A reliable non-invasive biomarker for endometriosis is highly likely in the coming years. In the lead-up to this, clinicians need to be aware of commercially available tests as they become ...accessible, be aware of the level of evidence to support them and be prepared to counsel and manage patients who present with the results of such tests. One such test gaining popularity in Europe was developed using a machine-based learning algorithm to analyse thousands of microRNAs based on a 200-patient cohort with suspected endometriosis in France. We explore the background science for this commercially available test; outline the questions that remain to be answered; and caution against its use outside of a research setting.
We present a new three-dimensional density model of the Central Andes characterizing the structure and composition of the lithosphere together with a geodynamic simulation subjected to continental ...intraplate shortening. The principal aim of this study is to assess the link between heterogeneities in the lithosphere and different deformation patterns and styles along the orogen-foreland system of the Central Andes. First, we performed a 3D integration of new geological and geophysical data with previous models through forward modelling of Bouguer anomalies. Subsequently, a geodynamic model was set-up and parametrized from the previously obtained 3D structure and composition. We do not find a unambigous correlation between the resulting density configuration and terrane boundaries proposed by other authors. Our models reproduce the observed Bouguer anomaly and deformation patterns in the foreland. We find that thin-skinned deformation in the Subandean fold-and thrust belt is controlled by a thick sedimentary layer and coeval underthrusting of thin crust of the foreland beneath the thick crust of the Andean Plateau. In the adjacent thick-skinned deformation province of the inverted Cretaceous extensional Santa Barbara System sedimentary strata are much thinner and crustal thickness transitions from greater values in the Andean to a more reduced thickness in the foreland. Our results show that deformation processes occur where the highest gradients of lithospheric strength are present between the orogen and the foreland, thus suggesting a spatial correlation between deformation and lithospheric strength.
•Density heterogeneities correlate with different tectonic evolution and processes.•The lithosphere is weak in the orogen and strong in the foreland and forearc.•Deformation localizes in the transition between weak and strong lithosphere.
In this study we present the preliminary results about the lifetimes of the 2 2 + , 4 1 + states of 208Po and the upper limit of the lifetime of the 2 1 + state. For measuring the lifetimes of the 2 ...1 + and 4 1 + states the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift (RDDS) method and for the lifetime of the 2 2 + state the Doppler Shift Attenuation method (DSAM) were used. The resulting absolute transition strength B ( M 1 ; 2 2 + → 2 1 + ) ≥ 0.122 ( 20 ) μ N 2 reveals the predominant isovector nature of the 2 2 + state of 208Po.
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The neutron-deficient mercury isotopes serve as a classical example of shape coexistence, whereby at low energy near-degenerate nuclear states characterized by different shapes appear. The ...electromagnetic structure of even-mass
182-188
Hg isotopes was studied using safe-energy Coulomb excitation of neutron-deficient mercury beams delivered by the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The population of
0
1
,
2
+
,
2
1
,
2
+
and
4
1
+
states was observed in all nuclei under study. Reduced
E
2 matrix elements coupling populated yrast and non-yrast states were extracted, including their relative signs. These are a sensitive probe of shape coexistence and may be used to validate nuclear models. The experimental results are discussed in terms of mixing of two different configurations and are compared with three different model calculations: the Beyond Mean Field model, the Interacting Boson Model with configuration mixing and the General Bohr Hamiltonian. Partial agreement with experiment was observed, hinting to missing ingredients in the theoretical descriptions.
Although cratons have long been recognized as an important part of continental tectonic processes, we still have much to learn about their structural features and their relation to the genesis of ...basins, sedimentary thickness distributions, fold and thrust belts and surface processes. Contributing to a better knowledge of the crustal state and configuration of the southernmost part of the Río de la Plata Craton, could shed light on the still controversial tectonic processes, which were responsible for the deformation of the southwestern margin of Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic. In particular, the deformation and uplift of the Sierras Australes, which are part of the Claromecó Basin (Buenos Aires, Argentina), would be closely related to the crustal structure of the southern limit of the Río de la Plata Craton. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to investigate the possible existence of crustal heterogeneities underneath the Claromecó Basin, the Sierras Australes and the Colorado Basin, which can be related to structural features and weakness zones that could have played a major role in the tectonic evolution of the study area. For this purpose, we developed a 3D lithospheric-scale density model integrating various data, such as geological information, global gravity models, well data (thicknesses and lithologies), seismic tomography data (Moho depth), and pre-existing 3D density models of the Colorado Basin. Our model includes layers of sediments, crystalline crust and lithospheric mantle and therefore predicts the thickness variation of the upper and lower crust in the study area and of the main sedimentary sequences infilling the basins. Moreover, by analysing the model results, we propose a tentative location of the southern limit of the Río de la Plata Craton and its possible tectonic relationship with transfer zones identified in the Atlantic platform southwards. Our results suggest that the southern boundary of the craton is located along the northernmost limit of the Colorado Basin, which is in contrast with the boundary proposed in previous works. Therefore, we propose that the Colorado Basin rifting process could have occurred along this weakness domain.
