The Dark UNiverse Explorer (DUNE): Proposal to ESA's Cosmic Vision

The Dark UNiverse Explorer (DUNE) is a wide-field space imager whose primary goal is the study of dark energy and dark matter with unprecedented precision. For this purpose, DUNE is optimised for the measurement of weak gravitational lensing but will also provide complementary measurements of baryonic accoustic oscillations, cluster counts and the Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect. Immediate auxiliary goals concern the evolution of galaxies, to be studied with unequalled statistical power, the detailed structure of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, and the demographics of Earth-mass planets. DUNE is an Medium-class mission which makes use of readily available components, heritage from other missions, and synergy with ground based facilities to minimise cost and risks. The payload consists of a 1.2m telescope with a combined visible/NIR field-of-view of 1 deg^2. DUNE will carry out an all-sky survey, ranging from 550 to 1600nm, in one visible and three NIR bands which will form a unique legacy for astronomy. DUNE will yield major advances in a broad range of fields in astrophysics including fundamental cosmology, galaxy evolution, and extrasolar planet search. DUNE was recently selected by ESA as one of the mission concepts to be studied in its Cosmic Vision programme.Comment: Accepted in Experimental Astronom

Akateemisten pätkätyöläisten hyvinvointi ja kuntoutus : TUULI-kehittämishankkeen arvioinnin loppuraportti

Määräaikaisiin työsuhteisiin liittyvä epävarmuus on useiden tutkimusten mukaan yhteydessä stressiin ja vähentää psyykkistä hyvinvointia. Suomessa määräaikaiset työsuhteet ovat hieman yleisempiä kuin EU:ssa keskimäärin. Erityistä Suomen tilanteelle on se, että suomalaiset määräaikaiset palkansaajat ovat varsin koulutettuja eurooppalaisiin vertaisiinsa verrattuna. Yliopistoissa poikkeuksellisen suuri osa tekee työtä määräaikaisessa työsuhteessa. TUULI-kehittämishanke (2008–2011) toteutettiin Kuntoutussäätiön Malminkartanon kuntoutuskeskuksessa (syksystä 2010 Avire-Kuntoutus Oy), ja se oli tarkoitettu Helsingin yliopistossa määräaikaisissa palvelussuhteissa tai apurahalla työskenteleville henkilöille. Hankkeen rahoittivat Kela ja Työsuojelurahasto. Hankkeen arviointi toteutettiin Kuntoutussäätiön tutkimus- ja kehittämisyksikössä, ja arvioinnin rahoitti Kela. Hanke liittyi laajempaan Kelan toteuttamaan työhönkuntoutuksen kehittämishankkeeseen. Kuntoutusmalli TUULIn kohderyhmänä olivat Helsingin yliopiston akateemisesti koulutetut henkilöt, jotka ovat määräaikaisissa ja usein projektiluonteisissa työtehtävissä. Tämän kohderyhmän kuntoutustarvetta ei arvioida systemaattisesti työterveyshuollossa eikä työvoimatoimistossa. Osa kohderyhmään kuuluvista henkilöistä ei ole oikeutettu käyttämään työterveyshuollon palveluja, ja määräaikaisten työsuhteiden vuoksi he eivät myöskään valikoidu varhaiskuntoutukseen. Kuntoutusmalli TUULIn tavoitteena oli löytää kohderyhmälle soveltuvia kuntoutustarpeen arviointikeinoja (hyvinvointianalyysi). Tavoitteena oli myös kehittää kohderyhmälle soveltuva varhaiskuntoutusmuoto, johon määräaikaisissa työsuhteissa olevien on käytännössä mahdollista osallistua. Arvioinnissa keskeistä oli kehittävä arviointi, toisin sanoen tavoitteena oli myös tukea hankkeen toimintaa sen tavoitteiden toteuttamisessa ja kuntoutusmallin kehittämisessä. Arviointitutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tuottaa kokonaisarviointi TUULI-kuntoutusmallista. Hankkeen aluksi koottiin perustiedot sekä varsinaiseen interventioon osallistuvilta että ainoastaan hyvinvointianalyysiin osallistuneilta asiakkailta. Myös hankkeen päättyessä koottiin seurantatiedot molemmilta ryhmiltä. Jokainen kuntoutusryhmä on lisäksi haastateltu viimeisen seitsemän vuorokauden intensiivijaksoon kuuluvan päivän aikana. Arvioinnin aikana tehtiin osallistavaa yhteistyötä erityisesti hankkeen toteuttajien, ohjausryhmän ja rahoittajatahojen kanssa. Hyvinvointianalyysiin ja kuntoutusinterventioon saatiin rekrytoitua tavoiteltu määrä osallistujia. He kokivat määräaikaisuuteen liittyvän epätietoisuuden haittaavan työssä jaksamista. Hieman vajaa kolmasosa koki tämän haittaavan paljon. Selvä enemmistö raportoi työn henkisen kuormituksen ongelmista. Hyvinvointianalyysin ohjelma koostui sydämen sykevariaatioanalyysistä, psykologisista testeistä, lääkärin tutkimuksesta ja palautekeskustelusta. Hyvinvointianalyysi koettiin osallistujien keskuudessa varsin hyödylliseksi toimenpiteeksi. Koettu hyöty näyttäisi olevan samalla tasolla myös yhdeksän kuukautta hyvinvointianalyysin päättymisestä. Hyvinvointianalyysi toimi kuntoutustarpeen arviointivälineenä ja itsenäisenä mini-interventiona. Kuntoutusinterventiossa keskeisiä osa-alueita olivat stressin hallinnan ja rentoutumisen opetteleminen, oman työn kuormitustekijöiden tunnistaminen sekä psyykkisen hyvinvoinnin ja omien voimavarojen vahvistaminen. Myös kuntoutusintervention jälkeen osallistujien kokemukset olivat enimmäkseen positiivisia: he kokivat intervention kohentavan kykyään huolehtia omasta hyvinvoinnistaan sekä vahvistavan psyykkisiä ja sosiaalisia voimavarojaan ja stressin hallintaa. Myös työkyvyn koettiin kohentuneen. Sen sijaan osallistujat eivät kokeneet toiminnan ja työn tehokkuuden taitojen kohenneen. Toteuttajat arvioivat hankkeen saavuttaneen keskeisimmät tavoitteensa. Pätkätyöläisen ammatillisen identiteetin hahmottaminen ja työstäminen koettiin ongelmalliseksi; kehittämishankkeen aikana ei löydetty varteenotettavaa lähestymistapaa aiheeseen. Kuntoutusjärjestelmää tulee kehittää huomioiden työn ja työelämän muutokset. TUULI-hanke oli hyvä avaus tällä saralla, mutta hanke oli suunnattu vain pienelle osalle epätyypillistä työtä tekevien joukkoa. Koska määräaikainen työ on vakiintunut osaksi työmarkkinoita ja pätkistä koostuvaan työuraan liittyy työttömyysjaksoja, tulisi myös työttömyyskaudella olevat saada kuntoutusjärjestelmän piiriin. Arvioinnin kehittämissuositukset huomioiva TUULI-kuntoutusmalli tulisi toteuttaa ainakin kertaalleen Suomen yliopistoissa.0,00 euro

Psykoterapeutit Suomessa : Psykoterapiapalvelut ja niiden järjestäminen

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Early symptoms and sensations as predictors of lung cancer: a machine learning multivariate model.

The aim of this study was to identify a combination of early predictive symptoms/sensations attributable to primary lung cancer (LC). An interactive e-questionnaire comprised of pre-diagnostic descriptors of first symptoms/sensations was administered to patients referred for suspected LC. Respondents were included in the present analysis only if they later received a primary LC diagnosis or had no cancer; and inclusion of each descriptor required ≥4 observations. Fully-completed data from 506/670 individuals later diagnosed with primary LC (n = 311) or no cancer (n = 195) were modelled with orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS). After analysing 145/285 descriptors, meeting inclusion criteria, through randomised seven-fold cross-validation (six-fold training set: n = 433; test set: n = 73), 63 provided best LC prediction. The most-significant LC-positive descriptors included a cough that varied over the day, back pain/aches/discomfort, early satiety, appetite loss, and having less strength. Upon combining the descriptors with the background variables current smoking, a cold/flu or pneumonia within the past two years, female sex, older age, a history of COPD (positive LC-association); antibiotics within the past two years, and a history of pneumonia (negative LC-association); the resulting 70-variable model had accurate cross-validated test set performance: area under the ROC curve = 0.767 (descriptors only: 0.736/background predictors only: 0.652), sensitivity = 84.8% (73.9/76.1%, respectively), specificity = 55.6% (66.7/51.9%, respectively). In conclusion, accurate prediction of LC was found through 63 early symptoms/sensations and seven background factors. Further research and precision in this model may lead to a tool for referral and LC diagnostic decision-making

The cost-effectiveness of an early interventional strategy in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome based on the RITA 3 trial

The published version of the aritcle can be found at the link below.Background: Evidence suggests that an early interventional strategy for patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) can improve health outcomes but also increase costs when compared with a conservative strategy.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of an early interventional strategy in different risk groups from a UK health-service perspective.Design: Decision-analytic model based on randomised clinical trial data.Main outcome measures: Costs in UK Sterling at 2003/2004 prices and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) combined into an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.Methods: Data from the third Randomised Intervention Trial of unstable Angina (RITA 3) was employed to estimate rates of cardiovascular death and myocardial infarction, costs and health-related quality of life. Cost-effectiveness was estimated over patients' lifetimes within the decision-analytic model.Results: The mean incremental cost per QALY gained for an early interventional strategy was approximately £55000, £22000 and £12000 for patients at low, intermediate and high risk, respectively. The early interventional strategy is approximately 1%, 35% and 95% likely to be cost-effective for patients at low, intermediate and high risk, respectively, at a threshold of £20000 per QALY. The cost-effectiveness of early intervention in low-risk patients is sensitive to assumptions about the duration of the treatment effect.Conclusion: An early interventional strategy in patients presenting with NSTE-ACS is likely to be considered cost-effective for patients at high and intermediate risk, but this is less likely to be the case for patients at low risk

The POINT-AGAPE survey II: An Unrestricted Search for Microlensing Events towards M31

An automated search is carried out for microlensing events using a catalogue of 44554 variable superpixel lightcurves derived from our three-year monitoring program of M31. Each step of our candidate selection is objective and reproducible by a computer. Our search is unrestricted, in the sense that it has no explicit timescale cut. So, it must overcome the awkward problem of distinguishing long-timescale microlensing events from long-period stellar variables. The basis of the selection algorithm is the fitting of the superpixel lightcurves to two different theoretical models, using variable star and blended microlensing templates. Only if microlensing is preferred is an event retained as a possible candidate. Further cuts are made with regard to (i) sampling, (ii) goodness of fit of the peak to a Paczynski curve, (iii) consistency of the microlensing hypothesis with the absence of a resolved source, (iv) achromaticity, (v) position in the colour-magnitude diagram and (vi) signal-to-noise ratio. Our results are reported in terms of first-level candidates, which are the most trustworthy, and second-level candidates, which are possible microlensing but have lower signal-to-noise and are more questionable. The pipeline leaves just 3 first-level candidates, all of which have very short full-width half-maximum timescale (<5 days) and 3 second-level candidates, which have timescales of 31, 36 and 51 days respectively. We also show 16 third-level lightcurves, as an illustration of the events that just fail the threshold for designation as microlensing candidates. They are almost certainly mainly variable stars. Two of the 3 first-level candidates correspond to known events (PA 00-S3 and PA 00-S4) already reported by the POINT-AGAPE project. The remaining first-level candidate is new.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS, to appea

One-step volumetric additive manufacturing of complex polymer structures.

Two limitations of additive manufacturing methods that arise from layer-based fabrication are slow speed and geometric constraints (which include poor surface quality). Both limitations are overcome in the work reported here, introducing a new volumetric additive fabrication paradigm that produces photopolymer structures with complex nonperiodic three-dimensional geometries on a time scale of seconds. We implement this approach using holographic patterning of light fields, demonstrate the fabrication of a variety of structures, and study the properties of the light patterns and photosensitive resins required for this fabrication approach. The results indicate that low-absorbing resins containing ~0.1% photoinitiator, illuminated at modest powers (~10 to 100 mW), may be successfully used to build full structures in ~1 to 10 s

The POINT-AGAPE Survey: Comparing Automated Searches of Microlensing Events toward M31

Searching for microlensing in M31 using automated superpixel surveys raises a number of difficulties which are not present in more conventional techniques. Here we focus on the problem that the list of microlensing candidates is sensitive to the selection criteria or "cuts" imposed and some subjectivity is involved in this. Weakening the cuts will generate a longer list of microlensing candidates but with a greater fraction of spurious ones; strengthening the cuts will produce a shorter list but may exclude some genuine events. We illustrate this by comparing three analyses of the same data-set obtained from a 3-year observing run on the INT in La Palma. The results of two of these analyses have been already reported: Belokurov et al. (2005) obtained between 3 and 22 candidates, depending on the strength of their cuts, while Calchi Novati et al. (2005) obtained 6 candidates. The third analysis is presented here for the first time and reports 10 microlensing candidates, 7 of which are new. Only two of the candidates are common to all three analyses. In order to understand why these analyses produce different candidate lists, a comparison is made of the cuts used by the three groups...Comment: 28 pages, 24 figures, 9 table

Byproduct-based concentrates in Swedish dairy cow diets - evaluation of environmental impact and feed costs

This study compared use of byproduct-based concentrates and a control feed based on cereal grains and soybean meal in dairy cow diets and evaluated effects on the environment and feed costs. To achieve a nutrient-dense feed ration to dairy cows byproducts are commonly combined with cereal grains and protein-rich feeds such as soybean meal. The present analysis was based on experimental data for high-yielding dairy cows showing that feeding concentrate based on byproducts gives similar milk yield as feeding concentrate based on cereal grains and soybean meal. Evaluation of the different concentrates using life cycle assessment showed that using byproducts required less cropland (-35%), reduced carbon footprint (-20%) and lowered eutrophication potential (-20%) compared with the control. Energy use was higher (+30%), due to the need for drying wet byproducts. Feed costs per kg energy-corrected milk did not differ between the feeds, which is beneficial from a sustainability perspective

WRAP53 promotes cancer cell survival and is a potential target for cancer therapy

We previously identified WRAP53 as an antisense transcript that regulates the p53 tumor suppressor. The WRAP53 gene also encodes a protein essential for Cajal body formation and involved in cellular trafficking of the survival of motor neuron complex, the telomerase enzyme and small Cajal body-specific RNAs to Cajal bodies. Here, we show that the WRAP53 protein is overexpressed in a variety of cancer cell lines of different origin and that WRAP53 overexpression promotes cellular transformation. Knockdown of the WRAP53 protein triggers massive apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, as demonstrated by Bax/Bak activation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release. The apoptosis induced by WRAP53 knockdown could moreover be blocked by Bcl-2 overexpression. Interestingly, human tumor cells are more sensitive to WRAP53 depletion as compared with normal human cells indicating that cancer cells in particular depends on WRAP53 expression for their survival. In agreement with this, we found that high levels of WRAP53 correlate with poor prognosis of head and neck cancer. Together these observations propose a role of WRAP53 in carcinogenesis and identify WRAP53 as a novel molecular target for a large fraction of malignancies