Meat, fish, and ovarian cancer risk: Results from 2 Australian case-control studies, a systematic review, and meta-analysis

Background: Variation in meat and fish intakes has been associated with a risk of some cancers, but evidence for ovarian cancer is limited and inconsistent. Objective: We examined the association between intakes of total meat, red meat, processed meat, poultry, and fish and ovarian cancer risk. Design: Data came from 2 Australian population-based case-control studies conducted 10 y apart. Analyses included a total of 2049 cases and 2191 control subjects. We obtained dietary information via a food-frequency questionnaire. We estimated multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for each study by using logistic regression and combined results of the 2 studies by using random-effects models. We also assembled the published evidence in a systematic review and meta-analysis. Results: Although there was no association between total or red meat intake and ovarian cancer risk, women with the highest intake of processed meat had a significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer in the 2 case-control studies (combined OR: 1.18; 95 CI: 1.15, 1.21) and the meta-analysis 7 studies; pooled relative risk (RR): 1.20; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.34. In contrast, a frequent intake of poultry was associated with borderline significant reductions in risk in the 2 case-control studies (combined OR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.67, 1.03) and the meta-analysis including 7 additional studies (pooled RR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.79, 1.01). High fish intake was associated with a significantly reduced risk in the 2 case-control studies (combined OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.62, 0.94) and a smaller borderline significant reduction in the meta-analysis (6 additional studies; pooled RR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.03). Conclusion: Our results suggest that low consumption of processed meat and higher consumption of poultry and fish may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. © 2010 American Society for Nutrition

Thermal leptogenesis in a model with mass varying neutrinos

In this paper we consider the possibility of neutrino mass varying during the evolution of the Universe and study its implications on leptogenesis. Specifically, we take the minimal seesaw model of neutrino masses and introduce a coupling between the right-handed neutrinos and the dark energy scalar field, the Quintessence. In our model, the right-handed neutrino masses change as the Quintessence scalar evolves. We then examine in detail the parameter space of this model allowed by the observed baryon number asymmetry. Our results show that it is possible to lower the reheating temperature in this scenario in comparison with the case that the neutrino masses are unchanged, which helps solve the gravitino problem. Furthermore, a degenerate neutrino mass patten with $m_i$ larger than the upper limit given in the minimal leptogenesis scenario is permitted.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, version to appear in PR

Using the past to constrain the future: how the palaeorecord can improve estimates of global warming

Climate sensitivity is defined as the change in global mean equilibrium temperature after a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration and provides a simple measure of global warming. An early estimate of climate sensitivity, 1.5-4.5{\deg}C, has changed little subsequently, including the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The persistence of such large uncertainties in this simple measure casts doubt on our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change and our ability to predict the response of the climate system to future perturbations. This has motivated continued attempts to constrain the range with climate data, alone or in conjunction with models. The majority of studies use data from the instrumental period (post-1850) but recent work has made use of information about the large climate changes experienced in the geological past. In this review, we first outline approaches that estimate climate sensitivity using instrumental climate observations and then summarise attempts to use the record of climate change on geological timescales. We examine the limitations of these studies and suggest ways in which the power of the palaeoclimate record could be better used to reduce uncertainties in our predictions of climate sensitivity.Comment: The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Progress in Physical Geography, 31(5), 2007 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. \c{opyright} 2007 Edwards, Crucifix and Harriso

The primary cosmic ray composition between 10**15 and 10**16 eV from Extensive Air Showers electromagnetic and TeV muon data

The cosmic ray primary composition in the energy range between 10**15 and 10**16 eV, i.e., around the "knee" of the primary spectrum, has been studied through the combined measurements of the EAS-TOP air shower array (2005 m a.s.l., 10**5 m**2 collecting area) and the MACRO underground detector (963 m a.s.l., 3100 m w.e. of minimum rock overburden, 920 m**2 effective area) at the National Gran Sasso Laboratories. The used observables are the air shower size (Ne) measured by EAS-TOP and the muon number (Nmu) recorded by MACRO. The two detectors are separated on average by 1200 m of rock, and located at a respective zenith angle of about 30 degrees. The energy threshold at the surface for muons reaching the MACRO depth is approximately 1.3 TeV. Such muons are produced in the early stages of the shower development and in a kinematic region quite different from the one relevant for the usual Nmu-Ne studies. The measurement leads to a primary composition becoming heavier at the knee of the primary spectrum, the knee itself resulting from the steepening of the spectrum of a primary light component (p, He). The result confirms the ones reported from the observation of the low energy muons at the surface (typically in the GeV energy range), showing that the conclusions do not depend on the production region kinematics. Thus, the hadronic interaction model used (CORSIKA/QGSJET) provides consistent composition results from data related to secondaries produced in a rapidity region exceeding the central one. Such an evolution of the composition in the knee region supports the "standard" galactic acceleration/propagation models that imply rigidity dependent breaks of the different components, and therefore breaks occurring at lower energies in the spectra of the light nuclei.Comment: Submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Sortase-Modified Cholera Toxoids Show Specific Golgi Localization

