A 14-day ground-based hypokinesia study in nonhuman primates: A compilation of results

A 14 day ground based hypokinesia study with rhesus monkeys was conducted to determine if a spaceflight of similar duration might affect bone remodeling and calcium homeostatis. The monkeys were placed in total body casts and sacrificed either immediately upon decasting or 14 days after decasting. Changes in vertebral strength were noted and further deterioration of bone strength continued during the recovery phase. Resorption in the vertebrae increased dramatically while formation decreased. Cortical bone formation was impaired in the long bones. The immobilized animals showed a progressive decrease in total serum calcium which rebounded upon remobilization. Most mandibular parameters remained unchanged during casting except for retardation of osteon birth or maturation rate and density distribution of matrix and mineral moieties

Circulation and cross-shelf transport in the Florida Big Bend

The Florida Big Bend region in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico contains both spawning sites and nursery habitats for a variety of economically valuable marine species. One species, the gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis), relies on the shelf circulation to distribute larvae from shelf-break spawning grounds to coastal sea-grass nurseries each spring. Therefore, identifying the dominant circulation features and physical mechanisms that contribute to cross-shelf transport during the springtime is a necessary step in understanding the variation of the abundance of this reef fish. The mean circulation features and onshore transport pathways are investigated using a numerical ocean model with very high horizontal resolution (800–900 m) over the period 2004–2010. The model simulation demonstrates that the mean springtime shelf circulation patterns are set primarily by flow during periods of southeastward or northwestward wind stress, and that significant cross-shelf flow is generated during southeastward winds. Lagrangian particle tracking experiments demonstrate that a primary pathway exists south of Apalachicola Bay by which particles are able to reach inshore, and that significantly more particles arrive inshore when they originate from an area adjacent to a known gag spawning aggregation site. The results provide, for the first time, a description of the pathways by which onshore transport is possible from gag spawning sites at the shelf break to sea-grass nurseries at the coast in the Florida Big Bend

Antiferromagnetic and Orbital Ordering on a Diamond Lattice Near Quantum Criticality

We present neutron scattering measurements on powder samples of the spinel FeSc2S4 that reveal a previously unobserved magnetic ordering transition occurring at 11.8(2)~K. Magnetic ordering occurs subsequent to a subtle cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition which distorts Fe coordinating sulfur tetrahedra lifting the orbital degeneracy. The application of 1~GPa hydrostatic pressure appears to destabilize this N\'eel state, reducing the transition temperature to 8.6(8)~K and redistributing magnetic spectral weight to higher energies. The relative magnitudes of ordered $\langle m \rangle^2\!=\!3.1(2)$ and fluctuating moments $\langle \delta m \rangle^2\!=\!13(1)$ show that the magnetically ordered ground state of FeSc2S4 is drastically renormalized and in proximity to criticality.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

Study of resonance light scattering for remote optical probing

Enhanced scattering and fluorescence processes in the visible and UV were investigated which will enable improved remote measurements of gas properties. The theoretical relationship between scattering and fluorescence from an isolated molecule in the approach to resonance is examined through analysis of the time dependence of re-emitted light following excitation of pulsed incident light. Quantitative estimates are developed for the relative and absolute intensities of fluorescence and resonance scattering. New results are obtained for depolarization of scattering excited by light at wavelengths within a dissociative continuum. The experimental work was performed in two separate facilities. One of these utilizes argon and krypton lasers, single moded by a tilted etalon, and a 3/4 meter double monochromator. This facility was used to determine properties of the re-emission from NO2, I2 and O3 excited by visible light. The second facility involves a narrow-line dye laser, and a 3/4 meter single monochromator. The dye laser produces pulsed light with 5 nsec pulse duration and 0.005 nm spectral width

Diet and exercise intervention adherence and health-related outcomes among older long-term breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors

BACKGROUND: Diet and exercise interventions for cancer survivors result in health benefits; however, few studies have examined health outcomes in relation to adherence. PURPOSE: We examined associations between adherence to components of a diet-exercise intervention and survivors' physical and mental health. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial tested a telephone and mailed print intervention among 641 older, overweight, long-term survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer. Dietary and exercise behaviors were assessed at 14 time points throughout the year-long intervention; health outcomes were examined postintervention. RESULTS: Telephone session attendance had significant indirect relationships with health outcomes through intervention-period exercise and dietary behavior. Attendance showed positive indirect relationships with physical function (β = 0.11, p < 0.05), basic and advanced lower extremity function (β = 0.10, p < 0.05/β = 0.09, p < 0.05), and mental health (β = 0.05, p < 0.05), and a negative indirect relationship with body mass index (β = -0.06, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Session attendance is vital in facilitating improvement in health behaviors and attendant outcomes (Clinicaltrials.gov number NCT00303875)

