Magnetization of the oceanic crust: TRM or CRM?

A model was proposed in which chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) acquired within the first 20 Ma of crustal evolution may account for 80% of the bulk natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of older basalts. The CRM of the crust is acquired as the original thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) is lost through low temperature alteration. The CRM intensity and direction are controlled by the post-emplacement polarity history. This model explains several independent observations concerning the magnetization of the oceanic crust. The model accounts for amplitude and skewness discrepancies observed in both the intermediate wavelength satellite field and the short wavelength sea surface magnetic anomaly pattern. It also explains the decay of magnetization away from the spreading axis, and the enhanced magnetization of the Cretaceous Quiet Zones while predicting other systematic variations with age in the bulk magnetization of the oceanic crust. The model also explains discrepancies in the anomaly skewness parameter observed for anomalies of Cretaceous age. Further studies indicate varying rates of TRM decay in very young crust which depicts the advance of low temperature alteration through the magnetized layer

Studies of the marine crustal magnetization at intermediate wavelengths

The data can be filtered at intermediate wavelengths to provde a data set which complements the satellite fields of MAGSAT, TSS and GRM. The filtered marine data set provides a high resolution data set which is closer to the source bodies than satellite survey data. However, the GRM and TSS could provide the necessary resolution to match the filtered sea surface field. The added resolution determines the nature of crustal magnetizations which give rise to the intermediate wavelength field. It is found that remanent magnetization is an important component over the oceans. Crustal deformation and plate motions result in magnetization vectors which differ significantly from the present day field directions. Induced magnetization or GRM are important components over the oceanic plateaus and spreading centers

Bond Length and Bond Valence Relationships for Chromium Oxides, Chromium Sulfides, Molybdenum Oxides, and Molybdenum Sulfides

Pauling determined an empirical logarithmic dependence of bond order (bond valence), s, to bond length, R, s = exp(R0 – R/ b), where R0 is unit bond length and b is a fitting parameter. Recently, an expression was derived for relating the b fitting parameter to theoretically derived atomic orbital exponents. With a method to calculate b, both R0 and atomic orbital exponents can be experimentally determined through optimized fitting for Cr-O, Cr-S, Mo-O, and Mo-S. In the present study, bond length – valence relationships are found for Cr-O, Cr-S, Mo-O, and Mo-S chemical bonds using published crystallographic data. In addition, atomic orbital exponents were found for chromium and molybdenum: z­­Cr = 1.247 and zMo = 1.381. Finally, bond lengths of unit bond valence, or true single bonds, were found using the bond valence model: Ro(Cr-O) = 1.770 Å, Ro(Cr-S) = 2.159 Å, Ro(Mo-O) = 1.893 Å, and Ro(Mo-S) = 2.264 Å

Potential impact of unblinding on observed treatment effects in Alzheimer's disease trials

INTRODUCTION: Adverse effects of monoclonal antibodies against amyloid beta are common, and may affect validity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through unblinding of participants.METHODS: We used observations from published phase 3 RCTs in Alzheimer's disease to calculate the magnitude of unblinding effects on cognition that would be required to explain observed cognitive benefits in RCTs. RESULTS: In trials of lecanemab, aducanumab, and donanemab, incidence of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with active treatment ranged from 22% to 44%, the vast majority of which presumably led to unblinding. Effects of unblinding on the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes required to fully explain observed drug effects ranged from 1.1 point (95% confidence interval: 0.2–2.0) with aducanumab, to 3.3 points (2.1–4.4) with donanemab and 3.7 points (2.0–5.6) with lecanemab. Infusion-related reactions were common, with potential unblinding effects particularly for lecanemab. Similar patterns were observed for the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale Cognitive subscale. DISCUSSION: Psychological treatment effects due to unblinding may explain a substantial share of observed treatment effects in RCTs.</p

