2,236 research outputs found

    Le monument funéraire néolithique de Poses « Sur la Mare » (Eure)

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    La fouille d’une large surface, Ă  Poses, au lieu-dit « Sur la Mare », a permis d’étudier les vestiges d’une petite structure funĂ©raire en partie arasĂ©e. Cet Ă©difice est constituĂ© d’une couronne d’empierrement en blocs de craie, de forme ovalaire et dĂ©limitant un espace central quadrangulaire d’environ 4 m sur 6. Cet espace intĂ©rieur, lĂ©gĂšrement excavĂ©, a fourni d’une part une structure contenant un vase, et d’autre part une nappe d’ossements brĂ»lĂ©s associĂ©s Ă  d’autres restes Ă©galement brĂ»lĂ©s : fragments de cĂ©ramique, outillages osseux et lithique. Les questions concernant le type de fonctionnement, l’architecture et la datation de cet Ă©difice Ă  une phase de transition entre les NĂ©olithiques moyen et rĂ©cent font ici l’objet d’une discussion.Area excavation at Poses “Sur la Mare” revealed a small Neolithic burial structure. This partly eroded monument consisted of an oval surround of chalk blocks, defining a central quadrangular area 4 by 6 metres. This space, slightly hollowed, had in one section a feature containing a pot, in another section a deposit of cremated bones associated with other burnt material: shards, worked bone and flints. Discussion centres on the function, the architecture and the dating of this structure in a transitional phase between the middle and late Neolithic

    Boron isotope ratio determination in carbonates /via/ LA-MC-ICP-MS using soda-lime glass standards as reference material

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    A new in situ method using LA-MC-ICP-MS (193 nm excimer laser) for the determination of stable boron isotope ratios (ÎŽ11B) in carbonates was developed. Data were acquired via a standard sample standard bracketing procedure typically providing a reproducibility of 0.5‰ (SD) for samples containing 35 ppm of boron. A single ablation interval consumed about 5 ”g of sample corresponding to about 0.2 ng of boron. The major finding was the similar instrumental fractionation behaviour of carbonates, soda-lime glass and sea salt with respect to boron isotopes. As no matrix induced offset was detectable between these distinct materials we propose the use of NIST glasses as internal standards for boron isotope ratio measurements via LA-MC-ICP-MS. This finding overcomes the problem of a missing matrix matched carbonate standard for in situ boron isotope studies. As a first application a set of coral samples from a culturing experiment was analysed. ÎŽ11B values range from 19.5 to 25‰ depending on the pH of the water used in the particular treatment. This is in good agreement with the results of earlier studies

    Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

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    Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology

    The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

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    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version

    Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

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    A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than 60∘60^{\circ} detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above 5.3×10185.3{\times}10^{18} eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law E−γE^{-\gamma} with index Îł=2.70±0.02 (stat)±0.1 (sys)\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)} followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy (EsE_\text{s}) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find Es=(5.12±0.25 (stat)−1.2+1.0 (sys))×1019E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19} eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

    Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

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    The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

    Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

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    We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

    Exome sequencing identifies germline variants in DIS3 in familial multiple myeloma

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    [Excerpt] Multiple myeloma (MM) is the third most common hematological malignancy, after Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Leukemia. MM is generally preceded by Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) [1], and epidemiological studies have identified older age, male gender, family history, and MGUS as risk factors for developing MM [2]. The somatic mutational landscape of sporadic MM has been increasingly investigated, aiming to identify recurrent genetic events involved in myelomagenesis. Whole exome and whole genome sequencing studies have shown that MM is a genetically heterogeneous disease that evolves through accumulation of both clonal and subclonal driver mutations [3] and identified recurrently somatically mutated genes, including KRAS, NRAS, FAM46C, TP53, DIS3, BRAF, TRAF3, CYLD, RB1 and PRDM1 [3,4,5]. Despite the fact that family-based studies have provided data consistent with an inherited genetic susceptibility to MM compatible with Mendelian transmission [6], the molecular basis of inherited MM predisposition is only partly understood. Genome-Wide Association (GWAS) studies have identified and validated 23 loci significantly associated with an increased risk of developing MM that explain ~16% of heritability [7] and only a subset of familial cases are thought to have a polygenic background [8]. Recent studies have identified rare germline variants predisposing to MM in KDM1A [9], ARID1A and USP45 [10], and the implementation of next-generation sequencing technology will allow the characterization of more such rare variants. [...]French National Cancer Institute (INCA) and the Fondation Française pour la Recherche contre le Myélome et les Gammapathies (FFMRG), the Intergroupe Francophone du Myélome (IFM), NCI R01 NCI CA167824 and a generous donation from Matthew Bell. This work was supported in part through the computational resources and staff expertise provided by Scientific Computing at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Research reported in this paper was supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure of the National Institutes of Health under award number S10OD018522. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank the Association des Malades du Myélome Multiple (AF3M) for their continued support and participation. Where authors are identified as personnel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization, the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organizatio
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