Implementation and Performance of the ATLAS Jet Trigger

The ATLAS jet trigger is prepared to cover a variety of physics topics, ranging from QCD studies to searches for SUSY particles. In this paper we will present the challenges of the jet trigger, describing the implementation and the expected performance. In particular, we will review the current physics signatures, the expected rates, efficiencies and timing measurements as obtained from MC studies. Comparisons of the performance obtained with the two different granularities at LVL2 and different EF algorithms will be shown. An overview of teh implications of the trigger performance in the physics studies that include jet signatures will be shown

Ephemeral Work Group Formation of Jenu Kuruba Honey Collectors and Late 19th Century Coloado Silver Prospectors

Humans frequently form short-lived cooperative groups to accomplish subsistence and economic tasks. We explore the ecological and cultural factors behind ephemeral work-group formation in two disparate cultural contexts: groups foraging for wild honey in present day South India and groups prospecting for silver ore in the Elk Mountain Mining District of Colorado in the late 19th century. Contrary to traditional economic foraging predictions, we find little evidence that per capita yields are the most important factor in determining size and composition of ephemeral work groups. We explore factors in each of these cultures that may be of importance for group formation such as kinship, reputation, and pleasure. Models that only incorporate economic parameters will make poor predictions of how humans interact with their environments

Genetic Risk Factors and Gene–Lifestyle Interactions in Gestational Diabetes

Paralleling the increasing trends of maternal obesity, gestational diabetes (GDM) has become a global health challenge with significant public health repercussions. In addition to short-term adverse outcomes, such as hypertensive pregnancy disorders and fetal macrosomia, in the long term, GDM results in excess cardiometabolic morbidity in both the mother and child. Recent data suggest that women with GDM are characterized by notable phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity and that frequencies of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes are different between physiologic GDM subtypes. However, as of yet, GDM treatment protocols do not differentiate between these subtypes. Mapping the genetic architecture of GDM, as well as accurate phenotypic and genotypic definitions of GDM, could potentially help in the individualization of GDM treatment and assessment of long-term prognoses. In this narrative review, we outline recent studies exploring genetic risk factors of GDM and later type 2 diabetes (T2D) in women with prior GDM. Further, we discuss the current evidence on gene–lifestyle interactions in the development of these diseases. In addition, we point out specific research gaps that still need to be addressed to better understand the complex genetic and metabolic crosstalk within the mother–placenta–fetus triad that contributes to hyperglycemia in pregnancy

Distinct Changes in Placental Ceramide Metabolism Characterize Type 1 and 2 Diabetic Pregnancies with Fetal Macrosomia or Preeclampsia

Disturbances of lipid metabolism are typical in diabetes. Our objective was to characterize and compare placental sphingolipid metabolism in type 1 (T1D) and 2 (T2D) diabetic pregnancies and in non-diabetic controls. Placental samples from T1D, T2D, and control pregnancies were processed for sphingolipid analysis using tandem mass spectrometry. Western blotting, enzyme activity, and immunofluorescence analyses were used to study sphingolipid regulatory enzymes. Placental ceramide levels were lower in T1D and T2D compared to controls, which was associated with an upregulation of the ceramide degrading enzyme acid ceramidase (ASAH1). Increased placental ceramide content was found in T1D complicated by preeclampsia. Similarly, elevated ceramides were observed in T1D and T2D pregnancies with poor glycemic control. The protein levels and activity of sphingosine kinases (SPHK) that produce sphingoid-1-phosphates (S1P) were highest in T2D. Furthermore, SPHK levels were upregulated in T1D and T2D pregnancies with fetal macrosomia. In vitro experiments using trophoblastic JEG3 cells demonstrated increased SPHK expression and activity following glucose and insulin treatments. Specific changes in the placental sphingolipidome characterize T1D and T2D placentae depending on the type of diabetes and feto-maternal complications. Increased exposure to insulin and glucose is a plausible contributor to the upregulation of the SPHK-S1P-axis in diabetic placentae

Deep cover bleeder entry performance and support loading: A case study

Several questions have emerged in relation to deep cover bleeder entry performance and support loading: how well do current modeling procedures calculate the rear abutment extent and loading? Does an improved understanding of the rear abutment extent warrant a change in standing support in bleeder entries? To help answer these questions and to determine the current utilization of standing support in bleeder entries, four bleeder entries at varying distances from the startup room were instrumented, observed, and numerically modeled. This paper details observations made by NIOSH researchers in the bleeder entries of a deep cover longwall panel—specifically data collected from instrumented pumpable cribs, observations of the conditions of the entries, and numerical modeling of the bleeder entries during longwall extraction. The primary focus was on the extent and magnitude of the abutment loading expe- rienced by the standing support. As expected, the instrumentation of the standing supports showed very little loading relative to the capacity of the standing supports—less than 23 Mg load and 2.54 cm conver- gence. The Flac3D program was used to evaluate these four bleeder entries using previously defined mod- eling and input parameter estimation procedures. The results indicated only a minor increase in load during the extraction of the longwall panel. The model showed a much greater increase in stress due to the development of the gateroad and bleeder entries, with about 80% of the increase associated with development and 20% with longwall extraction. The Flac3D model showed very good correlation between expected gateroad loading during panel extraction and that expected based on previous studies. The results of this study showed that the rear abutment stress experienced by this bleeder entry design was minimal. The farther away from the startup room, the lower the applied load and smaller the con- vergence in the entry if all else is held constant. Finally, the numerical modeling method used in this study was capable of replicating the expected and measured results near seam

Cognitive development following ART: effect of choice of comparison group, confounding and mediating factors

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have examined the health of children born after assisted reproductive technology (ART), with contradictory results. In this article, we address the question 'Do singletons born after ART have a poorer cognitive developmental outcome at 3 years of age?' We assess the implications of using different comparison groups, and discuss appropriate analytical approaches for the control of confounding and mediating variables. METHODS: Data were drawn from the Millennium Cohort Study. Interviews captured sociodemographic, behavioural and pregnancy information. Developmental assessments conducted at age three included the British Ability Scales II Naming Vocabulary (BAS-NV) instrument. We compared ART infants (born after IVF or ICSI) to four comparison groups: a 'matched' group; a 'subfertile' group (time to conception >12 months); a 'fertile' group (time to conception <12 months); and an 'any spontaneous conceptions' group. Linear regression provided estimates of the difference in mean BAS-NV scores in the ART and comparison groups; both unadjusted estimates and those adjusted for confounding and mediating factors are presented. RESULTS: In the unadjusted analyses, ART children gained significantly better BAS-NV test results than did the comparison group children. When converted to an estimate of developmental age gap, ART children were 2.5, 2.7, 3.6 and 4.5 months ahead of the 'matched', 'subfertile', 'fertile' and 'spontaneous conception' children, respectively. After adjusting for confounding and mediating factors, the differences were reduced, and were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: ART is not associated with poorer cognitive development at 3 years. We have highlighted methodological considerations for researchers planning to study the effect of infertility and ART on childhood outcomes

Large maternal waist circumference in relation to height is associated with high glucose concentrations in an early-pregnancy oral glucose tolerance test : A population-based study

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology (NFOG).Introduction: To explore the role of maternal anthropometric characteristics in early-pregnancy glycemia, we analyzed the associations and interactions of maternal early-pregnancy waist circumference (WC), height and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) with plasma glucose concentrations in an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 12–16 weeks’ gestation. Material and Methods: A population-based cohort of 1361 pregnant women was recruited in South Karelia, Finland, from March 2013 to December 2016. All participants had their WC, weight, height, HbA1c, and blood pressure measured at 8–14 weeks’ gestation and subsequently underwent a 2-h 75-g OGTT, including assessment of fasting insulin concentrations, at 12–16 weeks’ gestation. BMI (kg/m2) was calculated using self-reported pre-pregnancy weight. Maternal WC ≥80 cm was defined as large. Maternal height ≥166 cm was defined as tall. Data on gestational diabetes treatment was extracted from hospital records. Results: In the total cohort, 901 (66%) of women had an early-pregnancy WC ≥80 cm, which was associated with higher early-pregnancy HbA1c, higher concentrations of fasting plasma glucose and serum insulin, higher post-load plasma glucose concentrations, higher HOMA-IR indices, higher blood pressure levels, and higher frequencies of pharmacologically treated gestational diabetes, than early-pregnancy WC 0.5 was positively associated with both fasting and post-load plasma glucose concentrations at 12–16 weeks’ gestation, even when adjusted for age, smoking, nulliparity, and family history of type 2 diabetes. The best cut-offs for WHtR (0.58 for 1-h plasma glucose, and 0.54 for 2-h plasma glucose) were better predictors of post-load glucose concentrations >90th percentile than the best cut-offs for BMI (28.1 kg/m2 for 1-h plasma glucose, and 26.6 kg/m2 for 2-h plasma glucose), with areas-under-the-curve (95% confidence interval) 0.73 (0.68–0.79) and 0.73 (0.69–0.77), respectively, for WHtR, and 0.68 (0.63–0.74) and 0.69 (0.65–0.74), respectively, for BMI. Conclusions: In our population-based cohort, early-pregnancy WHtR >0.5 was positively associated with both fasting and post-load glucose concentrations at 12–16 weeks’ gestation and performed better than BMI in the prediction of post-load glucose concentrations >90th percentile. Overall, our results underline the importance of evaluating maternal abdominal adiposity in gestational diabetes risk assessment.Peer reviewe

Macronutrient intake during pregnancy in women with a history of obesity or gestational diabetes and offspring adiposity at 5 years of age

Background/objectives The impact of maternal macronutrient intake during pregnancy on offspring childhood adiposity is unclear. We assessed the associations between maternal macronutrient intake during and after pregnancy with offspring adiposity at 5 years of age. Additionally, we investigated whether gestational diabetes (GDM), BMI, or breastfeeding modified these associations. Subjects/methods Altogether, 301 mother-child dyads with maternal prepregnancy BMI >= 30 and/or previous GDM participated in the Finnish Gestational Diabetes Prevention Study (RADIEL) and its 5 years follow-up. Macronutrient intakes (E%) were calculated from 3-day food records collected at 5-18 weeks' gestation, in the third trimester, and at 12 months and 5 years after pregnancy. Offspring body fat mass (BFM) and fat percentage (BF%) at 5 years were measured by bioimpedance. Statistical analyses were multivariate linear regression. Results Mean (SD) prepregnancy BMI was 33(4) kg/m(2). GDM was diagnosed in 47%. In normoglycemic women, higher first half of pregnancy n-3 PUFA intake was associated with lower offspring BFM (g) (ss -0.90; 95% CI -1.62, -0.18) and BF% (ss -3.45; 95% CI -6.17, -0.72). In women with GDM, higher first half of pregnancy n-3 PUFA intake was associated with higher offspring BFM (ss 0.94; 95% CI 0.14, 1.75) and BF% (ss 3.21; 95% CI 0.43, 5.99). Higher SFA intake in the third trimester and cumulative intake across pregnancy (mean of the first half and late pregnancy) was associated with higher BFM and BF% (across pregnancy: ss 0.12; 95% CI 0.03, 0.20 and ss 0.44; 95% CI 0.15, 0.73, respectively). Higher carbohydrate intake across pregnancy was associated with lower BFM (ss -0.044; 95% CI -0.086, -0.003), and borderline associated with BF% (ss -0.15; 95% CI -0.31, 0.00). Conclusions The macronutrient composition of maternal diet during pregnancy is associated with offspring BFM and BF% at 5 years. GDM modifies the association between prenatal n-3 PUFA intake and offspring anthropometrics.Peer reviewe