ABSTRACT There has been a persistent conundrum in attempts to model the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements by rapid neutron capture (the r-process). Although the locations of the abundance peaks near ...nuclear mass numbers 130 and 195 identify an environment of rapid neutron capture near closed nuclear shells, the abundances of elements just above and below those peaks are often underproduced by more than an order of magnitude in model calculations. At the same time, there is a debate in the literature as to what degree the r-process elements are produced in supernovae or the mergers of binary neutron stars. In this paper we propose a novel solution to both problems. We demonstrate that the underproduction of nuclides above and below the r-process peaks in main or weak r-process models (like magnetohydrodynamic jets or neutrino-driven winds in core-collapse supernovae) can be supplemented via fission fragment distributions from the recycling of material in a neutron-rich environment such as that encountered in neutron star mergers (NSMs). In this paradigm, the abundance peaks themselves are well reproduced by a moderately neutron-rich, main r-process environment such as that encountered in the magnetohydrodynamical jets in supernovae supplemented with a high-entropy, weakly neutron-rich environment such as that encountered in the neutrino-driven-wind model to produce the lighter r-process isotopes. Moreover, we show that the relative contributions to the r-process abundances in both the solar system and metal-poor stars from the weak, main, and fission-recycling environments required by this proposal are consistent with estimates of the relative Galactic event rates of core-collapse supernovae for the weak and main r-process and NSMs for the fission-recycling r-process.
Many neutron star properties, such as the proton fraction, reflect the symmetry energy contributions to the equation of state that dominate when neutron and proton densities differ strongly. To ...constrain these contributions at suprasaturation densities, we measure the spectra of charged pions produced by colliding rare isotope tin (Sn) beams with isotopically enriched Sn targets. Using ratios of the charged pion spectra measured at high transverse momenta, we deduce the slope of the symmetry energy to be 42<L<117 MeV. This value is slightly lower but consistent with the L values deduced from a recent measurement of the neutron skin thickness of ^{208}Pb.
Abstract
Avian species have a unique renal structure and abundant blood flow into the kidneys. Although many birds die due to nephrotoxicity caused by chemicals, there are no early biomarkers for ...renal lesions. Uric acid level in blood, which is generally used as a renal biomarker, is altered when the kidney function is damaged by over 70%. Therefore, early biomarkers for kidney injury in birds are needed. In humans, glycomics has been at the forefront of biological and medical sciences, and glycans are used as biomarkers of diseases, such as carcinoma. In this study, a glycomics approach was used to screen for renal biomarkers in chicken. First, a chicken model of kidney damage was generated by injection of diclofenac or cisplatin, which cause acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) and acute tubular necrosis (ATN), respectively. The nephrotoxicity levels were determined by a blood chemical test and histopathological analysis. The plasma N-glycans were then analyzed to discover renal biomarkers in birds. Levels of 14 glycans increased between pre- and post administration in kidney-damaged chickens in the diclofenac group, and some of these glycans had the same presumptive composition as those in human renal carcinoma patients. Glycan levels did not change remarkably in the cisplatin group. It is possible that there are changes in glycan expression due to AIN, but they do not reflect ATN. Although further research is needed in other species of birds, glycans are potentially useful biomarkers for AIN in avian species.
EURICA is a project at RIKEN Nishina Center aimed at studying a wide range of exotic nuclei through β-decay measurements and high-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy. The setup is located behind the ...BigRIPS fragment separator and the ZeroDegree spectrometer at the RIBF. EURICA consists of the HPGe cluster detectors from the previous Euroball and RISING projects, together with double-sided silicon-strip detectors for β-decay counting and lifetime measurements. In total, this setup provides us with the possibility to study several aspects of the exotic nuclei produced at the RIBF.
