The signal of continuous gravitational waves has a longer duration than the observation period. Even if the waveform in the source frame is monochromatic, we will observe the waveform with modulated ...frequencies due to the motion of the detector. If the source location is unknown, a lot of templates having different sky positions are required to demodulate the frequency, and the required huge computational cost restricts the applicable parameter region of coherent search. In this work, we propose and examine a new method to select candidates, which reduces the cost of coherent search by following up only the selected candidates. As a first step, we consider an idealized situation in which only a single-detector having 100% duty cycle is available and its detector noise is approximated by the stationary Gaussian noise. Also, we assume that the signal has no spin-down, that the polarization angle, the inclination angle, and the initial phase are fixed to be ψ = 0, cosι = 1 , and φ0 = 0, and that they are treated as known parameters. We combine several methods: (1) the short-time Fourier transform with the resampled data such that the Earth motion for the source is canceled in some reference direction, (2) the excess power search in the Fourier transform of the time series obtained by picking up the amplitude in a particular frequency bin from the short-time Fourier transform data, and (3) the deep learning method to further constrain the source sky position. The computational cost and the detection probability are estimated. The injection test is carried out to check the validity of the detection probability. We find that our method is worthy of further study for analyzing O(107) sec strain data.
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) have opened a variety of exciting research fields. However, although a vast number of applications have been proposed ...since the two techniques were first reported, none has been applied to real practical use. This calls for an update in the recent fundamental and application studies of SERS and TERS. Thus, the goals and scope of this review are to report new directions and perspectives of SERS and TERS, mainly from the viewpoint of combining their mechanism and application studies. Regarding the recent progress in SERS and TERS, this review discusses four main topics: (1) nanometer to subnanometer plasmonic hotspots for SERS; (2) Ångström resolved TERS; (3) chemical mechanisms, i.e., charge-transfer mechanism of SERS and semiconductor-enhanced Raman scattering; and (4) the creation of a strong bridge between the mechanism studies and applications.
Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The understanding of the risk factors for CVD may yield important insights into the prevention, etiology, ...course, and treatment of this major public health concern. Autonomic imbalance, characterized by a hyperactive sympathetic system and a hypoactive parasympathetic system, is associated with various pathological conditions. Over time, excessive energy demands on the system can lead to premature aging and diseases. Therefore, autonomic imbalance may be a final common pathway to increased morbidity and mortality from a host of conditions and diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Heart rate variability (HRV) may be used to assess autonomic imbalances, diseases and mortality. Parasympathetic activity and HRV have been associated with a wide range of conditions including CVD. Here we review the evidence linking HRV to established and emerging modifiable and non-modifiable CVD risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, family history and work stress. Substantial evidence exists to support the notion that decreased HRV precedes the development of a number of risk factors and that lowering risk profiles is associated with increased HRV. We close with a suggestion that a model of autonomic imbalance may provide a unifying framework within which to investigate the impact of risk factors, including psychosocial factors and work stress, on cardiovascular disease.
Available evidence concerning the association between indoor air pollution (IAP) from biomass and solid fuel combustion and preeclampsia/eclampsia is not available in developing countries. We ...investigated the association between exposure to IAP from biomass and solid fuel combustion and symptoms of preeclampsia/eclampsia in Indian women by analyzing cross‐sectional data from India's third National Family Health Survey (NFHS‐3, 2005–2006). Self‐reported symptoms of preeclampsia/eclampsia during pregnancy such as convulsions (not from fever), swelling of legs, body or face, excessive fatigue or vision difficulty during daylight, were obtained from 39 657 women aged 15–49 years who had a live birth in the previous 5 years. Effects of exposure to cooking smoke, ascertained by type of fuel used for cooking on preeclampsia/eclampsia risk, were estimated using logistic regression after adjusting for various confounders. Results indicate that women living in households using biomass and solid fuels have two times higher likelihood of reporting preeclampsia/eclampsia symptoms than do those living in households using cleaner fuels (OR = 2.21; 95%: 1.26–3.87; P = 0.006), even after controlling for the effects of a number of potentially confounding factors. This study is the first to empirically estimate the associations of IAP from biomass and solid fuel combustion and reported symptoms suggestive of preeclampsia/eclampsia in a large nationally representative sample of Indian women and we observed increased risk. These findings have important program and policy implications for countries such as India, where large proportions of the population rely on polluting biomass fuels for cooking and space heating. More epidemiological research with detailed exposure assessments and clinical measures of preeclampsia/eclampsia is needed in a developing country setting to validate these findings.
Colonization by Lactobacillus in the female genital tract is thought to be critical for maintaining genital health. However, little is known about how genital microbiota influence host immune ...function and modulate disease susceptibility. We studied a cohort of asymptomatic young South African women and found that the majority of participants had genital communities with low Lactobacillus abundance and high ecological diversity. High-diversity communities strongly correlated with genital pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Transcriptional profiling suggested that genital antigen-presenting cells sense gram-negative bacterial products in situ via Toll-like receptor 4 signaling, contributing to genital inflammation through activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway and recruitment of lymphocytes by chemokine production. Our study proposes a mechanism by which cervicovaginal microbiota impact genital inflammation and thereby might affect a woman’s reproductive health, including her risk of acquiring HIV.
•Most African women studied had genital communities with low Lactobacillus abundance•Unlike the gut, high-diversity cervicovaginal communities are pro-inflammatory•Specific bacteria induce cytokine production from genital APCs and epithelial cells
Vaginal colonization by a single bacterium, Lactobacillus, is considered healthy. Kwon and colleagues show that in a cohort of asymptomatic African women, the majority have high-diversity genital bacterial communities that are closely associated with local inflammation. This work suggests specific genital bacteria might increase HIV acquisition risk in women.
We developed a set of universal PCR primers (MiFish-U/E) for metabarcoding environmental DNA (eDNA) from fishes. Primers were designed using aligned whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequences ...from 880 species, supplemented by partial mitogenome sequences from 160 elasmobranchs (sharks and rays). The primers target a hypervariable region of the 12S rRNA gene (163–185 bp), which contains sufficient information to identify fishes to taxonomic family, genus and species except for some closely related congeners. To test versatility of the primers across a diverse range of fishes, we sampled eDNA from four tanks in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium with known species compositions, prepared dual-indexed libraries and performed paired-end sequencing of the region using high-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies. Out of the 180 marine fish species contained in the four tanks with reference sequences in a custom database, we detected 168 species (93.3%) distributed across 59 families and 123 genera. These fishes are not only taxonomically diverse, ranging from sharks and rays to higher teleosts, but are also greatly varied in their ecology, including both pelagic and benthic species living in shallow coastal to deep waters. We also sampled natural seawaters around coral reefs near the aquarium and detected 93 fish species using this approach. Of the 93 species, 64 were not detected in the four aquarium tanks, rendering the total number of species detected to 232 (from 70 families and 152 genera). The metabarcoding approach presented here is non-invasive, more efficient, more cost-effective and more sensitive than the traditional survey methods. It has the potential to serve as an alternative (or complementary) tool for biodiversity monitoring that revolutionizes natural resource management and ecological studies of fish communities on larger spatial and temporal scales.
The ringdown part of gravitational waves in the final stage of the merger of compact objects tells us the nature of strong gravity and hence can be used for testing theories of gravity. The ringdown ...waveform, however, fades out in a very short time with a few cycles, and hence it is challenging to extract the ringdown frequency and its damping timescale. We here propose to build up a suite of mock data of gravitational waves to compare the performance of various approaches developed to detect the dominant quasinormal mode from an excited black hole after merger. In this paper, we present our initial results of comparisons of the following five methods: (1) plain matched filtering with ringdown part method, (2) matched filtering with both merger and ringdown parts method, (3) Hilbert-Huang transformation method, (4) autoregressive modeling method, and (5) neural network method. After comparing the performances of these methods, we discuss our future projects.
Aim
To evaluate the Ca2+‐releasing, alkalizing and apatite‐like surface precipitate‐forming abilities of a prototype tricalcium silicate cement, which was mainly composed of synthetically prepared ...tricalcium silicate and zirconium oxide radiopacifier.
Methodology
The prototype tricalcium silicate cement, white ProRoot MTA (WMTA) and TheraCal LC (a light‐cured resin‐modified calcium silicate‐filled material) were examined. The chemical compositions were analysed with a wavelength‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy electron probe microanalyser with an image observation function (SEM‐EPMA). The pH and Ca2+ concentrations of water in which the set materials had been immersed were measured, and the latter was assessed with the EDTA titration method. The surface precipitates formed on the materials immersed in phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) were analysed with SEM‐EPMA and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). Kruskal–Wallis tests followed by Mann–Whitney U‐test with Bonferroni correction were used for statistical analysis (α = 0.05).
Results
The prototype cement contained Ca, Si and Zr as major elemental constituents, whereas it did not contain some metal elements that were detected in the other materials. The Ca2+ concentrations and pH of the immersion water samples exhibited the following order: WMTA = prototype cement > TheraCal LC (P < 0.05). All three materials produced Ca‐ and P‐containing surface precipitates after PBS immersion, and the precipitates produced by TheraCal LC displayed lower Ca/P ratios than those formed by the other materials. XRD peaks corresponding to hydroxyapatite were detected in the precipitates produced by the prototype cement and WMTA.
Conclusion
The prototype tricalcium silicate cement exhibited similar Ca2+‐releasing, alkalizing and apatite‐like precipitate‐forming abilities to WMTA. The Ca2+‐releasing, alkalizing and apatite‐like precipitate‐forming abilities of TheraCal LC were lower than those of the other materials.
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