Giant impurity excitations are powerful probes for exploring new regimes of far out of equilibrium dynamics in few- and many-body quantum systems, and in situ observations of correlations. Motivated ...by recent experimental progress in spectroscopic studies of Rydberg excitations in ultracold atoms, we develop a new theoretical approach for describing multiscale dynamics of Rydberg excitations in quantum Bose gases. We find that the crossover from few- to many-body dynamics manifests in a dramatic change in spectral profile from resolved molecular lines to broad Gaussian distributions representing a superpolaronic state in which many atoms bind to the Rydberg impurity. We discuss signatures of this crossover in the temperature and density dependence of the spectra.
We report spectroscopic observation of Rydberg polarons in an atomic Bose gas. Polarons are created by excitation of Rydberg atoms as impurities in a strontium Bose-Einstein condensate. They are ...distinguished from previously studied polarons by macroscopic occupation of bound molecular states that arise from scattering of the weakly bound Rydberg electron from ground-state atoms. The absence of a p-wave resonance in the low-energy electron-atom scattering in Sr introduces a universal behavior in the Rydberg spectral line shape and in scaling of the spectral width (narrowing) with the Rydberg principal quantum number, n. Spectral features are described with a functional determinant approach (FDA) that solves an extended Fröhlich Hamiltonian for a mobile impurity in a Bose gas. Excited states of polyatomic Rydberg molecules (trimers, tetrameters, and pentamers) are experimentally resolved and accurately reproduced with a FDA.
Thyroid hormones participate in regulating growth and homeostatic processes in vertebrates, including development and adult functioning of the reproductive system. Here we report a new stimulatory ...role of thyroid hormone on the proliferation of Sertoli cells (SCs) and single, type A undifferentiated spermatogonia (Aund) in adult zebrafish testes. A role for T3 in zebrafish testis is suggested by in situ hybridization studies, which localized thyroid receptor α (thrα) in SCs and the β (thrβ) mRNA in Sertoli and Leydig cells. Using a primary zebrafish testis tissue culture system, the effect of T3 on steroid release, spermatogenesis, and the expression of selected genes was evaluated. Basal steroid release and Leydig cell gene expression did not change in response to T3. However, in the presence of FSH, T3 potentiated gonadotropin-stimulated androgen release as well as androgen receptor (ar) and 17α-hydroxylase/17,20 lyase (cyp17a1) gene expression. Moreover, T3 alone stimulated the proliferation of both SCs and Aund, potentially resulting in newly formed spermatogonial cysts. Additional tissue culture studies demonstrated that Igf3, a new, gonad-specific member of the IGF family, mediated the stimulatory effect of T3 on the proliferation of Aund and SCs. Finally, T3 induced changes in connexin 43 mRNA levels in the testis, a known T3-responsive gene. Taken together, our studies suggest that T3 expands the population of SCs and Aund involving Igf signaling and potentiates gonadotropin-stimulated testicular androgen production as well as androgen sensitivity.
•DIBH variations are smaller at CT-scanning than between pre- and post-treatment CBCTs.•Lung tumours show larger intra-fractional DIBH variations than lymph nodes.•Rescanning and repeated training ...reduce intra-fractional baseline shifts.•Intra-fractional baseline shifts vary greatly between patients.
Deep-inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) during radiotherapy may reduce dose to the lungs and heart compared to treatment in free breathing. However, intra-fractional target shifts between several breath-holds may decrease target coverage. We compared target shifts between four DIBHs at the planning-CT session with those measured on CBCT-scans obtained pre- and post-DIBH treatments.
Twenty-nine lung cancer and nine lymphoma patients were treated in DIBH. An external gating block was used as surrogate for the DIBH-level with a window of 2 mm. Four DIBH CT-scans were acquired: one for planning (CTDIBH3) and three additional (CTDIBH1,2,4) to assess the intra-DIBH target shifts at scanning by registration to CTDIBH3. During treatment, pre-treatment (CBCTpre) and post-treatment (CBCTpost) scans were acquired. For each pair of CBCTpre/post, the target intra-DIBH shift was determined. For lung cancer, tumour (GTV-Tlung) and lymph nodes (GTV-Nlung) were analysed separately. Group mean (GM), systematic and random errors, and GM for the absolute maximum shifts (GMmax) were calculated for the shifts between CTDIBH1,2,3,4 and between CBCTpre/post.
