Thermodynamic properties of Ar, Kr and Xe from a Monte Carlo-based perturbation theory with an effective two-body Lennard-Jones potential

A third-order perturbation theory is used to obtain the equilibrium properties of Ar, Kr and Xe over wide ranges of temperatures and densities. The theory belongs to the framework of the inverse temperature expansion of the Helmholtz free energy, with the perturbation terms determined from Monte Carlo simulation. The interactions are modeled by an effective two-body Lennard-Jones potential incorporating the main contribution of the three-body interactions. To this end, the ratio of three-body to two-body configuration energies have been determined also from Monte Carlo simulation. The results for the pressure and energy at supercritical temperatures are in quite good agreement with experimental data. The liquid?vapor coexistence is also reproduced fairly well, although for Ar and Kr the critical temperature is slightly overestimated as well as the liquid densities at low temperatures, and the coexistence densities of Xe are slightly overestimated for the vapor and underestimated for the liquid near the critical point. In any case, the calculations show a remarkable improvement in the predicted coexistence curve with including the three-body contribution

The Conners Continuous Performance Test CPT3™: Is it a reliable marker to predict neurocognitive dysfunction in Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome?

IntroductionThe main objective is to delimit the cognitive dysfunction associated with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) in adult patients by applying the Continuous Performance Test (CPT3™). Additionally, provide empirical evidence on the usefulness of this computerized neuropsychological test to assess ME/CFS.MethodThe final sample (n = 225; 158 Patients/67 Healthy controls) were recruited in a Central Sensitization Syndromes (CSS) specialized unit in a tertiary hospital. All participants were administered this neuropsychological test.ResultsThere were significant differences between ME/CFS and healthy controls in all the main measures of CPT3™. Mainly, patients had a worse indicator of inattentiveness, sustained attention, vigilance, impulsivity, slow reaction time, and more atypical T-scores, which is associated with a likelihood of having a disorder characterized by attention deficits, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In addition, relevant correlations were obtained between the CPT3™ variables in the patient’s group. The most discriminative indicators of ME/CFS patients were Variability and Hit Reaction Time, both measures of response speed.ConclusionThe CPT3™ is a helpful tool to discriminate neurocognitive impairments from attention and response speed in ME/CFS patients, and it could be used as a marker of ME/CFS severity for diagnosing or monitoring this disease

An universal system to de-orbit satellites at end of life

A 3-year Project financed by the European Commission is aimed at developing a universal system to de-orbit satellites at their end of life, as a fundamental contribution to limit the increase of debris in the Space environment. The operational system involves a conductive tapetether left bare to establish anodic contact with the ambient plasma as a giant Langmuir probe. The Project will size the three disparate dimensions of a tape for a selected de-orbit mission and determine scaling laws to allow system design for a general mission. Starting at the second year, mission selection is carried out while developing numerical codes to implement control laws on tether dynamics in/off the orbital plane; performing numerical simulations and plasma chamber measurements on tether-plasma interaction; and completing design of subsystems: electronejecting plasma contactor, power module, interface elements, deployment mechanism, and tether-tape/end-mass. This will be followed by subsystems manufacturing and by currentcollection, free-fall, and hypervelocity impact tests

Greenhouse gases emissions from the diet and risk of death and chronic diseases in the EPIC-Spain cohort

