Effects of the Zanzibar School-Based Deworming Program on Iron Status of Children.

We evaluated the effects of the Zanzibar school-based deworming program on the iron status of primary school children. Parasitologic and nutritional assessments were carried out at baseline, 6 mo, and 12 mo in 4 nonprogram schools (n = 1002), 4 schools in which students received twice-yearly deworming (n = 952), and 4 schools in which students received thrice-yearly deworming (n = 970) with 500 mg generic mebendazole. Schools were randomly selected for evaluation and allocated to program groups. Relative to no treatment, thrice-yearly deworming caused significant decreases in protoporphyrin concentrations and both deworming regimens caused marginally significant increases in serum ferritin concentrations. The average annual changes in protoporphyrin concentrations were -5.9 and -23.5 micromol/mol heme in the control and thrice-yearly deworming groups, respectively (P < 0.001). The average changes in ferritin concentration were 2.8 and 4.5 microg/L, respectively (P = 0.07). Deworming had no effect on annual hemoglobin change or prevalence of anemia. However, the relative risk of severe anemia (hemoglobin < 70 g/L) was 0.77 (95% confidence limits: 0.39, 1.51) in the twice-yearly deworming group and 0.45 (0.19, 1.08) in the thrice-yearly deworming group. The effects on prevalence of high protoporphyrin values and incidence of moderate-to-severe anemia (hemoglobin < 90 g/L) were significantly greater in children with > 2000 hookworm eggs/g feces at baseline. We estimate that this deworming program prevented 1260 cases of moderate-to-severe anemia and 276 cases of severe anemia in a population of 30,000 schoolchildren in 1 y. Where hookworm is heavily endemic, deworming programs can improve iron status and prevent moderate and severe anemia, but deworming may be needed at least twice yearly

Tunable sub-luminal propagation of narrowband x-ray pulses

Group velocity control is demonstrated for x-ray photons of 14.4 keV energy via a direct measurement of the temporal delay imposed on spectrally narrow x-ray pulses. Sub-luminal light propagation is achieved by inducing a steep positive linear dispersion in the optical response of ${}^{57}$Fe M\"ossbauer nuclei embedded in a thin film planar x-ray cavity. The direct detection of the temporal pulse delay is enabled by generating frequency-tunable spectrally narrow x-ray pulses from broadband pulsed synchrotron radiation. Our theoretical model is in good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The complex Interplay between Spin, Mass, and Morphology

The evolution and distribution of the angular momentum of dark matter (DM) halos have been discussed in several studies over the past decades. In particular, the idea arose that angular momentum conservation should allow to infer the total angular momentum of the entire DM halo from measuring the angular momentum of the baryonic component, which is populating the center of the halo, especially for disk galaxies. To test this idea and to understand the connection between the angular momentum of the DM halo and its galaxy, we use the Magneticum simulations. We successfully produce populations of spheroidal and disk galaxies self-consistently. Thus, we are able to study the dependence of galactic properties on their morphology. We find that (1) the specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as a function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (2) the specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (3) simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type (this dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies); (4) disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the DM component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; and (5) the specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total DM halo and shows a significant scatter.Comment: 25 pages, accepted by ApJ, www.magneticum.or

The degradation of MgB2 under ambient environment

The superconductivities of samples prepared by several procedures were found to degrade under ambient environment. The degradation mechanism was studied by measuring the change of surface chemical composition of dense MgB2 pellets (prepared by hot isostatic pressure, HIPed) under atmospheric exposure using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Results showed that samples with poor connectivity between grains and with smaller grain sizes degrade with time when exposed to ambient conditions. In these samples, the Tc did not change with time, but the superconducting transition became broader and the Meissner fraction decreased. In contrast, our well-sintered and the HIPed samples remained stable for several months under ambient condition. The degradation was found to be related to surface decomposition as observed by XPS. We observed the formation of oxidized Mg, primarily in the form of a Mg hydroxide, the increase of C and O contents, and the reduction of B concentration in the surface layer of MgB2 samples.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Hydrogenophaga defluvii sp nov and Hydrogenophaga atypica sp nov., isolated from activated sludge

Two Gram-negative, oxidase-positive rods (strains BSB 9.5T and BSB 41.8T) isolated from wastewater were studied using a polyphasic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons demonstrated that both strains cluster phylogenetically within the family Comamonadaceae: the two strains shared 99·9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and were most closely related to the type strains of Hydrogenophaga palleronii (98·5 %) and Hydrogenophaga taeniospiralis (98·0 %). The fatty acid patterns and substrate-utilization profiles displayed similarity to the those of the five Hydrogenophaga species with validly published names, although clear differentiating characteristics were also observed. The two strains showed DNA–DNA hybridization values of 51 % with respect to each other. No close similarities to any other Hydrogenophaga species were detected in hybridization experiments with the genomic DNAs. On the basis of these results, two novel Hydrogenophaga species, Hydrogenophaga defluvii sp. nov. and Hydrogenophaga atypica sp. nov. are proposed, with BSB 9.5T (=DSM 15341T=CIP 108119T) and BSB 41.8T (=DSM 15342T=CIP 108118T) as the respective type strains

Understanding the complex phase diagram of uranium: the role of electron-phonon coupling

We report an experimental determination of the dispersion of the soft phonon mode along [1,0,0] in uranium as a function of pressure. The energies of these phonons increase rapidly, with conventional behavior found by 20 GPa, as predicted by recent theory. New calculations demonstrate the strong pressure (and momentum) dependence of the electron-phonon coupling, whereas the Fermi-surface nesting is surprisingly independent of pressure. This allows a full understanding of the complex phase diagram of uranium, and the interplay between the charge-density wave and superconductivity

Genomic and neuroimaging approaches to bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND: To date, besides genome-wide association studies, a variety of other genetic analyses (e.g. polygenic risk scores, whole-exome sequencing and whole-genome sequencing) have been conducted, and a large amount of data has been gathered for investigating the involvement of common, rare and very rare types of DNA sequence variants in bipolar disorder. Also, non-invasive neuroimaging methods can be used to quantify changes in brain structure and function in patients with bipolar disorder. AIMS: To provide a comprehensive assessment of genetic findings associated with bipolar disorder, based on the evaluation of different genomic approaches and neuroimaging studies. METHOD: We conducted a PubMed search of all relevant literatures from the beginning to the present, by querying related search strings. RESULTS: ANK3, CACNA1C, SYNE1, ODZ4 and TRANK1 are five genes that have been replicated as key gene candidates in bipolar disorder pathophysiology, through the investigated studies. The percentage of phenotypic variance explained by the identified variants is small (approximately 4.7%). Bipolar disorder polygenic risk scores are associated with other psychiatric phenotypes. The ENIGMA-BD studies show a replicable pattern of lower cortical thickness, altered white matter integrity and smaller subcortical volumes in bipolar disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The low amount of explained phenotypic variance highlights the need for further large-scale investigations, especially among non-European populations, to achieve a more complete understanding of the genetic architecture of bipolar disorder and the missing heritability. Combining neuroimaging data with genetic data in large-scale studies might help researchers acquire a better knowledge of the engaged brain regions in bipolar disorder