Spatial distribution and galactic model parameters of cataclysmic variables

The spatial distribution, galactic model parameters and luminosity function of cataclysmic variables (CVs) in the solar neighbourhood have been determined from a carefully established sample of 459 CVs. The sample contains all of the CVs with distances computed from the Period-Luminosity-Colours (PLCs) relation of CVs which has been recently derived and calibrated with {\em 2MASS} photometric data. It has been found that an exponential function fits best to the observational z-distributions of all of the CVs in the sample, non-magnetic CVs and dwarf novae, while the sech^{2} function is more appropriate for nova-like stars and polars. The vertical scaleheight of CVs is 158$\pm$14 pc for the {\em 2MASS} J-band limiting apparent magnitude of 15.8. On the other hand, the vertical scaleheights are 128$\pm$20 and 160$\pm$5 pc for dwarf novae and nova-like stars, respectively. The local space density of CVs is found to be $\sim3\times10^{-5}$ pc^{-3} which is in agreement with the lower limit of the theoretical predictions. The luminosity function of CVs shows an increasing trend toward higher space densities at low luminosities, implying that the number of short-period systems should be high. The discrepancies between the theoretical and observational population studies of CVs will almost disappear if for the z-dependence of the space density the sech^{2} density function is used.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures and 5 tables, accepted for publication in New Astronom

Influence of prior activity (warm-up) and inspiratory muscle training upon between- and within-day reliability of maximal inspiratory pressure measurement

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below.BACKGROUND: A specific inspiratory muscle ‘warm-up’ (IWU) prior to assessment of maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (PImax) may reduce the number of measurements required to obtain reproducible, representative estimates of PImax. The influence of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) upon this phenomenon is unknown. OBJECTIVE: Compare the impact of an IWU on the between- and within-day reliability of PImax before and after IMT. METHOD: Eight participants were assessed on 4 separate occasions: 2 trials preceded IMT and 2 followed it. At each assessment, the highest of 3 initial efforts was recorded as the pre-IWU value (PI). The highest of 9 subsequent efforts that followed 2 sets of 30 breaths at 40% PI was recorded as PImax. Following 4 weeks of IMT, the trials were repeated. RESULTS: IWU increased PI by 11–17% (p ≤ 0.01), irrespective of IMT status. After IWU, 5–6 efforts were required to determine PImax, irrespective of IMT status. PImax was similar between the 2 trials before IMT and the 2 trials after IMT (p ≥ 0.05), and was 21% higher after IMT (p ≤ 0.01). The coefficient of variation was excellent before and after IWU, both before (1.9 and 0.6%, respectively) and after IMT (1.1 and 0.3%, respectively). Limits of agreement and sample sizes for effect sizes ≤10% were substantially smaller after IWU in all trials. CONCLUSIONS: (1) IWU enhances the between-day reliability of PImax measurement, and this is unaffected by IMT, and (2) judgements regarding acceptability in relation to PImax reliability should be made in relation to analytical goals and we present data to facilitate this

Kinetics of phloretin binding to phosphatidylcholine vesicle membranes.

The submillisecond kinetics for phloretin binding to unilamellar phosphatidylcholine (PC) vesicles was investigated using the temperature-jump technique. Spectrophotometric studies of the equilibrium binding performed at 328 nm demonstrated that phloretin binds to a single set of independent, equivalent sites on the vesicle with a dissociation constant of 8.0 microM and a lipid/site ratio of 4.0. The temperature of the phloretin-vesicle solution was jumped by 4 degrees C within 4 microseconds producing a monoexponential, concentration-dependent relaxation process with time constants in the 30--200-microseconds time range. An analysis of the concentration dependence of relaxation time constants at pH 7.30 and 24 degrees C yielded a binding rate constant of 2.7 X 10(8) M-1 s-1 and an unbinding constant of 2,900 s-1; approximately 66 percent of total binding sites are exposed at the outer vesicle surface. The value of the binding rate constant and three additional observations suggest that the binding kinetics are diffusion limited. The phloretin analogue, naringenin, which has a diffusion coefficient similar to phloretin yet a dissociation constant equal to 24 microM, bound to PC vesicle with the same rate constant as phloretin did. In addition, the phloretin-PC system was studied in buffers made one to six times more viscous than water by addition of sucrose or glycerol to the differ. The equilibrium affinity for phloretin binding to PC vesicles is independent of viscosity, yet the binding rate constant decreases with the expected dependence (kappa binding alpha 1/viscosity) for diffusion-limited processes. Thus, the binding rate constant is not altered by differences in binding affinity, yet depends upon the diffusion coefficient in buffer. Finally, studies of the pH dependence of the binding rate constant showed a dependence (kappa binding alpha [1 + 10pH-pK]) consistent with the diffusion-limited binding of a weak acid

