Radion Stabilization in Compact Hyperbolic Extra Dimensions

We consider radion stabilization in hyperbolic brane-world scenarios. We demonstrate that in the context of Einstein gravity, matter fields which stabilize the extra dimensions must violate the null energy condition. This result is shown to hold even allowing for FRW-like expansion on the brane. In particular, we explicitly demonstrate how one putative source of stabilizing matter fails to work, and how others violate the above condition. We speculate on a number of ways in which we may bypass this result, including the effect of Casimir energy in these spaces. A brief discussion of supersymmetry in these backgrounds is also given.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

Understanding Business Travel Time and Its Place in the Working Day

This article argues that there is a need to understand business travel time in the context of the wider organization of work time. It considers why travel time use is potentially changing with the use of mobile technologies by the increasing number of individuals engaged in ‘knowledge work’, and examines existing evidence that indicates that travel time use is part of a wider work-related ‘taskscape’. However, it not only considers material productive output, but suggests that travel time as ‘time out’ from work-related activities also plays a vital role for employees. It also suggests that business travel time use that is not of benefit to the employer may not be at the employer's expense. This is contrasted with the assumptions used in UK transport appraisal. Data gathered from the autumn 2004 wave of the National Rail Passenger Survey (GB) is used to illustrate some key issues concerning productivity and ‘anti-activity’. A case study of an individual business traveller then points towards the need for a new approach to exploring the role played by travel time in the organization of work practices to be considered. © 2008, Sage Publications. All rights reserved

Infection-related acute care events among patients with glomerular disease

Background and objectives Infections contribute to patient morbidity and mortality in glomerular disease. We sought to describe the incidence of, and identify risk factors for, infection-related acute care events among Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network (CureGN) study participants. Design, setting, participants, & measurements CureGN is a prospective, multicenter, cohort study of children and adults with biopsy sample–proven minimal change disease, FSGS, membranous nephropathy, or IgA nephropathy/vasculitis. Risk factors for time to first infection-related acute care events (hospitalization or emergency department visit) were identified using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Results Of 1741 participants (43%female, 41%,18 years, 68%White), 163 (9%) experienced infection-related acute care events over a median follow-up of 17months (interquartile range, 9–26months).Unadjusted incidence rates of infection-related acute care events were 13.2 and 6.2 events per 100 person-years among pediatric and adult participants, respectively. Among participants with versus without corticosteroid exposure at enrollment, unadjusted incidence rates were 50.6 and 28.6 per 100 person-years, respectively, during the first year of follow-up (adjusted hazard ratio for time to first infection, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.93), and 4.1 and 1.1 per 100 person-years, respectively, after 1 year of follow-up (hazard ratio, 2.99; 95%CI, 1.54 to 5.79). Hypoalbuminemia combined with nephrotic-range proteinuria (serum albumin #2.5 g/dl and urinary protein-creatinine ratio.3.5 mg/mg), compared with serumalbumin.2.5 g/dl and urinary protein-creatinine ratio#3.5 mg/mg, was associated with higher risk of time to first infection (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.51 to 4.12). Conclusions Among CureGN participants, infection-related acute care events were common and associated with younger age, corticosteroid exposure, and hypoalbuminemia with proteinuria

Physiological stress response, reflex impairment and delayed mortality of white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus exposed to simulated fisheries stressors

White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are the largest freshwater fish in North America and a species exposed to widespread fishing pressure. Despite the growing interest in recreational fishing for white sturgeon, little is known about the sublethal and lethal impacts of angling on released sturgeon. In summer (July 2014, mean water temperature 15.3°C) and winter (February 2015, mean water temperature 6.6°C), captive white sturgeon (n = 48) were exposed to a combination of exercise and air exposure as a method of simulating an angling event. After the stressor, sturgeon were assessed for a physiological stress response, and reflex impairments were quantified to determine overall fish vitality (i.e. capacity for survival). A physiological stress response occurred in all sturgeon exposed to a fishing-related stressor, with the magnitude of the res

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Enzymatic characterization and homology model of a catalytically active recombinant West Nile virus NS3 protease

West Nile Virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus with a rapidly expanding global distribution. Infection causes severe neurological disease and fatalities in both human and animal hosts. The West Nile viral protease (NS2B-NS3) is essential for post-translational processing in host-infected cells of a viral polypeptide precursor into structural and functional viral proteins, and its inhibition could represent a potential treatment for viral infections. This article describes the design, expression, and enzymatic characterization of a catalytically active recombinant WNV protease, consisting of a 40-residue component of cofactor NS2B tethered via a noncleavable nonapeptide (G(4)SG(4)) to the N-terminal 184 residues of NS3. A chromogenic assay using synthetic para-nitroanilide (pNA) hexapeptide substrates was used to identify optimal enzyme-processing conditions (pH 9.5, I < 0.1 M, 30% glycerol, 1 mM CHAPS), preferred substrate cleavage sites, and the first competitive inhibitor (Ac-FASGKR- H, IC50 &SIM; 1 μM). A putative three-dimensional structure of WNV protease, created through homology modeling based on the crystal structures of Dengue-2 and Hepatitis C NS3 viral proteases, provides some valuable insights for structure-based design of potent and selective inhibitors of WNV protease

Achievements and Challenges in the Science of Space Weather

In June 2016 a group of 40 space weather scientists attended the workshop on Scientific Foundations of Space Weather at the International Space Science Institute in Bern. In this lead article to the volume based on the talks and discussions during the workshop we review some of main past achievements in the field and outline some of the challenges that the science of space weather is facing today and in the future.Peer reviewe