The nature of the variable millimetre–selected AGN in the brightest cluster galaxy of Abell 851

We present the detection of a bright 3 mm continuum source in the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in Abell 0851 (z = 0.411) with the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA). When this detection is compared to other multifrequency observations across 21cm– 100μm, including new Arcminute Microkelvin Imager 15 GHz observations, we find evidence for a relatively flat, variable core source associated with the BCG. The radio power and amplitude of variability observed in this galaxy is consistent with the cores in lower redshift BCGs in X-ray–selected clusters, and the flat mm–cm spectrum is suggestive of the BCG being a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus archetype. The discovery of this system could provide a basis for a long-term study of the role of low-luminosity radio mode ‘regulatory’ feedback in massive clusters

DEVELOPMENT QUALIFICATION AND DISPOSAL OF AN ALTERNATIVE IMMOBILIZED LOW-ACTIVITY WASTE FORM AT THE HANFORD SITE

Demonstrating that a waste form produced by a given immobilization process is chemically and physically durable as well as compliant with disposal facility acceptance criteria is critical to the success of a waste treatment program, and must be pursued in conjunction with the maturation of the waste processing technology. Testing of waste forms produced using differing scales of processing units and classes of feeds (simulants versus actual waste) is the crux of the waste form qualification process. Testing is typically focused on leachability of constituents of concern (COCs), as well as chemical and physical durability of the waste form. A principal challenge regarding testing immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) forms is the absence of a standard test suite or set of mandatory parameters against which waste forms may be tested, compared, and qualified for acceptance in existing and proposed nuclear waste disposal sites at Hanford and across the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. A coherent and widely applicable compliance strategy to support characterization and disposal of new waste forms is essential to enhance and accelerate the remediation of DOE tank waste. This paper provides a background summary of important entities, regulations, and considerations for nuclear waste form qualification and disposal. Against this backdrop, this paper describes a strategy for meeting and demonstrating compliance with disposal requirements emphasizing the River Protection Project (RPP) Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) at the Hanford Site and the fluidized bed steam reforming (FBSR) mineralized low-activity waste (LAW) product stream

Insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes: what is ‘double diabetes’ and what are the risks?

In this review, we explore the concept of ‘double diabetes’, a combination of type 1 diabetes with features of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. After considering whether double diabetes is a useful concept, we discuss potential mechanisms of increased insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes before examining the extent to which double diabetes might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We then go on to consider the proposal that weight gain from intensive insulin regimens may be associated with increased CV risk factors in some patients with type 1 diabetes, and explore the complex relationships between weight gain, insulin resistance, glycaemic control and CV outcome. Important comparisons and contrasts between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes are highlighted in terms of hepatic fat, fat partitioning and lipid profile, and how these may differ between type 1 diabetic patients with and without double diabetes. In so doing, we hope this work will stimulate much-needed research in this area and an improvement in clinical practice

Breakdown of the adiabatic limit in low dimensional gapless systems

It is generally believed that a generic system can be reversibly transformed from one state into another by sufficiently slow change of parameters. A standard argument favoring this assertion is based on a possibility to expand the energy or the entropy of the system into the Taylor series in the ramp speed. Here we show that this argumentation is only valid in high enough dimensions and can break down in low-dimensional gapless systems. We identify three generic regimes of a system response to a slow ramp: (A) mean-field, (B) non-analytic, and (C) non-adiabatic. In the last regime the limits of the ramp speed going to zero and the system size going to infinity do not commute and the adiabatic process does not exist in the thermodynamic limit. We support our results by numerical simulations. Our findings can be relevant to condensed-matter, atomic physics, quantum computing, quantum optics, cosmology and others.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Nature Physics (originally submitted version

Monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) and CD147 overexpression is associated with poor prognosis in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND. Monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) are transmembrane proteins involved in the transport of monocarboxylates across the plasma membrane, which appear to play an important role in solid tumours, however the role of MCTs in prostate cancer is largely unknown.The aim of the present work was to evaluate the clinico-pathological value of monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) expression, namely MCT1, MCT2 and MCT4, together with CD147 and gp70 as MCT1/4 and MCT2 chaperones, respectively, in prostate carcinoma. METHODS. Prostate tissues were obtained from 171 patients, who performed radical prostatectomy and 14 patients who performed cystoprostatectomy. Samples and clinico-pathological data were retrieved and organized into tissue microarray (TMAs) blocks. Protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in neoplastic (n= 171), adjacent non-neoplastic tissues (n= 135), PIN lesions (n=40) and normal prostatic tissue (n=14). Protein expression was correlated with patients' clinicopathologic characteristics. RESULTS. In the present study, a significant increase of MCT2 and MCT4 expression in the cytoplasm of tumour cells and a significant decrease in both MCT1 and CD147 expression in prostate tumour cells was observed when compared to normal tissue. All MCT isoforms and CD147 were expressed in PIN lesions. Importantly, for MCT2 and MCT4 the expression levels in PIN lesions were between normal and tumour tissue, which might indicate a role for these MCTs in the malignant transformation. Associations were found between MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 expressions and poor prognosis markers; importantly MCT4 and CD147 overexpression correlated with higher PSA levels, Gleason score and pT stage, as well as with perineural invasion and biochemical recurrence. CONCLUSIONS. Our data provides novel evidence for the involvement of MCTs in prostate cancer. According to our results, we consider that MCT2 should be further explored as tumour marker and both MCT4 and CD147 as markers of poor prognosis in prostate cancer.NPG, CP and VMG received fellowships from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), refs. SFRH/BD/61027/2009, SFRH/BPD/69479/ 2010 and SFRH/BI/33503/2008, respectively. This work was supported by the FCT grant ref. PTDC/SAU-FCF/104347/2008, under the scope of Programa Operacional Temático Factores de Competitividade” (COMPETE) of Quadro Comunitário de Apoio III and co-financed by Fundo Comunitário Europeu FEDER

