Herschel far-infrared photometric monitoring of protostars in the Orion Nebula Cluster

We have obtained time series observations of the Orion Nebula Cluster at 70 microns and 160 microns from the Herschel/PACS Photometer. This represents the first wide-field far-infrared photometric monitoring of a young star forming region. The acquired 35'x35' maps show complex extended structures, with unprecedented details, that trace the interaction between the molecular gas and the young hot stars. We detect 43 protostars, most of which are situated along the integral-shaped filament extending from the Orion nebula, through OMC2 and to OMC3. We present high-reliability light curves for some of these objects using the first six epochs of our observing program spread over 6 weeks. We find amplitude variations in excess of 20% for a fraction of the detected protostars over periods as short as a few weeks. This is inconsistent with the dynamical time-scales of cool far-IR emitting material that orbits at hundreds of AU from the protostar, and it suggests that the mechanism(s) responsible for the observed variability originates from the inner region of the protostars, likely driven by variable mass accretion.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Semiconductor integrated circuit chip, multilayer chip capacitor and semiconductor integrated circuit chip package

Disclosed are a semiconductor integrated circuit chip, a multilayer chip capacitor, and a semiconductor integrated circuit chip package. The semiconductor integrated circuit chip includes a semiconductor integrated circuit chip body, an input/output terminal disposed on the outside of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip body, and a decoupling capacitor disposed at a side face of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip body and electrically connected to the input/output terminal. The semiconductor integrated circuit chip cab be obtained, which can maintain an impedance of a power distribution network below a target impedance in a wide frequency range, particularly at a high frequency, by minimizing an inductance between a decoupling capacitor and a semiconductor integrated circuit chip

Morphokinetic profiling suggests that rapid first cleavage division accurately predicts the chances of blastulation in pig in vitro produced embryos

The study of pig preimplantation embryo development has several potential uses: from agri-culture to the production of medically relevant genetically modified organisms; from rare breed conservation to acting as a physiologically relevant model for progressing human and other (e.g., endangered) species’ in vitro fertilisation technology. Despite this, barriers to the widespread adoption of pig embryo in vitro production include lipid-laden cells that are hard to visualise, slow adoption of contemporary technologies such as the use of time-lapse incubators or artificial in-telligence, poor blastulation and high polyspermy rates. Here, we employ a commercially available time-lapse incubator to provide a comprehensive overview of the morphokinetics of pig preimplantation development for the first time. We tested the hypotheses that a) there are dif-ferences in developmental timings between blastulating and non-blastulating embryos, and b) embryo developmental morphokinetic features can be used to predict the likelihood of blastula-tion. Abattoir-derived oocytes fertilised by commercial extended semen produced presumptive zygotes were split into two groups: cavitating/blastulating 144 hours post gamete co-incubation, and those not. The blastulating group reached the 2-cell and morula stages significantly earlier and the time taken to reach the 2-cell stage was identified to be a predictive marker for blastocyst formation. Reverse cleavage was also associated with poor blastulation. These data demonstrate the potential of morphokinetic analysis in automating and upscaling pig in vitro production through effective embryo selection

TSPO interacts with VDAC1 and triggers a ROS-mediated inhibition of mitochondrial quality control

The 18-kDa TSPO (translocator protein) localizes on the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) and participates in cholesterol transport. Here, we report that TSPO inhibits mitochondrial autophagy downstream of the PINK1-PARK2 pathway, preventing essential ubiquitination of proteins. TSPO abolishes mitochondrial relocation of SQSTM1/p62 (sequestosome 1), and consequently that of the autophagic marker LC3 (microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3), thus leading to an accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria, altering the appearance of the network. Independent of cholesterol regulation, the modulation of mitophagy by TSPO is instead dependent on VDAC1 (voltage-dependent anion channel 1), to which TSPO binds, reducing mitochondrial coupling and promoting an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that counteracts PARK2-mediated ubiquitination of proteins. These data identify TSPO as a novel element in the regulation of mitochondrial quality control by autophagy, and demonstrate the importance for cell homeostasis of its expression ratio with VDAC1

