Cancer experience in the relatives of an unselected series of breast cancer patients

First- and second-degree relatives of an unselected series of 402 breast cancer patients have been studied for their cancer experience. In the first-degree relatives an excess of all cancers is seen [overall relative risk (RR) = 1.28, P = 0.002; males RR = 1.26, P = 0.047; females RR = 1.30, P = 0.022). There is a marked excess of sarcoma (RR = 4.26, P = 0.0064); females are at high risk of breast cancer (RR = 2.68, P < 0.0001) and males have an excess of carcinoma of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx (RR = 4.22, P = 0.0032). Second-degree relatives have a non-significant excess of all cancers (RR = 1.14, P = 0.14); females have a borderline excess of breast cancer (RR = 1.53, P = 0.08) and an excess of carcinoma of the kidney (RR = 7.46, P = 0.0012) and males have an excess of carcinoma of the trachea and lung (RR = 1.50, P = 0.032). No excess of prostate or ovarian carcinoma was seen. Relatives are at slightly higher risk if the index patient is diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 49 (first-degree RR = 1.64, P = 0.007; second-degree RR = 1.43, P = 0.02). The excess of cancers, including breast cancers, is not limited to a few high-risk families, but appears to be spread across many. These observations may be accounted for by shared environmental factors within families or a common predisposing gene with low penetrance

Intervention for word-finding difficulty for children starting school who have diverse language backgrounds

Children who have word-finding difficulty can be identified by the pattern of disfluencies in their spontaneous speech; in particular whole-word repetition of prior words often occurs when they cannot retrieve the subsequent word. Work is reviewed that shows whole-word repetitions can be used to identify children from diverse language backgrounds who have word-finding difficulty. The symptom-based identification procedure was validated using a non-word repetition task. Children who were identified as having word-finding difficulty were given phonological training that taught them features of English that they lacked (this depended on their language background). Then they received semantic training. In the cases of children whose first language was not English, the children were primed to use English and then presented with material where there was interference in meanings across the languages (English names had to be produced). It was found that this training improved a range of outcome measures related to education

Type IA supernovae from very long delayed explosion of core - WD merger

We study the spinning down time scale of rapidly rotating white dwarfs (WDs) in the frame of the core-degenerate (CD) scenario for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). In the CD scenario the Chandrasekhar or super-Chandrasekhar mass WD is formed at the termination of the common envelope phase or during the planetary nebula phase, from a merger of a WD companion with the hot core of a massive asymptotic giant branch star. In the CD scenario the rapidly rotating WD is formed shortly after the stellar formation episode, and the delay from stellar formation to explosion is basically determined by the spin-down time of the rapidly rotating merger remnant. We find that gravitational radiation is inefficient in spinning down WDs, while the magneto-dipole radiation torque can lead to delay times that are required to explain SNe Ia.Comment: MNRAS, in pres

Supernovae and Positron Annihilation

Radioactive nuclei, especially those created in SN explosion, have long been suggested to be important contributors of galactic positrons. In this paper we describe the findings of three independent OSSE/SMM/TGRS studies of positron annihilation radiation, demonstrating that the three studies are largely in agreement as to the distribution of galactic annihilation radiation. We then assess the predicted yields and distributions of SN-synthesized radionuclei, determining that they are marginally compatible with the findings of the annihilation radiation studies.Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in New Astronomy Reviews (Astronomy with Radioactivites III

Towards distributed diagnosis of the Tennessee Eastman process benchmark

A distributed hybrid strategy is outlined for the isolation of faults and disturbances in the Tennessee Eastman process, which would build on existing structures for distributed control systems, so should be easy to implement, be cheap and be widely applicable. The main emphasis in the paper is on one component of the strategy, a steady-state-based approach. Results obtained by applying this approach are presented and knowledge limitations are discussed. In particular a way in which a knowledge-base might evolve to improve isolation capabilities is suggested and the role of the operator is briefly discussed