Incommensurate magnetism near quantum criticality in CeNiAsO

Two phase transitions in the tetragonal strongly correlated electron system CeNiAsO were probed by neutron scattering and zero field muon spin rotation. For $T <T_{N1}$ = 8.7(3) K, a second order phase transition yields an incommensurate spin density wave with wave vector $\textbf{k} = (0.44(4), 0, 0)$. For $T < T_{N2}$ = 7.6(3) K, we find co-planar commensurate order with a moment of $0.37(5)~\mu_B$, reduced to $30 \%$ of the saturation moment of the $|\pm\frac{1}{2}\rangle$ Kramers doublet ground state, which we establish by inelastic neutron scattering. Muon spin rotation in $\rm CeNiAs_{1-x}P_xO$ shows the commensurate order only exists for x $\le$ 0.1 so the transition at $x_c$ = 0.4(1) is from an incommensurate longitudinal spin density wave to a paramagnetic Fermi liquid

Adaptive Identification of Cortical and Subcortical Imaging Markers of Early Life Stress and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heterogeneous condition associated with a range of brain imaging abnormalities. Early life stress (ELS) contributes to this heterogeneity, but we do not know how a history of ELS influences traditionally defined brain signatures of PTSD. Here, we used a novel machine learning method – evolving partitions to improve classification (EPIC) – to identify shared and unique structural neuroimaging markers of ELS and PTSD in 97 combat-exposed military veterans. METHODS: We used EPIC with repeated cross-validation (CV) to determine how combinations of cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical brain volumes could contribute to classification of PTSD (n = 40) versus controls (n = 57), and classification of ELS within the PTSD (ELS+ n = 16; ELS− n = 24) and control groups (ELS+ n = 16; ELS− n = 41). Additional inputs included intracranial volume, age, sex, adult trauma, and depression. RESULTS: On average, EPIC classified PTSD with 69% accuracy (SD = 5%), and ELS with 64% accuracy in the PTSD group (SD = 10%), and 62% accuracy in controls (SD = 6%). EPIC selected unique sets of individual features that classified each group with 75–85% accuracy in post hoc analyses; combinations of regions marginally improved classification from the individual atlas-defined brain regions. Across analyses, surface area in the right posterior cingulate was the only variable that was repeatedly selected as an important feature for classification of PTSD and ELS. CONCLUSIONS: EPIC revealed unique patterns of features that distinguished PTSD and ELS in this sample of combat-exposed military veterans, which may represent distinct biotypes of stress-related neuropathology

Cyclin D1 repressor domain mediates proliferation and survival in prostate cancer.

Regulation of the androgen receptor (AR) is critical to prostate cancer (PCa) development; therefore, AR is the first line therapeutic target for disseminated tumors. Cell cycle-dependent accumulation of cyclin D1 negatively modulates the transcriptional regulation of AR through discrete, CDK4-independent mechanisms. The transcriptional corepressor function of cyclin D1 resides within a defined motif termed repressor domain (RD), and it was hypothesized that this motif could be utilized as a platform to develop new strategies for blocking AR function. Here, we demonstrate that expression of the RD peptide is sufficient to disrupt AR transcriptional activation of multiple, prostate-specific AR target genes. Importantly, these actions are sufficient to specifically inhibit S-phase progression in AR-positive PCa cells, but not in AR-negative cells or tested AR-positive cells of other lineages. As expected, impaired cell cycle progression resulted in a suppression of cell doubling. Additionally, cell death was observed in AR-positive cells that maintain androgen dependence and in a subset of castrate-resistant PCa cells, dependent on Akt activation status. Lastly, the ability of RD to cooperate with existing hormone therapies was examined, which revealed that RD enhanced the cellular response to an AR antagonist. Together, these data demonstrate that RD is sufficient to disrupt AR-dependent transcriptional and proliferative responses in PCa, and can enhance efficacy of AR antagonists, thus establishing the impetus for development of RD-based mimetics