Open Cluster Characterization via Cross-Correlation with Spectral Library

We present a characterization method based on spectral cross-correlation to obtain the physical parameters of the controversial stellar aggregate ESO442-SC04. The data used was obtained with GMOS at Gemini-South telescope including 17 stars in the central region of the ob ject and 6 standard-stars. FXCOR was used in an iterative process to obtain self-consistent radial velocities for the standard-stars and averaged radial velocities for the science spectra. Spectral types, effective temperature, suface gravity and metallicities parameters were determined using FXCOR to correlate cluster spectra with ELODIE spectral library and selecting the best correlation matches using the Tonry and Davis Ratio (TDR). Analysis of the results suggests that the stars in ESO442-SC04 are not bound and therefore they do not constitute a physical system.Comment: 4-page paper from IAU symposium 266. Contains 3 eps figures and IAU document class file 'iau.cls

Creative Individuals are Social Risk-takers: Relationships between Creativity, Social Risk-Taking and Fear of Negative Evaluations

Abstract If the importance of social psychological factors in creativity has been widely emphasized, research across the social sciences mainly focused on identifying contextual factors that increase or decrease individuals’ creative behaviors. Few studies have investigated the relationships between creativity and individual characteristics related to interpersonal and social interactions. The present contribution aimed to consider such characteristics, namely social risk-taking (i.e., willingness to challenge norms) and fear of negative evaluation (i.e., apprehension about receiving negative judgments of others). Two correlational studies were therefore implemented in order to clarify previous research suggesting that creativity would be positively associated with social risk-taking and to extend them by testing potential associations between creativity and fear of negative evaluation. Using self-ratings of creativity, but also creative self-beliefs and creative achievement, we hypothesized that creativity would correlate positively with social risk likelihood and negatively with fear of negative evaluation. As predicted, and replicating previous results, all our measures of creativity correlated positively with social risk-taking. Our results also consistently highlighted a negative association between beliefs in one’s creative capacities (creative self-efficacy) and one’s level of fear of negative evaluation. These findings corroborate the idea according to which creative individuals would be (social) risk-takers. In addition, individuals who are confident in their ability to generate creative productions would be less afraid of negative judgments from others. Several perspectives are proposed, in particular in terms of the intervention designed in order to enhance individuals’ creativity.</jats:p

Open clusters or their remnants: B and V photometry of NGC 1901 and NGC 1252

Photometry in the B and V bands is presented for the southern stellar groups NGC 1901 and NGC 1252. NGC 1901 is often described as an open cluster while NGC 1252 consists of a concentration of about 20 stars centered approx 20' north of the original New General Catalogue coordinates, and at the southwest edge of the large region previously assigned to this object in the literature. NGC 1901 has a clear main sequence and shares similarities with the Hyades. We derive a reddening value E(B-V) = 0.04, a distance from the Sun d = 0.45 kpc (Z = -0.23 kpc) and an age 0.6 +/- 0.1 Gyr. NGC 1901 is conclusively a physical system, dynamically comparable to or more evolved than the Hyades. The colour- magnitude diagram of NGC 1252 suggests a turnoff and main sequence, and a total of 12 probable members. We simulated the Galactic field colour-magnitude diagram in the same direction and found it to be a poor match to NGC 1252, suggesting that NGC 1252 is not a field fluctuation. Isochrone fitting to the probable members is consistent with E(B-V) = 0.02, a distance from the Sun d = 0.64 kpc (Z = -0.46 kpc) and an age 3 +/- 1 Gyr. NGC 1252 cannot be ruled out as a physical group with the available data. If so, evidence is found that it is not a classical open cluster, but rather an open cluster remnant.Comment: 25 pages, 11 Postscript figures, accepted for A&

Association of Plasma 25â Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations and Pathogenic Oral Bacteria in Postmenopausal Females

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141146/1/jper0944.pd

Does native Trypanosoma cruzi calreticulin mediate growth inhibition of a mammary tumor during infection?

Indexación: Web of Science.Background: For several decades now an antagonism between Trypanosoma cruzi infection and tumor development has been detected. The molecular basis of this phenomenon remained basically unknown until our proposal that T. cruzi Calreticulin (TcCRT), an endoplasmic reticulum-resident chaperone, translocated-externalized by the parasite, may mediate at least an important part of this effect. Thus, recombinant TcCRT (rTcCRT) has important in vivo antiangiogenic and antitumor activities. However, the relevant question whether the in vivo antitumor effect of T. cruzi infection is indeed mediated by the native chaperone (nTcCRT), remains open. Herein, by using specific modified anti-rTcCRT antibodies (Abs), we have neutralized the antitumor activity of T. cruzi infection and extracts thereof, thus identifying nTcCRT as a valid mediator of this effect. Methods: Polyclonal anti-rTcCRT F(ab')(2) Ab fragments were used to reverse the capacity of rTcCRT to inhibit EAhy926 endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, as detected by BrdU uptake. Using these F(ab')(2) fragments, we also challenged the capacity of nTcCRT, during T. cruzi infection, to inhibit the growth of an aggressive mammary adenocarcinoma cell line (TA3-MTXR) in mice. Moreover, we determined the capacity of anti-rTcCRT Abs to reverse the antitumor effect of an epimastigote extract (EE). Finally, the effects of these treatments on tumor histology were evaluated. Results: The rTcCRT capacity to inhibit ECs proliferation was reversed by anti-rTcCRT F(ab')(2) Ab fragments, thus defining them as valid probes to interfere in vivo with this important TcCRT function. Consequently, during infection, these Ab fragments also reversed the in vivo experimental mammary tumor growth. Moreover, anti-rTcCRT Abs also neutralized the antitumor effect of an EE, again identifying the chaperone protein as an important mediator of this anti mammary tumor effect. Finally, as determined by conventional histological parameters, in infected animals and in those treated with EE, less invasive tumors were observed while, as expected, treatment with F(ab')(2) Ab fragments increased malignancy. Conclusion: We have identified translocated/externalized nTcCRT as responsible for at least an important part of the anti mammary tumor effect of the chaperone observed during experimental infections with T. cruzi.http://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-016-2764-

