Atom--Molecule Coherence in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Coherent coupling between atoms and molecules in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) has been observed. Oscillations between atomic and molecular states were excited by sudden changes in the magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance and persisted for many periods of the oscillation. The oscillation frequency was measured over a large range of magnetic fields and is in excellent quantitative agreement with the energy difference between the colliding atom threshold energy and the energy of the bound molecular state. This agreement indicates that we have created a quantum superposition of atoms and diatomic molecules, which are chemically different species.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Obstetric history and mammographic density: a population-based cross-sectional study in Spain (DDM-Spain)

High mammographic density (MD) is used as a phenotype risk marker for developing breast cancer. During pregnancy and lactation the breast attains full development, with a cellular-proliferation followed by a lobular-differentiation stage. This study investigates the influence of obstetric factors on MD among pre- and post-menopausal women. We enrolled 3,574 women aged 45–68 years who were participating in breast cancer screening programmes in seven screening centers. To measure MD, blind anonymous readings were taken by an experienced radiologist, using craniocaudal mammography and Boyd’s semiquantitative scale. Demographic and reproductive data were directly surveyed by purpose-trained staff at the date of screening. The association between MD and obstetric variables was quantified by ordinal logistic regression, with screening centre introduced as a random effect term. We adjusted for age, number of children and body mass index, and stratified by menopausal status. Parity was inversely associated with density, the probability of having high MD decreased by 16% for each new birth (P value < 0.001). Among parous women, a positive association was detected with duration of lactation [>9 months: odds ratio (OR) = 1.33; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02–1.72] and weight of first child (>3,500 g: OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.12–1.54). Age at first birth showed a different effect in pre- and post-menopausal women (P value for interaction = 0.030). No association was found among pre-menopausal women. However, in post-menopausal women the probability of having high MD increased in women who had their first child after the age of 30 (OR = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.17–2.00). A higher risk associated with birth of twins was also mainly observed in post-menopausal women (OR = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.18–3.46). Our study shows a greater prevalence of high MD in mothers of advanced age at first birth, those who had twins, those who have breastfed for longer periods, and mothers whose first child had an elevated birth weight. These results suggest the influence of hormones and growth factors over the proliferative activity of the mammary gland

Premature Decline of Serum Total Testosterone in HIV-Infected Men in the HAART-Era

BackgroundTestosterone (T) deficiency remains a poorly understood issue in men with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). We investigated the gonadal status in HIV-infected men in order to characterize T deficiency and to identify predictive factors for low serum T.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe performed a cross-sectional, observational study on 1325 consecutive HIV male outpatients, most of them having lipodystrophy. Serum total T<300 ng/dL was used as the threshold for biochemical T deficiency. Morning serum total T, luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol, HIV parameters, and body composition parameters by CT-scan and Dual-Energy-X-ray-Absorptiometry were measured in each case. Sexual behavior was evaluated in a subset of 247 patients. T deficiency was found in 212 subjects, especially in the age range 40\u201359, but was frequent even in younger patients. T deficiency occurred mainly in association with low/normal serum LH. Adiposity was higher in subjects with T deficiency (p<0.0001) and both visceral adipose tissue and body mass index were the main negative predictors of serum total T. Osteoporosis and erectile dysfunction were present in a similar percentage in men with or without T deficiency.Conclusions/SignificancePremature decline of serum T is common (16%) among young/middle-aged HIV-infected men and is associated with inappropriately low/normal LH and increased visceral fat. T deficiency occurs at a young age and may be considered an element of the process of premature or accelerated aging known to be associated with HIV infection. The role of HIV and/or HIV infection treatments, as well as the role of the general health state on the gonadal axis, remains, in fact, to be elucidated. Due to the low specificity of signs and symptoms of hypogonadism in the context of HIV, caution is needed in the diagnosis of hypogonadism in HIV-infected men with biochemical low serum T levels

Geological time formalization: an improved formal model for describing time successions and their correlation

