Using the PACS and SPIRE spectrometers on board Herschel, we obtained observations of the Taffy galaxies (UGC 12914/12915) and bridge. The Taffy system is believed to be the result of a face-on ...collision between two gas-rich galaxies, in which the stellar disks passed through each other, but the gas was dispersed into a massive H i and molecular bridge between them. Emission is detected and mapped in both galaxies and the bridge in the C ii157.7 m and O i63.2 m fine-structure lines. Additionally, SPIRE FTS spectroscopy detects the C i and C i neutral carbon lines, and weakly detects high-J CO transitions in the bridge. These results indicate that the bridge is composed of a warm multi-phase medium consistent with shock and turbulent heating. Despite low star formation rates in the bridge, the C ii emission appears to be enhanced, reaching C ii/FIR ratios of 3.3% in parts of the bridge. Both the C ii and O i lines show broad intrinsic multi-component profiles, similar to those seen in previous CO (1-0) and H i observations. The C ii emission shares similar line profiles with both the double-peaked H i profiles and shares a high-velocity component with single-peaked CO profiles in the bridge, suggesting that the C ii emission originates in both the neutral and molecular phases. We show that it is feasible that a combination of turbulently heated H2 and high column-density H i, resulting from the galaxy collision, is responsible for the enhanced C ii emission.
To examine the association between regional brain uptake of a novel amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) tracer florbetapir F 18 ((18)F-AV-45) and cognitive performance in a pilot study.
...Cross-sectional comparison of (18)F-AV-45 in AD patients versus controls.
Three specialty memory clinics.
Eleven participants with probable Alzheimer disease (AD) by NINDS/ADRDA criteria and 15 healthy comparison (HC) participants.
Participants underwent PET imaging following a 370 MBq (10 mCi) intravenous administration of (18)F-AV-45. Regional/cerebellar standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) were calculated. Cognition was assessed using Mini-Mental State Examination, Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), Wechsler Logical Memory IA (immediate recall) test (LMIA), and verbal category fluency.
Greater (18)F-AV-45 SUVR was associated with poorer performance on all cognitive tests. In the HC group, occipital, parietal, precuneus, temporal, and cortical average SUVR was associated with greater ADAS-Cog, and greater anterior cingulate SUVR was associated with lower LMIA. Two HC participants had (18)F-AV-45 cortical/cerebellar SUVR greater than 1.5, one of whom had deficits in episodic recall and on follow-up met criteria for amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
(18)F-AV-45 SUVR in several brain regions was associated with worse global cognitive performance particularly in HC, suggesting its potential as a marker of preclinical AD.
This analysis uses source injection into background data collected by the Radiological Multi-sensor Analysis Platform (RadMAP) to characterize the performance of the Poisson Clutter Split algorithm ...and compare it with a region-of-interest algorithm. This comparison is performed for varying detector array sizes and false alarm rates using data from Sodium Iodide and High Purity Germanium detector arrays. The application of the Poisson Clutter Split algorithm is found to yield significant performance gains for both medium- and high-resolution detector arrays. Furthermore, trade-offs between energy resolution, array size, cost, and detection performance are explored. In doing so, it is shown that the choice of detection algorithm is a key factor in determining the overall system performance and should be an important consideration in system design.
The design of a neutron source capable of producing 24 and 70keV neutron beams with narrow energy spread is presented. The source exploits near-threshold kinematics of the 7Li (p,n)7Be reaction while ...taking advantage of the interference ‘notches’ found in the scattering cross-sections of iron. The design was implemented and characterized at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Alternative filters such as vanadium and manganese are also explored and the possibility of studying the response of different materials to low-energy nuclear recoils using the resultant neutron beams is discussed.
Summary Objective To examine the association between socio-economic status (SES) and liver cancer mortality among Korean men. Study design Prospective cohort study Methods Data were acquired from a ...large, prospective cohort study that included 548,530 civil service workers aged 30–59 years who had undergone health examination in 1998 provided by the Korean National Health Insurance System. Information on lifestyle and demographic characteristics was acquired through self-administered questionnaires. The main outcome event was mortality from liver cancer. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) after adjusting for age, body mass index, fasting serum glucose, alcohol consumption, smoking and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) status. Results Liver cancer mortality differentials relating to SES were statistically significant and consistent in the fully adjusted model. Compared with the highest SES category, excess risk associated with liver cancer mortality was observed with decreasing SES levels: the RRs in the upper middle, lower middle and low SES categories were 1.35 (95% CI 1.13–1.61), 1.54 (95% CI 1.28–1.86) and 1.72 (95% CI 1.45–2.04), respectively. There was no effect modification by HBsAg status on the association between SES and liver cancer mortality. Conclusions This study demonstrated an inverse association between SES and liver cancer mortality, suggesting that SES is an independent predictor of liver cancer mortality. The policies and interventions regarding prevention of liver cancer need to focus on disadvantaged groups in order to reduce health disparities related to liver cancer.
Anaemia is associated with increased post-operative morbidity and mortality. We retrospectively assess the relationship between preoperative anaemia and in-hospital mortality in valvular cardiac ...surgical population.
Data from consecutive adult patients who underwent valvular repair/ replacement at our institute from January 2010 to April 2014 were collected from hospital records. Anaemia was defined according to WHO criteria (hemoglobin <13g/dl for males and <12g/dl for females). 1:1 matching was done for anemic and non-anemic patients based on propensity for potentially confounding variables. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between anaemia and in-hospital mortality. MatchIt package for R software was used for propensity matching and SPSS 16.0.0 was used for statistical analysis.
2449 patients undergoing valvular surgery with or without coronary artery grafting were included. Anaemia was present in 37.1% (33.91% among males & 40.88% among females). Unadjusted OR for mortality was 1.6 in anemic group (95% Confidence Interval 95% CI - 1.041-2.570; p=0.033). 1:1 matching was done on the basis of propensity score for anaemia (866 pairs). Balancing was confirmed using standardized differences. Anaemia had an OR of 1.8 for mortality (95% CI- 1.042 to 3.094, P=0.035). Hematocrit of < 20 on bypass was associated with higher mortality.
Preoperative anaemia is an independent risk factor associated with in-hospital mortality in patients undergoing valvular heart surgery.
The eukaryotic polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB) serves primarily as a regulator of alternative splicing of messenger RNA, but is also co-opted to other roles such as RNA localisation and ...translation initiation from internal ribosome entry sites. The neuronal paralogue of PTB (nPTB) is 75% identical in amino acid sequence with PTB. Although the two proteins have broadly similar RNA binding specificities and effects on RNA splicing, differential expression of PTB and nPTB can lead to the generation of alternatively spliced mRNAs. RNA binding by PTB and nPTB is mediated by four RNA recognition motifs (RRMs). We present here the crystal and solution structures of the C-terminal domain of nPTB (nPTB34) which contains RRMs 3 and 4. As expected the structures are similar to each other and to the solution structure of the equivalent fragment from PTB (PTB34). The result confirms that, as found for PTB, RRMs 3 and 4 of nPTB interact with one another to form a stable unit that presents the RNA-binding surfaces of the component RRMs on opposite sides that face away from each other. The major differences between PTB34 and nPTB34 arise from amino acid side chain substitutions on the exposed β-sheet surfaces and adjoining loops of each RRM, which are likely to modulate interactions with RNA.
Plants traditionally used in India to treat fever or malaria were examined in vitro for antiplasmodial properties against
Plasmodium falciparum. Of 80 analysed ethanol extracts, from 47 species, ...significant effects were found for 31 of the extracts. These represent 23 different species from 20 families. Of the active species 20 were tested against
P. falciparum for the first time. The following five species seems to be of special interest for further antimalarial studies,
Casearia elliptica,
Holarrhena pubescens,
Pongamia pinnata,
Soymida febrifuga,
and Plumbago zeylanica.
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