We derive production yields for massive pseudo-scalar and scalar axion-like-particles (ALPs), through non-linear Compton scattering of an electron in the background of low- and high-intensity ...electromagnetic fields. In particular, we focus on electromagnetic fields from Gaussian plane wave laser pulses. A detailed study of the angular distributions and effects of the scalar and pseudo-scalar masses is presented. It is shown that ultra-relativistic seed electrons can be used to produce scalars and pseudo-scalars with masses up to the order of the electron mass. We briefly discuss future applications of this work towards lab-based searches for light beyond-the-Standard-Model particles.
We consider the absorption of probe photons by electrons in the presence of an intense, pulsed, background field. Our analysis reveals an interplay between regularization and gauge invariance which ...distinguishes absorption from its crossing-symmetric processes, as well as a physical interpretation of absorption in terms of degenerate processes in the weak field limit. In the strong field limit we develop a locally constant field approximation (LCFA) for absorption which also exhibits new features. We benchmark the LCFA against analytical calculations and explore its regime of validity. Pulse shape effects are also investigated, as well as infrared and collinear limits of the absorption process.
Purpose More than 50,000 Americans were diagnosed with kidney and renal pelvis cancer in 2010. The National Program of Cancer Registries and SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) combined ...data include cancer incidences from the entire United States. Our study presents updated incidence data, evaluates trends and adds geographic distribution to the literature. Materials and Methods We examined invasive, microscopically confirmed kidney and renal pelvis cancers diagnosed from 2001 to 2010 that met United States Cancer Statistics reporting criteria for each year, excluding cases diagnosed by autopsy or death certificate. Histology codes classified cases as renal cell carcinoma. Rates and trends were estimated using SEER∗ Stat. Results A total of 342,501 renal cell carcinoma cases were diagnosed. The renal cell carcinoma incidence rate increased from 10.6/100,000 individuals in 2001 to 12.4/100,000 in 2010 and increased with age until ages 70 to 74 years. The incidence rate in men was almost double that in women. The annual percent change was higher in women than in men, in those 20 to 24 years old and in grade III tumors. Conclusions The annual percent change incidence increased from 2001 to 2010. Asian/Pacific Islanders and 20 to 24-year-old individuals had the highest annual percent change. While some increase resulted from localized disease, the highest annual percent change was in grade III tumors, indicating more aggressive disease. Continued monitoring of trends and epidemiological study are warranted to determine risk factors.
Model predictions of extinction risks from anthropogenic climate change are dire, but still overly simplistic. To reliably predict at‐risk species we need to know which species are currently ...responding, which are not, and what traits are mediating the responses. For mammals, we have yet to identify overarching physiological, behavioral, or biogeographic traits determining species' responses to climate change, but they must exist. To date, 73 mammal species in North America and eight additional species worldwide have been assessed for responses to climate change, including local extirpations, range contractions and shifts, decreased abundance, phenological shifts, morphological or genetic changes. Only 52% of those species have responded as expected, 7% responded opposite to expectations, and the remaining 41% have not responded. Which mammals are and are not responding to climate change is mediated predominantly by body size and activity times (phylogenetic multivariate logistic regressions, P < 0.0001). Large mammals respond more, for example, an elk is 27 times more likely to respond to climate change than a shrew. Obligate diurnal and nocturnal mammals are more than twice as likely to respond as mammals with flexible activity times (P < 0.0001). Among the other traits examined, species with higher latitudinal and elevational ranges were more likely to respond to climate change in some analyses, whereas hibernation, heterothermy, burrowing, nesting, and study location did not influence responses. These results indicate that some mammal species can behaviorally escape climate change whereas others cannot, analogous to paleontology's climate sheltering hypothesis. Including body size and activity flexibility traits into future extinction risk forecasts should substantially improve their predictive utility for conservation and management.
The current recommendation is for at least 12 months of dual antiplatelet therapy after implantation of a drug-eluting stent. However, the optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy with specific ...types of drug-eluting stents remains unknown.
To assess the clinical noninferiority of 3 months (short-term) vs 12 months (long-term) of dual antiplatelet therapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with zotarolimus-eluting stents.
The OPTIMIZE trial was an open-label, active-controlled, 1:1 randomized noninferiority study including 3119 patients in 33 sites in Brazil between April 2010 and March 2012. Clinical follow-up was performed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Eligible patients were those with stable coronary artery disease or history of low-risk acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing PCI with zotarolimus-eluting stents.
After PCI with zotarolimus-eluting stents, patients were prescribed aspirin (100-200 mg daily) and clopidogrel (75 mg daily) for 3 months (n = 1563) or 12 months (n = 1556), unless contraindicated because of occurrence of an end point.
