Placental PHLDA2 expression is increased in cases of fetal growth restriction following reduced fetal movements

Background Maternal perception of reduced fetal movements (RFM) is associated with increased risk of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and stillbirth, mediated by placental insufficiency. The maternally expressed imprinted gene PHLDA2 controls fetal growth, placental development and placental lactogen production in a mouse model. A number of studies have also demonstrated abnormally elevated placental PHLDA2 expression in human growth restricted pregnancies. This study examined whether PHLDA2 was aberrantly expressed in placentas of RFM pregnancies resulting in delivery of an FGR infant and explored a possible relationship between PHLDA2 expression and placental lactogen release from the human placenta. Methods Villous trophoblast samples were obtained from a cohort of women reporting RFM (N = 109) and PHLDA2 gene expression analysed. hPL levels were assayed in the maternal serum (N = 74). Results Placental PHLDA2 expression was significantly 2.3 fold higher in RFM pregnancies resulting in delivery of an infant with FGR (p < 0.01), with highest levels of PHLDA2 expression in the most severe cases. Placental PHLDA2 expression was associated with maternal serum hPL levels (r = −0.30, p = 0.008, n = 74) although this failed to reach statistical significance in multiple linear regression analysis controlling for birth weight (p = 0.07). Conclusions These results further highlight a role for placental PHLDA2 in poor perinatal outcomes, specifically FGR associated with RFM. Furthermore, this study suggests a potential relationship between placental PHLDA2 expression and hPL production by the placenta, an association that requires further investigation in a larger cohort

Structural Reliability Analysis of the Hardanger Bridge using an enhanced Monte Carlo Method

In the present study, a reliability analysis of the Hardanger Bridge was performed, by assessing the probability that multimodal flutter will occur. The self-exiting forces which reduce the effective damping and stiffness of the bridge, are formulated in terms of flutter derivatives. Measurements of flutter derivatives are available through section testing, and contrary to previous studies, also measurements for horizontal derivatives were used in the present work. The derivatives are modelled as stochastic variables. Two different modelling choices have been suggested. The thesis shows that only one of these provides reliable estimates.Using random realisations of the stochastic distribution of flutter derivatives as input, the multimodal flutter equation was solved for a large number of simulations, providing distributions of critical speed to use in the reliability analysis. Since horizontal flutter derivatives were available, it was investigated whether horizontal modes impact the flutter limit. Thus, probabilistic distributions have been prepared for four different mode combinations, two of them including a number of horizontal modes. The study provides no evidence to suggest that horizontal effects are significant. Due to the low probabilities involved in the flutter reliability analysis, the computational effort using traditional methods is very substantive. Therefore, an enhanced Monte Carlo method developed at NTNU was employed. Here, the original limit state function, $M=V_{Cr}-V_S$, was parameterized. Thereafter, the correct failure probability was estimated by means of extrapolation from the parameterized limit states. The use of the enhanced method to perform a flutter reliability analysis is, to the knowledge of the author, not described in literature previously. Based on the current simulations, the reliability index $\beta$ was found in the range from 5.8-6.3, giving a failure probability per year as low as $1 \cdot 10^{-10}-5 \cdot 10^{-9}$. However, there is an inherent uncertainty in these values, both due to uncertainty in the applied calculations, as well as the more general uncertainty in the field of flutter analysis. The calculations suggest that $N_{sim}$ could be increased to achieve better accuracy. In all three phases of the project, namely the modelling of flutter derivatives, solving of the eigenvalue problem defining multimode flutter, as well as the employment of the enhanced Monte Carlo method, MATLAB was used as the prime tool. Many of the MATLAB scripts being used in the study were prepared by Ole {\O}iseth at NTNU

Наноалмазы как идеальные наноносители для циансодежащих цитостатиков

Цианосодержащие цитостатики - новый класс открытых нами лекарств, которые благодаря цианогруппам хорошо закрепляются на наноалмазах, с увеличением активности

Bebop og afromodernisme: Abstraksjon i blueskomposisjoner på 1940-tallet

Bebopens utspring på 1940-tallet markerer starten på den moderne jazzen. Pionérenes musikalske språk er høyst relevant i dagens jazzmiljø, som fortsatt spiller musikken og frasere til kunstnere som Charlie Parker og Dizzy Gillespie. Musikken bar ikke bare på musikalske nyvinninger, men også sosiokulturell bagasje som utmerker seg som en afromodernistisk bevegelse. Bebop var frigjøring, kamp, revolusjon og kunst. Samtidig holder jazzen et godt grep om sine røtter i bluesen, en musikk med en følelsesladd og turbulent historie. Musikalske innovatører på 1940-tallet bruker denne formen som et springbrett for kreative nyvinninger. På ikke mange år ser vi en utvikling innad i et tett musikkmiljø hvor bluesens egenart blir plukket fra hverandre og satt sammen igjen på spennende måter. Denne teksten tar for seg hvordan moderniserte og abstrakte blueskomposisjoner på 1940-tallet blir et medium for afromodernistiske uttrykk.The emergence of bebop in the 1940s marks the beginning of modern jazz. The musical language of its pioneers remains highly relevant in today's jazz scene, where artists still play the music and phrases of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. The music carried not only musical innovations but also socio-cultural baggage, distinguishing itself as an afro-modernist movement. Bebop was liberation, struggle, revolution, and art. Simultaneously, jazz maintains a strong grip on its roots in the blues, a music with a powerful and turbulent history. Innovators in the 1940s used this musical form as a springboard for creative innovations. In just a few years, we witness a development within a close-knit music community where the essence of the blues is deconstructed and reassembled in exciting ways. This text explores how modernized and abstracted blues compositions in the 1940s became a medium for afro- modernist expressions

