640 research outputs found
A direct measurement of tomographic lensing power spectra from CFHTLenS
We measure the weak gravitational lensing shear power spectra and their
cross-power in two photometric redshift bins from the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). The measurements are performed directly in
multipole space in terms of adjustable band powers. For the extraction of the
band powers from the data we have implemented and extended a quadratic
estimator, a maximum likelihood method that allows us to readily take into
account irregular survey geometries, masks, and varying sampling densities. We
find the 68 per cent credible intervals in the --plane to be marginally consistent with results from for a simple
five parameter CDM model. For the projected parameter we obtain a best-fitting value of . This constraint is consistent with results from other
CFHTLenS studies as well as the Dark Energy Survey. Our most conservative
model, including modifications to the power spectrum due to baryon feedback and
marginalization over photometric redshift errors, yields an upper limit on the
total mass of three degenerate massive neutrinos of at 95 per cent credibility, while a Bayesian model comparison does
not favour any model extension beyond a simple five parameter CDM
model. Combining the shear likelihood with breaks the
--degeneracy and yields
and which is fully consistent with results
from alone.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS.
Minor corrections and updates with respect to previous versio
Wurtzite quantum wires with strong spatial confinement: polarization anisotropies in single wire spectroscopy
We report GaAs/AlGaAs nanowires in the one-dimensional (1D) quantum limit.
The ultrathin wurtzite GaAs cores between 20-40\,nm induce large confinement
energies of several tens of meV, allowing us to experimentally resolve up to
four well separated subband excitations in microphotoluminescence spectroscopy.
Our detailed experimental and theoretical polarization-resolved study reveals a
strong diameter-dependent anisotropy of these transitions: We demonstrate that
the polarization of the detected photoluminescence is governed by the symmetry
of the wurtzite 1D quantum wire subbands on the one hand, but also by the
dielectric mismatch of the wires with the surrounding material on the other
hand. The latter effect leads to a strong attenuation of perpendicularly
polarized light in thin dielectric wires, making the thickness of the AlGaAs
shell an important factor in the observed polarization behavior. Including the
dielectric mismatch to our k.p-based simulated polarization-resolved spectra of
purely wurtzite GaAs quantum wires, we find an excellent agreement between
experiment and theory
Different patterns of white matter degeneration using multiple diffusion indices and volumetric data in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer patients
Alzheimeŕs disease (AD) represents the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder that causes cognitive decline in old age. In its early stages, AD is associated with microstructural abnormalities in white matter (WM). In the current study, multiple indices of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and brain volumetric measurements were employed to comprehensively investigate the landscape of AD pathology. The sample comprised 58 individuals including cognitively normal subjects (controls), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients. Relative to controls, both MCI and AD subjects showed widespread changes of anisotropic fraction (FA) in the corpus callosum, cingulate and uncinate fasciculus. Mean diffusivity and radial changes were also observed in AD patients in comparison with controls. After controlling for the gray matter atrophy the number of regions of significantly lower FA in AD patients relative to controls was decreased; nonetheless, unique areas of microstructural damage remained, e.g., the corpus callosum and uncinate fasciculus. Despite sample size limitations, the current results suggest that a combination of secondary and primary degeneration occurrs in MCI and AD, although the secondary degeneration appears to have a more critical role during the stages of disease involving dementia
Sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli in association with steroid hormones across menstrual cycles and fertility treatment
Background: Steroid hormones (i.e., estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) are considered to play a crucial role in the regulation of women's sexual desire and sexual attraction to sexual stimuli throughout the menstrual cycle. However, the literature is inconsistent, and methodologically sound studies on the relationship between steroid hormones and women's sexual attraction are rare.
Methods: This prospective longitudinal multisite study examined estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone serum levels in association with sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli in naturally cycling women and in women undergoing fertility treatment (in vitro fertilization, IVF). Across ovarian stimulation of fertility treatment, estradiol reaches supraphysiological levels, while other ovarian hormones remain nearly stable. Ovarian stimulation hence offers a unique quasi-experimental model to study concentration-dependent effects of estradiol. Hormonal parameters and sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli assessed with computerized visual analogue scales were collected at four time points per cycle, i.e., during the menstrual, preovulatory, mid-luteal, and premenstrual phases, across two consecutive menstrual cycles (n = 88 and n = 68 for the first and second cycle, respectively). Women undergoing fertility treatment (n = 44) were assessed twice, at the beginning and at the end of ovarian stimulation. Sexually explicit photographs served as visual sexual stimuli.