The primary end point was net adverse clinical and cerebral events (NACCE; a composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction MI, stroke, or major bleeding); the expected event rate at 1 year was 9%, with a noninferiority margin of 2.7%. Secondary end points were major adverse cardiac events (MACE; a composite of all-cause death, MI, emergent coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or target lesion revascularization) and Academic Research Consortium definite or probable stent thrombosis.
NACCE occurred in 93 patients receiving short-term and 90 patients receiving long-term therapy (6.0% vs 5.8%, respectively; risk difference, 0.17 95% CI, -1.52 to 1.86; P = .002 for noninferiority). Kaplan-Meier estimates demonstrated MACE rates at 1 year of 8.3% (128) in the short-term group and 7.4% (114) in the long-term group (HR, 1.12 95% CI, 0.87-1.45). Between 91 and 360 days, no statistically significant association was observed for NACCE (39 2.6% vs 38 2.6% for the short- and long-term groups, respectively; HR, 1.03 95% CI, 0.66-1.60), MACE (78 5.3% vs 64 4.3%; HR, 1.22 95% CI, 0.88-1.70), or stent thrombosis (4 0.3% vs 1 0.1%; HR, 3.97 95% CI, 0.44-35.49).
In patients with stable coronary artery disease or low-risk ACS treated with zotarolimus-eluting stents, 3 months of dual antiplatelet therapy was noninferior to 12 months for NACCE, without significantly increasing the risk of stent thrombosis.
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01113372.
AbstractBackgroundOxytocin (OXT) modulates several aspects of social behavior. Intranasal OXT is a leading candidate for treating social deficits in patients with autism spectrum disorder, and common ...genetic variants in the human OXTR gene are associated with emotion recognition, relationship quality, and autism spectrum disorder. Animal models have revealed that individual differences in Oxtr expression in the brain drive social behavior variation. Our understanding of how genetic variation contributes to brain OXTR expression is very limited. MethodsWe investigated Oxtr expression in monogamous prairie voles, which have a well-characterized OXT system. We quantified brain region–specific levels of Oxtr messenger RNA and oxytocin receptor protein with established neuroanatomic methods. We used pyrosequencing to investigate allelic imbalance of Oxtr mRNA, a molecular signature of polymorphic genetic regulatory elements. We performed next-generation sequencing to discover variants in and near the Oxtr gene. We investigated social attachment using the partner preference test. ResultsOur allelic imbalance data demonstrate that genetic variants contribute to individual differences in Oxtr expression, but only in particular brain regions, including the nucleus accumbens, where oxytocin receptor signaling facilitates social attachment. Next-generation sequencing identified one polymorphism in the Oxtr intron, near a putative cis-regulatory element, explaining 74% of the variance in striatal Oxtr expression specifically. Males homozygous for the high expressing allele display enhanced social attachment. ConclusionsTaken together, these findings provide convincing evidence for robust genetic influence on Oxtr expression and provide novel insights into how noncoding polymorphisms in OXTR might influence individual differences in human social cognition and behavior.
Work-life scholars have devoted considerable attention to understanding the relationship between work and life but surprisingly little attention to understanding how individuals think about the ...relationship between work and life. We propose that individuals hold three worklife ideologies, which we define as beliefs about how work and life are related: a fixed (versus expandable) pie ideology, a segmentation (versus integration) ideology, and a work (versus life) priority ideology. Beliefs about the world come, in large part, from the world itself. We therefore advance propositions regarding the contextual antecedents of work-life ideologies; exposure to contexts that prime scarcity, boundaries, and market forces increase the extent to which individuals hold fixed pie, segmentation, and work priority ideologies, respectively. For each prime we also provide four examples of objective contextual features-one each at the family, organizational, community, and societal level of analysis-that make the relevant prime salient and shape the associated work-life ideology. Finally, we propose that work-life ideologies are consequential because they affect individuals’ work-life preferences and how they make sense of demands and resources, which, in turn, affect work-life conflict and enrichment. Our research advances understanding by expanding theory regarding the critical role of cognition in navigating work and life.
By combining an adiabatic approach based on a ‘locally monochromatic’ approximation with a local Hilbert transform, it is demonstrated how vacuum birefringence in the strong field regime can be ...calculated using a rate approach suitable for Monte Carlo simulation codes. Results for the flipping of the photon’s polarisation (helicity) are benchmarked with evaluation of exact expressions in a circularly (linearly) polarised plane wave of finite extent. For the circularly polarised case, the Heisenberg–Euler approach predicts a null result; an approximation similar to the ‘locally constant’ form is presented, which recovers the correct low-energy scaling. Example probabilities are given for typical experimental parameters.
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