Women in pediatric radiology

Women represent a significant proportion of pediatric radiologists in the United States, as shown on surveys by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR). This review discusses the characteristics of this subgroup of specialists and issues uniquely related to them

Average Heating Rate of Hot Atmospheres in Distant Clusters by Radio AGN: Evidence for Continuous AGN Heating

We examine atmospheric heating by radio active galactic nuclei (AGN) in distant X-ray clusters by cross correlating clusters selected from the 400 Square Degree (400SD) X-ray Cluster survey with radio sources in the NRAO VLA Sky Survey. Roughly 30% of the clusters show radio emission above a flux threshold of 3 mJy within a projected radius of 250 kpc. The radio emission is presumably associated with the brightest cluster galaxy. The mechanical jet power for each radio source was determined using scaling relations between radio power and cavity (mechanical) power determined for nearby clusters, groups, and galaxies with hot atmospheres containing X-ray cavities. The average jet power of the central radio AGN is approximately $2\times 10^{44}$\ergs. We find no significant correlation between radio power, hence mechanical jet power, and the X-ray luminosities of clusters in the redshift range 0.1 -- 0.6. This implies that the mechanical heating rate per particle is higher in lower mass, lower X-ray luminosity clusters. The jet power averaged over the sample corresponds to an atmospheric heating of approximately 0.2 keV per particle within R$_{500}$. Assuming the current AGN heating rate does not evolve but remains constant to redshifts of 2, the heating rate per particle would rise by a factor of two. We find that the energy injected from radio AGN contribute substantially to the excess entropy in hot atmospheres needed to break self-similarity in cluster scaling relations. The detection frequency of radio AGN is inconsistent with the presence of strong cooling flows in 400SD clusters, but does not exclude weak cooling flows. It is unclear whether central AGN in 400SD clusters are maintained by feedback at the base of a cooling flow. Atmospheric heating by radio AGN may retard the development of strong cooling flows at early epochs.Comment: ApJ in pres

Loop corrections for Kaluza-Klein AdS amplitudes

Recently we conjectured the four-point amplitude of graviton multiplets in ${\rm AdS}_5 \times {\rm S}^5$ at one loop by exploiting the operator product expansion of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. Here we give the first extension of those results to include Kaluza-Klein modes, obtaining the amplitude for two graviton multiplets and two states of the first KK mode. Our method again relies on resolving the large N degeneracy among a family of long double-trace operators, for which we obtain explicit formulas for the leading anomalous dimensions. Having constructed the one-loop amplitude we are able to obtain a formula for the one-loop corrections to the anomalous dimensions of all twist five double-trace operators.Comment: 37 pages. One ancillary file containing data on the correlator

Metabolic efficiency of liver mitochondria in rats with decreased thermogenesis

AbstractWe have studied changes in hepatic mitochondrial efficiency induced by 24-h fasting or acclimation at 29°C, two conditions of reduced thermogenesis. Basal and palmitate-induced proton leak, which contribute to mitochondrial efficiency, are not affected after 24-h fasting, when serum free triiodothyronine decreases significantly and serum free fatty acids increase significantly. In rats at 29°C, in which serum free triiodothyronine and fatty acids decrease significantly, basal proton leak increases significantly, while no variation is found in palmitate-induced proton leak. The present results indicate that mitochondrial efficiency in the liver is not related to a physiological decrease in whole body thermogenesis

Cancer incidence in British vegetarians

Background: Few prospective studies have examined cancer incidence among vegetarians. Methods: We studied 61 566 British men and women, comprising 32 403 meat eaters, 8562 non-meat eaters who did eat fish ('fish eaters') and 20 601 vegetarians. After an average follow-up of 12.2 years, there were 3350 incident cancers of which 2204 were among meat eaters, 317 among fish eaters and 829 among vegetarians. Relative risks (RRs) were estimated by Cox regression, stratified by sex and recruitment protocol and adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol, body mass index, physical activity level and, for women only, parity and oral contraceptive use. Results: There was significant heterogeneity in cancer risk between groups for the following four cancer sites: stomach cancer, RRs (compared with meat eaters) of 0.29 (95% CI: 0.07–1.20) in fish eaters and 0.36 (0.16–0.78) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.007; ovarian cancer, RRs of 0.37 (0.18–0.77) in fish eaters and 0.69 (0.45–1.07) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.007; bladder cancer, RRs of 0.81 (0.36–1.81) in fish eaters and 0.47 (0.25–0.89) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.05; and cancers of the lymphatic and haematopoietic tissues, RRs of 0.85 (0.56–1.29) in fish eaters and 0.55 (0.39–0.78) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.002. The RRs for all malignant neoplasms were 0.82 (0.73–0.93) in fish eaters and 0.88 (0.81–0.96) in vegetarians (P for heterogeneity=0.001). Conclusion: The incidence of some cancers may be lower in fish eaters and vegetarians than in meat eaters

Facing Up to Longevity with Old Actuarial Methods: A Comparison of Pooled Funds and Income Tontines

We compare the concepts underlying modern actuarial solutions to pension insurance and present two recently developed pension products—pooled annuity overlay funds (based on actuarial fairness) and equitable income tontines (based on equitability). These two products adopt specific approaches to the management of longevity risk by mutualising it among participants rather than transferring it completely to the insurer. As the market would appear to be ready for such innovations, our study seeks to establish a general framework for their introduction. We stress that the notion of actuarial fairness, which characterises pooled annuity overlay funds, enables participants to join and exit the fund at any time. Such freedom of action is a quite remarkable feature and one that cannot be matched by lifelong contracts

Negative and positive selection of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes affected by the α3 domain of MHC I molecules

THE α1 and α2 domains of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules function in the binding and presentation of foreign peptides to the T-cell antigen receptor and control both negative and positive selection of the T-cell repertoire. Although the α3 domain of class I is not involved in peptide binding, it does interact with the T-cell accessory molecule, CDS. CDS is important in the selection of T cells as anti-CDS antibody injected into perinatal mice interfers with this process. We previously used a hybrid class I molecule with the α1/α2 domains from L^d and the α3 domain from Q7^b and showed that this molecule binds an L^d-restricted peptide but does not interact with CD8-dependent cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Expression of this molecule in transgenic mice fails to negatively select a subpopulation of anti-L^d cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In addition, positive selection of virus-specific L^d-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes does not occur. We conclude that besides the α1/α2 domains of class I, the α3 domain plays an important part in both positive and negative selection of antigen-specific cells

Constraining halo occupation properties of X-ray AGNs using clustering of Chandra sources in the Bootes survey region

We present one of the most precise measurement to date of the spatial clustering of X-ray selected AGNs using a sample derived from the Chandra X-ray Observatory survey in the Bootes field. The real-space two-point correlation function over a redshift interval from z=0.17 to z~3 is well described by the power law, xi(r)=(r/r0)^-gamma, for comoving separations r<~20h^-1 Mpc. We find gamma=1.84+-0.12 and r0 consistent with no redshift trend within the sample (varying between r0=5.5+-0.6 h^-1 Mpc for =0.37 and r0=6.9+-1.0 h^-1 Mpc for =1.28). Further, we are able to measure the projections of the two-point correlation function both on the sky plane and in the line of sight. We use these measurements to show that the Chandra/Bootes AGNs are predominantly located at the centers of dark matter halos with the circular velocity Vmax>320 km/s or M_200 > 4.1e12 h^-1 Msun, and tend to avoid satellite galaxies in halos of this or higher mass. The halo occupation properties inferred from the clustering properties of Chandra/Bootes AGNs --- the mass scale of the parent dark matter halos, the lack of significant redshift evolution of the clustering length, and the low satellite fraction --- are broadly consistent with the Hopkins et al. scenario of quasar activity triggered by mergers of similarly-sized galaxies.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. The revision matches the accepted version. The most significant changes include the recalculation of uncertainties using mock catalogs and explicit comparison with the AGN HOD studies based on projected correlation function, w(rp