Swift J164449.3+573451 event: generation in the collapsing star cluster?

We discuss the multiband energy release in a model of a collapsing galactic nucleus, and we try to interpret the unique super-long cosmic gamma-ray event Swift J164449.3+573451 (GRB 110328A by early classification) in this scenario. Neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes can form evolutionary a compact self-gravitating subsystem in the galactic center. Collisions and merges of these stellar remnants during an avalanche contraction and collapse of the cluster core can produce powerful events in different bands due to several mechanisms. Collisions of neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes can generate gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) similar to the ordinary models of short GRB origin. The bright peaks during the first two days may also be a consequence of multiple matter supply (due to matter release in the collisions) and accretion onto the forming supermassive black hole. Numerous smaller peaks and later quasi-steady radiation can arise from gravitational lensing, late accretion of gas onto the supermassive black hole, and from particle acceleration by shock waves. Even if this model will not reproduce exactly all the Swift J164449.3+573451 properties in future observations, such collapses of galactic nuclei can be available for detection in other events.Comment: 7 pages, replaced by the final versio

Direct evidence for charge stripes in a layered cobalt oxide

Recent experiments indicate that static stripe-like charge order is generic to the hole-doped copper oxide superconductors and competes with superconductivity. Here we show that a similar type of charge order is present in La5/3 Sr1/3 CoO4 , an insulating analogue of the copper oxide superconductors containing cobalt in place of copper. The stripe phase we have detected is accompanied by short-range, quasi-one-dimensional, antiferromagnetic order, and provides a natural explanation for the distinctive hour- glass shape of the magnetic spectrum previously observed in neutron scattering mea- surements of La2−xSrx CoO4 and many hole-doped copper oxide superconductors. The results establish a solid empirical basis for theories of the hourglass spectrum built on short-range, quasi-static, stripe correlations

Flipping quantum coins

Coin flipping is a cryptographic primitive in which two distrustful parties wish to generate a random bit in order to choose between two alternatives. This task is impossible to realize when it relies solely on the asynchronous exchange of classical bits: one dishonest player has complete control over the final outcome. It is only when coin flipping is supplemented with quantum communication that this problem can be alleviated, although partial bias remains. Unfortunately, practical systems are subject to loss of quantum data, which restores complete or nearly complete bias in previous protocols. We report herein on the first implementation of a quantum coin-flipping protocol that is impervious to loss. Moreover, in the presence of unavoidable experimental noise, we propose to use this protocol sequentially to implement many coin flips, which guarantees that a cheater unwillingly reveals asymptotically, through an increased error rate, how many outcomes have been fixed. Hence, we demonstrate for the first time the possibility of flipping coins in a realistic setting. Flipping quantum coins thereby joins quantum key distribution as one of the few currently practical applications of quantum communication. We anticipate our findings to be useful for various cryptographic protocols and other applications, such as an online casino, in which a possibly unlimited number of coin flips has to be performed and where each player is free to decide at any time whether to continue playing or not.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Clinical intestinal transplantation: New perspectives and immunologic considerations

Background: Although tacrolimus-based immunosuppression has made intestinal transplantation feasible, the risk of the requisite chronic high- dose treatment has inhibited the widespread use of these procedures. We have examined our 1990-1997 experience to determine whether immunomodulatory strategies to improve outlook could be added to drug treatment. Study Design: Ninety-eight consecutive patients (59 children, 39 adults) with a panoply of indications received 104 allografts under tacrolimus-based immunosuppression: intestine only (n = 37); liver and intestine (n = 50); or multivisceral (n = 17). Of the last 42 patients, 20 received unmodified adjunct donor bone marrow cells; the other 22 were contemporaneous control patients. Results: With a mean followup of 32 ± 26 months (range, 1-86 months), 12 recipients (3 intestine only, 9 composite grafts) are alive with good nutrition beyond the 5-year milestone. Forty-seven (48%) of the total group survive bearing grafts that provide full (91%) or partial (9%) nutrition. Actuarial patient survival at 1 and 5 years (72% and 48%, respectively) was similar with isolated intestinal and composite graft recipients, but the loss rate of grafts from rejection was highest with intestine alone. The best results were in patients between 2 and 18 years of age (68% at 5 years). Adjunct bone marrow did not significantly affect the incidence of graft rejection, B-cell lymphoma, or the rate or severity of graft-versus-host disease. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that longterm rehabilitation similar to that with the other kinds of organ allografts is achievable with all three kinds of intestinal transplant procedures, that the morbidity and mortality is still too high for their widespread application, and that the liver is significantly but marginally protective of concomitantly engrafted intestine. Although none of the endpoints were markedly altered by donor leukocyte augmentation (and chimerism) with bone marrow, establishment of the safety of this adjunct procedure opens the way to further immune modulation strategies that can be added to the augmentation protocol

