Prospective evaluation of quality of life after conventional abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery

Objectives:To evaluate the changes in quality of life following conventional abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.Design:Prospective study.Materials and methods:Fifty-nine consecutive patients (50 men; nine women) in two surgical centres were investigated preoperatively, and at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months postoperatively. Quality of life was measured using the Short Form 36 (SF 36) questionnaire and the York Quality of Life questionnaire, from which the Rosser index was calculated.Results:Rosser index assessment showed restoration of quality of life to preoperative levels by 3 months, and significant improvement at 6 months. Changes in the SF 36 revealed significant improvement in mental health, and physical role limitation at all times postoperatively. Social function worsened at 6 weeks but improved to preoperative levels by 3 and 6 months after surgery.Conclusions:Quality of life was improved after open aortic aneurysm repair. The time course of recovery shows a predominant improvement between 6 weeks and 3 months postoperatively

Nonorientable spacetime tunneling

Misner space is generalized to have the nonorientable topology of a Klein bottle, and it is shown that in a classical spacetime with multiply connected space slices having such a topology, closed timelike curves are formed. Different regions on the Klein bottle surface can be distinguished which are separated by apparent horizons fixed at particular values of the two angular variables that eneter the metric. Around the throat of this tunnel (which we denote a Klein bottlehole), the position of these horizons dictates an ordinary and exotic matter distribution such that, in addition to the known diverging lensing action of wormholes, a converging lensing action is also present at the mouths. Associated with this matter distribution, the accelerating version of this Klein bottlehole shows four distinct chronology horizons, each with its own nonchronal region. A calculation of the quantum vacuum fluctuations performed by using the regularized two-point Hadamard function shows that each chronology horizon nests a set of polarized hypersurfaces where the renormalized momentum-energy tensor diverges. This quantum instability can be prevented if we take the accelerating Klein bottlehole to be a generalization of a modified Misner space in which the period of the closed spatial direction is time-dependent. In this case, the nonchronal regions and closed timelike curves cannot exceed a minimum size of the order the Planck scale.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, Accepted in Phys. Rev.

STRING v11: protein-protein association networks with increased coverage, supporting functional discovery in genome-wide experimental datasets

Proteins and their functional interactions form the backbone of the cellular machinery. Their connectivity network needs to be considered for the full understanding of biological phenomena, but the available information on protein-protein associations is incomplete and exhibits varying levels of annotation granularity and reliability. The STRING database aims to collect, score and integrate all publicly available sources of protein-protein interaction information, and to complement these with computational predictions. Its goal is to achieve a comprehensive and objective global network, including direct (physical) as well as indirect (functional) interactions. The latest version of STRING (11.0) more than doubles the number of organisms it covers, to 5090. The most important new feature is an option to upload entire, genome-wide datasets as input, allowing users to visualize subsets as interaction networks and to perform gene-set enrichment analysis on the entire input. For the enrichment analysis, STRING implements well-known classification systems such as Gene Ontology and KEGG, but also offers additional, new classification systems based on high-throughput text-mining as well as on a hierarchical clustering of the association network itself. The STRING resource is available online at https://string-db.org/

On Traversable Lorentzian Wormholes in the Vacuum Low Energy Effective String Theory in Einstein and Jordan Frames

Three new classes (II-IV) of solutions of the vacuum low energy effective string theory in four dimensions are derived. Wormhole solutions are investigated in those solutions including the class I case both in the Einstein and in the Jordan (string) frame. It turns out that, of the eight classes of solutions investigated (four in the Einstein frame and four in the corresponding string frame), massive Lorentzian traversable wormholes exist in five classes. Nontrivial massless limit exists only in class I Einstein frame solution while none at all exists in the string frame. An investigation of test scalar charge motion in the class I solution in the two frames is carried out by using the Plebanski-Sawicki theorem. A curious consequence is that the motion around the extremal zero (Keplerian) mass configuration leads, as a result of scalar-scalar interaction, to a new hypothetical "mass" that confines test scalar charges in bound orbits, but does not interact with neutral test particles.Comment: 18 page

