4,362 research outputs found
Galaxies as Fluctuations in the Ionizing Background Radiation at Low Redshift
Some Lyman continuum photons are likely to escape from most galaxies, and
these can play an important role in ionizing gas around and between galaxies,
including gas that gives rise to Lyman alpha absorption. Thus the gas
surrounding galaxies and in the intergalactic medium will be exposed to varying
amounts of ionizing radiation depending upon the distances, orientations, and
luminosities of any nearby galaxies. The ionizing background can be
recalculated at any point within a simulation by adding the flux from the
galaxies to a uniform quasar contribution. Normal galaxies are found to almost
always make some contribution to the ionizing background radiation at redshift
zero, as seen by absorbers and at random points in space. Assuming that about 2
percent of ionizing photons escape from a galaxy like the Milky Way, we find
that normal galaxies make a contribution of at least 30 to 40 percent of the
assumed quasar background. Lyman alpha absorbers with a wide range of neutral
column densities are found to be exposed to a wide range of ionization rates,
although the distribution of photoionization rates for absorbers is found to be
strongly peaked. On average, less highly ionized absorbers are found to arise
farther from luminous galaxies, while local fluctuations in the ionization rate
are seen around galaxies having a wide range of properties.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, references added, clarified explanation of first
two equation
Dynamic Boundaries in Asymmetric Exclusion Processes
We investigate the dynamics of a one-dimensional asymmetric exclusion process
with Langmuir kinetics and a fluctuating wall. At the left boundary, particles
are injected onto the lattice; from there, the particles hop to the right.
Along the lattice, particles can adsorb or desorb, and the right boundary is
defined by a wall particle. The confining wall particle has intrinsic forward
and backward hopping, a net leftward drift, and cannot desorb. Performing Monte
Carlo simulations and using a moving-frame finite segment approach coupled to
mean field theory, we find the parameter regimes in which the wall acquires a
steady state position. In other regimes, the wall will either drift to the left
and fall off the lattice at the injection site, or drift indefinitely to the
right. Our results are discussed in the context of non-equilibrium phases of
the system, fluctuating boundary layers, and particle densities in the lab
frame versus the frame of the fluctuating wall.Comment: 13 page
Changing Minds? Implications of Conceptual Change for Teaching and Learning about Biological Evolution
Are baseline ultrasound and mammographic features associated with rates of pathological completes response in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer?
The effectiveness of the behavioural components of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia in older adults:A systematic review
Insomnia is more prevalent in older adults (< 60 years) than in the general population. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is the gold-standard treatment; however, it may prove too cognitively taxing for some. This systematic review aimed to critically examine the literature exploring the effectiveness of explicitly behavioural interventions for insomnia in older adults, with secondary aims of investigating their effect on mood and daytime functioning. Four electronic databases (MEDLINE – Ovid, Embase – Ovid, CINAHL, and PsycINFO) were searched. All experimental, quasi-experimental and pre-experimental studies were included, provided they: (a) were published in English; (b) recruited older adults with insomnia; (c) used sleep restriction and/or stimulus control; (d) reported outcomes pre-and-post intervention. Database searches returned 1689 articles; 15 studies, summarising the results of 498 older adults, were included – three focused on stimulus control, four on sleep restriction, and eight adopted multicomponent treatments comprised of both interventions. All interventions brought about significant improvements in one or more subjectively measured facets of sleep although, overall, multicomponent therapies demonstrated larger effects (median Hedge's g = 0.55). Actigraphic or polysomnographic outcomes demonstrated smaller or no effects. Improvements in measures of depression were seen in multicomponent interventions, but no intervention demonstrated any statistically significant improvement in measures of anxiety. This corroborates with the existing consensus that multicomponent approaches confer the most benefit, and adds to the literature by demonstrating this to be the case in brief, explicitly behavioural interventions. This review guides future study of treatments for insomnia in populations where cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is not appropriate
Deintensification of Adjuvant Treatment After Transoral Surgery in Patients With Human Papillomavirus-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer:The Conception of the PATHOS Study and Its Development
PATHOS is a phase II/III randomized controlled trial (RCT) of risk-stratified, reduced intensity adjuvant treatment in patients undergoing transoral surgery (TOS) for human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). The study opened in the UK in October 2015 and, after successful recruitment into the phase II, transitioned into phase III in the autumn of 2018. PATHOS aims to establish whether the de-intensification of adjuvant treatment in patients with favorable prognosis HPV-positive OPSCC will confer improved swallowing outcomes, whilst maintaining high rates of cure. In this article, we will outline the rationale for the study and how it aims to answer fundamentally important questions about the safety, effectiveness and functional outcomes of minimally invasive TOS techniques followed by adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) or chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) in this patient population
Cognitive and neural signatures of the APOE E4 allele in mid-aged adults
The apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele is strongly associated with increased risk of cognitive impairments in older adulthood. There is also a possible link to enhanced cognitive performance in younger adults, and the APOE e4 allele may constitute an example of antagonistic pleiotropy. The aim of this work was to investigate the cognitive and neural (functional) effects of the APOE e4 allele during mid-age (45-55 years), where a transition toward cognitive deficit might be expected. APOE e4 carriers (e4+) were compared with non-e4 carriers (e4-) on tasks of sustained and covert attention and prospective memory, and functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired. Performance by e4+ was equivalent or better than e4- on all 3 tasks, although performance benefits were less pronounced than in youth. Neurally, e4+ showed less task-related recruitment of extrastriate and parietal areas. This became more evident when neural activation data were compared with that of young adults acquired in a parallel study. As expected, mid-age participants showed more diffuse neural activation. Notable was the fact that e4+ showed a relative inability to recruit parietal regions as they aged. This was coupled with a tendency to show greater recruitment of frontal regions, and underactivation of extrastriate visual regions. Thus, mid-age e4+ show a pattern of neural recruitment usually seen later in life, possibly reflecting the source of an accelerated aging profile that describes the e4 genotype
Mid age APOE ε4 carriers show memory-related functional differences and disrupted structure-function relationships in hippocampal regions
Carriers of the APOE e4 allele are at higher risk of age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The underlying neural mechanisms are uncertain, but genotype differences in medial temporal lobe (MTL) functional activity and structure at mid-age might contribute. We tested 16 non-e4 and 16 e4 carriers (aged 45-55) on a subsequent memory task in conjunction with MRI to assess how hippocampal volume (from T1 structural) and microstructure (neurite orientation-dispersion, from NODDI) differs by genotype and in relation to memory encoding. No previous study has investigated APOE effects on hippocampal microstructure using NODDI. Recall performance did not differ by genotype. A genotype by condition interaction in left parahippocampus indicated that in e4 carriers activity did not differentiate subsequently remembered from forgotten words. Hippocampal volumes and microstructure also did not differ by genotype but hippocampal volumes correlated positively with recognition performance in non-e4 carriers only. Similarly, greater hippocampal neurite orientation-dispersion was linked to better recall but only in non-e4s. Thus, we suggest that mid-age e4 carriers show a breakdown of normal MTL activation and structure-performance relationships. This could reflect an inability to utilise compensatory mechanisms, and contribute to higher risk of cognitive decline and AD in later life
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