International audienceGeological time description largely rests on an event based chronology based on the stratigraphical model. It uses a hierarchy of chronologically ordered geochronological units and boundaries. In order to be easily dealt with within large databases used by complex engineering systems, the geological time chronology must be formalized. Stratigraphical time successions should accordingly be described by using adequate semantic tools (ontologies) complemented by a set of logical rules. At present, geological time formalization mainly rests on the GeoSciML model. This model is fit for describing individual geological time scales but does not provide all the necessary tools for comparing various time successions and for operating full stratigraphic correlations. For complementing the GeoSciML model, we define two ontologies for geological time description and for geological dating. They extend the GeoSciML model, so that it becomes possible to fully use the Allen rules for operating time correlations between any couple of time scales or stratigraphic successions. We additionally propose a codification resting on the defined ontologies, which allows operating all age identification and correlation by means of simple computation rules

Visualising biological data: a semantic approach to tool and database integration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Motivation</p> <p>In the biological sciences, the need to analyse vast amounts of information has become commonplace. Such large-scale analyses often involve drawing together data from a variety of different databases, held remotely on the internet or locally on in-house servers. Supporting these tasks are <it>ad hoc </it>collections of data-manipulation tools, scripting languages and visualisation software, which are often combined in arcane ways to create cumbersome systems that have been customised for a particular purpose, and are consequently not readily adaptable to other uses. For many day-to-day bioinformatics tasks, the sizes of current databases, and the scale of the analyses necessary, now demand increasing levels of automation; nevertheless, the unique experience and intuition of human researchers is still required to interpret the end results in any meaningful biological way. Putting humans in the loop requires tools to support real-time interaction with these vast and complex data-sets. Numerous tools do exist for this purpose, but many do not have optimal interfaces, most are effectively isolated from other tools and databases owing to incompatible data formats, and many have limited real-time performance when applied to realistically large data-sets: much of the user's cognitive capacity is therefore focused on controlling the software and manipulating esoteric file formats rather than on performing the research.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To confront these issues, harnessing expertise in human-computer interaction (HCI), high-performance rendering and distributed systems, and guided by bioinformaticians and end-user biologists, we are building reusable software components that, together, create a toolkit that is both architecturally sound from a computing point of view, and addresses both user and developer requirements. Key to the system's usability is its direct exploitation of semantics, which, crucially, gives individual components knowledge of their own functionality and allows them to interoperate seamlessly, removing many of the existing barriers and bottlenecks from standard bioinformatics tasks.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The toolkit, named Utopia, is freely available from <url>http://utopia.cs.man.ac.uk/</url>.</p

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

An assessment of existing models for individualized breast cancer risk estimation in a screening program in Spain

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the calibration and discriminatory power of three predictive models of breast cancer risk. Methods: We included 13,760 women who were first-time participants in the Sabadell-Cerdanyola Breast Cancer Screening Program, in Catalonia, Spain. Projections of risk were obtained at three and five years for invasive cancer using the Gail, Chen and Barlow models. Incidence and mortality data were obtained from the Catalan registries. The calibration and discrimination of the models were assessed using the Hosmer-Lemeshow C statistic, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and the Harrell’s C statistic. Results: The Gail and Chen models showed good calibration while the Barlow model overestimated the number of cases: the ratio between estimated and observed values at 5 years ranged from 0.86 to 1.55 for the first two models and from 1.82 to 3.44 for the Barlow model. The 5-year projection for the Chen and Barlow models had the highest discrimination, with an AUC around 0.58. The Harrell’s C statistic showed very similar values in the 5-year projection for each of the models. Although they passed the calibration test, the Gail and Chen models overestimated the number of cases in some breast density categories. Conclusions: These models cannot be used as a measure of individual risk in early detection programs to customize screening strategies. The inclusion of longitudinal measures of breast density or other risk factors in joint models of survival and longitudinal data may be a step towards personalized early detection of BC.This study was funded by grant PS09/01340 and The Spanish Network on Chronic Diseases REDISSEC (RD12/0001/0007) from the Health Research Fund (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria) of the Spanish Ministry of Health

