Protected 0-pi states in SIsFS junctions for Josephson memory and logic

We study the peculiarities in current-phase relations (CPR) of the SIsFS junction in the region of $0$ to $\pi$ transition. These CPR consist of two independent branches corresponding to $0-$ and $\pi-$ states of the contact. We have found that depending on the transparency of the SIs tunnel barrier the decrease of the s-layer thickness leads to transformation of the CPR shape going in the two possible ways: either one of the branches exists only in discrete intervals of the phase difference $\varphi$ or both branches are sinusoidal but differ in the magnitude of their critical currents. We demonstrate that the difference can be as large as $10\%$ under maintaining superconductivity in the s layer. An applicability of these phenomena for memory and logic application is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Ancient DNA from Guam and the peopling of the Pacific

We know more about the settlement of Polynesia than we do about the settlement of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific. There is debate over where people came from to get to the Marianas, with various lines of evidence pointing to the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, or the Bismarck Archipelago, and over how the ancestors of the present Mariana Islanders, the Chamorro, might be related to Polynesians. We analyzed ancient DNA from Guam from two skeletons dating to ˜2,200 y ago and found that their ancestry is linked to the Philippines. Moreover, they are closely related to early Lapita skeletons from Vanuatu and Tonga, suggesting that the early Mariana Islanders may have been involved in the colonization of Polynesia.Humans reached the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific by ˜3,500 y ago, contemporaneous with or even earlier than the initial peopling of Polynesia. They crossed more than 2,000 km of open ocean to get there, whereas voyages of similar length did not occur anywhere else until more than 2,000 y later. Yet, the settlement of Polynesia has received far more attention than the settlement of the Marianas. There is uncertainty over both the origin of the first colonizers of the Marianas (with different lines of evidence suggesting variously the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, or the Bismarck Archipelago) as well as what, if any, relationship they might have had with the first colonizers of Polynesia. To address these questions, we obtained ancient DNA data from two skeletons from the Ritidian Beach Cave Site in northern Guam, dating to ˜2,200 y ago. Analyses of complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequences and genome-wide SNP data strongly support ancestry from the Philippines, in agreement with some interpretations of the linguistic and archaeological evidence, but in contradiction to results based on computer simulations of sea voyaging. We also find a close link between the ancient Guam skeletons and early Lapita individuals from Vanuatu and Tonga, suggesting that the Marianas and Polynesia were colonized from the same source population, and raising the possibility that the Marianas played a role in the eventual settlement of Polynesia.All data used in this paper are in the main text or in the SI Appendix. The new data reported in this paper have been deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive, https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/home (accession no. PRJEB40707)

The association of serum osteocalcin level with lipid metabolism indices of infant with rickets amid obesity

Department of Pediatrics No 1, N. I. Pirogov National Medical University of Vinnitsa, UkraineBackground: Osteocalcin is considered the specific marker of osteogenesis. However recently more and more researcher’s attention is drawn to osteocalcin as a possible regulator of adipose tissue. Material and methods: 56 children aged from 3 to 12 months with clinical signs of vitamin D-deficient rickets were under the supervision. The main group was formed of 28 children with physical development that exceeded the age limit. The comparison group consisted of 28 children with the normal physical development. The control group was formed of 20 apparently healthy children of similar age. According to the aim of the research we determined serum concentrations of osteocalcin and lipids for all of them. Results: Statistically lower levels of osteocalcin were recorded in children of the main group (p < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the concentration of serum osteocalcin with HDL (r = 0.86, p < 0.001) for children of the first year of life. A strong inverse correlation was found between the bone marker data and SC (r = -0.93, p < 0.001). A significant difference in the mean values of serum osteocalcin relative to the comparison group was observed in children with obesity and overweight. Conclusions: The results of our research suggest a causal relationship between obesity and impaired bone metabolism in children during the first year of life

Method for reliable realization of a varphi Josephson junction

We propose a method to realize a $\phi$ Josephson junction by combining alternating 0 and $\pi$ parts (sub junctions) with an intrinsically non-sinusoidal current-phase relation (CPR). Conditions for the realization of the $\phi$ ground state are analyzed. It is shown that taking into account the non-sinusoidal CPR for a "clean junction with a ferromagnetic (F) barrier, one can significantly enlarge the domain (regime of suitable F-layer thicknesses) of the $\phi$ ground state and make the practical realization of $\phi$ Josephson junctions feasible. Such junctions may also have two different stable solutions, such as 0 and $\pi$, 0 and $\phi$, or $\phi$ and $\pi$

