BVRI Light Curves for 22 Type Ia Supernovae

We present 1210 Johnson/Cousins B,V,R, and I photometric observations of 22 recent type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia): SN 1993ac, SN 1993ae, SN 1994M, SN 1994S, SN 1994T, SN 1994Q, SN 1994ae, SN 1995D, SN 1995E, SN 1995al, SN 1995ac, SN 1995ak, SN 1995bd, SN 1996C, SN 1996X, SN 1996Z, SN 1996ab, SN 1996ai, SN 1996bk, SN 1996bl, SN 1996bo, and SN 1996bv. Most of the photometry was obtained at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in a cooperative observing plan aimed at improving the data base for SN Ia. The redshifts of the sample range from $cz$=1200 to 37000 km s$^{-1}$ with a mean of $cz$=7000 km s$^{-1}$.Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journal, 41 pages, 8 figure

Options for Economic Growth in Mali through the Application of Science and Technology to Agriculture

Prepared For The United States Agency for International Development Initiative To End Hunger In Africafood security, food policy, Mali science and technology research, research and extension, International Development, Q18,

Direct grating writing: single-step Bragg grating and waveguide fabrication for telecommunications and sensing applications

Direct Grating Writing (DGW) has been developed over the past decade as a means of rapidly prototyping waveguides with integrated Bragg grating structures in silica-on-silicon substrates [1]. The technique allows complicated waveguide structures and Bragg grating arrays to be fabricated and characterised in house

Systemic, local, and imaging biomarkers of brain injury: more needed, and better use of those already established?

Much progress has been made over the past two decades in the treatment of severe acute brain injury, including traumatic brain injury and subarachnoid hemorrhage, resulting in a higher proportion of patients surviving with better outcomes. This has arisen from a combination of factors. These include improvements in procedures at the scene (pre-hospital) and in the hospital emergency department, advances in neuromonitoring in the intensive care unit, both continuously at the bedside and intermittently in scans, evolution and refinement of protocol-driven therapy for better management of patients, and advances in surgical procedures and rehabilitation. Nevertheless, many patients still experience varying degrees of long-term disabilities post-injury with consequent demands on carers and resources, and there is room for improvement. Biomarkers are a key aspect of neuromonitoring. A broad definition of a biomarker is any observable feature that can be used to inform on the state of the patient, e.g., a molecular species, a feature on a scan, or a monitoring characteristic, e.g., cerebrovascular pressure reactivity index. Biomarkers are usually quantitative measures, which can be utilized in diagnosis and monitoring of response to treatment. They are thus crucial to the development of therapies and may be utilized as surrogate endpoints in Phase II clinical trials. To date, there is no specific drug treatment for acute brain injury, and many seemingly promising agents emerging from pre-clinical animal models have failed in clinical trials. Large Phase III studies of clinical outcomes are costly, consuming time and resources. It is therefore important that adequate Phase II clinical studies with informative surrogate endpoints are performed employing appropriate biomarkers. In this article, we review some of the available systemic, local, and imaging biomarkers and technologies relevant in acute brain injury patients, and highlight gaps in the current state of knowledge.We gratefully acknowledge financial support as follows. Research support: the Medical Research Council (MRC, Grant Nos. G0600986 ID79068 and G1002277 ID98489) and the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR BRC) Cambridge (Neuroscience Theme; Brain Injury and Repair Theme). Authors’ support: Keri Linda H. Carpenter – NIHR BRC Cambridge (Neuroscience Theme; Brain Injury and Repair Theme); Ibrahim Jalloh – MRC (Grant no. G1002277 ID 98489) and NIHR BRC Cambridge; Adel Helmy – MRC/Royal College of Surgeons of England Clinical Research Training Fellowship (Grant no. G0802251) and Raymond and Beverly Sackler Fellowship; Virginia F. J. Newcombe–Health Foundation/Academy of Medical Sciences Clinician Scientist Fellowship; Richard J. Shannon–NIHR BRC (Neuroscience Theme; Brain Injury and Repair Theme); Angelos G. Kolias–Royal College of Surgeons of England Research Fellowship, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship, and a Raymond and Beverly Sackler Studentship; David Krishna Menon–NIHR Senior Investigator Award; Peter J. Hutchinson – NIHR Research Professorship, Academy of Medical Sciences/Health Foundation Senior Surgical Scientist Fellowship.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2015.00026/full#h13

Options pour la croissance économique du Mali à travers l’application des sciences et technologies à l’agriculture

