To determine the role of psychological distress as a predictor of pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.
This cohort study comprised 2127 Swedish middle-aged men and 3100 women with baseline normal ...glucose tolerance measured by oral glucose tolerance test. At follow-up 8-10 years later, 245 men and 177 women had pre-diabetes impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and IFG + IGT and Type 2 diabetes was detected in 103 men and 57 women. Baseline psychological distress was measured by an index of five questions concerning anxiety, apathy, depression, fatigue and insomnia. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated for pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes in association with total psychological distress. In addition, ORs of the single-item questions were calculated.
In men, adjusted ORs (95% confidence interval) in the highest index group of psychological distress compared with the lowest group were 1.9 (1.2-2.8) and 2.2 (1.2-4.1) for pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes, respectively. Corresponding estimates in women were 1.2 (0.7-2.1) and 0.5 (0.2-1.2). In the middle symptoms groups, adjusted ORs in men were 1.1 (0.8-1.4) for pre-diabetes and 1.2 (0.7-2.0) for Type 2 diabetes and in women 1.8 (1.1-3.0) and 0.7 (0.3-1.4). When analysed separately, the associations with each of the five single factors were similar.
The results indicate that psychological distress, including symptoms of anxiety, apathy, depression, fatigue and insomnia, increases the risk of pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes in Swedish middle-aged men. Increased risks were not present in women, except for pre-diabetes in the middle index group.
The European Space Agency's three Swarm satellites were launched on 22 November 2013 into nearly polar, circular orbits, eventually reaching altitudes of 460 km (Swarm A and C) and 510 km (Swarm B). ...Swarm's multiyear mission is to make precision, multipoint measurements of low‐frequency magnetic and electric fields in Earth's ionosphere for the purpose of characterizing magnetic fields generated both inside and external to the Earth, along with the electric fields and other plasma parameters associated with electric current systems in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Electric fields perpendicular to the magnetic field
B→ are determined through ion drift velocity
v→i and magnetic field measurements via the relation
E→⊥=−v→i×B→. Ion drift is derived from two‐dimensional images of low‐energy ion distribution functions provided by two Thermal Ion Imager (TII) sensors viewing in the horizontal and vertical planes;
v→i is corrected for spacecraft potential as determined by two Langmuir probes (LPs) which also measure plasma density ne and electron temperature Te. The TII sensors use a microchannel‐plate‐intensified phosphor screen imaged by a charge‐coupled device to generate high‐resolution distribution images (66 × 40 pixels) at a rate of 16 s−1. Images are partially processed on board and further on the ground to generate calibrated data products at a rate of 2 s−1; these include
v→i,
E→⊥, and ion temperature Ti in addition to electron temperature Te and plasma density ne from the LPs.
Key Points
Swarm TII sensors provide ion velocity and temperature from core ion distribution function images
CCD‐based imaging detectors in the TIIs support event rates that are much higher than possible with charge amplifier‐based systems
Swarm LPs use a harmonic‐mode technique to obtain electron density, temperature, and spacecraft potential at high rates
ABSTRACT
Moment analysis of ion spectrograms measured by the Ion Composition Analyser (ICA) in the coma of comet 67P typically produces an ion number density estimate markedly lower than the number ...density of free electrons as measured by the Mutual Impedance Probe and the dual Langmuir Probe. While there are good reasons to distrust the ion density moment estimate in these circumstances, the issue cannot yet be considered fully understood and it is of interest to see whether any natural non-instrumental cause is possible. An obvious such cause would be whether a significant fraction of the positive charge density resides in positively charged dust grains that are not measured by the ICA. Here, we show that this scenario is highly unlikely, even near perihelion where photoemission is the strongest. In our semi-analytical grain charging model, we balance the current contributions to grains of photoelectron emission and electron attachment so as to find the expected charge state for a grain of a given radius. The charge state is affected by the ambient electron number density, the electron temperature, and the heliocentric distance. While at times the bulk of the dust population around comet 67P could be charged positive, dust charging, including photoelectron emission, should have a negligible influence on the overall ionization balance in the cometary coma simply because the dust particles are not ubiquitous enough.
Nanofabricated quantum bits permit large-scale integration but usually suffer from short coherence times due to interactions with their solid-state environment. The outstanding challenge is to ...engineer the environment so that it minimally affects the qubit, but still allows qubit control and scalability. Here, we demonstrate a long-lived single-electron spin qubit in a Si/SiGe quantum dot with all-electrical two-axis control. The spin is driven by resonant microwave electric fields in a transverse magnetic field gradient from a local micromagnet, and the spin state is read out in the single-shot mode. Electron spin resonance occurs at two closely spaced frequencies, which we attribute to two valley states. Thanks to the weak hyperfine coupling in silicon, a Ramsey decay timescale of 1 μs is observed, almost two orders of magnitude longer than the intrinsic timescales in GaAs quantum dots, whereas gate operation times are comparable to those reported in GaAs. The spin echo decay time is ~40 μs, both with one and four echo pulses, possibly limited by intervalley scattering. These advances strongly improve the prospects for quantum information processing based on quantum dots.
