Telomere length as a predictor of response to Pioglitazone in patients with unremitted depression: a preliminary study.

We studied peripheral leukocyte telomere length (LTL) as a predictor of antidepressant response to PPAR-γ agonist in patients with unremitted depression. In addition we examined correlation between LTL and the insulin resistance (IR) status in these subjects. Forty-two medically stable men and women ages 23-71 with non-remitted depression participated in double-blind placebo-controlled add-on of Pioglitazone to treatment-as-usual. Oral glucose tolerance tests were administered at baseline and at 12 weeks. Diagnostic evaluation of psychiatric disorders was performed at baseline and mood severity was followed weekly throughout the duration of the trial. At baseline, no differences in LTL were detected by depression severity, duration or chronicity. LTL was also not significantly different between insulin-resistant and insulin-sensitive subjects at baseline. Subjects with longer telomeres exhibited greater declines in depression severity in the active arm, but not in a placebo arm, P=0.005, r=-0.63, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=(-0.84,-0.21). In addition, LTL predicted improvement in insulin sensitivity in the group overall and did not differ between intervention arms, P=0.036, r=-0.44, 95% CI=(-0.74,0.02) for the active arm, and P=0.026, r=-0.50, 95% CI=(-0.78,-0.03) for the placebo arm. LTL may emerge as a viable predictor of antidepressant response. An association between insulin sensitization and LTL regardless of the baseline IR status points to potential role of LTL as a non-specific moderator of metabolic improvement in these patients

WASP-12b as a prolate, inflated and disrupting planet from tidal dissipation

The class of exotic Jupiter-mass planets that orbit very close to their parent stars were not explicitly expected before their discovery. The recently found transiting planet WASP-12b has a mass Mp = 1.4(+/-0.1) Jupiter masses (MJ), a mean orbital distance of only 3.1 stellar radii (meaning it is subject to intense tidal forces), and a period of 1.1 days. Its radius 1.79(+/- 0.09) RJ is unexpectedly large and its orbital eccentricity 0.049(+/-0:015) is even more surprising as such close orbits are in general quickly circularized. Here we report an analysis of its properties, which reveals that the planet is losing mass to its host star at a rate ~ 10^-7 MJ yr^-1. The planets surface is distorted by the stars gravity and the light curve produced by its prolate shape will differ by about ten per cent from that of a spherical planet. We conclude that dissipation of the stars tidal perturbation in the planets convective envelope provides the energy source for its large volume. We predict up to 10mJy CO band-head (2.292 micron) emission from a tenuous disk around the host star, made up of tidally stripped planetary gas. It may also contain a detectable resonant super-Earth, as a hypothetical perturber that continually stirs up WASP-12b's eccentricity.Comment: Accepted to Nature, 14 pages, 1 figur

Improving the energy efficiency of room air conditioners in China: Costs and benefits

China is the world's largest consumer of room air conditioners, and it contributes about a quarter of global space cooling CO2 emissions. We model the costs and benefits of recently proposed new room air conditioner minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) in China. Our results suggest that newly proposed MEPS brings accumulative CO2 emissions reductions of 12.8% between 2019 and 2050, and accumulative bill saving of 2620 billion RMB to China's consumers. The benefits of the proposed MEPS decrease with longer MEPS revision intervals and increase with shorter intervals—indicating that the intervals should be balanced to maximize benefits while accommodating constraints due to air conditioner manufacturer design cycles. We also model potential nationwide benefits from higher MEPS. Across two increasingly aggressive MEPS scenarios, China's room air conditioner electricity consumption and CO2 emissions in 2050 are both reduced by 15–53% compared to the proposed MEPS. The highest-efficiency scenario (reaching MEPS of annual performance factor 5.4 in 2025) provides the largest long-term national benefits. These results could inform development of a Chinese regulatory regime that effectively updates room air conditioner MEPS. Because China is the world's largest manufacturer of room air conditioners, the economic, energy, and emissions benefits resulting from higher Chinese MEPS could also have a global reach

Polar plasmas as observed by Dynamics Explorers 1 and 2

Plasma measurements from the Dynamics Explorer 1 and 2 satellites were used to characterize the polar cap environment. Analysis of numerous polar-cap passes indicate that, in general, three major regimes of plasma exist: (1) polar rain--electrons with magnetosheath-like energy spectra but much lower densities, most intense near the cusp and weakening toward the central polar cap; (2) polar wind--low energy upward flowing ions with both field-aligned and conical distributions; and (3) acceleration events--sporadic events consistent with the acceleration of electrons and positive ions by parallel electric fields. (1) to (3) were observed at high altitudes by Dynamics Explorer 1, while (1) and (3) were also observed at low altitudes by Dynamics Explorer 2. The plasma parameters associated with these plasma regimes are presented and discussed in terms of source and acceleration mechanisms

