The Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT), India’s first X-ray telescope based on the principle of grazing incidence, was launched aboard the AstroSat and made operational on October 26, 2015. X-rays ...in the energy band of 0.3–8.0 keV are focussed on to a cooled charge coupled device thus providing medium resolution X-ray spectroscopy of cosmic X-ray sources of various types. It is the most sensitive X-ray instrument aboard the AstroSat. In its first year of operation, SXT has been used to observe objects ranging from active stars, compact binaries, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei and clusters of galaxies in order to study its performance and quantify its characteriztics. Here, we present an overview of its design, mechanical hardware, electronics, data modes, observational constraints, pipeline processing and its in-orbit performance based on preliminary results from its characterization during the performance verification phase.
We present the scientific case for inclusion of penetrators into the Europan surface, and the candidate instruments which could significantly enhance the scientific return of the joint ESA/NASA ...Europa-Jupiter System Mission (EJSM). Moreover, a surface element would provide an exciting and inspirational mission highlight which would encourage public and political support for the mission.
Whilst many of the EJSM science goals can be achieved from the proposed orbital platform, only surface elements can provide key exploration capabilities including direct chemical sampling and associated astrobiological material detection, and sensitive habitability determination. A targeted landing site of upwelled material could provide access to potential biological material originating from deep beneath the ice.
Penetrators can also enable more capable geophysical investigations of Europa (and Ganymede) interior body structures, mineralogy, mechanical, magnetic, electrical and thermal properties. They would provide ground truth, not just for the orbital observations of Europa, but could also improve confidence of interpretation of observations of the other Jovian moons. Additionally, penetrators on both Europa and Ganymede, would allow valuable comparison of these worlds, and gather significant information relevant to future landed missions. The advocated low mass penetrators also offer a comparatively low cost method of achieving these important science goals.
A payload of two penetrators is proposed to provide redundancy, and improve scientific return, including enhanced networked seismometer performance and diversity of sampled regions.
We also describe the associated candidate instruments, penetrator system architecture, and technical challenges for such penetrators, and include their current status and future development plans.
The present work reports a characterization of mean wet weight and moisture, the lipid class and fatty acid (FA) composition from the total lipids (TL), of both culture and wild eggs of the ...cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, throughout the embryonic development. Additionally, reproductive data, such as the number of spawnings, number and mean weight of eggs and duration of spawning period of cultured cuttlefish is provided. Both types of eggs were similar in mean wet weight, moisture content, TL content and lipid composition throughout embryonic development. Females from the cultured group spawned 13 times and laid 8654 eggs in 64 days, with a mean weight of 0.607 ± 0.179 g. A sex ratio of 1.57 (11female symbol for 7male symbol) promoted an individual fecundity of 787 eggs/female symbol (the biggest until now on our culture facilities), which might be related to increased bottom areas. The TL increased with day/stage of embryonic development (P < 0.05) only in the cultured egg group. However, no differences were found on TL between culture and wild eggs at the same day/stage (P > 0.05). Eggs displayed predominant levels of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), cholesterol and triacylglycerol at the end of embryonic development. Polar and neutral lipids of both eggs groups remained consistently proportional (~50% for each lipid fraction) and a significant increase (P < 0.05) was observed in phosphatidylserine, PE and free FA throughout the embryonic development. In either egg type and day, 16:0, 18:0, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 accounted for approximately 70 g Kg⁻¹ of all FA and saturated and n-3 totals seemed to have the same proportion in the cuttlefish eggs. The present results suggest that lipids are not used as energetic substrate but as structural components in cuttlefish egg.
Individual patient data from two randomised trials comparing neoadjuvant chemotherapy with upfront debulking surgery in advanced tubo-ovarian cancer were analysed to examine long-term outcomes for ...patients and to identify any preferable therapeutic approaches for subgroup populations.
We did a per-protocol pooled analysis of individual patient data from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 55971 trial (NCT00003636) and the Medical Research Council Chemotherapy Or Upfront Surgery (CHORUS) trial (ISRCTN74802813). In the EORTC trial, eligible women had biopsy-proven International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIIC or IV invasive epithelial tubo-ovarian carcinoma. In the CHORUS trial, inclusion criteria were similar to those of the EORTC trial, and women with apparent FIGO stage IIIA and IIIB disease were also eligible. The main aim of the pooled analysis was to show non-inferiority in overall survival with neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared with upfront debulking surgery, using the reverse Kaplan-Meier method. Tests for heterogeneity were based on Cochran's Q heterogeneity statistic.
Data for 1220 women were included in the pooled analysis, 670 from the EORTC trial and 550 from the CHORUS trial. 612 women were randomly allocated to receive upfront debulking surgery and 608 to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Median follow-up was 7·6 years (IQR 6·0–9·6; EORTC, 9·2 years IQR 7·3–10·4; CHORUS, 5·9 years IQR 4·3–7·4). Median age was 63 years (IQR 56–71) and median size of the largest metastatic tumour at diagnosis was 8 cm (IQR 4·8–13·0). 55 (5%) women had FIGO stage II–IIIB disease, 831 (68%) had stage IIIC disease, and 230 (19%) had stage IV disease, with staging data missing for 104 (9%) women. In the entire population, no difference in median overall survival was noted between patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and upfront debulking surgery (27·6 months IQR 14·1–51·3 and 26·9 months 12·7–50·1, respectively; hazard ratio HR 0·97, 95% CI 0·86–1·09; p=0·586). Median overall survival for EORTC and CHORUS patients was significantly different at 30·2 months (IQR 15·7–53·7) and 23·6 months (10·5–46·9), respectively (HR 1·20, 95% CI 1·06–1·36; p=0·004), but was not heterogeneous (Cochran's Q, p=0·17). Women with stage IV disease had significantly better outcomes with neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared with upfront debulking surgery (median overall survival 24·3 months IQR 14·1–47·6 and 21·2 months 10·0–36·4, respectively; HR 0·76, 95% CI 0·58–1·00; p=0·048; median progression-free survival 10·6 months 7·9–15·0 and 9·7 months 5·2–13·2, respectively; HR 0·77, 95% CI 0·59–1·00; p=0·049).
