Mock weak lensing analysis of simulated galaxy clusters: bias and scatter in mass and concentration

(Abridged) We quantify the bias and scatter in galaxy cluster masses and concentrations derived from an idealised mock weak gravitational lensing (WL) survey, and their effect on the cluster mass-concentration relation. For this, we simulate WL distortions on a population of background galaxies due to a large (~3000) sample of galaxy cluster haloes extracted from the Millennium Simulation at z~0.2. This study takes into account the influence of shape noise, cluster substructure and asphericity as well as correlated large-scale structure, but not uncorrelated large-scale structure along the line of sight and observational effects. We find a small, but non-negligble, negative median bias in both mass and concentration at a level of ~5%, the exact value depending both on cluster mass and radial survey range. Both the mass and concentration derived from WL show considerable scatter about their true values. This scatter has, even for the highest mass clusters of M200 > 10^14.8 M_sun, a level of ~30% and ~20% for concentration and mass respectively and increases strongly with decreasing cluster mass. For a typical survey analysing 30 galaxies per arcmin^2 over a radial range from 30" to 15' from the cluster centre, the derived M200-c relation has a slope and normalisation too low compared to the underlying true (3D) relation by ~40% and ~15% respectively. The scatter and bias in mass are shown to reflect a departure at large radii of the true WL shear/matter distribution of the simulated clusters from the NFW profile adopted in modelling the mock observations. Orientation of the triaxial cluster haloes dominates the concentration scatter (except at low masses, where galaxy shape noise becomes dominant), while the bias in c is mostly due to substructure within the virial radius.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures. Minor changes to match final published paper. High-resolution figures available at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ybahe/Lensing.pd

Cycling and Female Sexual and Urinary Function: Results From a Large, Multinational, Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND:Bicycle riding has become an increasingly popular mode of transportation and exercise, especially among women, and previous studies have demonstrated a relationship between cycling and sexual dysfunction, albeit using non-validated questionnaires. AIM:We aimed to explore the relationship between cycling and sexual and urinary dysfunction. METHODS:Cyclists were recruited to complete a survey through Facebook advertisements and outreach to sporting clubs across 5 English-speaking countries. Swimmers and runners were recruited as a comparison group. OUTCOMES:Participants were queried using validated questionnaires, including the Female Sexual Function Index, the American Urological Association Symptom Index, and non-validated questions about history of urinary tract infections (UTIs), genital numbness, and genital saddle sores (all self-reported). RESULTS:3,118 (53.3%) Women completed the survey, comprising 1,053 (34%) non-cyclists, 1,656 (53%) low-intensity cyclists, and 409 (13%) high-intensity cyclists. After adjusting for age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, tobacco use, race, marital status, urinary symptoms, and sexual activity, high-intensity cyclists had lower odds of self-reported sexual dysfunction compared to non-cyclists (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.7, P = .02). There were no statistically significant differences in urinary symptoms across groups. Compared to non-cyclists, both low- and high-intensity cyclists had higher odds of reporting a previous UTI (aOR 1.4, P < .001, and aOR 1.4, P = .009, respectively), genital numbness (odds ratio [OR] 6.5, P < .001, and OR 9.1, P < .001, respectively), and saddle sores (OR 6.3, P < .001, and OR 22.7, P < .001, respectively). CLINICAL TRANSLATION:Women cyclists were more likely to report other genitourinary conditions, including UTIs, genital numbness, and saddle sores. CONCLUSIONS:This is the largest study comparing cyclists to other athletes with respect to sexual and urinary function. The study is limited by its cross-sectional design and sampling methods. We found that women cyclists were no more likely to report sexual dysfunction or urinary symptoms than swimmers or runners. Gaither TW, Awad MA, Murphy GP, et al. Cycling and Female Sexual and Urinary Function: Results From a Large, Multinational, Cross-Sectional Study. J Sex Med 2018;15:510-518

Role of Bradykinin Type 2 Receptors in Human Sweat Secretion: Translational Evidence Does Not Support a Functional Relationship