The Author(s) 2020.[Background]: Evidence from the scientific literature shows a significant variation in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the diet, according to the type of food consumed. We aim to analyze the relationship between the daily dietary GHG emissions according to red meat, fruit and vegetables consumption and their relationship with risk of total mortality, and incident risk of chronic diseases. [Methods]: We examined data on the EPIC-Spain prospective study, with a sample of 40 621 participants. Dietary GHG emission values were calculated for 57 food items of the EPIC study using mean emission data from a systematic review of 369 published studies. [Results]: Dietary GHG emissions (kgCO2eq/day), per 2000 kcal, were 4.7 times higher in those with high red-meat consumption (>140 g/day) than those with low consumption (<70 g/day). The average dietary GHG emissions were similar in males and females, but it was significantly higher in youngest people and in those individuals with lower educational level, as well as for northern EPIC centers of Spain. We found a significant association with the risk of mortality comparing the third vs. the first tertile of dietary GHG emissions [hazard ratio (HR) 1.095; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.007–1.19; trend test 0.037]. Risk of coronary heart disease (HR 1.26; 95% CI 1.08–1.48; trend test 0.003) and risk of type 2 diabetes (HR 1.24; 95% CI 1.11–1.38; trend test 0.002) showed significant association as well. [Conclusions]: Decreasing red-meat consumption would lead to reduce GHG emissions from diet and would reduce risk of mortality, coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.Peer reviewe

CENPHER five year report 2009-2014: From a research project to a research center

Other than the influence of ionizing radiation and benign thyroid disease, little is known about the risk factors for differentiated thyroid cancer (TC) which is an increasing common cancer worldwide. Consistent evidence shows that body mass is positively associated with TC risk. As excess weight is a state of chronic inflammation, we investigated the relationship between concentrations of leptin, adiponectin, C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and the risk of TC. A case-control study was nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study and included 475 first primary incident TC cases (399 women and 76 men) and 1,016 matched cancer-free cohort participants. Biomarkers were measured in serum samples using validated and highly sensitive commercially available immunoassays. Odds ratios (ORs) of TC by levels of each biomarker were estimated using conditional logistic regression models, adjusting for BMI and alcohol consumption. Adiponectin was inversely associated with TC risk among women (ORT3vs.T1 = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.49-0.98, Ptrend = 0.04) but not among men (ORT3vs.T1 = 1.36, 95% CI: 0.67-2.76, Ptrend = 0.37). Increasing levels of IL-10 were positively associated with TC risk in both genders and significantly so in women (ORT3vs.T1 = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.13-2.25, Ptrend = 0.01) but not in men (ORT3vs.T1 = 1.78, 95% CI: 0.80-3.98, Ptrend = 0.17). Leptin, CRP, IL-6 and TNF-α were not associated with TC risk in either gender. These results indicate a positive association of TC risk with IL-10 and a negative association with adiponectin that is probably restricted to women. Inflammation may play a role in TC in combination with or independently of excess weight

Gauge unification and the supersymmetric light Higgs mass

We consider general supersymmetric models with: a) arbitrary matter content; and, b) gauge coupling Unification near the String scale $\sim 10^{17}$ GeV, and derive the absolute upper limit on the mass of the lightest Higgs boson. For a top-quark mass $M_t$= 175 GeV, and depending on the supersymmetric parameter $\tan\beta$, this mass bound can be as high as $\sim$ 200 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, revtex + psfig.sty, 2 figure

Dietary Intake of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) and Mortality among Individuals with Colorectal Cancer

