We present results for several light hadronic quantities (f sub(pi), f sub(K), B sub(K), m sub(ud), m sub(s), t super(1/2) sub(0), w sub(0)) obtained from simulations of 2+1 flavor domain wall ...lattice QCD with large physical volumes and nearly physical pion masses at two lattice spacings. We perform a short, O(3)%, extrapolation in pion mass to the physical values by combining our new data in a simultaneous chiral/continuum "global fit" with a number of other ensembles with heavier pion masses. We use the physical values of m sub(pi), m sub(K) and m sub(Omega) to determine the two quark masses and the scale-all other quantities are outputs from our simulations. We obtain results with subpercent statistical errors and negligible chiral and finite-volume systematics for these light hadronic quantities, including f sub(pi)=130.2(9)MeV; f sub(K)=155.5(8)MeV; the average up/down quark mass and strange quark mass in the MS scheme at 3 GeV, 2.997(49) and 81.64(1.17) MeV respectively; and the neutral kaon mixing parameter, BK, in the renormalization group invariant scheme, 0.750(15) and the MS scheme at 3 GeV, 0.530(11).
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To cite this article: Boyle RJ, Ismail IH, Kivivuori S, Licciardi PV, Robins-Browne RM, Mah L-J, Axelrad C, Moore S, Donath S, Carlin JB, Lahtinen SJ, Tang MLK. Lactobacillus GG treatment during ...pregnancy for the prevention of eczema: a randomized controlled trial. Allergy 2011; 66: 509-516. ABSTRACT: Background: Probiotic supplementation in early life may be effective for preventing eczema. Previous studies have suggested that prenatal administration may be particularly important for beneficial effects. Objective: We examined whether prenatal treatment with the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) can influence the risk of eczema during infancy. Methods: We recruited 250 pregnant women carrying infants at high risk of allergic disease to a randomized controlled trial of probiotic supplementation (LGG 1.8 × 10¹⁰ cfu/day) from 36 weeks gestation until delivery. Infants were assessed during their first year for eczema or allergic sensitization. Immunological investigations were performed in a subgroup. Umbilical cord blood was examined for dendritic cell and regulatory T cell numbers and production of TGFβ, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IFN-γ and TNFα. Maternal breast milk was examined for total IgA, soluble CD14 and TGFβ. Results: Prenatal probiotic treatment was not associated with reduced risk of eczema (34% probiotic, 39% placebo; RR 0.88; 95% CI 0.63, 1.22) or IgE-associated eczema (18% probiotic, 19% placebo; RR 0.94; 95% CI 0.53, 1.68). Prenatal probiotic treatment was not associated with any change in cord blood immune markers, but was associated with decreased breast milk soluble CD14 and IgA levels. Conclusions: Prenatal treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was not sufficient for preventing eczema. If probiotics are effective for preventing eczema, then a postnatal component to treatment or possibly an alternative probiotic strain is necessary.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Most of the world's crops depend on pollinators, so declines in both managed and wild bees raise concerns about food security. However, the degree to which insect pollination is actually limiting ...current crop production is poorly understood, as is the role of wild species (as opposed to managed honeybees) in pollinating crops, particularly in intensive production areas. We established a nationwide study to assess the extent of pollinator limitation in seven crops at 131 locations situated across major crop-producing areas of the USA. We found that five out of seven crops showed evidence of pollinator limitation. Wild bees and honeybees provided comparable amounts of pollination for most crops, even in agriculturally intensive regions. We estimated the nationwide annual production value of wild pollinators to the seven crops we studied at over $1.5 billion; the value of wild bee pollination of all pollinator-dependent crops would be much greater. Our findings show that pollinator declines could translate directly into decreased yields or production for most of the crops studied, and that wild species contribute substantially to pollination of most study crops in major crop-producing regions.
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The Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISIS) is a complete science investigation on the Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission, which flies to within nine solar radii of the Sun’s surface. ISIS ...comprises a two-instrument suite to measure energetic particles over a very broad energy range, as well as coordinated management, science operations, data processing, and scientific analysis. Together, ISIS observations allow us to explore the mechanisms of energetic particles dynamics, including their: (1) Origins—defining the seed populations and physical conditions necessary for energetic particle acceleration; (2) Acceleration—determining the roles of shocks, reconnection, waves, and turbulence in accelerating energetic particles; and (3) Transport—revealing how energetic particles propagate from the corona out into the heliosphere. The two ISIS Energetic Particle Instruments measure lower (EPI-Lo) and higher (EPI-Hi) energy particles. EPI-Lo measures ions and ion composition from ∼20 keV/nucleon–15 MeV total energy and electrons from ∼25–1000 keV. EPI-Hi measures ions from ∼1–200 MeV/nucleon and electrons from ∼0.5–6 MeV. EPI-Lo comprises 80 tiny apertures with fields-of-view (FOVs) that sample over nearly a complete hemisphere, while EPI-Hi combines three telescopes that together provide five large-FOV apertures. ISIS observes continuously inside of 0.25 AU with a high data collection rate and burst data (EPI-Lo) coordinated with the rest of the SPP payload; outside of 0.25 AU, ISIS runs in low-rate science mode whenever feasible to capture as complete a record as possible of the solar energetic particle environment and provide calibration and continuity for measurements closer in to the Sun. The ISIS Science Operations Center plans and executes commanding, receives and analyzes all ISIS data, and coordinates science observations and analyses with the rest of the SPP science investigations. Together, ISIS’ unique observations on SPP will enable the discovery, untangling, and understanding of the important physical processes that govern energetic particles in the innermost regions of our heliosphere, for the first time. This paper summarizes the ISIS investigation at the time of the SPP mission Preliminary Design Review in January 2014.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Magnetars are highly magnetized young neutron stars that occasionally produce enormous bursts and flares of X-rays and γ-rays
. Of the approximately thirty magnetars currently known in our Galaxy and ...the Magellanic Clouds, five have exhibited transient radio pulsations
. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration bursts of radio waves arriving from cosmological distances
, some of which have been seen to repeat
. A leading model for repeating FRBs is that they are extragalactic magnetars, powered by their intense magnetic fields
. However, a challenge to this model is that FRBs must have radio luminosities many orders of magnitude larger than those seen from known Galactic magnetars. Here we report the detection of an extremely intense radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) FRB project. The fluence of this two-component bright radio burst and the estimated distance to SGR 1935+2154 together imply a burst energy at 400 to 800 megahertz of approximately 3 × 10
erg, which is three orders of magnitude higher than the burst energy of any radio-emitting magnetar detected thus far. Such a burst coming from a nearby galaxy (at a distance of less than approximately 12 megaparsecs) would be indistinguishable from a typical FRB. However, given the large gaps in observed energies and activity between the brightest and most active FRB sources and what is observed for SGR 1935+2154-like magnetars, more energetic and active sources-perhaps younger magnetars-are needed to explain all observations.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Robust establishment of survival in multiple myeloma (MM) and its relationship to recurrent genetic aberrations is required as outcomes are variable despite apparent similar staging. We assayed copy ...number alterations (CNA) and translocations in 1036 patients from the NCRI Myeloma XI trial and linked these to overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival. Through a meta-anlysis of these data with data from MRC Myeloma IX trial, totalling 1905 newly diagnosed MM patients (NDMM), we confirm the association of t(4;14), t(14;16), t(14;20), del(17p) and gain(1q21) with poor prognosis with hazard ratios (HRs) for OS of 1.60 (P=4.77 × 10
), 1.74 (P=0.0005), 1.90 (P=0.0089), 2.10 (P=8.86 × 10
) and 1.68 (P=2.18 × 10
), respectively. Patients with 'double-hit' defined by co-occurrence of at least two adverse lesions have an especially poor prognosis with HRs for OS of 2.67 (P=8.13 × 10
) for all patients and 3.19 (P=1.23 × 10
) for intensively treated patients. Using comprehensive CNA and translocation profiling in Myeloma XI we also demonstrate a strong association between t(4;14) and BIRC2/BIRC3 deletion (P=8.7 × 10
), including homozygous deletion. Finally, we define distinct sub-groups of hyperdiploid MM, with either gain(1q21) and CCND2 overexpression (P<0.0001) or gain(11q25) and CCND1 overexpression (P<0.0001). Profiling multiple genetic lesions can identify MM patients likely to relapse early allowing stratification of treatment.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This consensus statement update reflects our current published knowledge and opinion about clinical signs, pathogenesis, epidemiology, treatment, complications, and control of strangles. This updated ...statement emphasizes varying presentations in the context of existing underlying immunity and carrier states of strangles in the transmission of disease. The statement redefines the “gold standard” for detection of possible infection and reviews the new technologies available in polymerase chain reaction diagnosis and serology and their use in outbreak control and prevention. We reiterate the importance of judicious use of antibiotics in horses with strangles. This updated consensus statement reviews current vaccine technology and the importance of linking vaccination with currently advocated disease control and prevention programs to facilitate the eradication of endemic infections while safely maintaining herd immunity. Differentiation between immune responses to primary and repeated exposure of subclinically infected animals and responses induced by vaccination is also addressed.
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Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) decline over the past 25 years has received considerable public and scientific attention, in large part because its decline, and that of its milkweed (Asclepias ...spp.) host plant, have been linked to genetically modified (GM) crops and associated herbicide use. Here, we use museum and herbaria specimens to extend our knowledge of the dynamics of both monarchs and milkweeds in the United States to more than a century, from 1900 to 2016. We show that both monarchs and milkweeds increased during the early 20th century and that recent declines are actually part of a much longer-term decline in both monarchs and milkweed beginning around 1950. Herbicide-resistant crops, therefore, are clearly not the only culprit and, likely, not even the primary culprit: Not only did monarch and milkweed declines begin decades before GM crops were introduced, but other variables, particularly a decline in the number of farms, predict common milkweed trends more strongly over the period studied here.
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