A generalized approach to model the spectra and radiation dose rate of solar particle events on the surface of Mars

For future human missions to Mars, it is important to study the surface radiation environment during extreme and elevated conditions. In the long term, it is mainly Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) modulated by solar activity that contributes to the radiation on the surface of Mars, but intense solar energetic particle (SEP) events may induce acute health effects. Such events may enhance the radiation level significantly and should be detected as immediately as possible to prevent severe damage to humans and equipment. However, the energetic particle environment on the Martian surface is significantly different from that in deep space due to the influence of the Martian atmosphere. Depending on the intensity and shape of the original solar particle spectra as well as particle types, the surface spectra may induce entirely different radiation effects. In order to give immediate and accurate alerts while avoiding unnecessary ones, it is important to model and well understand the atmospheric effect on the incoming SEPs including both protons and helium ions. In this paper, we have developed a generalized approach to quickly model the surface response of any given incoming proton/helium ion spectra and have applied it to a set of historical large solar events thus providing insights into the possible variety of surface radiation environments that may be induced during SEP events. Based on the statistical study of more than 30 significant solar events, we have obtained an empirical model for estimating the surface dose rate directly from the intensities of a power-law SEP spectra

Developing a contemporary community clinic for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction within the current National Health Service model

INTRODUCTION: The diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal for heart failure with preserved ejection (HFpEF) has expanded. With novel therapies (eg, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors) and firmer recommendations to optimise non-cardiac comorbidities, it is unclear if outpatient HFpEF models can adequately deliver this. We; therefore, evaluated the efficacy of an existing dedicated HFpEF clinic to find innovative ways to design a more comprehensive model tailored to the modern era of HFpEF. METHODS: A single-centre retrospective analysis of 202 HFpEF outpatients was performed over 12 months before the COVID-19 pandemic. Baseline characteristics, clinic activities (eg, medication changes, lifestyle modifications, management of comorbidities) and follow-up arrangements were compared between a HFpEF and general cardiology clinic to assess their impact on mortality and morbidity at 6 and 12 months. RESULTS: Between the two clinic groups, the sample population was evenly matched with a typical HFpEF profile (mean age 79±9.6 years, 55% female and a high prevalence of cardiometabolic comorbidities). While follow-up practices were similar, the HFpEF clinic delivered significantly more interventions on lifestyle changes, blood pressure and heart rate control (p60% of hospitalisation, including causes of recurrent admissions. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that existing general and emerging dedicated HFpEF clinics may not be adequate in addressing the multifaceted aspects of HFpEF as clinic activities concentrated primarily on cardiological measures. Although the small cohort and short follow-up period are important limitations, this study reminds clinicians that HFpEF patients are more at risk of non-cardiac than HF-related events. We have therefore proposed a pragmatic framework that can comprehensively deliver the modern guideline-directed recommendations and management of non-cardiac comorbidities through a multidisciplinary approach

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE ADOPTION OF HUMAN-AI COLLABORATION IN CLINICAL DECISION-MAKING

Recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have fueled the emergence of human-AI collaboration, a setting where AI is a coequal partner. Especially in clinical decision-making, it has the potential to improve treatment quality by assisting overworked medical professionals. Even though research has started to investigate the utilization of AI for clinical decision-making, its potential benefits do not imply its adoption by medical professionals. While several studies have started to analyze adoption criteria from a technical perspective, research providing a human-centered perspective with a focus on AI’s potential for becoming a coequal team member in the decision-making process remains limited. Therefore, in this work, we identify factors for the adoption of human-AI collaboration by conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with experts in the healthcare domain. We identify six relevant adoption factors and highlight existing tensions between them and effective human-AI collaboration

Diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced FDG-PET/CT in primary staging of cutaneous malignant melanoma

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced FDG-PET/CT (ce-PET/CT), PET-only, and CT-only in patients with newly diagnosed and resected cutaneous malignant melanoma. Methods: A final group of 56 patients (mean age 62years, range 23-86years; 29 women, 27 men) were staged with ce-PET/CT after resection of the primary tumour. Histopathology as well as clinical follow-up (mean 780days, range 102-1,390 days) served as the standards of reference. Differences between the staging modalities were tested for statistical significance with McNemar's test. Results: All imaging procedures provided low sensitivities in the detection of lymph nodes (sensitivity N-stage: PET/CT and PET-only 38.5%; CT-only 23.1%) and distant metastases (sensitivity M-stage: PET/CT 41.7%, PET-only 33.3%, CT-only 25.0%) in initial staging after resection of the primary tumour. No statistically significant differences were detected between the imaging procedures (p > 0.05). PET/CT resulted in an alteration in further treatment in two patients compared to PET-only and in four patients compared to CT-only. Conclusion: All imaging modalities had a low sensitivity on initial staging of patients with malignant melanoma. Thus, close patient follow-up must be considered mandator

