An evaluation is made of ozone profiles retrieved from measurements of the nadir‐viewing Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) instrument. Currently, four different approaches are used to ...retrieve ozone profile information from GOME measurements, which differ in the use of external information and a priori constraints. In total nine different algorithms will be evaluated exploiting the optimal estimation (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, University of Bremen, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), Phillips‐Tikhonov regularization (Space Research Organization Netherlands), neural network (Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, Tor Vergata University), and data assimilation (German Aerospace Center) approaches. Analysis tools are used to interpret data sets that provide averaging kernels. In the interpretation of these data, the focus is on the vertical resolution, the indicative altitude of the retrieved value, and the fraction of a priori information. The evaluation is completed with a comparison of the results to lidar data from the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change stations in Andoya (Norway), Observatoire Haute Provence (France), Mauna Loa (Hawaii), Lauder (New Zealand), and Dumont d'Urville (Antarctic) for the years 1997–1999. In total, the comparison involves nearly 1000 ozone profiles and allows the analysis of GOME data measured in different global regions and hence observational circumstances. The main conclusion of this paper is that unambiguous information on the ozone profile can at best be retrieved in the altitude range 15–48 km with a vertical resolution of 10 to 15 km, precision of 5–10%, and a bias up to 5% or 20% depending on the success of recalibration of the input spectra. The sensitivity of retrievals to ozone at lower altitudes varies from scheme to scheme and includes significant influence from a priori assumptions.
Aims. We present the analysis of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2011-BLG-0251. This anomalous event was observed by several survey and follow-up collaborations conducting microlensing ...observations towards the Galactic bulge. Methods. Based on detailed modelling of the observed light curve, we find that the lens is composed of two masses with a mass ratio q = 1.9 × 10-3. Thanks to our detection of higher-order effects on the light curve due to the Earth’s orbital motion and the finite size of source, we are able to measure the mass and distance to the lens unambiguously. Results. We find that the lens is made up of a planet of mass 0.53 ± 0.21 MJ orbiting an M dwarf host star with a mass of 0.26 ± 0.11 M⊙. The planetary system is located at a distance of 2.57 ± 0.61 kpc towards the Galactic centre. The projected separation of the planet from its host star is d = 1.408 ± 0.019, in units of the Einstein radius, which corresponds to 2.72 ± 0.75 AU in physical units. We also identified a competitive model with similar planet and host star masses, but with a smaller orbital radius of 1.50 ± 0.50 AU. The planet is therefore located beyond the snow line of its host star, which we estimate to be around ~1−1.5 AU.
ATRIPLA is licensed for use only in HIV-positive persons whose viral loads <50 for ≥3 months. We investigated the use of ATRIPLA as first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in EuroSIDA using a ...web-based survey performed in Autumn 2012. 96/112 clinics (85.7 %) completed the survey. Recommendations when initiating first-line ART was TRUVADA plus efavirenz in 36 (37.5 %), ATRIPLA in 35 (36.5 %), a different first-line regimen in 12 clinics (12.5 %), and no recommendation in 7 clinics (7.3 %). ATRIPLA was commonest in Northern (15/21 clinics; 71.4 %), and least common in Eastern Europe (2/31 clinics; 6.5 %;
p
< 0.0001). Over one-third of the participating clinics in this survey were using ATRIPLA as first-line antiretroviral therapy, despite EMA recommendations.
The layered double hydroxides (LDH) have been widely investigated for their use as sorbents, exchangers and delivery shuttles for anionic compounds in aqueous environments. We synthesized ...hydrotalcite (HT), calcined it to increase its sorption capacity and quantified the affinities of chloride and sulphate for intercalation, in mixed anion solutions. To better simulate natural systems, no particular measures were taken to exclude air, with its inherent CO2. Thus, a small amount of dissolved carbonate (<1mM) was present under all tested conditions. The results show that: i) LDH, that has reformed in the presence of minor amounts of CO2, always contains some interlayer carbonate; ii) chloride competes with carbonate for intercalation sites, whereas sulphate does not; iii) when chloride and sulphate are present in equal concentrations, the affinity of sulphate is higher than chloride for intercalation, regardless of the total anion concentration; iv) at anion concentrations <100mM, sulphate outcompetes chloride, even when chloride is in 3 times molar excess; and v) at anion concentrations ≥100mM, the most abundant anion (3–5 times in molar excess) has the highest affinity. The results bring us closer to a clear description of the structure, composition and behavior of Mg2+, Al3+ LDH that forms in multi ion solutions. This can be used to predict geochemical behavior in natural systems such as determining saturation states of minerals and to optimize wastewater treatment and remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater.
