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Among the solar proxies, κ1 Cet, stands out as potentially having a mass very close to solar and a young age. We report magnetic field measurements and planetary habitability consequences around this star, a proxy of the young Sun when life arose on Earth. Magnetic strength was determined from spectropolarimetric observations and we reconstruct the large-scale surface magnetic field to derive the magnetic environment, stellar winds, and particle flux permeating the interplanetary medium around κ1 Cet. Our results show a closer magnetosphere and mass-loss rate 50 times larger than the current solar wind mass-loss rate when Life arose on Earth, resulting in a larger interaction via space weather disturbances between the stellar wind and a hypothetical young-Earth analogue, potentially affecting the habitability. Interaction of the wind from the young Sun with the planetary ancient magnetic field may have affected the young Earth and its life conditions.
Background: The pathophysiology of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is complex and includes disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). We freshly isolated BBB endothelial cells (BECs) by 2 distinct methods after experimental SAH and then interrogated their gene expression profiles with the goal of uncovering new therapeutic targets. Methods: SAH was induced using the prechiasmatic blood injection mouse model. BBB permeability studies were performed by administering intraperitoneal cadaverine dye injections at 24h and 48h. BECs were isolated either by sequential magnetic-based sorting for CD45-CD31+ cells or by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) for Tie2+Pdgfrb- cells. Total RNA was extracted and analyzed using Affymetrix Mouse Gene 2.0 ST Arrays. Results: BBB impairment occurred at 24h and resolved by 48h after SAH. Analysis of gene expression patterns in BECs at 24h reveal clustering of SAH and sham samples. We identified 707 (2.8%) significant differentially-expressed genes (403 upregulated, 304 downregulated) out of 24,865 interrogated probe sets. Many significantly upregulated genes were involved in inflammatory pathways. These microarray results were validated with real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Conclusions: This study is the first to investigate in an unbiased manner, whole genome expression profiling of freshly-isolated BECs in an SAH animal model, yielding targets for novel therapeutic intervention.
Current guidelines for image-guided cervical cancer brachytherapy planning recommend both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for adequate visualisation of the applicator and soft tissues, respectively. MRI-only planning would be ideal as it would save time within the patient pathway and avoid the concomitant CT exposures. However, applicator visualisation on MRI is usually achieved using fluid-filled fiducial marker tubes, which can be awkward to use and suffer from unwanted air bubble artefacts. Therefore, a new fiducial-free imaging technique was developed.
Methods
A dual echo time (TE) turbo spin echo sequence was used, at 1·5 T, to provide both T2-weighted images (100 ms TE) for tissue visualisation and strongly proton density-weighted images (17 ms TE) for improved applicator visualisation. In-house software was used to automatically segment the applicator in the short TE images (using Otsu's method) and transfer the information to the long TE images to provide a single fused dataset.
Results
The method was evaluated successfully using titanium applicators in three patient cases and using a plastic applicator in a tissue-equivalent gel phantom.
Conclusions
The dual-echo technique provides a simple and efficient method for improving the visualisation of brachytherapy applicators in cervical cancer MRI images without the need for marker tubes.
κ1 Cet (HD 20630, HIP 15457, d = 9.16 pc, V = 4.84) is a dwarf star approximately 30 light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. Among the solar proxies studied in the Sun in Time, κ1 Cet stands out as potentially having a mass very close to solar and a young age. On this study, we monitored the magnetic field and the chromospheric activity from the Ca II H & K lines of κ1 Cet. We used the technique of Least-Square-Deconvolution (LSD, Donati et al. 1997) by simultaneously extracting the information contained in all 8,000 photospheric lines of the echelogram (for a linelist matching an atmospheric model of spectral type K1). To reconstruct a reliable magnetic map and characterize the surface differential rotation of κ1 Cet we used 14 exposures spread over 2 months, in order to cover at least two rotational cycles (Prot ~9.2 days). The Least Square deconvolution (LSD) technique was applied to detect the Zeeman signature of the magnetic field in each of our 14 observations and to measure its longitudinal component. In order to reconstruct the magnetic field geometry of κ1 Cet, we applied the Zeeman Doppler Imaging (ZDI) inversion method. ZDI revealed a structure in the radial magnetic field consisting of a polar magnetic spot. On this study, we present the fisrt look results of a high-resolution spectropolarimetric campaign to characterize the activity and the magnetic fields of this young solar proxy.
