Estimated exposures to perfluorinated compounds in infancy predict attenuated vaccine antibody concentrations at age 5-years

Perfluorinated alkylate substances (PFASs) are highly persistent and may cause immunotoxic effects. PFAS-associated attenuated antibody responses to childhood vaccines may be affected by PFAS exposures during infancy, where breastfeeding adds to PFAS exposures. Of 490 members of a Faroese birth cohort, 275 and 349 participated in clinical examinations and provided blood samples at ages 18 months and 5 years. PFAS concentrations were measured at birth and at the clinical examinations. Using information on duration of breastfeeding, serum-PFAS concentration profiles during infancy were estimated. As outcomes, serum concentrations of antibodies against tetanus and diphtheria vaccines were determined at age 5. Data from a previous cohort born eight years earlier were available for pooled analyses. Prenatal exposure showed inverse associations with the antibody concentrations five years later, with decreases by up to about 20% for each two-fold higher exposure, while associations for serum concentrations at ages 18 months and 5 years were weaker. Modeling of serum-PFAS concentration showed levels for age 18 months that were similar to those measured. Concentrations estimated for ages 3 and 6 months showed the strongest inverse associations with antibody concentrations at age 5 years, particularly for tetanus. Joint analyses showed statistically significant decreases in tetanus antibody concentrations by 19% to 29% at age 5 for each doubling of the PFAS exposure in early infancy. These findings support the notion that the developing adaptive immune system is particularly vulnerable to immunotoxicity during infancy. This vulnerability appears to be the greatest during the first 6 months after birth, where PFAS exposures are affected by breast-feeding

Age determination of galaxy merger remnant stars using asteroseismology

The Milky Way was shaped by the mergers with several galaxies in the past. We search for remnant stars that were born in these foreign galaxies and assess their ages in an effort to put upper limits on the merger times and thereby better understand the evolutionary history of our Galaxy. Using 5D-phase space information from Gaia eDR3, radial velocities from Gaia DR2 and chemical information from apogee DR16, we kinematically and chemically select 21 red giant stars belonging to former dwarf galaxies that merged with the Milky Way. With added asteroseismology from Kepler and K2, we determine the ages of the 21 ex situ stars and 49 in situ stars with an average σage/age of ∼31 per cent. We find that all the ex situ stars are consistent with being older than 8 Gyr. While it is not possible to associate all the stars with a specific dwarf galaxy, we classify eight of them as Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage stars, which is one of the most massive mergers in our Galaxy's history. We determine their mean age to be 9.5 ± 1.3 Gyr consistent with a merger time of 8-10 Gyr ago. The rest of the stars are possibly associated with Kraken, Thamnos, Sequoia, or another extragalactic progenitor. The age determination of ex situ stars paves the way to more accurately pinning down when the merger events occurred and hence provide tight constraints useful for simulating how these events unfolded.Funding for the Stellar Astrophysics Centre was provided by The Danish National Research Foundation (grant agreement no. DNRF106). AH acknowledges support from a Spinoza prize from the Netherlands Research Council (NWO). HHK gratefully acknowledges financial support from a Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study. AS acknowledges support from the European Research Council Consolidator Grant funding scheme (project ASTEROCHRONOMETRY, G.A. n. 772293, http://www.asterochronometry.eu). JMDK gratefully acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through an Emmy Noether Research Group (grant number KR4801/1-1), as well as from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement number 714907). CL acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 852839). JY acknowledges partial support from ERC Synergy Grant WHOLE SUN 810218

A RT-qPCR system using a degenerate probe for specific identification and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variants of concern

Fast surveillance strategies are needed to control the spread of new emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and gain time for evaluation of their pathogenic potential. This was essential for the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) that replaced the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) and is currently the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating worldwide. RT-qPCR strategies complement whole genome sequencing, especially in resource lean countries, but mutations in the targeting primer and probe sequences of new emerging variants can lead to a failure of the existing RT-qPCRs. Here, we introduced an RT-qPCR platform for detecting the Delta- and the Omicron variant simultaneously using a degenerate probe targeting the key ΔH69/V70 mutation in the spike protein. By inclusion of the L452R mutation into the RT-qPCR platform, we could detect not only the Delta and the Omicron variants, but also the Omicron sub-lineages BA.1, BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5. The RT-qPCR platform was validated in small- and large-scale. It can easily be incorporated for continued monitoring of Omicron sub-lineages, and offers a fast adaption strategy of existing RT-qPCRs to detect new emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants using degenerate probes.</p

Asteroseismology and Spectropolarimetry of the Exoplanet Host Star λ Serpentis

The bright star lambda Ser hosts a hot Neptune with a minimum mass of 13.6 M &amp; OPLUS; and a 15.5 day orbit. It also appears to be a solar analog, with a mean rotation period of 25.8 days and surface differential rotation very similar to the Sun. We aim to characterize the fundamental properties of this system and constrain the evolutionary pathway that led to its present configuration. We detect solar-like oscillations in time series photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, and we derive precise asteroseismic properties from detailed modeling. We obtain new spectropolarimetric data, and we use them to reconstruct the large-scale magnetic field morphology. We reanalyze the complete time series of chromospheric activity measurements from the Mount Wilson Observatory, and we present new X-ray and ultraviolet observations from the Chandra and Hubble space telescopes. Finally, we use the updated observational constraints to assess the rotational history of the star and estimate the wind braking torque. We conclude that the remaining uncertainty on the stellar age currently prevents an unambiguous interpretation of the properties of lambda Ser, and that the rate of angular momentum loss appears to be higher than for other stars with a similar Rossby number. Future asteroseismic observations may help to improve the precision of the stellar age

