Evaluation of 2.1µm DFB lasers for space applications

This paper presents the results obtained in the frame of an ESA-funded project called “Screening and Preevaluation of Shortwave Infrared Laser Diode for Space Application” with the objective of verifying the maturity of state of the art SWIR DFB lasers at 2.1µm to be used for space applications (mainly based on the occultation measurement principle and spectroscopy). The paper focus on the functional and environmental evaluation test plan. It includes high precision characterization, mechanical test (vibration and SRS shocks), thermal cycling, gamma and proton radiation tests, life test and some details of the Destructive Physical Analysis performed. The electro-optical characterization includes measurements of the tuning capabilities of the laser both by current and by temperature, the wavelength stability and the optical power versus laser current

ADHD patients fail to maintain task goals in face of subliminally and consciously induced cognitive conflicts

Background. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients have been reported to display deficits in action control processes. While it is known that subliminally and consciously induced conflicts interact and conjointly modulate action control in healthy subjects, this has never been investigated for ADHD. Method. We investigated the (potential) interaction of subliminally and consciously triggered response conflicts in children with ADHD and matched healthy controls using neuropsychological methods (event-related potentials; ERPs) to identify the involved cognitive sub-processes. Results. Unlike healthy controls, ADHD patients showed no interaction of subliminally and consciously triggered response conflicts. Instead, they only showed additive effects as their behavioural performance (accuracy) was equally impaired by each conflict and they showed no signs of task-goal shielding even in cases of low conflict load. Of note, this difference between ADHD and controls was not rooted in early bottom-up attentional stimulus processing as reflected by the P1 and N1 ERPs. Instead, ADHD showed either no or reversed modulations of conflict-related processes and response selection as reflected by the N2 and P3 ERPs. Conclusion. There are fundamental differences in the architecture of cognitive control which might be of use for future diagnostic procedures. Unlike healthy controls, ADHD patients do not seem to be endowed with a threshold which allows them to maintain high behavioural performance in the face of low conflict load. ADHD patients seem to lack sufficient top-down attentional resources to maintain correct response selection in the face of conflicts by shielding the response selection process from response tendencies evoked by any kind of distractor

QGP Susceptibilities from PNJL Model

An improved version of the PNJL model is used to calculate various thermodynamical quantities, {\it viz.}, quark number susceptibility, isospin susceptibility, specific heat, speed of sound and conformal measure. Comparison with Lattice data is found to be encouraging.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, poster presented at Quark Matter'0

Measures of insulin sensitivity, leptin, and adiponectin concentrations in cats in diabetic remission compared to healthy control cats

Objectives: Firstly, to compare differences in insulin, adiponectin, leptin, and measures of insulin sensitivity between diabetic cats in remission and healthy control cats, and determine whether these are predictors of diabetic relapse. Secondly, to determine if these hormones are associated with serum metabolites known to differ between groups. Thirdly, if any of the hormonal or identified metabolites are associated with measures of insulin sensitivity. Animals: Twenty cats in diabetic remission for a median of 101 days, and 21 healthy matched control cats. Methods: A casual blood glucose measured on admission to the clinic. Following a 24 h fast, a fasted blood glucose was measured, and blood sample taken for hormone (i.e., insulin, leptin, and adiponectin) and untargeted metabolomic (GC-MS and LC-MS) analysis. A simplified IVGGT (1 g glucose/kg) was performed 3 h later. Cats were monitored for diabetes relapse for at least 9 months (270 days). Results: Cats in diabetic remission had significantly higher serum glucose and insulin concentrations, and decreased insulin sensitivity as indicated by an increase in HOMA and decrease in QUICKI and Bennett indices. Leptin was significantly increased, but there was no difference in adiponectin (or body condition score). Several significant correlations were found between insulin sensitivity indices, leptin, and serum metabolites identified as significantly different between remission and control cats. No metabolites were significantly correlated with adiponectin. No predictors of relapse were identified in this study. Conclusion and clinical importance: Insulin resistance, an underlying factor in diabetic cats, persists in diabetic remission. Cats in remission should be managed to avoid further exacerbating insulin resistance

Racial Equity Considerations In Safe To Sleep Messaging: Learning From The Community

Black infants are dying at a rate of over twice that of White infants. We know that infants in unsafe sleep positions are more likely to die from Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID). Safe to Sleep® education has led to a dramatic decrease in mortality among white infants, but over 60% of Black families do not follow the Safe to Sleep® parameters. Safe to Sleep® education is given to pregnant women during the prenatal period and prior to hospital discharge, but what is the best way to share this message with Black families

Metabolic profiling of a transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans Alzheimer model

Despite decades of research, no early-onset biomarkers are currently available for Alzheimer’s disease, a cureless neurodegenerative disease afflicting millions worldwide. In this study, transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans were used to investigate changes in the metabolome after induced expression of amyloid-β. GC- and LC–MS-based platforms determined a total of 157 differential features. Some of these were identified using in-house (GC–MS) or public libraries (LC–MS), revealing changes in allantoin, cystathionine and tyrosine levels. Since C. elegans is far better suited to metabolomics studies than most other model systems, the accordance of these findings with vertebrate literature is promising and argues for further use of C. elegans as a model of human pathology in the study of AD

Transition from a maternal to external nitrogen source in maize seedlings

Maximizing NO3− uptake during seedling development is important as it has a major influence on plant growth and yield. However, little is known about the processes leading to, and involved in, the initiation of root NO3− uptake capacity in developing seedlings. This study examines the physiological processes involved in root NO3− uptake and metabolism, to gain an understanding of how the NO3− uptake system responds to meet demand as maize seedlings transition from seed N use to external N capture. The concentrations of seed‐derived free amino acids within root and shoot tissues are initially high, but decrease rapidly until stabilizing eight days after imbibition (DAI). Similarly, shoot N% decreases, but does not stabilize until 12–13 DAI. Following the decrease in free amino acid concentrations, root NO3− uptake capacity increases until shoot N% stabilizes. The increase in root NO3− uptake capacity corresponds with a rapid rise in transcript levels of putative NO3− transporters, ZmNRT2.1 and ZmNRT2.2 . The processes underlying the increase in root NO3− uptake capacity to meet N demand provide an insight into the processes controlling N uptake

QCD-like theories at nonzero temperature and density

We investigate the properties of hot and/or dense matter in QCD-like theories with quarks in a (pseudo)real representation of the gauge group using the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. The gauge dynamics is modeled using a simple lattice spin model with nearest-neighbor interactions. We first keep our discussion as general as possible, and only later focus on theories with adjoint quarks of two or three colors. Calculating the phase diagram in the plane of temperature and quark chemical potential, it is qualitatively confirmed that the critical temperature of the chiral phase transition is much higher than the deconfinement transition temperature. At a chemical potential equal to half of the diquark mass in the vacuum, a diquark Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) phase transition occurs. In the two-color case, a Ginzburg-Landau expansion is used to study the tetracritical behavior around the intersection point of the deconfinement and BEC transition lines, which are both of second order. We obtain a compact expression for the expectation value of the Polyakov loop in an arbitrary representation of the gauge group (for any number of colors), which allows us to study Casimir scaling at both nonzero temperature and chemical potential.Comment: JHEP class, 31 pages, 7 eps figures; v2: error in Eq. (3.11) fixed, two references added; matches published versio