Occupational Asthma: New Low-Molecular-Weight Causal Agents, 2000–2010

Background. More than 400 agents have been documented as causing occupational asthma (OA). The list of low-molecular-weight (LMW) agents that have been identified as potential causes of OA is constantly expanding, emphasizing the need to continually update our knowledge by reviewing the literature. Objective. The objective of this paper was to identify all new LMW agents causing occupational asthma reported during the period 2000–2010. Methods. A Medline search was performed using the keywords occupational asthma, new allergens, new causes, and low-molecular-weight agents. Results. We found 39 publications describing 41 new LMW causal agents, which belonged to the following categories: drugs (n = 12), wood dust (n = 11), chemicals (n = 8), metals (n = 4), biocides (n = 3), and miscellaneous (n = 3). The diagnosis of OA was confirmed through SIC for 35 of 41 agents, peak expiratory flow monitoring for three (3) agents, and the clinical history alone for three (3) agents. Immunological tests provided evidence supporting an IgE-mediated mechanism for eight (8) (20%) of the newly described agents. Conclusion. This paper highlights the importance of being alert to the occurrence of new LMW sensitizers, which can elicit OA. The immunological mechanism is explained by a type I hypersensitivity reaction in 20% of all newly described LMW agents

Application of the Instrumental Inequalities to a Mendelian Randomization Study With Multiple Proposed Instruments

BACKGROUND: Investigators often support the validity of Mendelian randomization (MR) studies, an instrumental variable approach proposing genetic variants as instruments, via. subject matter knowledge. However, the instrumental variable model implies certain inequalities, offering an empirical method of falsifying (but not verifying) the underlying assumptions. Although these inequalities are said to detect only extreme assumptio

An Ultra-Precise System for Electrical Resistivity Tomography Measurements

The objective of this research was to determine the feasibility of building and operating an ERT system that will allow measurement precision that is an order of magnitude better than existing systems on the market today and in particular if this can be done without significantly greater manufacturing or operating costs than existing commercial systems. Under this proposal, we performed an estimation of measurement errors in galvanic resistivity data that arise as a consequence of the type of electrode material used to make the measurements. In our laboratory, measurement errors for both magnitude and induced polarization (IP) were estimated using the reciprocity of data from an array of electrodes as might be used for electrical resistance tomography using 14 different metals as well as one non-metal - carbon. In a second phase of this study, using archival data from two long-term ERT surveys, we examined long-term survivability of electrodes over periods of several years. The survey sites were: the Drift Scale Test at Yucca Mountain, Nevada (which was sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy as part of the civilian radioactive waste management program), and a water infiltration test at a site adjacent to the New Mexico Institute of Mines and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico (sponsored by the Sandia/Tech vadose program). This enabled us to compare recent values with historical values and determine electrode performance over the long-term as well as the percentage of electrodes that have failed entirely. We have constructed a prototype receiver system, made modifications and revised the receiver design. The revised prototype uses a new 24 bit analog to digital converter from Linear Technologies with amplifier chips from Texas Instruments. The input impedance of the system will be increased from 107 Ohms to approximately 1010 Ohms. The input noise level of the system has been decreased to approximately 10 Nanovolts and system resolution to about 1 Nanovolt at the highest gain range of 125 to 1. The receiver also uses very high precision and high temperature stability components. The goal is to improve the accuracy to better than 0.1%. The system has more receiver channels, eight, to allow efficient data collection at lower base frequencies. We are also implementing a frequency-domain acquisition mode in addition to the time-domain acquisition mode used in the earlier systems. Initial field tests were started in the fall of 2008. We conducted tests on a number of types of cable commonly used for resistivity surveys. A series of different tests were designed to determine if the couplings were primarily resistive, capacitive, or inductive in nature and to ascertain that the response was due to the cable cross-talk and did not depend on the receiver electronics. The results show that the problem appears to be primarily capacitive in nature and does not appear to be due to problems in the receiver electronics. Thus a great deal of emphasis has been placed on finding appropriate cables as well as stable electrodes that have low contact impedance at the very low current flows observed at the receiver. One of the issues in survey design and data collection has been determining how long one must wait before using the same electrode as a transmitter and as a receiver. A series of tests was completed in the laboratory sand tank where four-electrode measurements were made using the same dipole transmitters and dipole receivers (the dipoles used adjacent electrodes). For each data series, a single set of normal measurements were collected with no reciprocals and electrodes were never reused as a receiver after being used as a transmitter. After waiting a specified length of time, the reciprocal measurements were collected using a schedule of measurements. The order of this second schedule was rearranged such that if this second set of measurements were performed without first using the normal schedule, no electrode would be used as a receiver after being used as a transmitter. For this study, we cannot conclude that increasing the wait time increased or decreased the reciprocal errors, only that there was not a dramatic change in results with different wait times. Another issue in ERT data collection is the potential for the transmitter as well as the receiver end of an ERT system to create problems with reciprocity readings. Existing ERT systems typically use a constant voltage source. For the transmitter dipole, a constant voltage source has low output impedance, whereas a constant current source has high output impedance. Therefore, we devised an experiment to determine if a constant current source transmitter might produce smaller errors than a constant voltage source. These preliminary results suggest there is little or no difference in either resistivity or chargeability reciprocal errors using a constant voltage or constant current dipole drive source

