Vitamin D in Milk

Milk still retains its enviable rating as our most nearly perfect food. It ranks alone as a superior food for infants, and is by no means of minor significance in the adequate nutrition of older children and adults. However, even with a liberal supply of milk, the problem of proper nutrition is not a simple one. A study of our public health statistics, and a consideration of the various factors stimulating refined nutritional research bear abundant evidence of the fact that our knowledge and practice of the science of nutrition is not as yet all that might be desired. The place of vitamins in nutrition constitutes one of the important fields which is being studied. Research in this connection has shown that vitamin D is concerned with the proper retention and utilization of calcium and phosphorous in the building of strong bones and good teeth. A deficiency of this factor contributes to the improper mineralization of bones and results in the disease known as rickets. Borovsky (1933) has recently stated, that rickets is the most common nutritional disease of childhood, variously estimated as present to some degree in 50 to 97 per cent of all infants is unhesitatingly admitted by all pediatricians. If this condition is to be improved upon, adequate amounts of vitamin D must be furnished to those most susceptible to rickets together with a diet that supplies a liberal amount of calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D has a very limited distribution among our common, natural food products. Milk, certain milk products, and eggs are about the only ones containing appreciable amounts, so the ordinary diet is likely to contribute but little to the supply of this factor. The normal supply of calcium and phosphorus in cow\u27s milk makes this product of particular interest as one of the few natural food sources of vitamin D, for it simultaneously furnishes the minerals and the vitamin to assist in their proper retention and utilization in the body. The fact that milk often makes up a large part, if not all, of the diet of the child during the time when it is most susceptible to rickets, indicates the importance of a knowledge of the factors influencing the amount of vitamin D in milk and its efficacy in preventing and curing rickets, and in promoting the adequate nutrition of the older child and adults. It is the purpose of this bulletin to discuss some of the information available on these topics and to present the results of experimental work bearing on certain phases of the problem

An adaptive inelastic magnetic mirror for Bose-Einstein condensates

We report the reflection and focussing of a Bose-Einstein condensate by a new pulsed magnetic mirror. The mirror is adaptive, inelastic, and of extremely high optical quality. The deviations from specularity are less than 0.5 mrad rms, making this the best atomic mirror demonstrated to date. We have also used the mirror to realize the analog of a beam-expander, producing an ultra-cold collimated fountain of matter wavesComment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A quantum mechanical description of the experiment on the observation of gravitationally bound states

Quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field were observed, when ultra-cold neutrons fall under gravity. The experimental results can be described by the quantum mechanical scattering model as it is presented here. We also discuss other geometries of the experimental setup which correspond to the absence or the reversion of gravity. Since our quantum mechanical model describes, particularly, the experimentally realized situation of reversed gravity quantitatively, we can practically rule out alternative explanations of the quantum states in terms of pure confinement effects.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 4 figures, v2: references adde

On the role of the magnetic dipolar interaction in cold and ultracold collisions: Numerical and analytical results for NH(3Σ−^3\Sigma^-) + NH(3Σ−^3\Sigma^-)

We present a detailed analysis of the role of the magnetic dipole-dipole interaction in cold and ultracold collisions. We focus on collisions between magnetically trapped NH molecules, but the theory is general for any two paramagnetic species for which the electronic spin and its space-fixed projection are (approximately) good quantum numbers. It is shown that dipolar spin relaxation is directly associated with magnetic-dipole induced avoided crossings that occur between different adiabatic potential curves. For a given collision energy and magnetic field strength, the cross-section contributions from different scattering channels depend strongly on whether or not the corresponding avoided crossings are energetically accessible. We find that the crossings become lower in energy as the magnetic field decreases, so that higher partial-wave scattering becomes increasingly important \textit{below} a certain magnetic field strength. In addition, we derive analytical cross-section expressions for dipolar spin relaxation based on the Born approximation and distorted-wave Born approximation. The validity regions of these analytical expressions are determined by comparison with the NH + NH cross sections obtained from full coupled-channel calculations. We find that the Born approximation is accurate over a wide range of energies and field strengths, but breaks down at high energies and high magnetic fields. The analytical distorted-wave Born approximation gives more accurate results in the case of s-wave scattering, but shows some significant discrepancies for the higher partial-wave channels. We thus conclude that the Born approximation gives generally more meaningful results than the distorted-wave Born approximation at the collision energies and fields considered in this work.Comment: Accepted by Eur. Phys. J. D for publication in Special Issue on Cold Quantum Matter - Achievements and Prospects (2011

The CLEF 2005 Cross-Language Image Retrieval Track.

