Male Partners' Involvement Towards Prenatal Screening and Diagnostic Testing for Down Syndrome

Introduction: Now, male partners' involvement in prenatal screening and diagnostic testing for Down syndrome is becoming increasingly recognized as well to ensure that parents are well informed of the risks and benefits of screening. The aim of study was to understand the degree of male partners' involvement during pregnancy in Singapore population. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of male partners' attending prenatal counseling was performed. The instrument used to measure the level of involvement is a self-assessment questionnaire that identifies the role of male partners with a Likert scale. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data gained. Result: A total of 107 participants completed the questionnaire. Sixty-seven percent of male partners were found to have a highlevel of involvement while 32.7% was found to have a medium level of involvement. Most of them stated that women can pursue prenatal testing without their permission. Male partners found it more important for them to accompany their spouse to amniocentesis or CVS than to the Down syndrome screening test. When participants were asked about how much information about Down syndrome they sought prior to the appointment, how much discussion they had with their spouse about Down syndrome testing, and about whether they or their spouse should be the first person to receive test results, most stated that they were undecided. Conclusion: These results revealed that male partners were very well involved in the Down syndrome testing during pregnancy and future studies should assess possible underlying factors that influence male partners' involvement

Solar Irradiance Variability is Caused by the Magnetic Activity on the Solar Surface

The variation in the radiative output of the Sun, described in terms of solar irradiance, is important to climatology. A common assumption is that solar irradiance variability is driven by its surface magnetism. Verifying this assumption has, however, been hampered by the fact that models of solar irradiance variability based on solar surface magnetism have to be calibrated to observed variability. Making use of realistic three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the solar atmosphere and state-of-the-art solar magnetograms from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we present a model of total solar irradiance (TSI) that does not require any such calibration. In doing so, the modeled irradiance variability is entirely independent of the observational record. (The absolute level is calibrated to the TSI record from the Total Irradiance Monitor.) The model replicates 95% of the observed variability between April 2010 and July 2016, leaving little scope for alternative drivers of solar irradiance variability at least over the time scales examined (days to years).Comment: Supplementary Materials; https://journals.aps.org/prl/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.091102/supplementary_material_170801.pd

Pattern formation of indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells

Using a nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation including short-range two-body attraction and three-body repulsion, we investigate the spatial distribution of indirect excitons in semiconductor coupled quantum wells. The results obtained can interpret the experimental phenomenon that annular exciton cloud first contracts then expands when the number of confined excitons is increased in impurity potential well, as observed by Lai \emph{et al.} [Lai $et al.$, Science \textbf{303}, 503 (2004)]. In particular, the model reconciles the patterns of exciton rings reported by Butov \emph{et al.} [Butov $et al.$, Nature \textbf{418}, 751 (2002)]. At higher densities, the model predicts much richer patterns, which could be tested by future experiments.Comment: 5 Revtex4 pages, 3 figure

Francis F. Maury, M.D. (1840 to 1879): an often forgotten pioneer in early American surgery.

Francis F. Maury (Fig. 1) was born on August 9, 1840, in Danville, Kentucky, where he was raised on a farm by his mother and father. His father was an Episcopal clergyman of Huguenot descent, whose forefathers had fled from France to escape religious persecution. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Center College in the summer of 1860, he entered medical school at the University of Virginia. After one full term, he matriculated to Philadelphia’s Jefferson Medical College and completed his medical education as a private student under the direction of Dr. Samuel D. Gross.1, 2 He obtained his Doctorate of Medicine in March of 1862 at the age of only 21 years. Such were his talents as a medical student that he was appointed resident physician at the Philadelphia Hospital one month before his graduation. Although he spent only one year there, he developed a reputation as a tireless, devoted, and charming surgeon. In April 1863, Maury was assigned to duty at the South Street General Hospital to serve as acting assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army for two years. In October 1863, he was appointed assistant professor to Dr. Gross and six months later became chief of Dr. Gross’ surgical clinic at Jefferson Medical College. In November 1865, at the age of only 25 years, he returned to the Philadelphia Hospital, where he was appointed one of the chief surgeons on the retirement of Dr. Gross from that institution. In April of 1866, Maury founded the Summer Course on Venereal and Cutaneous Diseases in the Jefferson Medical College, where he taught until his death.1 Although Maury did not consider himself a dermatologist, his expertise in this emerging field was widely recognized

Reconstruction of spectral solar irradiance since 1700 from simulated magnetograms

We present a reconstruction of the spectral solar irradiance since 1700 using the SATIRE-T2 (Spectral And Total Irradiance REconstructions for the Telescope era version 2) model. This model uses as input magnetograms simulated with a surface flux transport model fed with semi-synthetic records of emerging sunspot groups. We used statistical relationships between the properties of sunspot group emergence, such as the latitude, area, and tilt angle, and the sunspot cycle strength and phase to produce semi-synthetic sunspot group records starting in the year 1700. The semisynthetic records are fed into a surface flux transport model to obtain daily simulated magnetograms that map the distribution of the magnetic flux in active regions (sunspots and faculae) and their decay products on the solar surface. The magnetic flux emerging in ephemeral regions is accounted for separately based on the concept of extended cycles whose length and amplitude are linked to those of the sunspot cycles through the sunspot number. The magnetic flux in each surface component (sunspots, faculae and network, and ephemeral regions) was used to compute the spectral and total solar irradiance between the years 1700 and 2009. This reconstruction is aimed at timescales of months or longer although the model returns daily values. We found that SATIRE-T2, besides reproducing other relevant observations such as the total magnetic flux, reconstructs the total solar irradiance (TSI) on timescales of months or longer in good agreement with the PMOD composite of observations, as well as with the reconstruction starting in 1878 based on the RGO-SOON data. The model predicts an increase in the TSI of 1.2[+0.2, -0.3] Wm-2 between 1700 and the present. The spectral irradiance reconstruction is in good agreement with the UARS/SUSIM measurements as well as the Lyman-alpha composite.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

UV solar irradiance in observations and the NRLSSI and SATIRE-S models

Total solar irradiance and UV spectral solar irradiance have been monitored since 1978 through a succession of space missions. This is accompanied by the development of models aimed at replicating solar irradiance by relating the variability to solar magnetic activity. The NRLSSI and SATIRE-S models provide the most comprehensive reconstructions of total and spectral solar irradiance over the period of satellite observation currently available. There is persistent controversy between the various measurements and models in terms of the wavelength dependence of the variation over the solar cycle, with repercussions on our understanding of the influence of UV solar irradiance variability on the stratosphere. We review the measurement and modelling of UV solar irradiance variability over the period of satellite observation. The SATIRE-S reconstruction is consistent with spectral solar irradiance observations where they are reliable. It is also supported by an independent, empirical reconstruction of UV spectral solar irradiance based on UARS/SUSIM measurements from an earlier study. The weaker solar cycle variability produced by NRLSSI between 300 and 400 nm is not evident in any available record. We show that although the method employed to construct NRLSSI is principally sound, reconstructed solar cycle variability is detrimentally affected by the uncertainty in the SSI observations it draws upon in the derivation. Based on our findings, we recommend, when choosing between the two models, the use of SATIRE-S for climate studies

Quantum teleportation via two qubit Heisenberg XY chain - Effects of anisotropy and magnetic field

In this paper, we study the influence of anisotropy on the usefulness, of the entanglement in a two-qubit Heisenberg XY chain at thermal equilibrium in the presence of an external magnetic field, as resource for quantum teleportation via the standard teleportation protocol. We show that the nonzero thermal entanglement produced by adjusting the external magnetic field strength beyond some critical strength is a useful resource. We also considered entanglement teleportation via two two-qubit Heisenberg XY chains.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Targeted modulation of tropoelastin structure and assembly

Tropoelastin, as the monomer unit of elastin, assembles into elastic fibers that impart strength and resilience to elastic tissues. Tropoelastin is also widely used to manufacture versatile materials with specific mechanical and biological properties. The assembly of tropoelastin into elastic fibers or biomaterials is crucially influenced by key submolecular regions and specific residues within these domains. In this work, we identify the functional contributions of two rarely occurring negatively charged residues, glutamate 345 in domain 19 and glutamate 414 in domain 21, in jointly maintaining the native conformation of the tropoelastin hinge, bridge and foot regions. Alanine substitution of E345 and/or E414 variably alters the positioning and interactive accessibility of these regions, as illustrated by nanostructural studies and detected by antibody and cell probes. These structural changes are associated with a lower propensity for monomer coacervation, cross-linking into morphologically and functionally atypical hydrogels, and markedly impaired and abnormal elastic fiber formation. Our work indicates the crucial significance of both E345 and E414 residues in modulating specific local structure and higher-order assembly of human tropoelastin

Teleportation via thermally entangled state of a two-qubit Heisenberg XX chain

We find that quantum teleportation, using the thermally entangled state of two-qubit Heisenberg XX chain as a resource, with fidelity better than any classical communication protocol is possible. However, a thermal state with a greater amount of thermal entanglement does not necessarily yield better fidelity. It depends on the amount of mixing between the separable state and maximally entangled state in the spectra of the two-qubit Heisenberg XX model.Comment: 5 pages, 1 tabl