Genetic variation and recent positive selection in worldwide human populations: Evidence from nearly 1 million SNPs

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide scans of hundreds of thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have resulted in the identification of new susceptibility variants to common diseases and are providing new insights into the genetic structure and relationships of human populations. Moreover, genome-wide data can be used to search for signals of recent positive selection, thereby providing new insights into the genetic adaptations that occurred as modern humans spread out of Africa and around the world. METHODOLOGY: We genotyped approximately 500,000 SNPs in 255 individuals (5 individuals from each of 51 worldwide populations) from the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP-CEPH). When merged with non-overlapping SNPs typed previously in 250 of these same individuals, the resulting data consist of over 950,000 SNPs. We then analyzed the genetic relationships and ancestry of individuals without assigning them to populations, and we also identified candidate regions of recent positive selection at both the population and regional (continental) level. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses both confirm and extend previous studies; in particular, we highlight the impact of various dispersals, and the role of substructure in Africa, on human genetic diversity. We also identified several novel candidate regions for recent positive selection, and a gene ontology (GO) analysis identified several GO groups that were significantly enriched for such candidate genes, including immunity and defense related genes, sensory perception genes, membrane proteins, signal receptors, lipid binding/metabolism genes, and genes involved in the nervous system. Among the novel candidate genes identified are two genes involved in the thyroid hormone pathway that show signals of selection in African Pygmies that may be related to their short stature

Semantic features of the phraseological units with the component light within the artistic discourse

Conduct lexical and semantic analysis on the concept light in the artistic discourse of postmodern fictio

Frame "Social activities to achieve the goal": formation and specifics of its representation at language level

The proposed article is devoted to describing the specifics of the frame formation "social activity to achieve the goal" represented by the verbal tokens (achieve, accomplish, attain, gain, succeed in, obtain, manage, strive, etc.) with the corresponding meaning and revealing the dependence of the modification of their meaning on the intrasystem and extra system restructuring of the proper fram

Клініко-лабораторна характеристика вітамін D-дефіцитного рахіту у дітей раннього віку при ожирінні = Clinical-laboratory characteristics of vitamin D-deficient rickets in infants with obesity

