Electron energy relaxation by phonons in the Kondo condensate

We have used normal metal-insulator-superconductor tunnel junctions as thermometers at sub-Kelvin temperatures to study the electron-phonon (e-p) interaction in thin Aluminum films doped with Manganese, as a function of Manganese concentration. Mn in Al is known to be a Kondo impurity with extremely high Kondo temperature $T_K \sim$ 500 K, thus our results probe the e-p coupling in the fully spin compensated, unitary limit. The temperature dependence of the e-p interaction is consistent with the existing theory for disordered metals, however full theory including the Kondo effect has not been worked out yet. The strength of the interaction decreases with increasing Manganese concentration, providing a means to improve sensitivity of detectors and efficiency of solid state coolers

Coordination of inter-organelle communication and lipid fluxes by OSBP-related proteins

Oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) and OSBP-related proteins (ORPs) constitute one of the largest families of lipid-binding/transfer proteins (LTPs) in eukaryotes. The current view is that many of them mediate interorganelle lipid transfer over membrane contact sites (MCS). The transfer occurs in several cases in a 'countercurrent' fashion: A lipid such as cholesterol or phosphatidylserine (PS) is transferred against its concentration gradient driven by transport of a phosphoinositide in the opposite direction. In this way ORPs are envisioned to maintain the distinct organelle lipid compositions, with impacts on multiple organelle functions. However, the functions of ORPs extend beyond lipid homeostasis to regulation of processes such as cell survival, proliferation and migration. Important expanding areas of mammalian ORP research include their roles in viral and bacterial infections, cancers, and neuronal function. The yeast OSBP homologue (Osh) proteins execute multifaceted functions in sterol and glycerophospholipid homeostasis, post-Golgi vesicle transport, phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate, sphingolipid and target of rapamycin (TOR) signalling, and cell cycle control. These observations identify ORPs as lipid transporters and coordinators of signals with an unforeseen variety of cellular processes. Understanding their activities not only enlightens the biology of the living cell but also allows their employment as targets of new therapeutic approaches for disease.Peer reviewe

Surgically treated ovarian lesions in preadolescent girls

Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology and characteristics of surgically treated ovarian lesions in preadolescent girls. Material and methods This was a retrospective cohort study including all 0- to 11-year-old girls operated at a single center from 1999 to 2016 for ovarian cysts, neoplasms or torsions. Patient charts were reviewed for symptoms, preoperative radiological imaging, operative details and histopathology. Results We identified 78 girls, resulting in a population-based incidence of 4.2/100 000. Infants (n = 44) presented with benign cysts (42/44, 95%, one bilateral), a benign neoplasm (1/44, 2%) and a torsion without other pathology (1/44, 2%). Torsion was found in 25/29 (86%) ovaries with complex cysts and in 3/15 (21%) ovaries with simple cysts in preoperative imaging (P < 0.001). Most infants were symptomless. Lesions in 1- to 11-year-old girls (n = 34) included benign neoplasms (n = 21/34, 62%), malignant neoplasms (n = 5/34, 15%), a cyst with torsion (n = 1/34, 3%) and torsions without other pathology (n = 7/34, 21%). Torsion was more common in benign (17/21, 81%) than in malignant neoplasms (1/5, 20%) (P < 0.020). Ovarian diameter did not differ between ovaries with or without torsion (P = 0.238) or between benign and malignant neoplasms (P = 0.293). The duration of symptoms in lesions with or without torsion was similar. Conclusions The majority of surgically treated ovarian lesions in preadolescent are benign lesions with torsion. Surgery should be ovary-preserving and performed without delay

Long-term results of NOPHO ALL-92 and ALL-2000 studies of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldAnalysis of 2668 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated in two successive Nordic clinical trials (Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (NOPHO) ALL-92 and ALL-2000) showed that 75% of all patients are cured by first-line therapy, and 83% are long-term survivors. Improvements in systemic and intrathecal chemotherapy have reduced the use of central nervous system (CNS) irradiation to <10% of the patients and provided a 5-year risk of isolated CNS relapse of 2.6%. Improved risk stratification and chemotherapy have eliminated the previous independent prognostic significance of gender, CNS leukemia and translocation t(1;19)(q23;p13), whereas the post-induction level of minimal residual disease (MRD) has emerged as a new risk grouping feature. Infant leukemia, high leukocyte count, T-lineage immunophenotype, translocation t(4;11)(q21;q23) and hypodiploidy persist to be associated with lower cure rates. To reduce the overall toxicity of the treatment, including the risk of therapy-related second malignant neoplasms, the current NOPHO ALL-2008 protocol does not include CNS irradiation in first remission, the dose of 6-mercaptopurine is reduced for patients with low thiopurine methyltransferase activity, and the protocol restricts the use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in first remission to patients without morphological remission after induction therapy or with high levels of MRD after 3 months of therapy

Spatial and Temporal Coherence in Strongly Coupled Plasmonic Bose-Einstein Condensates

We report first-order spatial and temporal correlations in strongly coupled plasmonic Bose-Einstein condensates. The condensate is large, more than twenty times the intrinsic spatial coherence length of the polaritons and hundred times the healing length, making plasmonic lattices an attractive platform for studying long-range spatial correlations in two dimensions. We find that both spatial and temporal coherence display non-exponential decay; the results suggest power-law or stretched exponential behaviour with different exponents for spatial and temporal correlation decays.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

The dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, tirzepatide, improves lipoprotein biomarkers associated with insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes

Aim To better understand the marked decrease in serum triglycerides observed with tirzepatide in patients with type 2 diabetes, additional lipoprotein-related biomarkers were measured post hoc in available samples from the same study. Materials and Methods Patients were randomized to receive once-weekly subcutaneous tirzepatide (1, 5, 10 or 15 mg), dulaglutide (1.5 mg) or placebo. Serum lipoprotein profile, apolipoprotein (apo) A-I, B and C-III and preheparin lipoprotein lipase (LPL) were measured at baseline and at 4, 12 and 26 weeks. Lipoprotein particle profile by nuclear magnetic resonance was assessed at baseline and 26 weeks. The lipoprotein insulin resistance (LPIR) score was calculated. Results At 26 weeks, tirzepatide dose-dependently decreased apoB and apoC-III levels, and increased serum preheparin LPL compared with placebo. Tirzepatide 10 and 15 mg decreased large triglyceride-rich lipoprotein particles (TRLP), small low-density lipoprotein particles (LDLP) and LPIR score compared with both placebo and dulaglutide. Treatment with dulaglutide also reduced apoB and apoC-III levels but had no effect on either serum LPL or large TRLP, small LDLP and LPIR score. The number of total LDLP was also decreased with tirzepatide 10 and 15 mg compared with placebo. A greater reduction in apoC-III with tirzepatide was observed in patients with high compared with normal baseline triglycerides. At 26 weeks, change in apoC-III, but not body weight, was the best predictor of changes in triglycerides with tirzepatide, explaining up to 22.9% of their variability. Conclusions Tirzepatide treatment dose-dependently decreased levels of apoC-III and apoB and the number of large TRLP and small LDLP, suggesting a net improvement in atherogenic lipoprotein profile.Peer reviewe

Huijata, narrata, petkuttaa, jallittaa ja erehdyttää:lähisynonyymien kognitiivista semantiikkaa

Tiivistelmä. Tarkastelen tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassani viittä huijaamista ilmaisevaa lähisynonyymiä, jotka ovat huijata, narrata, petkuttaa, jallittaa ja erehdyttää. Tutkimukseni perustuu merkityksiä korostavaan kognitiiviseen semantiikkaan, jonka mukaan täydellistä synonymiaa ei ole olemassa, vaan aina sanan muodon muuttuessa myös sen merkitys muuttuu. Siksi päämääräni oli selvittää, miten valitsemani huijaamisverbit eroavat toisistaan sekä vastaavatko tulokset verbien sanakirjamääritelmiä. Tutkimusaineistona on 500 virkkeen aineisto Suomi24-korpuksesta vuosilta 2001–2020. Aineistoa tarkastelen sekä semantiikan että syntaksin näkökulmasta hyödyntämällä kehys- ja prototyyppiajattelua sekä semanttisia merkitysryhmiä ja muuttuja–kiintopiste-teoriaa. Näiden avulla selvisi, että tutkimistani huijaamisverbeistä merkitykseltään erilaisin on verbi erehdyttää, joka on luonteeltaan yleensä vakavaa tai tuomittavaa harhaanjohtamista, ja sen subjektina on muita huijaamisverbejä useammin jokin auktoriteetti tai yritys. Tätä vastoin verbiä narrata käytetään yleensä leikkimielisissä tai aiheeltaan kevyissä yhteyksissä. Siksi narraamista tapahtuu vain harvoin esimerkiksi rahaan liittyvissä tilanteissa. Myös jallittaminen on harvinaista rahallisen hyödyn tavoittelussa. Jallittaminen kuvaa erityisen usein sosiaalisissa suhteissa tapahtuvaa epärehellisyyttä, mutta myös huijaamiseen liittymätöntä usein toistuvaa tai jatkuvaa toimintaa, kuten jonkun henkilön kiivasta liehittelyä. Petkuttaa- ja huijata-verbejä käytetään erityisen usein tapauksissa, joissa epärehellisyys liittyy rahaan. Petkuttamisessa rahaa hankitaan epärehellisin keinoin ilman kaupankäyntiä, mutta huijaaminen liittyy nimenomaan epärehelliseen kaupankäyntiin. Petkuttaa-verbi nousee esille myös erityisen usein uskontoihin ja uskonnollisiin ryhmiin liittyvässä keskustelussa ja huijata-verbi tapauksissa, joissa huijaamalla vaikutetaan huijatun toimintaan. Huijata-verbiä kuvaakin erityisen hyvin sanakirjamääritelmä ’harjoittaa epärehellistä (liike)toimintaa’. Vertasin tutkimustuloksiani Kielitoimiston sanakirjassa annettuihin sanakirjamääritelmiin. Verbeistä kolme, huijata, narrata ja erehdyttää, tukevat ja täydentävät sanakirjassa annettuja määritelmiä. Sen sijaan petkuttaa- ja jallittaa-verbien kohdalla sanakirja-artikkeli koostuu merkityksen selittämisen sijaan lähisynonyymien listauksesta, johon tutkimustuloksiani ei voi verrata. Lisäksi jallittaa-verbin kohdalla tutkimukseni ei vahvista sanakirjassa annettua urheiluun liittyvää merkitystä. Tutkimukseni tulokset ilmaisevat tutkimieni huijaamisverbien tendenssinomaisia piirteitä. Tulokset kuitenkin vahvistavat kognitiivisen semantiikan näkemystä siitä, että eri muotoisilla sanoilla on myös toisistaan eriävät merkitykset