For GTV-Tlung, GMmax was larger at CBCT than CT in all directions. GMmax in cranio-caudal direction was 3.3 mm (CT)and 6.1 mm (CBCT). The standard deviations of the shifts in the left–right and cranio-caudal directions were larger at CBCT than CT. For GTV-Nlung and CTVlymphoma, no difference was found in GMmax or SD.
Intra-DIBH shifts at planning-CT session are generally smaller than intra-DIBH shifts observed at CBCTpre/post and therefore underestimate the intra-fractional DIBH uncertainty during treatment. Lung tumours show larger intra-fractional variations than lymph nodes and lymphoma targets.
Insulin glargine is processed in vivo into soluble 21A‐Gly‐human insulin (M1), the principal moiety responsible for metabolic effects, and subsequently into M2. This sub‐study compared metabolism and ...metabolite pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of investigational new insulin glargine U300 (Gla‐300) with insulin glargine 100 U/ml (Gla‐100, Lantus®, Sanofi‐Aventis Deutschland GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) in people with type 1 diabetes. Participants received 0.4 (n = 18) or 0.6 U/kg Gla‐300 (n = 12), and 0.4 U/kg Gla‐100 (n = 30) once daily in randomized order for 8 days prior to a 36‐h euglycaemic clamp. Metabolites were quantified using immunoaffinity enrichment and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS). Glargine metabolism was the same regardless of Gla‐100 or Gla‐300 administration; M1 was confirmed as the principal active moiety circulating in blood. Steady state concentrations of M1 were achieved after 2 days for Gla‐100, and 4 days for Gla‐300. Steady state M1 values defined prolonged and even flatter PK profiles after Gla‐300 administration compared with M1 profiles after Gla‐100.
ABSTRACT
Many scientific investigations of photometric galaxy surveys require redshift estimates, whose uncertainty properties are best encapsulated by photometric redshift (photo-z) posterior ...probability density functions (PDFs). A plethora of photo-z PDF estimation methodologies abound, producing discrepant results with no consensus on a preferred approach. We present the results of a comprehensive experiment comparing 12 photo-z algorithms applied to mock data produced for The Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time Dark Energy Science Collaboration. By supplying perfect prior information, in the form of the complete template library and a representative training set as inputs to each code, we demonstrate the impact of the assumptions underlying each technique on the output photo-z PDFs. In the absence of a notion of true, unbiased photo-z PDFs, we evaluate and interpret multiple metrics of the ensemble properties of the derived photo-z PDFs as well as traditional reductions to photo-z point estimates. We report systematic biases and overall over/underbreadth of the photo-z PDFs of many popular codes, which may indicate avenues for improvement in the algorithms or implementations. Furthermore, we raise attention to the limitations of established metrics for assessing photo-z PDF accuracy; though we identify the conditional density estimate loss as a promising metric of photo-z PDF performance in the case where true redshifts are available but true photo-z PDFs are not, we emphasize the need for science-specific performance metrics.
Vaccination is an important preventive health measure to protect against symptomatic and severe COVID-19. Impaired immunity secondary to an underlying malignancy or recent receipt of antineoplastic ...systemic therapies can result in less robust antibody titers following vaccination and possible risk of breakthrough infection. As clinical trials evaluating COVID-19 vaccines largely excluded patients with a history of cancer and those on active immunosuppression (including chemotherapy), limited evidence is available to inform the clinical efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination across the spectrum of patients with cancer.
We describe the clinical features of patients with cancer who developed symptomatic COVID-19 following vaccination and compare weighted outcomes with those of contemporary unvaccinated patients, after adjustment for confounders, using data from the multi-institutional COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19).
Patients with cancer who develop COVID-19 following vaccination have substantial comorbidities and can present with severe and even lethal infection. Patients harboring hematologic malignancies are over-represented among vaccinated patients with cancer who develop symptomatic COVID-19.
