Ambiskew Hopf algebras

Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for an ambiskew polynomial algebra A over a Hopf k-algebra R to possess the structure of a Hopf algebra extending that of R, in which the added variables X+ and X- are skew primitive. The coradical filtration is calculated, many examples are described, and properties determined

The structure of chromospheres around late-type giants and supergiants

Observations alpha Tau (K5III) and beta Gru (M2II) made at high resolution are used to confirm line identifications of features blended at low resolution. The high resolution spectra allow selected pairs of lines to be used to find the electron density and the opacity. Methods for determining these factors and the usual emission measure are presented. The electron density and opacity can be used together with the emission measure to place constraints on the structure of the atmosphere. The line formation processes are briefly discussed. Photo-excitation by strong lines appears to be important in these late type atmospheres

Morphoproteomic profiling of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway in desmoplastic small round cell tumor (EWS/WT1), Ewing's sarcoma (EWS/FLI1) and Wilms' tumor(WT1).

BackgroundDesmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare sarcoma in adolescents and young adults. The hallmark of this disease is a EWS-WT1 translocation resulting from apposition of the Ewing's sarcoma (EWS) gene with the Wilms' tumor (WT1) gene. We performed morphoproteomic profiling of DSRCT (EWS-WT1), Ewing's sarcoma (EWS-FLI1) and Wilms' tumor (WT1) to better understand the signaling pathways for selecting future targeted therapies.MethodologyThis pilot study assessed patients with DSRCT, Wilms' tumor and Ewing's sarcoma. Morphoproteomics and immunohistochemical probes were applied to detect: p-mTOR (Ser2448); p-Akt (Ser473); p-ERK1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204); p-STAT3 (Tyr 705); and cell cycle-related analytes along with their negative controls.Principal findingsIn DSRCT the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway is constitutively activated by p-Akt (Ser 473) expression in the nuclear compartment of the tumor cells and p-mTOR phosphorylated on Ser 2448, suggesting mTORC2 (rictor+mTOR) as the dominant form. Ewing's sarcoma had upregulated p-Akt and p-mTOR, predominantly mTORC2. In Wilm's tumor, the mTOR pathway is also activated with most tumor cells moderately expressing p-mTOR (Ser 2448) in plasmalemmal and cytoplasmic compartments. This coincides with the constitutive activation of one of the downstream effectors of the mTORC1 signaling pathway, namely p-p70S6K (Thr 389). There was constitutive activation of the Ras/Raf/ERK pathway p-ERK 1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204) expression in the Wilms tumor and metastatic Ewing's sarcoma, but not in the DSRCT.ConclusionMORPHOPROTEOMIC TUMOR ANALYSES REVEALED CONSTITUTIVE ACTIVATION OF THE MTOR PATHWAY AS EVIDENCED BY: (a) expression of phosphorylated (p)-mTOR, p-p70S6K; (b) mTORC 2 in EWS and DSRCT; (c) ERK signaling was seen in the advanced setting indicating these as resistance pathways to IGF1R related therapies. This is the first morphoproteomic study of such pathways in these rare malignancies and may have potential therapeutic implications. Further study using morphoproteomic assessments of these tumors are warranted

Maternal plasma DHA levels increase prior to 29 days post-LH surge in women undergoing frozen embryo transfer: a prospective, observational study of human pregnancy

Context: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an important fatty acid required for neurological development but its importance during early fetal neurological organogenesis is unknown. Objective: To assess plasma fatty acid changes in early pregnancy in women undergoing natural cycle-frozen embryo transfer as a means of achieving accurately-timed periconceptual sampling. Design: Women undergoing frozen embryo transfer were recruited and serial fasting blood samples were taken pre-luteinising hormone (LH) surge, and at days 18, 29 and 45 post-LH surge and fatty acids were analysed using gas chromatography. Setting: Assisted Conception Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Scotland Main outcome measures: Plasma fatty acid concentrations, influence of twin pregnancies on DHA plasma concentration. Results: In pregnant women, there was a rapid, early increase in the maternal rate of change of plasma DHA concentration observed by 29 days post-LH surge (mean±SD, from 0.1±1.3 to 1.6±2.9 nmol DHA per mL plasma per day). This early pressure to increase plasma DHA concentration was further emphasised in twin pregnancies where the increase in DHA concentration over 45 days was two-fold higher than in singleton pregnancies (mean±SD increase, 74±39 nmol/mL versus 36±40 nmol/mL). An index of delta-6 desaturase activity increased 30% and positively correlated with the rate of change of DHA concentration between day 18 and 29-post LH surge (R-squared adjusted = 41%, P=0.0002). DHA was the only fatty acid with a continual accelerated increase in plasma concentration and a positive incremental area under the curve (mean±SD, 632±911 nmol/mL x day) over the first 45 days of gestation. Conclusions: An increase in maternal plasma DHA concentration is initiated in human pregnancy prior to neural tube closure which occurs at 28 days' gestation