Funding [WCRF 2015/1391, PI: M. Jenab] was obtained from Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), as part of the World Cancer Research Fund International grant program. The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and also by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, which has additional infrastructure support provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The national cohorts are supported by: Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Ligue Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Generale de lEducation Nationale, Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) (France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Germany); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy, Compagnia di SanPaolo and National Research Council (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), Netherlands Cancer Registry (NKR), LK Research Funds, Dutch Prevention Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), Statistics Netherlands (The Netherlands); Health Research Fund (FIS) - Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Regional Governments of Andalucia, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra, the Catalan Institute of OncologyICO (Spain); Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council and County Councils of Skane and Vaesterbotten (Sweden); Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C8221/A29017 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk; MR/M012190/1 to EPIC-Oxford) (United Kingdom). The EPIC-Norfolk study (DOI 10.22025/2019.10.105.00004) received funding from the Medical Research Council (MR/N003284/1 and MC-UU_12015/1) and Cancer Research UK (C864/A14136). V. Fedirko is supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Rising Stars Award (Grant ID RR200056). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) may promote oxidative stress and inflammation and have been linked to multiple chronic diseases, including cancer. However, the association of AGEs with mortality after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis has not been previously investigated. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals for associations between dietary intake of AGEs with CRC-specific and all-cause mortality among 5801 participant cases diagnosed with CRC in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study between 1993 and 2013. Dietary intakes of AGEs were estimated using country-specific dietary questionnaires, linked to an AGE database, that accounted for food preparation and processing. During a median of 58 months of follow-up, 2421 cases died (1841 from CRC). Individually or combined, dietary intakes of AGEs were not associated with all-cause and CRC-specific mortality among cases. However, there was a suggestion for a positive association between AGEs and all-cause or CRC-specific mortality among CRC cases without type II diabetes (all-cause, P-interaction = 0.05) and CRC cases with the longest follow-up between recruitment and cancer diagnosis (CRC-specific, P-interaction = 0.003; all-cause, P-interaction = 0.01). Our study suggests that pre-diagnostic dietary intakes of AGEs were not associated with CRC-specific or all-cause mortality among CRC patients. Further investigations using biomarkers of AGEs and stratifying by sex, diabetes status, and timing of exposure to AGEs are warranted.Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), World Cancer Research Fund International grant program WCRF 2015/1391World Health OrganizationDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College LondonDanish Cancer SocietyLigue Contre le Cancer (France) Institut Gustave Roussy (France) Mutuelle Generale de lEducation Nationale (France)Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm)Deutsche Krebshilfe German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) (Germany) German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE) (Germany)Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF)Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro Compagnia di San Paolo Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)Netherlands GovernmentWorld Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF)Health Research Fund (FIS) - Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)Junta de Andalucia Regional Government of Asturias (Spain) Regional Government of Basque Country (Spain) Regional Government of Murcia (Spain) Regional Government of Navarra (Spain) Catalan Institute of OncologyICO (Spain)Swedish Cancer Society Swedish Research Council County Council of Skane (Sweden) County Council of Vaesterbotten (Sweden)Cancer Research UK 14136 C8221/A29017UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council UK (MRC) 1000143 MR/M012190/1 UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council UK (MRC)European Commission MR/N003284/1 MC-UU_12015/1Cancer Research UK C864/A14136Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Rising Stars Award RR20005

A Prospective Evaluation of Plasma Polyphenol Levels and Colon Cancer Risk

Polyphenols have been shown to exert biological activity in experimental models of colon cancer; however, human data linking specific polyphenols to colon cancer is limited. We assessed the relationship between pre-diagnostic plasma polyphenols and colon cancer risk in a case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. Using high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, we measured concentrations of 35 polyphenols in plasma from 809 incident colon cancer cases and 809 matched controls. We used multivariable adjusted conditional logistic regression models that included established colon cancer risk factors. The false discovery rate (qvalues ) was computed to control for multiple comparisons. All statistical tests were two-sided. After false discovery rate correction and in continuous log2 -transformed multivariable models, equol (odds ratio [OR] per log2 -value, 0.86, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.79-0.93; qvalue = 0.01) and homovanillic acid (OR per log2 -value, 1.46, 95% CI = 1.16-1.84; qvalue = 0.02) were associated with colon cancer risk. Comparing extreme fifths, equol concentrations were inversely associated with colon cancer risk (OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.41-0.91, ptrend = 0.003), while homovanillic acid concentrations were positively associated with colon cancer development (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.17-2.53, ptrend < 0.0001). No heterogeneity for these associations was observed by sex and across other colon cancer risk factors. The remaining polyphenols were not associated with colon cancer risk. Higher equol concentrations were associated with lower risk, and higher homovanillic acid concentrations were associated with greater risk of colon cancer. These findings support a potential role for specific polyphenols in colon tumorigenesis

Alcohol intake in relation to non-fatal and fatal coronary heart disease and stroke: EPIC-CVD case-cohort study.

To investigate the association between alcohol consumption (at baseline and over lifetime) and non-fatal and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke