Physical properties of the Apollo 12 lunar fines

Optical and radio frequency electrical properties and grain size analyses of Apollo 11 and 12 lunar soil sample

Stable Branched Electron Flow

The pattern of branched electron flow revealed by scanning gate microscopy shows the distribution of ballistic electron trajectories. The details of the pattern are determined by the correlated potential of remote dopants with an amplitude far below the Fermi energy. We find that the pattern persists even if the electron density is significantly reduced such that the change in Fermi energy exceeds the background potential amplitude. The branch pattern is robust against changes in charge carrier density, but not against changes in the background potential caused by additional illumination of the sample.Comment: Accepted for publication in New Journal of Physic

Chemical characterization and reactivity of iron chelator-treated amphibole asbestos.

Iron in amphibole asbestos is implicated in the pathogenicity of inhaled fibers. Evidence includes the observation that iron chelators can suppress fiber-induced tissue damage. This is believed to occur via the diminished production of fiber-associated reactive oxygen species. The purpose of this study was to explore possible mechanisms for the reduction of fiber toxicity by iron chelator treatments. We studied changes in the amount and the oxidation states of bulk and surface iron in crocidolite and amosite asbestos that were treated with iron-chelating desferrioxamine, ferrozine, sodium ascorbate, and phosphate buffer solutions. The results have been compared with the ability of the fibers to produce free radicals and decompose hydrogen peroxide in a cell-free system in vitro. We found that chelators can affect the amount of iron at the surface of the asbestos fibers and its valence, and that they can modify the chemical reactivity of these surfaces. However, we found no obvious or direct correlations between fiber reactivity and the amount of iron removed, the amount of iron at the fiber surface, or the oxidation state of surface iron. Our results suggest that surface Fe3+ ions may play a role in fiber-related carboxylate radical formation, and that desferrioxamine and phosphate groups detected at treated fiber surfaces may play a role in diminishing and enhancing, respectively, fiber redox activity. It is proposed that iron mobility in the silicate structure may play a larger role in the chemical reactivity of asbestos than previously assumed

New evidence for lack of CMB power on large scales

A digitalized temperature map is recovered from the first light sky survey image published by the Planck team, from which an angular power spectrum is derived. The amplitudes of the low multipoles measured from the preliminary Planck power spectrum are significantly lower than that reported by the WMAP team. Possible systematical effects are far from enough to explain the observed low-l differences.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Statistical Isotropy violation of the CMB brightness fluctuations

Certain anomalies at large angular scales in the cosmic microwave background measured by WMAP have been suggested as possible evidence of breakdown of statistical isotropy(SI). Most CMB photons free-stream to the present from the surface of last scattering. It is thus reasonable to expect statistical isotropy violation in the CMB photon distribution observed now to have originated from SI violation in the baryon-photon fluid at last scattering, in addition to anisotropy of the primordial power spectrum studied earlier in literature. We consider the generalized anisotropic brightness distribution fluctuations, $\Delta(\vec{k}, \hat{n}, \tau)$ (at conformal time $\tau$) in contrast to the SI case where it is simply a function of $|\vec{k}|$ and $\hat{k} \cdot \hat{n}$. The brightness fluctuations expanded in Bipolar Spherical Harmonic (BipoSH) series, can then be written as $\Delta_{\ell_1 \ell_2}^{L M}(\vec{k}, \tau)$ where $L > 0$ terms encode deviations from statistical isotropy. We study the evolution of $\Delta_{\ell_1 \ell_2}^{L M}(\vec{k}, \tau)$ from non-zero terms $\Delta_{\ell_3 \ell_4}^{L M}(\vec{k}, \tau_s)$ at last scattering. Similar to the SI case, power at small spherical harmonic (SH) multipoles of $\Delta_{\ell_3 \ell_4}^{L M}(\vec{k},\tau_s)$ at the last scattering, is transferred to $\Delta_{\ell_1 \ell_2}^{L M}(\vec{k}, \tau)$ at larger SH multipoles. The structural similarity is more apparent in the asymptotic expression for large values of the final SH multipoles. This formalism allows an elegant identification of any SI violation observed today to a possible origin in the SI violation present in the baryon-photon fluid (eg., due to the presence of significant magnetic field).Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, added illustrative example of SI violation in baryon-photon fluid, matches version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Predictors of short-term clinical response to cardiac resynchronization therapy

Aims: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) reduces morbidity and mortality in patients with symptomatic heart failure and QRS prolongation but there is uncertainty about which patient characteristics predict short-term clinical response. Methods and results: In an individual patient meta-analysis of three double-blind, randomized trials, clinical composite score (CCS) at 6 months was compared in patients assigned to CRT programmed on or off. Treatment–covariate interactions were assessed to measure likelihood of improved CCS at 6 months. MIRACLE, MIRACLE ICD, and REVERSE trials contributed data for this analysis (n = 1591). Multivariable modelling identified QRS duration and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) as predictors of CRT clinical response (P < 0.05). The odds ratio for a better CCS at 6 months increased by 3.7% for every 1% decrease in LVEF for patients assigned to CRT-on compared to CRT-off, and was greatest when QRS duration was between 160 and 180 ms. Conclusions: In symptomatic chronic heart failure patients (NYHA class II–IV), longer QRS duration and lower LVEF independently predict early clinical response to CRT

Progression of myopathology in Kearns-Sayre syndrome

We report on the progression of myopathology by comparing two biopsies from a patient with a Kearns-Sayre-Syndrome. The first biopsy was taken in 1979 and showed 10% ragged-red fibers. Myopathic changes were slight including internal nuclei and fiber splitting in 10% of the fibers. Electron microscopy revealed typical mitochondrial abnormalities with regard to number and shape. In 1989 a second biopsy was performed for an extended analysis of mitochondrial DNA. This time less than 5% of all fibers were ragged-red. Severe myopathic changes could be detected which so far has rarely been reported in mitochondrial cytopathy