Effects of carrying a pregnancy and of method of delivery on urinary incontinence: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to identify risk factors associated with urinary incontinence in women three months after giving birth. METHODS: Urinary incontinence before and during pregnancy was assessed at study enrolment early in the third trimester. Incontinence was re-assessed three months postpartum. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the role of maternal and obstetric factors in causing postpartum urinary incontinence. This prospective cohort study in 949 pregnant women in Quebec, Canada was nested within a randomised controlled trial of prenatal perineal massage. RESULTS: Postpartum urinary incontinence was increased with prepregnancy incontinence (adjusted odds ratio [adj0R] 6.44, 95% CI 4.15, 9.98), incontinence beginning during pregnancy (adjOR 1.93, 95% CI 1.32, 2.83), and higher prepregnancy body mass index (adjOR 1.07/unit of BMI, 95% CI 1.03,1.11). Caesarean section was highly protective (adjOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.14, 0.50). While there was a trend towards increasing incontinence with forceps delivery (adjOR 1.73, 95% CI 0.96, 3.13) this was not statistically significant. The weight of the baby, episiotomy, the length of the second stage of labour, and epidural analgesia were not predictive of urinary incontinence. Nor was prenatal perineal massage, the randomised controlled trial intervention. When the analysis was limited to women having their first vaginal birth, the same risk factors were important, with similar adjusted odds ratios. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary incontinence during pregnancy is extremely common, affecting over half of pregnant women. Urinary incontinence beginning during pregnancy roughly doubles the likelihood of urinary incontinence at 3 months postpartum, regardless whether delivery is vaginal or by Caesarean section

The Keck Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer

The Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) for the Cassegrain focus of the Keck 10-m telescope on Mauna Kea is described. It has an imaging mode so it can also be used for taking direct images. The field of view in both spectrographic and imaging modes is 6 by 7.8 arcmin. It can be used with both conventional slits and custom-punched slit masks. The optical quality of the spectrograph is good enough to take full advantage of the excellent imaging properties of the telescope itself. The detector is a cooled back-illuminated Tektronics Inc. 2048 X 2048 CCD which gives a sampling rate of 4.685 pixels per arcsec. In the spectrographic mode the spectrograph has a maximum efficiency at the peak of the grating blaze of 32%-34% for the two lowest resolution gratings and 28% for the 1200 g mm^(-1) grating. This efficiency includes the detector but not the telescope or the atmosphere

The effects of childbirth on the pelvic-floor

Basically, vaginal delivery is associated with the risk of pelvic floor damage. The pelvic floor sequelae of childbirth includes anal incontinence, urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Pathophysiology, incidence and risk factors for the development of the respective problems are reviewed. Where possible, recommendations for reducing the risk of pelvic floor damage are given