A solar spectroscopic absolute abundance of argon from RESIK

Observations of He-like and H-like Ar (Ar XVII and Ar XVIII) lines at 3.949 Angstroms and 3.733 Angstroms respectively with the RESIK X-ray spectrometer on the CORONAS-F spacecraft, together with temperatures and emission measures from the two channels of GOES, have been analyzed to obtain the abundance of Ar in flare plasmas in the solar corona. The line fluxes per unit emission measure show a temperature dependence like that predicted from theory, and lead to spectroscopically determined values for the absolute Ar abundance, A(Ar) = 6.44 pm 0.07 (Ar XVII) and 6.49 pm 0.16 (Ar XVIII) which are in agreement to within uncertainties. The weighted mean is 6.45 pm 0.06, which is between two recent compilations of the solar Ar abundance and suggest that the photospheric and coronal abundances of Ar are very similar.Comment: 4 figure

Recombination Rate Coefficients for KLL Di-electronic Satellite Lines of Fe XXV and Ni XXVII

The unified method for total electron-ion recombination is extended to study the dielectronic satellite (DES) lines. These lines, formed from radiative decay of autoionizing states, are highly sensitive temperature diagnostics of astrophysical and laboratory plasma sources. The computation of the unified recombination rates is based on the relativistic Breit-Pauli R-matrix method and close coupling approximation. Extending the theoretical formulation developed earlier we present recombination rate coefficients for the 22 satellite lines of KLL complexes of helium-like Fe XXV and Ni XXVII. The isolated resonance approximation, commonly used throughout plasma modeling, treats these resonances essentially as bound features except for dielectronic capture into, and autoionization out of, these levels. A line profile or cross section shape is often assumed. On the other hand, by including the coupling between the autoionizing and continuum channels, the unified method gives the intrinsic spectrum of DES lines which includes not only the energies and strengths, but also the natural line or cross section shapes. A formulation is presented to derive autoionization rates from unified resonance strengths and enable correspondence with the isolated resonance approximation. While the rates compare very well with existing rates for the strong lines to <20%, the differences for weaker DES lines are larger. We also illustrate the application of the present results to the analysis of K ALPHA complexes observed in high-temperature X-ray emission spectra of Fe XXV and Ni XXVII. There are considerable differences with previous results in the total KLL intensity for Fe XXV at temperatures below the temperature of maximum abundance in coronal equilibrium. (Abbreviated Abstract)Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physica Script

Ionization state, excited populations and emission of impurities in dynamic finite density plasmas: I. The generalized collisional-radiative model for light elements

The paper presents an integrated view of the population structure and its role in establishing the ionization state of light elements in dynamic, finite density, laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. There are four main issues, the generalized collisional-radiative picture for metastables in dynamic plasmas with Maxwellian free electrons and its particularizing to light elements, the methods of bundling and projection for manipulating the population equations, the systematic production/use of state selective fundamental collision data in the metastable resolved picture to all levels for collisonal-radiative modelling and the delivery of appropriate derived coefficients for experiment analysis. The ions of carbon, oxygen and neon are used in illustration. The practical implementation of the methods described here is part of the ADAS Project

Substantial biases in ultra-short read data sets from high-throughput DNA sequencing

Novel sequencing technologies permit the rapid production of large sequence data sets. These technologies are likely to revolutionize genetics and biomedical research, but a thorough characterization of the ultra-short read output is necessary. We generated and analyzed two Illumina 1G ultra-short read data sets, i.e. 2.8 million 27mer reads from a Beta vulgaris genomic clone and 12.3 million 36mers from the Helicobacter acinonychis genome. We found that error rates range from 0.3% at the beginning of reads to 3.8% at the end of reads. Wrong base calls are frequently preceded by base G. Base substitution error frequencies vary by 10- to 11-fold, with A > C transversion being among the most frequent and C > G transversions among the least frequent substitution errors. Insertions and deletions of single bases occur at very low rates. When simulating re-sequencing we found a 20-fold sequencing coverage to be sufficient to compensate errors by correct reads. The read coverage of the sequenced regions is biased; the highest read density was found in intervals with elevated GC content. High Solexa quality scores are over-optimistic and low scores underestimate the data quality. Our results show different types of biases and ways to detect them. Such biases have implications on the use and interpretation of Solexa data, for de novo sequencing, re-sequencing, the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms and DNA methylation sites, as well as for transcriptome analysis

Self-reported health of Australian Defence Force personnel after use of anti-malarial drugs on deployment

The Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs commissioned UQ School of Public Health to use data from health studies of the ADF deployments to East Timor and Bougainville to investigate anti-malarial drug use and health outcomes.\ua0This report presents the results of a descriptive analysis of self-reported anti-malarial drug use on deployment and self-reported health.Personnel who used the drug mefloquine reported more symptoms of psychological distress than those who used other anti-malarial drugs. However, the average differences observed were below the threshold of clinical significance and based on a small sample size in the mefloquine group.\ua0Fifty-seven participants (1.6% of the sample)\ua0mentioned the use of anti-malarial drugs as a concern in response to open-ended survey questions