Asteroid taxonomic signatures from photometric phase curves

We explore the correlation between an asteroid's taxonomy and photometric phase curve using the H, G12 photometric phase function, with the shape of the phase function described by the single parameter G12. We explore the usability of G12 in taxonomic classification for individual objects, asteroid families, and dynamical groups. We conclude that the mean values of G12 for the considered taxonomic complexes are statistically different, and also discuss the overall shape of the G12 distribution for each taxonomic complex. Based on the values of G12 for about half a million asteroids, we compute the probabilities of C, S, and X complex membership for each asteroid. For an individual asteroid, these probabilities are rather evenly distributed over all of the complexes, thus preventing meaningful classification. We then present and discuss the G12 distributions for asteroid families, and predict the taxonomic complex preponderance for asteroid families given the distribution of G12 in each family. For certain asteroid families, the probabilistic prediction of taxonomic complex preponderance can clearly be made. The Nysa-Polana family shows two distinct regions in the proper element space with different G12 values dominating in each region. We conclude that the G12-based probabilistic distribution of taxonomic complexes through the main belt agrees with the general view of C complex asteroid proportion increasing towards the outer belt. We conclude that the G12 photometric parameter cannot be used in determining taxonomic complex for individual asteroids, but it can be utilized in the statistical treatment of asteroid families and different regions of the main asteroid belt.Comment: submitted to Icaru

Integrated Colours of Milky Way Globular Clusters and Horizontal Branch Morphology

Broadband colours are often used as metallicity proxies in the study of extragalactic globular clusters. A common concern is the effect of variations in horizontal branch (HB) morphology--the second-parameter effect--on such colours. We have used UBVI, Washington, and DDO photometry for a compilation of over 80 Milky Way globular clusters to address this question. Our method is to fit linear relations between colour and [Fe/H], and study the correlations between the residuals about these fits and two quantitative measures of HB morphology. While there is a significant HB effect seen in U-B, for the commonly used colours B-V, V-I, and C-T_1, the deviations from the baseline colour-[Fe/H] relations are less strongly related to HB morphology. There may be weak signatures in B-V and C-T_1, but these are at the limit of observational uncertainties. The results may favour the use of B-I in studies of extragalactic globular clusters, especially when its high [Fe/H]-sensitivity is considered.Comment: 19 pages, including 26 figures. AN in press. Figure 9 stubbornly resists attempts to correct i

Serendipitous Kepler observations of a background dwarf nova of SU UMa type

We have discovered a dwarf nova (DN) of type SU UMa in Kepler data which is 7.0 arcsec from the G-type exoplanet survey target KIC 4378554. The DN appears as a background source in the pixel aperture of the foreground G star. We extracted only the pixels where the DN is present and observed the source to undergo five outbursts -- one a superoutburst -- over a timespan of 22 months. The superoutburst was triggered by a normal outburst, a feature that has been seen in all DNe superoutburst observed by Kepler. Superhumps during the super outburst had a period of 1.842+/-0.004 h and we see a transition from disc-dominated superhump signal to a mix of disc and accretion stream impact. Predictions of the number of DNe present in Kepler data based on previously published space densities vary from 0.3 to 258. An investigation of the background pixels targets would lead to firmer constraints on the space density of DN.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Between convergence and exceptionalism: Americans and the British model of labor relations, c. 1867-1920

Between the late 1860s and the aftermath of the First World War, American discourse about the 'labor problem' - relations among workers, unions, employers, and the state - was permeated by comparisons. Reformers looked especially toward Britain, the first industrial nation, for clues about how to build an industrial relations system. This article explores how three generations of American employers reflected on what Britain's experience with relatively strong, recognized, legally secure unions could teach about how to handle the challenge of American labor. Their interest was serious, sustained, if discontinuous. It was most important at key moments of decision in the early 1900s and in 1918-19 when the Open Shop was first built, and then refurbished and defended. Examination of their understanding and representations of the British model of labor relations aids our appreciation of the ideological framework within which they conceived and constructed the American Way