•Calcined hydrotalcite was reformed in multi ion solutions.•Dissolved carbonate was always intercalated in the reformed material.•Chloride competed with carbonate for intercalation.•Sulphate did not compete with carbonate and two distinct phases formed.•The affinity for sulphate was generally higher than for chloride.
Licensed vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 effectively protect against severe disease, but display incomplete protection against virus transmission. Mucosal vaccines providing immune responses in the upper ...airways are one strategy to protect against transmission.
We administered Spike HexaPro trimer formulated in a cationic liposomal adjuvant as a parenteral (subcutaneous – s.c.) prime - intranasal boost regimen to elicit airway mucosal immune responses and evaluated this in a Syrian hamster model of virus transmission.
Parenteral prime - intranasal boost elicited high-magnitude serum neutralizing antibody responses and IgA responses in the upper respiratory tract. The vaccine strategy protected against virus in the lower airways and lung pathology, but virus could still be detected in the upper airways. Despite this, the parenteral prime - intranasal booster vaccine effectively protected against onward SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
This study suggests that parenteral-prime mucosal boost is an effective strategy for protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection and highlights that protection against virus transmission may be obtained despite incomplete clearance of virus from the upper respiratory tract. It should be noted that protection against onward transmission was not compared to standard parenteral prime-boost, which should be a focus for future studies.
This work was primarily supported by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 101003653.
Abstract
Background
To date, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 25 risk variants for glioma, explaining 30% of heritable risk. Most histologies occur with significantly higher ...incidence in males, and this difference is not explained by currently known risk factors. A previous GWAS identified sex-specific glioma risk variants, and this analysis aims to further elucidate risk variation by sex using gene- and pathway-based approaches.
Methods
Results from the Glioma International Case-Control Study were used as a testing set, and results from 3 GWAS were combined via meta-analysis and used as a validation set. Using summary statistics for nominally significant autosomal SNPs (P < 0.01 in a previous meta-analysis) and nominally significant X-chromosome SNPs (P < 0.01), 3 algorithms (Pascal, BimBam, and GATES) were used to generate gene scores, and Pascal was used to generate pathway scores. Results were considered statistically significant in the discovery set when P < 3.3 × 10−6 and in the validation set when P < 0.001 in 2 of 3 algorithms.
Results
Twenty-five genes within 5 regions and 19 genes within 6 regions reached statistical significance in at least 2 of 3 algorithms in males and females, respectively. EGFR was significantly associated with all glioma and glioblastoma in males only and a female-specific association in TERT, all of which remained nominally significant after conditioning on known risk loci. There were nominal associations with the BioCarta telomeres pathway in both males and females.
Conclusions
These results provide additional evidence that there may be differences by sex in genetic risk for glioma. Additional analyses may further elucidate the biological processes through which this risk is conferred.
Long-term increases in plasma fibrinogen levels of 1 g/liter are associated with an approximate doubling of risk of major cardiovascular disease outcomes, but causality remains uncertain. To quantify ...cross-sectional associations of fibrinogen levels with established risk factors and other characteristics, the investigators combined individual data on 154,211 apparently healthy adults from 31 prospective studies conducted between 1967 and 2003, using a linear mixed model that included random effects at the cohort level. Fibrinogen levels increased with age and showed continuous, approximately linear relations with several risk markers and slightly curvilinear associations with log triglycerides, albumin, and tobacco and alcohol consumption. Female sex, Black ethnicity, lower socioeconomic status, and alcohol abstinence were each associated with modestly higher fibrinogen levels. Approximately one third of the variation in fibrinogen levels was explained by cohort, age, and sex. An additional 7% was explained by established risk factors (notably, positive associations with smoking and body mass index and an inverse association with high density lipoprotein cholesterol), and a further 10% was explained by inflammatory markers (notably, a positive association with C-reactive protein). The association with body mass index was twice as strong in women as in men, whereas the association with smoking was much stronger in men. These findings substantially advance understanding of the correlates and possible determinants of fibrinogen levels.
We observed the pulsating hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf G 185–32 with the Whole Earth Telescope in 1992. We report on a weighted Fourier transform of the data detecting 18 periodicities in its ...light curve. Using the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph time resolved spectroscopy, and the wavelength dependence of the relative amplitudes, we identify the spherical harmonic degree ($\ell$) for 14 pulsation signals. We also compare the determinations of effective temperature and surface gravity using the excited modes and atmospheric methods, obtaining $T_{{\rm eff}}=11\,960$ ± 80 K, $\log g=8.02$ ± 0.04 and $M=0.617$ ± $0.024~M_{\odot}$.
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