Models of Star-Planet Magnetic Interaction

Magnetic interactions between a planet and its environment are known to lead to phenomena such as aurorae and shocks in the solar system. The large number of close-in exoplanets that were discovered triggered a renewed interest in magnetic interactions in star-planet systems. Multiple other magnetic effects were then unveiled, such as planet inflation or heating, planet migration, planetary material escape, and even modification of the host star properties. We review here the recent efforts in modelling and understanding magnetic interactions between stars and planets in the context of compact systems. We first provide simple estimates of the effects of magnetic interactions and then detail analytical and numerical models for different representative scenarii. We finally lay out a series of future developments that are needed today to better understand and constrain these fascinating interactions.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted as a chapter in the Handbook of Exoplanet

A New Era in the Quest for Dark Matter

There is a growing sense of `crisis' in the dark matter community, due to the absence of evidence for the most popular candidates such as weakly interacting massive particles, axions, and sterile neutrinos, despite the enormous effort that has gone into searching for these particles. Here, we discuss what we have learned about the nature of dark matter from past experiments, and the implications for planned dark matter searches in the next decade. We argue that diversifying the experimental effort, incorporating astronomical surveys and gravitational wave observations, is our best hope to make progress on the dark matter problem.Comment: Published in Nature, online on 04 Oct 2018. 13 pages, 1 figur

Factors influencing elderly women's mammography screening decisions: implications for counseling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although guidelines recommend that clinicians consider life expectancy before screening older women for breast cancer, many older women with limited life expectancies are screened. We aimed to identify factors important to mammography screening decisions among women aged 80 and older compared to women aged 65–79.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Telephone surveys of 107 women aged 80+ and 93 women aged 65–79 randomly selected from one academic primary care practice who were able to communicate in English (60% response rate). The survey addressed the following factors in regards to older women's mammography screening decisions: perceived importance of a history of breast disease, family history of breast cancer, doctor's recommendations, habit, reassurance, previous experience, mailed reminder cards, family/friend's recommendations or experience with breast cancer, age, health, and media. The survey also assessed older women's preferred role in decision making around mammography screening.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 200 women, 65.5% were non-Hispanic white and 82.8% were in good to excellent health. Most (81.3%) had undergone mammography in the past 2 years. Regardless of age, older women ranked doctor's recommendations as the most important factor influencing their decision to get screened. Habit and reassurance were the next two highly ranked factors influencing older women to get screened. Among women who did not get screened, women aged 80 and older ranked age and doctor's counseling as the most influential factors and women aged 65–79 ranked a previous negative experience with mammography as the most important factor. There were no significant differences in preferred role in decision-making around mammography screening by age, however, most women in both age groups preferred to make the final decision on their own (46.6% of women aged 80+ and 50.5% of women aged 65–79).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>While a doctor's recommendation is the most important factor influencing elderly women's mammography screening decisions, habit and reassurance also strongly influence decision-making. Interventions aimed at improving clinician counseling about mammography, which include discussions around habit and reassurance, may result in better decision-making.</p

Chronic kidney disease after liver, cardiac, lung, heart–lung, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant

Patient survival after cardiac, liver, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is improving; however, this survival is limited by substantial pretransplant and treatment-related toxicities. A major cause of morbidity and mortality after transplant is chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although the majority of CKD after transplant is attributed to the use of calcineurin inhibitors, various other conditions such as thrombotic microangiopathy, nephrotic syndrome, and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis have been described. Though the immunosuppression used for each of the transplant types, cardiac, liver and HSCT is similar, the risk factors for developing CKD and the CKD severity described in patients after transplant vary. As the indications for transplant and the long-term survival improves for these children, so will the burden of CKD. Nephrologists should be involved early in the pretransplant workup of these patients. Transplant physicians and nephrologists will need to work together to identify those patients at risk of developing CKD early to prevent its development and progression to end-stage renal disease

Chemical and antimicrobial profiling of propolis from different regions within Libya.