Autoimmune Neuromuscular Disorders in Childhood

Autoimmune neuromuscular disorders in childhood include Guillain-Barré syndrome and its variants, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), juvenile myasthenia gravis (JMG), and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), along with other disorders rarely seen in childhood. In general, these diseases have not been studied as extensively as they have been in adults. Thus, treatment protocols for these diseases in pediatrics are often based on adult practice, but despite the similarities in disease processes, the most widely used treatments have different effects in children. For example, some of the side effects of chronic steroid use, including linear growth deceleration, bone demineralization, and chronic weight issues, are more consequential in children than in adults. Although steroids remain a cornerstone of therapy in JDM and are useful in many cases of CIDP and JMG, other immunomodulatory therapies with similar efficacy may be used more frequently in some children to avoid these long-term sequelae. Steroids are less expensive than most other therapies, but chronic steroid therapy in childhood may lead to significant and costly medical complications. Another example is plasma exchange. This treatment modality presents challenges in pediatrics, as younger children require central venous access for this therapy. However, in older children and adolescents, plasma exchange is often feasible via peripheral venous access, making this treatment more accessible than might be expected in this age group. Intravenous immunoglobulin also is beneficial in several of these disorders, but its high cost may present barriers to its use in the future. Newer steroid-sparing immunomodulatory agents, such as azathioprine, tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and rituximab, have not been studied extensively in children. They show promising results from case reports and retrospective cohort studies, but there is a need for comparative studies looking at their relative efficacy, tolerability, and long-term adverse effects (including secondary malignancy) in children

Development of Gene Expression Markers of Acute Heat-Light Stress in Reef-Building Corals of the Genus Porites

Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to increased incidence of climate-induced coral bleaching, which will have widespread biodiversity and economic impacts. A simple method to measure the sub-bleaching level of heat-light stress experienced by corals would greatly inform reef management practices by making it possible to assess the distribution of bleaching risks among individual reef sites. Gene expression analysis based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine coral condition in situ. We evaluated the expression of 13 candidate genes during heat-light stress in a common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides, and observed strong and consistent changes in gene expression in two independent experiments. Furthermore, we found that the apparent return to baseline expression levels during a recovery phase was rapid, despite visible signs of colony bleaching. We show that the response to acute heat-light stress in P. astreoides can be monitored by measuring the difference in expression of only two genes: Hsp16 and actin. We demonstrate that this assay discriminates between corals sampled from two field sites experiencing different temperatures. We also show that the assay is applicable to an Indo-Pacific congener, P. lobata, and therefore could potentially be used to diagnose acute heat-light stress on coral reefs worldwide

Total and corrected antioxidant capacity in hemodialyzed patients

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress may play a critical role in the vascular disease of end stage renal failure and hemodialysis patients. Studies, analyzing either discrete analytes and antioxidant substances, or the integrated total antioxidant activity of human plasma during hemodialysis, give contradictory results. METHODS: Recently, we have introduced a new automated method for the determination of Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) of human plasma. We have serially measured TAC and corrected TAC (cTAC: after subtraction of the interactions due to endogenous uric acid, bilirubin and albumin) in 10 patients before the onset of the dialysis session, 10 min, 30 min, 1 h, 2 h and 3 h into the procedure and after completion of the session. RESULTS: Our results indicate that TAC decreases, reaching minimum levels at 2 h. However, corrected TAC increases with t(1/2 )of about 30 min. We then repeated the measurements in 65 patients undergoing dialysis with different filters (36 patients with ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resin filter -Eval-, 23 patients with two polysulfone filters -10 with F6 and 13 with PSN140-, and 6 patients with hemophan filters). Three specimens were collected (0, 30, 240 min). The results of this second group confirm our initial results, while no significant difference was observed using either filter. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are discussed under the point of view of possible mechanisms of modification of endogenous antioxidants, and the interaction of lipid- and water-soluble antioxidants