Genetic analysis of members of the species Oropouche virus and identification of a novel M segment sequence

Oropouche virus (OROV) is a public health threat in South America, and in particular Northern Brazil, causing frequent outbreaks of febrile illness. Using a combination of deep sequencing and Sanger sequencing approaches we have determined complete genome sequences of eight clinical isolates that were obtained from patient sera during an Oropouche fever outbreak in Amapa state, northern Brazil in 2009. We also report complete genome sequences of two OROV reassortants isolated from two marmosets in Minas Gerais state, southeast Brazil in 2012 that contain a novel M genome segment. Interestingly, all ten isolates posses a 947 nucleotide long S segment that lacks 11 residues in the S segment 3' UTR compared to the recently redetermined Brazilian prototype OROV strain BeAn19991. OROV maybe circulating more widely in Brazil and in the non-human primate population than previously appreciated and the identification of yet another reassortant highlights the importance of bunyavirus surveillance in South America

LHCD during current ramp experiments on Alcator C-Mod

The lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system on Alcator C-Mod is capable of sustaining fully non-inductive discharges for multiple current relaxation times (τcr ∼ 200 ms) at line averaged densities in the range of 5x1019 m-3. Some of these non-inductive discharges develop unstable MHD modes that can greatly reduce current drive performance, particularly in discharges with plasma current of 0.5 MA or less [1,2]. Avoiding these unstable MHD modes motivated an experiment to test if the stable current profile shape of a higher current non-inductive discharge could be achieved in a lower current discharge. Starting from a discharge at 0.8 MA, the plasma current was ramped down to 0.5 MA over 200 ms. The surface voltage of the plasma swings negative during the ramp, with the loop voltage reversal impacting the edge fast electron measurements immediately. Little change can be seen during the Ip ramp in the core fast electron measurements, indicating that the loop voltage reversal does not penetrate fully to the magnetic axis on the timescale of the current ramp. The resulting discharge did not exhibit deleterious MHD instabilities, however the existence of this one discharge does not necessarily represent a robust solution to the problem

Optimization of a frame structure subjected to a plastic deformation

An optimization method for a frame structure subjected to a plastic deformation is proposed in this paper. The method is based on the generalized layout optimization method proposed by Bendsøe and Kikuchi in 1988, where the solid-cavity composite material is distributed in the admissible domain and the cavity size is determined so that it becomes large in the area where the strain energy is small. Elasto-plastic analysis based on the homogenization method is carried out to obtain the nonlinear average stress-strain relations of a porous material first. Then the optimization algorithm of a frame structure is derived by taking plastification into account. Finally in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present algorithm, several numerical examples are illustrated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46071/1/158_2005_Article_BF01742592.pd

Surface heat flux feedback controlled impurity seeding experiments with Alcator C-Mod’s high-Z vertical target plate divertor: performance, limitations and implications for fusion power reactors

The Alcator C-Mod team has recently developed a feedback system to measure and control surface heat flux in real-time. The system uses real-time measurements of surface heat flux from surface thermocouples and a pulse-width modulated piezo valve to inject low-Z impurities (typically N2) into the private flux region. It has been used in C-Mod to mitigate peak surface heat fluxes >40 MW m−2 down to 1. While the system works quite well under relatively steady conditions, use of it during transients has revealed important limitations on feedback control of impurity seeding in conventional vertical target plate divertors. In some cases, the system is unable to avoid plasma reattachment to the divertor plate or the formation of a confinement damaging x-point MARFE. This is due to the small operational window for mitigated heat flux in the parameters of incident plasma heat flux, plasma density, and impurity density as well as the relatively slow response of the impurity gas injection system compared to plasma transients. Given the severe consequences for failure of such a system to operate reliably in a reactor, there is substantial risk that the conventional vertical target plate divertor will not provide an adequately controllable system in reactor-class devices. These considerations motivate the need to develop passively stable, highly compliant divertor configurations and experimental facilities that can test such possible solutions

Is an MRI-derived anatomical measure of dementia risk also a measure of brain aging?

Machine learning methods have been applied to estimate measures of brain aging from neuroimages. However, only rarely have these measures been examined in the context of biologic age. Here, we investigated associations of an MRI-based measure of dementia risk, the Alzheimer’s disease pattern similarity (AD-PS) scores, with measures used to calculate biological age. Participants were those from visit 5 of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study with cognitive status adjudication, proteomic data, and AD-PS scores available. The AD-PS score estimation is based on previously reported machine learning methods. We evaluated associations of the AD-PS score with all-cause mortality. Sensitivity analyses using only cognitively normal (CN) individuals were performed treating CNS-related causes of death as competing risk. AD-PS score was examined in association with 32 proteins measured, using a Somalogic platform, previously reported to be associated with age. Finally, associations with a deficit accumulation index (DAI) based on a count of 38 health conditions were investigated. All analyses were adjusted for age, race, sex, education, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes. The AD-PS score was significantly associated with all-cause mortality and with levels of 9 of the 32 proteins. Growth/differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) and pleiotrophin remained significant after accounting for multiple-testing and when restricting the analysis to CN participants. A linear regression model showed a significant association between DAI and AD-PS scores overall. While the AD-PS scores were created as a measure of dementia risk, our analyses suggest that they could also be capturing brain aging

Signals for Lorentz Violation in Electrodynamics

An investigation is performed of the Lorentz-violating electrodynamics extracted from the renormalizable sector of the general Lorentz- and CPT-violating standard-model extension. Among the unconventional properties of radiation arising from Lorentz violation is birefringence of the vacuum. Limits on the dispersion of light produced by galactic and extragalactic objects provide bounds of 3 x 10^{-16} on certain coefficients for Lorentz violation in the photon sector. The comparative spectral polarimetry of light from cosmologically distant sources yields stringent constraints of 2 x 10^{-32}. All remaining coefficients in the photon sector are measurable in high-sensitivity tests involving cavity-stabilized oscillators. Experimental configurations in Earth- and space-based laboratories are considered that involve optical or microwave cavities and that could be implemented using existing technology.Comment: 23 pages REVTe

Conducting Economic Evaluations Alongside Randomised Trials: Current Methodological Issues and Novel Approaches

Trial-based economic evaluations are an important aspect of health technology assessment. The availability of patient-level data coupled with unbiased estimates of clinical outcomes means that randomised controlled trials are effective vehicles for the generation of economic data. However there are methodological challenges to trial-based evaluations, which include the collection of reliable data on resource use and cost, choice of health outcome measure, calculating minimally important differences, dealing with missing data, extrapolating outcomes and costs over time and the analysis of multinational trials. This review focuses on the state of the art of selective elements concerning the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of trial-based economic evaluations. The limitations of existing approaches are detailed and novel methods introduced. The review is internationally relevant but with a focus towards practice in the UK

A covariant diquark-quark model of the nucleon in the Salpeter approach

We develop a rather simple, formally covariant quark-diquark model of the nucleon. The nucleon is treated as a bound state of a constituent quark and a diquark interacting via a quark exchange. We include both scalar and axial-vector diquarks. The underlying Bethe-Salpeter equation is transformed into a pair of coupled Salpeter equations. The electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon are calculated in the Mandelstam formalism. We obtain a very good description of all electromagnetic form factors for momentum transfers up to -3 (GeV/c)^2.Comment: 17 pages, REVTeX, 10 figures (ps and eps) include