Extracts from twelve samples of propolis collected from different regions of Libya were tested for their activity against Trypanosoma brucei, Leishmania donovani, Plasmodium falciparum, Crithidia fasciculata and Mycobacterium marinum and the cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested against mammalian cells. All the extracts were active to some degree against all of the protozoa and the mycobacterium, exhibiting a range of EC50 values between 1.65 and 53.6 μg/ml. The toxicity against mammalian cell lines was only moderate; the most active extract against the protozoan species, P2, displayed an IC50 value of 53.2 μg/ml. The extracts were profiled by using liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry. The data sets were extracted using m/z Mine and the accurate masses of the features extracted were searched against the Dictionary of Natural Products (DNP). A principal component analysis (PCA) model was constructed which, in combination with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), divided the samples into five groups. The outlying groups had different sets of dominant compounds in the extracts, which could be characterised by their elemental composition. Orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) analysis was used to link the activity of each extract against the different micro-organisms to particular components in the extracts

Nuclear Scaffold Attachment Sites within ENCODE Regions Associate with Actively Transcribed Genes

The human genome must be packaged and organized in a functional manner for the regulation of DNA replication and transcription. The nuclear scaffold/matrix, consisting of structural and functional nuclear proteins, remains after extraction of nuclei and anchors loops of DNA. In the search for cis-elements functioning as chromatin domain boundaries, we identified 453 nuclear scaffold attachment sites purified by lithium-3,5-iodosalicylate extraction of HeLa nuclei across 30 Mb of the human genome studied by the ENCODE pilot project. The scaffold attachment sites mapped predominately near expressed genes and localized near transcription start sites and the ends of genes but not to boundary elements. In addition, these regions were enriched for RNA polymerase II and transcription factor binding sites and were located in early replicating regions of the genome. We believe these sites correspond to genome-interactions mediated by transcription factors and transcriptional machinery immobilized on a nuclear substructure

Genome Sequence of the Versatile Fish Pathogen Edwardsiella tarda Provides Insights into its Adaptation to Broad Host Ranges and Intracellular Niches

BACKGROUND:Edwardsiella tarda is the etiologic agent of edwardsiellosis, a devastating fish disease prevailing in worldwide aquaculture industries. Here we describe the complete genome of E. tarda, EIB202, a highly virulent and multi-drug resistant isolate in China. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:E. tarda EIB202 possesses a single chromosome of 3,760,463 base pairs containing 3,486 predicted protein coding sequences, 8 ribosomal rRNA operons, and 95 tRNA genes, and a 43,703 bp conjugative plasmid harboring multi-drug resistant determinants and encoding type IV A secretion system components. We identified a full spectrum of genetic properties related to its genome plasticity such as repeated sequences, insertion sequences, phage-like proteins, integrases, recombinases and genomic islands. In addition, analysis also indicated that a substantial proportion of the E. tarda genome might be devoted to the growth and survival under diverse conditions including intracellular niches, with a large number of aerobic or anaerobic respiration-associated proteins, signal transduction proteins as well as proteins involved in various stress adaptations. A pool of genes for secretion systems, pili formation, nonfimbrial adhesions, invasions and hemagglutinins, chondroitinases, hemolysins, iron scavenging systems as well as the incomplete flagellar biogenesis might feature its surface structures and pathogenesis in a fish body. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:Genomic analysis of the bacterium offered insights into the phylogeny, metabolism, drug-resistance, stress adaptation, and virulence characteristics of this versatile pathogen, which constitutes an important first step in understanding the pathogenesis of E. tarda to facilitate construction of a practical effective vaccine used for combating fish edwardsiellosis

A Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Kidney Disease in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

dentification of sequence variants robustly associated with predisposition to diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has the potential to provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of DKD in type 2 diabetes (T2D) using eight complementary dichotomous and quantitative DKD phenotypes: the principal dichotomous analysis involved 5,717 T2D subjects, 3,345 with DKD. Promising association signals were evaluated in up to 26,827 subjects with T2D (12,710 with DKD). A combined T1D+T2D GWAS was performed using complementary data available for subjects with T1D, which, with replication samples, involved up to 40,340 subjects with diabetes (18,582 with DKD). Analysis of specific DKD phenotypes identified a novel signal near GABRR1 (rs9942471, P = 4.5 x 10(-8)) associated with microalbuminuria in European T2D case subjects. However, no replication of this signal was observed in Asian subjects with T2D or in the equivalent T1D analysis. There was only limited support, in this substantially enlarged analysis, for association at previously reported DKD signals, except for those at UMOD and PRKAG2, both associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate. We conclude that, despite challenges in addressing phenotypic heterogeneity, access to increased sample sizes will continue to provide more robust inference regarding risk variant discovery for DKD.Peer reviewe