9,137 research outputs found
How genomic information is accessed in clinical practice: an electronic survey of UK general practitioners.
Genomic technologies are having an increasing impact across medicine, including primary care. To enable their wider adoption and realize their potential, education of primary health-care practitioners will be required. To enable the development of such resources, understanding where GPs currently access genomic information is needed. One-hundred fifty-nine UK GPs completed the survey in response to an open invitation, between September 2017 and September 2018. Questions were in response to 4 clinical genomic scenarios, with further questions exploring resources used for rare disease patients, direct-to-consumer genetic testing and collecting a family history. Respondents were most commonly GP principals (independent GPs who own their clinic) (64.8%), aged 35-49Â years (54%), worked as a GP for more than 15Â years (44%) and practiced within suburban locations (typically wealthier) (50.3%). The most popular 'just in time' education source for all clinical genomic scenarios were online primary care focussed resources with general Internet search engines also popular. For genomic continuous medical education, over 70% of respondents preferred online learning. Considering specific scenarios, local guidelines were a popular resource for the familial breast cancer scenario. A large proportion (41%) had not heard of Genomics England's 100,000 genome project. Few respondents (4%) would access rare disease specific Internet resources (Orphanet, OMIM). Twenty-five percent of respondents were unsure how to respond to a direct-to-consumer commercial genetic test query, with 41% forwarding such queries to local genetic services. GPs require concise, relevant, primary care focussed resources in trusted and familiar online repositories of information. Inadequate genetic education of GPs could increase burden on local genetic services
Unified first law of black-hole dynamics and relativistic thermodynamics
A unified first law of black-hole dynamics and relativistic thermodynamics is
derived in spherically symmetric general relativity. This equation expresses
the gradient of the active gravitational energy E according to the Einstein
equation, divided into energy-supply and work terms. Projecting the equation
along the flow of thermodynamic matter and along the trapping horizon of a
blackhole yield, respectively, first laws of relativistic thermodynamics and
black-hole dynamics. In the black-hole case, this first law has the same form
as the first law of black-hole statics, with static perturbations replaced by
the derivative along the horizon. There is the expected term involving the area
and surface gravity, where the dynamic surface gravity is defined as in the
static case but using the Kodama vector and trapping horizon. This surface
gravity vanishes for degenerate trapping horizons and satisfies certain
expected inequalities involving the area and energy. In the thermodynamic case,
the quasi-local first law has the same form, apart from a relativistic factor,
as the classical first law of thermodynamics, involving heat supply and
hydrodynamic work, but with E replacing the internal energy. Expanding E in the
Newtonian limit shows that it incorporates the Newtonian mass, kinetic energy,
gravitational potential energy and thermal energy. There is also a weak type of
unified zeroth law: a Gibbs-like definition of thermal equilibrium requires
constancy of an effective temperature, generalising the Tolman condition and
the particular case of Hawking radiation, while gravithermal equilibrium
further requires constancy of surface gravity. Finally, it is suggested that
the energy operator of spherically symmetric quantum gravity is determined by
the Kodama vector, which encodes a dynamic time related to E.Comment: 18 pages, TeX, expanded somewhat, to appear in Class. Quantum Gra
Construction and enlargement of traversable wormholes from Schwarzschild black holes
Analytic solutions are presented which describe the construction of a
traversable wormhole from a Schwarzschild black hole, and the enlargement of
such a wormhole, in Einstein gravity. The matter model is pure radiation which
may have negative energy density (phantom or ghost radiation) and the
idealization of impulsive radiation (infinitesimally thin null shells) is
employed.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Quasi-spherical approximation for rotating black holes
We numerically implement a quasi-spherical approximation scheme for computing
gravitational waveforms for coalescing black holes, testing it against angular
momentum by applying it to Kerr black holes. As error measures, we take the
conformal strain and specific energy due to spurious gravitational radiation.
The strain is found to be monotonic rather than wavelike. The specific energy
is found to be at least an order of magnitude smaller than the 1% level
expected from typical black-hole collisions, for angular momentum up to at
least 70% of the maximum, for an initial surface as close as .Comment: revised version, 8 pages, RevTeX, 8 figures, epsf.sty, psfrag.sty,
graphicx.st
Plasma retinol, beta-carotene and vitamin E levels in relation to the future risk of breast cancer.