The habitable zone is the range of orbital distances from a host star in which an exoplanet would have a surface temperature suitable for maintaining liquid water. This makes the orbital distance of exoplanets an important variable when searching for extra-solar Earth analogues. However, the orbital distance is not the only important factor determining whether an exoplanet is potentially suitable for life. The ability of an exoplanet to retain an atmosphere is also vital since it helps regulate surface temperatures. One mechanism by which a planetary atmosphere can be lost is erosion due to a strong stellar wind from the host star. The presence of a magnetosphere can help to shield a planetary atmosphere from this process. Using a simple stellar wind model, we present the impact that stellar winds might have on magnetospheric sizes of exoplanets. This is done with the aim of further constraining the parameter space in which we look for extra-solar Earth analogues.
The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) has recently conducted an extragalactic submillimetric survey of the Chandra Deep Field South region of unprecedented size, depth, and angular resolution in three wavebands centered at 250,
350, and 500 µm. BLAST wavelengths are chosen to study the Cosmic Infrared Background near its peak at 200 µm.
We find that most of the CIB at these wavelengths is contributed by galaxies detected at 24 µm by the MIPS instrument on Spitzer, and that the source counts distribution shows a population with strongly evolving density and luminosity. These results anticipate what can be expected from the surveys that will be conducted with the SPIRE instrument on the Herschel space observatory.
Research conducted on biomass for Ulcos (“Ultra-
Low CO2 Steelmaking” European Integrated Project)
has progressively focused on charcoal supply from
tropical eucalyptus plantations. The sustainability of such
plantations is being investigated from the viewpoint of
their carbon, water and nutrient budgets: they must all
be neutral or positive. Field research is producing results
at the tree or stand level in several sites of Congo and
Brazil, while a spatial model is developed to identify
the conditions of biomass neutrality at the scale of the
forest ecosystem. The productivity of biomass has been
analyzed through the description of practices along the
Abstracts of technical articles
various supply-schemes that competitively feed the steel
industry in Brazil and the identification of bottlenecks for
further expansion.
Among the A/B stars, about 5% host large-scale organised magnetic fields. These magnetic stars show also abundance anomalies in their spectra, and are therefore called the magnetic Ap/Bp stars. Most of these stars are also slow rotators compared to the normal A and B stars.
Today, one of the greatest challenges concerning the Ap/Bp stars is to understand the origin of their slow rotation and their magnetic fields. The favoured hypothesis for the latter is that the fields are fosils, which implies that the magnetic fields subsist throughout the different evolutionary phases, and in particular during the pre-main sequence phase. The existence of magnetic fields at the pre-main sequence phase is also required to explain the slow rotation of Ap/Bp stars. During the last 3 years we performed a spectropolarimetric survey of the Herbig Ae/Be stars in the field and in young clusters, in order to investigate their magnetism and rotation. These investigations have resulted in the detection and/or confirmation of magnetic fields in 8 Herbig Ae/Be stars, ranging in mass from 2 to nearly 15 solar masses. In this paper I will present the results of our survey, as well as their implications for the origin and evolution of the magnetic fields and rotation of the A and B stars.
A total of 701 comets received names between July 2005 and June 2008. Comets observed only from the SOHO and STEREO missions, as well as further comets recognized from the long-defunct SOLWIND satellite, accounted for 520 of these names.
The meeting was attended by six from the WG (K. Aksnes, J. Blunck, G. Consolmagno, B. Marsden, R. Schulz, V. Shevchenko) and two from the Task Groups (D. Morrison, J. Watanabe). Also the incoming WG members E. Bowell and R. Courtin, as well as some guests, attended.
As for comets 619 comets received names from July 2002 to June 2005. Of this naming 76 percent are SOHO comets and 11 percent include the name of the LINEAR project. A revision of the guidelines for naming comets has been completed in March 2003. The assistance of the director of CBAT, Daniel W. E. Green, in redrafting these guidelines was much appreciated by the committee.
