912 research outputs found
Coulomb excitation of 102 Ru with 12 C and 16 O
The Coulomb excitation of 102Ru was performed with beams of 12C and 16O ions. The beam particles
scattered at forward angles were momentum analyzed with a magnetic spectrograph. The resolution achieved
enabled the populations of the 2+
1 state, the unresolved 2+
2 /4+
1 , and 2+
4 /3â
1 , doublets of states, and the 3â
2
state to be determined as a function of the scattering angle. These populations are compared with GOSIA
calculations, yielding B(E2; 2+
1 â 0+
1 ) = 41.5 ± 2.3 W.u., B(E2; 2+
2 â 0+
1 ) = 1.75 ± 0.11 W.u., B(E3; 3â
1 â
0+
1 ) = 31.5 ± 3.5 W.u., and B(E3; 3â
2 â 0+
1 ) = 6.8 ± 0.5 W.u. The B(E3; 3â
1 â 0+
1 ) value is significantly
larger than previously measured. The weakly populated 2+
3 state, presumed to be a member of the band built
on the 0+
2 state, was observed clearly for a single angle only, and a fit to its population results in B(E2; 2+
3 â
0+
1 ) = 0.053 ± 0.011 W.u. Using the known γ -ray branching ratios for the 2+
3 level, the B(E2; 2+
3 â 0+
2 ) value
is calculated to be 18 ± 4 W.u., substantially less than the B(E2; 2+
1 â 0+
1 ). This suggests that the deformation
of the 0+
2 state is lower than that of the 0+
1 state. The results are compared with beyond-mean-field calculations
with the Gogny-D1S interaction using the symmetry-conserving configuration-mixing method
Long-term use of antibiotics and risk of colorectal adenoma
ObjectiveâRecent evidence suggests that antibiotic use, which alters the gut microbiome, is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. However, the association between antibiotic use and risk of colorectal adenoma, the precursor for the majority of colorectal cancers, has not been investigated.
DesignâWe prospectively evaluated the association between antibiotic use at age 20â39 and 40â59 (assessed in 2004) and recent antibiotic use (assessed in 2008) with risk of subsequent colorectal adenoma among 16,642 women aged â„60 enrolled in the Nursesâ Health Study who underwent at least one colonoscopy through 2010. We used multivariate logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
ResultsâWe documented 1,195 cases of adenoma. Increasing duration of antibiotic use at age 20â39 (Ptrend=0.002) and 40â59 (Ptrend=0.001) was significantly associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenoma. Compared to non-users, women who used antibiotics for â„2 months between age 20â39 had a multivariable OR of 1.36 (95% CI: 1.03â1.79). Women who used â„2 months of antibiotics between age 40â59 had a multivariable OR of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.24â2.31). The associations were similar for low-risk vs. high-risk adenomas (size â„1 cm, or with tubulovillous/villous histology, or â„3 detected lesions), but appeared modestly stronger for proximal compared with distal adenomas. In contrast, recent antibiotic use within the past 4 years was not associated with risk of adenoma (Ptrend=0.44).
ConclusionsâLong-term antibiotic use in early to middle adulthood was associated with increased risk of colorectal adenoma
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MHC-I genotype and tumor mutational burden predict response to immunotherapy.
BackgroundImmune checkpoint blockade (ICB) with antibodies inhibiting cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) (or its ligand (PD-L1)) can stimulate immune responses against cancer and have revolutionized the treatment of tumors. The influence of host germline genetics and its interaction with tumor neoantigens remains poorly defined. We sought to determine the interaction between tumor mutational burden (TMB) and the ability of a patient's major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) to efficiently present mutated driver neoantigens in predicting response ICB.MethodsComprehensive genomic profiling was performed on 83 patients with diverse cancers treated with ICB to determine TMB and human leukocyte antigen-I (HLA-I) genotype. The ability of a patient's MHC-I to efficiently present mutated driver neoantigens (defined by the Patient Harmonic-mean Best Rank (PHBR) score (with lower PHBR indicating more efficient presentation)) was calculated for each patient.ResultsThe median progression-free survival (PFS) for PHBR scoreâ<â0.5 vs. â„â0.5 was 5.1 vs. 4.4âmonths (Pâ=â0.04). Using a TMB cutoff of 10 mutations/mb, the stable disease >â6âmonths/partial response/complete response rate, median PFS, and median overall survival (OS) of TMB high/PHBR high vs. TMB high/PHBR low were 43% vs. 78% (Pâ=â0.049), 5.8 vs. 26.8âmonths (Pâ=â0.03), and 17.2âmonths vs. not reached (Pâ=â0.23), respectively. These findings were confirmed in an independent validation cohort of 32 patients.ConclusionsPoor presentation of driver mutation neoantigens by MHC-I may explain why some tumors (even with a high TMB) do not respond to ICB
Imprints, Vol. 3
Imprints, Vol. 3
Laura Lundgren, Stephen F Austin State UniversitySandra L. Standley, Stephen F Austin State UniversityMelissa Miller, Stephen F Austin State UniversityCurtis Simmons, Stephen F Austin State UniversityVaughn Hamilton, Stephen F Austin State UniversitySteve Geissen, Stephen F Austin State UniversityEdward Shelton, Stephen F Austin State UniversityJames L. Choron, Stephen F Austin State UniversityAnderson Kelley, Stephen F Austin State UniversityAndrew J. Urbanus, Stephen F Austin State UniversityGordon Garrett Conner, Stephen F Austin State UniversityJames Chionsini Jr., Stephen F Austin State UniversityPaul M. Thomason, Stephen F Austin State UniversityCarol McBrayerJessica Anton, Stephen F Austin State University
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Imprints is the official publication for Sigma Tau Delta, the honorary English fraternity. The editors welcome creative works submitted by contributors and also publish winners of the annual T. E. Ferguson Writing Contest. Especially welcom are poems, fiction pieces and essays of no more than 5,000 words in length. At this time, we would like to express our gratitude to David Whitescarver, Sigma Tau Delta faculty advisor, for his unrelenting optimism and valuable help in the preparation of this journal
