590 research outputs found
Phaseâmatched secondâharmonic generation by periodic poling of fused silica
90° phase matching in periodically poled fused silica is achieved over approximately 2 mm at a wavelength of 1064 nm. Electrical poling was done at 5 kV for 120 min using photolithographed periodic electrodes on fused silica glass at 250â°C. A nonlinearity equivalent to d 11/200 of quartz is estimated from measurements. Several phaseâmatched interactions are reported and the implications for device applications discussed
The impact of economic crises on communicable disease transmission and control: a systematic review of the evidence.
There is concern among public health professionals that the current economic downturn, initiated by the financial crisis that started in 2007, could precipitate the transmission of infectious diseases while also limiting capacity for control. Although studies have reviewed the potential effects of economic downturns on overall health, to our knowledge such an analysis has yet to be done focusing on infectious diseases. We performed a systematic literature review of studies examining changes in infectious disease burden subsequent to periods of crisis. The review identified 230 studies of which 37 met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 30 found evidence of worse infectious disease outcomes during recession, often resulting from higher rates of infectious contact under poorer living circumstances, worsened access to therapy, or poorer retention in treatment. The remaining studies found either reductions in infectious disease or no significant effect. Using the paradigm of the "SIR" (susceptible-infected-recovered) model of infectious disease transmission, we examined the implications of these findings for infectious disease transmission and control. Key susceptible groups include infants and the elderly. We identified certain high-risk groups, including migrants, homeless persons, and prison populations, as particularly vulnerable conduits of epidemics during situations of economic duress. We also observed that the long-term impacts of crises on infectious disease are not inevitable: considerable evidence suggests that the magnitude of effect depends critically on budgetary responses by governments. Like other emergencies and natural disasters, preparedness for financial crises should include consideration of consequences for communicable disease control
Cosmic Ray Acceleration at the Forward Shock in Tycho's Supernova Remnant: Evidence from Chandra X-ray Observations
We present evidence for cosmic ray acceleration at the forward shock in
Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR) from three X-ray observables: (1) the proximity
of the contact discontinuity to the forward shock, or blast wave, (2) the
morphology of the emission from the rim of Tycho, and (3) the spectral nature
of the rim emission. We determine the locations of the blast wave (BW), contact
discontinuity (CD), and reverse shock (RS) around the rim of Tycho's supernova
remnant using a principal component analysis and other methods applied to new
Chandra data. The azimuthal-angle-averaged radius of the BW is 251". For the CD
and RS we find average radii of 241" and 183", respectively. Taking account of
projection effects, we find ratios of 1:0.93:0.70 (BW:CD:RS). We show these
values to be inconsistent with adiabatic hydrodynamical models of SNR
evolution. The CD:BW ratio can be explained if cosmic ray acceleration of ions
is occurring at the forward shock. The RS:BW ratio, as well as the strong Fe Ka
emission from the Tycho ejecta, imply that the RS is not accelerating cosmic
rays. We also extract radial profiles from ~34% of the rim of Tycho and compare
them to models of surface brightness profiles behind the BW for a purely
thermal plasma with an adiabatic shock. The observed morphology of the rim is
much more strongly peaked than predicted by the model, indicating that such
thermal emission is implausible here. Spectral analysis also implies that the
rim emission is non-thermal in nature, lending further support to the idea that
Tycho's forward shock is accelerating cosmic rays.Comment: 39 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Ap
A study of older adultsâ mental health across 33 countries during the covid-19 pandemic
Despite older adultsâ extremely high vulnerability to COVID-19 complications and death, few studies have examined how personal characteristics and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the mental health of older adults at the global level. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among demographics, COVID-19 life impacts, and depression and anxiety in adults aged 60 and older from 33 countries. A sample of 823 older adults aged 60â94 and residing in 33 countries completed a 10-minute online survey following recruitment from mailing lists and social media. Being separated from and having conflicts with loved ones predicted both anxiety and depression, as did residing in a country with higher income. Getting medical treatment for severe symptoms of COVID-19 and having decreased work responsibilities predicted depression, but adjustment to working from home and younger age predicted both depression and anxiety. Participants from Europe and Central Asia reported higher depression than those from all other regions and higher anxiety than those from Latin America and the Caribbean. The COVID-19 pandemic has had serious deleterious effects on the mental health of older adults worldwide. The current findings have direct implications for mental health services that may be delivered to older adults to help facilitate healthy psychological adjustment
The first NINDS/NIBIB consensus meeting to define neuropathological criteria for the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegeneration characterized by the abnormal accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein within the brain. Like many other neurodegenerative conditions, at present, CTE can only be definitively diagnosed by post-mortem examination of brain tissue. As the first part of a series of consensus panels funded by the NINDS/NIBIB to define the neuropathological criteria for CTE, preliminary neuropathological criteria were used by 7 neuropathologists to blindly evaluate 25 cases of various tauopathies, including CTE, Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, argyrophilic grain disease, corticobasal degeneration, primary age-related tauopathy, and parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam. The results demonstrated that there was good agreement among the neuropathologists who reviewed the cases (Cohen's kappa, 0.67) and even better agreement between reviewers and the diagnosis of CTE (Cohen's kappa, 0.78). Based on these results, the panel defined the pathognomonic lesion of CTE as an accumulation of abnormal hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) in neurons and astroglia distributed around small blood vessels at the depths of cortical sulci and in an irregular pattern. The group also defined supportive but non-specific p-tau-immunoreactive features of CTE as: pretangles and NFTs affecting superficial layers (layers II-III) of cerebral cortex; pretangles, NFTs or extracellular tangles in CA2 and pretangles and proximal dendritic swellings in CA4 of the hippocampus; neuronal and astrocytic aggregates in subcortical nuclei; thorn-shaped astrocytes at the glial limitans of the subpial and periventricular regions; and large grain-like and dot-like structures. Supportive non-p-tau pathologies include TDP-43 immunoreactive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions and dot-like structures in the hippocampus, anteromedial temporal cortex and amygdala. The panel also recommended a minimum blocking and staining scheme for pathological evaluation and made recommendations for future study. This study provides the first step towards the development of validated neuropathological criteria for CTE and will pave the way towards future clinical and mechanistic studies
Relationship between emergency presentation, systemic inflammatory response, and cancer-specific survival in patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for colon cancer
Background
Emergency presentation is recognized to be associated with poorer cancer-specific survival following curative resection for colorectal cancer. The present study examined the hypothesis that an enhanced systemic inflammatory response, prior to surgery, might explain the impact of emergency presentation on survival.
Methods
In all, 188 patients undergoing potentially curative resection for colorectal cancer were studied. Of these, 55 (29%) presented as emergencies. The systemic inflammatory response was assessed using the Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS), which is the combination of an elevated C-reactive protein (>10 mg/L) and hypoalbuminemia (<35 g/L).
Results
In the emergency group, tumor stage was greater (P < 0.01), more patients received adjuvant therapy (P < 0.01) more patients had an elevated mGPS (P < 0.01), and more patients died of their disease (P < 0.05). The minimum follow-up was 12 months; the median follow-up of the survivors was 48 months. Emergency presentation was associated with poorer 3-year cancer-specific survival in those patients aged 65 to 74 years (P < 0.01), in both males and females (P < 0.05), in the deprived (P < 0.01), in patients with tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage II disease (P < 0.01), in those who received no adjuvant therapy (P < 0.01), and in the mGPS 0 and 1 groups (P < 0.05) groups. On multivariate survival analysis of patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for TNM stage II colon cancer, emergency presentation (P < 0.05) and mGPS (P < 0.05) were independently associated with cancer-specific survival.
