How effective are maternal effects at having effects?

The well studied trade-off between offspring size and offspring number assumes that offspring fitness increases with increasing per-offspring investment. Where mothers differ genetically or exhibit plastic variation in reproductive effort, there can be variation in per capita investment in offspring, and via this trade-off, variation in fecundity. Variation in per capita investment will affect juvenile performance directly—a classical maternal effect—while variation in fecundity will also affect offspring performance by altering the offsprings' competitive environment. The importance of this trade-off, while a focus of evolutionary research, is not often considered in discussions about population dynamics. Here, we use a factorial experiment to determine what proportion of variation in offspring performance can be ascribed to maternal effects and what proportion to the competitive environment linked to the size–number trade-off. Our results suggest that classical maternal effects are significant, but that in our system, the competitive environment, which is linked to maternal environments by fecundity, can be a far more substantial influence

Precision of Bone Mineral Density Measurements Around Total Ankle Replacement Using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry

Introduction: Joint prosthesis survival is associated with the quality of surrounding bone. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is capable to evaluate areal bone mineral density (BMD) around different prosthetic implants, but no studies evaluated periprosthetic bone around total ankle replacement (TAR). Our aim is to determine the precision of the DXA periprosthetic BMD around TAR. Methodology: Short-term precision was evaluated on 15 consecutive patients. Each ankle was scanned 3 times both in the posteroanterior (PA) and lateral views with a dedicated patient positioning protocol. Up to four squared regions of interest (ROIs) were placed in the periprosthetic bone around tibial and talar implants, with an additional ROI to include the calcaneal body in the lateral scan. Coefficient of variation (CV%) and least significant change were calculated according to the International Society for Clinical Densitometry. Results: The lateral projection showed lower mean CV values compared to the PA projection, with an average precision error of 2.21% (lateral scan) compared to 3.34% (PA scans). Overall, the lowest precision error was found at both \u201cglobal\u201d ROIs (CV = 1.25% on PA and CV = 1.3% on lateral). The highest CV value on PA was found at the medial aspect of talar side (ROI 3; CV = 4.89%), while on the lateral scan the highest CV value was found on the posterior aspect of talar side (ROI 2; CV = 2.99%). Conclusions: We found very good reproducibility BMD values of periprosthetic bone around TAR, that were comparable or even better compared to other studies that evaluated periprosthetic BMD around different prosthetic implants. DXA can be used to precisely monitor bone density around ankle prostheses, despite further long-term longitudinal studies are required to assess the clinical utility of such measurements

Bound Pairs: Direct Evidence for Long-range Attraction between Like-Charged Colloids

We report observations of stable bound pairs in very dilute deionized aqueous suspensions of highly charged polystyrene colloidal particles, with monovalent counterions, using a confocal laser scanning microscope. Through an analysis of several thousands of time series of confocal images recorded deep inside the bulk suspension, we find that the measured pair-potential, U(r) has a long-range attractive component with well depths larger than the thermal energy. These observations provide a direct and unequivocal evidence for the existence of long-range attraction in U(r) of like-charged colloidal particles.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

A Resonant Graphene NEMS Vibrometer

Measuring vibrations is essential to ensuring building structural safety and machine stability. Predictive maintenance is a central internet of things (IoT) application within the new industrial revolution, where sustainability and performance increase over time are going to be paramount. To reduce the footprint and cost of vibration sensors while improving their performance, new sensor concepts are needed. Here, double-layer graphene membranes are utilized with a suspended silicon proof demonstrating their operation as resonant vibration sensors that show outstanding performance for a given footprint and proof mass. The unveiled sensing effect is based on resonant transduction and has important implications for experimental studies involving thin nano and micro mechanical resonators that are excited by an external shaker

Multicentric, multifocal, and recurrent osteoid osteoma of the hip : first case report

