We present the Runaways and Isolated O-Type Star Spectroscopic Survey of the SMC (RIOTS4), a spatially complete survey of uniformly selected field OB stars that covers the entire star-forming body of ...the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Using the IMACS (Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph) multislit spectrograph and MIKE (Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle) echelle spectrograph on the Magellan telescopes, we obtained spectra of 374 early-type field stars that are at least 28 pc from any other OB candidates. We also obtained spectra of an additional 23 field stars in the SMC bar identified from slightly different photometric criteria. RIOTS4 confirmed a steep upper initial mass function in the field, apparently caused by the inability of the most massive stars to form in the smallest clusters. Our survey also yields evidence for in situ field OB star formation, and properties of field emission-line star populations, including sgBe stars and classical Oe/Be stars. We also discuss the radial velocity distribution and its relation to SMC kinematics and runaway stars.
Cases of human monkeypox are rarely seen outside of west and central Africa. There are few data regarding viral kinetics or the duration of viral shedding and no licensed treatments. Two oral drugs, ...brincidofovir and tecovirimat, have been approved for treatment of smallpox and have demonstrated efficacy against monkeypox in animals. Our aim was to describe the longitudinal clinical course of monkeypox in a high-income setting, coupled with viral dynamics, and any adverse events related to novel antiviral therapies.
In this retrospective observational study, we report the clinical features, longitudinal virological findings, and response to off-label antivirals in seven patients with monkeypox who were diagnosed in the UK between 2018 and 2021, identified through retrospective case-note review. This study included all patients who were managed in dedicated high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) centres in Liverpool, London, and Newcastle, coordinated via a national HCID network.
We reviewed all cases since the inception of the HCID (airborne) network between Aug 15, 2018, and Sept 10, 2021, identifying seven patients. Of the seven patients, four were men and three were women. Three acquired monkeypox in the UK: one patient was a health-care worker who acquired the virus nosocomially, and one patient who acquired the virus abroad transmitted it to an adult and child within their household cluster. Notable disease features included viraemia, prolonged monkeypox virus DNA detection in upper respiratory tract swabs, reactive low mood, and one patient had a monkeypox virus PCR-positive deep tissue abscess. Five patients spent more than 3 weeks (range 22–39 days) in isolation due to prolonged PCR positivity. Three patients were treated with brincidofovir (200 mg once a week orally), all of whom developed elevated liver enzymes resulting in cessation of therapy. One patient was treated with tecovirimat (600 mg twice daily for 2 weeks orally), experienced no adverse effects, and had a shorter duration of viral shedding and illness (10 days hospitalisation) compared with the other six patients. One patient experienced a mild relapse 6 weeks after hospital discharge.
Human monkeypox poses unique challenges, even to well resourced health-care systems with HCID networks. Prolonged upper respiratory tract viral DNA shedding after skin lesion resolution challenged current infection prevention and control guidance. There is an urgent need for prospective studies of antivirals for this disease.
None.
Estimating equations for the glomerular filtration rate — EKFC eGFRcr (creatinine) and EKFC eGFRcys (cystatin C) — were tested. EKFC eGFRcys was unbiased and accurate, irrespective of the inclusion ...of race or sex.
Climatic warming and permafrost thaw are predicted to increase Arctic riverbank erosion, threatening communities and accelerating sediment, carbon and nutrient cycling between rivers and floodplains. ...Existing theory assumes that pore‐ice thaw sets riverbank erosion rates, but overpredicts observed erosion rates by orders of magnitude. Here, we developed a simple model that predicts more modest rates due to a sediment‐entrainment limitation and riverbank armoring by slump blocks. Results show that during times of thaw‐limited erosion, the river rapidly erodes permafrost and undercuts its banks, consistent with previous work. However, overhanging banks generate slump blocks that must thaw and erode by sediment entrainment. Sediment entrainment can limit bank and slump block erosion rates, producing seasonally averaged rates more consistent with observations. Importantly, entrainment‐limited riverbank erosion does not depend on water temperature, indicating that decadal erosion rates may be less sensitive to warming than predicted previously.
Plain Language Summary
Riverbank erosion in the Arctic is a major hazard for riverside communities and infrastructure. Arctic rivers flow through regions of permanently frozen ground, and this ground is thawing as the climate warms. Therefore, there is major concern that riverbank erosion will accelerate in the future because the ground loses its strength when thawed. However, in order for a riverbank to erode, the river must satisfy two conditions: it must thaw the frozen ground and entrain the thawed sand and mud. Our model and analyses suggest that riverbank erosion in many Arctic rivers can be limited by the river's ability to entrain and transport the sand and mud, rather than the canonical view that erosion is limited by the rate of ground thaw. Applying our model to the Yukon River indicates that thaw rates are so fast that they cannot set the rate of erosion for the melt season. Instead, bank erosion for part of the time is controlled by the ability of the river to move the bank sediment, making riverbank erosion less sensitive to warming river waters.
Key Points
A new model shows that permafrost bank erosion depends both on pore ice thaw and sediment entrainment
Sediment entrainment from thawed banks and slump blocks can be rate‐limiting in some cases, which helps explain slow bank migration rates
Where limited by sediment entrainment, decadal erosion rates may be less sensitive to warming river water than predicted previously
Genomic prediction describes the use of SNP genotypes to predict complex traits and has been widely applied in humans and agricultural species. Genotyping-by-sequencing, a method which uses ...low-coverage sequence data paired with genotype imputation, is becoming an increasingly popular SNP genotyping method for genomic prediction. The development of Oxford Nanopore Technologies' (ONT) MinION sequencer has now made genotyping-by-sequencing portable and rapid. Here we evaluate the speed and accuracy of genomic predictions using low-coverage ONT sequence data in a population of cattle using four imputation approaches. We also investigate the effect of SNP reference panel size on imputation performance.
SNP array genotypes and ONT sequence data for 62 beef heifers were used to calculate genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) from 641 k SNP for four traits. GEBV accuracy was much higher when genome-wide flanking SNP from sequence data were used to help impute the 641 k panel used for genomic predictions. Using the imputation package QUILT, correlations between ONT and low-density SNP array genomic breeding values were greater than 0.91 and up to 0.97 for sequencing coverages as low as 0.1 × using a reference panel of 48 million SNP. Imputation time was significantly reduced by decreasing the number of flanking sequence SNP used in imputation for all methods. When compared to high-density SNP arrays, genotyping accuracy and genomic breeding value correlations at 0.5 × coverage were also found to be higher than those imputed from low-density arrays.
Here we demonstrated accurate genomic prediction is possible with ONT sequence data from sequencing coverages as low as 0.1 × , and imputation time can be as short as 10 min per sample. We also demonstrate that in this population, genotyping-by-sequencing at 0.1 × coverage can be more accurate than imputation from low-density SNP arrays.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been genetically and pathologically associated with neuroinflammation. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is a microglial receptor involved in ...innate immunity. TREM2 rare protein coding genetic variants have been linked to AD. A soluble TREM2 (sTREM2) cleavage product is elevated in AD. It is unclear whether there is a relationship between elevated sTREM2 and markers of inflammation. The hypothesis of this investigation was that central and peripheral inflammation play a role in sTREM2 levels in AD. A consistent association of peripheral or central markers of inflammation and CSF sTREM2 levels was not found, suggesting a limited impact of general inflammation on sTREM2 levels. An association between peripheral sTREM2 levels and CSF sTREM2, as well as an association between CSF sTREM2 and a marker of blood brain barrier integrity, was observed in AD, suggesting a potential role of peripheral TREM2 in central TREM2 biology.
A correlation between CSF sTREM2 and blood brain barrier integrity was observed. Furthermore, CSF sTREM2 correlated with plasma sTREM2 in AD. Taken together, these results implicate a potential role of peripheral TREM2 in central TREM2 biology in AD. Display omitted
•We confirmed previous findings of elevated CSF sTREM2 in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimers disease.•CSF sTREM2 levels had only a few significant correlations with markers of central or peripheral inflammation.•There were significantly positive correlations between CSF sTREM2 and plasma sTREM2 as well as between CSF sTREM2 and a marker for blood brain barrier integrity.•These results suggest that peripheral TREM2 may play a role in central TREM2 biology that is unrelated to general inflammation in the periphery.
An inertial fusion implosion on the National Ignition Facility, conducted on August 8, 2021 (N210808), recently produced more than a megajoule of fusion yield and passed Lawson's criterion for ...ignition Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 075001 (2022). Here we describe the experimental improvements that enabled N210808 and present the first experimental measurements from an igniting plasma in the laboratory. Ignition metrics like the product of hot-spot energy and pressure squared, in the absence of self-heating, increased by ~ 35%, leading to record values and an enhancement from previous experiments in the hot-spot energy (~ 3×), pressure (~ 2×), and mass (~ 2×). These results are consistent with self-heating dominating other power balance terms. The burn rate increases by an order of magnitude after peak compression, and the hot-spot conditions show clear evidence for burn propagation into the dense fuel surrounding the hot spot. These novel dynamics and thermodynamic properties have never been observed on prior inertial fusion experiments.
Summary
Type 2 diabetes is a result of derangement of homeostatic systems of metabolic control and immune defense. Increases in visceral fat and organ adipose, environmental factors and genetic ...predisposition create imbalances of these homeostatic mechanisms, ultimately leading to a condition in which the oxidative environment cannot be held in check. A significant imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant defenses, a condition called to oxidative stress, ensues, leading to alterations in stress‐signalling pathways and potentially end‐organ damage. Oxidative stress and metabolic inflammation upregulate the expression pro‐inflammatory cytokines, including tissue necrosis factor alpha, monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 and interleukin‐6, as well as activating stress‐sensitive kinases, such as c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK), phosphokinase C isoforms, mitogen‐activated protein kinase and inhibitor of kappa B kinase. The JNK pathway (specifically JNK‐1) appears to be a regulator that triggers the oxidative‐inflammation cascade that, if left unchecked, can become chronic and cause abnormal glucose metabolism. This can lead to insulin resistance and dysfunction of the vasculature and pancreatic β‐cell. The series of events set in motion by the interaction between metabolic inflammation and oxidative stress constitutes an ‘oxidative‐inflammatory cascade’, a delicate balance driven by mediators of the immune and metabolic systems, maintained through a positive feedback loop. Modulating an oxidative‐inflammation cascade may improve glucose metabolism, insulin resistance and vascular function, thereby slowing the development and progression to cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.
We present the final results from a high sampling rate, multi-month, spectrophotometric reverberation mapping campaign undertaken to obtain either new or improved H{beta} reverberation lag ...measurements for several relatively low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We have reliably measured the time delay between variations in the continuum and H{beta} emission line in six local Seyfert 1 galaxies. These measurements are used to calculate the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of each of these AGNs. We place our results in context to the most current calibration of the broad-line region (BLR) R{sub BLR}-L relationship, where our results remove outliers and reduce the scatter at the low-luminosity end of this relationship. We also present velocity-resolved H{beta} time-delay measurements for our complete sample, though the clearest velocity-resolved kinematic signatures have already been published.
To understand how researchers experience working in academia and the effects these experiences have on their mental health and well-being, through synthesizing published qualitative data.
A ...systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to gain a comprehensive overview of what is currently known about academic researchers' mental health and well-being. Relevant papers were identified through searching electronic databases, Google Scholar, and citation tracking. The quality of the included studies was assessed and the data was synthesised using reflexive thematic analysis.
26 papers were identified and included in this review. Academic researchers' experiences were captured under seven key themes. Job insecurity coupled with the high expectations set by the academic system left researchers at risk of poor mental health and well-being. Access to peer support networks, opportunities for career progression, and mentorship can help mitigate the stress associated with the academic job role, however, under-represented groups in academia are at risk of unequal access to resources, support, and opportunities.
To improve researchers' well-being at work, scientific/academic practice and the system's concept of what a successful researcher should look like, needs to change. Further high-quality qualitative research is needed to better understand how systemic change, including tackling inequality and introducing better support systems, can be brought about more immediately and effectively. Further research is also needed to better understand the experiences and support needs of post-doctoral and more senior researchers, as there is a paucity of literature in this area.
The review protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021232480).
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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