AUX1-mediated root hair auxin influx governs SCFTIR1/AFB-type Ca2+ signaling

Auxin is a key regulator of plant growth and development, but the causal relationship between hormone transport and root responses remains unresolved. Here we describe auxin uptake, together with early steps in signaling, in Arabidopsis root hairs. Using intracellular microelectrodes we show membrane depolarization, in response to IAA in a concentration- and pH-dependent manner. This depolarization is strongly impaired in aux1 mutants, indicating that AUX1 is the major transporter for auxin uptake in root hairs. Local intracellular auxin application triggers Ca2+ signals that propagate as long-distance waves between root cells and modulate their auxin responses. AUX1-mediated IAA transport, as well as IAA- triggered calcium signals, are blocked by treatment with the SCFTIR1/AFB - inhibitor auxinole. Further, they are strongly reduced in the tir1afb2afb3 and the cngc14 mutant. Our study reveals that the AUX1 transporter, the SCFTIR1/AFB receptor and the CNGC14 Ca2+ channel, mediate fast auxin signaling in roots

Mortality by causes in HIV-infected adults: comparison with the general population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We compared mortality by cause of death in HIV-infected adults in the era of combined antiretroviral therapy with mortality in the general population in the same age and sex groups.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Mortality by cause of death was analyzed for the period 1999-2006 in the cohort of persons aged 20-59 years diagnosed with HIV infection and residing in Navarre (Spain). This was compared with mortality from the same causes in the general population of the same age and sex using standardized mortality ratios (SMR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 210 deaths among 1145 persons diagnosed with HIV (29.5 per 1000 person-years). About 50% of these deaths were from AIDS. Persons diagnosed with HIV infection had exceeded all-cause mortality (SMR 14.0, 95% CI 12.2 to 16.1) and non-AIDS mortality (SMR 6.9, 5.7 to 8.5). The analysis showed excess mortality from hepatic disease (SMR 69.0, 48.1 to 78.6), drug overdose or addiction (SMR 46.0, 29.2 to 69.0), suicide (SMR 9.6, 3.8 to 19.7), cancer (SMR 3.2, 1.8 to 5.1) and cardiovascular disease (SMR 3.1, 1.3 to 6.1). Mortality in HIV-infected intravenous drug users did not change significantly between the periods 1999-2002 and 2003-2006, but it declined by 56% in non-injecting drug users (<it>P </it>= 0.007).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Persons with HIV infection continue to have considerable excess mortality despite the availability of effective antiretroviral treatments. However, excess mortality in the HIV patients has declined since these treatments were introduced, especially in persons without a history of intravenous drug use.</p

Horizon scan of conservation issues for inland waters in Canada

Horizon scanning is a systematic approach increasingly used to explore emerging trends, issues, opportunities, and threats in conservation. We present the results from one such exercise aimed at identifying emerging issues that could have important scientific, social, technological, and managerial implications for the conservation of inland waters in Canada in the proximate future. We recognized six opportunities and nine challenges, for which we provide research implications and policy options, such that scientists, policy makers, and the Canadian society as a whole can prepare for a potential growth in each of the topic areas we identified. The issues spanned a broad range of topics, from recognizing the opportunities and challenges of community-enabled science and the need to consider the legal rights of nature, to the likely increase of pharmaceuticals in wastewater due to an aging population. These issues represent a first baseline that could help decision makers identify and prioritize efforts while simultaneously stimulate new research avenues. We hope our horizon scan will pave the way for similar exercises related to the conservation of biodiversity in Canada.This project was organized with the support of the Groupe de recherche Interuniversitaire en Limnologie, and the Liber Ero Chair at McGill University. IGE, RB, MC, SJC, AH acknowledge support from the Canada Research Chairs program, and KG, CB and NSG acknowledge funding from the NSERC-funded LakePulse Network. WJS is funded by Arcadia. The authors also thank Sara Pancheri for developing Figure 1a. Finally, we would like to thank Amanda K. Winegardner, who was an active participant in the workshop and provided substantial edits and comments of the manuscript