The age of anxiety? It depends where you look: changes in STAI trait anxiety, 1970–2010

Purpose Population-level surveys suggest that anxiety has been increasing in several nations, including the USA and UK. We sought to verify the apparent anxiety increases by looking for systematic changes in mean anxiety questionnaire scores from research publications. Methods We analyzed all available mean State–Trait Anxiety Inventory scores published between 1970 and 2010. We collected 1703 samples, representing more than 205,000 participants from 57 nations. Results Results showed a significant anxiety increase worldwide, but the pattern was less clear in many individual nations. Our analyses suggest that any increase in anxiety in the USA and Canada may be limited to students, anxiety has decreased in the UK, and has remained stable in Australia. Conclusions Although anxiety may have increased worldwide, it might not be increasing as dramatically as previously thought, except in specific populations, such as North American students. Our results seem to contradict survey results from the USA and UK in particular. We do not claim that our results are more reliable than those of large population surveys. However, we do suggest that mental health surveys and other governmental sources of disorder prevalence data may be partially biased by changing attitudes toward mental health: if respondents are more aware and less ashamed of their anxiety, they are more likely to report it to survey takers. Analyses such as ours provide a useful means of double-checking apparent trends in large population surveys

β-synuclein potentiates synaptic vesicle dopamine uptake and rescues dopaminergic neurons from MPTP-induced death in the absence of other synucleins.

Synucleins, a family of three proteins highly expressed in neurons, are predominantly known for the direct involvement of α-synuclein in the aetiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's and certain other neurodegenerative diseases, but their precise physiological functions are still not fully understood. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of α-synuclein as a modulator of various mechanisms implicated in chemical neurotransmission, but information concerning the involvement of other synuclein family members, β-synuclein and γ-synuclein, in molecular processes within presynaptic terminals is limited. Here we demonstrated that the vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2)-dependent dopamine uptake by synaptic vesicles isolated from the striatum of mice lacking β-synuclein is significantly reduced. Reciprocally, reintroduction, either in vivo or in vitro, of β-synuclein but not α- or γ-synuclein improves uptake by triple α/β/γ-synuclein deficient striatal vesicles. We also showed that the resistance of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) to subchronic administration of the Parkinson's disease-inducing prodrug 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) depends on the presence of β-synuclein but only when one or both other synucleins are absent. Furthermore, proteomic analysis of synuclein-deficient synaptic vesicles vs those containing only β-synuclein revealed differences in their protein compositions. We suggest that the observed potentiation of dopamine uptake by β-synuclein might be caused by different protein architecture of the synaptic vesicles. It is also feasible that such structural changes improve synaptic vesicle sequestration of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), a toxic metabolite of MPTP, which would explain why dopaminergic neurons expressing β-synuclein and lacking α-synuclein and/or γ-synuclein are resistant to this neurotoxin

Prenatal origin of childhood AML occurs less frequently than in childhood ALL

Background While there is enough convincing evidence in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the data on the pre-natal origin in childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are less comprehensive. Our study aimed to screen Guthrie cards (neonatal blood spots) of non-infant childhood AML and ALL patients for the presence of their respective leukemic markers. Methods We analysed Guthrie cards of 12 ALL patients aged 2–6 years using immunoglobulin (Ig) and T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements (n = 15) and/or intronic breakpoints of TEL/AML1 fusion gene (n = 3). In AML patients (n = 13, age 1–14 years) PML/RARalpha (n = 4), CBFbeta/MYH11 (n = 3), AML1/ETO (n = 2), MLL/AF6 (n = 1), MLL/AF9 (n = 1) and MLL/AF10 (n = 1) fusion genes and/or internal tandem duplication of FLT3 gene (FLT3/ITD) (n = 2) were used as clonotypic markers. Assay sensitivity determined using serial dilutions of patient DNA into the DNA of a healthy donor allowed us to detect the pre-leukemic clone in Guthrie card providing 1–3 positive cells were present in the neonatal blood spot. Results In 3 patients with ALL (25%) we reproducibly detected their leukemic markers (Ig/TCR n = 2; TEL/AML1 n = 1) in the Guthrie card. We did not find patient-specific molecular markers in any patient with AML. Conclusion In the largest cohort examined so far we used identical approach for the backtracking of non-infant childhood ALL and AML. Our data suggest that either the prenatal origin of AML is less frequent or the load of pre-leukemic cells is significantly lower at birth in AML compared to ALL cases

Late gadolinium enhancement in Brugada syndrome: A marker for subtle underlying cardiomyopathy?