The role of the right temporoparietal junction in perceptual conflict: detection or resolution?

The right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) is a polysensory cortical area that plays a key role in perception and awareness. Neuroimaging evidence shows activation of rTPJ in intersensory and sensorimotor conflict situations, but it remains unclear whether this activity reflects detection or resolution of such conflicts. To address this question, we manipulated the relationship between touch and vision using the so-called mirror-box illusion. Participants' hands lay on either side of a mirror, which occluded their left hand and reflected their right hand, but created the illusion that they were looking directly at their left hand. The experimenter simultaneously touched either the middle (D3) or the ring finger (D4) of each hand. Participants judged, which finger was touched on their occluded left hand. The visual stimulus corresponding to the touch on the right hand was therefore either congruent (same finger as touch) or incongruent (different finger from touch) with the task-relevant touch on the left hand. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered to the rTPJ immediately after touch. Accuracy in localizing the left touch was worse for D4 than for D3, particularly when visual stimulation was incongruent. However, following TMS, accuracy improved selectively for D4 in incongruent trials, suggesting that the effects of the conflicting visual information were reduced. These findings suggest a role of rTPJ in detecting, rather than resolving, intersensory conflict

Attention in neglect and extinction: Assessing the degree of correspondence between visual and auditory impairments using matched tasks

Claims have been made for associated degrees of impairment on both visual and auditory performance in unilateral neglect and extinction. Since this evidence is primarily based on different tests in each modality, it is difficult to properly quantify the degree of association between performance in vision and audition. The current study compares visual and auditory extinction and temporal order judgments (TOJs) in two cases with clinical visual neglect. Stimuli in both modalities were precisely matched in their temporal and spatial parameters. The results reveal a mixed pattern of association between different auditory tests and their visual counterparts. This suggests that associations between visual and auditory neglect can occur but these are neither obligatory nor pervasive. Instead, our data support models of spatial impairment in neglect and extinction that acknowledge differences in the contribution of spatial information to performance in each modality in responses to changing task demands

Cluster-randomised controlled trials of individual and combined water, sanitation, hygiene and nutritional interventions in rural Bangladesh and Kenya: the WASH Benefits study design and rationale.

INTRODUCTION: Enteric infections are common during the first years of life in low-income countries and contribute to growth faltering with long-term impairment of health and development. Water quality, sanitation, handwashing and nutritional interventions can independently reduce enteric infections and growth faltering. There is little evidence that directly compares the effects of these individual and combined interventions on diarrhoea and growth when delivered to infants and young children. The objective of the WASH Benefits study is to help fill this knowledge gap. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: WASH Benefits includes two cluster-randomised trials to assess improvements in water quality, sanitation, handwashing and child nutrition-alone and in combination-to rural households with pregnant women in Kenya and Bangladesh. Geographically matched clusters (groups of household compounds in Bangladesh and villages in Kenya) will be randomised to one of six intervention arms or control. Intervention arms include water quality, sanitation, handwashing, nutrition, combined water+sanitation+handwashing (WSH) and WSH+nutrition. The studies will enrol newborn children (N=5760 in Bangladesh and N=8000 in Kenya) and measure outcomes at 12 and 24 months after intervention delivery. Primary outcomes include child length-for-age Z-scores and caregiver-reported diarrhoea. Secondary outcomes include stunting prevalence, markers of environmental enteropathy and child development scores (verbal, motor and personal/social). We will estimate unadjusted and adjusted intention-to-treat effects using semiparametric estimators and permutation tests. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Study protocols have been reviewed and approved by human subjects review boards at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, and Innovations for Poverty Action. Independent data safety monitoring boards in each country oversee the trials. This study is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of California, Berkeley. REGISTRATION: Trial registration identifiers (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov): NCT01590095 (Bangladesh), NCT01704105 (Kenya)

A survey of assistive technologies and applications for blind users on mobile platforms: a review and foundation for research

This paper summarizes recent developments in audio and tactile feedback based assistive technologies targeting the blind community. Current technology allows applications to be efficiently distributed and run on mobile and handheld devices, even in cases where computational requirements are significant. As a result, electronic travel aids, navigational assistance modules, text-to-speech applications, as well as virtual audio displays which combine audio with haptic channels are becoming integrated into standard mobile devices. This trend, combined with the appearance of increasingly user- friendly interfaces and modes of interaction has opened a variety of new perspectives for the rehabilitation and training of users with visual impairments. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of these developments based on recent advances in basic research and application development. Using this overview as a foundation, an agenda is outlined for future research in mobile interaction design with respect to users with special needs, as well as ultimately in relation to sensor-bridging applications in genera