Core test reactor shield cooling system analysis

System requirements for cooling the shield within the vacuum vessel for the core test reactor are analyzed. The total heat to be removed by the coolant system is < 22,700 Btu/hr, with an additional 4600 Btu/hr to be removed by the 2-inch thick steel plate below the shield. This latter heat is radiated to the walls of the vacuum chamber where the heat is removed by the cooling coils wrapped around the outside of the chamber. The maximum temperature of the concrete in the shield can be kept below 200°F if the shield plug walls are kept below 160°F. The walls of the two "donut" shaped shield segments, which are cooled by the water from the shield and vessel cooling system, should operate below 95°F. The walls of the center plug, which are cooled with nitrogen, should operate below 100°F

Surface spin-transfer torque and spin-injection effective field in ferromagnetic junctions: Unified theory

We consider theoretically a current flowing perpendicular to interfaces of a spin-valve type ferromagnetic metallic junction. For the first time an effective approach is investigated to calculate a simultaneous action of the two current effects, namely, the nonequilibrium longitudinal spin injection and the transversal spin-transfer surface torque. Dispersion relation for fluctuations is derived and solved. Nonlinear problem is solved about steady state arising due to instability for a thick enough free layer.Comment: 9 page

Sarcopenia during neoadjuvant therapy for oesophageal cancer: characterising the impact on muscle strength and physical performance

Purpose Preoperative chemo(radio)therapy for oesophageal cancer (OC) may have an attritional impact on body composition and functional status, impacting postoperative outcome. Physical decline with skeletal muscle loss has not been previously characterised in OC and may be amenable to physical rehabilitation. This study characterises skeletal muscle mass and physical performance from diagnosis to post-neoadjuvant therapy in patients undergoing preoperative chemo(radio)therapy for OC. Methods Measures of body composition (axial computerised tomography), muscle strength (handgrip), functional capacity (walking distance), anthropometry (weight, height and waist circumference), physical activity, quality-of-life and nutritional status were captured prospectively. Sarcopenia status was defined as pre-sarcopenic (low muscle mass only), sarcopenic (low muscle mass and low muscle strength or function) or severely sarcopenic (low muscle mass and low muscle strength and low muscle function). Results Twenty-eight participants were studied at both time points (mean age 62.86 ± 8.18 years, n = 23 male). Lean body mass reduced by 4.9 (95% confidence interval 3.2 to 6.7) kg and mean grip strength reduced by 4.3 (2.5 to 6.1) kg from pre- to postneoadjuvant therapy. Quality-of-life scores capturing gastrointestinal symptoms improved. Measures of anthropometry, walking distance, physical activity and nutritional status did not change. There was an increase in sarcopenic status from diagnosis (presarcopenic n=2) to post-treatment (pre-sarcopenic n = 5, severely sarcopenic n = 1). Conclusions Despite maintenance of body weight, functional capacity and activity habits, participants experience declines in muscle mass and strength. Interventions involving exercise and/or nutritional support to build muscle mass and strength during preoperative therapy, even in patients who are functioning normally, are warranted

Measuring the Impact of Oesophagectomy on Physical Functioning and Physical Activity Participation: a Prospective Study

Background: Oesophagectomy remains the only curative intervention for oesophageal cancer, with defined nutritional and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) consequences. It follows therefore that there is a significant risk of decline in physical wellbeing with oesophagectomy however this has been inadequately quantified. This study prospectively examines change in physical functioning and habitual physical activity participation, from presurgery through 6-months post-oesophagectomy. Methods: Patients scheduled for oesophagectomy with curative intent were recruited. Key domains of physical functioning including exercise tolerance (six-minute walk test (6MWT)) and muscle strength (hand-grip strength), and habitual physical activity participation, including sedentary behaviour (accelerometry) were measured presurgery (T0) and repeated at 1-month (T1) and 6-months (T2) post-surgery. HR-QOL was measured using the EORTC-QOL C30. Results: Thirty-six participants were studied (mean age 62.4 (8.8) years, n = 26 male, n = 26 transthoracic oesophagectomy). Mean 6MWT distance decreased significantly from T0 to T1 (p = 0.006) and returned to T0 levels between T1 and T2 (p \u3c 0.001). Percentage time spent sedentary increased throughout recovery (p \u3c 0.001) and remained significantly higher at T2 in comparison to T0 (p = 0.003). In contrast, percentage time spent engaged in either light or moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity, all reduced significantly (p \u3c 0.001 for both) and remained significantly lower at T2 in comparison to T0 (p = 0.009 and p = 0.01 respectively). Patients reported deficits in multiple domains of HR-QOL during recovery including global health status (p = 0.04), physical functioning (p \u3c 0.001) and role functioning (p \u3c 0.001). Role functioning remained a clinically important 33-points lower than preoperative values at T2. Conclusion: Habitual physical activity participation remains significantly impaired at 6-months postoesophagectomy. Physical activity is a measurable and modifiable target for physical rehabilitation, which is closely aligned with patient-reported deficits in role functioning. Rehabilitation aimed at optimising physical health in oesophageal cancer survivorship is warranted

Diminished Neural and Cognitive Responses to Facial Expressions of Disgust in Patients with Psoriasis: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Psoriasis produces significant psychosocial disability; however, little is understood about the neurocognitive mechanisms that mediate the adverse consequences of the social stigma associated with visible skin lesions, such as disgusted facial expressions of others. Both the feeling of disgust and the observation of disgust in others are known to activate the insula cortex. We investigated whether the social impact of psoriasis is associated with altered cognitive processing of disgust using (i) a covert recognition of faces task conducted using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and (ii) the facial expression recognition task (FERT), a decision-making task, conducted outside the scanner to assess the ability to recognize overtly different intensities of disgust. Thirteen right-handed male patients with psoriasis and 13 age-matched male controls were included. In the fMRI study, psoriasis patients had significantly (P<0.005) smaller signal responses to disgusted faces in the bilateral insular cortex compared with healthy controls. These data were corroborated by FERT, in that patients were less able than controls to identify all intensities of disgust tested. We hypothesize that patients with psoriasis, in this case male patients, develop a coping mechanism to protect them from stressful emotional responses by blocking the processing of disgusted facial expressions

New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa

The Rising Star cave system has produced abundant fossil hominin remains within the Dinaledi Chamber, representing a minimum of 15 individuals attributed to Homo naledi. Further exploration led to the discovery of hominin material, now comprising 131 hominin specimens, within a second chamber, the Lesedi Chamber. The Lesedi Chamber is far separated from the Dinaledi Chamber within the Rising Star cave system, and represents a second depositional context for hominin remains. In each of three collection areas within the Lesedi Chamber, diagnostic skeletal material allows a clear attribution to H. naledi. Both adult and immature material is present. The hominin remains represent at least three individuals based upon duplication of elements, but more individuals are likely present based upon the spatial context. The most significant specimen is the near-complete cranium of a large individual, designated LES1, with an endocranial volume of approximately 610 ml and associated postcranial remains. The Lesedi Chamber skeletal sample extends our knowledge of the morphology and variation of H. naledi, and evidence of H. naledi from both recovery localities shows a consistent pattern of differentiation from other hominin species.SP201

Tuberculosis Transmission Attributable to Close Contacts and HIV Status, Malawi

In this population, ≈90% of M. tuberculosis infections were transmitted by casual contact, and nearly half from HIV-positive patients

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe