Exploring wind direction and SO2 concentration by circular-linear density estimation

The study of environmental problems usually requires the description of variables with different nature and the assessment of relations between them. In this work, an algorithm for flexible estimation of the joint density for a circular-linear variable is proposed. The method is applied for exploring the relation between wind direction and SO2 concentration in a monitoring station close to a power plant located in Galicia (NW-Spain), in order to compare the effectiveness of precautionary measures for pollutants reduction in two different years.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

Anomalous material-dependent transport of focused, laser-driven proton beams.

Intense lasers can accelerate protons in sufficient numbers and energy that the resulting beam can heat materials to exotic warm (10 s of eV temperature) states. Here we show with experimental data that a laser-driven proton beam focused onto a target heated it in a localized spot with size strongly dependent upon material and as small as 35 μm radius. Simulations indicate that cold stopping power values cannot model the intense proton beam transport in solid targets well enough to match the large differences observed. In the experiment a 74 J, 670 fs laser drove a focusing proton beam that transported through different thicknesses of solid Mylar, Al, Cu or Au, eventually heating a rear, thin, Au witness layer. The XUV emission seen from the rear of the Au indicated a clear dependence of proton beam transport upon atomic number, Z, of the transport layer: a larger and brighter emission spot was measured after proton transport through the lower Z foils even with equal mass density for supposed equivalent proton stopping range. Beam transport dynamics pertaining to the observed heated spot were investigated numerically with a particle-in-cell (PIC) code. In simulations protons moving through an Al transport layer result in higher Au temperature responsible for higher Au radiant emittance compared to a Cu transport case. The inferred finding that proton stopping varies with temperature in different materials, considerably changing the beam heating profile, can guide applications seeking to controllably heat targets with intense proton beams

Cluster and virial expansions for the multi-species tonks gas

We consider a mixture of non-overlapping rods of different lengths ℓk moving in R or Z. Our main result are necessary and sufficient convergence criteria for the expansion of the pressure in terms of the activities zk and the densities ρk. This provides an explicit example against which to test known cluster expansion criteria, and illustrates that for non-negative interactions, the virial expansion can converge in a domain much larger than the activity expansion. In addition, we give explicit formulas that generalize the well-known relation between non-overlapping rods and labelled rooted trees. We also prove that for certain choices of the activities, the system can undergo a condensation transition akin to that of the zero-range process. The key tool is a fixed point equation for the pressure

Multicentric myxoid liposarcoma: report of two cases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Multicentric myxoid liposarcoma is a rather infrequent tumour that tends to behave aggressively.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We herein report two further cases of this tumour that have been managed in our Hospital. Both were young men with multiple sites of involvement at the moment of diagnosis and both have shown a bad prognosis with frequent recurrences after treatment and rapid death in one case.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We comment on the diagnosis of this entity and on the therapeutic options available for these patients.</p

White matter injury restoration after stem cell administration in subcortical ischemic stroke

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.[Introduction]: An animal model of subcortical ischemic stroke with white matter affectation was induced in rats by injection of endothelin-1. At 24 hours, 2 × 10 6 ADMSC were administered intravenously to the treatment group. Functional evaluation, lesion size, fiber tract integrity, cell death, proliferation, white matter repair markers (Olig-2, NF, and MBP) and NogoA were all studied after sacrifice (7 days and 28 days). ADMSC migration and implantation in the brain as well as proteomics analysis and functions of the secretome were also analyzed. [Results]: Neither ADMSC migration nor implantation to the brain was observed after ADMSC administration. In contrast, ADMSC implantation was detected in peripheral organs. The treatment group showed a smaller functional deficit, smaller lesion area, less cell death, more oligodendrocyte proliferation, more white matter connectivity and higher amounts of myelin formation. The treated animals also showed higher levels of white matter-associated markers in the injured area than the control group. Proteomics analysis of the ADMSC secretome identified 2,416 proteins, not all of them previously described to be involved in brain plasticity. [Conclusions]: White matter integrity in subcortical stroke is in part restored by ADMSC treatment; this is mediated by repair molecular factors implicated in axonal sprouting, remyelination and oligodendrogenesis. These findings are associated with improved functional recovery after stroke.This study was supported by research grants PS12/01754, PI11/00909 and INVICTUS (RD12/0014) (Spanish Neurovascular Network), SAF2010-37926, ProteoRed-PT13/0001/0017 and a Sara Borrell postdoctoral fellowship (CD12/00706, to LOO) from Research Institute Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain. Furthermore, TS (CP12/03121) and FC (CP14/00154) are recipients of a research contract from Miguel Servet Program of Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Peer Reviewe

An Improved High Order Finite Difference Method for Non-conforming Grid Interfaces for the Wave Equation

This paper presents an extension of a recently developed high order finite difference method for the wave equation on a grid with non-conforming interfaces. The stability proof of the existing methods relies on the interpolation operators being norm-contracting, which is satisfied by the second and fourth order operators, but not by the sixth order operator. We construct new penalty terms to impose interface conditions such that the stability proof does not require the norm-contracting condition. As a consequence, the sixth order accurate scheme is also provably stable. Numerical experiments demonstrate the improved stability and accuracy property

Dual effects of phytoestrogens result in u-shaped dose-response curves.

Endocrine disruptors can affect the endocrine system without directly interacting with receptors, for example, by interfering with the synthesis or metabolism of steroid hormones. The aromatase that converts testosterone to 17beta-estradiol is a possible target. In this paper we describe an assay that simultaneously detects aromatase inhibition and estrogenicity. The principle is similar to that of other MCF-7 estrogenicity assays, but with a fixed amount of testosterone added. The endogenous aromatase activity in MCF-7 cells converts some of the testosterone to 17beta-estradiol, which is assayed by quantifying differences in the expression level of the estrogen-induced pS2 mRNA. Potential aromatase inhibitors can be identified by a dose-dependent reduction in the pS2 mRNA expression level after exposure to testosterone and the test compound. Using this assay, we have investigated several compounds, including synthetic chemicals and phytoestrogens, for aromatase inhibition. The phytoestrogens, except genistein, were aromatase inhibitors at low concentrations (< 1 micro M) but estrogenic at higher concentrations (greater than or equal to 1 micro M), resulting in U-shaped dose-response curves. None of the tested synthetic chemicals were aromatase inhibitors. The low-dose aromatase inhibition distinguished phytoestrogens from other estrogenic compounds and may partly explain reports about antiestrogenic properties of phytoestrogens. Aromatase inhibition may play an important role in the protective effects of phytoestrogens against breast cancer

Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal ASL MRI

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at developing technical recommendations for the acquisition, processing and analysis of renal ASL data in the human kidney at 1.5 T and 3 T field strengths that can promote standardization of renal perfusion measurements and facilitate the comparability of results across scanners and in multi-centre clinical studies. METHODS: An international panel of 23 renal ASL experts followed a modified Delphi process, including on-line surveys and two in-person meetings, to formulate a series of consensus statements regarding patient preparation, hardware, acquisition protocol, analysis steps and data reporting. RESULTS: Fifty-nine statements achieved consensus, while agreement could not be reached on two statements related to patient preparation. As a default protocol, the panel recommends pseudo-continuous (PCASL) or flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) labelling with a single-slice spin-echo EPI readout with background suppression and a simple but robust quantification model. DISCUSSION: This approach is considered robust and reproducible and can provide renal perfusion images of adequate quality and SNR for most applications. If extended kidney coverage is desirable, a 2D multislice readout is recommended. These recommendations are based on current available evidence and expert opinion. Nonetheless they are expected to be updated as more data become available, since the renal ASL literature is rapidly expanding

Adherence to Interferon β-1b Treatment in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis in Spain

Adherence to interferon β-1b (INFβ-1b) therapy is essential to maximize the beneficial effects of treatment in multiple sclerosis (MS). For that reason, the main objectives of this study are to assess adherence to INFβ-1b in patients suffering from MS in Spain, and to identify the factors responsible for adherence in routine clinical practice.This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study including 120 Spanish patients with MS under INFβ-1b treatment. Therapeutic adherence was assessed with Morisky-Green test and with the percentage of doses received. The proportion of adherent patients assessed by Morisky-Green test was 68.3%, being indicative of poor adherence. Nevertheless, the percentage of doses received, which was based on the number of injected medication, was 94.3%. The main reason for missing INFβ-1b injections was forgetting some of the administrations (64%). Therefore, interventions that diminish forgetfulness might have a positive effect in the proportion of adherent patients and in the percentage of doses received. In addition, age and comorbidities had a significant effect in the number of doses injected per month, and should be considered in the management of adherence in MS patients.Among all the available methods for assessing adherence, the overall consumption of the intended dose has to be considered when addressing adherence

Genetic risk factors for body mass index and obesity in an ethnically diverse population: results from the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) Study

Several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have demonstrated that common genetic variants contribute to obesity. However, studies of this complex trait have focused on ancestrally European populations, despite the high prevalence of obesity in some minority groups. As part of the ‘Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE)’ Consortium, we investigated the association between thirteen GWAS-identified SNPs and BMI and obesity in 69,775 subjects, including 6,149 American Indians, 15,415 African-Americans, 2,438 East Asians, 7,346 Hispanics, 604 Pacific Islanders, and 37,823 European Americans. For the BMI-increasing allele of each SNP, we calculated beta coefficients using linear regression (for BMI) and risk estimates using logistic regression (for obesity defined as BMI ≥ 30) followed by fixed-effects meta-analysis to combine results across PAGE sites. Analyses stratified by racial/ethnic group assumed an additive genetic model and adjusted for age, sex, and current smoking. We defined “replicating SNPs” (in European Americans) and “generalizing SNPs” (in other racial/ethnic groups) as those associated with an allele frequency-specific increase in BMI. By this definition, we replicated 9/13 SNP associations (5 out of 8 loci) in European Americans. We also generalized 8/13 SNP associations (5/8 loci) in East Asians, 7/13 (5/8 loci) in African Americans, 6/13 (4/8 loci) in Hispanics, 5/8 in Pacific Islanders (5/8 loci), and 5/9 (4/8 loci) in American Indians. Linkage disequilibrium patterns suggest that tagSNPs selected for European Americans may not adequately tag causal variants in other ancestry groups. Accordingly, fine-mapping in large samples is needed to comprehensively explore these loci in diverse populations