D-brane anomaly inflow revisited

Axial and gravitational anomaly of field theories, when embedded in string theory, must be accompanied by canceling inflow. We give a self-contained overview for various world-volume theories, and clarify the role of smeared magnetic sources in I-brane/D-brane cases. The proper anomaly descent of the source, as demanded by regularity of RR field strengths H's, turns out to be an essential ingredient. We show how this allows correct inflow to be generated for all such theories, including self-dual cases, and also that the mechanism is now insensitive to the choice between the two related but inequivalent forms of D-brane Chern-Simons couplings. In particular, SO(6)_R axial anomaly of d=4 maximal SYM is canceled by the inflow onto D3-branes via the standard minimal coupling to C_4. We also propose how, for the anomaly cancelation, the four types of Orientifold planes should be coupled to the spacetime curvatures, of which conflicting claims existed previously.Comment: 41 pages, references updated; version to appear in JHE

Double vitrification and warming of blastocysts does not affect IVF implantation rates, or birth outcomes

Research question: Does double blastocyst vitrification and warming affect pregnancy rates from embryos subjected to PGT-A testing? Design: This is a retrospective observational analysis of embryo transfers performed at a single Centre between January 2017 and August 2022. The double vitrification (DV) group included frozen blastocysts that were vitrified after 5-7 days of culture, warmed, biopsied (either once or twice) and re-vitrified. The single vitrification (SV) group included fresh blastocysts that were biopsied at 5-7 days, and then vitrified. Results: Comparison of the 84 DV blastocysts and 729 control SV blastocysts indicated that the DV embryos were frozen later in development and had expanded more than the SV embryos. Of the 813 embryo transfer procedures reported in this study, 452 resulted in the successful delivery of healthy infants (56%). There were however no significant differences between DV and SV embryos in the pregnancy rates achieved after single embryo transfer (55% vs 56%). Logistic regression indicated that while reduced pregnancy rates were associated with increasing maternal age at oocyte collection and at embryo transfer, and with longer culture prior to freezing, DV was not a significant predictor of outcome. Conclusions: Blastocyst DV was not shown to impact pregnancy rates. While caution is necessary due to the study size, no effects of DV on miscarriage rates, birth weight or gestation period were noted. These data offer reassurance given the absence of influence of DV on pregnancy rates after PGT-A

Reflexive practice and the making of elite business careers

Post-print version. Final version published by Sage; available online at http://mlq.sagepub.com/This paper develops a new perspective on reflexive practice in the making of elite business careers. It builds upon Bourdieu’s practice framework to examine how business leaders from elite and non-elite backgrounds develop and practice reflexivity in their everyday lives. The paper draws upon in-depth life-history interviews with members of the British business elite. Elites exhibited five types of reflexive behaviour, from which two modes of reflexive practice were derived: an accumulative mode, through which business leaders reflexively accumulate capital, positions and perspectives; and a re-constructive mode, through which they re-constitute the self in response to contingences, contexts and insights gathered. Our analysis suggests a link between reflexivity and career advancement, particularly in the case of non-privileged elites. Their greater experience of navigating the social landscape may facilitate perspective-taking, enhancing multipositionality, enabling such individuals to seize opportunities previously unthinkable

Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging: feature issue introduction

This Feature Issue includes 19 articles that highlight advances in the field of Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging. Many of the articles were presented at the 2019 OSA Topical Meeting on Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging held in Munich, Germany, on June 24–27. Articles featured in the issue cover a broad array of topics ranging from imaging through scattering media, imaging round corners and compressive imaging to machine learning for recovery of images

Self-supervised learning in non-small cell lung cancer discovers novel morphological clusters linked to patient outcome and molecular phenotypes

Histopathological images provide the definitive source of cancer diagnosis, containing information used by pathologists to identify and subclassify malignant disease, and to guide therapeutic choices. These images contain vast amounts of information, much of which is currently unavailable to human interpretation. Supervised deep learning approaches have been powerful for classification tasks, but they are inherently limited by the cost and quality of annotations. Therefore, we developed Histomorphological Phenotype Learning, an unsupervised methodology, which requires no annotations and operates via the self-discovery of discriminatory image features in small image tiles. Tiles are grouped into morphologically similar clusters which appear to represent recurrent modes of tumor growth emerging under natural selection. These clusters have distinct features which can be identified using orthogonal methods. Applied to lung cancer tissues, we show that they align closely with patient outcomes, with histopathologically recognised tumor types and growth patterns, and with transcriptomic measures of immunophenotype