Report on the first phase of the study on men’s usage of the Bradford Health of Men services

This is a summary of the full report on the first year of the HOM project in Bradford, published in March 2005 and available at www.healthofmen.com . In this summary there is a concentration on three things, the background to the project, the experiences of the HOM team in setting up and managing projects and the views of the men involved in the projects. The summary is mostly a list of the things that the team found to be important in setting up projects and, equally important, some of the things not to do. There is, of course, a much fuller discussion of the details of projects, supporting data and the theoretical model of how men and health workers interact to manage health

12CaO.7Al2O3 ceramic: A review of the electronic and optoelectronic applications in display devices

The alumina-based compound, 12CaO.7Al2O3, is a ceramic material with a unique cage-like lattice. Such a structure has enabled scientists to extract various new characteristics from this compound, most of which were unknown until quite recently. This compound has the ability to incorporate different anionic species and even electrons to the empty space inside its cages, thereby changing from an insulator into a conductive oxide. The cage walls can also incorporate different rare earth phosphor elements producing an oxide-based phosphor. All these characteristics are obtained without a significant change in the structure of the lattice. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that this compound will receive attention as a potential material for display applications. This review article presents recent investigations into the application of 12CaO.7Al2O3 ceramic in various display devices, the challenges, opportunities and possible areas of future investigation into the development of this naturally abundant and environmental friendly material in the field of display.LP Displays Ltd, Blackburn, UK for partial funding of the studentship at Queen Mary, University of London. Dr Lesley Hanna of Wolfson Centre for Materials Processing, Brunel University Londo

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma of the Uterine Cervix

Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) causes many deaths worldwide and its incidence is increasing. They occur commonly in middle aged and elderly people and are disseminated at diagnosis. We present an interesting case of NHL in a 52 years old female, who presented with past a history of postmenopausal bleeding. A 3 x 5 cms endocervical polyp was noticed in the cervix. Biopsy of the polyp revealed it to be a CD20-positive diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL)-type NHL. She was diagnosed as stage IE after staging work-up. She attained a complete response, and has been in remission for 1 year 8 months

Noise resistant generalized parametric validity index of clustering for gene expression data

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Validity indices have been investigated for decades. However, since there is no study of noise-resistance performance of these indices in the literature, there is no guideline for determining the best clustering in noisy data sets, especially microarray data sets. In this paper, we propose a generalized parametric validity (GPV) index which employs two tunable parameters α and β to control the proportions of objects being considered to calculate the dissimilarities. The greatest advantage of the proposed GPV index is its noise-resistance ability, which results from the flexibility of tuning the parameters. Several rules are set to guide the selection of parameter values. To illustrate the noise-resistance performance of the proposed index, we evaluate the GPV index for assessing five clustering algorithms in two gene expression data simulation models with different noise levels and compare the ability of determining the number of clusters with eight existing indices. We also test the GPV in three groups of real gene expression data sets. The experimental results suggest that the proposed GPV index has superior noise-resistance ability and provides fairly accurate judgements

Gender and Health: The case for gender-sensitive health policy and health care delivery

There is growing national and international recognition that gender is an important indicator of health differences. The United Kingdom is in danger of falling behind many other countries that are beginning to recognise the crucial importance of gender to the development of effective health policy and practice. This briefing paper sets out some of the reasons why those involved in the gender and health partnership (GAHP) believe that it is time to place gender at the heart of the equalities agenda in health, and why it is important to ensure gender sensitivity in health policy, medical research and services. This briefing paper refers to the United Kingdom; however, Scotland is in the process of producing guidelines specifically on mainstreaming gender in health policy and service delivery