Evolved Stars in the Core of the Massive Globular Cluster NGC 2419

We present an analysis of optical and ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope photometry for evolved stars in the core of the distant massive globular cluster NGC 2419. We characterize the horizontal branch (HB) population in detail including corrections for incompleteness on the long blue tail. We present a method for removing (to first order) lifetime effects from the distribution of HB stars to facilitate more accurate measurements of helium abundance for clusters with blue HBs and to clarify the distribution of stars reaching the zero-age HB. The population ratio R = N_HB / N_RGB implies there may be slight helium enrichment among the EHB stars in the cluster, but that it is likely to be small (dY < 0.05). An examination of the upper main sequence does not reveal any sign of multiple populations. Through comparisons of optical CMDs, we present evidence that the EHB clump in NGC 2419 contains the end of the canonical horizontal branch, and that the boundary between the normal HB stars and blue hook stars shows up as a change in the density of stars in the CMD. This corresponds to a spectroscopically-verified gap in NGC 2808 and an "edge" in omega Cen. The more clearly visible HB gap at V = 23.5 appears to be too bright.(Abridged)Comment: 27 pages, 25 figures (some bitmapped), uses emulateapj, accepted to Astronomical Journa

Stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chlamydia-infected women release predominantly Th1-polarizing cytokines

Chlamydia trachomatis infection (chlamydia) is the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial infection and causes significant reproductive morbidity in women. Little is known about how immunity to chlamydia develops in women, though animal models of chlamydia indicate that T-helper type 1 (Th1) responses are important for chlamydia clearance and protective immunity, whereas T-helper type 2 (Th2) responses are associated with persisting infection. In chlamydia-infected women, whether the predominant immune response is Th1- or Th2-polarizing remains controversial. To determine the cytokine profiles elicited by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from chlamydia-infected women, we stimulated PBMCs with C. trachomatis elementary bodies and recombinant C. trachomatis Pgp3 and measured supernatant levels of select cytokines spanning Th1- and Th2-polarizing responses. We found that stimulated PBMCs from chlamydia-infected women secreted cytokines that indicate strong Th1-polarizing responses, especially interferon-gamma, whereas Th2-polarizing cytokines were expressed at significantly lower levels. In chlamydia-infected women, the predominant cytokine responses elicited on stimulation of PBMCs with C. trachomatis antigens were Th1-polarizing, with interferon-gamma as the predominant cytokine

The Nili Patea caldera; evolving magma, explosive eruptions and hydrothermal deposits on Mars.

A geological history connecting: Caldera formation, with an ignimbrite or pluton base. Post-caldera dacite flows, resurgent dome, and mafic ring fault volcanism

Explicit Orbit Classification of Reducible Jordan Algebras and Freudenthal Triple Systems

We determine explicit orbit representatives of reducible Jordan algebras and of their corresponding Freudenthal triple systems. This work has direct application to the classification of extremal black hole solutions of N = 2, 4 locally supersymmetric theories of gravity coupled to an arbitrary number of Abelian vector multiplets in D = 4, 5 space-time dimensions.Comment: 18 pages. Updated to match published versio

Black holes admitting a Freudenthal dual

The quantised charges x of four dimensional stringy black holes may be assigned to elements of an integral Freudenthal triple system whose automorphism group is the corresponding U-duality and whose U-invariant quartic norm Delta(x) determines the lowest order entropy. Here we introduce a Freudenthal duality x -> \tilde{x}, for which \tilde{\tilde{x}}=-x. Although distinct from U-duality it nevertheless leaves Delta(x) invariant. However, the requirement that \tilde{x} be integer restricts us to the subset of black holes for which Delta(x) is necessarily a perfect square. The issue of higher-order corrections remains open as some, but not all, of the discrete U-duality invariants are Freudenthal invariant. Similarly, the quantised charges A of five dimensional black holes and strings may be assigned to elements of an integral Jordan algebra, whose cubic norm N(A) determines the lowest order entropy. We introduce an analogous Jordan dual A*, with N(A) necessarily a perfect cube, for which A**=A and which leaves N(A) invariant. The two dualities are related by a 4D/5D lift.Comment: 32 pages revtex, 10 tables; minor corrections, references adde

'20 days protected learning' - students' experiences of an Overseas Nurses Programme - 4 years on: A retrospective survey

Background From September 2005 the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) introduced new arrangements for the registration of non-EU overseas nurses which requires all applicants to undertake '20 days of protected learning' time in the UK and for some, a period of supervised practice. A survey was undertaken at Bournemouth University, which offers a '20 days protected learning only' programme, to elicit overseas nurses' demographic details, experiences in completing the programme and their 'final destinations' once registered. Methods An online survey was devised which contained a mixture of tick box and open ended questions which covered demographic details, views on the programme and final destinations This was uploaded to www.SurveyMonkey.com and sent out to nurses who had completed the Overseas Nurses Programme (ONP) with Bournemouth University (n=1050). Quantiative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data were coded and analysed using content analysis . Results There were 251 respondents (27.7% response rate). The typical 'profile' of a nurse who responded to the survey was female, aged 25-40 years and had been qualified for more than 5 years with a bachelors degree. The majority came from Australia on a 2 year working holiday visa and the key final destination in the UK, on registration with the NMC, was working for an agency. There were five key findings regarding experience of the programe. Of those surveyed 61.2% did not feel it necessary to undergo an ONP; 71.6% felt that they should be able to complete the programme on-line in their own country; 64.2% that the ONP should only contain information about delivery of healthcare in UK and Legal and professional (NMC) issues; 57% that European nurses should also undergo the same programme and sit an IELTS test; and 68.2% that the programme was too theory orientated; and should have links to practice (21%). Conclusions The NMC set the admissions criteria for entry to the register and Standards for an ONP. The findings of this survey raise issues regarding the percieved value and use of this approach for overseas nurses, and it may be helpful to take this into account when considering future policy