Bradykinin increases skin blood flow via a cGMP mechanism but its role in sweating in vivo is unclear. There is a current need to translate cell culture and nonhuman paw pad studies into in vivo human preparations to test for therapeutic viability for disorders affecting sweat glands. Protocol 1: physiological sweating was induced in 10 healthy subjects via perfusing warm (46–48°C) water through a tube-lined suit while bradykinin type 2 receptor (B2R) antagonist (HOE-140; 40 μM) and only the vehicle (lactated Ringer’s) were perfused intradermally via microdialysis. Heat stress increased sweat rate (HOE-140 = +0.79 ± 0.12 and vehicle = +0.64 ± 0.10 mg/cm2/min), but no differences were noted with B2R antagonism. Protocol 2: pharmacological sweating was induced in 6 healthy subjects via intradermally perfusing pilocarpine (1.67 mg/mL) followed by the same B2R antagonist approach. Pilocarpine increased sweating (HOE-140 = +0.38 ± 0.16 and vehicle = +0.32 ± 0.12 mg/cm2/min); again no differences were observed with B2R antagonism. Last, 5 additional subjects were recruited for various control experiments which identified that a functional dose of HOE-140 was utilized and it was not sudorific during normothermic conditions. These data indicate B2R antagonists do not modulate physiologically or pharmacologically induced eccrine secretion volumes. Thus, B2R agonist/antagonist development as a potential therapeutic target for hypo- and hyperhidrosis appears unwarranted

Melting and differentiation of early-formed asteroids: The perspective from high precision oxygen isotope studies

A number of distinct methodologies are available for determining the oxygen isotope composition of minerals and rocks, these include laser-assisted fluorination, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)and UV laser ablation. In this review we focus on laser-assisted fluorination, which currently achieves the highest levels of precision available for oxygen isotope analysis. In particular, we examine how results using this method have furthered our understanding of early-formed differentiated meteorites. Due to its rapid reaction times and low blank levels, laser-assisted fluorination has now largely superseded the conventional externally-heated Ni “bomb” technique for bulk analysis. Unlike UV laser ablation and SIMS analysis, laser-assisted fluorination is not capable of focused spot analysis. While laser fluorination is now a mature technology, further analytical improvements are possible via refinements to the construction of sample chambers, clean-up lines and the use of ultra-high resolution mass spectrometers. High-precision oxygen isotope analysis has proved to be a particularly powerful technique for investigating the formation and evolution of early-formed differentiated asteroids and has provided unique insights into the interrelationships between various groups of achondrites. A clear example of this is seenin samples that lie close to the terrestrial fractionation line (TFL). Based on the data from conventional oxygen isotope analysis, it was suggested that the main-group pallasites, the howardite eucrite diogenite suite (HEDs) and mesosiderites could all be derived from a single common parent body. However,high precision analysis demonstrates that main-group pallasites have a Δ17O composition that is fully resolvable from that of the HEDs and mesosiderites, indicating the involvement of at least two parent bodies. The range of Δ17O values exhibited by an achondrite group provides a useful means of assessing the extent to which their parent body underwent melting and isotopic homogenization. Oxygen isotope analysis can also highlight relationships between ungrouped achondrites and the more well-populated groups. A clear example of this is the proposed link between the evolved GRA 06128/9 meteorites and the brachinites. The evidence from oxygen isotopes, in conjunction with that from other techniques, indicates that we have samples from approximately 110 asteroidal parent bodies (∼60 irons, ∼35 achondrites and stony-iron, and ∼15 chondrites) in our global meteorite collection. However, compared to the likely size of the original protoplanetary asteroid population, this is an extremely low value. In addition, almost all of the differentiated samples (achondrites, stony-iron and irons) are derived from parent bodies that were highly disrupted early in their evolution. High-precision oxygen isotope analysis of achondrites provides some important insights into the origin of mass-independent variation in the early Solar System. In particular, the evidence from various primitive achondrite groups indicates that both the slope 1 (Y&R) and CCAM lines are of primordial significance. Δ17O differences between water ice and silicate-rich solids were probably the initial source of the slope 1 anomaly. These phases most likely acquired their isotopic composition as a result of UV photo-dissociation of CO that took place either in the early solar nebula or precursor giant molecular cloud. Such small-scale isotopic heterogeneities were propagated into larger-sized bodies, such as asteroids and planets, as a result of early Solar System processes, including dehydration, aqueous alteration,melting and collisional interactions

Oxygen isotopic constraints on the origin and parent bodies of eucrites, diogenites, and howardites

A few eucrites have anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions. To help understand their origin and identify additional samples, we have analyzed the oxygen isotopic compositions of 18 eucrites and four diogenites. Except for five eucrites, these meteorites have ?17O values that lie within 2 of their mean value viz., -0.242±0.016', consistent with igneous isotopic homogenization of Vesta. The five exceptional eucrites–NWA 1240, Pasamonte (both clast and matrix samples), PCA 91007, A-881394, and Ibitira–have ?17O values that lie respectively 4?, 5?, 5?, 15?, and 21 away from this mean value. NWA 1240 has a ?18O value that is 5? below the mean eucrite value. Four of the five outliers are unbrecciated and unshocked basaltic eucrites, like NWA 011, the first eucrite found to have an anomalous oxygen isotopic composition. The fifth outlier, Pasamonte, is composed almost entirely of unequilibrated basaltic clasts. Published chemical data for the six eucrites with anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions (including NWA 011) exclude contamination by chondritic projectiles as a source of the oxygen anomalies. Only NWA 011 has an anomalous Fe/Mn ratio, but several anomalous eucrites have exceptional Na, Ti, or Cr concentrations. We infer that the six anomalous eucrites are probably derived from five distinct Vesta-like parent bodies (Pasamonte and PCA 91007 could come from one body). These anomalous eucrites, like many unbrecciated eucrites from Vesta, are probably deficient in brecciation and shock effects because they were sequestered in small asteroids (~10 km diameter) during the Late Heavy Bombardment following ejection from Vesta-like bodies. The preservation of Vesta's crust and the lack of deeply buried samples from the hypothesized Vesta-like bodies are consistent with the removal of these bodies from the asteroid belt by gravitational perturbations from planets and protoplanets, rather than by collisonal grinding

Elephant Moraine 96029, a very mildly aqueously altered and heated CM carbonaceous chondrite: Implications for the drivers of parent body processing

Elephant Moraine (EET) 96029 is a CMcarbonaceous chondrite regolith breccia with evidence for unusually mild aqueous alteration, a later phase of heating and terrestrial weathering. The presence of phyllosilicates and carbonates within chondrules and the fine-grained matrix indicates that this meteorite was aqueously altered in its parent body. Features showing that water-mediated processing was arrested at a very early stage include a matrix with a low magnesium/iron ratio, chondrules whose mesostasis contains glass and/or quench crystallites, and a gehlenite-bearing calcium- and aluminium-rich inclusion. EET 96029 is also rich in Fe,Ni metal relative to other CM chondrites, and more was present prior to its partial replacement by goethite during Antarctic weathering. In combination, these properties indicate that EET 96029 is one of the least aqueously altered CMs yet described (CM2.7) and so provides new insights into the original composition of its parent body. Following aqueous alteration, and whilst still in the parent body regolith, the meteorite was heated to ~400–600 °C by impacts or solar radiation. Heating led to the amorphisation and dehydroxylation of serpentine, replacement of tochilinite by magnetite, loss of sulphur from the matrix, and modification to the structure of organic matter that includes organic nanoglobules. Significant differences between samples in oxygen isotope compositions, and water/hydroxyl contents, suggests that the meteorite contains lithologies that have undergone different intensities of heating. EET 96029 may be more representative of the true nature of parent body regoliths than many other CM meteorites, and as such can help interpret results from the forthcoming missions to study and return samples from C-complex asteroids