Eureka and beyond: mining's impact on African urbanisation

This collection brings separate literatures on mining and urbanisation together at a time when both artisanal and large-scale mining are expanding in many African economies. While much has been written about contestation over land and mineral rights, the impact of mining on settlement, notably its catalytic and fluctuating effects on migration and urban growth, has been largely ignored. African nation-states’ urbanisation trends have shown considerable variation over the past half century. The current surge in ‘new’ mining countries and the slow-down in ‘old’ mining countries are generating some remarkable settlement patterns and welfare outcomes. Presently, the African continent is a laboratory of national mining experiences. This special issue on African mining and urbanisation encompasses a wide cross-section of country case studies: beginning with the historical experiences of mining in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe), followed by more recent mineralizing trends in comparatively new mineral-producing countries (Tanzania) and an established West African gold producer (Ghana), before turning to the influence of conflict minerals (Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone)

Down syndrome-recent progress and future prospects

Down syndrome (DS) is caused by trisomy of chromosome 21 (Hsa21) and is associated with a number of deleterious phenotypes, including learning disability, heart defects, early-onset Alzheimer's disease and childhood leukaemia. Individuals with DS are affected by these phenotypes to a variable extent; understanding the cause of this variation is a key challenge. Here, we review recent research progress in DS, both in patients and relevant animal models. In particular, we highlight exciting advances in therapy to improve cognitive function in people with DS and the significant developments in understanding the gene content of Hsa21. Moreover, we discuss future research directions in light of new technologies. In particular, the use of chromosome engineering to generate new trisomic mouse models and large-scale studies of genotype-phenotype relationships in patients are likely to significantly contribute to the future understanding of DS

Recreational and occupational physical activity in relation to prostate cancer aggressiveness: the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP)

Purpose: To examine associations between recreational and occupational physical activity and prostate cancer aggressiveness in a population-based, case-only, incident prostate cancer study. Methods: Data were analyzed from the cross-sectional North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project of African-American (n = 1,023) and European-American (n = 1,079) men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer (CaP). High-aggressive CaP was defined as Gleason sum ≥ 8, or prostate-specific antigen > 20 ng/ml, or Gleason sum ≥ 7 and clinical stage T3–T4. Metabolic equivalent tasks (MET) were estimated from self-reported recreational physical activity in the year prior to diagnosis assessed retrospectively via a validated questionnaire and from occupational physical activity based on job titles. Associations between physical activity variables and high-aggressive prostate cancer were estimated using logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for multiple confounders. Results: There was suggestive evidence that walking for 75–150 min/week for exercise is associated with lower odds of high-aggressive prostate cancer compared to no walking (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.47–1.01). Physical activity at the current job was associated with 24% lower odds of high-aggressive prostate cancer (highest vs. lowest tertile OR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.56–1.04). However, total MET-h/week of recreational physical activity and accumulation of high-level physical activity at the longest-held job were not associated with high-aggressive prostate cancer. Results did not vary by race. Conclusions: The odds of high-aggressive prostate cancer were lower among men who walk for exercise and those engaged in occupations with high activity levels

Demonstration of a solid deuterium source of ultra-cold neutrons

Ultra-cold neutrons (UCN), neutrons with energies low enough to be confined by the Fermi potential in material bottles, are playing an increasing role in measurements of fundamental properties of the neutron. The ability to manipulate UCN with material guides and bottles, magnetic fields, and gravity can lead to experiments with lower systematic errors than have been obtained in experiments with cold neutron beams. The UCN densities provided by existing reactor sources limit these experiments. The promise of much higher densities from solid deuterium sources has led to proposed facilities coupled to both reactor and spallation neutron sources. In this paper we report on the performance of a prototype spallation neutron-driven solid deuterium source. This source produced bottled UCN densities of 145 +/-7 UCN/cm3, about three times greater than the largest bottled UCN densities previously reported. These results indicate that a production UCN source with substantially higher densities should be possible

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

Measurements of long-range near-side angular correlations in sNN=5\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5TeV proton-lead collisions in the forward region

Two-particle angular correlations are studied in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5$TeV, collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on data recorded in two beam configurations, in which either the direction of the proton or that of the lead ion is analysed. The correlations are measured in the laboratory system as a function of relative pseudorapidity, $\Delta\eta$, and relative azimuthal angle, $\Delta\phi$, for events in different classes of event activity and for different bins of particle transverse momentum. In high-activity events a long-range correlation on the near side, $\Delta\phi \approx 0$, is observed in the pseudorapidity range $2.0<\eta<4.9$. This measurement of long-range correlations on the near side in proton-lead collisions extends previous observations into the forward region up to $\eta=4.9$. The correlation increases with growing event activity and is found to be more pronounced in the direction of the lead beam. However, the correlation in the direction of the lead and proton beams are found to be compatible when comparing events with similar absolute activity in the direction analysed.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-040.htm