The Phone Walkers: A study of human dependence on inactive mobile devices

The development of mobile phones has largely increased human interactions. Whilst the use of these devices for communication has received significant attention, there has been little analysis of more passive interactions. Through census data on casual social groups, this work suggests a clear pattern of mobile phones being carried in people's hands, without the person using it (that is, not looking at it). Moreover, this study suggests that when individuals join members of the opposite sex there is a clear tendency to stop holding mobile phones whilst walking. Although it is not clear why people hold their phones whilst walking in such large proportions (38% of solitary women, and 31% of solitary men), we highlight several possible explanation for holding the device, including the need to advertise status and affluence, to maintain immediate connection with friends and family, and to mitigate feelings related to anxiety and security.Comment: To appear in "Behaviour". 21 pages; 7 figures; Appendix in journal version onl

Exploring the Use of Numerical Relativity Waveforms in Burst Analysis of Precessing Black Hole Mergers

Recent years have witnessed tremendous progress in numerical relativity and an ever improving performance of ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. In preparation for Advanced LIGO and a new era in gravitational wave astronomy, the numerical relativity and gravitational wave data analysis communities are collaborating to ascertain the most useful role for numerical relativity waveforms in the detection and characterization of binary black hole coalescences. In this paper, we explore the detectability of equal mass, merging black hole binaries with precessing spins and total mass M_T in [80,350]Msol, using numerical relativity waveforms and template-less search algorithms designed for gravitational wave bursts. In particular, we present a systematic study using waveforms produced by the MAYAKRANC code that are added to colored, Gaussian noise and analyzed with the Omega burst search algorithm. Detection efficiency is weighed against the orientation of one of the black-hole's spin axes. We find a strong correlation between the detection efficiency and the radiated energy and angular momentum, and that the inclusion of the l=2, m=+/-1,0 modes, at a minimum, is necessary to account for the full dynamics of precessing systems.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figure

Bleomycin increases neutrophil adhesion to human vascular endothelial cells independently of upregulation of ICAM-1 and E-selectin

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. Aim of the Study: Bleomycin-induced lung disease is a serious complication of therapy characterized by alveolar injury, cytokine release, inflammatory cell recruitment, and eventually pulmonary fibrosis. The mechanisms underlying bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis may be relevant to other progressive scarring diseases of the lungs. Pulmonary vascular endothelial cells are critically involved in immune cell extravasation at sites of injury through adhesion molecule expression and cytokine release. We sought to determine the effects of bleomycin on adhesion molecule expression and cytokine release by pulmonary vascular endothelial cells, and their functional relevance to inflammatory cell recruitment. Materials and Methods: The effects of pharmacologically relevant concentrations of bleomycin on adhesion molecule expression and cytokine release by human vascular endothelial cells in vitro were studied by flow cytometry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A flow chamber model was used to assess the functional consequences on adhesion of flowing human neutrophils to endothelial cell monolayers. Results: Bleomycin increased intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1; CD54), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1; CD106), and E-selectin (CD62E) expression, and increased monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) and interleukin (IL-8) release by endothelial cells. Increases in protein expression were accompanied by increased mRNA transcription. In contrast, there was no direct effect of bleomycin on the profibrotic cytokines transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), or endothelin-1. Under flow conditions, endothelial cells exposed to bleomycin supported increased neutrophil adhesion which was independent of ICAM-1 or E-selectin. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that bleomycin promotes endothelial-mediated inflammation and neutrophil adhesion. These mechanisms may contribute to the development of pulmonary fibrosis by supporting immune cell recruitment in the lungs

Acute liver failure of unclear cause? Acetaminophen-protein adducts make the diagnosis

Acetaminophen poisoning remains a leading cause of acute liver failure. Some cases may be difficult to diagnose when clinical findings are equivocal, the patient\u27s history is misleading or incomplete, or the acetaminophen concentration is low or undetectable at arrival to care. We describe a case of a medically complicated young child whose acute liver failure had two of these features. Measurement of acetaminophen-protein adducts confirmed acetaminophen as the primary cause of her liver failure

Impaired contextual modulation of memories in PTSD: an fMRI and psychophysiological study of extinction retention and fear renewal