Recognizing that science and technology research (S&T) is one of many inputs into the broader development process, USAID/Mali, via its Initiative to End Hunger in Africa, requested an assessment of the current S&T situation in Mali. USAID asked the assessment team to produce a comprehensive strategic options plan for a Malian S&T agenda that would identify priority short-term actions to stimulate uptake of S&T results likely to make significant contributions to the attainment of Mali’s broad development goals, while simultaneously developing a coherent longer-term action plan to maintain and improve the human, physical, and financial capital needed to generate future streams of S&T results. The scope of work for the assessment team included six points: • Review the current status of agricultural and natural resource programs of Mali’s research institutions, with particular attention to IER, IPR/IFRA, LCV; • Review and assess the programs of International Agriculture Research Centers (IARCs) and other international foundations supporting research in Mali; • Annotate the range of USAID-supported S&T programs in Mali; • Identify available production technology packages and needed support services to achieve rapid (medium-term) impact and identify gaps in S&T programs that hinder attainment of GRM development goals; • Develop a strategic options plan to build needed S&T capabilities, including those for research and supporting institutional development; • Make recommendations for potential USAID/Mali actions, including building partnerships with public and private organizations that would enhance the effective use of S&T for achieving USAID programmatic goalsMali, growth, technology, food security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, q16, q18,

Chandra Observations of the Faintest Low-Mass X-ray Binaries

There exists a group of persistently faint galactic X-ray sources that, based on their location in the galaxy, high L_x/L_opt, association with X-ray bursts, and absence of low frequency X-ray pulsations, are thought to be low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We present results from Chandra observations for eight of these systems: 4U 1708-408, 2S 1711-339, KS 1739-304, SLX 1735-269, GRS 1736-297, SLX 1746-331, 1E 1746.7-3224, and 4U 1812-12. Locations for all sources, excluding GRS 1736-297, SLX 1746-331, and KS 1739-304 (which were not detected) were improved to 0.6" error circles (90% confidence). Our observations support earlier findings of transient behavior of GRS 1736-297, KS 1739-304, SLX 1746-331, and 2S 1711-339 (which we detect in one of two observations). Energy spectra for 4U 1708-408, 2S 1711-339, SLX 1735-269, 1E 1746.7-3224, and 4U 1812-12 are hard, with power law indices typically 1.4-2.1, which are consistent with typical faint LMXB spectra.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by Ap

Focally perfused succinate potentiates brain metabolism in head injury patients.

Following traumatic brain injury, complex cerebral energy perturbations occur. Correlating with unfavourable outcome, high brain extracellular lactate/pyruvate ratio suggests hypoxic metabolism and/or mitochondrial dysfunction. We investigated whether focal administration of succinate, a tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate interacting directly with the mitochondrial electron transport chain, could improve cerebral metabolism. Microdialysis perfused disodium 2,3-13C2 succinate (12 mmol/L) for 24 h into nine sedated traumatic brain injury patients' brains, with simultaneous microdialysate collection for ISCUS analysis of energy metabolism biomarkers (nine patients) and nuclear magnetic resonance of 13C-labelled metabolites (six patients). Metabolites 2,3-13C2 malate and 2,3-13C2 glutamine indicated tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolism, and 2,3-13C2 lactate suggested tricarboxylic acid cycle spinout of pyruvate (by malic enzyme or phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and pyruvate kinase), then lactate dehydrogenase-mediated conversion to lactate. Versus baseline, succinate perfusion significantly decreased lactate/pyruvate ratio (p = 0.015), mean difference -12%, due to increased pyruvate concentration (+17%); lactate changed little (-3%); concentrations decreased for glutamate (-43%) (p = 0.018) and glucose (-15%) (p = 0.038). Lower lactate/pyruvate ratio suggests better redox status: cytosolic NADH recycled to NAD+ by mitochondrial shuttles (malate-aspartate and/or glycerol 3-phosphate), diminishing lactate dehydrogenase-mediated pyruvate-to-lactate conversion, and lowering glutamate. Glucose decrease suggests improved utilisation. Direct tricarboxylic acid cycle supplementation with 2,3-13C2 succinate improved human traumatic brain injury brain chemistry, indicated by biomarkers and 13C-labelling patterns in metabolites.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Medical Research Council (Grant Nos. G0600986 ID79068 and G1002277 ID98489) and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge (Neuroscience Theme; Brain Injury and Repair Theme). Authors’ support: IJ – Medical Research Council (Grant no. G1002277 ID 98489) and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge; KLHC – National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge (Neuroscience Theme; Brain Injury and Repair Theme); CG – the Canadian Institute of Health Research; AH – Medical Research Council/Royal College of Surgeons of England Clinical Research Training Fellowship (Grant no. G0802251) and Raymond and Beverly Sackler Fellowship; DKM and JDP – National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator Awards; PJH – National Institute for Health Research Professorship, Academy of Medical Sciences/Health Foundation Senior Surgical Scientist Fellowship and the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge

Characterising the dynamics of cerebral metabolic dysfunction following traumatic brain injury: A microdialysis study in 619 patients.