Conclusions
These results suggest that emergency presentation and the presence of systemic inflammatory response prior to surgery are linked and account for poorer cancer-specific survival in patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for colon cancer. Both emergency presentation and an elevated mGPS should be taken into account when assessing the likely outcome of these patients
The efficiency of star formation in clustered and distributed regions
We investigate the formation of both clustered and distributed populations of
young stars in a single molecular cloud. We present a numerical simulation of a
10,000 solar mass elongated, turbulent, molecular cloud and the formation of
over 2500 stars. The stars form both in stellar clusters and in a distributed
mode which is determined by the local gravitational binding of the cloud. A
density gradient along the major axis of the cloud produces bound regions that
form stellar clusters and unbound regions that form a more distributed
population. The initial mass function also depends on the local gravitational
binding of the cloud with bound regions forming full IMFs whereas in the
unbound, distributed regions the stellar masses cluster around the local Jeans
mass and lack both the high-mass and the low-mass stars. The overall efficiency
of star formation is ~ 15 % in the cloud when the calculation is terminated,
but varies from less than 1 % in the the regions of distributed star formation
to ~ 40 % in regions containing large stellar clusters. Considering that large
scale surveys are likely to catch clouds at all evolutionary stages, estimates
of the (time-averaged) star formation efficiency for the giant molecular cloud
reported here is only ~ 4 %. This would lead to the erroneous conclusion of
'slow' star formation when in fact it is occurring on a dynamical timescale.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS in pres
Protostellar collapse and fragmentation using an MHD GADGET
Although the influence of magnetic fields is regarded as vital in the star
formation process, only a few magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations have been
performed on this subject within the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH)
method. This is largely due to the unsatisfactory treatment of non-vanishing
divergence of the magnetic field. Recently smoothed particle
magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD) simulations based on Euler potentials have proven
to be successful in treating MHD collapse and fragmentation problems, however
these methods are known to have some intrinsical difficulties. We have
performed SPMHD simulations based on a traditional approach evolving the
magnetic field itself using the induction equation. To account for the
numerical divergence, we have chosen an approach that subtracts the effects of
numerical divergence from the force equation, and additionally we employ
artificial magnetic dissipation as a regularization scheme. We apply this
realization of SPMHD to a widely known setup, a variation of the 'Boss &
Bodenheimer standard isothermal test case', to study the impact of the magnetic
fields on collapse and fragmentation. In our simulations, we concentrate on
setups, where the initial magnetic field is parallel to the rotation axis. We
examine different field strengths and compare our results to other findings
reported in the literature. We are able to confirm specific results found
elsewhere, namely the delayed onset of star formation for strong fields,
accompanied by the tendency to form only single stars. We also find that the
'magnetic cushioning effect', where the magnetic field is wound up to form a
'cushion' between the binary, aids binary fragmentation in a case, where
previously only formation of a single protostar was expected.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. Final version (with revisions). Accepted to
MNRA
Transient motion classification through turbid volumes via parallelized single-photon detection and deep contrastive embedding
Fast noninvasive probing of spatially varying decorrelating events, such as
cerebral blood flow beneath the human skull, is an essential task in various
scientific and clinical settings. One of the primary optical techniques used is
diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS), whose classical implementation uses a
single or few single-photon detectors, resulting in poor spatial localization
accuracy and relatively low temporal resolution. Here, we propose a technique
termed Classifying Rapid decorrelation Events via Parallelized single photon
dEtection (CREPE)}, a new form of DCS that can probe and classify different
decorrelating movements hidden underneath turbid volume with high sensitivity
using parallelized speckle detection from a pixel SPAD array. We
evaluate our setup by classifying different spatiotemporal-decorrelating
patterns hidden beneath a 5mm tissue-like phantom made with rapidly
decorrelating dynamic scattering media. Twelve multi-mode fibers are used to
collect scattered light from different positions on the surface of the tissue
phantom. To validate our setup, we generate perturbed decorrelation patterns by
both a digital micromirror device (DMD) modulated at multi-kilo-hertz rates, as
well as a vessel phantom containing flowing fluid. Along with a deep
contrastive learning algorithm that outperforms classic unsupervised learning
methods, we demonstrate our approach can accurately detect and classify
different transient decorrelation events (happening in 0.1-0.4s) underneath
turbid scattering media, without any data labeling. This has the potential to
be applied to noninvasively monitor deep tissue motion patterns, for example
identifying normal or abnormal cerebral blood flow events, at multi-Hertz rates
within a compact and static detection probe.Comment: Journal submissio
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