This paper outlines efforts from the 2005 CLEF cross– language image retrieval campaign (ImageCLEF). Aim of the CLEF track is to explore the use of both text and content–based retrieval methods for cross–language image retrieval. Four tasks were offered in ImageCLEF: ad–hoc retrieval from an historic photographic collection, ad–hoc retrieval from a medical collection, an automatic image annotation task, and a user–centered (interactive) evaluation task. 24 research groups from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities (14 countries) participated in ImageCLEF. This paper presents the ImageCLEF tasks, submissions from participating groups and a summary of the main findings

Psychosocial Treatment of Children in Foster Care: A Review

A substantial number of children in foster care exhibit psychiatric difficulties. Recent epidemiologi-cal and historical trends in foster care, clinical findings about the adjustment of children in foster care, and adult outcomes are reviewed, followed by a description of current approaches to treatment and extant empirical support. Available interventions for these children can be categorized as either symptom-focused or systemic, with empirical support for specific methods ranging from scant to substantial. Even with treatment, behavioral and emotional problems often persist into adulthood, resulting in poor functional outcomes. We suggest that self-regulation may be an important mediat-ing factor in the appearance of emotional and behavioral disturbance in these children

Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel

A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or 'scaffold') of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data 'onto' this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Complex subvolcanic magma plumbing system of an alkali basaltic maar-diatreme volcano (Elie Ness, Fife, Scotland)

Alkali basaltic diatremes such as Elie Ness (Fife, Scotland) expose a range of volcanic lithofacies that points to a complex, multi-stage emplacement history. Here, basanites contain phenocrysts including pyrope garnet and sub-calcic augites from depths of ~60km. Volcanic rocks from all units, pyroclastic and hypabyssal, are characterised by rare earth element (REE) patterns that show continuous enrichment from heavy REE (HREE) to light REE (LREE), and high Zr/Y that are consistent with retention of garnet in the mantle source during melting of peridotite in a garnet lherzolite facies. Erupted garnets are euhedral and unresorbed, signifying rapid ascent through the lithosphere. The magmas also transported abundant pyroxenitic clasts, cognate with the basanite host, from shallower depths (~35–40km). These clasts exhibit wide variation in texture, mode and mineralogy, consistent with growth from a range of compositionally diverse melts. Further, clinopyroxene phenocrysts from both the hypabyssal and pyroclastic units exhibit a very wide compositional range, indicative of polybaric fractionation and magma mixing. This is attributed to stalling of earlier magmas in the lower crust — principally from ~22 to 28km — as indicated by pyroxene thermobarometry. Many clinopyroxenes display chemical zoning profiles, occasionally with mantles and rims of higher magnesium number (Mg#) suggesting the magmas were mobilised by juvenile basanite magma. The tuffs also contain alkali feldspar megacrysts together with Fe-clinopyroxene, zircon and related salic xenoliths, of the ‘anorthoclasite suite’ — inferred to have crystallised at upper mantle to lower crustal depths from salic magma in advance of the mafic host magmas. Despite evidence for entrainment of heterogeneous crystal mushes, the rapidly ascending melts experienced negligible crustal contamination. The complex association of phenocrysts, megacrysts and autoliths at Elie Ness indicates thorough mixing in a dynamic system immediately prior to explosive diatreme-forming eruptions.Clough and Mykura Fund of the Geological Society of Edinburgh; Timothy Jefferson Fund of the Geological Society of Londo

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362