Obstructed Labor and Caesarean Delivery: The Cost and Benefit of Surgical Intervention

Background: Although advances in the reduction of maternal mortality have been made, up to 273,000 women will die this year from obstetric etiologies. Obstructed labor (OL), most commonly treated with Caesarean delivery, has been identified as a major contributor to global maternal morbidity and mortality. We used economic and epidemiological modeling to estimate the cost per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) averted and benefit-cost ratio of treating OL with Caesarean delivery for 49 countries identified as providing an insufficient number of Caesarean deliveries to meet demand. Methods and Findings Using publicly available data and explicit economic assumptions, we estimated that the cost per DALY (3,0,0) averted for providing Caesarean delivery for OL ranged widely, from $251 per DALY averted in Madagascar to$3,462 in Oman. The median cost per DALY averted was $304. Benefit-cost ratios also varied, from 0.6 in Zimbabwe to 69.9 in Gabon. The median benefit-cost ratio calculated was 6.0. The main limitation of this study is an assumption that lack of surgical capacity is the main factor responsible for DALYs from OL. Conclusions: Using the World Health Organization's cost-effectiveness standards, investing in Caesarean delivery can be considered “highly cost-effective” for 48 of the 49 countries included in this study. Furthermore, in 46 of the 49 included countries, the benefit-cost ratio was greater than 1.0, implying that investment in Caesarean delivery is a viable economic proposition. While Caesarean delivery alone is not sufficient for combating OL, it is necessary, cost-effective by WHO standards, and ultimately economically favorable in the vast majority of countries included in this study

Public clonotype usage identifies protective Gag-specific CD8+ T cell responses in SIV infection

Despite the pressing need for an AIDS vaccine, the determinants of protective immunity to HIV remain concealed within the complexity of adaptive immune responses. We dissected immunodominant virus-specific CD8+ T cell populations in Mamu-A*01+ rhesus macaques with primary SIV infection to elucidate the hallmarks of effective immunity at the level of individual constituent clonotypes, which were identified according to the expression of distinct T cell receptors (TCRs). The number of public clonotypes, defined as those that expressed identical TCR β-chain amino acid sequences and recurred in multiple individuals, contained within the acute phase CD8+ T cell population specific for the biologically constrained Gag CM9 (CTPYDINQM; residues 181–189) epitope correlated negatively with the virus load set point. This independent molecular signature of protection was confirmed in a prospective vaccine trial, in which clonotype engagement was governed by the nature of the antigen rather than the context of exposure and public clonotype usage was associated with enhanced recognition of epitope variants. Thus, the pattern of antigen-specific clonotype recruitment within a protective CD8+ T cell population is a prognostic indicator of vaccine efficacy and biological outcome in an AIDS virus infection

Overcoming acculturation: physical education recruits' experiences of an alternative pedagogical approach to games teaching

