Enhancement of Optical Nonlinearity Through Anisotropic Microstructures

We investigate the polarization dependence of optical nonlinearity enhancement for a uniaxial anisotropic composite of metal nanocrystals in a dielectric host. Three cases are distinguished depending on whether the polarization is parallel, perpendicular or unpolarized with respect to the axis of anisotropy. For the parallel polarization, the results show that the 3D results are qualitatively similar to the 2D case reported recently. For the perpendicular polarization, the results are markedly different from the parallel counterpart: In contrast to the absorption, the enhancement factor actually increases with the anisotropy. Thus the separation of the absorption and enhancement peaks becomes even more pronounced than the parallel polarization case. These results indicate a strong polarization dependence of the nonlinear optical response.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX format, 9 figures, preliminary results were Reported in the 2nd Tohwa University International Meeting on Statistical Physics held on November 4-7, 1997, accepted for publication by Optics Communications on 7 November 199

Particulate matter and albuminuria, glomerular filtration rate, and incident ckd

Background and objectives Exposure to particulate matter (PM),2.5 mm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) has been linked to detrimental health effects. This study aimed to describe the relationship between long-term PM2.5 exposure and kidney disease, including eGFR, level of albuminuria, and incident CKD. Design, setting, participants, & measurements The study included 10,997 participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities cohort who were followed from 1996–1998 through 2016. Monthly mean PM2.5 concentrations (mg/m3 ) were estimated at geocoded participant addresses using geographic information system–based, spatiotemporal generalized additive mixed models—including geospatial covariates such as land use—and then averaged over the 12-month period preceding participant examination. Covariate-adjusted, cross-sectional associations of PM2.5, baseline eGFR, and urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) were estimated using linear regression. PM2.5 and incident CKD (defined as follow-up eGFR,60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 with $25% eGFR decline relative to baseline, CKD-related hospitalization or death based on International Classification of Diseases 9/10 codes, or development of ESKD) associations were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression. Modeling was stratified by study site, and stratum-specific estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analyses. Results Baseline mean participant age was 63 (66) years and eGFR was 86 (616) ml/min per 1.73 m2. There was no significant PM2.5-eGFR association at baseline. Each 1-mg/m3 higher annual average PM2.5 was associated with higher UACR after adjusting for demographics, socioeconomic status, and clinical covariates (percentage difference, 6.6%; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.6% to 10.7%). Each 1-mg/m3 higher annual average PM2.5 was associated with a significantly higher risk of incident CKD (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.10). Conclusions Exposure to higher annual average PM2.5 concentrations was associated with a higher level of albuminuria and higher risk for incident CKD in a community-based cohort

Epitaxial CuInSe2 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy and migration enhanced epitaxy

While CuInSe2 chalcopyrite materials are mainly used in their polycrystalline form to prepare thin film solar cells, epitaxial layers have been used for the characterization of defects. Typically, epitaxial layers are grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Here we present epitaxial layers grown by migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) and compare the materials quality to MBE grown layers. CuInSe2 layers were grown on GaAs (001) substrates by co-evaporation of Cu, In, and Se using substrate temperatures of 450 ºC, 530 ºC, and 620 ºC. The layers were characterized by high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). HR-XRD and HR-TEM show a better crystalline quality of the MEE grown layers, and Raman scattering measurements confirm single phase CuInSe2. AFM shows the previously observed faceting of the (001) surface into {112} facets with trenches formed along the [110] direction. The surface of MEE-grown samples appears smoother compared to MBE-grown samples, a similar trend is observed with increasing growth temperature.The authors would like to acknowledge the CAPES (CAPES-INL 04/14), CNPq, and FAPEMIG funding agencies for financial support. We acknowledge the collaboration project with IMMCSIC (AIC-B-2011-0806). P.M.P.S. acknowledges financial support from EU through the FP7 Marie Curie IEF 2012 Action No. 327367.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Effects of pregnancy on the pharmacokinetics of metformin

This study's primary objective was to fully characterize the pharmacokinetics of metformin in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) versus nonpregnant controls. Steady-state oral metformin pharmacokinetics in pregnant women with GDM receiving either metformin monotherapy (n 5 24) or a combination with glyburide (n 5 30) as well as in nonpregnant women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (n 5 24) were determined utilizing non-compartmental techniques. Maternal and umbilical cord blood samples were collected at delivery from 38 women. With both 500- and 1000-mg doses, metformin bioavailability, volume of distribution beta (Vb), clearance, and renal clearance were significantly increased during pregnancy. In addition, in the women receiving metformin 500 mg, significantly higher metformin apparent oral clearance (CL/F) (27%), weight-adjusted renal secretion clearance (64%), and apparent oral volume of distribution beta (Vb/F) (33%) were seen during pregnancy. Creatinine clearance was significantly higher during pregnancy. Increasing metformin dose from 500 to 1000 mg orally twice daily significantly increased Vb/F by 28%, weight-adjusted Vb/F by 32% and CL/F by 25%, and weight-adjusted CL/F by 28% during pregnancy. Mean metformin umbilical cord arterial-to-venous plasma concentration ratio was 1.0 6 0.1, venous umbilical cord-to-maternal concentration ratio was 1.4 6 0.5, and arterial umbilical cord-to-maternal concentration ratio was 1.5 6 0.5. Systemic exposure after a 500-mg dose of metformin was lower during pregnancy compared with the nonpregnant women with T2DM. However, in patients receiving metformin 1000 mg, changes in estimated bioavailability during pregnancy offset the changes in clearance leading to no significant change in CL/F with the higher dose. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Gestational diabetes mellitus complicates 5%-13% of pregnancies and is often treated with metformin. Pregnant women undergo physiological changes that alter drug disposition. Preliminary data suggest that pregnancy lowers metformin concentrations, potentially affecting efficacy and safety. This study definitively describes pregnancy's effects on metformin pharmacokinetics and expands the mechanistic understanding of pharmacokinetic changes across the dosage range. Here we report the nonlinearity of metformin pharmacokinetics and the increase in bioavailability, clearance, renal clearance, and volume of distribution during pregnancy

Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Progression as Surrogate Marker for Cardiovascular Risk Meta-Analysis of 119 Clinical Trials Involving 100 667 Patients

Background: To quantify the association between effects of interventions on carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) progression and their effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Methods: We systematically collated data from randomized, controlled trials. cIMT was assessed as the mean value at the common-carotid-artery; if unavailable, the maximum value at the common-carotid-artery or other cIMT measures were used. The primary outcome was a combined CVD end point defined as myocardial infarction, stroke, revascularization procedures, or fatal CVD. We estimated intervention effects on cIMT progression and incident CVD for each trial, before relating the 2 using a Bayesian meta-regression approach. Results: We analyzed data of 119 randomized, controlled trials involving 100 667 patients (mean age 62 years, 42% female). Over an average follow-up of 3.7 years, 12 038 patients developed the combined CVD end point. Across all interventions, each 10 μm/y reduction of cIMT progression resulted in a relative risk for CVD of 0.91 (95% Credible Interval, 0.87–0.94), with an additional relative risk for CVD of 0.92 (0.87–0.97) being achieved independent of cIMT progression. Taken together, we estimated that interventions reducing cIMT progression by 10, 20, 30, or 40 μm/y would yield relative risks of 0.84 (0.75–0.93), 0.76 (0.67–0.85), 0.69 (0.59–0.79), or 0.63 (0.52–0.74), respectively. Results were similar when grouping trials by type of intervention, time of conduct, time to ultrasound follow-up, availability of individual-participant data, primary versus secondary prevention trials, type of cIMT measurement, and proportion of female patients. Conclusions: The extent of intervention effects on cIMT progression predicted the degree of CVD risk reduction. This provides a missing link supporting the usefulness of cIMT progression as a surrogate marker for CVD risk in clinical trials

Electronic structure investigation of a charge density wave coupled to a metal-to-metal transition in Ce3Co4Sn13

We study the electronic structure of the skutterudite Ce3Co4Sn13, which is known to exhibit a charge density wave (CDW) transition, at temperature TCDW∼160 K, coupled to a metal-to-metal transition. We use temperature dependent hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to investigate the occupied and unoccupied electronic states of Ce3Co4Sn13. The Co 2p and Sn 3p core level spectra show small but finite shifts in binding energy positions across TCDW while Ce 3d core level spectra do not show any change across the transition. The Ce M4,5-edge XAS spectrum compared with calculations indicate a typical trivalent ionic Ce3+ spectral shape, ruling out Kondo screening in Ce3Co4Sn13. In contrast, the Co L2,3-edge XAS spectrum compared with a calculated spectrum shows evidence for hybridization with neighboring Sn atoms in a trigonal prismatic co-ordination. Temperature dependent XAS across the Co L2,3-edge shows a small shift across TCDW, consistent with HAXPES results. Detailed XAS measurements as a function of temperature show that the spectral shifts occur with a hysteresis across TCDW, indicative of a first-order transition. Valence band spectra show a normal Fermi edge above and below TCDW. The Co 3d states are observed at a binding energy of ∼2 eV while the Ce 4f states occur as a weak feature within 0.5 eV of the Fermi level. The results suggest an unusual CDW transition coupled to a metal-to-metal transition in Ce3Co4Sn13

Fungal diversity notes 1512-1610: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

This article is the 14th in the Fungal Diversity Notes series, wherein we report 98 taxa distributed in two phyla, seven classes, 26 orders and 50 families which are described and illustrated. Taxa in this study were collected from Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, French Guiana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. There are 59 new taxa, 39 new hosts and new geographical distributions with one new combination. The 59 new species comprise Angustimassarina kunmingense, Asterina lopi, Asterina brigadeirensis, Bartalinia bidenticola, Bartalinia caryotae, Buellia pruinocalcarea, Coltricia insularis, Colletotrichum flexuosum, Colletotrichum thasutense, Coniochaeta caraganae, Coniothyrium yuccicola, Dematipyriforma aquatic, Dematipyriforma globispora, Dematipyriforma nilotica, Distoseptispora bambusicola, Fulvifomes jawadhuvensis, Fulvifomes malaiyanurensis, Fulvifomes thiruvannamalaiensis, Fusarium purpurea, Gerronema atrovirens, Gerronema flavum, Gerronema keralense, Gerronema kuruvense, Grammothele taiwanensis, Hongkongmyces changchunensis, Hypoxylon inaequale, Kirschsteiniothelia acutisporum, Kirschsteiniothelia crustaceum, Kirschsteiniothelia extensum, Kirschsteiniothelia septemseptatum, Kirschsteiniothelia spatiosum, Lecanora immersocalcarea, Lepiota subthailandica, Lindgomyces guizhouensis, Marthe asmius pallidoaurantiacus, Marasmius tangerinus, Neovaginatispora mangiferae, Pararamichloridium aquisubtropicum, Pestalotiopsis piraubensis, Phacidium chinaum, Phaeoisaria goiasensis, Phaeoseptum thailandicum, Pleurothecium aquisubtropicum, Pseudocercospora vernoniae, Pyrenophora verruculosa, Rhachomyces cruralis, Rhachomyces hyperommae, Rhachomyces magrinii, Rhachomyces platyprosophi, Rhizomarasmius cunninghamietorum, Skeletocutis cangshanensis, Skeletocutis subchrysella, Sporisorium anadelphiae-leptocomae, Tetraploa dashaoensis, Tomentella exiguelata, Tomentella fuscoaraneosa, Tricholomopsis lechatii, Vaginatispora flavispora and Wetmoreana blastidiocalcarea. The new combination is Torula sundara. The 39 new records on hosts and geographical distribution comprise Apiospora guiyangensis, Aplosporella artocarpi, Ascochyta medicaginicola, Astrocystis bambusicola, Athelia rolfsii, Bambusicola bambusae, Bipolaris luttrellii, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Chlorophyllum squamulosum, Colletotrichum aeschynomenes, Colletotrichum pandanicola, Coprinopsis cinerea, Corylicola italica, Curvularia alcornii, Curvularia senegalensis, Diaporthe foeniculina, Diaporthe longicolla, Diaporthe phaseolorum, Diatrypella quercina, Fusarium brachygibbosum, Helicoma aquaticum, Lepiota metulispora, Lepiota pongduadensis, Lepiota subvenenata, Melanconiella meridionalis, Monotosporella erecta, Nodulosphaeria digitalis, Palmiascoma gregariascomum, Periconia byssoides, Periconia cortaderiae, Pleopunctum ellipsoideum, Psilocybe keralensis, Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium dehoogii, Scedosporium marina, Spegazzinia deightonii, Torula fici, Wiesneriomyces laurinus and Xylaria venosula. All these taxa are supported by morphological and multigene phylogenetic analyses. This article allows the researchers to publish fungal collections which are important for future studies. An updated, accurate and timely report of fungus-host and fungus-geography is important. We also provide an updated list of fungal taxa published in the previous fungal diversity notes. In this list, erroneous taxa and synonyms are marked and corrected accordingly