What a difference a term makes:the effect of educational attainment on marital outcomes in the UK

Abstract In the past, students in England and Wales born within the first 5 monthsof the academic year could leave school one term earlier than those born later inthe year. Focusing on women, those who were required to stay on an extra termmore frequently hold some academic qualification. Using having been required tostay on as an exogenous factor affecting academic attainment, we find that holding alow-level academic qualification has no effect on the probability of being currentlymarried for women aged 25 or above, but increases the probability of the husbandholding some academic qualification and being economically active.33 Halama

Clinical significance of VEGF-A, -C and -D expression in esophageal malignancies

Vascular endothelial growth factors ( VEGF)- A, - C and - D are members of the proangiogenic VEGF family of glycoproteins. VEGF-A is known to be the most important angiogenic factor under physiological and pathological conditions, while VEGF-C and VEGF-D are implicated in the development and sprouting of lymphatic vessels, so called lymphangiogenesis. Local tumor progression, lymph node metastases and hematogenous tumor spread are important prognostic factors for esophageal carcinoma ( EC), one of the most lethal malignancies throughout the world. We found solid evidence in the literature that VEGF expression contributes to tumor angiogenesis, tumor progression and lymph node metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma ( SCC), and many authors could show a prognostic value for VEGF-assessment. In adenocarcinoma (AC) of the esophagus angiogenic properties are acquired in early stages, particularly in precancerous lesions like Barrett's dysplasia. However, VEGF expression fails to give prognostic information in AC of the esophagus. VEGF-C and VEGF-D were detected in SCC and dysplastic lesions, but not in normal mucosa of the esophagus. VEGF-C expression might be associated with lymphatic tumor invasion, lymph node metastases and advanced disease in esophageal SCC and AC. Therapeutic interference with VEGF signaling may prove to be a promising way of anti-angiogenic co-treatment in esophageal carcinoma. However, concrete clinical data are still pending

Quantifying vertical mixing in estuaries

© 2008 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License. The definitive version was published in Environmental Fluid Mechanics 8 (2008): 495-509, doi:10.1007/s10652-008-9107-2.Estuarine turbulence is notable in that both the dissipation rate and the buoyancy frequency extend to much higher values than in other natural environments. The high dissipation rates lead to a distinct inertial subrange in the velocity and scalar spectra, which can be exploited for quantifying the turbulence quantities. However, high buoyancy frequencies lead to small Ozmidov scales, which require high sampling rates and small spatial aperture to resolve the turbulent fluxes. A set of observations in a highly stratified estuary demonstrate the effectiveness of a vessel-mounted turbulence array for resolving turbulent processes, and for relating the turbulence to the forcing by the Reynolds-averaged flow. The observations focus on the ebb, when most of the buoyancy flux occurs. Three stages of mixing are observed: (1) intermittent and localized but intense shear instability during the early ebb; (2) continuous and relatively homogeneous shear-induced mixing during the mid-ebb, and weakly stratified, boundary-layer mixing during the late ebb. The mixing efficiency as quantified by the flux Richardson number Rf was frequently observed to be higher than the canonical value of 0.15 from Osborn (J Phys Oceanogr 10:83–89, 1980). The high efficiency may be linked to the temporal–spatial evolution of shear instabilities.The funding for this research was obtained from ONR Grant N00014-06-1-0292 and NSF Grant OCE-0729547

The Sound Generated by Mid-Ocean Ridge Black Smoker Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal flow through seafloor black smoker vents is typically turbulent and vigorous, with speeds often exceeding 1 m/s. Although theory predicts that these flows will generate sound, the prevailing view has been that black smokers are essentially silent. Here we present the first unambiguous field recordings showing that these vents radiate significant acoustic energy. The sounds contain a broadband component and narrowband tones which are indicative of resonance. The amplitude of the broadband component shows tidal modulation which is indicative of discharge rate variations related to the mechanics of tidal loading. Vent sounds will provide researchers with new ways to study flow through sulfide structures, and may provide some local organisms with behavioral or navigational cues

Structural basis for the photoconversion of a phytochrome to the activated far-red light-absorbing form

