Do patients registered with CAM-trained GPs really use fewer health care resources and live longer? A response to Kooreman and Baars. Eur J Health Econ (2012). 13:469–776

Comment on Kooreman, P., Baars, E.W.: Patients whose GP knows complementary medicine tend to have lower costs and live longer. Eur. J. Health Econ.13(6), 769–776 (2012). doi:10.​1007/​s10198-011-0330-

A new transcript in the TCRB locus unveils the human ortholog of the mouse pre-Dß1 promoter

Introduction: While most transcripts arising from the human T Cell Receptor locus reflect fully rearranged genes, several germline transcripts have been identified. We describe a new germline transcript arising from the human TCRB locus. Methods: cDNA sequencing, promoter, and gene expression analyses were used to characterize the new transcript. Results: The new germline transcript encoded by the human TCRB locus consists of a new exon of 103bp, which we named TRBX1 (X1), spliced with the first exon of gene segments C ss 1 or C ss 2. X1 is located upstream of gene segment D ss 1 and is therefore deleted from a V-DJ rearranged TCRB locus. The X1-C ss transcripts do not appear to code for a protein. We define their transcription start and minimal promoter. These transcripts are found in populations of mature T lymphocytes from blood or tissues and in T cell clones with a monoallelic TCRB rearrangement. In immature thymocytes, they are already detectable in CD1a(-)CD34(+)CD4(-)CD8(-) cells, therefore before completion of the TCRB rearrangements. Conclusions: The X1 promoter appears to be the ortholog of the mouse pre-D ss 1 promoter (PD ss 1). Like PD ss 1, its activation is regulated by E ss in T cells and might facilitate the TCRB rearrangement process by contributing to the accessibility of the D ss 1 locus

Can one written word mean many things? Prereaders’ assumptions about the stability of written words’ meanings

Results of three experiments confirmed previous findings that in a moving word task, prereaders 3 to 5 years of age judge as if the meaning of a written word changes when it moves from a matching to a nonmatching toy (e.g., when the word “dog” moves from a dog to a boat). We explore under what circumstances children make such errors, we identify new conditions under which children were more likely correctly to treat written words’ meanings as stable: when the word was placed alongside a nonmatching toy without having been alongside a matching toy previously, when two words were moved from a matching toy to a nonmatching toy, and when children were asked to change what the print said. Under these conditions, children more frequently assumed that physical forms had stable meanings as they do with other forms of external representation

SPH Simulations of Negative (Nodal) Superhumps: A Parametric Study

Negative superhumps in cataclysmic variable systems result when the accretion disc is tilted with respect to the orbital plane. The line of nodes of the tilted disc precesses slowly in the retrograde direction, resulting in a photometric signal with a period slightly less than the orbital period. We use the method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics to simulate a series of models of differing mass ratio and effective viscosity to determine the retrograde precession period and superhump period deficit $\varepsilon_-$ as a function of system mass ratio $q$. We tabulate our results and present fits to both $\varepsilon_-$ and $\varepsilon_+$ versus $q$, as well as compare the numerical results with those compiled from the literature of negative superhump observations. One surprising is that while we find negative superhumps most clearly in simulations with an accretion stream present, we also find evidence for negative superhumps in simulations in which we shut off the mass transfer stream completely, indicating that the origin of the photometric signal is more complicated than previously believed.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Adipose tissue dysfunction, inflammation, and insulin resistance alternative pathways to cardiac remodelling in schizophrenia. A multimodal, case-control study

Background Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of excess mortality in schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia show evidence of increased concentric cardiac remodelling (CCR), defined as an increase in left-ventricular mass over end-diastolic volumes. CCR is a predictor of cardiac disease, but the molecular pathways leading to this in schizophrenia are unknown. We aimed to explore the relevance of hypertensive and non-hypertensive pathways to CCR, and their potential molecular underpinnings in schizophrenia. Methods and findings In this multimodal case-control study we collected cardiac and whole-body fat magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), clinical measures, and blood levels of several cardiometabolic biomarkers known to potentially cause CCR from individuals with schizophrenia, alongside healthy controls (HCs) matched for age, sex, ethnicity, and body surface area. Of 50 participants, 34 (68%) were male. Participants with schizophrenia showed increases in cardiac concentricity (d=0.71, 95%CI: 0.12,1.30; p=0.01), indicative of CCR, but showed no differences in overall content or regional distribution of adipose tissue compared to HCs. Despite the cardiac changes, participants with schizophrenia did not demonstrate activation of the hypertensive CCR pathway; however, they showed evidence of adipose dysfunction: adiponectin was reduced (d=-0.69, 95%CI: -1.28,-0.10; p=0.02), with evidence of activation of downstream pathways including hypertriglyceridemia, elevated C-reactive protein, fasting glucose, and alkaline phosphatase. Conclusions People with schizophrenia showed adipose tissue dysfunction compared to BMI-matched HCs. The presence of non-hypertensive CCR and a dysmetabolic phenotype may contribute to excess cardiovascular risk in schizophrenia. If our results are confirmed, acting on this pathway could reduce cardiovascular risk and resultant lifeyears lost in people with schizophrenia