Тokarchuk N. I., Pugach M. М., Chekotun Т. V., Starinetz L. S., Savicka T. V., Lagoda V. V. Клініко-лабораторна характеристика вітамін D-дефіцитного рахіту у дітей раннього віку при ожирінні = Clinical-laboratory characteristics of vitamin D-deficient rickets in infants with obesity. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2015;5(11):111-116. ISSN 2391-8306. DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.33536http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/2015%3B5%2811%29%3A111-116https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/works/667735Formerly Journal of Health Sciences. ISSN 1429-9623 / 2300-665X. Archives 2011–2014http://journal.rsw.edu.pl/index.php/JHS/issue/archive Deklaracja.Specyfika i zawartość merytoryczna czasopisma nie ulega zmianie.Zgodnie z informacją MNiSW z dnia 2 czerwca 2014 r., że w roku 2014 nie będzie przeprowadzana ocena czasopism naukowych; czasopismo o zmienionym tytule otrzymuje tyle samo punktów co na wykazie czasopism naukowych z dnia 31 grudnia 2014 r.The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland parametric evaluation. Part B item 1089. (31.12.2014).© The Author (s) 2015;This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland and Radom University in Radom, PolandOpen Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercialuse, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.Received: 05.09.2015. Revised 05.10.2015. Accepted: 30.10.2015. КЛІНІКО-ЛАБОРАТОРНА ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА ВІТАМІН D-ДЕФІЦИТНОГО РАХІТУ У ДІТЕЙ РАННЬОГО ВІКУ ПРИ ОЖИРІННІ CLINICAL-LABORATORY CHARACTERISTICS OF VITAMIN D-DEFICIENT RICKETS IN INFANTS WITH OBESITY Н.І. Токарчук¹, М.М. Пугач¹, Т.В. Чекотун¹, Л.С. Старинець², Т.В. Савицька², В.В. Лагода²N. I. Тokarchuk¹, M. М. Pugach¹, Т. V. Chekotun¹, L. S. Starinetz², T. V. Savicka², V. V. Lagoda² ¹Вінницький національний медичний університет ім. М. І. Пирогова, Україна²Вінницька обласна дитяча клінічна лікарня, Україна¹N.I. Pirogov Vinnitsa National Medical University, Ukraine²Regional Children's Hospital Vinnitsa, Ukraine Abstract The study involved 120 infants suffering from vitamin D-deficient rickets which were divided into subgroups based on physical development indicators. We conducted a clinical examination of children anamnesis, and determined serum concentrations of 25 (OH) D. While studying in what way vitamin D-deficient rickets severity in infants depends of physical development indicators, we found increase in severity of rachitic process according to increasing values of body weight. Thus, the largest proportion of medium severity cases of vitamin D-deficient rickets was determined in children who were obese. In infants with rickets, the lowest vitamin D status was registered against the background of obesity. This aspect is possibly predetermined by the influence of endogenous pathogenic factors in the state of obesity due to the deposit of vitamin D in adipose tissue. Key words: vitamin D-deficient rickets, obesity, infants, hydroxyvitamin D. Резюме У дослідженні прийняли участь 120 дітей першого року життя, хворі на вітамін D-дефіцитний рахіт, і були розподілені на підгрупи залежно від показників фізичного розвитку. Нами проведено клініко-анамнестичне обстеження дітей та визначення в сироватці крові концентрації 25(OH)D.  При вивченні залежності ступеня тяжкості вітамін D-дефіцитного рахіту у дітей першого року життя від показників фізичного розвитку, нами виявлено зростання тяжкості рахітичного процесу відповідно до збільшення значень маси тіла. Так, найбільша питома вага випадків середнього ступеня важкості вітамін D-дефіцитного рахіту констатована у дітей, які мали ожиріння. У дітей першого року життя, хворих на рахіт, найнижчий статус вітаміну D було зареєстровано на тлі ожиріння. Даний аспект, можливо, обумовлений впливом патогенетичних ендогенних факторів при ожирінні за рахунок депонування вітаміну D в жировій тканині. Ключові слова: вітамін D-дефіцитний рахіт, ожиріння, діти раннього віку, гідроксивітамін D

High-resolution spectroscopy of the R Coronae Borealis and Other Hydrogen Deficient Stars

High-resolution spectroscopy is a very important tool for studying stellar physics, perhaps, particularly so for such enigmatic objects like the R Coronae Borealis and related Hydrogen deficient stars that produce carbon dust in addition to their peculiar abundances. Examples of how high-resolution spectroscopy is used in the study of these stars to address the two major puzzles are presented: (i) How are such rare H-deficient stars created? and (ii) How and where are the obscuring soot clouds produced around the R Coronae Borealis stars?Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 201

Improved efficacy of ciprofloxacin administered in polyethylene glycol-coated liposomes for treatment of Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia in rats.

Animal and clinical data show that high ratios of the area under the concentration-time curve and the peak concentration in blood to the MIC of fluoroquinolones for a given pathogen are associated with a favorable outcome. The present study investigated whether improvement of the therapeutic potential of ciprofloxacin could be achieved by encapsulation in polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated long-circulating sustained-release liposomes. In a rat model of unilateral Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia (MIC = 0.1 microg/ml), antibiotic was administered at 12- or 24-h intervals at twofold-increasing doses. A treatment period of 3 days was started 24 h after inoculation of the left lung, when the bacterial count had increased 1,000-fold and some rats had positive blood cultures. The infection was fatal within 5 days in untreated rats. Administration of ciprofloxacin in the liposomal form resulted in delayed ciprofloxacin clearance and increased and prolonged ciprofloxacin concentrations in blood and tissues. The ED(50) (dosage that results in 50% survival) of liposomal ciprofloxacin was 3.3 mg/kg of body weight/day given once daily, and that of free ciprofloxacin was 18.9 mg/kg/day once daily or 5.1 mg/kg/day twice daily. The ED(90) of liposomal ciprofloxacin was 15.0 mg/kg/day once daily compared with 36.0 mg/kg/day twice daily for free ciprofloxacin; 90% survival could not be achieved with free ciprofloxacin given once daily. In summary, the therapeutic efficacy of liposomal ciprofloxacin was superior to that of ciprofloxacin in the free form. PEG-coated liposomal ciprofloxacin was well tolerated in relatively high doses, permitting once daily administration with relatively low ciprofloxacin clearance and without compromising therapeutic efficacy