Phytochromes are a collection of bilin-containing photoreceptors that regulate numerous photoresponses in plants and microorganisms through their ability to photointerconvert between a red light-absorbing, ground state Pr and a far-red light-absorbing, photoactivated state Pfr1,2. While the structures of several phytochromes as Pr have been determined3-7, little is known about the structure of Pfr and how it initiates signaling. Here, we describe the three-dimensional solution structure of the bilin-binding domain as Pfr using the cyanobacterial phytochrome from Synechococcus OSB’. Contrary to predictions, light-induced rotation of the A but not the D pyrrole ring is the primary motion of the chromophore during photoconversion. Subsequent rearrangements within the protein then affect intra- and interdomain contact sites within the phytochrome dimer. From our models, we propose that phytochromes act by propagating reversible light-driven conformational changes in the bilin to altered contacts between the adjacent output domains, which in most phytochromes direct differential phosphotransfer

Tamoxifen and the Rafoxifene analog LY117018: their effects on arachidonic acid release from cells in culture and on prostaglandin I(2 )production by rat liver cells

BACKGROUND: Tamoxifen is being used successfully to treat breast cancer. However, tamoxifen also increases the risk of developing endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women. Raloxifene also decreases breast cancer in women at high risk and may have a lower risk at developing cancer of the uterus. Tamoxifen has been shown to stimulate arachidonic acid release from rat liver cells. I have postulated that arachidonic acid release from cells may be associated with cancer chemoprevention. METHODS: Rat liver, rat glial, human colon carcinoma and human breast carcinoma cells were labelled with [(3)H] arachidonic acid. The release of the radiolabel from these cells during incubation with tamoxifen and the raloxifene analog LY117018 was measured. The prostaglandin I(2 )produced during incubation of the rat liver cells with μM concentrations of tamoxifen and the raloxifene analog was quantitatively estimated. RESULTS: Tamoxifen is about 5 times more effective than LY117018 at releasing arachidonic acid from all the cells tested. In rat liver cells only tamoxifen stimulates basal prostaglandin I(2 )production and that induced by lactacystin and 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate. LY117018, however, blocks the tamoxifen stimulated prostaglandin production. The stimulated prostaglandin I(2 )production is rapid and not affected either by preincubation of the cells with actinomycin or by incubation with the estrogen antagonist ICI-182,780. CONCLUSIONS: Tamoxifen and the raloxifene analog, LY117018, may prevent estrogen-independent as well as estrogen-dependent breast cancer by stimulating phospholipase activity and initiating arachidonic acid release. The release of arachidonic acid and/or molecular reactions that accompany that release may initiate pathways that prevent tumor growth. Oxygenation of the intracellularly released arachidonic acid and its metabolic products may mediate some of the pharmacological actions of tamoxifen and raloxifene

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit

Search for Kaluza-Klein Graviton Emission in ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s=1.8\sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using the Missing Energy Signature

We report on a search for direct Kaluza-Klein graviton production in a data sample of 84 ${pb}^{-1}$ of \ppb collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We investigate the final state of large missing transverse energy and one or two high energy jets. We compare the data with the predictions from a $3+1+n$-dimensional Kaluza-Klein scenario in which gravity becomes strong at the TeV scale. At 95% confidence level (C.L.) for $n$=2, 4, and 6 we exclude an effective Planck scale below 1.0, 0.77, and 0.71 TeV, respectively.Comment: Submitted to PRL, 7 pages 4 figures/Revision includes 5 figure

Ratio of the Isolated Photon Cross Sections at \sqrt{s} = 630 and 1800 GeV

The inclusive cross section for production of isolated photons has been measured in \pbarp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 630$ GeV with the \D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The photons span a transverse energy ($E_T$) range from 7-49 GeV and have pseudorapidity $|\eta| < 2.5$. This measurement is combined with to previous \D0 result at $\sqrt{s} = 1800$ GeV to form a ratio of the cross sections. Comparison of next-to-leading order QCD with the measured cross section at 630 GeV and ratio of cross sections show satisfactory agreement in most of the $E_T$ range.Comment: 7 pages. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 251805, (2001

Measurement of the average time-integrated mixing probability of b-flavored hadrons produced at the Tevatron

We have measured the number of like-sign (LS) and opposite-sign (OS) lepton pairs arising from double semileptonic decays of $b$ and $\bar{b}$-hadrons, pair-produced at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data samples were collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) during the 1992-1995 collider run by triggering on the existence of $\mu \mu$ and $e \mu$ candidates in an event. The observed ratio of LS to OS dileptons leads to a measurement of the average time-integrated mixing probability of all produced $b$-flavored hadrons which decay weakly, $\bar{\chi} = 0.152 \pm 0.007$ (stat.) $\pm 0.011$ (syst.), that is significantly larger than the world average $\bar{\chi} = 0.118 \pm 0.005$.Comment: 47 pages, 10 figures, 15 tables Submitted to Phys. Rev.