Background
Cervical smear cytology and colposcopic biopsy histology are prone to error at both collection and interpretation stages, leading to a large number of discordant cases.
Aims
Investigation ...of five‐year outcomes for women who have cervical cytology that is discordant and higher grade than histology results.
Materials and Methods
A retrospective cohort study was carried out for 111 women with cervical cytology discordant and higher grade than histology, after cytopathological review, over a three‐year period. Five‐year follow‐up data were reviewed to identify the highest level of pathology seen within five years from the discordance.
Results
Women with atypical squamous cells with possible high‐grade change (ASC‐H) cytology and negative biopsy (n = 28) had a 46% chance of high‐grade histological disease within 5 years; with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 (CIN1) histology (n = 20), this was reduced to 30%. With high‐grade cytology and negative histology (n = 23), 48% had high‐grade disease within five years, including one case of invasive disease; with CIN1 histology 50% had high‐grade disease within five years.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates a 30–50% chance of high‐grade disease within five years, in the setting of ASC‐H or high‐grade cytology with a negative or low‐grade colposcopic biopsy. This highlights that in the setting of cytology and histology discordance, at least one of the tests indicating high‐grade pathology warrants the need for treatment or close ongoing surveillance.
The decay properties of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance (PDR) have been investigated in the semi-magic N=82 nucleus 140Ce using a novel combination of nuclear resonance fluorescence and γ–γ coincidence ...techniques. Branching ratios for transitions to low-lying excited states are determined in a direct and model-independent way both for individual excited states and for excitation energy intervals. Comparison of the experimental results to microscopic calculations in the quasi-particle phonon model exhibits an excellent agreement, supporting the observation that the Pygmy Dipole Resonance couples to the ground state as well as to low-lying excited states. A 10% mixing of the PDR and the 21+×PDR is extracted.
The technique of self absorption has been applied for the first time to study the decay pattern of low-lying dipole states of 140Ce. In particular, ground-state transition widths Γ0 and branching ...ratios Γ0Γ to the ground state have been investigated in the energy domain of the pygmy dipole resonance. Relative self-absorption measurements allow for a model-independent determination of Γ0. Without the need to perform a full spectroscopy of all decay channels, also the branching ratio to the ground state can be determined. The experiment on 140Ce was conducted at the bremsstrahlung facility of the superconducting Darmstadt electron linear accelerator S-DALINAC. In total, the self-absorption and, thus, Γ0 were determined for 104 excited states of 140Ce. The obtained results are presented and discussed with respect to simulations of γ cascades using the DICEBOX code.
We present an extensive experimental study of the recently predicted pygmy quadrupole resonance (PQR) in Sn isotopes, where complementary probes were used. In this study, (α,α′γ) and (γ,γ′) ...experiments were performed on 124Sn. In both reactions, Jπ=2+ states below an excitation energy of 5 MeV were populated. The E2 strength integrated over the full transition densities could be extracted from the (γ,γ′) experiment, while the (α,α′γ) experiment at the chosen kinematics strongly favors the excitation of surface modes because of the strong α-particle absorption in the nuclear interior. The excitation of such modes is in accordance with the quadrupole-type oscillation of the neutron skin predicted by a microscopic approach based on self-consistent density functional theory and the quasiparticle-phonon model (QPM). The newly determined γ-decay branching ratios hint at a non-statistical character of the E2 strength, as it has also been recently pointed out for the case of the pygmy dipole resonance (PDR). This allows us to distinguish between PQR-type and multiphonon excitations and, consequently, supports the recent first experimental indications of a PQR in 124Sn.
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