1,824 research outputs found
Reduced chromosome cohesion measured by interkinetochore distance is associated with aneuploidy even in oocytes from young mice
It is becoming clear that reduced chromosome cohesion is an important factor in the rise of maternal age-related aneuploidy. This reduction in cohesion has been observed both in human and mouse oocytes, and it can be measured directly by an increase with respect to maternal age in interkinetochore (iKT) distance between a sister chromatid pair. We have observed variations in iKT distance even in oocytes from young mice and wondered if such differences may predispose those oocytes displaying the greatest iKT distances to be becoming aneuploid. Therefore, we used two methods, one pharmacological (Aurora kinase inhibitor) and one genetic (Fzr1 knockout), to raise aneuploidy rates in oocytes from young mice (age, 1-3 mo) and to examine if those oocytes that were aneuploid had greater iKT distances. We observed that for both Aurora kinase inhibition and Fzr1 knockout, iKT distances were significantly greater in those oocytes that became aneuploid compared to those that remained euploid. Based on these results, we propose that individual oocytes undergo loss in chromosomal cohesion at different rates and that the greater this loss, the greater the risk for becoming aneuploid.Supported by an NHMRC project grant (569202) to K.T.J., S.M., and E.A.M. J.E.H. is supported by an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship. I.G.-H. and S.M. are supported by grants BFU2007-67464, BFU2008-01808, Consolider CSD2007-00015, and Junta de Castilla y León Grupo de Excelencia GR 265.Peer Reviewe
Lucky Imaging Adaptive Optics of the brown dwarf binary GJ569Bab
The potential of combining Adaptive Optics (AO) and Lucky Imaging (LI) to
achieve high precision astrometry and differential photometry in the optical is
investigated by conducting observations of the close 0\farcs1 brown dwarf
binary GJ569Bab. We took 50000 -band images with our LI instrument FastCam
attached to NAOMI, the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) AO facility. In
order to extract the most of the astrometry and photometry of the GJ569Bab
system we have resorted to a PSF fitting technique using the primary star
GJ569A as a suitable PSF reference which exhibits an -band magnitude of
. The AO+LI observations at WHT were able to resolve the binary
system GJ569Bab located at 4\farcs 92 \pm 0\farcs05 from GJ569A. We measure a
separation of mas and -band magnitudes of
and and colors of 2.720.08 and 2.830.08 for
the Ba and Bb components, respectively. Our study rules out the presence of any
other companion to GJ569A down to magnitude I 17 at distances larger than
1\arcsec. The colors measured are consistent with M8.5-M9 spectral types
for the Ba and Bb components. The available dynamical, photometric and
spectroscopic data are consistent with a binary system with Ba being slightly
(10-20%) more massive than Bb. We obtain new orbital parameters which are in
good agreement with those in the literature.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables, in press in MNRA
Affordances, constraints and information flows as ‘leverage points’ in design for sustainable behaviour
Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology
Jack of All Trades, Master of All: A Positive Association between Habitat Niche Breadth and Foraging Performance in Pit-Building Antlion Larvae
Species utilizing a wide range of resources are intuitively expected to be less efficient in exploiting each resource type compared to species which have developed an optimal phenotype for utilizing only one or a few resources. We report here the results of an empirical study whose aim was to test for a negative association between habitat niche breadth and foraging performance. As a model system to address this question, we used two highly abundant species of pit-building antlions varying in their habitat niche breadth: the habitat generalist Myrmeleon hyalinus, which inhabits a variety of soil types but occurs mainly in sandy soils, and the habitat specialist Cueta lineosa, which is restricted to light soils such as loess. Both species were able to discriminate between the two soils, with each showing a distinct and higher preference to the soil type providing higher prey capture success and characterizing its primary habitat-of-origin. As expected, only small differences in the foraging performances of the habitat generalist were evident between the two soils, while the performance of the habitat specialist was markedly reduced in the alternative sandy soil. Remarkably, in both soil types, the habitat generalist constructed pits and responded to prey faster than the habitat specialist, at least under the temperature range of this study. Furthermore, prey capture success of the habitat generalist was higher than that of the habitat specialist irrespective of the soil type or prey ant species encountered, implying a positive association between habitat niche-breadth and foraging performance. Alternatively, C. lineosa specialization to light soils does not necessarily confer upon its superiority in utilizing such habitats. We thus suggest that habitat specialization in C. lineosa is either an evolutionary dead-end, or, more likely, that this species' superiority in light soils can only be evident when considering additional niche axes