BACKGROUND: Osteoid osteoma is a benign bone-forming tumour, which very unfrequently has multifocal or multicentric presentation. We report the first known case of a multicentric, multifocal and recurrent osteoid osteoma treated using radiofrequency ablation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 39-year-old man with two-year history of left hip pain was admitted at our Institution. The pain was more intense during the night and partially relieved by salicylates. Pelvis CT demonstrated two lytic lesions (8 and 7\u2009mm, respectively) with surrounding sclerotic reactive bone, both with a central focal area of high attenuation, located in the femoral neck and along the anterior portion of the acetabulum, respectively. Both lesions had clinical and imaging findings consistent with multicentric osteoid osteoma. Thus, the two lesions were biopsied - with pathologic confirmation of osteoid osteoma - and treated using radiofrequency ablation. Hip pain decreased but did not disappear, actually increasing a few months after treatment. CT and MRI were performed showing a smaller lesion (5\u2009mm) with the same imaging features, surrounded by marrow oedema, along the posterior column of the acetabulum. The lesion was considered suspicious for osteoid osteoma, overlooked on previous examinations. Therefore, a diagnosis of multicentric and multifocal osteoid osteoma was established. The new lesion was again treated with radiofrequency ablation with symptom disappearance. However, hip pain relapsed after 18\u2009months, and CT and MRI showed an osteoid osteoma recurrence on the posterior column of the acetabulum, which was biopsied and successfully treated using radiofrequency ablation. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of multicentric, multifocal, recurrent osteoid osteoma. Our case report highlights the importance of considering a diagnosis of multifocal osteoid osteoma when dealing with multifocal lytic lesions of the bone and with pain persistence after treatment. It also emphasises the combined role of CT and MRI in this setting

Adsorption of mono- and multivalent cat- and anions on DNA molecules

Adsorption of monovalent and multivalent cat- and anions on a deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) molecule from a salt solution is investigated by computer simulation. The ions are modelled as charged hard spheres, the DNA molecule as a point charge pattern following the double-helical phosphate strands. The geometrical shape of the DNA molecules is modelled on different levels ranging from a simple cylindrical shape to structured models which include the major and minor grooves between the phosphate strands. The densities of the ions adsorbed on the phosphate strands, in the major and in the minor grooves are calculated. First, we find that the adsorption pattern on the DNA surface depends strongly on its geometrical shape: counterions adsorb preferentially along the phosphate strands for a cylindrical model shape, but in the minor groove for a geometrically structured model. Second, we find that an addition of monovalent salt ions results in an increase of the charge density in the minor groove while the total charge density of ions adsorbed in the major groove stays unchanged. The adsorbed ion densities are highly structured along the minor groove while they are almost smeared along the major groove. Furthermore, for a fixed amount of added salt, the major groove cationic charge is independent on the counterion valency. For increasing salt concentration the major groove is neutralized while the total charge adsorbed in the minor groove is constant. DNA overcharging is detected for multivalent salt. Simulations for a larger ion radii, which mimic the effect of the ion hydration, indicate an increased adsorbtion of cations in the major groove.Comment: 34 pages with 14 figure

Measurement of Through-Going Particle Momentum By Means Of Multiple Scattering With The ICARUS T600 TPC

The ICARUS collaboration has demonstrated, following the operation of a 600 ton (T600) detector at shallow depth, that the technique based on liquid Argon TPCs is now mature. The study of rare events, not contemplated in the Standard Model, can greatly benefit from the use of this kind of detectors. In particular, a deeper understanding of atmospheric neutrino properties will be obtained thanks to the unprecedented quality of the data ICARUS provides. However if we concentrate on the T600 performance, most of the $\nu_\mu$ charged current sample will be partially contained, due to the reduced dimensions of the detector. In this article, we address the problem of how well we can determine the kinematics of events having partially contained tracks. The analysis of a large sample of atmospheric muons collected during the T600 test run demonstrate that, in case the recorded track is at least one meter long, the muon momentum can be reconstructed by an algorithm that measures the Multiple Coulomb Scattering along the particle's path. Moreover, we show that momentum resolution can be improved by a factor two using an algorithm based on the Kalman Filtering technique

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

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio