What's new for ESC Congress 2013? (Amsterdam 30 August - 4 September 2013)

The innovative Spotlight of the Congress is “The heart interacting with systemic organs”. For our patients, the interaction of cardiac conditions with other organs is fundamentally important to outcome, to safety and to clinical management. Related specialty areas have much to learn from each other and the ESC Congress 2013 will attract specialists from other organ systems to help understand disease mechanisms and improve the management of our patients

Maternal Factors Related to Parenting Young Children with Congenital Heart Disease

The purpose of this study was to compare the early child-rearing practices between mothers of young children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and mothers of healthy children. In addition, maternal stress, parental developmental expectations, and the early behavioral and emotional development of their children were explored. Maccoby’s (1992) socialization theory emphasizing the reciprocal nature of mother-child interactions provided the framework for this study. Findings from quantitative self-report measures and videotaped parent-child interactions showed a remarkable similarity between mothers of children with CHD and mothers of healthy children. In contrast, qualitative data revealed important differences with mothers of CHD children reporting high levels of vigilance with their children. The important role of promoting the principle of normalization among mothers of children with CHD and ensuring a sufficient support system is discussed

Fast magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasma bubbles

Recent experiments have observed magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density, laser-produced plasma bubbles, with reconnection rates observed to be much higher than can be explained by classical theory. Based on fully kinetic particle simulations we find that fast reconnection in these strongly driven systems can be explained by magnetic flux pile-up at the shoulder of the current sheet and subsequent fast reconnection via two-fluid, collisionless mechanisms. In the strong drive regime with two-fluid effects, we find that the ultimate reconnection time is insensitive to the nominal system Alfven time.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Radiolysis of Macromolecular Organic Material in Mars-Relevant Mineral Matrices

The fate of organic material on Mars after deposition is crucial to interpreting the source of these molecules. Previous work has addressed how various organic compounds at millimeter depths in sediments respond to ultraviolet radiation. In contrast, this study addressed how highenergy particle radiation (200MeV protons, simulating the effect of galactic cosmic rays and solar wind at depths of <45 cm) inuences organic macromolecules in sediments. Specically, we report the generation of organicacid radiolysis products after exposure to radiation doses equivalent to geological time scales (17 Myr). We found that formate and oxalate were produced from a variety of organic starting materials and mineral matrices. Unlike ultravioletdriven reactions that can invoke Fenton chemistry to produce organic acids, our work suggests that irradiation of semiconductor surfaces, such as TiO2 or possible clay minerals found on Mars, forms oxygen and hydroxyl radical species, which can break down macromolecules into organic acids. We also investigated the metastability of benzoate in multiple mineral matrices. Benzoate was added to samples prior to irradiation and persisted up to 500 kGys of exposure. Our ndings suggest that organic acids are likely a major component of organic material buried at depth on Mars

D-term Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking Generating Split N=2 Gaugino Masses of Mixed Majorana-Dirac Type

Under a few mild assumptions, N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions is shown to be spontaneously broken in a self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation of BCS/NJL type to one-loop off-shell, in the gauge theory specified by the gauge kinetic function and the superpotential of adjoint chiral superfields, in particular, that possesses N=2 extended supersymmetry spontaneously broken to N=1 at tree level. The N=2 gauginos receive mixed Majorana-Dirac masses and are split. We derive an explicit form of the gap equation, showing the existence of a nontrivial solution.Comment: 4 pages, the paper extended (a numerical plot of the solution to the gap equation, an estimate of the decay rate of the metastable vacuum, and discussion on nonvanishing term induced by the D term dynamical supersymmetry breaking diven), references adde

Reduced Fas ligand-expressing splenic CD5+ B lymphocytes in severe collagen-induced arthritis

Abstract Introduction The objective was to study immune regulation in a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis that exhibits considerable heterogeneity of disease activity. Methods T-cell receptor transgenic mice, in which nearly all CD4+ T cells recognize a single peptide of type II collagen, were immunized with collagen and observed for development of arthritis for 4 weeks. At 28 days post-immunization, splenocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry and in vitro assays for markers of immune activation and regulation. Results Disease severities ranging from 0 to 12 (on a 12-point scale) were observed. Among splenic lymphocyte populations, only the CD5+ B-cell subset displayed a decrease in relative numbers as arthritis severity increased. Splenic CD5+ B cells expressed higher levels of Fas ligand (FasL) than did CD4+ T cells or CD5- B cells in all mice, and antigen-dependent T-cell death correlated with higher levels of CD5+ B cells in cocultures. Ratios of interleukin (IL)-17 to interferon-gamma production were higher in antigen-driven cultures of splenocytes from severely arthritic mice compared to mildly or nonarthritic mice. A correlation was established between the reduced production of IL-17 in antigen-driven T-cell/B-cell cocultures and FasL, but not IL-10. Confirmation of the direct killing effect of B cells on T cells was demonstrated using an antigen-specific T hybridoma cell line. Conclusions Reduced numbers of splenic FasL+ CD5+ B cells correlated with increasing arthritis severity and decreased T-cell death in a T-cell receptor transgenic mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis. These 'killer' B cells may provide a novel mechanism for inducing T-cell death as a treatment for arthritis.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112538/1/13075_2009_Article_2632.pd