In a prospective study of 5,004 women in Guernsey, plasma samples were collected and stored. Retinol, beta-carotene and vitamin E levels were later measured in the samples from 39 women who subsequently developed breast cancer and from 78 controls who did not develop cancer. Plasma retinol levels were not related to the risk of breast cancer, mean levels among cases and controls being 485 micrograms l-1 and 479 micrograms l-1 respectively. Plasma vitamin E levels showed a clear association, low levels being associated with a significantly higher risk of cancer. The mean vitamin E levels among cases and controls were 4.7 mg l-1 and 6.0 mg l-1 respectively (P less than 0.025), and the risk of breast cancer in women with vitamin E levels in the lowest quintile was about 5-times higher than the risk for women with levels in the highest quintile (P less than 0.01). beta-carotene levels showed a tendency to be lower in women who developed cancer than in controls (36 micrograms l-1 among cases compared with 50 micrograms l-1 among controls) but the difference was not statistically significant
Gravitational waves, black holes and cosmic strings in cylindrical symmetry
Gravitational waves in cylindrically symmetric Einstein gravity are described
by an effective energy tensor with the same form as that of a massless Klein-
Gordon field, in terms of a gravitational potential generalizing the Newtonian
potential. Energy-momentum vectors for the gravitational waves and matter are
defined with respect to a canonical flow of time. The combined energy-momentum
is covariantly conserved, the corresponding charge being the modified Thorne
energy. Energy conservation is formulated as the first law expressing the
gradient of the energy as work and energy-supply terms, including the energy
flux of the gravitational waves. Projecting this equation along a trapping
horizon yields a first law of black-hole dynamics containing the expected term
involving area and surface gravity, where the dynamic surface gravity is
defined with respect to the canonical flow of time. A first law for dynamic
cosmic strings also follows. The Einstein equation is written as three wave
equations plus the first law, each with sources determined by the combined
energy tensor of the matter and gravitational waves.Comment: 10 pages, revtex. Published version with further detail
Production and decay of evolving horizons
We consider a simple physical model for an evolving horizon that is strongly
interacting with its environment, exchanging arbitrarily large quantities of
matter with its environment in the form of both infalling material and outgoing
Hawking radiation. We permit fluxes of both lightlike and timelike particles to
cross the horizon, and ask how the horizon grows and shrinks in response to
such flows. We place a premium on providing a clear and straightforward
exposition with simple formulae.
To be able to handle such a highly dynamical situation in a simple manner we
make one significant physical restriction, that of spherical symmetry, and two
technical mathematical restrictions: (1) We choose to slice the spacetime in
such a way that the space-time foliations (and hence the horizons) are always
spherically symmetric. (2) Furthermore we adopt Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates
(which are well suited to the problem because they are nonsingular at the
horizon) in order to simplify the relevant calculations.
We find particularly simple forms for surface gravity, and for the first and
second law of black hole thermodynamics, in this general evolving horizon
situation. Furthermore we relate our results to Hawking's apparent horizon,
Ashtekar et al's isolated and dynamical horizons, and Hayward's trapping
horizons. The evolving black hole model discussed here will be of interest,
both from an astrophysical viewpoint in terms of discussing growing black
holes, and from a purely theoretical viewpoint in discussing black hole
evaporation via Hawking radiation.Comment: 25 pages, uses iopart.cls V2: 5 references added; minor typos; V3:
some additional clarifications, additional references, additional appendix on
the Viadya spacetime. This version published in Classical and Quiantum
Gravit
The suppression of superconductivity in MgCNi3 by Ni-site doping
The effects of partial substitution of Cu and Co for Ni in the intermetallic
perovskite superconductor MgCNi3 are reported. Calculation of the expected
electronic density of states suggests that electron (Cu) and hole (Co) doping
should have different effects. For MgCNi3-xCux, solubility of Cu is limited to
approximately 3% (x = 0.1), and Tc decreases systematically from 7K to 6K. For
MgCNi3-xCox, solubility of Co is much more extensive, but bulk
superconductivity disappears for Co doping of 1% (x = 0.03). No signature of
long range magnetic ordering is observed in the magnetic susceptibility of the
Co doped material.Comment: submitted, Solid State Communication
Massive sulfide Zn deposits in the Proterozoic did not require euxinia
Our most important Zn resources occur within clastic-dominated (CD-type) deposits, which are located in a small number of Proterozoic and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins. The most common model for CD-type mineralisation involves sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) processes, i.e. the venting of metal bearing fluids into a restricted, anoxic H2S-bearing (euxinic) water column. In the Carpentaria Zn Province (Australia), multiple world class deposits are hosted in Proterozoic (1.6 Ga) stratigraphy, where models of the ancient sulfur cycle have also been developed. Focusing on the most recent discovery – the Teena deposit – we report bulk rock and isotopic data (δ34Spyrite values) that provide information on the sulfur cycle during the diagenetic and hydrothermal evolution of the Teena sub-basin. In contrast to the SEDEX model, intervals containing abundant pyrite with highly positive δ34S values (>25 ‰) correspond with euxinic conditions that developed due to high organic loading (i.e. productivity) and not basin restriction. This basin wide feature, which can also be mistaken as a hydrothermal pyrite halo, is genetically unrelated to the subsequent hydrothermal mineralisation that formed beneath the palaeo-seafloor. The formation of CD-type deposits in the Proterozoic does not, therefore, require euxinic conditions
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