Pathological Angiogenesis Requires Syndecan-4 for Efficient VEGFA-Induced VE-Cadherin Internalization

Objective: VEGFA (Vascular endothelial growth factor A) and its receptor VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) drive angiogenesis in several pathologies, including diabetic retinopathy, wet age-related macular degeneration, and cancer. Studies suggest roles for HSPGs (heparan sulfate proteoglycans) in this process, although the nature of this involvement remains elusive. Here, we set to establish the role of the HSPG SDC4 (syndecan-4) in pathological angiogenesis. Approach and Results: We report that angiogenesis is impaired in mice null for SDC4 in models of neovascular eye disease and tumor development. Our work demonstrates that SDC4 is the only SDC whose gene expression is upregulated during pathological angiogenesis and is selectively enriched on immature vessels in retinas from diabetic retinopathy patients. Combining in vivo and tissue culture models, we identified SDC4 as a downstream mediator of functional angiogenic responses to VEGFA. We found that SDC4 resides at endothelial cell junctions, interacts with vascular endothelial cadherin, and is required for its internalization in response to VEGFA. Finally, we show that pathological angiogenic responses are inhibited in a model of wet age-related macular degeneration by targeting SDC4. Conclusions: We show that SDC4 is a downstream mediator of VEGFA-induced vascular endothelial cadherin internalization during pathological angiogenesis and a potential target for antiangiogenic therapies

Pathological Angiogenesis Requires Syndecan-4 for Efficient VEGFA-Induced VE-Cadherin Internalization.

Objective: VEGFA (Vascular endothelial growth factor A) and its receptor VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) drive angiogenesis in several pathologies, including diabetic retinopathy, wet age-related macular degeneration, and cancer. Studies suggest roles for HSPGs (heparan sulfate proteoglycans) in this process, although the nature of this involvement remains elusive. Here, we set to establish the role of the HSPG SDC4 (syndecan-4) in pathological angiogenesis. / Approach and Results: We report that angiogenesis is impaired in mice null for SDC4 in models of neovascular eye disease and tumor development. Our work demonstrates that SDC4 is the only SDC whose gene expression is upregulated during pathological angiogenesis and is selectively enriched on immature vessels in retinas from diabetic retinopathy patients. Combining in vivo and tissue culture models, we identified SDC4 as a downstream mediator of functional angiogenic responses to VEGFA. We found that SDC4 resides at endothelial cell junctions, interacts with vascular endothelial cadherin, and is required for its internalization in response to VEGFA. Finally, we show that pathological angiogenic responses are inhibited in a model of wet age-related macular degeneration by targeting SDC4. / Conclusions: We show that SDC4 is a downstream mediator of VEGFA-induced vascular endothelial cadherin internalization during pathological angiogenesis and a potential target for antiangiogenic therapies

Dynamics and Radiation of Young Type-Ia Supernova Remnants: Important Physical Processes

We examine and analyze the physical processes that should be taken into account when modeling young type-Ia SNRs, with ages of several hundred years. It is shown, that energy losses in the metal-rich ejecta can be essential for remnants already at this stage of evolution. The influence of electron thermal conduction and the rate of the energy exchange between electrons and ions on the temperature distribution and the X-radiation from such remnants is studied. The data for Tycho SNR from the XMM-Newton X-ray telescope have been employed for the comparison of calculations with observations.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

A link between labor participation, mental health and class of medication for mental well-being

We examined the relationship between mental health and labor participation. Analysis was based on the Australian National Health Survey, providing a nationally representative sample using 14,788 observations. Accounting for endogeneity, analysis revealed that females were almost twice more responsive to changes in mental health on labor participation compared to males. Among Australians who did not take medication for mental wellbeing, poorer levels of mental health was associated with a reduction in the probability of labor participation. Among females with poorer mental health, taking any medication for mental well-being led to a decrease in the probability of labor participation. This relationship was not significant for males

The association between mental health nursing and hospital admissions for people with serious mental illness: a protocol for a systematic review

Background: Relapse in individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) is a frequent occurrence and can add considerably to the burden of disease. As such, relapse prevention is an essential therapeutic outcome for people with SMI. Mental health nurses (MHNs) are well placed to support individuals with SMI and to prevent relapse; notwithstanding, there has been no synthesis of the evidence to date to determine whether MHNs prevent relapse in this population. Methods: Electronic databases will be systemically searched for observational studies and clinical trials that report the association between mental health nursing and the hospitalisation of persons living with an SMI. The search will be supplemented by reference checking and a search of the grey literature. The primary outcome of interest will be hospital admission rate. Screening of articles, data extraction and critical appraisal will be undertaken by two reviewers, independently, with a third reviewer consulted should disagreement occur between reviewers. The quality of studies will be assessed using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies - of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool and the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. Depending on the number of studies and level of heterogeneity, the evidence may be synthesised using meta-analysis or narrative synthesis. Discussion: This review will explore for the first time the clinical potential of mental health nursing in preventing relapse in persons with SMI. The findings of this review will serve to inform future research and education in this area. The evidence may also help inform future policy, including decisions regarding future mental health workforce development and planning