Long-term follow-up data substantiate previous results showing that neoadjuvant chemotherapy and upfront debulking surgery result in similar overall survival in advanced tubo-ovarian cancer, with better survival in women with stage IV disease with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This pooled analysis, with long-term follow-up, shows that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a valuable treatment option for patients with stage IIIC–IV tubo-ovarian cancer, particularly in patients with a high tumour burden at presentation or poor performance status.
National Cancer Institute and Vlaamse Liga tegen kanker (Flemish League against Cancer).
There are several reports of Sarcocystis sarcocysts in muscles of dogs, but these species have not been named. Additionally, there are two reports of Sarcocystis neurona in dogs. Here, we propose two ...new names, Sarcocystis caninum, and Sarcocystis svanai for sarcocysts associated with clinical muscular sarcocystosis in four domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), one each from Montana and Colorado in the USA, and two from British Columbia, Canada. Only the sarcocyst stage was identified. Most of the sarcocysts identified were S. caninum. Sarcocysts were studied using light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and polymerase chain reaction. Based on collective results two new species, S. caninum and S. svanai were designated. Sarcocystis caninum and S. svanai were structurally distinct. Sarcocystis caninum sarcocysts were up to 1.2 mm long and up to 75 μm wide. By light microscopy, the sarcocyst wall was relatively thin and smooth. By TEM, the sarcocyst wall was “type 9”, 1–2 μm thick, and contained villar protrusions that lacked microtubules. Bradyzoites in sections were 7–9 μm long. Sarcocysts of S. svanai were few and were identified by TEM. Sarcocystis svanai sarcocysts were “type 1”, thin walled (< 0.5 μm), and the wall lacked villar protrusions but had tiny blebs that did not invaginate. DNA was extracted either from infected frozen muscle biopsies or formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded sections. Dogs were either singly infected with S. caninum or multiply co‐infected with S. caninum and S. svanai (the result of a mixed infection) based on multilocus DNA sequencing and morphology. BLASTn analysis established that the sarcocysts identified in these dogs were similar to, but not identical to Sarcocystis canis or Sarcocystis arctosi, parasites found to infect polar bears (Ursus maritimus) or brown bears (Ursus arctosi), respectively. However, the S. caninum sequence showed 100% identify over the 18S rRNA region sequenced to that of S. arctica, a parasite known to infect Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus).
BACKGROUND AND AIMS CRASSULA HUNUA: and C. ruamahanga have been taxonomically controversial. Here their distinctiveness is assessed so that their taxonomic and conservation status can be clarified. ...METHODS: Populations of these two species were analysed using morphological, chromosomal and DNA sequence data. KEY RESULTS: It proved impossible to differentiate between these two species using 12 key morphological characters. Populations were found to be chromosomally variable with 11 different chromosome numbers ranging from 2n = 42 to 2n = 100. Meiotic behaviour and levels of pollen stainability were both variable. Phylogenetic analyses showed that differences exist in both nuclear and plastid DNA sequences between individual plants, sometimes from the same population. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that these plants are a species complex that has evolved through interspecific hybridization and polyploidy. Their high levels of chromosomal and DNA sequence variation present a problem for their conservation.
The epidemic of antimicrobial resistant infections continues to challenge, compromising animal care, complicating food animal production and posing zoonotic disease risks. While the overall role of ...therapeutic antimicrobial use in animals in the development AMR in animal and human pathogens is poorly defined, veterinarians must consider the impacts of antimicrobial use in animal and take steps to optimize antimicrobial use, so as to maximize the health benefits to animals while minimizing the likelihood of antimicrobial resistance and other adverse effects. This consensus statement aims to provide guidance on the therapeutic use of antimicrobials in animals, balancing the need for effective therapy with minimizing development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals and humans.
Global change will alter the supply of ecosystem services that are vital for human well-being. To investigate ecosystem service supply during the 21st century, we used a range of ecosystem models and ...scenarios of climate and land-use change to conduct a Europe-wide assessment. Large changes in climate and land use typically resulted in large changes in ecosystem service supply. Some of these trends may be positive (for example, increases in forest area and productivity) or offer opportunities (for example, "surplus land" for agricultural extensification and bioenergy production). However, many changes increase vulnerability as a result of a decreasing supply of ecosystem services (for example, declining soil fertility, declining water availability, increasing risk of forest fires), especially in the Mediterranean and mountain regions.
With the aim to develop simple, programmatically generated, topology-based descriptors of crystal structures for application to mechanical properties prediction methods, we have developed a new ...geometric analysis protocol using the CSD Python API. By scanning a crystal structure for Miller planes with the least physical impediment to translational slipping, we are able to predict plausible slip planes for a crystal structure – a feature shown to correlate strongly with tabletability. A simple, automatic hydrogen-bond network dimensionality analysis method has also been developed which, when used in conjunction with the slip plane analysis, can detect whether the proposed slip plane is bridged by hydrogen bonding interactions. These methods are combined with other calculated topological features into a set of crystal structure descriptors, which provide a fast, qualitative way to describe the aspect of crystal plasticity that results from packing geometry. While intended for use in conjunction with other methods, these descriptors alone are shown to correctly predict the relative tabletability measured for multiple drug systems.
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