Serendipitous Kepler observations of a background dwarf nova of SU UMa type

We have discovered a dwarf nova (DN) of type SU UMa in Kepler data which is 7.0 arcsec from the G-type exoplanet survey target KIC 4378554. The DN appears as a background source in the pixel aperture of the foreground G star. We extracted only the pixels where the DN is present and observed the source to undergo five outbursts -- one a superoutburst -- over a timespan of 22 months. The superoutburst was triggered by a normal outburst, a feature that has been seen in all DNe superoutburst observed by Kepler. Superhumps during the super outburst had a period of 1.842+/-0.004 h and we see a transition from disc-dominated superhump signal to a mix of disc and accretion stream impact. Predictions of the number of DNe present in Kepler data based on previously published space densities vary from 0.3 to 258. An investigation of the background pixels targets would lead to firmer constraints on the space density of DN.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

VFR-into-IMC Accident Trends: Perceptions of Deficiencies in Training

Pilots who operate under visual flight rules (VFR) and in visual meteorological conditions, who then continue flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), remain as one of the leading causes of fatal aircraft accidents in general aviation. This paper examines past and current research initiatives, in seeking to identify causal factors and gaps in training that lead to VFR-into-IMC aircraft accidents, using a mixed methods approach. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute database and the National Transportation Safety Board database search engines were used to identify accident reports associated with VFR flight into IMC/deteriorating weather conditions for a 10-year time period (2003 to 2012). A national survey was also conducted to gain deeper insight into the self-identified training deficiencies of pilots. There is evidence that situational awareness is linked to decision-making, and there is a lack of proper training with regards to weather and weather technology concepts, making it difficult for pilots to gain these knowledge areas, skills, and abilities throughout their initial flight training and subsequent experience

Large amplitude variability from the persistent ultracompact X-ray binary in NGC 1851

Using archival RXTE data, we show that the ultracompact X-ray binary in NGC 1851 exhibits large amplitude X-ray flux varations of more than a factor of 10 on timescales of days to weeks and undergoes sustained periods of months where the time-averaged luminosty varies by factors of two. Variations of this magnitude and timescale have not been reported previously in other ultracompact X-ray binaries. Mass transfer in ultracompact binaries is thought to be driven by gravitational radiation and the predicted transfer rates are so high that the disks of ultracompact binaries with orbits as short as that of this object should not be susceptible to ionization instabilities. Therefore the variability characteristics we observe were unexpected, and need to be understood. We briefly discuss a few alternatives for producing the observed variations in light of the fact that the viscous timescale of the disk is of order a week, comparable to the shorter time scale variation that is observed but much less than the longer term variation. We also discuss the implications for interpretation of observations of extragalactic binaries if the type of variability seen in the source in NGC 1851 is typical.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The long term optical behaviour of helium accreting AM CVn binaries

We present the results of a two and a half year optical photometric monitoring programme covering 16 AM CVn binaries using the Liverpool Telescope on La Palma. We detected outbursts in seven systems, one of which (SDSS J0129) was seen in outburst for the first time. Our study coupled with existing data shows that ~1/3 of these helium-rich accreting compact binaries show outbursts. The orbital period of the outbursting systems lie in the range 24-44 mins and is remarkably consistent with disk-instability predictions. The characteristics of the outbursts seem to be broadly correlated with their orbital period (and hence mass transfer rate). Systems which have short periods (<30 min) tend to exhibit outbursts lasting 1--2 weeks and often show a distinct `dip' in flux shortly after the on-set of the burst. We explore the nature of these dips which are also seen in the near-UV. The longer period bursters show higher amplitude events (5 mag) that can last several months. We have made simulations to estimate how many outbursts we are likely to have missed.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA