Eigenvalue clusters of the Landau Hamiltonian in the exterior of a compact domain

We consider the Schrodinger operator with a constant magnetic field in the exterior of a compact domain on the plane. The spectrum of this operator consists of clusters of eigenvalues around the Landau levels. We discuss the rate of accumulation of eigenvalues in a fixed cluster.Comment: 16 pages, Late

An overview of jets and outflows in stellar mass black holes

In this book chapter, we will briefly review the current empirical understanding of the relation between accretion state and and outflows in accreting stellar mass black holes. The focus will be on the empirical connections between X-ray states and relativistic (`radio') jets, although we are now also able to draw accretion disc winds into the picture in a systematic way. We will furthermore consider the latest attempts to measure/order jet power, and to compare it to other (potentially) measurable quantities, most importantly black hole spin.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Also to appear in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI - The Physics of Accretion on to Black Holes (Springer Publisher

How to write an ICS/IUGA conference abstract

Contains fulltext : 88292.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)INTRODUCTION: This article aims to condense the lectures and discussions from workshops on good reporting at IUGA Como 2009 and ICS San Francisco 2009, providing practical advice for the novice researcher summarising their data for the first time. CONCLUSIONS: Drafting an abstract can be a time consuming process. Formal guidance, such as CONSORT and STROBE, exists for the kinds of information that should be included regarding almost all designs of clinical trials. Follow the abstract submission rules closely to avoid outright rejection. Plan to highlight the novelty, scientific merit and clinical impact of the work. Try not to overstate the importance of the findings. Do not forget to publish the work in a peer reviewed journal.1 mei 201

Inhalative Exposure to Vanadium Pentoxide Causes DNA Damage in Workers: Results of a Multiple End Point Study

BackgroundInhalative exposure to vanadium pentoxide (V(2)O(5)) causes lung cancer in rodents.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to investigate the impact of V(2)O(5) on DNA stability in workers from a V(2)O(5) factory.MethodsWe determined DNA strand breaks in leukocytes of 52 workers and controls using the alkaline comet assay. We also investigated different parameters of chromosomal instability in lymphocytes of 23 workers and 24 controls using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (MN) cytome method.ResultsSeven of eight biomarkers were increased in blood cells of the workers, and vanadium plasma concentrations in plasma were 7-fold higher than in the controls (0.31 microg/L). We observed no difference in DNA migration under standard conditions, but we found increased tail lengths due to formation of oxidized purines (7%) and pyrimidines (30%) with lesion-specific enzymes (formamidopyrimidine glycosylase and endonuclease III) in the workers. Bleomycin-induced DNA migration was higher in the exposed group (25%), whereas the repair of bleomycin-induced lesions was reduced. Workers had a 2.5-fold higher MN frequency, and nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs) and nuclear buds (Nbuds) were increased 7-fold and 3-fold, respectively. Also, apoptosis and necrosis rates were higher, but only the latter parameter reached statistical significance.ConclusionsV(2)O(5) causes oxidation of DNA bases, affects DNA repair, and induces formation of MNs, NPBs, and Nbuds in blood cells, suggesting that the workers are at increased risk for cancer and other diseases that are related to DNA instability.Veronika A. Ehrlich, Armen K. Nersesyan, Kambis Atefie, Christine Hoelzl, Franziska Ferk, Julia Bichler, Eva Valic, Andreas Schaffer, Rolf Schulte‑Hermann, Michael Fenech, Karl‑Heinz Wagner and Siegfried Knasmüllerhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2599764

Anatomical heterogeneity of tendon: Fascicular and interfascicular tendon compartments have distinct proteomic composition

This study was funded by the BBSRC (BB/K008412/1)

A new efficient trial design for assessing reliability of ankle-brachial index measures by three different observer groups

BACKGROUND: The usual method of assessing the variability of a measure such as the ankle brachial index (ABI) as a function of different observer groups is to obtain repeated measurements. Because the number of possible observer-subject combinations is impractically large, only a few small studies on inter- and intraobserver variability of ABI measures have been carried out to date. The present study proposes a new and efficient study design. This paper describes the study methodology. METHODS: Using a partially balanced incomplete block design, six angiologists, six primary-care physicians and six trained medical office assistants performed two ABI measurements each on six individuals from a group of 36 unselected subjects aged 65–70 years. Each test subject is measured by one observer from each of the three observer groups, and each observer measures exactly six of the 36 subjects in the group. Each possible combination of two observers occurs exactly once per patient and is not repeated on a second subject. The study involved four groups of 36 subjects (144), plus standbys. RESULTS: The 192 volunteers present at the study day were similar in terms of demographic characteristics and vascular risk factors: mean age 68.6 ± 1.7; mean BMI 29.1 ± 4.6; mean waist-hip ratio 0.92 ± 0.09; active smokers 12%; hypertension 60.9%; hypercholesterolemia 53.4%; diabetic 17.2%. A complete set of ABI measurements (three observers performing two Doppler measurements each) was obtained from 108 subjects. From all other subjects at least one ABI measurement was obtained. The mean ABI was 1.08 (± 0.13), 15 (7.9%) volunteers had an ABI <0.9, and none had an ABI >1.4, i.e. a ratio that may be associated with increased stiffening of the arterial walls. CONCLUSION: This is the first large-scale study investigating the components of variability and thus reliability in ABI measurements. The advantage of the new study design introduced here is that only one sixth of the number of theoretically possible measurements is required to obtain information about measurement errors. Bland-Altman plots show that there are only small differences and no systematic bias between the observers from three occupational groups with different training backgrounds

When passive feels active - delusion-proneness alters self-recognition in the moving rubber hand illusion

Psychotic patients have problems with bodily self-recognition such as the experience of self-produced actions (sense of agency) and the perception of the body as their own (sense of ownership). While it has been shown that such impairments in psychotic patients can be explained by hypersalient processing of external sensory input it has also been suggested that they lack normal efference copy in voluntary action. However, it is not known how problems with motor predictions like efference copy contribute to impaired sense of agency and ownership in psychosis or psychosis-related states. We used a rubber hand illusion based on finger movements and measured sense of agency and ownership to compute a bodily self-recognition score in delusion-proneness (indexed by Peters’ Delusion Inventory - PDI). A group of healthy subjects (n=71) experienced active movements (involving motor predictions) or passive movements (lacking motor predictions). We observed a highly significant correlation between delusion-proneness and self-recognition in the passive conditions, while no such effect was observed in the active conditions. This was seen for both ownership and agency scores. The result suggests that delusion-proneness is associated with hypersalient external input in passive conditions, resulting in an abnormal experience of the illusion. We hypothesize that this effect is not present in the active condition because deficient motor predictions counteract hypersalience in psychosis proneness

Histone H3 globular domain acetylation identifies a new class of enhancers

Histone acetylation is generally associated with active chromatin, but most studies have focused on the acetylation of histone tails. Various histone H3 and H4 tail acetylations mark the promoters of active genes. These modifications include acetylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27ac), which blocks Polycomb-mediated trimethylation of H3K27 (H3K27me3). H3K27ac is also widely used to identify active enhancers, and the assumption has been that profiling H3K27ac is a comprehensive way of cataloguing the set of active enhancers in mammalian cell types. Here we show that acetylation of lysine residues in the globular domain of histone H3 (lysine 64 (H3K64ac) and lysine 122 (H3K122ac)) marks active gene promoters and also a subset of active enhancers. Moreover, we find a new class of active functional enhancers that is marked by H3K122ac but lacks H3K27ac. This work suggests that, to identify enhancers, a more comprehensive analysis of histone acetylation is required than has previously been considered