Partner bereavement and risk of chronic urticaria, alopecia areata and vitiligo:cohort studies in the UK and Denmark

The pathogeneses of skin diseases are not fully understood. Psychological stress has been proposed to be associated with skin diseases, but the epidemiological evidence is limited [1, 2]. We have recently reported the associations between partner bereavement (an extreme life stressor) and psoriasis, atopic eczema and melanoma [3, 4]. In this study, we further investigated whether partner bereavement was associated with urticaria, alopecia areata, or vitiligo

QCD ghost f(T)-gravity model

Within the framework of modified teleparallel gravity, we reconstruct a f(T) model corresponding to the QCD ghost dark energy scenario. For a spatially flat FRW universe containing only the pressureless matter, we obtain the time evolution of the torsion scalar T (or the Hubble parameter). Then, we calculate the effective torsion equation of state parameter of the QCD ghost f(T)-gravity model as well as the deceleration parameter of the universe. Furthermore, we fit the model parameters by using the latest observational data including SNeIa, CMB and BAO data. We also check the viability of our model using a cosmographic analysis approach. Moreover, we investigate the validity of the generalized second law (GSL) of gravitational thermodynamics for our model. Finally, we point out the growth rate of matter density perturbation. We conclude that in QCD ghost f(T)-gravity model, the universe begins a matter dominated phase and approaches a de Sitter regime at late times, as expected. Also this model is consistent with current data, passes the cosmographic test, satisfies the GSL and fits the data of the growth factor well as the LCDM model.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1111.726

Carbohydrate-derived iminium salt organocatalysts for the asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes

A new family of carbohydrate-based dihydroisoquinolinium salts has been prepared and tested for potential as asymmetric catalysts for the epoxidation of unfunctionalized alkene substrates, providing up to 57% ee in the product epoxides

A Helicity-Based Method to Infer the CME Magnetic Field Magnitude in Sun and Geospace: Generalization and Extension to Sun-Like and M-Dwarf Stars and Implications for Exoplanet Habitability

Patsourakos et al. (Astrophys. J. 817, 14, 2016) and Patsourakos and Georgoulis (Astron. Astrophys. 595, A121, 2016) introduced a method to infer the axial magnetic field in flux-rope coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the solar corona and farther away in the interplanetary medium. The method, based on the conservation principle of magnetic helicity, uses the relative magnetic helicity of the solar source region as input estimates, along with the radius and length of the corresponding CME flux rope. The method was initially applied to cylindrical force-free flux ropes, with encouraging results. We hereby extend our framework along two distinct lines. First, we generalize our formalism to several possible flux-rope configurations (linear and nonlinear force-free, non-force-free, spheromak, and torus) to investigate the dependence of the resulting CME axial magnetic field on input parameters and the employed flux-rope configuration. Second, we generalize our framework to both Sun-like and active M-dwarf stars hosting superflares. In a qualitative sense, we find that Earth may not experience severe atmosphere-eroding magnetospheric compression even for eruptive solar superflares with energies ~ 10^4 times higher than those of the largest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) X-class flares currently observed. In addition, the two recently discovered exoplanets with the highest Earth-similarity index, Kepler 438b and Proxima b, seem to lie in the prohibitive zone of atmospheric erosion due to interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs), except when they possess planetary magnetic fields that are much higher than that of Earth.Comment: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017SoPh..292...89

Recent Advances in Understanding Particle Acceleration Processes in Solar Flares

We review basic theoretical concepts in particle acceleration, with particular emphasis on processes likely to occur in regions of magnetic reconnection. Several new developments are discussed, including detailed studies of reconnection in three-dimensional magnetic field configurations (e.g., current sheets, collapsing traps, separatrix regions) and stochastic acceleration in a turbulent environment. Fluid, test-particle, and particle-in-cell approaches are used and results compared. While these studies show considerable promise in accounting for the various observational manifestations of solar flares, they are limited by a number of factors, mostly relating to available computational power. Not the least of these issues is the need to explicitly incorporate the electrodynamic feedback of the accelerated particles themselves on the environment in which they are accelerated. A brief prognosis for future advancement is offered.Comment: This is a chapter in a monograph on the physics of solar flares, inspired by RHESSI observations. The individual articles are to appear in Space Science Reviews (2011

Provenance of the Early Mesoproterozoic Radium Creek Group in the northern Mount Painter Inlier: Correlating isotopic signatures to inform tectonic reconstructions

New in situ zircon LA-ICPMS geochronologic and Hf-isotope data from the Radium Creek Group within the Mount Painter Inlier provide important temporal constraints on the Early Mesoproterozoic palaeogeography of eastern Proterozoic Australia. The entire Radium Creek Group was deposited in a single basin forming phase, and has a maximum depositional age of 1595. ±. 3.7. Ma. Detrital zircon from these metasedimentary rocks have U-Pb age populations at ca. 1595. Ma, 1660-1680. Ma, 1710-1780. Ma, ca. 1850. Ma and ca. 2500. Ma. These grains are characterised by isotopically diverse and evolved sources, and have crystallised within predominantly felsic igneous host-rocks. The relative age spectra and isotopic character has more similarity with the Gawler Craton than the Arunta Block, Curnamona Province or the Mount Isa Inlier. These observations suggest that the Mount Painter Province was adjacent to the Gawler Craton in the Early Mesoproterozoic. Our data supports a coherent South Australian Craton at ca. 1595. Ma and a contiguous continental mass that included the North and South Australian cratons. The Mount Painter Inlier occupied a complex plate tectonic setting in the overriding plate of two convergent margins. © 2014 Elsevier B.V