Phase Transformations in Binary Colloidal Monolayers

Phase transformations can be difficult to characterize at the microscopic level due to the inability to directly observe individual atomic motions. Model colloidal systems, by contrast, permit the direct observation of individual particle dynamics and of collective rearrangements, which allows for real-space characterization of phase transitions. Here, we study a quasi-two-dimensional, binary colloidal alloy that exhibits liquid-solid and solid-solid phase transitions, focusing on the kinetics of a diffusionless transformation between two crystal phases. Experiments are conducted on a monolayer of magnetic and nonmagnetic spheres suspended in a thin layer of ferrofluid and exposed to a tunable magnetic field. A theoretical model of hard spheres with point dipoles at their centers is used to guide the choice of experimental parameters and characterize the underlying materials physics. When the applied field is normal to the fluid layer, a checkerboard crystal forms; when the angle between the field and the normal is sufficiently large, a striped crystal assembles. As the field is slowly tilted away from the normal, we find that the transformation pathway between the two phases depends strongly on crystal orientation, field strength, and degree of confinement of the monolayer. In some cases, the pathway occurs by smooth magnetostrictive shear, while in others it involves the sudden formation of martensitic plates.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Soft Matter Latex template was used. Published online in Soft Matter, 201

Incorporating a Structural Approach to Reducing the Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for over two-thirds of deaths worldwide, and global efforts to address NCDs have accelerated. Current prevention and control efforts rely primarily on individual behavior/lifestyle approaches that place the onus of responsibility for health on the individual. These approaches, however, have not stopped the increasing trend of NCDs worldwide. Thus, there is urgent need for exploring alternative approaches in order to attain the aim of reducing global premature NCDs mortality by 25% by 2025, and meeting the NCD reduction objective in the Sustainable Development Goals. Discussion: We suggest the need for a structural approach to addressing the NCDs epidemic that integrates social science and public health theories. We evaluate two overarching principles (empowerment and human rights) and three social determinants of health (labor and employment, trade and industry, and macroeconomics) addressed in the 2013 Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs to demonstrate how a structural approach to NCDs can be incorporated into existing NCD interventions. For each area considered, theoretical considerations for structural thinking are provided and conclude with recommended actions. Conclusion: Achieving the global health agenda goals of reducing NCDs mortality will require a shift to a paradigm that embraces concerted efforts to address both behavioral/lifestyle factors and structural dimensions of NCDs

Governing Noncommunicable Diseases Through Political Rationality and Technologies of Government: A Discourse Analysis

In the last two decades, global action to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has accelerated, but policy adoption and implementation at the national level has been inadequate. This analysis examines the role of rationalities of governing, or governmentality, in national-level adoption of global recommendations. Critical discourse analysis was conducted using 49 formal institutional and organizational documents obtained through snowball sampling methodology. Text were coded using a framework of five forms of governmentality and analyzed to describe the order of discourse which has emerged within the global NCD policy domain. The dominant political rationality used to frame NCDs is rooted in risk governmentality. Recommendations for tobacco control and prevention of harmful alcohol use rely on a governmentality of police mixed with discipline. The promotion of physical activity relies heavily on disciplinary governmentality, and the prevention of unhealthy diet mixed disciplinary measures, discipline, and neoliberal governmentalities. To translate global NCD prevention and control strategies to national action, acceptability for the political rationalities embodied in policy options must be nurtured as new norms, procedures, and institutions appropriate to the political rationalities of specific interventions are developed

A test of adaptive strategy theory using fifteen years of change in coral abundance

Universal Adaptive Strategy Theory aims to predict how taxa and assemblages respond to disturbances on the basis of adaptive strategy group (ASG) membership. Here, we test such predictions using the adaptive strategy scheme for reef-building corals developed by Darling et al. (Ecol Lett 15:1378–1386, 2012) and a long-term dataset of coral assemblage structure from inshore reefs on the central Great Barrier Reef. Several disturbances including mass bleaching and tropical storms were recorded in this 15-year interval from 1998 to 2013. ASG membership did not predict how a given taxon responded to disturbance. In fact, all ASGs were on average equally affected by bleaching and a period of multiple disturbances. Furthermore, there were no consistent winners at these sites in response to the 1998 bleaching in contrast to previous work suggesting clear hierarchies in susceptibility to bleaching. In conclusion, while further efforts to re-evaluate the utility of ASGs for reef corals should be encouraged our results and a re-examination of the literature suggests that direct trait-based approaches might prove more useful when exploring how corals respond to disturbance

Salvage Fractionated Stereotactic Re-irradiation (FSRT) for Patients with Recurrent High Grade Gliomas Progressed after Bevacizumab Treatment

