Echo-Mapping of Swift J1753.5-0127

We present two epochs of coordinated X-ray-optical timing observations of the black hole candidate Swift J1753.5-0127 during its 2005 outburst. The first epoch in July occurred at outburst peak. Two consecutive nights of observations using the McDonald Observatory Argos camera with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer show a consistent correlation with an immediate response and an extended tail lasting ~5s. The properties of the variability and the correlation are consistent with thermal reprocessing in an accretion disk. The shortness of the lag suggests a short orbital period consistent with that recently claimed. The second epoch in August used the VLT FORS2 HIT mode again in conjunction with RXTE. Again a repeatable correlation is seen between two independent subsets of the data. In this case, though, the cross-correlation function has an unusual structure comprising a dip followed by a double-peak. We suggest that this may be equivalent to the dip plus single peak structure seen by Kanbach et al. (2001) in XTE J1118+480 and attributed there to synchrotron emission; a similar structure was seen during later activity of Swift J1753.5-0127 by Durant et al. (2008).Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

A risk factor analysis of outcomes after unrelated cord blood transplantation for children with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome is a severe X-linked recessive immune deficiency disorder. A scoring system of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome severity (0.5-5) distinguishes 2 phenotypes: X-linked thrombocytopenia and classic Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. Hematopoietic cell transplantation is curative for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, however the use of unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation has seldom been described. We analyzed umbilical cord blood transplantation outcomes for 90 patients. Median age at umbilical cord blood transplantation was 1.5 years. Patients were classified according to clinical scores (2 (23%), 3 (30%), 4 (23%) and 5 (19%)). Most patients received HLA mismatched umbilical cord blood transplantation and myeloablative conditioning with anti-thymocyte globulin. Cumulative incidence of neutrophil recovery at day-60 was 89% and day-100 acute graft-versus-host disease grade II-IV was 38%; use of methotrexate for graft-versus- host disease prophylaxis delayed engraftment (p=0.02), but decreased acute graft-versus-host disease (p=0.03). At 5-year, overall survival and event-free survival were 75% and 70%, respectively. Estimated 5 year- event-free survival was 83%, 73% and 55% for patients with clinical score 2, 4-5 and 3, respectively. In multivariate analysis, age<2years at umbilical cord blood transplantation and clinical phenotype X-linked thrombocytopenia were associated with improved event-free survival. Overall survival tended to be improved after 2007 (p=0.09). In conclusion, umbilical cord blood transplantation is a good alternative option for young children with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome lacking an HLA identical stem cell donor

Surprises in the Orbital Magnetic Moment and g-Factor of the Dynamic Jahn-Teller Ion C_{60}^-

We calculate the magnetic susceptibility and g-factor of the isolated C_{60}^- ion at zero temperature, with a proper treatment of the dynamical Jahn-Teller effect, and of the associated orbital angular momentum, Ham-reduced gyromagnetic ratio, and molecular spin-orbit coupling. A number of surprises emerge. First, the predicted molecular spin-orbit splitting is two orders of magnitude smaller than in the bare carbon atom, due to the large radius of curvature of the molecule. Second, this reduced spin-orbit splitting is comparable to Zeeman energies, for instance, in X-band EPR at 3.39KGauss, and a field dependence of the g-factor is predicted. Third, the orbital gyromagnetic factor is strongly reduced by vibron coupling, and so therefore are the effective weak-field g-factors of all low-lying states. In particular, the ground-state doublet of C_{60}^- is predicted to show a negative g-factor of \sim -0.1.Comment: 19 pages RevTex, 2 postscript figures include

Report on developing bottom-up Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACCS) for representative farm types.

bitstream/item/177181/1/D11.2-Report-on-developing-bottom-up-MACCs-for-representative-farm-types-0263D69D-63D3-4EA3-A333-EDA004AFDFCB1.pd

Soy consumption and risk of COPD and respiratory symptoms: a case-control study in Japan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To investigate the relationship between soy consumption, COPD risk and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, a case-control study was conducted in Japan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 278 eligible patients (244 men and 34 women), aged 50–75 years with COPD diagnosed within the past four years, were referred by respiratory physicians, while 340 controls (272 men and 68 women) were recruited from the community. All participants underwent spirometric measurements of respiratory function. Information on demographics, lifestyle characteristics and habitual food consumption was obtained using a structured questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Total soy consumption was positively correlated with observed lung function measures. The mean soy intake was significantly higher among controls (59.98, SD 50.23 g/day) than cases (44.84, SD 28.5 g/day). A significant reduction in COPD risk was evident for highest versus lowest quartile of daily intake of total soybean products, with adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.392, 95% CI 0.194–0.793, <it>p </it>for trend 0.001. Similar decreases in COPD risk were associated with frequent and higher intake of soy foods such as tofu and bean sprouts, whereas respiratory symptoms were inversely associated with high consumption of soy foods, especially for breathlessness (OR 0.989, 95% CI 0.982–0.996).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Increasing soy consumption was associated with a decreased risk of COPD and breathlessness.</p

The acquisition of Sign Language: The impact of phonetic complexity on phonology

Research into the effect of phonetic complexity on phonological acquisition has a long history in spoken languages. This paper considers the effect of phonetics on phonological development in a signed language. We report on an experiment in which nonword-repetition methodology was adapted so as to examine in a systematic way how phonetic complexity in two phonological parameters of signed languages — handshape and movement — affects the perception and articulation of signs. Ninety-one Deaf children aged 3–11 acquiring British Sign Language (BSL) and 46 hearing nonsigners aged 6–11 repeated a set of 40 nonsense signs. For Deaf children, repetition accuracy improved with age, correlated with wider BSL abilities, and was lowest for signs that were phonetically complex. Repetition accuracy was correlated with fine motor skills for the youngest children. Despite their lower repetition accuracy, the hearing group were similarly affected by phonetic complexity, suggesting that common visual and motoric factors are at play when processing linguistic information in the visuo-gestural modality

Breathlessness is associated with urinary incontinence in men: A community-based study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Urinary incontinence (UI) is a distressing problem for older people. To investigate the relationship between UI and respiratory symptoms among middle-aged and older men, a community-based study was conducted in Japan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A convenience sample of 668 community-dwelling men aged 40 years or above was recruited from middle and southern Japan. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form, the Medical Research Council's dyspnoea scale and the Australian Lung Foundation's Feeling Short of Breath scale, were administered by face-to-face interviews to ascertain their UI status and respiratory symptoms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall prevalence of UI was 7.6%, with urge-type leakage (59%) being most common among the 51 incontinent men. The presence of respiratory symptoms was significantly higher among incontinent men than those without the condition, especially for breathlessness (45% versus 30%, <it>p </it>= 0.025). The odds of UI for breathlessness was 2.11 (95% confidence interval 1.10-4.06) after accounting for age, body mass index, smoking and alcohol drinking status of each individual.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings suggested a significant association between UI and breathlessness in middle-aged and older men.</p