Results: In naturally cycling women, sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli did not vary consistently across two consecutive menstrual cycles. While in the first menstrual cycle sexual attraction to male bodies, couples kissing, and at intercourse varied significantly with a peak in the preovulatory phase, (all p ≤ 0.001), there was no significant variability across the second cycle. Univariable and multivariable models evaluating repeated cross-sectional relationships and intraindividual change scores revealed no consistent associations between estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone and sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli throughout both menstrual cycles. Also, no significant association with any hormone was found when the data from both menstrual cycles were combined. In women undergoing ovarian stimulation of IVF, sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli did not vary over time and was not associated with estradiol levels despite intraindividual changes in estradiol levels from 122.0 to 11,746.0 pmol/l with a mean (SD) of 3553.9 (2472.4) pmol/l.
Conclusions: These results imply that neither physiological levels of estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone in naturally cycling women nor supraphysiological levels of estradiol due to ovarian stimulation exert any relevant effect on women's sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli
Wetting Properties of Graphene Aerogels
Graphene hydrophobic coatings paved the way towards a new generation of optoelectronic and fluidic devices. Nevertheless, such hydrophobic thin films rely only on graphene non-polar surface, rather than taking advantage of its surface roughness. Furthermore, graphene is typically not self-standing. Differently, carbon aerogels have high porosity, large effective surface area due to their surface roughness, and very low mass density, which make them a promising candidate as a super-hydrophobic material for novel technological applications. However, despite a few works reporting the general super-hydrophobic and lipophilic behavior of the carbon aerogels, a detailed characterization of their wetting properties is still missing, to date. Here, the wetting properties of graphene aerogels are demonstrated in detail. Without any chemical functionalization or patterning of their surface, the samples exhibit a super-lipophilic state and a stationary super-hydrophobic state with a contact angle up to 150 ± 15° and low contact angle hysteresis ≈ 15°, owing to the fakir effect. In addition, the adhesion force of the graphene aerogels in contact with the water droplets and their surface tension are evaluated. For instance, the unique wettability and enhanced liquid absorption of the graphene aerogels can be exploited for reducing contamination from oil spills and chemical leakage accidents
Whole‐brain deuterium metabolic imaging via concentric ring trajectory readout enables assessment of regional variations in neuronal glucose metabolism
Deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) is an emerging magnetic resonance technique, for non‐invasive mapping of human brain glucose metabolism following oral or intravenous administration of deuterium‐labeled glucose. Regional differences in glucose metabolism can be observed in various brain pathologies, such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, epilepsy or schizophrenia, but the achievable spatial resolution of conventional phase‐encoded DMI methods is limited due to prolonged acquisition times rendering submilliliter isotropic spatial resolution for dynamic whole brain DMI not feasible. The purpose of this study was to implement non‐Cartesian spatial‐spectral sampling schemes for whole‐brain 2H FID‐MR Spectroscopic Imaging to assess time‐resolved metabolic maps with sufficient spatial resolution to reliably detect metabolic differences between healthy gray and white matter regions. Results were compared with lower‐resolution DMI maps, conventionally acquired within the same session. Six healthy volunteers (4 m/2 f) were scanned for ~90 min after administration of 0.8 g/kg oral [6,6′]‐2H glucose. Time‐resolved whole brain 2H FID‐DMI maps of glucose (Glc) and glutamate + glutamine (Glx) were acquired with 0.75 and 2 mL isotropic spatial resolution using density‐weighted concentric ring trajectory (CRT) and conventional phase encoding (PE) readout, respectively, at 7 T. To minimize the effect of decreased signal‐to‐noise ratios associated with smaller voxels, low‐rank denoising of the spatiotemporal data was performed during reconstruction. Sixty‐three minutes after oral tracer uptake three‐dimensional (3D) CRT‐DMI maps featured 19% higher (p = .006) deuterium‐labeled Glc concentrations in GM (1.98 ± 0.43 mM) compared with WM (1.66 ± 0.36 mM) dominated regions, across all volunteers. Similarly, 48% higher (p = .01) 2H‐Glx concentrations were observed in GM (2.21 ± 0.44 mM) compared with WM (1.49 ± 0.20 mM). Low‐resolution PE‐DMI maps acquired 70 min after tracer uptake featured smaller regional differences between GM‐ and WM‐dominated areas for 2H‐Glc concentrations with 2.00 ± 0.35 mM and 1.71 ± 0.31 mM, respectively (+16%; p = .045), while no regional differences were observed for 2H‐Glx concentrations. In this study, we successfully implemented 3D FID‐MRSI with fast CRT encoding for dynamic whole‐brain DMI at 7 T with 2.5‐fold increased spatial resolution compared with conventional whole‐brain phase encoded (PE) DMI to visualize regional metabolic differences. The faster metabolic activity represented by 48% higher Glx concentrations was observed in GM‐ compared with WM‐dominated regions, which could not be reproduced using whole‐brain DMI with the low spatial resolution protocol. Improved assessment of regional pathologic alterations using a fully non‐invasive imaging method is of high clinical relevance and could push DMI one step toward clinical applications
Genome-wide patterns of latitudinal differentiation among populations of Drosophila melanogaster from North America
Understanding the genetic underpinnings of adaptive change is a fundamental but largely unresolved problem in evolutionary biology. Drosophila melanogaster, an ancestrally tropical insect that has spread to temperate regions and become cosmopolitan, offers a powerful opportunity for identifying the molecular polymorphisms underlying clinal adaptation. Here, we use genome‐wide next‐ generation sequencing of DNA pools (‘pool‐seq’) from three populations collected along the North American east coast to examine patterns of latitudinal differentiation. Comparing the genomes of these populations is particularly interesting since they exhibit clinal variation in a number of important life history traits. We find extensive latitudinal differentiation, with many of the most strongly differentiated genes involved in major functional pathways such as the insulin/TOR, ecdysone, torso, EGFR, TGFβ/BMP, JAK/STAT, immunity and circadian rhythm pathways. We observe particularly strong differentiation on chromosome 3R, especially within the cosmopolitan inversion In(3R)Payne, which contains a large number of clinally varying genes. While much of the differentiation might be driven by clinal differences in the frequency of In(3R)P, we also identify genes that are likely independent of this inversion. Our results provide genome‐wide evidence consistent with pervasive spatially variable selection acting on numerous loci and pathways along the well‐ known North American cline, with many candidates implicated in life history regulation and exhibiting parallel differentiation along the previously investigated Australian cline
Patients’ safety: is there a systemic release of gentamicin by gentamicin-coated tibia nails in clinical use?
Sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli in association with steroid hormones across menstrual cycles and fertility treatment
Background: Steroid hormones (i.e., estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) are considered to play a crucial role in the regulation of women’s sexual desire and sexual attraction to sexual stimuli throughout the menstrual cycle. However, the literature is inconsistent, and methodologically sound studies on the relationship between steroid hormones and women’s sexual attraction are rare.
Methods: This prospective longitudinal multisite study examined estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone serum levels in association with sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli in naturally cycling women and in women undergoing fertility treatment (in vitro fertilization, IVF). Across ovarian stimulation of fertility treatment, estradiol reaches supraphysiological levels, while other ovarian hormones remain nearly stable. Ovarian stimulation hence offers a unique quasi-experimental model to study concentration-dependent effects of estradiol. Hormonal parameters and sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli assessed with computerized visual analogue scales were collected at four time points per cycle, i.e., during the menstrual, preovulatory, mid-luteal, and premenstrual phases, across two consecutive menstrual cycles (n = 88 and n = 68 for the first and second cycle, respectively). Women undergoing fertility treatment (n = 44) were assessed twice, at the beginning and at the end of ovarian stimulation. Sexually explicit photographs served as visual sexual stimuli.
Results: In naturally cycling women, sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli did not vary consistently across two consecutive menstrual cycles. While in the first menstrual cycle sexual attraction to male bodies, couples kissing, and at intercourse varied significantly with a peak in the preovulatory phase, (all p ≤ 0.001), there was no significant variability across the second cycle. Univariable and multivariable models evaluating repeated cross-sectional relationships and intraindividual change scores revealed no consistent associations between estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone and sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli throughout both menstrual cycles. Also, no significant association with any hormone was found when the data from both menstrual cycles were combined. In women undergoing ovarian stimulation of IVF, sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli did not vary over time and was not associated with estradiol levels despite intraindividual changes in estradiol levels from 122.0 to 11,746.0 pmol/l with a mean (SD) of 3553.9 (2472.4) pmol/l.
Conclusions: These results imply that neither physiological levels of estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone in naturally cycling women nor supraphysiological levels of estradiol due to ovarian stimulation exert any relevant effect on women’s sexual attraction to visual sexual stimuli
Effects of Baryon Mass Loss on Profiles of Large Galactic Dark Matter Haloes
We perform controlled numerical experiments to asses the effect of baryon
mass loss on the inner structure of large galactic dark matter haloes. This
mass expulsion is intended to mimic both the supernovae and AGN feedbacks, as
well as the evolution of stellar populations. This study is meant in particular
for precursors of massive Early Type Galaxies, wherein strong AGN feedback
(often dubbed "QSO mode" in galaxy formation models) has been proposed to
remove on a short timescale, of the order of a few dynamical times, a
substantial fraction of their baryons. In a previous paper we evaluated the
observational consequences (size increase) of this process on the galactic
structure (Ragone-Figueroa & Granato 2011). Here we focus on the distribution
of dark matter in the galactic region. It is shown that the inner region of the
DM halo expands and its density profile flattens by a sizeable amount, with
little dependence on the expulsion timescale. We also evaluate the effect of
the commonly made approximation of treating the baryonic component as a
potential that changes in intensity without any variation in shape. This
approximation leads to some underestimates of the halo expansion and its slope
flattening. We conclude that cuspy density profiles in ETGs could be difficult
to reconcile with an effective AGN (or stellar) feedback during the evolution
of these systems.Comment: 9 Pages, 5 figures, MNRAS accepted. Final version with minor revisio
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