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that the Brugada ECG pattern is a marker of subtle structural heart disease. OBJECTIVE: We characterised Brugada syndrome (BrS) patients using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). METHODS: BrS was diagnosed according to international guidelines. 26% BrS patients carried SCN5A mutations. CMR data from 78 BrS patients were compared with 78 healthy controls (44±15 vs 42±14 years; p=0.434 and 64% vs 64% male; p=1.000). RESULTS: Right ventricular (RV) ejection fraction was slightly lower (61±8% vs 64±5%; p=0.004) and RV end-systolic volume slightly greater (31±10mL/m(2) vs 28±6mL/m(2); p=0.038) in BrS compared with controls. These values remained within the normal range. LGE was demonstrated in 8% BrS patients (left ventricular (LV) midwall LGE in 5%) but not in controls (p=0.028). In BrS patients with midwall LGE there were no other features of cardiomyopathy at the time of CMR but genetic testing and follow-up has revealed a desmoplakin mutation in one patient and evolution of T-wave inversion throughout all precordial ECG leads in another. Neither patient fulfils diagnostic criteria for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSION: Some BrS patients have LV midwall LGE consistent with an underlying cardiomyopathic process. Even cases without LGE show greater RV volumes and reduced RV function. These findings lend further support to the presence of subtle structural abnormalities in BrS. The BrS pattern with LGE may serve as early markers for evolution of a cardiomyopathic phenotype over time. CMR is a potentially useful adjunct investigation in the clinical evaluation of BrS

The methods and outcomes of cultural adaptations of psychological treatments for depressive disorders: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Cultural adaptations of evidence-based psychological treatments (PTs) are important to enhance their universal applicability. The aim of this study was to review systematically the literature on adaptations of PTs for depressive disorders for ethnic minorities in Western countries and for any population in non-Western countries to describe the process, extent and nature of the adaptations and the effectiveness of the adapted treatments. METHOD: Controlled trials were identified using database searches, key informants, previous reviews and reference lists. Data on the process and details of the adaptations were analyzed using qualitative methods and meta-analysis was used to assess treatment effectiveness. RESULTS: Twenty studies were included in this review, of which 16 were included in the meta-analysis. The process of adaptation was reported in two-thirds of the studies. Most adaptations were found in the dimensions of language, context and therapist delivering the treatment. The meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant benefit in favor of the adapted treatment [standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.94 to -0.49]. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural adaptations of PTs follow a systematic procedure and lead primarily to adaptations in the implementation of the treatments rather than their content. Such PTs are effective in the treatment of depressive disorders in populations other than those for whom they were originally developed

Antiferromagnetic Order Induced by an Applied Magnetic Field in a High-Temperature Superconductor

One view of the cuprate high-transition temperature (high-Tc) superconductors is that they are conventional superconductors where the pairing occurs between weakly interacting quasiparticles, which stand in one-to-one correspondence with the electrons in ordinary metals - although the theory has to be pushed to its limit. An alternative view is that the electrons organize into collective textures (e.g. charge and spin stripes) which cannot be mapped onto the electrons in ordinary metals. The phase diagram, a complex function of various parameters (temperature, doping and magnetic field), should then be approached using quantum field theories of objects such as textures and strings, rather than point-like electrons. In an external magnetic field, magnetic flux penetrates type-II superconductors via vortices, each carrying one flux quantum. The vortices form lattices of resistive material embedded in the non-resistive superconductor and can reveal the nature of the ground state - e.g. a conventional metal or an ordered, striped phase - which would have appeared had superconductivity not intervened. Knowledge of this ground state clearly provides the most appropriate starting point for a pairing theory. Here we report that for one high-Tc superconductor, the applied field which imposes the vortex lattice, also induces antiferromagnetic order. Ordinary quasiparticle pictures cannot account for the nearly field-independent antiferromagnetic transition temperature revealed by our measurements