Proteins can bind target molecules through either induced fit or conformational selection pathways. In the conformational selection model, a protein samples a scarcely populated high-energy state ...that resembles a target-bound conformation. In enzymatic catalysis, such high-energy states have been identified as crucial entities for activity and the dynamic interconversion between ground states and high-energy states can constitute the rate-limiting step for catalytic turnover. The transient nature of these states has precluded direct observation of their properties. Here, we present a molecular description of a high-energy enzyme state in a conformational selection pathway by an experimental strategy centered on NMR spectroscopy, protein engineering, and X-ray crystallography. Through the introduction of a disulfide bond, we succeeded in arresting the enzyme adenylate kinase in a closed high-energy conformation that is on-pathway for catalysis. A 1.9-Å X-ray structure of the arrested enzyme in complex with a transition state analog shows that catalytic sidechains are properly aligned for catalysis. We discovered that the structural sampling of the substrate free enzyme corresponds to the complete amplitude that is associated with formation of the closed and catalytically active state. In addition, we found that the trapped high-energy state displayed improved ligand binding affinity, compared with the wild-type enzyme, demonstrating that substrate binding to the high-energy state is not occluded by steric hindrance. Finally, we show that quenching of fast time scale motions observed upon ligand binding to adenylate kinase is dominated by enzyme–substrate interactions and not by intramolecular interactions resulting from the conformational change.
Amyloid transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of ATTR fibrils in multiple organs. However, the structure of ATTR fibrils from the eye is poorly understood. ...Here, we used cryo-EM to structurally characterize vitreous body ATTR fibrils. These structures were distinct from previously characterized heart fibrils, even though both have the same mutation and type A pathology. Differences were observed at several structural levels: in both the number and arrangement of protofilaments, and the conformation of the protein fibril in each layer of protofilaments. Thus, our results show that ATTR protein structure and its assembly into protofilaments in the type A fibrils can vary between patients carrying the same mutation. By analyzing and matching the interfaces between the amino acids in the ATTR fibril with those in the natively folded TTR, we are able to propose a mechanism for the structural conversion of TTR into a fibrillar form.
The Spin-plane double probe instrument (SDP) is part of the FIELDS instrument suite of the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS). Together with the Axial double probe instrument (ADP) and the ...Electron Drift Instrument (EDI), SDP will measure the 3-D electric field with an accuracy of 0.5 mV/m over the frequency range from DC to 100 kHz. SDP consists of 4 biased spherical probes extended on 60 m long wire booms 90
∘
apart in the spin plane, giving a 120 m baseline for each of the two spin-plane electric field components. The mechanical and electrical design of SDP is described, together with results from ground tests and calibration of the instrument.
Because ion-neutral reaction cross sections are energy dependent, the distance from a cometary nucleus within which ions remain collisionally coupled to the neutrals is dictated not only by the ...comet's activity level but also by the electromagnetic fields in the coma. Here we present a 1D model simulating the outward radial motion of water group ions with radial acceleration by an ambipolar electric field interrupted primarily by charge transfer processes with H2O. We also discuss the impact of plasma waves. For a given electric field profile, the model calculates key parameters, including the total ion density, nI, the H3O+/H2O+ number density and flux ratios, Rdens and Rflux, and the mean ion drift speed, , as a function of cometocentric distance. We focus primarily on a coma roughly resembling that of the ESA Rosetta mission target comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko near its perihelion in 2015 August. In the presence of a weak ambipolar electric field in the radial direction the model results suggest that the neutral coma is not sufficiently dense to keep the mean ion flow speed close to that of the neutrals by the spacecraft location (∼200 km from the nucleus). In addition, for electric field profiles giving nI and within limits constrained by measurements, the Rdens values are significantly higher than values typically observed. However, when including the ion motion in large-amplitude plasma waves in the model, results more compatible with observations are obtained. We suggest that the variable and often low H3O+/H2O+ number density ratios observed may reflect nonradial ion trajectories strongly influenced by electromagnetic forces and/or plasma instabilities, with energization of the ion population by plasma waves.
We describe the sensors, the sensor biasing and control, the signal-processing unit, and the operation of the Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) instrument on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN ...(MAVEN) mission. The LPW instrument is designed to measure the electron density and temperature in the ionosphere of Mars and to measure spectral power density of waves (DC-2 MHz) in Mars’ ionosphere, including one component of the electric field. Low-frequency plasma waves can heat ions resulting in atmospheric loss. Higher-frequency waves are used to calibrate the density measurement and to study strong plasma processes. The LPW is part of the Particle and Fields (PF) suite on the MAVEN spacecraft. The LPW instrument utilizes two, 40 cm long by 0.635 cm diameter cylindrical sensors with preamplifiers, which can be configured to measure either plasma currents or plasma waves. The sensors are mounted on a pair of
∼
7
meter long stacer booms. The sensors and nearby surfaces are controlled by a Boom Electronics Board (BEB). The Digital Fields Board (DFB) conditions the analog signals, converts the analog signals to digital, processes the digital signals including spectral analysis, and packetizes the data for transmission. The BEB and DFB are located inside of the Particle and Fields Digital Processing Unit (PFDPU).
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