Cholera toxoid is an established tool for use in cellular tracing in neuroscience and cell biology. We use a sortase labeling approach to generate site-specific N-terminally modified variants of both the A2-B5 heterohexamer and B5 pentamer forms of the toxoid. Both forms of the toxoid are endocytosed by GM1-positive mammalian cells, and while the heterohexameric toxoid was principally localized in the ER, the B5 pentamer showed an unexpectedly specific localization in the medial/trans-Golgi. This study suggests a future role for specifically labeled cholera toxoids in live-cell imaging beyond their current applications in neuronal tracing and labeling of lipid rafts in fixed cells

Measurement of the residual energy of muons in the Gran Sasso underground Laboratories

The MACRO detector was located in the Hall B of the Gran Sasso underground Laboratories under an average rock overburden of 3700 hg/cm^2. A transition radiation detector composed of three identical modules, covering a total horizontal area of 36 m^2, was installed inside the empty upper part of the detector in order to measure the residual energy of muons. This paper presents the measurement of the residual energy of single and double muons crossing the apparatus. Our data show that double muons are more energetic than single ones. This measurement is performed over a standard rock depth range from 3000 to 6500 hg/cm^2.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

Muon Energy Estimate Through Multiple Scattering with the Macro Detector

Muon energy measurement represents an important issue for any experiment addressing neutrino induced upgoing muon studies. Since the neutrino oscillation probability depends on the neutrino energy, a measurement of the muon energy adds an important piece of information concerning the neutrino system. We show in this paper how the MACRO limited streamer tube system can be operated in drift mode by using the TDC's included in the QTPs, an electronics designed for magnetic monopole search. An improvement of the space resolution is obtained, through an analysis of the multiple scattering of muon tracks as they pass through our detector. This information can be used further to obtain an estimate of the energy of muons crossing the detector. Here we present the results of two dedicated tests, performed at CERN PS-T9 and SPS-X7 beam lines, to provide a full check of the electronics and to exploit the feasibility of such a multiple scattering analysis. We show that by using a neural network approach, we are able to reconstruct the muon energy for $E_\mu<$40 GeV. The test beam data provide an absolute energy calibration, which allows us to apply this method to MACRO data.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, Submitted to Nucl. Instr. & Meth.

Low energy atmospheric muon neutrinos in MACRO

We present the measurement of two event samples induced by atmospheric $\nu_\mu$ of average energy $\bar {E}_\nu \sim 4 GeV$. In the first sample, the neutrino interacts inside the MACRO detector producing an upward-going muon leaving the apparatus. The ratio of the number of observed to expected events is $0.57 \pm0.05_{stat} \pm0.06_{syst} \pm0.14_{theor}$ with an angular distribution similar to that expected from the Bartol atmospheric neutrino flux. The second is a mixed sample of internally produced downward-going muons and externally produced upward-going muons stopping inside the detector. These two subsamples are selected by topological criteria; the lack of timing information makes it impossible to distinguish stopping from downgoing muons. The ratio of the number of observed to expected events is $0.71 \pm 0.05_{stat} \pm0.07_{syst} \pm0.18_{theor}$ . Using the ratio of the two subsamples (for which most theoretical uncertainties cancel) we can test the pathlength dependence of the oscillation hypothesis. The probability of agreement with the no-oscillation hypothesis is 5% . The deviations of our observations from the expectations has a preferred interpretation in terms of $\nu_\mu$ oscillations with maximal mixing and $\Delta m^2 \sim 10^{-3} \div 10^{-2} eV^2$. These parameters are in agreement with our results from upward throughgoing muons, induced by $\nu_\mu$ of much higher energies.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Phys. Lett.

Search for diffuse neutrino flux from astrophysical sources with MACRO

Many galactic and extragalactic astrophysical sources are currently considered promising candidates as high energy neutrino emitters. Astrophysical neutrinos can be detected as upward-going muons produced in charged-current interactions with the medium surrounding the detector. The expected neutrino fluxes from various models start to dominate on the atmospheric neutrino background at neutrino energies above some tens of TeV. We present the results of a search for an excess of high energy upward-going muons among the sample of data collected by MACRO during ~5.8 years of effective running time. No significant evidence for this signal was found. As a consequence, an upper limit on the flux of upward-going muons from high-energy neutrinos was set at the level of 1.7 10^(-14) cm^(-2) s^(-1) sr^(-1). The corresponding upper limit for the diffuse neutrino flux was evaluated assuming a neutrino power law spectrum. Our result was compared with theoretical predictions and upper limits from other experiments.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Quantitative N- or C-Terminal Labelling of Proteins with Unactivated Peptides by Use of Sortases and a d-Aminopeptidase

Quantitative and selective labelling of proteins is widely used in both academic and industrial laboratories, and catalytic labelling of proteins using transpeptidases, such as sortases, has proved to be a popular strategy for such selective modification. A major challenge for this class of enzymes is that the majority of procedures require an excess of the labelling reagent or, alternatively, activated substrates rather than simple commercially sourced peptides. We report the use of a coupled enzyme strategy which enables quantitative N- and C-terminal labelling of proteins using unactivated labelling peptides. The use of an aminopeptidase in conjunction with a transpeptidase allows sequence-specific degradation of the peptide by-product, shifting the equilibrium to favor product formation, which greatly enhances the reaction efficiency. Subsequent optimisation of the reaction allows N-terminal labelling of proteins using essentially equimolar ratios of peptide label to protein and C-terminal labelling with only a small excess. Minimizing the amount of substrate required for quantitative labelling has the potential to improve industrial processes and facilitate the use of transpeptidation as a method for protein labelling