Eccentricity Evolution of Extrasolar Multiple Planetary Systems due to the Depletion of Nascent Protostellar Disks

Most extrasolar planets are observed to have eccentricities much larger than those in the solar system. Some of these planets have sibling planets, with comparable masses, orbiting around the same host stars. In these multiple planetary systems, eccentricity is modulated by the planets' mutual secular interaction as a consequence of angular momentum exchange between them. For mature planets, the eigenfrequencies of this modulation are determined by their mass and semi-major axis ratios. But, prior to the disk depletion, self gravity of the planets' nascent disks dominates the precession eigenfrequencies. We examine here the initial evolution of young planets' eccentricity due to the apsidal libration or circulation induced by both the secular interaction between them and the self gravity of their nascent disks. We show that as the latter effect declines adiabatically with disk depletion, the modulation amplitude of the planets' relative phase of periapse is approximately invariant despite the time-asymmetrical exchange of angular momentum between planets. However, as the young planets' orbits pass through a state of secular resonance, their mean eccentricities undergo systematic quantitative changes. For applications, we analyze the eccentricity evolution of planets around Upsilon Andromedae and HD168443 during the epoch of protostellar disk depletion. We find that the disk depletion can change the planets' eccentricity ratio. However, the relatively large amplitude of the planets' eccentricity cannot be excited if all the planets had small initial eccentricities.Comment: 50 pages including 11 figures, submitted to Ap

NMR Measurements of Power-Law Behavior in the Spin-Wave and Critical Regions of Ferromagnetic EuO

Precision continuous-wave NMR measurements have been carried out over the entire magnetization curve of EuO and are presented in tabular form. Two very closely spaced resonances are observed and are attributed to domain and domain-wall signals. Both of the signals are useful for analysis in the spin-wave region. Only the domain signal is measurable above ~50K. The latter is used for fitting Tc and the critical exponent beta. The critical-region fits agree with previous measurements, within experimental error. The low-temperature data exhibit a clear-cut T^2 behavior, at variance with the expectations of conventional spin-wave theory. This result is discussed in relation to two semi-empirical spin-wave schemes, one formulated by N. Bykovetz, and one by U. Koebler. The NMR signal at 4.2K gives no indication of a quadrupole splitting, in contradiction to the interpretation of several previous spin-echo NMR spectra observed in EuO. This issue remains unresolved.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. in Proceedings of the 11TH Joint MMM-Intermag Conference, Washington, DC, 201

Concept Validation for Selective Heating and Press Hardening of Automotive Safety Components with Tailored Properties

© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.A new strategy termed selective heating and press hardening, for hot stamping of boron steel parts with tailored properties is proposed in this paper. Feasibility studies were carried out through a specially designed experimental programme. The main aim was to validate the strategy and demonstrate its potential for structural optimisation. In the work, a lab-scale demonstrator part was designed, and relevant manufacturing and property-assessment processes were defined. A heating technique and selective-heating rigs were designed to enable certain microstructural distributions in blanks to be obtained. A hot stamping tool set was designed for forming and quenching the parts. Demonstrator parts of full martensite phase, full initial phase, and differentially graded microstructures have been formed with high dimensional quality. Hardness testing and three point bending tests were conducted to assess the microstructure distribution and load bearing performance of the as-formed parts, respectively. The feasibility of the concept has been validated by the testing results

The structure of the central disk of NGC 1068: a clumpy disk model

NGC 1068 is one of the best studied Seyfert II galaxies, for which the blackhole mass has been determined from the Doppler velocities of water maser. We show that the standard $\alpha$-disk model of NGC 1068 gives disk mass between the radii of 0.65 pc and 1.1 pc (the region from which water maser emission is detected) to be about 7x10$^7$ M$_\odot$ (for $\alpha=0.1$), more than four times the blackhole mass, and a Toomre Q-parameter for the disk is $\sim$0.001. This disk is therefore highly self-gravitating and is subject to large-amplitude density fluctuations. We conclude that the standard $\alpha$-viscosity description for the structure of the accretion disk is invalid for NGC 1068. In this paper we develop a new model for the accretion disk. The disk is considered to be composed of gravitationally bound clumps; accretion in this clumped disk model arises because of gravitational interaction of clumps with each other and the dynamical frictional drag exerted on clumps from the stars in the central region of the galaxy. The clumped disk model provides a self-consistent description of the observations of NGC 1068. The computed temperature and density are within the allowed parameter range for water maser emission, and the rotational velocity in the disk falls off as $r^{-0.35}$.Comment: To appear in Ap

Three-region inequalities for the second order elliptic equation with discontinuous coefficients and size estimate

In this paper, we would like to derive a quantitative uniqueness estimate, the three-region inequality, for the second order elliptic equation with jump discontinuous coefficients. The derivation of the inequality relies on the Carleman estimate proved in our previous work. We then apply the three-region inequality to study the size estimate problem with one boundary measurement.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur