Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a condition that results in the build-up of phenylalanine in the blood. This can cause severe brain damage and neurological issues if left untreated. Management can be ...complex and many individuals may turn to the internet to access further information. It is important that resources are understood as misinterpretation could result in harm to health. The aim of this study was to assess the readability of online resources for PKU and to assess their visual appearance using a communication sciences assessment framework. We searched the top five websites through Google using the search term “phenylketonuria/PKU”. We then analysed the text content of the identified websites using five readability formulae to determine the USA and UK reading grade. The median readability level across the five websites was US grade/UK grade 10.6/11.6, with individual grades ranging from 10/11 to 13.3/14.3. We found wide differences in the focus, layout and general appearance of the websites. The readability of resources was much higher than the recommended US 6th grade level. Online resources for PKU need to be simplified to ensure they can be easily understood.
We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential using data from the first two seasons of observations with SPTpol, the polarization-sensitive ...receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope. The observations used in this work cover 100 deg(2) of sky with arcminute resolution at 150 GHz. Using a quadratic estimator, we make maps of the CMB lensing potential from combinations of CMB temperature and polarization maps. We combine these lensing potential maps to form a minimum-variance (MV) map. The lensing potential is measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than one for angular multipoles between $100\lt L\lt 250$. This is the highest signal-to-noise mass map made from the CMB to date and will be powerful in cross-correlation with other tracers of large-scale structure. We calculate the power spectrum of the lensing potential for each estimator, and we report the value of the MV power spectrum between $100\lt L\lt 2000$ as our primary result. We constrain the ratio of the spectrum to a fiducial ΛCDM model to be A(MV) = 0.92 ± 0.14 (Stat.) ± 0.08 (Sys.). Restricting ourselves to polarized data only, we find A(POL) = 0.92 ± 0.24 (Stat.) ± 0.11 (Sys.). This measurement rejects the hypothesis of no lensing at $5.9\sigma $ using polarization data alone, and at $14\sigma $ using both temperature and polarization data.
Dissolution of mineral surfaces at asymmetric solid–liquid–solid interfaces in aqueous solutions occurs in technologically relevant processes, such as chemical/mechanical polishing (CMP) for ...semiconductor fabrication, formation and corrosion of structural materials, and crystallization of materials relevant to heterogeneous catalysis or drug delivery. In some such processes, materials at confined interfaces exhibit dissolution rates that are orders of magnitude larger than dissolution rates of isolated surfaces. Here, the dissolution of silica and alumina in close proximity to a charged gold surface or mica in alkaline solutions of pH 10–11 is shown to depend on the difference in electrostatic potentials of the surfaces, as determined from measurements conducted using a custom-built electrochemical pressure cell and a surface forces apparatus (SFA). The enhanced dissolution is proposed to result from overlap of the electrostatic double layers between the dissimilar charged surfaces at small intersurface separation distances (<1 Debye length). A semiquantitative model shows that overlap of the electric double layers can change the magnitude and direction of the electric field at the surface with the less negative potential, which results in an increase in the rate of dissolution of that surface. When the surface electrochemical properties were changed, the dissolution rates of silica and alumina were increased by up to 2 orders of magnitude over the dissolution rates of isolated compositionally similar surfaces under otherwise identical conditions. The results provide new insights on dissolution processes that occur at solid–liquid–solid interfaces and yield design criteria for controlling dissolution through electrochemical modification, with relevance to diverse technologies.
The transport of gas towards the centre of galaxies is critical for black hole feeding and, indirectly, it can control active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. We have quantified the molecular gas ...inflow in the central R< 1kpc of M51 to be 1 M sub(middot in circle)/yr, using a new gravitational torque map and the molecular gas traced by the Plateau de Bure Interferometer Arcsecond Whirlpool Survey (PAWS). The nuclear stellar bar is responsible for this gas inflow. We also used torque profiles to estimate the location of dynamical resonances, and the results suggest a corotation for the bar CR sub(bar)~ 20'', and a corotation for the spiral CR sub(sp)~ 100''. We demonstrate how important it is to correct 3.6 mu m images for dust emission when gravitational torques are to be computed, and we examine further sources of uncertainty. Our observational measurement of gas inflow can be compared with nuclear molecular outflow rates and provide useful constraints for numerical simulations.
