SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND ANTIFERROMAGNETISM FOR AN EXTENDED HUBBARD HAMILTONIAN - ROLE OF CORRELATED HOPPING IN A SINGLE-BAND MODEL

An extended Hubbard model for a single band, including Coulomb repulsion and correlated hopping between nearest neighbors, is studied using a generalized mean-field approach. Antiferromagnetism and superconductivity are probed for arbitrary occupation number, near and away from half filling. Binding of pairs in the superconducting state of this purely repulsive model is mediated by the correlated hopping in the form of a covalent-bond configuration, with partial intrasite and intersite pairings. A region of coexistence is conjectured, the superconductivity being suppressed by the saturation of the staggered magnetic moment. Singlet superconducting nonmagnetic states are obtained for the almost-empty- or full-band cases. On the other hand, antiferromagnetism induces mixed s- and p-type superconductivities in the neighborhood of half filling.4721144171442

A Descent Method for Equality and Inequality Constrained Multiobjective Optimization Problems

In this article we propose a descent method for equality and inequality constrained multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs) which generalizes the steepest descent method for unconstrained MOPs by Fliege and Svaiter to constrained problems by using two active set strategies. Under some regularity assumptions on the problem, we show that accumulation points of our descent method satisfy a necessary condition for local Pareto optimality. Finally, we show the typical behavior of our method in a numerical example

An environmentally benign antimicrobial nanoparticle based on a silver-infused lignin core

Silver nanoparticles have antibacterial properties, but their use has been a cause for concern because they persist in the environment. Here, we show that lignin nanoparticles infused with silver ions and coated with a cationic polyelectrolyte layer form a biodegradable and green alternative to silver nanoparticles. The polyelectrolyte layer promotes the adhesion of the particles to bacterial cell membranes and, together with silver ions, can kill a broad spectrum of bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and quaternary-amine-resistant Ralstonia sp. Ion depletion studies have shown that the bioactivity of these nanoparticles is time-limited because of the desorption of silver ions. High-throughput bioactivity screening did not reveal increased toxicity of the particles when compared to an equivalent mass of metallic silver nanoparticles or silver nitrate solution. Our results demonstrate that the application of green chemistry principles may allow the synthesis of nanoparticles with biodegradable cores that have higher antimicrobial activity and smaller environmental impact than metallic silver nanoparticles

Cryptosporidium Priming Is More Effective than Vaccine for Protection against Cryptosporidiosis in a Murine Protein Malnutrition Model

Cryptosporidium is a major cause of severe diarrhea, especially in malnourished children. Using a murine model of C. parvum oocyst challenge that recapitulates clinical features of severe cryptosporidiosis during malnutrition, we interrogated the effect of protein malnutrition (PM) on primary and secondary responses to C. parvum challenge, and tested the differential ability of mucosal priming strategies to overcome the PM-induced susceptibility. We determined that while PM fundamentally alters systemic and mucosal primary immune responses to Cryptosporidium, priming with C. parvum (106 oocysts) provides robust protective immunity against re-challenge despite ongoing PM. C. parvum priming restores mucosal Th1-type effectors (CD3+CD8+CD103+ T-cells) and cytokines (IFNγ, and IL12p40) that otherwise decrease with ongoing PM. Vaccination strategies with Cryptosporidium antigens expressed in the S. Typhi vector 908htr, however, do not enhance Th1-type responses to C. parvum challenge during PM, even though vaccination strongly boosts immunity in challenged fully nourished hosts. Remote non-specific exposures to the attenuated S. Typhi vector alone or the TLR9 agonist CpG ODN-1668 can partially attenuate C. parvum severity during PM, but neither as effectively as viable C. parvum priming. We conclude that although PM interferes with basal and vaccine-boosted immune responses to C. parvum, sustained reductions in disease severity are possible through mucosal activators of host defenses, and specifically C. parvum priming can elicit impressively robust Th1-type protective immunity despite ongoing protein malnutrition. These findings add insight into potential correlates of Cryptosporidium immunity and future vaccine strategies in malnourished children

A phase II study of cell cycle inhibitor UCN-01 in patients with metastatic melanoma: a California Cancer Consortium trial

Background Genetic abnormalities in cell cycle control are common in malignant melanoma. UCN-01 (7-hydroxystaurosporine) is an investigational agent that exhibits antitumor activity by perturbing the cancer cell cycle. A patient with advanced melanoma experienced a partial response in a phase I trial of single agent UCN-01. We sought to determine the activity of UCN-01 against refractory metastatic melanoma in a phase II study. Patients and methods Patients with advanced melanoma received UCN-01 at 90 mg/m2 over 3 h on cycle 1, reduced to 45 mg/m2 over 3 h for subsequent cycles, every 21 days. Primary endpoint was tumor response. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). A two-stage (17 + 16), single arm phase II design was employed. A true response rate of ≥20% (i.e., at least one responder in the first stage, or at least four responders overall) was to be considered promising for further development of UCN-01 in this setting. Results Seventeen patients were accrued in the first stage. One patient was inevaluable for response. Four (24%) patients had stable disease, and 12 (71%) had disease progression. As there were no responders in the first stage, the study was closed to further accrual. Median PFS was 1.3 months (95% CI, 1.2–3.0) while median OS was 7.3 months (95% CI, 3.4–18.4). One-year and two year OS rates were 41% and 12%, respectively. A median of two cycles were delivered (range, 1–18). Grade 3 treatment-related toxicities include hyperglycemia (N = 2), fatigue (N = 1), and diarrhea (N = 1). One patient experienced grade 4 creatinine elevation and grade 4 anemia possibly due to UCN-01. No dose modification was required as these patients had disease progression. Conclusion Although well tolerated, UCN-01 as a single agent did not have sufficient clinical activity to warrant further study in refractory melanoma

