Discriminating among Earth composition models using geo-antineutrinos

It has been estimated that the entire Earth generates heat corresponding to about 40 TW (equivalent to 10,000 nuclear power plants) which is considered to originate mainly from the radioactive decay of elements like U, Th and K, deposited in the crust and mantle of the Earth. Radioactivity of these elements produce not only heat but also antineutrinos (called geo-antineutrinos) which can be observed by terrestrial detectors. We investigate the possibility of discriminating among Earth composition models predicting different total radiogenic heat generation, by observing such geo-antineutrinos at Kamioka and Gran Sasso, assuming KamLAND and Borexino (type) detectors, respectively, at these places. By simulating the future geo-antineutrino data as well as reactor antineutrino background contributions, we try to establish to which extent we can discriminate among Earth composition models for given exposures (in units of kt$\cdot$ yr) at these two sites on our planet. We use also information on neutrino mixing parameters coming from solar neutrino data as well as KamLAND reactor antineutrino data, in order to estimate the number of geo-antineutrino induced events.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, final version to appear in JHE

Reliability and validity of a questionnaire for physical activity assessment in South American children and adolescents: The SAYCARE Study

ABSTRACT: The objective of this article is to test the reliability and validity of the new and innovative physical activity (PA) questionnaire. Methods: Subsamples from the South American Youth/Child Cardiovascular and Environment Study (SAYCARE) study were included to examine its reliability (children: n 5 161; adolescents: n 5 177) and validity (children: n 5 82; adolescents: n 5 60). The questionnaire consists of three dimensions of PA (lei-sure, active commuting, and school) performed during the last week. To assess its validity, the subjects wore accelerometers for at least 3 days and 8 h/d (at least one weekend day). The reliability was analyzed by correlation coefficients. In addition, Bland-Altman analysis and a multilevel regression were applied to estimate the measurement bias, limits of agreement, and influence of contextual variables. Results: In children, the questionnaire showed consistent reliability (q 5 0.56) and moderate validity (q 5 0.46), and the contextual variable variance explained 43.0% with 222.9 min/d bias. In adolescents, the reliability was higher (q 5 0.76) and the validity was almost excellent (q 5 0.88), with 66.7% of the variance explained by city level with 16.0 min/d PA bias. Conclusions: The SAYCARE PA questionnaire shows acceptable (in children) to strong (in adolescents) reliability and strong validity in the measurement of PA in the pediatric population from low- to middle-income countries

Gender incongruence of adolescence and adulthood: acceptability and clinical utility of the World Health Organization’s proposed ICD-11 criteria

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently updating the tenth version of their diagnostic tool, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD, WHO, 1992). Changes have been proposed for the diagnosis of Transsexualism (ICD-10) with regard to terminology, placement and content. The aim of this study was to gather the opinions of transgender individuals (and their relatives/partners) and clinicians in the Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium) and the United Kingdom regarding the proposed changes and the clinical applicability and utility of the ICD-11 criteria of ‘Gender Incongruence of Adolescence and Adulthood’ (GIAA). A total of 628 participants were included in the study: 284 from the Netherlands (45.2%), 8 from Flanders (Belgium) (1.3%), and 336 (53.5%) from the UK. Most participants were transgender people (or their partners/relatives) (n = 522), 89 participants were healthcare providers (HCPs) and 17 were both healthcare providers and (partners/relatives of) transgender people. Participants completed an online survey developed for this study. Most participants were in favor of the proposed diagnostic term of ‘Gender Incongruence’ and thought that this was an improvement on the ICD-10 diagnostic term of ‘Transsexualism’. Placement in a separate chapter dealing with Sexual- and Gender-related Health or as a Z-code was preferred by many and only a small number of participants stated that this diagnosis should be excluded from the ICD-11. In the UK, most transgender participants thought there should be a diagnosis related to being trans. However, if it were to be removed from the chapter on “psychiatric disorders”, many transgender respondents indicated that they would prefer it to be removed from the ICD in its entirety. There were no large differences between the responses of the transgender participants (or their partners and relatives) and HCPs. HCPs were generally positive about the GIAA diagnosis; most thought the diagnosis was clearly defined and easy to use in their practice or work. The duration of gender incongruence (several months) was seen by many as too short and required a clearer definition. If the new diagnostic term of GIAA is retained, it should not be stigmatizing to individuals. Moving this diagnosis away from the mental and behavioral chapter was generally supported. Access to healthcare was one area where retaining a diagnosis seemed to be of benefit

Geriatric oncology health services research: Cancer and Aging Research Group infrastructure core

Founded by the late Dr. Arti Hurria, the Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary team of investigators dedicated to improving the care of older adults with cancer through research, advocacy, and other scholarly initiatives.1 As part of the CARG National Institute on Aging R21/R33 infrastructure grant to harness the available expertise and prioritize the development of high-impact research, the Health Services Research (HSR) Core was developed to foster and advance HSR in geriatric oncology. The mission of the HSR Core is to support clinical investigators to design and conduct highquality HSR focused on older adults with cancer and their caregivers including patterns of care, comparative effectiveness, and care delivery. At the first R21/R33 conference held at City of Hope in October 2018, Dr. Harvey Jay Cohen (Chair, CARG Oversight Board and HSR Core) led the development of this Core. In this perspective paper, we present a review of HSR in geriatric oncology to build a foundation for the Core rationale; proposed Core function, workflow, policies, and procedures; anticipated interactions with other CARG Cores; and proposed plans for sustainabilit

A Review of the fossil record of turtles of the clade Baenidae

The fossil record of the turtle clade Baenidae ranges from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian—Albian) to the Eocene. The group is present throughout North America during the Early Cretaceous, but is restricted to the western portions of the continents in the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene. No credible remains of the clade have been reported outside of North America to date. Baenids were warmadapted freshwater aquatic turtles that supported high levels of diversity at times through niche partitioning, particularly by adapting to a broad range of dietary preferences ranging from omnivorous to molluscivorous. Current phylogenies place Baenidae near the split of crown-group Testudines. Within Baenidae three more inclusive, named clades are recognized: Baenodda, Palatobaeninae and Eubaeninae. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of 49 named taxa, 30 are nomina valida, 12 are nomina invalida and 7 are nomina dubia

Sociocultural considerations in aging men's health: implications and recommendations for the clinician

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jomh.2009.07.00

An organelle-specific protein landscape identifies novel diseases and molecular mechanisms

Contains fulltext : 158967.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Cellular organelles provide opportunities to relate biological mechanisms to disease. Here we use affinity proteomics, genetics and cell biology to interrogate cilia: poorly understood organelles, where defects cause genetic diseases. Two hundred and seventeen tagged human ciliary proteins create a final landscape of 1,319 proteins, 4,905 interactions and 52 complexes. Reverse tagging, repetition of purifications and statistical analyses, produce a high-resolution network that reveals organelle-specific interactions and complexes not apparent in larger studies, and links vesicle transport, the cytoskeleton, signalling and ubiquitination to ciliary signalling and proteostasis. We observe sub-complexes in exocyst and intraflagellar transport complexes, which we validate biochemically, and by probing structurally predicted, disruptive, genetic variants from ciliary disease patients. The landscape suggests other genetic diseases could be ciliary including 3M syndrome. We show that 3M genes are involved in ciliogenesis, and that patient fibroblasts lack cilia. Overall, this organelle-specific targeting strategy shows considerable promise for Systems Medicine