus- ja uravalinnoissa, ja selkeä enemmistö vanhemmista ajatteli, että nuoren sukupuoli ei vaikuta näihin keskusteluihin. Yli puolet vanhemmista kertoi keskustelleensa lastensa kanssa matemaattis-luonnontieteellisten ja teknisten alojen mahdollisuuksista, vaikkakaan vanhemmat eivät näitä aloja koe tuntevansa kovin hyvin. Tulosten mukaan äidit tuntevat sukupuolen mukaisen eriytymisen vaikutuksia isiä paremmin. Vanhemmille tulisi tarjota ajantasaista tietoa näistä aloista, jotta he osaisivat tukea nuoria suuntautumaan heitä kiinnostaville koulutus- ja urapoluille sukupuolesta riippumatta

Comparative analysis on the communication strategies of the forest owners associations in Europe

This research reports a comparative analysis of the communication strategy that forest owners' associations across Europe use to influence society on one side and the decision-makers on the other, in order to fulfill forest owners' interests. 60% of Europe's forests are privately owned by an estimated number of 16 million forest owners, who are represented by forest owners' associations. One of its main functions is to influence the public perceptions on forests and forestry. In this article it is analyzed how a specific forestry stakeholder fixes its strategies to communicate with and lobby society in order to get acceptability for their proposals/demands. Open-end surveys have been used as a source of information in 2006 and repeated in 2012. Besides of the comparison among countries, a comparison along the time has been also performed. The whole communication frame is analyzed, considering the objectives, the structure, the messages, the channels, and the evaluation. The main conclusions that arise are: first, the temporary comparison (2006 2012) results into an improvement in several issues; second, there is room for improvement of professionalization of communication in forest owners' associations in Europe; third, social research into public perception of forestry might help to define communication strategies.Fabra Crespo, M.; Rojas Briales, E. (2015). Comparative analysis on the communication strategies of the forest owners associations in Europe. Forest Policy and Economics. 50:20-30. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2014.06.004S20305

Soil methane sink capacity response to a long-term wildfire chronosequence in Northern Sweden

Boreal forests occupy nearly one fifth of the terrestrial land surface and are recognised as globally important regulators of carbon (C) cycling and greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon sequestration processes in these forests include assimilation of CO2 into biomass and subsequently into soil organic matter, and soil microbial oxidation of methane (CH4). In this study we explored how ecosystem retrogression, which drives vegetation change, regulates the important process of soil CH4 oxidation in boreal forests. We measured soil CH4 oxidation processes on a group of 30 forested islands in northern Sweden differing greatly in fire history, and collectively representing a retrogressive chronosequence, spanning 5000 years. Across these islands the build-up of soil organic matter was observed to increase with time since fire disturbance, with a significant correlation between greater humus depth and increased net soil CH4 oxidation rates. We suggest that this increase in net CH4 oxidation rates, in the absence of disturbance, results as deeper humus stores accumulate and provide niches for methanotrophs to thrive. By using this gradient we have discovered important regulatory controls on the stability of soil CH4 oxidation processes that could not have not been explored through shorter-term experiments. Our findings indicate that in the absence of human interventions such as fire suppression, and with increased wildfire frequency, the globally important boreal CH4 sink could be diminished

Development of intraspecific size variation in black coucals, white‐browed coucals and ruffs from hatching to fledging

Most studies on sexual size dimorphism address proximate and functional questions related to adults, but sexual size dimorphism usually develops during ontogeny and developmental trajectories of sexual size dimorphism are poorly understood. We studied three bird species with variation in adult sexual size dimorphism: black coucals (females 69% heavier than males), white‐browed coucals (females 13% heavier than males) and ruffs (males 70% heavier than females). Using a flexible Bayesian generalized additive model framework (GAMM), we examined when and how sexual size dimorphism developed in body mass, tarsus length and bill length from hatching until fledging. In ruffs, we additionally examined the development of intrasexual size variation among three morphs (Independents, Satellites and Faeders), which creates another level of variation in adult size of males and females. We found that 27–100% of the adult inter‐ and intrasexual size variation developed until fledging although none of the species completed growth during the observational period. In general, the larger sex/morph grew more quickly and reached its maximal absolute growth rate later than the smaller sex/morph. However, when the daily increase in body mass was modelled as a proportion, growth patterns were synchronized between and within sexes. Growth broadly followed sigmoidal asymptotic models, however only with the flexible GAMM approach, residual distributions were homogeneous over the entire observation periods. These results provide a platform for future studies to relate variation in growth to selective pressures and proximate mechanisms in these three species, and they highlight the advantage of using a flexible model approach for examining growth variation during ontogeny

State-dependent capital and income breeding : a novel approach to evaluating individual strategies with stable isotopes

Background: Species-specific strategies for financing the costs of reproduction are well understood, forming a continuum ranging from high to low reliance on stored nutrients. Animals relying mostly on stored reserves are termed 'capital breeders', whereas 'income breeders' rely mostly on concurrent intake when financing the costs of reproduction. The role and adaptive value of individual variation in these strategies remain elusive. Life-history theory posits that capital breeding should be favoured when offspring reproductive value peaks, typically occurring early in the season, and that current income should increasingly be used with progressing season. Because resource limitation may hamper flexible resource allocation, a corollary prediction is that only good-condition individuals may show the expected seasonal shift in resource use. To test this prediction, we examined stable isotopes (delta C-13 and delta N-15) in blood and lipid-free egg yolk of breeding eider females (Somateria mollissima) from the Baltic Sea to assess the role of individual variation in the use of proteins from local diet vs. stored reserves. Results: We show for the first time that individuals from a single population differ in their utilization of stored reserves and concurrent intake to finance the costs of reproduction. Consistent with our prediction, heavy females predominantly used stored reserves for producing egg yolks early in the season, increasingly relying on local feeding with later onset of breeding, whereas light females showed no seasonal change in allocation strategy. Conclusions: Stable isotope profiling at the individual level is a powerful tool for monitoring relative changes in investment strategies through time, showing promise as an early warning indicator of ecological change in food webs.Peer reviewe

Long-term morbidity and mortality in patients diagnosed with an insulinoma

Objective: Insulinomas are rare functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. As previous data on the long-term prognosis of insulinoma patients are scarce, we studied the morbidity and mortality in the Finnish insulinoma cohort.Design: Retrospective cohort study.Methods: Incidence of endocrine, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and psychiatric disorders, and cancers was compared in all the patients diagnosed with an insulinoma in Finland during 1980-2010 (n = 79, including two patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 syndrome), vs 316 matched controls, using the Mantel-Haenszel method. Overall survival was analysed with Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses.Results: The median length of follow-up was 10.7 years for the patients and 12.2 years for the controls. The long-term incidence of atrial fibrillation (rate ratio (RR): 2.07 (95% CI: 1.02-4.22)), intestinal obstruction (18.65 (2.09-166.86)), and possibly breast (4.46 (1.29-15.39) and kidney cancers (RR not applicable) was increased among insulinoma patients vs controls, P < 0.05 for all comparisons. Endocrine disorders and pancreatic diseases were more frequent in the patients during the first year after insulinoma diagnosis, but not later on. The survival of patients with a nonmetastatic insulinoma (n = 70) was similar to that of controls, but for patients with distant metastases (n = 9), the survival was significantly impaired (median 3.4 years).Conclusions: The long-term prognosis of patients with a non-metastatic insulinoma is similar to the general population, except for an increased incidence of atrial fibrillation, intestinal obstruction, and possibly breast and kidney cancers. These results need to be confirmed in future studies. Metastatic insulinomas entail a markedly decreased survival