IMPORTANCE: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a less invasive alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement and is the treatment of choice for patients at high operative risk. The ...role of TAVI in patients at lower risk is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether TAVI is noninferior to surgery in patients at moderately increased operative risk. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this randomized clinical trial conducted at 34 UK centers, 913 patients aged 70 years or older with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis and moderately increased operative risk due to age or comorbidity were enrolled between April 2014 and April 2018 and followed up through April 2019. INTERVENTIONS: TAVI using any valve with a CE mark (indicating conformity of the valve with all legal and safety requirements for sale throughout the European Economic Area) and any access route (n = 458) or surgical aortic valve replacement (surgery; n = 455). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 1 year. The primary hypothesis was that TAVI was noninferior to surgery, with a noninferiority margin of 5% for the upper limit of the 1-sided 97.5% CI for the absolute between-group difference in mortality. There were 36 secondary outcomes (30 reported herein), including duration of hospital stay, major bleeding events, vascular complications, conduction disturbance requiring pacemaker implantation, and aortic regurgitation. RESULTS: Among 913 patients randomized (median age, 81 years IQR, 78 to 84 years; 424 46% were female; median Society of Thoracic Surgeons mortality risk score, 2.6% IQR, 2.0% to 3.4%), 912 (99.9%) completed follow-up and were included in the noninferiority analysis. At 1 year, there were 21 deaths (4.6%) in the TAVI group and 30 deaths (6.6%) in the surgery group, with an adjusted absolute risk difference of −2.0% (1-sided 97.5% CI, −∞ to 1.2%; P < .001 for noninferiority). Of 30 prespecified secondary outcomes reported herein, 24 showed no significant difference at 1 year. TAVI was associated with significantly shorter postprocedural hospitalization (median of 3 days IQR, 2 to 5 days vs 8 days IQR, 6 to 13 days in the surgery group). At 1 year, there were significantly fewer major bleeding events after TAVI compared with surgery (7.2% vs 20.2%, respectively; adjusted hazard ratio HR, 0.33 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.45) but significantly more vascular complications (10.3% vs 2.4%; adjusted HR, 4.42 95% CI, 2.54 to 7.71), conduction disturbances requiring pacemaker implantation (14.2% vs 7.3%; adjusted HR, 2.05 95% CI, 1.43 to 2.94), and mild (38.3% vs 11.7%) or moderate (2.3% vs 0.6%) aortic regurgitation (adjusted odds ratio for mild, moderate, or severe no instance of severe reported aortic regurgitation combined vs none, 4.89 95% CI, 3.08 to 7.75). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among patients aged 70 years or older with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis and moderately increased operative risk, TAVI was noninferior to surgery with respect to all-cause mortality at 1 year. TRIAL REGISTRATION: isrctn.com Identifier: ISRCTN57819173
We present a measurement of the $B$-mode polarization power spectrum (the $BB$ spectrum) from 100 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ of sky observed with SPTpol, a polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed ...on the South Pole Telescope. The observations used in this work were taken during 2012 and early 2013 and include data in spectral bands centered at 95 and 150 GHz. We report the $BB$ spectrum in five bins in multipole space, spanning the range $300 \le \ell \le 2300$, and for three spectral combinations: 95 GHz $\times$ 95 GHz, 95 GHz $\times$ 150 GHz, and 150 GHz $\times$ 150 GHz. We subtract small ($< 0.5 \sigma$ in units of statistical uncertainty) biases from these spectra and account for the uncertainty in those biases. The resulting power spectra are inconsistent with zero power but consistent with predictions for the $BB$ spectrum arising from the gravitational lensing of $E$-mode polarization. If we assume no other source of $BB$ power besides lensed $B$ modes, we determine a preference for lensed $B$ modes of $4.9 \sigma$. After marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, namely polarized emission from galactic dust and extragalactic sources, this significance is $4.3 \sigma$. Fitting for a single parameter, $A_\mathrm{lens}$, that multiplies the predicted lensed $B$-mode spectrum, and marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, we find $A_\mathrm{lens} = 1.08 \pm 0.26$, indicating that our measured spectra are consistent with the signal expected from gravitational lensing. The data presented here provide the best measurement to date of the $B$-mode power spectrum on these angular scales.
Proteomics studies to explore global patterns of protein expression in plant and green algal systems have proliferated within the past few years. Although most of these studies have involved mapping ...of the proteomes of various organs, tissues, cells, or organelles, comparative proteomics experiments have also led to the identification of proteins that change in abundance in various developmental or physiological contexts. Despite the growing use of proteomics in plant studies, questions of reproducibility have not generally been addressed, nor have quantitative methods been widely used, for example, to identify protein expression classes. In this report, we use the de-etiolation ("greening") of maize (Zea mays) chloroplasts as a model system to explore these questions, and we outline a reproducible protocol to identify changes in the plastid proteome that occur during the greening process using techniques of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. We also evaluate hierarchical and nonhierarchical statistical methods to analyze the patterns of expression of 526 "high-quality," unique spots on the two-dimensional gels. We conclude that Adaptive Resonance Theory 2-a nonhierarchical, neural clustering technique that has not been previously applied to gene expression data-is a powerful technique for discriminating protein expression classes during greening. Our experiments provide a foundation for the use of proteomics in the design of experiments to address fundamental questions in plant physiology and molecular biology.
Prostate cancer (PC) etiology is up to 57% heritable, with the remainder attributed to environmental exposures. There are limited studies regarding national level environmental exposures and PC ...aggressiveness, which was the focus of this study METHODS: SEER was queried to identify PC cases between 2010 and 2014. The environmental quality index (EQI) is a county-level metric for 2000-2005 combining data from 18 sources and reports an overall ambient environmental quality index, as well as 5 environmental quality sub-domains (air, water, land, built, and sociodemographic) with higher values representing lower environmental quality. PC stage at diagnosis was determined and, multivariable logistic regression models which adjusted for age at diagnosis (years) and self-reported race (White, Black, Other, Unknown) were used to test associations between quintiles of EQI scores and advanced PC stage at diagnosis.
The study cohort included 252,164 PC cases, of which 92% were localized and 8% metastatic at diagnosis. In the adjusted regression models, overall environmental quality EQI (OR 1.20, CI 1.15-1.26), water EQI (OR: 1.34, CI: 1.27-1.40), land EQI (OR: 1.35, CI: 1.29-1.42) and sociodemographic EQI (OR: 1.29, CI: 1.23-1.35) were associated with metastatic PC at diagnosis. For these domains there was a dose response increase in the OR from the lowest to the highest quintiles of EQI. Black race was found to be an independent predictor of metastatic PC at diagnosis (OR: 1.36, CI: 1.30-1.42) and in stratified analysis by race; overall EQI was more strongly associated with metastatic PC in Black men (OR: 1.53, CI: 1.35-1.72) compared to White men (OR: 1.18, CI: 1.12-1.24).
Lower environmental quality was associated with advanced stage PC at diagnosis. The water, land and sociodemographic domains showed the strongest associations. More work should be done to elucidate specific modifiable environmental factors associated with aggressive PC.
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