The fables of pity: Rousseau, Mandeville and the animal-fable
Copyright @ 2012 Edinburgh University PressPrompted by Derridaâs work on the animal-fable in eighteenth-century debates about political power, this article examines the role played by the fiction of the animal in thinking of pity as either a natural virtue (in Rousseauâs Second Discourse) or as a natural passion (in Mandevilleâs The Fable of the Bees). The war of fables between Rousseau and Mandeville â and their hostile reception by Samuel Johnson and Adam Smith â reinforce that the animal-fable illustrates not so much the proper of man as the possibilities and limitations of a moral philosophy that is unable to address the political realities of the state
The Multi-Object, Fiber-Fed Spectrographs for SDSS and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
We present the design and performance of the multi-object fiber spectrographs
for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and their upgrade for the Baryon
Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Originally commissioned in Fall 1999
on the 2.5-m aperture Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the
spectrographs produced more than 1.5 million spectra for the SDSS and SDSS-II
surveys, enabling a wide variety of Galactic and extra-galactic science
including the first observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in 2005. The
spectrographs were upgraded in 2009 and are currently in use for BOSS, the
flagship survey of the third-generation SDSS-III project. BOSS will measure
redshifts of 1.35 million massive galaxies to redshift 0.7 and Lyman-alpha
absorption of 160,000 high redshift quasars over 10,000 square degrees of sky,
making percent level measurements of the absolute cosmic distance scale of the
Universe and placing tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy.
The twin multi-object fiber spectrographs utilize a simple optical layout
with reflective collimators, gratings, all-refractive cameras, and
state-of-the-art CCD detectors to produce hundreds of spectra simultaneously in
two channels over a bandpass covering the near ultraviolet to the near
infrared, with a resolving power R = \lambda/FWHM ~ 2000. Building on proven
heritage, the spectrographs were upgraded for BOSS with volume-phase
holographic gratings and modern CCD detectors, improving the peak throughput by
nearly a factor of two, extending the bandpass to cover 360 < \lambda < 1000
nm, and increasing the number of fibers from 640 to 1000 per exposure. In this
paper we describe the original SDSS spectrograph design and the upgrades
implemented for BOSS, and document the predicted and measured performances.Comment: 43 pages, 42 figures, revised according to referee report and
accepted by AJ. Provides background for the instrument responsible for SDSS
and BOSS spectra. 4th in a series of survey technical papers released in
Summer 2012, including arXiv:1207.7137 (DR9), arXiv:1207.7326 (Spectral
Classification), and arXiv:1208.0022 (BOSS Overview
LSST Science Book, Version 2.0
A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint
magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science
opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)
will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field
of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over
20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with
fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a
total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic
parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book
discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a
broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and
outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies,
the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local
Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the
properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then
turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to
z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and
baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to
constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at
http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo
LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in
the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of
science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will
have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is
driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking
an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and
mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at
Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m
effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel
camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second
exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given
night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000
square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5
point-source depth in a single visit in will be (AB). The
project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations
by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg with
, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, ,
covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time
will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a
18,000 deg region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the
anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to . The
remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a
Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products,
including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion
objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures
available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie
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