Using spin to understand the formation of LIGO's black holes

With the detection of four candidate binary black hole (BBH) mergers by the Advanced LIGO detectors thus far, it is becoming possible to constrain the properties of the BBH merger population in order to better understand the formation of these systems. Black hole (BH) spin orientations are one of the cleanest discriminators of formation history, with BHs in dynamically formed binaries in dense stellar environments expected to have spins distributed isotropically, in contrast to isolated populations where stellar evolution is expected to induce BH spins preferentially aligned with the orbital angular momentum. In this work we propose a simple, model-agnostic approach to characterizing the spin properties of LIGO's BBH population. Using measurements of the effective spin of the binaries, which is LIGO's best constrained spin parameter, we introduce a simple parameter to quantify the fraction of the population that is isotropically distributed, regardless of the spin magnitude distribution of the population. Once the orientation characteristics of the population have been determined, we show how measurements of effective spin can be used to directly constrain the underlying BH spin magnitude distribution. Although we find that the majority of the current effective spin measurements are too small to be informative, with LIGO's four BBH candidates we find a slight preference for an underlying population with aligned spins over one with isotropic spins (with an odds ratio of 1.1). We argue that it will be possible to distinguish symmetric and anti-symmetric populations at high confidence with tens of additional detections, although mixed populations may take significantly more detections to disentangle. We also derive preliminary spin magnitude distributions for LIGO's black holes, under the assumption of aligned or isotropic populations

Factors related to employment in childhood cancer survivors in Japan: A preliminary study

PurposePrevious research has revealed vocational and academic difficulties in childhood cancer survivors, and explored impact of survivors' medical history and physical function on vocational and academic status. However, we often encounter survivors with similar diagnoses and late effects but different academic or employment statuses. This raises the question of what affects academic attainment and employment other than treatment or late effects. This study aimed to explore factors associated with childhood cancer survivors' employment status and academic achievement.MethodsComprehensive health check-up and questionnaire survey were conducted for 69 survivors who were over the age of 18 and participated in St. Luke's Lifetime cohort study. We obtained survivors' biological function using comprehensive health check-up, neurocognitive states, quality of life, transition readiness, and family function. We conducted univariate analysis (Mann–Whitney U tests or chi-square tests) to compare the differences between the regular workers/students and non-regular workers/unemployed groups. The variables with p-values <0.1 were used as independent variables multivariate logistic regression to explore predictors of employment status and academic attainment.ResultsResult of the univariate analysis, intelligence quotient, SF-8 PCS, transition readiness, family function were used for multivariate logistic regression as independent variables. The stepwise likelihood method was conducted; intelligence quotient (odds ratio [OR] = 1.100; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.015–1.193; p = 0.021), transition readiness (OR = 0.612; 95% CI 0.396–0.974; p = 0.038), and family function (OR = 2.337; 95% CI 1.175–4.645; p = 0.015) were found to be associated with survivors' regular workers/students in the final regression model.ConclusionLong-term follow-up of pediatric cancer survivors requires the provision of total care, which supports physical, psychological, and social functions to improve health, readiness for transition to self-management, and family functioning

GENETIC DIFFERENCES IN STRESS-INDUCED ANALGESIA: COVARIATION WITH AVOIDANCE LEARNING

This dissertation presents eight experiments examining stress-induced analgesia (SIA) in animals selectively bred for either good or poor avoidance learning. Animals of the high avoidance (SHA) and low avoidance (SLA) lines differ markedly in avoidance learning and in emotional reactivity. Another correlate of the avoidance phenotypes is a reliable difference in SIA which is presented here. Throughout this series of experiments, exposure to electric tail-shock produced a profound SIA in SLA animals, whereas the SIA was modest in SHA animals. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 demonstrated that opiate antagonists are ineffective in attenuating the SIA of either line. Experiment 4 showed that animals of both lines are responsive to the analgesic effects of Morphine, and that these effects are blockable by Naltrexone. Thus, the SIAs are probably mediated by non-opioid mechanisms. Because SLA animals have larger adrenal glands than SHA animals, Experiment 5 examined whether this morphological difference contributes to the observed difference in SIA. Bilateral adrenalectomy did not affect the SIA of either line, which provides further evidence that these SIAs are mediated by neither endogenous opiates, nor cortiosterone, nor medullary hormones. Experiment 6 and Experiment 7 addressed whether the serotonergic system contributed to SIA. Fluoxetine Hydrochloride, a specific re-uptake inhibitor of serotonin did not attenuate the SIA of either line, which suggests that these SIAs are not dependent on serotonin. In Experiment 8, pretreatment with Reserpine, which depletes central and peripheral monoamines, partially attenuated SIA, and in combination with stress, was lethal for some SLA animals, whereas neither of these effects were observed in SHA animals. The overall results are discussed in terms of newly identified genetic differences in drug sensitivity and non-opioid SIA which co-vary with the avoidance phenotypes, and the possible mediation of these SIAs by the adrenergic system

Synthesis of penta- and hexa(3,4-thienylene): Size-dependent structural properties of cyclic oligothiophenes

Penta- and hexa(3,4-thienylene)s were synthesized via sequential coupling reactions, and the structures were detemined by X-ray crystallography. NMR spectroscopic analysis revealed that the interconversion of thiophene rings is fast in penta(3,4-thienylene), and slow in hexa(3,4-thienylene) reflecting the activation energy for enantiomerization. Size-dependent bathochromic shift was observed in UV-vis absorption spectra

TIM-3 is not essential for development of airway inflammation induced by house dust mite antigens

Background: T cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain-containing molecule 3 (TIM-3), which is preferentially expressed on Th1 cells rather than Th2 cells, is considered to be a negative regulator of Th1 cell function. This suggests that TIM-3 indirectly enhances Th2-type immune responses by suppressing Th1 cell function. Methods: To investigate TIM-3's possible involvement in Th2-type acute and chronic airway inflammation, wild-type and TIM-3-deficient (TIM-3−/−) mice were sensitized and challenged with a house dust mite (HDM) extract. Airway inflammation and the number of inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs) in the mice were determined by histological analysis and with a hemocytometer, respectively. Expression of mRNA in the lungs was determined by quantitative PCR, while the levels of cytokines in the BALFs and IgE in sera were determined by ELISA. Results: Despite constitutive expression of TIM-3 mRNA in the lungs, the number of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs) and the score of pulmonary inflammation were comparable between wild-type and TIM-3−/− mice during both acute and chronic HDM-induced airway inflammation. On the other hand, the number of lymphocytes in the BALFs of TIM-3−/− mice was significantly increased compared with wild-type mice during HDM-induced chronic, but not acute, airway inflammation, while the levels of Th2 cytokines in the BALFs and HDM-specific IgG1 and IgG2a and total IgE in the sera were comparable in both groups. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that, in mice, TIM-3 is not essential for development of HDM-induced acute or chronic allergic airway inflammation, although it appears to be involved in reduced lymphocyte recruitment during HDM-induced chronic allergic airway inflammation