© 2015 Association for Physical Education Background: Physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes have been identified as a critical platform to encourage the exploration of alternative teaching approaches by pre-service teachers. However, the socio-cultural constraint of acculturation or past physical education and sporting experiences results in the maintenance of the status quo of a teacher-driven, reproductive paradigm. Previous studies have reported successfully overcoming the powerful influence of acculturation, resulting in a change in PETE students' custodial teaching beliefs and receptiveness to alternative teaching approaches. However, to date, limited information has been reported about how PETE students' acculturation shaped their receptiveness to an alternative teaching approach. This is particularly the case for PETE recruits identified in the literature as most resistant to change. Purpose: To explore the features and experiences of an alternative games teaching approach that appealed to PETE recruits identified as most resistant to change, requiring a specific sample of PETE recruits with strong, custodial, traditional physical education teaching beliefs, and whom are high-achieving sporting products of this traditional culture. The alternative teaching approach explored in this study is the constraints-led approach (CLA), which is similar operationally to Teaching Games for Understanding, but distinguished by a neurobiological theoretical framework (nonlinear pedagogy) that informs learning design. Participants and setting: A purposive sample of 10 Australian PETE students was recruited for the study. All participants initially had strong, custodial, traditional physical education teaching beliefs, and were successful sporting products of this teaching approach. After experiencing the CLA as learners during a games unit, participants demonstrated receptiveness to the alternative pedagogy. Data collection and analysis: Semi-structured interviews and written reflections were sources of data collection. Each participant was interviewed separately, once prior to participation in the games unit to explore their positive physical education experiences, and then again after participation to explore the specific games unit learning experiences that influenced their receptiveness to the alternative pedagogy. Participants completed written reflections about their personal experiences after selected practical sessions. Data were qualitatively analysed using grounded theory. Findings: Thorough examination of the data resulted in establishment of two prominent themes related to the appeal of the CLA for the participants: (i) psychomotor (effective in developing skill) and (ii) inclusivity (included students of varying skill level). The efficacy of the CLA in skill development was clearly an important mediator of receptiveness for highly successful products of a traditional culture. This significant finding could be explained by three key factors: the acculturation of the participants, the motor learning theory underpinning the alternative pedagogy and the unit learning design and delivery. The inclusive nature of the CLA provided a solution to the problem of exclusion, which also made the approach attractive to participants. Conclusions: PETE educators could consider these findings when introducing an alternative pedagogy aimed at challenging PETE recruits' custodial, traditional teaching beliefs. To mediate receptiveness, it is important that the learning theory underpinning the alternative approach is operationalised in a research-informed pedagogical learning design that facilitates students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the approach through experiencing and or observing it working

Signatures of the post-hydration heating of highly aqueously altered CM carbonaceous chondrites and implications for interpreting asteroid sample returns

The CM carbonaceous chondrites have all been aqueously altered, and some of them were subsequently heated in a parent body environment. Here we have sought to understand the impact of short duration heating on a highly aqueously altered CM through laboratory experiments on Allan Hills (ALH) 83100. Unheated ALH 83100 contains 83 volume per cent serpentine within the fine-grained matrix and altered chondrules. The matrix also hosts grains of calcite and dolomite, which are often intergrown with tochilinite, Fe(Ni) sulphides (pyrrhotite, pentlandite), magnetite and organic matter. Some of the magnetite formed by replacement of Fe(Ni) sulphides that were accreted from the nebula. Laboratory heating to 400 °C has caused partial dehydroxylation of serpentine and loss of isotopically light oxygen leading to an increase in bulk δ18O and fall in Δ17O. Tochilinite has decomposed to magnetite, whereas carbonates have remained unaltered. With regards to infrared spectroscopy (4000–400 cm-1; 2.5–25 µm), heating to 400 °C has resulted in decreased emissivity (increased reflectance), a sharper and more symmetric OH band at 3684 cm-1 (2.71 µm), a broadening of the Si—O stretching band together with movement of its minimum to longer wavenumbers, and a decreasing depth of the Mg—OH band (625 cm-1; 16 µm). The Si—O bending band is unmodified by mild heating. With heating to 800 °C the serpentine has fully dehydroxylated and recrystallized to ∼Fo60/70 olivine. Bulk δ18O has further increased and Δ17O decreased. Troilite and pyrrhotite have formed, and recrystallization of pentlandite has produced Fe,Ni metal. Calcite and dolomite were calcined at ∼700 °C and in their place is an un-named Ca-Fe oxysulphide. Heating changes the structural order of organic matter so that Raman spectroscopy of carbon in the 800 °C sample shows an increased (D1 + D4) proportional area parameter. The infrared spectrum of the 800 °C sample confirms the abundance of Fe-bearing olivine and is very similar to the spectrum of naturally heated stage IV CM Pecora Escarpment 02010. The temperature-related mineralogical, chemical, isotopic and spectroscopic signatures defined in ALH 83100 will help to track the post-hydration thermal histories of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, and samples returned from the primitive asteroids Ryugu and Bennu