Childhood conditions influence adult progesterone levels

Background Average profiles of salivary progesterone in women vary significantly at the inter- and intrapopulation level as a function of age and acute energetic conditions related to energy intake, energy expenditure, or a combination of both. In addition to acute stressors, baseline progesterone levels differ among populations. The causes of such chronic differences are not well understood, but it has been hypothesised that they may result from varying tempos of growth and maturation and, by implication, from diverse environmental conditions encountered during childhood and adolescence. Methods and Findings To test this hypothesis, we conducted a migrant study among first- and second-generation Bangladeshi women aged 19–39 who migrated to London, UK at different points in the life-course, women still resident in Bangladesh, and women of European descent living in neighbourhoods similar to those of the migrants in London (total n = 227). Data collected included saliva samples for radioimmunoassay of progesterone, anthropometrics, and information from questionnaires on diet, lifestyle, and health. Results from multiple linear regression, controlled for anthropometric and reproductive variables, show that women who spend their childhood in conditions of low energy expenditure, stable energy intake, good sanitation, low immune challenges, and good health care in the UK have up to 103% higher levels of salivary progesterone and an earlier maturation than women who develop in less optimal conditions in Sylhet, Bangladesh (F9,178 = 5.05, p < 0.001, standard error of the mean = 0.32; adjusted R2 = 0.16). Our results point to the period prior to puberty as a sensitive phase when changes in environmental conditions positively impact developmental tempos such as menarcheal age (F2,81 = 3.21, p = 0.03) and patterns of ovarian function as measured using salivary progesterone (F2,81 = 3.14, p = 0.04). Conclusions This research demonstrates that human females use an extended period of the life cycle prior to reproductive maturation to monitor their environment and to modulate reproductive steroid levels in accordance with projected conditions they might encounter as adults. Given the prolonged investment of human pregnancy and lactation, such plasticity (extending beyond any intrauterine programming) enables a more flexible and finely tuned adjustment to the potential constraints or opportunities of the later adult environment. This research is the first, to our knowledge, to demonstrate a postuterine developmental component to variation in reproductive steroid levels in women

New energy sources: Blue energy study in Central America

The following article has been submitted to/accepted by Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy. After it is published, it will be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4976326.Blue energy or salinity difference energy takes advantage of the free energy released in the mixture of two solutions with different salinity concentrations as it happens continuously in river mouths. Among the large number of available techniques that aim to harness blue energy, capmix (or capacitive mixing) methods allow to directly extract electrical energy without the need of any electromechanical converter such as turbines or heat engines. The main goal of this article is to analyze the potential of blue energy by capmix methods in Central America. So far, blue energy studies have been principally carried out in countries from the global North. Therefore, we describe experimental results with real sea and river waters from the Gulf of Fonseca, an area of special interest due to its hydrographic richness, which is situated among Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. An electrochemical cell, which consists of a pair of activated carbon electrodes coated with cationic and anionic polyelectrolyte layers respectively, is used in the experiments. The cell voltage in open circuit (OCV) is used as a measure of the performance of the capmix process. It is found that the OCV is larger when natural river water is used instead of low salinity NaCl solutions. The rainy season in which the experiments were performed reduced the ionic content of the river, increasing the salinity difference with ocean waters. The feasibility of capmix as a means of clean energy production is discussed.Eureka SD Project (agreement number 2013-2591), Erasmus Mundus programme of the European Union.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (Project FIS2013-47666-C3- 1-R)Junta de Andalucía (Spain) project PE-2012- FQM0694EU FEDER FUND

Star cluster formation and star formation: the role of environment and star-formation efficiencies

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright Springer. DOI: 10.1007/s10509-009-0088-5By analyzing global starburst properties in various kinds of starburst and post-starburst galaxies and relating them to the properties of the star cluster populations they form, I explore the conditions for the formation of massive, compact, long-lived star clusters. The aim is to determine whether the relative amount of star formation that goes into star cluster formation as opposed to field star formation, and into the formation of massive long-lived clusters in particular, is universal or scales with star-formation rate, burst strength, star-formation efficiency, galaxy or gas mass, and whether or not there are special conditions or some threshold for the formation of star clusters that merit to be called globular clusters a few billion years later.Peer reviewe

