Transport properties of Layer-Antiferromagnet CuCrS2: A possible thermoelectric material

The electrical, thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the quenched, annealed and slowly cooled phases of the layer compound CuCrS2 have been reported between 15K to 300K. We also confirm the antiferromagnetic transition at 40K in them by our magnetic measurements between 2K and 300K. The crystal flakes show a minimum around 100K in their in-plane resistance behavior. For the polycrystalline pellets the resistivity depends on their flaky texture and it attains at most 10 to 20 times of the room temperature value at the lowest temperature of measurement. The temperature dependence is complex and no definite activation energy of electronic conduction can be discerned. We find that the Seebeck coefficient is between 200-450 microV/K and is unusually large for the observed resistivity values of between 5-100 mOhm-cm at room temperature. The figure of merit ZT for the thermoelectric application is 2.3 for our quenched phases, which is much larger than 1 for useful materials. The thermal conductivity K is mostly due to lattice conduction and is reduced by the disorder in Cu- occupancy in our quenched phase. A dramatic reduction of electrical and thermal conductivity is found as the antiferromagnetic transition is approached from the paramagnetic region, and K subsequently rises in the ordered phase. We discuss the transport properties as being similar to a doped Kondo-insulator

Gene regulation knowledge commons: community action takes care of DNA binding transcription factors

A large gap remains between the amount of knowledge in scientific literature and the fraction that gets curated into standardized databases, despite many curation initiatives. Yet the availability of comprehensive knowledge in databases is crucial for exploiting existing background knowledge, both for designing follow-up experiments and for interpreting new experimental data. Structured resources also underpin the computational integration and modeling of regulatory pathways, which further aids our understanding of regulatory dynamics. We argue how cooperation between the scientific community and professional curators can increase the capacity of capturing precise knowledge from literature. We demonstrate this with a project in which we mobilize biological domain experts who curate large amounts of DNA binding transcription factors, and show that they, although new to the field of curation, can make valuable contributions by harvesting reported knowledge from scientific papers. Such community curation can enhance the scientific epistemic process.Database URL: http://www.tfcheckpoint.org

Use of Trochanteric Flip Osteotomy Improves the Outcome of Pipkin I and II Femoral Head Fractures

Introduction: Annual incidence of femoral head fracture is constantly increasing due to increase in cases of road traffic accidents (RTA). Four to 17% of femoral head fractures are due to posterior dislocations of hip. Outcome of femoral head facture associated with posterior dislocation of hip, the pipkin I and II fracture, is unsatisfactory due to lack of universally accepted protocol for its management and treatment. Objective: To evaluate the patient outcome using relatively newer approach, the Trochanteric Flip (digastrics) Osteotomy (TFO), for the precise anatomical reduction of femoral head fractures associated with posterior dislocation of hip. Methods: Between 2013 and 2017, 21 patients with sustained isolated femoral head fracture were admitted at our hospital. We used TFO approach for the management and treatment of femoral head fractures. The patients were followed up for 42 months at different intervals. Clinical outcome were evaluated using Merle d’Aubigne Postel and Thompson-Epstein scale. Results: Retrospective analysis showed excellent, good, fair and poor results in five (23.8%) patients, 13 (61.9%) patients, two (9.5%) patients and one (4.7%) patient, respectively. Clinical outcomes included sciatic nerve injury (4.7%), moderate arthritis (95.3%), benign non-debilitating heterotrophic ossification (19%), avascular necrosis of femoral head (4.7%) and neuropraxia (4.7%). Conclusions: Use of trochanteric flip osteotomy gives the favorable outcome for the treatment of this type of fracture. Most importantly, the vascularity of femoral head remains intact which makes TFO a very useful technique for pipkin I and II fracture treatment

Fibroblast growth factor 7 signalling is disrupted in colorectal cancer and is a potential marker of field cancerisation

Background: Field cancerisation proposes that there are pre-malignant genetic mutations in the macroscopically normal mucosal tissue around colorectal cancer. This study aims to evaluate fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7) tissue expression in the mucosal field around colorectal cancer. Methods: Gene and protein expression of FGF7, its receptor, FGFR2 and its downstream targets; FRS2α, Erk 1/2 and Akt was measured from mucosal samples in 34 control subjects and 17 cancer patients. Serial samples from tumour, adjacent to tumour and at the resection margin were utilised. Results: FGF7 gene expression was significantly higher in tumour (2.3-fold), adjacent mucosa (3.2-fold) and resection margin (2.8-fold) of cancer patients compared with control subjects (P<0.01 respectively). However, FGFR2 was down regulated (3.5-fold) in the tumour tissue (P<0.001). Protein expression of FRS2α and Akt was significantly lower in tumour tissue compared with the resection margin in cancer patients (P<0.05 respectively). No differences in protein expression of Erk 1/2 were detected. Conclusions: FGF7 was elevated in the mucosal field of cancer patients supporting its potential as a biomarker of field cancerisation. Changes in FRS2α, Akt and Erk 1/2 expression in the tumour tissue indicate that with malignant transformation, FGF7 loses its ability to regulate cellular differentiation

Circulating Zonulin, a Marker of Intestinal Permeability, Is Increased in Association with Obesity-Associated Insulin Resistance

Zonulin is the only physiological mediator known to regulate intestinal permeability reversibly by modulating intercellular tight junctions. To investigate the relationship between intestinal permeability and obesity-associated metabolic disturbances in humans, we aimed to study circulating zonulin according to obesity and insulin resistance. Circulating zonulin (ELISA) was measured in 123 caucasian men in association with inflammatory and metabolic parameters (including minimal model-measured insulin sensitivity). Circulating zonulin increased with body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), fasting insulin, fasting triglycerides, uric acid and IL-6, and negatively correlated with HDL-cholesterol and insulin sensitivity. In multiple regression analysis, insulin sensitivity (p = 0.002) contributed independently to circulating zonulin variance, after controlling for the effects of BMI, fasting triglycerides and age. When circulating IL-6 was added to this model, only BMI (p = 0.01) contributed independently to circulating zonulin variance. In conclusion, the relationship between insulin sensitivity and circulating zonulin might be mediated through the obesity-related circulating IL-6 increase

Digital clubbing in tuberculosis – relationship to HIV infection, extent of disease and hypoalbuminemia

BACKGROUND: Digital clubbing is a sign of chest disease known since the time of Hippocrates. Its association with tuberculosis (TB) has not been well studied, particularly in Africa where TB is common. The prevalence of clubbing in patients with pulmonary TB and its association with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), severity of disease, and nutritional status was assessed. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among patients with smear-positive TB recruited consecutively from the medical and TB wards and outpatient clinics at a public hospital in Uganda. The presence of clubbing was assessed by clinical signs and measurement of the ratio of the distal and inter-phalangeal diameters (DPD/IPD) of both index fingers. Clubbing was defined as a ratio > 1.0. Chest radiograph, serum albumin and HIV testing were done. RESULTS: Two hundred patients (82% HIV-infected) participated; 34% had clubbing by clinical criteria whilst 30% had clubbing based on DPD/IPD ratio. Smear grade, extensive or cavitary disease, early versus late HIV disease, and hypoalbuminemia were not associated with clubbing. Clubbing was more common among patients with a lower Karnofsky performance scale score or with prior TB. CONCLUSION: Clubbing occurs in up to one-third of Ugandan patients with pulmonary TB. Clubbing was not associated with stage of HIV infection, extensive disease or hypoalbuminemia

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

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one