Correction of balloon X-ray astronomy data for the effects of atmospheric attenuation, K X-ray escape, and energy resolution

Correction of balloon X ray astronomy data for atmospheric attenuation, escape, and energy resolutio

Enhanced structural correlations accelerate diffusion in charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions

Theoretical calculations for colloidal charge-stabilized and hard sphere suspensions show that hydrodynamic interactions yield a qualitatively different particle concentration dependence of the short-time self-diffusion coefficient. The effect, however, is numerically small and hardly accessible by conventional light scattering experiments. Applying multiple-scattering decorrelation equipment and a careful data analysis we show that the theoretical prediction for charged particles is in agreement with our experimental results from aqueous polystyrene latex suspensions.Comment: 1 ps-file (MS-Word), 14 page

Alveolar Echinococcosis of the Liver in an Adult with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 Infection

Abstract. : We describe a patient with human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) infection and alveolar echinococcosis (AE) with a focus on two messages. Despite being severely immunocompromised over years the patient exhibited a long-term asymptomatic course of AE. This is in clear contrast to reports describing accelerated courses of AE in immunocompromised patients. The patient had therapeutic mebendazole drug levels with only 1/10 of the normal drug dose. He was co-treated with protease inhibitors for his HIV infection. These drugs are known as strong inhibitors of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4)-dependent metabolism. We speculate that benzimidazoles and protease inhibitors interfere at the CYP3A4-level. The first report of co-infection of HIV and accelerated AE was in a young girl with an extremely low CD4 cell count and an abrogated lymphoproliferative responsiveness to parasite antigen stimulation. Since the CD4 cell count in our patient remained in the range of 27-150 cells/µl, we speculate that there was a critical threshold of immunosupression for constraining AE. Initial treatment with albendazole for AE added to the current highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART), and suppressive toxoplasmosis therapy became complicated by pancytopenia. After full recovery of the bone marrow, mebendazole was introduced with a new HAART and the previously prescribed toxoplasmosis maintenance therapy. Surprisingly, efficient mebendazole levels were achieved with an uncommonly low dose. These observations suggest that the benzimidazoles, albendazole and mebendazole, may interact with protease inhibitors, which are known for their strong inhibition of the CYP3A

Chiral and herringbone symmetry breaking in water-surface monolayers

We report the observation from monolayers of eicosanoic acid in the L′2 phase of three distinct out-of-plane first-order diffraction peaks, indicating molecular tilt in a nonsymmetry direction and hence the absence of mirror symmetry. At lower pressures the molecules tilt in the direction of their nearest neighbors. In this region we find a structural transition, which we tentatively identify as the rotator-herringbone transition L2d−L2h

A high-quality annually laminated sequence from Lake Belau, Northern Germany: Revised chronology and its implications for palynological and tephrochronological studies

The annually laminated record of Lake Belau offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate with high temporal resolution Holocene environmental change, aspects of climate history and human impact on the landscape. A new chronology based on varve counts, 14C-datings and heavy metal history has been established, covering the last 9400 years. Based on multiple varve counting on two core sequences, the easily countable laminated section spans about 7850 varve years (modelled age range c. 9430 to 1630 cal. BP). Not all of the record is of the same quality but approximately 69% of the varves sequence is classified to be of high quality and only c. 5% of low quality. The new chronology suggests dates generally c. 260 years older than previously assumed for the laminated section of the record. The implications for the vegetation and land-use history of the region as well as revised datings for pollen stratigraphical events are discussed. Tephra analysis allowed the identification of several cryptotephra layers. New dates for volcanic eruptions are presented for the Lairg B event (c. 6848 cal. BP, 2s range 6930–6713 cal. BP), the Hekla 4 event (c. 4396 cal. BP, 2s range 4417–4266 cal. BP), and Hekla 3 eruption (c. 3095 cal. BP, 2s range 3120–3068 cal. BP)

Effects of Brazil's political crisis on the science needed for biodiversity conservation.

The effects of Brazil's political crisis on science funding necessary for biodiversity conservation are likely to be global. Brazil is not only the world?s most biodiverse nation, it is responsible for the greater part of the Amazon forest, which regulates the climate and provides rain to much of southern South America. Brazil was a world leader in satellite monitoring of land-use change, in-situ biodiversity monitoring, reduction in tropical-forest deforestation, protection of indigenous lands, and a model for other developing nations. Coordinated public responses will be necessary to prevent special-interest groups from using the political crisis to weaken science funding, environmental legislation and law enforcement

Traces of past activity in the Galactic Centre

The Milky Way centre hosts a supermassive Black Hole (BH) with a mass of ~4*10^6 M_Sun. Sgr A*, its electromagnetic counterpart, currently appears as an extremely weak source with a luminosity L~10^-9 L_Edd. The lowest known Eddington ratio BH. However, it was not always so; traces of "glorious" active periods can be found in the surrounding medium. We review here our current view of the X-ray emission from the Galactic Center (GC) and its environment, and the expected signatures (e.g. X-ray reflection) of a past flare. We discuss the history of Sgr A*'s past activity and its impact on the surrounding medium. The structure of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) has not changed significantly since the last active phase of Sgr A*. This relic torus provides us with the opportunity to image the structure of an AGN torus in exquisite detail.Comment: Invited refereed review. Chapter of the book: "Cosmic ray induced phenomenology in star forming environments" (eds. Olaf Reimer and Diego F. Torres

Not a melting pot: Plant species aggregate in their non-native range

Aim: Plant species continue to be moved outside of their native range by human activities. Here, we aim to determine whether, once introduced, plants assimilate into native communities or whether they aggregate, thus forming mosaics of native- and alien-rich communities. Alien species might aggregate in their non-native range owing to shared habitat preferences, such as their tendency to establish in high-biomass, species-poor areas. Location: Twenty-two herbaceous grasslands in 14 countries, mainly in the temperate zone. Time period: 2012–2016. Major taxa studied: Plants. Methods: We used a globally coordinated survey. Within this survey, we found 46 plant species, predominantly from Eurasia, for which we had co-occurrence data in their native and non-native ranges. We tested for differences in co-occurrence patterns of 46 species between their native (home) and non-native (away) range. We also tested whether species had similar habitat preferences, by testing for differences in total biomass and species richness of the patches that species occupy in their native and non-native ranges. Results: We found the same species to show different patterns of association depending on whether they were in their native or non-native range. Alien species were negatively associated with native species; instead, they aggregated with other alien species in species-poor, high-biomass communities in their non-native range compared with their native range. Main conclusions: The strong differences between the native (home) and non-native (away) range in species co-occurrence patterns are evidence that the way in which species associate with resident communities in their non-native range is not species dependent, but is instead a property of being away from their native range. These results thus highlight that species might undergo important ecological changes when introduced away from their native range. Overall, we show origin-dependent associations that result in novel communities, in which alien-rich patches exist within a mosaic of native-dominated communities