Using the Man9(GlcNAc)2 – DC-SIGN pairing to probe specificity in photochemical immobilization

We demonstrate the expected preference of an immobilised oligosaccharide Man(9)(GlcNAc)(2) upon a 96-well photochemical array, for its known receptor, the cell-surface lectin Dendritic Cell-Specific ICAM3 Grabbing Nonintegrin (DC-SIGN) when compared to immobilised competing monosaccharides

Unexpected evolutionary proximity of eukaryotic and cyanobacterial enzymes responsible for biosynthesis of retinoic acid and its oxidation

Biosynthesis of retinoic acid from retinaldehyde (retinal) is catalysed by an aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and its oxidation by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs). Herein we show by phylogenetic analysis that the ALDHs and CYPs in the retinoic acid pathway in animals are much closer in evolutionary terms to cyanobacterial orthologs than would be expected from the standard models of evolution

Quintessence in a quandary: prior dependence in dark energy models

The archetypal theory of dark energy is quintessence: a minimally coupled scalar field with a canonical kinetic energy and potential. By studying random potentials we show that quintessence imposes a restricted set of priors on the equation of state of dark energy. Focusing on the commonly-used parametrisation, $w(a)\approx w_0+w_a(1-a)$, we show that there is a natural scale and direction in the $(w_0, w_a)$ plane that distinguishes quintessence as a general framework. We calculate the expected information gain for a given survey and show that, because of the non-trivial prior information, it is a function of more than just the figure of merit. This allows us to make a quantitative case for novel survey strategies. We show that the scale of the prior sets target observational requirements for gaining significant information. This corresponds to a figure of merit FOM$\gtrsim 200$, a requirement that future galaxy redshift surveys will meet.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. For the busy reader, Fig. 1 is the money plot. v2: Minor changes, matches published version. Code open source at gitorious.org/random-quintessenc

Personalized medicine : the impact on chemistry

An effective strategy for personalized medicine requires a major conceptual change in the development and application of therapeutics. In this article, we argue that further advances in this field should be made with reference to another conceptual shift, that of network pharmacology. We examine the intersection of personalized medicine and network pharmacology to identify strategies for the development of personalized therapies that are fully informed by network pharmacology concepts. This provides a framework for discussion of the impact personalized medicine will have on chemistry in terms of drug discovery, formulation and delivery, the adaptations and changes in ideology required and the contribution chemistry is already making. New ways of conceptualizing chemistry’s relationship with medicine will lead to new approaches to drug discovery and hold promise of delivering safer and more effective therapies

Removal of Perchloroethylene within a Silt Confining Layer Using Hydrogen Release Compound

The Site is a former dry cleaning operation where a release of perchloroethylene (PCE) to soil and groundwater had occurred. Hydrogen Release Compound® (HRC) is being used for source control to mitigate vapor intrusion to the existing building. The Site is located in the Connecticut River basin with PCE up to 250 mg/L in perched groundwater above a silt-layer aquitard. Site risk is driven by the soil vapor intrusion pathway into the commercial building. Soil vapor extraction was implemented to mitigate vapor intrusion, with no appreciable change in the perched groundwater conditions and rapid rebound of PCE in soil gas to pre-treatment levels in four months. Our evaluation of soil data following multiple HRC applications over an 8-year period into the perched groundwater on top of a Connecticut River basin silt deposit finds that treatment in the sandy unit above the aquitard achieved significant reduction of PCE in the silt layer below. This discovery changed the project Conceptual Site Model and led to further evaluation of the source of PCE feeding into soil gas. With decreased groundwater concentrations of PCE but persistent soil gas concentrations, Membrane Interface Probe (MIP) work was done to further assess the extent of additional area within the perched groundwater that required treatment. The results indicated that the extent of significant concentrations of PCE was in a peripheral area around the initial treatment zones. Following the MIP results, additional in-situ HRC treatment in the perched aquifer over a broader area than previous injections was implemented with the intent of removing a significant mass of PCE. As we expected, there was a PCE source in the silt layer below the treatment area. Subsequent data show further decreases in PCE concentrations measured in perched groundwater and soil gas

Perceptions of family functioning and self-concept in adolescent anorexia nervosa [R]