Movements of scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) at Cocos Island, Costa Rica and between oceanic islands in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Many species of sharks form aggregations around oceanic islands, yet their levels of residency and their site specificity around these islands may vary. In some cases, the waters around oceanic islands have been designated as marine protected areas, yet the conservation value for threatened shark species will depend greatly on how much time they spend within these protected waters. Eighty-four scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini Griffith & Smith), were tagged with acoustic transmitters at Cocos Island between 2005–2013. The average residence index, expressed as a proportion of days present in our receiver array at the island over the entire monitoring period, was 0.52±0.31, implying that overall the sharks are strongly associated with the island. Residency was significantly greater at Alcyone, a shallow seamount located 3.6 km offshore from the main island, than at the other sites. Timing of presence at the receiver locations was mostly during daytime hours. Although only a single individual from Cocos was detected on a region-wide array, nine hammerheads tagged at Galapagos and Malpelo travelled to Cocos. The hammerheads tagged at Cocos were more resident than those visiting from elsewhere, suggesting that the Galapagos and Malpelo populations may use Cocos as a navigational waypoint or stopover during seasonal migrations to the coastal Central and South America. Our study demonstrates the importance of oceanic islands for this species, and shows that they may form a network of hotspots in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

PHANGS-JWST First Results: A Combined HST and JWST Analysis of the Nuclear Star Cluster in NGC 628

We combine archival Hubble Space Telescope and new James Webb Space Telescope imaging data covering the ultraviolet to mid-infrared regime to morphologically analyze the nuclear star cluster (NSC) of NGC 628, a grand-design spiral galaxy. The cluster is located in a 200 pc × 400 pc cavity lacking both dust and gas. We find roughly constant values for the effective radius (r eff ∼ 5 pc) and ellipticity (ε ∼ 0.05), while the Sérsic index (n) and position angle (PA) drop from n ∼ 3 to ∼2 and PA ∼ 130° to 90°, respectively. In the mid-infrared, r eff ∼ 12 pc, ε ∼ 0.4, and n ∼ 1-1.5, with the same PA ∼ 90°. The NSC has a stellar mass of log 10 ( M ⋆ nsc / M ⊙ ) = 7.06 ± 0.31 , as derived through B − V, confirmed when using multiwavelength data, and in agreement with the literature value. Fitting the spectral energy distribution (SED), excluding the mid-infrared data, yields a main stellar population age of (8 ± 3) Gyr with a metallicity of Z = 0.012 ± 0.006. There is no indication of any significant star formation over the last few gigayears. Whether gas and dust were dynamically kept out or evacuated from the central cavity remains unclear. The best fit suggests an excess of flux in the mid-infrared bands, with further indications that the center of the mid-infrared structure is displaced with respect to the optical center of the NSC. We discuss five potential scenarios, none of them fully explaining both the observed photometry and structure

Protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial assessing the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Electronic RIsk-assessment for CAncer for patients in general practice (ERICA).

This is the final version. Available from [BMJ Publishing via the DOI in this record. Data availability statement: Data sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analysed for this study. Data sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analysed for this Protocol paper.INTRODUCTION: The UK has worse cancer outcomes than most comparable countries, with a large contribution attributed to diagnostic delay. Electronic risk assessment tools (eRATs) have been developed to identify primary care patients with a ≥2% risk of cancer using features recorded in the electronic record. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial in English primary care. Individual general practices will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to intervention (provision of eRATs for six common cancer sites) or to usual care. The primary outcome is cancer stage at diagnosis, dichotomised to stage 1 or 2 (early) or stage 3 or 4 (advanced) for these six cancers, assessed from National Cancer Registry data. Secondary outcomes include stage at diagnosis for a further six cancers without eRATs, use of urgent referral cancer pathways, total practice cancer diagnoses, routes to cancer diagnosis and 30-day and 1-year cancer survival. Economic and process evaluations will be performed along with service delivery modelling. The primary analysis explores the proportion of patients with early-stage cancer at diagnosis. The sample size calculation used an OR of 0.8 for a cancer being diagnosed at an advanced stage in the intervention arm compared with the control arm, equating to an absolute reduction of 4.8% as an incidence-weighted figure across the six cancers. This requires 530 practices overall, with the intervention active from April 2022 for 2 years. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The trial has approval from London City and East Research Ethics Committee, reference number 19/LO/0615; protocol version 5.0, 9 May 2022. It is sponsored by the University of Exeter. Dissemination will be by journal publication, conferences, use of appropriate social media and direct sharing with cancer policymakers. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN22560297.Cancer Research UKDennis and Mireille Gillings Foundatio