Relativistic electron beams accelerated by an interplanetary shock

Collisionless shock waves have long been considered amongst the most prolific particle accelerators in the universe. Shocks alter the plasma they propagate through and often exhibit complex evolution across multiple scales. Interplanetary (IP) traveling shocks have been recorded in-situ for over half a century and act as a natural laboratory for experimentally verifying various aspects of large-scale collisionless shocks. A fundamentally interesting problem in both helio and astrophysics is the acceleration of electrons to relativistic energies (more than 300 keV) by traveling shocks. This letter presents first observations of field-aligned beams of relativistic electrons upstream of an IP shock observed thanks to the instrumental capabilities of Solar Orbiter. This study aims to present the characteristics of the electron beams close to the source and contribute towards understanding their acceleration mechanism. On 25 July 2022, Solar Orbiter encountered an IP shock at 0.98 AU. The shock was associated with an energetic storm particle event which also featured upstream field-aligned relativistic electron beams observed 14 minutes prior to the actual shock crossing. The distance of the beam's origin was investigated using a velocity dispersion analysis (VDA). Peak-intensity energy spectra were anaylzed and compared with those obtained from a semi-analytical fast-Fermi acceleration model. By leveraging Solar Orbiter's high-time resolution Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), we have successfully showcased an IP shock's ability to accelerate relativistic electron beams. Our proposed acceleration mechanism offers an explanation for the observed electron beam and its characteristics, while we also explore the potential contributions of more complex mechanisms.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 2 figures. Supplementary material: 6 pages, 7 figure

Montmorency cherry juice reduces muscle damage caused by intensive strength exercise.

addresses: Sports and Exercise Science Research Centre, London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom. [email protected]: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tThis is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2011, Vol. 43, Issue 8, pp. 1544 – 1551. © 2011 American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)Montmorency cherries contain high levels of polyphenolic compounds including flavonoids and anthocyanins possessing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. We investigated whether the effects of intensive unilateral leg exercise on oxidative damage and muscle function were attenuated by consumption of a Montmorency cherry juice concentrate using a crossover experimental design

Diversity and biogeochemical structuring of bacterial communities across the Porangahau ridge accretionary prism, New Zealand

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in FEMS Microbiology Ecology 77 (2011): 518-532, doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01133.x.Sediments from the Porangahau ridge, located off the northeastern coast of New Zealand, were studied to describe bacterial community structure in conjunction with differing biogeochemical regimes across the ridge. Low diversity was observed in sediments from an eroded basin seaward of the ridge and the community was dominated by uncultured members of the Burkholderiales. Chloroflexi/GNS and Deltaproteobacteria were abundant in sediments from a methane seep located landward of the ridge. Gas-charged and organic rich sediments further landward had the highest overall diversity. Surface sediments, with the exception of those from the basin, were dominated by Rhodobacterales sequences associated with organic matter deposition. Taxa related to the Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus and the JS1 candidates were highly abundant at the sulfate-methane transition zone (SMTZ) at three sites. To determine how community structure was influenced by terrestrial, pelagic, and in situ substrates, sequence data were was statistically analyzed against geochemical data (e.g., sulfate, chloride, nitrogen, phosphorous, methane, bulk inorganic and organic carbon pools) using the Biota-Environmental matching procedure. Landward of the ridge, sulfate was among the most significant structuring factors. Seaward of the ridge, silica and ammonium were important structuring factors. Regardless of the transect location, methane was the principal structuring factor on SMTZ communities.This work was supported by the Naval Research Laboratory Chemistry Division Young Investigator Program and the Office of Naval Research platform support program.2012-05-1

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Organic Agriculture: What You Need to Know

A quick info guide introducing consumers to Organic and what it means for agriculture1_gi79zvw

Exploring Changes in Myocyte Structure, Contractility, and Energetics From Mechanical Unloading in Patients With Heart Failure Undergoing Ventricular Assist Device Implantation:A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aims: Recent reports of myocardial recovery after mechanical unloading with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have challenged the prevailing notion that end-stage heart failure (HF) is irreversible. To improve our understanding of this phenomenon, we comprehensively analysed the structural, functional, and energetic changes in failing human cardiomyocytes after LVAD implantation. Methods: Based on a prospectively registered protocol (PROSPERO-CRD42022380214), 30 eligible studies were identified from 940 records with a pooled population of 648 patients predominantly with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy. Results: LVAD led to a substantial regression in myocyte size similar to that of donor hearts (standardised mean difference, −1.29; p&lt;0.001). The meta-regression analysis revealed that HF duration was a significant modifier on the changes in myocyte size. There were some suggestions of fibrosis reversal (−5.17%; p=0.009); however, this was insignificant after sensitivity analysis. Developed force did not improve in cardiac trabeculae (n=5 studies); however, non-physiological isometric contractions were tested. At the myocyte level (n=4 studies), contractile kinetics improved where the time-to-peak force reduced by 41.7%–50.7% and time to 50% relaxation fell by 47.4%–62.1% (p&lt;0.05). Qualitatively, LVAD enhanced substrate utilisation and mitochondrial function (n=6 studies). Most studies were at a high risk of bias. Conclusion: The regression of maladaptive hypertrophy, partial fibrosis reversal, and normalisation in metabolic pathways after LVAD may be a testament to the heart's remarkable plasticity, even in the advanced stages of HF. However, inconsistencies exist in force-generating capabilities. Using more physiological force-length work-loop assays, addressing the high risks of bias and clinical heterogeneity are crucial to better understand the phenomenon of reverse remodelling.</p