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients display pervasive fear memories, expressed indiscriminately. Proposed mechanisms include enhanced fear learning and impaired extinction or extinction recall. Documented extinction recall deficits and failure to use safety signals could result from general failure to use contextual information, a hippocampus-dependent process. This can be probed by adding a renewal phase to standard conditioning and extinction paradigms. Human subjects with PTSD and combat controls were conditioned (skin conductance response), extinguished, and tested for extinction retention and renewal in a scanner (fMRI). Fear conditioning (light paired with shock) occurred in one context, followed by extinction in another, to create danger and safety contexts. The next day, the extinguished conditioned stimulus (CS+E) was re-presented to assess extinction recall (safety context) and fear renewal (danger context). PTSD patients showed impaired extinction recall, with increased skin conductance and heightened amygdala activity to the extinguished CS+ in the safety context. However, they also showed impaired fear renewal; in the danger context, they had less skin conductance response to CS+E and lower activity in amygdala and ventral-medial prefrontal cortex compared with combat controls. Control subjects displayed appropriate contextual modulation of memory recall, with extinction (safety) memory prevailing in the safety context, and fear memory prevailing in the danger context. PTSD patients could not use safety context to sustain suppression of extinguished fear memory, but they also less effectively used danger context to enhance fear. They did not display globally enhanced fear expression, but rather showed a globally diminished capacity to use contextual information to modulate fear expression

Geographic variation in apparent competition between native and invasive \u3ci\u3ePhragmites australis\u3c/i\u3e

Apparent competition, the negative interaction between species mediated by shared natural enemies, is thought to play an important role in shaping the structure and dynamics of natural communities. However, its importance in driving species invasions, and whether the strength of this indirect interaction varies across the latitudinal range of the invasion, has not been fully explored. We performed replicated field experiments at four sites spanning 900 km along the Atlantic Coast of the United States to assess the presence and strength of apparent competition between sympatric native and invasive lineages of Phragmites australis. Four herbivore guilds were considered: stem‐feeders, leaf‐miners, leaf‐chewers and aphids. We also tested the hypothesis that the strength of this interaction declines with increasing latitude. Within each site, native and invasive plants of P. australis were cross‐transplanted between co‐occurring native and invasive patches in the same marsh habitat and herbivore damage was evaluated at the end of the growing season. Apparent competition was evident for both lineages and involved all but the leaf‐chewer guild. For native plants, total aphids per plant was 296% higher and the incidence of stem‐feeding and leaf‐mining herbivores was 34% and 221% higher, respectively, when transplanted into invasive than native patches. These data suggest that invasive P. australis has a negative effect on native P. australis via apparent competition. Averaged among herbivore types, the indirect effects of the invasive lineage on the native lineage was 57% higher than the reverse situation, suggesting that apparent competition was asymmetric. We also found that the strength of apparent competition acting against the native lineage was comparable to the benefits to the invasive lineage from enemy release (i.e., proportionately lower mean herbivory of the invasive relative to the native taxa). Finally, we found the first evidence that the strength of apparent competition acting against the native lineage (from stem‐feeders only) decreased with increasing latitude. These results suggest that not only could apparent competition be of tantamount importance to enemy release in enhancing the establishment and spread of invasive taxa, but also that these indirect and direct herbivore effects could vary over the invasion range

Infrared Emission from the Nearby Cool Core Cluster Abell 2597

We observed the brightest central galaxy (BCG) in the nearby (z=0.0821) cool core galaxy cluster Abell 2597 with the IRAC and MIPS instruments on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The BCG was clearly detected in all Spitzer bandpasses, including the 70 and 160 micron wavebands. We report aperture photometry of the BCG. The spectral energy distribution exhibits a clear excess in the FIR over a Rayleigh-Jeans stellar tail, indicating a star formation rate of ~4-5 solar masses per year, consistent with the estimates from the UV and its H-alpha luminosity. This large FIR luminosity is consistent with that of a starburst or a Luminous Infrared Galaxy (LIRG), but together with a very massive and old population of stars that dominate the energy output of the galaxy. If the dust is at one temperature, the ratio of 70 to 160 micron fluxes indicate that the dust emitting mid-IR in this source is somewhat hotter than the dust emitting mid-IR in two BCGs at higher-redshift (z~0.2-0.3) and higher FIR luminosities observed earlier by Spitzer, in clusters Abell 1835 and Zwicky 3146.Comment: Accepted at Ap