In the past two decades, pions created in the high density regions of heavy ion collisions have been predicted to be sensitive at high densities to the symmetry energy term in the nuclear equation of ...state, a property that is key to our understanding of neutron stars. In a new experiment designed to study the symmetry energy, the multiplicities of negatively and positively charged pions have been measured with high accuracy for central 132Sn+124Sn, 112Sn+124Sn, and 108Sn+112Sn collisions at E/A=270 MeV with the SπRIT Time Projection Chamber. While individual pion multiplicities are measured to 4% accuracy, those of the charged pion multiplicity ratios are measured to 2% accuracy. We compare these data to predictions from seven major transport models. The calculations reproduce qualitatively the dependence of the multiplicities and their ratios on the total neutron and proton number in the colliding systems. However, the predictions of the transport models from different codes differ too much to allow extraction of reliable constraints on the symmetry energy from the data. This finding may explain previous contradictory conclusions on symmetry energy constraints obtained from pion data in Au+Au system. These new results call for still better understanding of the differences among transport codes, and new observables that are more sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy.
We aimed to determine whether patient-reported quality of recovery differed between spontaneous and operative vaginal delivery. We also aimed to psychometrically evaluate the Obstetric Quality of ...Recovery-10 scoring tool (ObsQoR-10) for use in this setting.
Single center observational cohort study.
Labour and delivery ward at a peripheral general hospital within the United Kingdom, over a 10-month period.
123 women delivering via either spontaneous (n = 68) or operative vaginal delivery (n = 55).
Women were asked to complete the ObsQoR-10 and global health visual analogue scale (0−100) on postpartum day 1. A convenience sample of consenting parturients delivering via spontaneous or operative vaginal delivery (forceps or vacuum assisted), were included. In total, 123 deliveries were included (68 via spontaneous and 55 via operative vaginal delivery), with no dropouts.
Primary outcome was ObsQoR-10 score and secondary outcomes included measures of validity, reliability and feasibility of ObsQoR-10.
Quality of recovery was better following spontaneous vaginal delivery. ObsQoR-10 scores were 80.2 (95% CI 76.4–83.9) and 72.1 (95% CI 67.3–76.9, (a difference in score of 8.1 95% CI 2.1–14.0) following spontaneous and operative vaginal delivery respectively (p = 0.008).
Validity: ObsQoR-10 correlated with global health visual analogue scale score (R = 0.52; p = 0.01) and scores were higher in women requiring <36 h compared to ≥36 h postpartum hospital stay (81.3 (95% CI 77.9–84.7) versus 72.6 (95% CI 67.9–77.2 hours respectively, (a difference in score of 8.7 95% CI 2.8–14.6; p = 0.004).
Reliability: ObsQoR-10 demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.82 and inter-item correlation = 0.32) good split-half reliability (Spearman-Brown Prophesy Reliability Estimate = 0.88) and excellent test-re-test reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.86 95% CI 0.72–0.93).
Feasibility: All women completed the survey with a median completion time of 2.5 min.
Quality of recovery appears to be better following spontaneous compared to operative vaginal delivery. This study also demonstrates that ObsQoR-10 is a valid and reliable tool for use following these delivery modes.
•Recovery is worse following operative vaginal delivery compared to spontaneous vaginal delivery.•ObsQoR-10 is a valid and reliable tool to assess recovery following these delivery modes.•Women delivering via all modes of delivery may benefit from an enhanced recovery approach.
Antibodies to carbohydrate epitopes are often of the IgM isotype and require multiple binding for sufficient avidity. Therefore clusters of epitopes are preferred antigenic sites in these cases. We ...have examined the type of clusters recognized by two anti-Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF, core-1, CD176) IgM antibodies, NM-TF1 and NM-TF2, using several different sets of TF-carrying synthetic glycoconjugates in ELISA experiments. To our surprise, the single most important factor determining binding strength was a close vicinity of several TF glycans at distances of ≤1 nm. Considering the known dimensions of IgM antibodies, our data strongly suggest that a cluster of up to four TF moieties, presenting as a “multiple epitope”, is required to attach to a single combining site in order to result in adequate binding strength. This effect can also be achieved by “surrogate-multiple epitopes” consisting of separate TF-carrying molecules in close vicinity. In addition, it was found that serine-linked TFs are stronger bound than threonine-linked TFs by both antibodies. This peculiar type of cluster recognition may contribute to improved avidity and explicit tumor specificity.
•Two IgM antibodies to the Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) carbohydrate tumor antigen were analyzed for their epitope structure.•It was found that they recognize clusters of up to four TF glycans in close vicinity.•It is concluded that high density clusters of TF may be symptomatic for tumor cells.
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