Using Polarized Spectroscopy to Investigate Order in Thin-Films of Ionic Self-Assembled Materials Based on Azo-Dyes

Three series of ionic self-assembled materials based on anionic azo-dyes and cationic benzalkonium surfactants were synthesized and thin films were prepared by spin-casting. These thin films appear isotropic when investigated with polarized optical microscopy, although they are highly anisotropic. Here, three series of homologous materials were studied to rationalize this observation. Investigating thin films of ordered molecular materials relies to a large extent on advanced experimental methods and large research infrastructure. A statement that in particular is true for thin films with nanoscopic order, where X-ray reflectometry, X-ray and neutron scattering, electron microscopy and atom force microscopy (AFM) has to be used to elucidate film morphology and the underlying molecular structure. Here, the thin films were investigated using AFM, optical microscopy and polarized absorption spectroscopy. It was shown that by using numerical method for treating the polarized absorption spectroscopy data, the molecular structure can be elucidated. Further, it was shown that polarized optical spectroscopy is a general tool that allows determination of the molecular order in thin films. Finally, it was found that full control of thermal history and rigorous control of the ionic self-assembly conditions are required to reproducibly make these materials of high nanoscopic order. Similarly, the conditions for spin-casting are shown to be determining for the overall thin film morphology, while molecular order is maintained

Robust asteroseismic properties of the bright planet host HD 38529

Deal, Morgan/0000-0001-6774-3587; Celik Orhan, Zeynep/0000-0002-9424-2339; Santos, Angela/0000-0001-7195-6542; Ball, Warrick/0000-0002-4773-1017; Lysgaard Rorsted, Jakob/0000-0001-9234-430X; Cunha, Margarida/0000-0001-8237-7343; Huber, Daniel/0000-0001-8832-4488; Stokholm, Amalie/0000-0002-5496-365X; Basu, Sarbani/0000-0002-6163-3472; Ong, Joel/0000-0001-7664-648XWOS:000599131700104The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is recording short-cadence, high duty-cycle timeseries across most of the sky, which presents the opportunity to detect and study oscillations in interesting stars, in particular planet hosts. We have detected and analysed solar-like oscillations in the bright G4 subgiant HD 38529, which hosts an inner, roughly Jupiter-mass planet on a 14.3d orbit and an outer, low-mass brown dwarf on a 2136 d orbit. We combine results frommultiple stellarmodelling teams to produce robust asteroseismic estimates of the star's properties, including its mass M = 1.48 +/- 0.04 M-circle dot, radius R = 2.68 +/- 0.03 R-circle dot, and age t = 3.07 +/- 0.39 Gyr. Our results confirm that HD 38529 has a mass near the higher end of the range that can be found in the literature and also demonstrate that precise stellar properties can be measured given shorter timeseries than produced by CoRoT, Kepler, or K2.UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) [ST/R0023297/1]; Danish National Research FoundationDanmarks Grundforskningsfond [DNRF106]; grant FPI-SO from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) [SEV-2015-0548-17-2, BES-2017-082610]; Spanish Ministry with the Ramon y Cajal fellowship [RYC-2015-17697]; NASANational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) [NNX17AF27G, NNX16AI09G, 80NSSC19K0374]; TESS GI Program under NASA [80NSSC18K1585, 80NSSC19K0385]; Carlsberg FoundationCarlsberg Foundation [CF19-0649]; Independent Research Fund Denmark [7027-00096B]; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Astrophysik; national funds through Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT); FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) [UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/30389/2017]; Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through COMPETE2020: Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao [POCI01-0145-FEDER-030389]; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions grant [792848]; Scientific and Technological Research Council of TurkeyTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [TUBITAK:118F352]; NASA Explorer ProgramNational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); PLATO-CNES grantWHB, WJC, and MBN thank the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for support under grant ST/R0023297/1. Funding for the Stellar Astrophysics Centre is provided by The Danish National Research Foundation (grant DNRF106). LGC thanks the support from grant FPI-SO from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO; research project SEV-2015-0548-17-2 and predoctoral contract BES-2017-082610). SM acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry with the Ramon y Cajal fellowship number RYC-2015-17697. ARGS acknowledges the support from NASA under grant NNX17AF27G. RAG acknowledges the support of the PLATO-CNES grant. DLB acknowledges support from the TESS GI Program under NASA awards 80NSSC18K1585 and 80NSSC19K0385. JRM acknowledges support from the Carlsberg Foundation (grant CF19-0649). VSA acknowledges support from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (Research grant 7027-00096B). BN acknowledges postdoctoral funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation taken at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Astrophysik. MSC and MD are supported in the form of work contracts funded by national funds through Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT). MSC and MD acknowledge support by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) by grants UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, and PTDC/FIS-AST/30389/2017 and by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through COMPETE2020: Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao by grant POCI01-0145-FEDER-030389. TC acknowledges support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions grant 792848 (PULSATION). SB acknowledges NASA grants NNX16AI09G and 80NSSC19K0374. ZCO, MY, and SO acknowledge the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK:118F352) This paper includes data collected by the TESS mission, which are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). Funding for the TESS mission is provided by the NASA Explorer Program. Calculations in this paper had used the University of Birmingham's BlueBEAR High-Performance Computing service.1</SUP