Funder: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability, particularly amongst young people. Current intensive care management of TBI patients is targeted at maintaining normal brain physiology and preventing secondary injury. Microdialysis is an invasive monitor that permits real-time assessment of derangements in cerebral metabolism and responses to treatment. We examined the prognostic value of microdialysis parameters, and the inter-relationships with other neuromonitoring modalities to identify interventions that improve metabolism. This was an analysis of prospective data in 619 adult TBI patients requiring intensive care treatment and invasive neuromonitoring at a tertiary UK neurosciences unit. Patients had continuous measurement of intracranial pressure (ICP), arterial blood pressure (ABP), brain tissue oxygenation (PbtO2), and cerebral metabolism and were managed according to a standardized therapeutic protocol. Microdialysate was assayed hourly for metabolites including glucose, pyruvate, and lactate. Cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and cerebral autoregulation (PRx) were derived from the ICP and ABP. Outcome was assessed with the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) at 6 months. Relationships between monitoring variables was examined with generalized additive mixed models (GAMM). Lactate/Pyruvate Ratio (LPR) over the first 3 to 7 days following injury was elevated amongst patients with poor outcome and was an independent predictor of ordinal GOS (p70mmHg, PRx 18mmHg, and brain glucose >1mM. Deranged cerebral metabolism is an important determinant of patient outcome following TBI. Variations in cerebral perfusion, oxygenation and glucose supply are associated with changes in cerebral LPR and suggest therapeutic interventions to improve cerebral metabolism. Future prospective studies are required to determine the efficacy of these strategies

Investigating the missing data mechanism in quality of life outcomes: a comparison of approaches

Background: Missing data is classified as missing completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR) or missing not at random (MNAR). Knowing the mechanism is useful in identifying the most appropriate analysis. The first aim was to compare different methods for identifying this missing data mechanism to determine if they gave consistent conclusions. Secondly, to investigate whether the reminder-response data can be utilised to help identify the missing data mechanism. Methods: Five clinical trial datasets that employed a reminder system at follow-up were used. Some quality of life questionnaires were initially missing, but later recovered through reminders. Four methods of determining the missing data mechanism were applied. Two response data scenarios were considered. Firstly, immediate data only; secondly, all observed responses (including reminder-response). Results: In three of five trials the hypothesis tests found evidence against the MCAR assumption. Logistic regression suggested MAR, but was able to use the reminder-collected data to highlight potential MNAR data in two trials. Conclusion: The four methods were consistent in determining the missingness mechanism. One hypothesis test was preferred as it is applicable with intermittent missingness. Some inconsistencies between the two data scenarios were found. Ignoring the reminder data could potentially give a distorted view of the missingness mechanism. Utilising reminder data allowed the possibility of MNAR to be considered.The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorate. Research Training Fellowship (CZF/1/31

Characterisation of Potential Landing Sites for the European Space Agency's Lunar Lander Project

This article describes the characterization activities of the landing sites currently envisaged for the Lunar Lander mission of the European Space Agency. These sites have been identified in the South Pole Region (-85{\deg} to -90{\deg} latitude) based on favourable illumination conditions, which make it possible to have a long-duration mission with conventional power and thermal control subsystems, capable of enduring relatively short periods of darkness (in the order of tens of hours), instead of utilising Radioisotope Heating Units. The illumination conditions are simulated at the potential landing sites based on topographic data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), using three independent tools. Risk assessment of the identified sites is also being performed through independent studies. Long baseline slopes are assessed based on LOLA, while craters and boulders are detected both visually and using computer tools in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images, down to a size of less than 2 m, and size-frequency distributions are generated. Shadow hazards are also assessed via LROC images. The preliminary results show that areas with quasi-continuous illumination of several months exist, but their size is small (few hundred metres); the duration of the illumination period drops quickly to less than one month outside the areas, and some areas present gaps with short illumination periods. Concerning hazard distributions, 50 m slopes are found to be shallow (few degrees) based on LOLA, whereas at the scale of the lander footprint (~5 m) they are mostly dominated by craters, expected to be mature (from geological context) and shallow (~11{\deg}). The preliminary conclusion is that the environment at the prospective landing sites is within the capabilities of the Lander design