295 research outputs found
Recognition of cancer warning signs and anticipated time to help-seeking in a population sample of adults in the UK
Background: Not recognising a symptom as suspicious is a common reason given by cancer patients for delayed help-seeking; but inevitably this is retrospective. We therefore investigated associations between recognition of warning signs for breast, colorectal and lung cancer and anticipated time to help-seeking for symptoms of each cancer.
Methods: Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with a population-representative sample (N=6965) of UK adults age greater than or equal to50 years, using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer scale. Anticipated time to help-seeking for persistent cough, rectal bleeding and breast changes was categorised as >2 vs less than or equal to2 weeks. Recognition of persistent cough, unexplained bleeding and unexplained lump as cancer warning signs was assessed (yes/no). Associations between recognition and help-seeking were examined for each symptom controlling for demographics and perceived ease of health-care access.
Results: For each symptom, the odds of waiting for >2 weeks were significantly increased in those who did not recognise the related warning sign: breast changes: OR=2.45, 95% CI 1.47–4.08; rectal bleeding: OR=1.77, 1.36–2.30; persistent cough: OR=1.30, 1.17–1.46, independent of demographics and health-care access.
Conclusion: Recognition of warning signs was associated with anticipating faster help-seeking for potential symptoms of cancer. Strategies to improve recognition are likely to facilitate earlier diagnosis
Upgrade of the MARI spectrometer at ISIS
The MARI direct geometry time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at ISIS has been
upgraded with an supermirror guide and new detector electronics. This has
resulted in a flux gain of at {\AA}, and
improvements on discriminating electrical noise, allowing MARI to continue to
deliver a high quality science program well into its fourth decade of life
BLAST05: Power Spectra of Bright Galactic Cirrus at Submillimeter Wavelengths
We report multi-wavelength power spectra of diffuse Galactic dust emission
from BLAST observations at 250, 350, and 500 microns in Galactic Plane fields
in Cygnus X and Aquila. These submillimeter power spectra statistically
quantify the self-similar structure observable over a broad range of scales and
can be used to assess the cirrus noise which limits the detection of faint
point sources. The advent of submillimeter surveys with the Herschel Space
Observatory makes the wavelength dependence a matter of interest. We show that
the observed relative amplitudes of the power spectra can be related through a
spectral energy distribution (SED). Fitting a simple modified black body to
this SED, we find the dust temperature in Cygnus X to be 19.9 +/- 1.3 K and in
the Aquila region 16.9 +/- 0.7 K. Our empirical estimates provide important new
insight into the substantial cirrus noise that will be encountered in
forthcoming observations.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. Maps and other data are
available at http://blastexperiment.info
The Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) 2005: A 10 deg^2 Survey of Star Formation in Cygnus X
We present Cygnus X in a new multi-wavelength perspective based on an
unbiased BLAST survey at 250, 350, and 500 micron, combined with rich datasets
for this well-studied region. Our primary goal is to investigate the early
stages of high mass star formation. We have detected 184 compact sources in
various stages of evolution across all three BLAST bands. From their
well-constrained spectral energy distributions, we obtain the physical
properties mass, surface density, bolometric luminosity, and dust temperature.
Some of the bright sources reaching 40 K contain well-known compact H II
regions. We relate these to other sources at earlier stages of evolution via
the energetics as deduced from their position in the luminosity-mass (L-M)
diagram. The BLAST spectral coverage, near the peak of the spectral energy
distribution of the dust, reveals fainter sources too cool (~ 10 K) to be seen
by earlier shorter-wavelength surveys like IRAS. We detect thermal emission
from infrared dark clouds and investigate the phenomenon of cold ``starless
cores" more generally. Spitzer images of these cold sources often show stellar
nurseries, but these potential sites for massive star formation are ``starless"
in the sense that to date there is no massive protostar in a vigorous accretion
phase. We discuss evolution in the context of the L-M diagram. Theory raises
some interesting possibilities: some cold massive compact sources might never
form a cluster containing massive stars; and clusters with massive stars might
not have an identifiable compact cold massive precursor.Comment: 42 pages, 31 Figures, 6 table
Comment on Spracklandus Hoser, 2009 (Reptilia, Serpentes, ELAPIDAE): request for confirmation of the availability of the generic name and for the nomenclatural validation of the journal in which it was published (Case 3601; see BZN 70: 234–237; 71: 30–38, 133–135, 181–182, 252–253)
Exorcising Grice’s ghost : an empirical approach to studying intentional communication in animals
Language’s intentional nature has been highlighted as a crucial feature distinguishing it from other communication systems. Specifically, language is often thought to depend on highly structured intentional action and mutual mindreading by a communicator and recipient. Whilst similar abilities in animals can shed light on the evolution of intentionality, they remain challenging to detect unambiguously. We revisit animal intentional communication and suggest that progress in identifying analogous capacities has been complicated by (i) the assumption that intentional (that is, voluntary) production of communicative acts requires mental-state attribution, and (ii) variation in approaches investigating communication across sensory modalities. To move forward, we argue that a framework fusing research across modalities and species is required. We structure intentional communication into a series of requirements, each of which can be operationalised, investigated empirically, and must be met for purposive, intentionally communicative acts to be demonstrated. Our unified approach helps elucidate the distribution of animal intentional communication and subsequently serves to clarify what is meant by attributions of intentional communication in animals and humans
Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.
Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis
Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30
Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector
Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model
Measurement of the top pair production cross section in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions using kinematic information in the lepton plus jets final state with ATLAS
A measurement is presented of the inclusive production
cross-section in collisions at a center-of-mass energy of TeV
using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.
The measurement was performed in the lepton+jets final state using a data set
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb. The cross-section
was obtained using a likelihood discriminant fit and -jet identification was
used to improve the signal-to-background ratio. The inclusive
production cross-section was measured to be
pb assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV, in good agreement with the
theoretical prediction of pb. The production cross-section in the fiducial region
determined by the detector acceptance is also reported.Comment: Published version, 19 pages plus author list (35 pages total), 3
figures, 2 tables, all figures including auxiliary figures are available at
http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/TOPQ-2013-06
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