The High Angular Resolution Multiplicity of Massive Stars
We present the results of a speckle interferometric survey of Galactic
massive stars that complements and expands upon a similar survey made over a
decade ago. The speckle observations were made with the KPNO and CTIO 4 m
telescopes and USNO speckle camera, and they are sensitive to the detection of
binaries in the angular separation regime between 0.03" and 5" with relatively
bright companions (Delta V < 3). We report on the discovery of companions to 14
OB stars. In total we resolved companions of 41 of 385 O-stars (11%), 4 of 37
Wolf-Rayet stars (11%), and 89 of 139 B-stars (64%; an enriched visual binary
sample that we selected for future orbital determinations). We made a
statistical analysis of the binary frequency among the subsample that are
listed in the Galactic O Star Catalog by compiling published data on other
visual companions detected through adaptive optics studies and/or noted in the
Washington Double Star Catalog and by collecting published information on
radial velocities and spectroscopic binaries. We find that the binary frequency
is much higher among O-stars in clusters and associations compared to the
numbers for field and runaway O-stars, consistent with predictions for the
ejection processes for runaway stars. We present a first orbit for the O-star
Delta Orionis, a linear solution of the close, apparently optical, companion of
the O-star Iota Orionis, and an improved orbit of the Be star Delta Scorpii.
Finally, we list astrometric data for another 249 resolved and 221 unresolved
targets that are lower mass stars that we observed for various other science
programs.Comment: 76 pages, 6 figures, 11 table
Modern optical astronomy: technology and impact of interferometry
The present `state of the art' and the path to future progress in high
spatial resolution imaging interferometry is reviewed. The review begins with a
treatment of the fundamentals of stellar optical interferometry, the origin,
properties, optical effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, the
passive methods that are applied on a single telescope to overcome atmospheric
image degradation such as speckle interferometry, and various other techniques.
These topics include differential speckle interferometry, speckle spectroscopy
and polarimetry, phase diversity, wavefront shearing interferometry,
phase-closure methods, dark speckle imaging, as well as the limitations imposed
by the detectors on the performance of speckle imaging. A brief account is
given of the technological innovation of adaptive-optics (AO) to compensate
such atmospheric effects on the image in real time. A major advancement
involves the transition from single-aperture to the dilute-aperture
interferometry using multiple telescopes. Therefore, the review deals with
recent developments involving ground-based, and space-based optical arrays.
Emphasis is placed on the problems specific to delay-lines, beam recombination,
polarization, dispersion, fringe-tracking, bootstrapping, coherencing and
cophasing, and recovery of the visibility functions. The role of AO in
enhancing visibilities is also discussed. The applications of interferometry,
such as imaging, astrometry, and nulling are described. The mathematical
intricacies of the various `post-detection' image-processing techniques are
examined critically. The review concludes with a discussion of the
astrophysical importance and the perspectives of interferometry.Comment: 65 pages LaTeX file including 23 figures. Reviews of Modern Physics,
2002, to appear in April issu
Contemporary accuracy of death certificates for coding prostate cancer as a cause of death : Is reliance on death certification good enough? A comparison with blinded review by an independent cause of death evaluation committee
BACKGROUND: Accurate cause of death assignment is crucial for prostate cancer epidemiology and trials reporting prostate cancer-specific mortality outcomes. METHODS: We compared death certificate information with independent cause of death evaluation by an expert committee within a prostate cancer trial (2002-2015). RESULTS: Of 1236 deaths assessed, expert committee evaluation attributed 523 (42%) to prostate cancer, agreeing with death certificate cause of death in 1134 cases (92%, 95% CI: 90%, 93%). The sensitivity of death certificates in identifying prostate cancer deaths as classified by the committee was 91% (95% CI: 89%, 94%); specificity was 92% (95% CI: 90%, 94%). Sensitivity and specificity were lower where death occurred within 1 year of diagnosis, and where there was another primary cancer diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: UK death certificates accurately identify cause of death in men with prostate cancer, supporting their use in routine statistics. Possible differential misattribution by trial arm supports independent evaluation in randomised trials
Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments
In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
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