Since the IAU General Assembly in Sydney in July 2003, the WGPSN has conducted its business through numerous e-mail exchanges between the members. A nomenclature workshop was held at Hardingasete, western Norway on September 1–3, 2005. That meeting was attended by eight members from the WG and two from the Task Groups (TG) for the small bodies and for the outer solar system. Input to the meeting had also been received by e-mail from other members.
The Working Group was formed at the request of the Board of DivisionIII and approved by the IAU Executive committee in March 2004. This was in recognition of the fact that discoveries in the Trans Neptunian region were repeatedly raising the question of “what is a planet”. The task of the WG was to investigate the options available and give indications of the level of support and opposition for each if more than one option was emerging.
We describe the first results of a systematic spectropolarimetric survey of the coolest magnetic Ap stars, undertaken with the MuSiCoS spectropolarimeter, with the aim of clarifying the magnetic field and atmospheric characteristics of these enigmatic objects.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html
Psychoactive substance use is strongly associated with psychiatric morbidity in both adults and adolescents.
Aims
To determine which of alcohol, nicotine and cannabis is most closely linked to psychiatric disorders in early adolescence.
Method
Data from 2624 adolescents aged 13–15 years were drawn from a national mental health survey of children. The relationship between psychiatric morbidity and smoking, drinking and cannabis use was examined by logistic regression analyses.
Results
Having a psychiatric disorder was associated with an increased risk of substance use. Greater involvement with any one substance increased the risk of other substance use. Analyses of the interactions between smoking, drinking and cannabis use indicated that the relationship between substance use and psychiatric morbidity was primarily explained by regular smoking and (to a lesser extent) regular cannabis use.
Conclusions
In this sample, links between substance use and psychiatric disorders were primarily accounted for by smoking. The strong relationship is likely to be due to a combination of underlying individual constitutional factors and drug-specific effects resulting from consumption over the period of adolescent development and growth.
The links between drug use and psychosis are of major aetiological and prognostic significance. Psychosis and drug dependence frequently co-occur within the prison population, providing the opportunity to study this link more closely.
Aims
To explore the relationship between psychosis and drug dependence in a sample of prisoners.
Method
A total of 3142 prisoners were surveyed nationally and structured clinical data were obtained from a subsample of 503 respondents. Psychiatric assessment was based on the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (version 1.0). Measures of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and heroin use and dependence were obtained through self-report.
Results
Logistic regression analyses indicated that first use of amphetamines or cocaine before the age of 16 years and severe cannabis or cocaine dependence were related to an increased risk of psychosis. In contrast, severe dependence on heroin was associated with a reduced risk of this classification.
Conclusions
Severe dependence on cannabis and psychostimulants is associated with a higher risk of psychosis and is in contrast to severe dependence on heroin, which has a negative relationship with psychosis.
Concentrate finishing systems for store lambs often involves a dramatic change in the basal diet as lambs are moved from being managed on, e.g. grass and / or roots to concentrates. If this is done too quickly there is a risk of digestive disturbances leading to acidosis and secondary infections. However, the desire of the lamb finisher is to transfer the lambs onto the concentrate diets as quickly as possible and reduce rumen friendly materials such as straw to maximise performance. Yeast products have been shown repeatedly to reduce the production of lactic acid and stimulate the utilisation of lactic acid by certain rumen microflora, e.g. M. elsdenii leading to a more optimal rumen environment for the rumen microflora that in turn enhances nutrient supply and animal performance.
The aim of this trial was to determine whether there would be any response to the inclusion of two yeast products, a live yeast, Yeasacc 1026 and a yeast culture, Diamond V XP, in intensively finished Swaledale wether store lambs.
Efficient lamb finishing is geared to reaching market at a specific time, this is done by regulating growth rates – this may involve using different feeds – in this case varying in crude protein content or using different breeds – crossbreds rather than purebreds. The objectives of this trial were to determine the effect of different feed crude protein level on lamb performance of two breed types.