HD 69686: A Mysterious High Velocity B Star

We report on the discovery of a high velocity B star, HD 69686. We estimate its space velocity, distance, surface temperature, gravity, and age. With these data, we are able to reconstruct the trajectory of the star and to trace it back to its birthplace. We use evolutionary tracks for single stars to estimate that HD 69686 was born 73 Myr ago in the outer part of our Galaxy ($r \sim 12$ kpc) at a position well below the Galactic plane ($z \sim -1.8$ kpc), a very unusual birthplace for a B star. Along the star's projected path in the sky, we also find about 12 other stars having similar proper motions, and their photometry data suggest that they are located at the same distance as HD 69686 and probably have the same age. We speculate on the origin of this group by star formation in a high velocity cloud or as a Galactic merger fragment.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

A Bright, Slow Cryogenic Molecular Beam Source for Free Radicals

We demonstrate and characterize a cryogenic buffer gas-cooled molecular beam source capable of producing bright beams of free radicals and refractory species. Details of the beam properties (brightness, forward velocity distribution, transverse velocity spread, rotational and vibrational temperatures) are measured under varying conditions for the molecular species SrF. Under typical conditions we produce a beam of brightness 1.2 x 10^11 molecules/sr/pulse in the rovibrational ground state, with 140 m/s forward velocity and a rotational temperature of approximately 1 K. This source compares favorably to other methods for producing beams of free radicals and refractory species for many types of experiments. We provide details of construction that may be helpful for others attempting to use this method.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure

PhosPhAt: a database of phosphorylation sites in Arabidopsis thaliana and a plant-specific phosphorylation site predictor

The PhosPhAt database provides a resource consolidating our current knowledge of mass spectrometry-based identified phosphorylation sites in Arabidopsis and combines it with phosphorylation site prediction specifically trained on experimentally identified Arabidopsis phosphorylation motifs. The database currently contains 1187 unique tryptic peptide sequences encompassing 1053 Arabidopsis proteins. Among the characterized phosphorylation sites, there are over 1000 with unambiguous site assignments, and nearly 500 for which the precise phosphorylation site could not be determined. The database is searchable by protein accession number, physical peptide characteristics, as well as by experimental conditions (tissue sampled, phosphopeptide enrichment method). For each protein, a phosphorylation site overview is presented in tabular form with detailed information on each identified phosphopeptide. We have utilized a set of 802 experimentally validated serine phosphorylation sites to develop a method for prediction of serine phosphorylation (pSer) in Arabidopsis. An analysis of the current annotated Arabidopsis proteome yielded in 27 782 predicted phosphoserine sites distributed across 17 035 proteins. These prediction results are summarized graphically in the database together with the experimental phosphorylation sites in a whole sequence context. The Arabidopsis Protein Phosphorylation Site Database (PhosPhAt) provides a valuable resource to the plant science community and can be accessed through the following link http://phosphat.mpimp-golm.mpg.d

Structure and magnetism in ultrathin iron oxides characterized by low energy electron microscopy

We have grown epitaxial films a few atomic layers thick of iron oxides on ruthenium. We characterize the growth by low energy electron microscopy. Using selected area diffraction and intensity vs. voltage spectroscopy, we detect two distinct phases which are assigned to wustite and magnetite. Spin polarized low energy electron microscopy shows magnetic domain patterns in the magnetite phase at room temperature.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, for J. Phys Cond Matt special LEEM/PEEM issue in honor of E. Baue

Co-designing inflammatory bowel disease (Ibd) services in Scotland : findings from a nationwide survey

Background: The Scottish Government’s ambition is to ensure that health services are co-designed with the communities they serve. Crohn’s and Colitis UK and the Scottish Government acknowledged the need to review and update the current IBD care model. An online survey was conducted asking IBD patients about their experiences of the NHS care they receive. This survey was the first step of co-designing and developing a national strategy for IBD service improvement in Scotland. Aim: To explore IBD patients’ experiences of current services and make recommendations for future service development. Methods: This study was part of a wider cross-sectional on-line survey. Participants were patients with IBD across Scotland. 777 people with IBD took part in the survey. Thematic analysis of all data was conducted independently by two researchers. Results: Three key themes emerged: Quality of life: Participants highlighted the impact the disease has on quality of life and the desperate need for IBD services to address this more holistically. IBD clinicians and access: Participants recognised the need for more IBD nurses and gastroenterologists along with better access to them. Those with a named IBD nurse reported to be more satisfied with their care. An explicit IBD care pathway: Patients with IBD identified the need of making the IBD care pathway more explicit to service users. Conclusions: Participants expressed the need for a more holistic approach to their IBD care. This includes integrating psychological, counselling and dietetic services into IBD care with better access to IBD clinicians and a more explicit IBD care pathway. Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease, Co-designing, Qualitative study, Patient survey, Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative coliti

Do Changes in the Pace of Events Affect One-Off Judgments of Duration?

Five experiments examined whether changes in the pace of external events influence people’s judgments of duration. In Experiments 1a–1c, participants heard pieces of music whose tempo accelerated, decelerated, or remained constant. In Experiment 2, participants completed a visuo-motor task in which the rate of stimulus presentation accelerated, decelerated, or remained constant. In Experiment 3, participants completed a reading task in which facts appeared on-screen at accelerating, decelerating, or constant rates. In all experiments, the physical duration of the to-be-judged interval was the same across conditions. We found no significant effects of temporal structure on duration judgments in any of the experiments, either when participants knew that a time estimate would be required (prospective judgments) or when they did not (retrospective judgments). These results provide a starting point for the investigation of how temporal structure affects one-off judgments of duration like those typically made in natural settings

Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Drug Seeking: 20 Years of Progress

In human addicts, drug relapse and craving are often provoked by stress. Since 1995, this clinical scenario has been studied using a rat model of stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. Here, we first discuss the generality of stress-induced reinstatement to different drugs of abuse, different stressors, and different behavioral procedures. We also discuss neuropharmacological mechanisms, and brain areas and circuits controlling stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. We conclude by discussing results from translational human laboratory studies and clinical trials that were inspired by results from rat studies on stress-induced reinstatement. Our main conclusions are (1) The phenomenon of stress-induced reinstatement, first shown with an intermittent footshock stressor in rats trained to self-administer heroin, generalizes to other abused drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and alcohol, and is also observed in the conditioned place preference model in rats and mice. This phenomenon, however, is stressor specific and not all stressors induce reinstatement of drug seeking. (2) Neuropharmacological studies indicate the involvement of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, kappa/dynorphin, and several other peptide and neurotransmitter systems in stress-induced reinstatement. Neuropharmacology and circuitry studies indicate the involvement of CRF and noradrenaline transmission in bed nucleus of stria terminalis and central amygdala, and dopamine, CRF, kappa/dynorphin, and glutamate transmission in other components of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system (ventral tegmental area, medial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens). (3) Translational human laboratory studies and a recent clinical trial study show the efficacy of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists in decreasing stress-induced drug craving and stress-induced initial heroin lapse