Background: The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) is an ongoing, National Institute of Mental Health-funded, 7-site collaboration investigating the occurrence and genetic ...architecture of quantitative endophenotypes related to schizophrenia. The purpose of this article is to provide a description of the COGS structure and methods, including participant recruitment and assessment. Methods: The hypothesis-driven recruitment strategy ascertains families that include a proband with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition diagnosis of schizophrenia, and at least one unaffected full sibling available for genotyping and endophenotyping, along with parents available for genotyping and (optional depending on age) endophenotyping. The family structure is selected to provide contrast in quantitative endophenotypic traits and thus to maximize the power of the planned genetic analyses. Probands are recruited from many sources including clinician referrals, local National Alliance for the Mentally Ill chapters, and advertising via the media. All participants undergo a standardized protocol that includes clinical characterization, a blood draw for genotyping, and endophenotype assessments (P50 suppression, prepulse inhibition, antisaccade performance, continuous performance tasks, letter-number span, verbal memory, and a computerized neurocognitive battery). Investigators participate in weekly teleconferences to coordinate and evaluate recruitment, clinical assessment, endophenotyping, and continuous quality control of data gathering and analyses. Data integrity is maintained through use of a highly quality-assured, centralized web-based database. Results: As of February 2006, 355 families have been enrolled and 688 participants have been endophenotyped, including schizophrenia probands (n = 154, M:F = 110:44), first-degree biological relatives (n = 343, M:F = 151:192), and community comparison subjects (n = 191, M:F = 81:110). Discussion: Successful multisite genetics collaborations must institute standardized methodological criteria for assessment and recruitment that are clearly defined, well communicated, and uniformly applied. In parallel, studies utilizing endophenotypes require strict adherence to criteria for cross-site data acquisition, equipment calibration and testing and software equivalence, and continuous quality assurance for many measures obtained across sites. This report describes methods and presents the structure of the COGS as a model of multisite endophenotype genetic studies. It also provides demographic information after the first 2 years of data collection on a sample for whom the behavioral data and genetics of endophenotype performance will be fully characterized in future articles. Some issues discussed in the reviews that follow reflect the challenges of evaluating endophenotypes in studies of the genetic architecture of endophenotypes in schizophrenia.
Context: Type Ibn supernovae are a rare class of stripped envelope supernovae interacting with a helium-rich CSM. The majority of the SNe Ibn reported display a surprising homogeneity in their fast ...lightcurves and starforming hosts. Aims: We present the discovery and study of SN 2020bqj (ZTF20aalrqbu), a SN Ibn with a long-duration peak plateau lasting 40 days and hosted by a faint low-mass galaxy. We aim to explain its peculiar properties using an extensive data set. Methods: We compare the evolution of SN 2020bqj with SNe Ibn from the literature. We fit the bolometric and multi-band lightcurves with different powering mechanism models. Results: The risetime, peak magnitude and spectral features of SN 2020bqj are consistent with those of most SNe Ibn, but the SN is a clear outlier based on its bright, long-lasting peak plateau and low host mass. We show through modeling that the lightcurve can be powered predominantly by shock heating from the interaction of the SN ejecta and a dense CSM. The peculiar Type Ibn SN 2011hw is a close analog to SN 2020bqj, suggesting a similar progenitor and CSM scenario. In this scenario a very massive progenitor star in the transitional phase between a luminous blue variable and a compact Wolf-Rayet star undergoes core-collapse, embedded in a dense helium-rich CSM with an elevated opacity compared to normal SNe Ibn, due to the presence of residual hydrogen. This scenario is consistent with the observed properties of SN 2020bqj and the modeling results. Conclusions: SN 2020bqj is a compelling example of a transitional SN Ibn/IIn based on not only its spectral features, but also its lightcurve, host galaxy properties and the inferred progenitor properties. The strong similarity with SN 2011hw suggests this subclass may be the result of a progenitor in a stellar evolution phase that is distinct from those of progenitors of regular SNe Ibn.
We present the performance of a semantic segmentation network, SparseSSNet, that provides pixel-level classification of MicroBooNE data. The MicroBooNE experiment employs a liquid argon time ...projection chamber for the study of neutrino properties and interactions. SparseSSNet is a submanifold sparse convolutional neural network, which provides the initial machine learning based algorithm utilized in one of MicroBooNE's ν_e-appearance oscillation analyses. The network is trained to categorize pixels into five classes, which are re-classified into two classes more relevant to the current analysis. The output of SparseSSNet is a key input in further analysis steps. This technique, used for the first time in liquid argon time projection chambers data and is an improvement compared to a previously used convolutional neural network, both in accuracy and computing resource utilization. The accuracy achieved on the test sample is ≥99%. For full neutrino interaction simulations, the time for processing one image is ≈ 0.5 sec, the memory usage is at 1 GB level, which allows utilization of most typical CPU worker machine.
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are transient, multi-wavelength events in which a star is ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. Observations show that in a small fraction of TDEs, a short-lived, ...synchrotron emitting jet is produced. We observed the newly discovered TDE AT2022cmc with a slew of radio facilities over the first 100 days after its discovery. The light curve from the AMI-LA radio interferometer shows day-timescale variability which we attribute to a high brightness temperature emitting region as opposed to scintillation. We measure a brightness temperature of 2x10^15 K, which is unphysical for synchrotron radiation. We suggest that the measured high brightness temperature is a result of relativistic beaming caused by a jet being launched at velocities close to the speed of light along our line of sight. We infer from day-timescale variability that the jet associated with AT2022cmc has a relativistic Doppler factor of at least 16, which corresponds to a bulk Lorentz factor of at least 8 if we are observing the jet directly on axis. Such an inference is the first conclusive evidence that the radio emission observed from some TDEs is from relativistic jets because it does not rely on an outflow model. We also compare the first 100 days of radio evolution of AT2022cmc with that of the previous bright relativistic TDE, Swift J1644, and find a remarkable similarity in their evolution.
Impoverished minority women experience a higher burden from depression than do white women because they are less likely to receive appropriate care. Little is known about the effectiveness of ...guideline-based care for depression with impoverished minority women, most of whom do not seek care.
To determine the impact of an intervention to deliver guideline-based care for depression compared with referral to community care with low-income and minority women.
A randomized controlled trial conducted in the Washington, DC, suburban area from March 1997 through May 2002 of 267 women with current major depression, who attended county-run Women, Infants, and Children food subsidy programs and Title X family planning clinics. Outcomes Hamilton Depression Rating Scale measured monthly from baseline through 6 months; instrumental role functioning (Social Adjustment Scale) and social functioning (Short Form 36-Item Health Survey) measured at baseline and 3 and 6 months.
Participants were randomly assigned to an antidepressant medication intervention (trial of paroxetine switched to buproprion, if lack of response) (n = 88), a psychotherapy intervention (8 weeks of manual-guided cognitive behavior therapy) (n = 90), or referral to community mental health services (n = 89).
Both the medication intervention (P<.001) and the psychotherapy intervention (P =.006) reduced depressive symptoms more than the community referral did. The medication intervention also resulted in improved instrumental role (P =.006) and social (P =.001) functioning. The psychotherapy intervention resulted in improved social functioning (P =.02). Women randomly assigned to receive medications were twice as likely (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% confidence interval, 0.98-4.27; P =.057) to achieve a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score of 7 or less by month 6 as were those referred to community care.
Guideline-concordant care for major depression is effective for these ethnically diverse and impoverished patients. More women engaged in a sufficient duration of treatment with medications compared with psychotherapy, and outcome gains were more extensive and robust for medications.
A new technique has been investigated for improving the signals that can be obtained in air-coupled nondestruction evaluation (NDE). This relies on the wide bandwidth available from polymer-filmed ...capacitive transducers. The technique relies on a swept-frequency "chirp" signal, which is transmitted from a transducer in air. The new technique differs from existing time-domain correlation techniques, such as pulse compression, in that a single multiplication process is performed in the time domain to give a difference frequency signal. This then can be isolated easily in the frequency domain. It will be demonstrated that this new swept frequency multiplication (SFM) approach gives the potential for rapid air-coupled imaging.
Splitting techniques have been used extensively for computing reacting flows with detailed chemistry. Nevertheless, there are still some open questions with respect to efficiency and the error ...introduced by splitting. In this paper, the accuracy and effectiveness of split-operator methods for computing steady-state reacting flows are determined. A fully coupled scheme is described together with two splitting schemes: a standard Strang-splitting scheme and a consistent-splitting scheme, all with implicit transport computations. The effect of splitting errors on the convergence and solution accuracy is investigated analytically using a one-dimensional scalar equation. The accuracy with respect to the original discretized equations is tested for an H
2
/O
2
burner flame. Finally, consistent splitting is combined with an adaptive chemistry approach to compute three partially premixed laminar methane flames using detailed chemistry (217 reactions). The calculations confirm that HCO radical concentration is an excellent surrogate for heat release rate.
The role of allelic variation in APOE, the genetic locus for apolipoprotein E, in geriatric depression is poorly understood. There are conflicting reports as to an association between the epsilon4 ...allele and depression in late life.
Using a community based study of non-demented elders in Cache County, Utah, that included many very old individuals, we examined the relationship between APOE and late-onset (age > 60) depression, with particular attention to possible age effects.
There was no overall association between APOE and depression. However, there was a significant interaction effect of APOE and age such that the relationship of late-onset depression with respect to presence of the epsilon4 allele was larger among those 80 and older compared with those below age 80. Consistent with previous studies, women were more likely to experience late-onset depression than men.
Because we excluded prevalent cases of dementia, this pattern of relative risk with age may reflect the appearance of depressive symptoms as a prodrome of Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia. Longitudinal studies should help to confirm or refute this explanation of the data.
G353.9−2.0 is a likely Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) identified from a visual inspection of the National Radio Astronomy Observations (NRAO) Very Large Array (VLA) Sky Survey (NVSS) observations ...in the Galactic plane. It shows a shell structure, about 13 arcmin in diameter, with a central extended source. VLA observations of G353.9−2.0 at 1.4 GHz, with a resolution of ≈40 arcsec, and a significantly better sensitivity than the NVSS observations, are presented here, together with observations at 327 MHz and observations of the central source at 8.4 GHz. These new observations and existing results from the literature are discussed. G353.9−2.0 is confirmed as a SNR, and the central source as a likely extragalactic double source.
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