Vaccination against COVID-19 remains an essential strategy in protecting vulnerable populations, including patients with cancer. Patients with cancer who develop breakthrough infection despite full vaccination, however, remain at risk of severe outcomes. A multilayered public health mitigation approach that includes vaccination of close contacts, boosters, social distancing, and mask-wearing should be continued for the foreseeable future.
•Patients with cancer who develop breakthrough COVID-19 following full vaccination remain susceptible to severe outcomes.•Hematologic malignancies are over-represented among vaccinated patients with cancer who develop breakthrough COVID-19.•Vaccination of close contacts, masking, boosters, and social distancing are needed to protect patients with cancer.
The element abundance ratios of four low-mass stars with extremely low metallicities (abundances of elements heavier than helium) indicate that the gas out of which the stars formed was enriched in ...each case by at most a few--and potentially only one--low-energy supernova. Such supernovae yield large quantities of light elements such as carbon but very little iron. The dominance of low-energy supernovae seems surprising, because it had been expected that the first stars were extremely massive, and that they disintegrated in pair-instability explosions that would rapidly enrich galaxies in iron. What has remained unclear is the yield of iron from the first supernovae, because hitherto no star has been unambiguously interpreted as encapsulating the yield of a single supernova. Here we report the optical spectrum of SMSS J031300.36-670839.3, which shows no evidence of iron (with an upper limit of 10(-7.1) times solar abundance). Based on a comparison of its abundance pattern with those of models, we conclude that the star was seeded with material from a single supernova with an original mass about 60 times that of the Sun (and that the supernova left behind a black hole). Taken together with the four previously mentioned low-metallicity stars, we conclude that low-energy supernovae were common in the early Universe, and that such supernovae yielded light-element enrichment with insignificant iron. Reduced stellar feedback both chemically and mechanically from low-energy supernovae would have enabled first-generation stars to form over an extended period. We speculate that such stars may perhaps have had an important role in the epoch of cosmic reionization and the chemical evolution of early galaxies.
Self-organization of liquid crystalline and crystalline-conjugated materials has been used to create, directly from solution, thin films with structures optimized for use in photodiodes. The discotic ...liquid crystal hexa-perihexabenzocoronene was used in combination with a perylene dye to produce thin films with vertically segregated perylene and hexabenzocoronene, with large interfacial surface area. When incorporated into diode structures, these films show photovoltaic response with external quantum efficiencies of more than 34 percent near 490 nanometers. These efficiencies result from efficient photoinduced charge transfer between the hexabenzocoronene and perylene, as well as from effective transport of charges through vertically segregated perylene and hexabenzocoronene π systems. This development demonstrates that complex structures can be engineered from novel materials by means of simple solution-processing steps and may enable inexpensive, high-performance, thin-film photovoltaic technology.
Several theories of hypnosis assume that responses to hypnotic suggestions are implemented through top-down modulations via a frontoparietal network that is involved in monitoring and cognitive ...control. The current study addressed this issue re-analyzing previously published event-related-potentials (ERP) (N1, P2, and P3b amplitudes) and combined it with source reconstruction and connectivity analysis methods. ERP data were obtained from participants engaged in a visual oddball paradigm composed of target, standard, and distractor stimuli during a hypnosis (HYP) and a control (CON) condition. In both conditions, participants were asked to count the rare targets presented on a video screen. During HYP participants received suggestions that a wooden board in front of their eyes would obstruct their view of the screen. The results showed that participants' counting accuracy was significantly impaired during HYP compared to CON. ERP components in the N1 and P2 window revealed no amplitude differences between CON and HYP at sensor-level. In contrast, P3b amplitudes in response to target stimuli were significantly reduced during HYP compared to CON. Source analysis of the P3b amplitudes in response to targets indicated that HYP was associated with reduced source activities in occipital and parietal brain areas related to stimulus categorization and attention. We further explored how these brain sources interacted by computing time-frequency effective connectivity between electrodes that best represented frontal, parietal, and occipital sources. This analysis revealed reduced directed information flow from parietal attentional to frontal executive sources during processing of target stimuli. These results provide preliminary evidence that hypnotic suggestions of a visual blockade are associated with a disruption of the coupling within the frontoparietal network implicated in top-down control.
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