Safety and efficacy of the bumped kinase inhibitor BKI-1553 in pregnant sheep experimentally infected with Neospora caninum tachyzoites

Neospora caninum is one of the main causes of abortion in cattle, and recent studies have highlighted its relevance as an abortifacient in small ruminants. Vaccines or drugs for the control of neosporosis are lacking. Bumped kinase inhibitors (BKIs), which are ATP-competitive inhibitors of calcium dependent protein kinase 1 (CDPK1), were shown to be highly efficacious against several apicomplexan parasites in vitro and in laboratory animal models. We here present the pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of BKI-1553 in pregnant ewes and foetuses using a pregnant sheep model of N. caninum infection. BKI-1553 showed exposure in pregnant ewes with trough concentrations of approximately 4 µM, and of 1 µM in foetuses. Subcutaneous BKI-1553 administration increased rectal temperatures shortly after treatment, and resulted in dermal nodules triggering a slight monocytosis after repeated doses at short intervals. BKI-1553 treatment decreased fever in infected pregnant ewes already after two applications, resulted in a 37–50% reduction in foetal mortality, and modulated immune responses; IFN¿ levels were increased early after infection and IgG levels were reduced subsequently. N. caninum was abundantly found in placental tissues; however, parasite detection in foetal brain tissue decreased from 94% in the infected/untreated group to 69–71% in the treated groups. In summary, BKI-1553 confers partial protection against abortion in a ruminant experimental model of N. caninum infection during pregnancy. In addition, reduced parasite detection, parasite load and lesions in foetal brains were observed

Suppression of High-p_T Neutral Pion Production in Central Pb+Pb Collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV Relative to p+C and p+Pb Collisions

Neutral pion transverse momentum spectra were measured in p+C and p+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.4 GeV at mid-rapidity 2.3 < eta_lab < 3.0 over the range 0.7< p_T < 3.5 GeV/c. The spectra are compared to pi0 spectra measured in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 17.3 GeV in the same experiment. For a wide range of Pb+Pb centralities (N_part < 300) the yield of pi0's with p_T > 2 GeV/c is larger than or consistent with the p+C or p+Pb yields scaled with the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions (N_coll), while for central Pb+Pb collisions with N_part > 350 the pi0 yield is suppressed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Pion Freeze-Out Time in Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 A GeV/c Studied via pi-/pi+ and K-/K+ Ratios

The effect of the final state Coulomb interaction on particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c has been investigated in the WA98 experiment through the study of the pi-/pi+ and K-/K+ ratios measured as a function of transverse mass. While the ratio for kaons shows no significant transverse mass dependence, the pi-/pi+ ratio is enhanced at small transverse mass values with an enhancement that increases with centrality. A silicon pad detector located near the target is used to estimate the contribution of hyperon decays to the pi-/pi+ ratio. The comparison of results with predictions of the RQMD model in which the Coulomb interaction has been incorporated allows to place constraints on the time of the pion freeze-out.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure

Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius $A$. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

Atmospheric effects on extensive air showers observed with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Atmospheric parameters, such as pressure (P), temperature (T) and density, affect the development of extensive air showers initiated by energetic cosmic rays. We have studied the impact of atmospheric variations on extensive air showers by means of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The rate of events shows a ~10% seasonal modulation and ~2% diurnal one. We find that the observed behaviour is explained by a model including the effects associated with the variations of pressure and density. The former affects the longitudinal development of air showers while the latter influences the Moliere radius and hence the lateral distribution of the shower particles. The model is validated with full simulations of extensive air showers using atmospheric profiles measured at the site of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, \nobreak{$6\times 10^{19}$eV}. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than $3.1^\circ$ from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the V\'eron-Cetty and V\'eron $12^{\rm th}$ catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is $(38^{+7}_{-6})$, compared with $21$ expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of $(69^{+11}_{-13})$. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics on 31 August 201

The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic