Saved by seaweeds (II): Traditional knowledge, home remedies, medicine, surgery, and pharmacopoeia

Humankind has known the benefits of seaweeds since time immemorial. A number of these applications were likely passed down in the oral histories particularly of coastal dwellers and those using different seaweeds as food and treatments for common ailments. The beneficial use of many types of seaweeds was reported and recorded into some of the first written medical texts. The common benefits of these seaweed concoctions and applications seems to be linked to the presence of hydrocolloids and the various bioactive compounds. We believe this collation brings together, for the first time to our knowledge, a number of excerpts from major medical publications and esteemed writers of the day. It provides a rich background supporting the positive applications of various seaweeds to a multitude of human ailments, from skin to bowel, inside and out and many of the places in between!The work by OGM is supported by the Carlsberg Foundation. The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which assisted in the improvement of this article

Thermal-hydraulic studies of the Advanced Neutron Source cold source

The Advanced Neutron Source (ANS), in its conceptual design phase at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was to be a user-oriented neutron research facility producing the most intense steady-state flux of thermal and cold neutrons in the world. Among its many scientific applications, the production of cold neutrons was a significant research mission for the ANS. The cold neutrons come from two independent cold sources positioned near the reactor core. Contained by an aluminum alloy vessel, each cold source is a 410-mm-diam sphere of liquid deuterium that functions both as a neutron moderator and a cryogenic coolant. With nuclear heating of the containment vessel and internal baffling, steady-state operation requires close control of the liquid deuterium flow near the vessel`s inner surface. Preliminary thermal-hydraulic analyses supporting the cold source design were performed with heat conduction simulations of the vessel walls and multidimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations of the liquid deuterium flow and heat transfer. This report presents the starting phase of a challenging program and describes the cold source conceptual design, the thermal-hydraulic feasibility studies of the containment vessel, and the future computational and experimental studies that were planned to verify the final design

Envisioning the future of aquatic animal tracking: Technology, science, and application

Electronic tags are significantly improving our understanding of aquatic animal behavior and are emerging as key sources of information for conservation and management practices. Future aquatic integrative biology and ecology studies will increasingly rely on data from electronic tagging. Continued advances in tracking hardware and software are needed to provide the knowledge required by managers and policymakers to address the challenges posed by the world's changing aquatic ecosystems. We foresee multiplatform tracking systems for simultaneously monitoring the position, activity, and physiology of animals and the environment through which they are moving. Improved data collection will be accompanied by greater data accessibility and analytical tools for processing data, enabled by new infrastructure and cyberinfrastructure. To operationalize advances and facilitate integration into policy, there must be parallel developments in the accessibility of education and training, as well as solutions to key governance and legal issues

Mononuclear phagocyte system function and nanoparticle pharmacology in obese and normal weight ovarian and endometrial cancer patients

Purpose: Obesity may alter mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) function and the pharmacology and efficacy of nanoparticles therapies, such as PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD). We aimed to evaluate the relationships between hormone and chemokine mediators of MPS function and the pharmacokinetic (PK) exposure of PLD in obese and normal weight patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer. Methods: Hormone and chemokine mediators in obese and normal weight ovarian and endometrial cancer patients were measured. A separate pharmacology study was performed that evaluated the relationship between serum hormone concentrations, MPS function, and PK disposition of PLD in refractory ovarian cancer patients. Results: Univariate analysis revealed a significant relationship between serum estradiol and body mass index (OR 8.64, 95% CI 2.67–28.0, p < 0.001). Estrone and testosterone concentrations were positively correlated with MPS function (ρ = 0.57 and 0.53, p = 0.14 and 0.18, respectively) and inversely correlated with PLD PK exposure (ρ = − 0.75 and − 0.76, respectively, p = 0.02 for both). Conclusions: Higher MPS function resulting in reduced PLD exposure is a potential mechanism for reduced efficacy of PLD and other nanoparticles observed in obese patients with cancer. PK simulations suggest higher doses of PLD are required in obese patients to achieve similar exposures as standard dosing in normal weight patients

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review

Search for scalar top quark pair production in natural gauge mediated supersymmetry models with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The results of a search for pair production of the lighter scalar partners of top quarks in 2.05 fb-1 of pp collisions at sqrt(s) =7 TeV using the ATLAS experiment at the LHC are reported. Scalar top quarks are searched for in events with two same flavour opposite-sign leptons (electrons or muons) with invariant mass consistent with the Z boson mass, large missing transverse momentum and jets in the final state. At least one of the jets is identified as originating from a b-quark. No excess over Standard Model expectations is found. The results are interpreted in the framework of R-parity conserving, gauge mediated Supersymmetry breaking `natural' scenarios, where the neutralino is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle. Scalar top quark masses up to 310 GeV are excluded for the lightest neutralino mass between 115 GeV and 230 GeV at 95% confidence level, reaching an exclusion of the scalar top quark mass of 330 GeV for the lightest neutralino mass of 190 GeV. Scalar top quark masses below 240 GeV are excluded for all values of the lightest neutralino mass above the Z boson mass.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 4 figures, 1 table, matches published PLB versio