Purpose/Objectives: Bevacizumab failure is a major clinical problem in the manage- ment of high grade gliomas (HGG), with a median overall survival of less than 4 months (m). This study evaluated the efficacy of fractionated stereotactic re-irradiation (FSRT) for patients with HGG after progression on Bevacizumab. Materials/Methods: Retrospective review was conducted of patients treated with FSRT after progression on bevacizumab. A total of 36 patients were identified. FSRT was most commonly delivered in 3.5 Gy fractions to a total dose of 35 Gy. Survival from initial diagnosis, as well as from recurrence and re-irradiation, were utilized as study endpoints. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed. Results: Among the 36 patients, 31 patients had recurrent glioblastoma, and 5 patients had recurrent anaplastic astrocytoma. The median time from initial bevacizumab treatment to FSRT was 8.5 m (range 2.3 – 32.0 m). The median plan target volume for FSRT was 27.5 cc (range 1.95 – 165 cc). With a median follow up of 20.4 m, the overall survival of the patients since initial diagnosis was also 24.9 m. The median overall survival after initiation of bevacizumab was 13.4 months. The median overall survival from FSRT was 4.8 m. FSRT treatment was well tolerated with no Grade \u3e3 toxicity. Conclusions: Favorable outcomes were observed in patients with recurrent HGG who received salvage FSRT after bevacizumab failure. The treatment was well tolerated. Prospective study is warranted to further evaluate the efficacy of salvage FSRT for selected patients with recurrent HGG amenable to FSRT, who had failed bevacizumab treatment

Epistasis not needed to explain low dN/dS

An important question in molecular evolution is whether an amino acid that occurs at a given position makes an independent contribution to fitness, or whether its effect depends on the state of other loci in the organism's genome, a phenomenon known as epistasis. In a recent letter to Nature, Breen et al. (2012) argued that epistasis must be "pervasive throughout protein evolution" because the observed ratio between the per-site rates of non-synonymous and synonymous substitutions (dN/dS) is much lower than would be expected in the absence of epistasis. However, when calculating the expected dN/dS ratio in the absence of epistasis, Breen et al. assumed that all amino acids observed in a protein alignment at any particular position have equal fitness. Here, we relax this unrealistic assumption and show that any dN/dS value can in principle be achieved at a site, without epistasis. Furthermore, for all nuclear and chloroplast genes in the Breen et al. dataset, we show that the observed dN/dS values and the observed patterns of amino acid diversity at each site are jointly consistent with a non-epistatic model of protein evolution.Comment: This manuscript is in response to "Epistasis as the primary factor in molecular evolution" by Breen et al. Nature 490, 535-538 (2012

Treg and Oligoclonal Expansion of Terminal Effector CD8+ T Cell as Key Players in Multiple Myeloma

The classical paradigm of host-tumor interaction, i.e. elimination, equilibrium, and escape (EEE), is reflected in the clinical behavior of myeloma which progresses from the premalignant condition, Monoclonal Gammopathy of Unknown Significance (MGUS). Despite the role of other immune cells, CD4+ regulatory T cells (Treg) and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells have emerged as the dominant effectors of host control of the myeloma clone. Progression from MGUS to myeloma is associated with alterations in Tregs and terminal effector CD8+ T cells (TTE). These changes involve CD39 and CD69 expression, affecting the adenosine pathway and residency in the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment, together with oligoclonal expansion within CD8+ TTE cells. In this mini-review article, in the context of earlier data, we summarize our recent understanding of Treg involvement in the adenosine pathway, the significance of oligoclonal expansion within CD8+ TTE cells and BM-residency of CD8+ TTE cells in MGUS and newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients

Approximately optimal domain adaptation with Fisher's Linear Discriminant

We propose a class of models based on Fisher's Linear Discriminant (FLD) in the context of domain adaptation. The class is the convex combination of two hypotheses: i) an average hypothesis representing previously seen source tasks and ii) a hypothesis trained on a new target task. For a particular generative setting we derive the optimal convex combination of the two models under 0-1 loss, propose a computable approximation, and study the effect of various parameter settings on the relative risks between the optimal hypothesis, hypothesis i), and hypothesis ii). We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimal classifier in the context of EEG- and ECG-based classification settings and argue that the optimal classifier can be computed without access to direct information from any of the individual source tasks. We conclude by discussing further applications, limitations, and possible future directions

Estimation and uncertainty analysis of impacts of future heat waves on mortality in the Eastern United States

Background: Climate change is anticipated to influence heat-related mortality in the future. However, estimates of excess mortality attributable to future heat waves are subject to large uncertainties and have not been projected under the latest greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Objectives: We estimated future heat wave mortality in the eastern United States (approximately 1,700 counties) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and investigated sources of uncertainty. Methods: Using dynamically downscaled hourly temperature projections for 2057–2059, we projected heat wave days that were defined using four heat wave metrics and estimated the excess mortality attributable to them. We apportioned the sources of uncertainty in excess mortality estimates using a variance-decomposition method. Results: Estimates suggest that excess mortality attributable to heat waves in the eastern United States would result in 200–7,807 deaths/year (mean 2,379 deaths/year) in 2057–2059. Average excess mortality projections under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were 1,403 and 3,556 deaths/year, respectively. Excess mortality would be relatively high in the southern states and eastern coastal areas (excluding Maine). The major sources of uncertainty were the relative risk estimates for mortality on heat wave versus non–heat wave days, the RCP scenarios, and the heat wave definitions. Conclusions: Mortality risks from future heat waves may be an order of magnitude higher than the mortality risks reported in 2002–2004, with thousands of heat wave–related deaths per year in the study area projected under the RCP8.5 scenario. Substantial spatial variability in county-level heat mortality estimates suggests that effective mitigation and adaptation measures should be developed based on spatially resolved data