Authors have highlighted the importance of the family for the development of positive self-concept and identity, not only in mental health research but also in various developmental and social psychology fields. With the increase in the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders in Australia and around the world, some researchers have attempted to understand how aspects of family functioning affect the onset and maintenance of the chronic illness, particularly for younger patients who are still undergoing drastic psychological changes and development. This study attempted to bridge gaps in the literature examining functioning and dyadic relations in families affected by eating disorders. More specifically, this study compared the perceptions of mothers, fathers and daughters about general family functioning to determine whether any discrepancies between the perceptions of family and how these affect self-concept in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa.<br /

Body image and self-concept in adolescent girls [R]

Anorexia Nervosa has been recently recognized as one of the most common chronic illnesses that affects the female adolescent population today. Although there has been an abundance of research into eating disorders in a variety of fields, significant limitations within the research still exist. Since very early descriptions of the disorder, self-concept and body image have been identified as core components of the anorexia nervosa. However, research has been somewhat limited in that there have not been any consistent theoretical underpinnings for self-concept and body image within the eating disorders field. Furthermore, researchers have tended to adopt traditional inferential statistics and multivariate methods to assess the role of self-concept and body image. As a result there has been very little consistency in research results. The current paper summarizes the significant findings from a doctoral thesis that attempted to address current limitations in self-concept and body image literature within the field of eating disorders.<br /

NuSTAR hard X-ray observation of a sub-A class solar flare

We report a NuSTAR observation of a solar microflare, SOL2015-09-01T04. Although it was too faint to be observed by the GOES X-ray Sensor, we estimate the event to be an A0.1 class flare in brightness. This microflare, with only 5 counts per second per detector observed by RHESSI, is fainter than any hard X-ray (HXR) flare in the existing literature. The microflare occurred during a solar pointing by the highly sensitive NuSTAR astrophysical observatory, which used its direct focusing optics to produce detailed HXR microflare spectra and images. The microflare exhibits HXR properties commonly observed in larger flares, including a fast rise and more gradual decay, earlier peak time with higher energy, spatial dimensions similar to the RHESSI microflares, and a high-energy excess beyond an isothermal spectral component during the impulsive phase. The microflare is small in emission measure, temperature, and energy, though not in physical size; observations are consistent with an origin via the interaction of at least two magnetic loops. We estimate the increase in thermal energy at the time of the microflare to be 2.4x10^27 ergs. The observation suggests that flares do indeed scale down to extremely small energies and retain what we customarily think of as "flarelike" properties.Comment: Status: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal, 2017 July 1

Microflare Heating of a Solar Active Region Observed with NuSTAR, Hinode/XRT, and SDO/AIA

NuSTAR is a highly sensitive focusing hard X-ray (HXR) telescope and has observed several small microflares in its initial solar pointings. In this paper, we present the first joint observation of a microflare with NuSTAR and Hinode/XRT on 2015 April 29 at ~11:29 UT. This microflare shows heating of material to several million Kelvin, observed in Soft X-rays (SXRs) with Hinode/XRT, and was faintly visible in Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) with SDO/AIA. For three of the four NuSTAR observations of this region (pre-, decay, and post phases) the spectrum is well fitted by a single thermal model of 3.2-3.5 MK, but the spectrum during the impulsive phase shows additional emission up to 10 MK, emission equivalent to A0.1 GOES class. We recover the differential emission measure (DEM) using SDO/AIA, Hinode/XRT, and NuSTAR, giving unprecedented coverage in temperature. We find the pre-flare DEM peaks at ~3 MK and falls off sharply by 5 MK; but during the microflare's impulsive phase the emission above 3 MK is brighter and extends to 10 MK, giving a heating rate of about $2.5 \times 10^{25}$ erg s$^{-1}$. As the NuSTAR spectrum is purely thermal we determined upper-limits on the possible non-thermal bremsstrahlung emission. We find that for the accelerated electrons to be the source of the heating requires a power-law spectrum of $\delta \ge 7$ with a low energy cut-off $E_{c} \lesssim 7$ keV. In summary, this first NuSTAR microflare strongly resembles much more powerful flares.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 14 pages with 12 figures and 1 tabl