CP asymmetry in B→ϕKSB \to \phi K_S in a general two-Higgs-doublet model with fourth-generation quarks

We discuss the time-dependent CP asymmetry of decay $B \to \phi K_S$ in an extension of the Standard Model with both two Higgs doublets and additional fourth-generation quarks. We show that although the Standard Model with two-Higgs-doublet and the Standard model with fourth generation quarks alone are not likely to largely change the effective $\sin 2 \beta$ from the decay of $B \to \phi K_S$, the model with both additional Higgs doublet and fourth-generation quarks can easily account for the possible large negative value of $\sin 2 \beta$ without conflicting with other experimental constraints. In this model, additional large CP violating effects may arise from the flavor changing Yukawa interactions between neutral Higgs bosons and the heavy fourth generation down type quark, which can modify the QCD penguin contributions. With the constraints obtained from $b \to s \bar{s} s$ processes such as $B \to X_s \gamma$ and $\Delta m_{B_s^0}$, this model can lead to the effective $\sin 2 \beta$ to be as large as $- 0.4$ in the CP asymmetry of $B \to \phi K_S$.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, references added, to appear in Eur.Phys.J.

Miljø- og dyrevelferdsspørsmål knyttet til produksjon og forbruk av fisk og kjøtt – hva er forbrukernes betraktninger og betenkeligheter?

Denne rapporten er basert på to spørreundersøkelser blant norske forbrukere om deres betraktninger rundt produksjon og forbruk av fisk og sjømat. I tillegg har vi belyst en rekke sider av det store forskningsfeltet som omhandler forbrukeroppfatninger omkring matproduksjon, etikk, bærekraft og beredskap. Slike faktorer har i økende grad fått betydning for forbrukernes vurderinger og valg på matområdet. De fleste oppgir å spise både fisk og kjøtt. Fisken de spiser er i hovedsak oppdrettsfisk. Ferskhet var det viktigste ved valg av fisk. Dyrevelferd er ikke veldig viktig ved kjøp av fisk, men litt viktigere ved kjøp av kjøtt. Det viktigste forbrukerne mener om velferden til oppdrettsfisk er at fisken er frisk og sykdomsfri. Den viktigste bærekraftutfordringen for havet synes å være forsøpling av havet. Den merkeordningen som benyttes mest ved kjøp av fisk er Nyt Norge. De aller fleste foretrakk norsk fisk og sjømat, og en viktig grunn var høy tillit til den maten.This report is based upon two surveys among Norwegian consumers about their considerations regarding the production and consumption of fish and seafood. In addition, we have highlighted a number of aspects of the large field of research that deals with consumer perceptions regarding food production, ethics, sustainability and preparedness. Most of the respondents eat both fish and meat. The fish they eat is mainly farmed. Freshness was the most important factor when choosing fish. Animal welfare is not very important when buying fish, but is a bit more important when buying meat. Being healthy is viewed as the most important factor for fish welfare. Littering of the oceans is seen as the most important sustainability challenge for the oceans. The labelling scheme used the most when buying fish is Nyt Norge (‘Enjoy Norway’). Norwegians prefer Norwegian fish and seafood, and an important reason for that was high trust

Search for heavy lepton resonances decaying to a ZZ boson and a lepton in pppp collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy leptons decaying to a $Z$ boson and an electron or a muon is presented. The search is based on $pp$ collision data taken at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$, Three high-transverse-momentum electrons or muons are selected, with two of them required to be consistent with originating from a $Z$ boson decay. No significant excess above Standard Model background predictions is observed, and 95% confidence level limits on the production cross section of high-mass trilepton resonances are derived. The results are interpreted in the context of vector-like lepton and type-III seesaw models. For the vector-like lepton model, most heavy lepton mass values in the range 114-176 GeV are excluded. For the type-III seesaw model, most mass values in the range 100-468 GeV are excluded

Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data

A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p T jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in s√=8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A 0 = −2m 0 and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector

Forstudie om nedadgående norsk sjømatkonsum

I dette pilotprosjektet har vi gjennomført en studie der man ved hjelp av en mindre spørreundersøkelse, samt analyse av salgs- og forbruksstatistikker kartlegger hvilke faktorer som bidrar til at norske forbrukere spiser stadig mindre fisk og sjømat. Den betydelige prisveksten for fisk og sjømat de senere årene synes å ha effekt, men årsakene til den negative utviklingen er langt mer mangefasettert. Det er særlig de unge og barnefamilier som spiser lite fisk og sjømat. Mye tyder på at aldersforskjellene kan forklares som en generasjonsendring. De yngre mente for eksempel i langt større grad enn de eldre at fisk og sjømat ikke passet inn i spisemønsteret deres. Videre foretrekker de yngre kjøtt fremfor fisk og sjømat. De yngre var imidlertid ikke mer tilbøyelige enn de eldre til å mene at fisk var dyrt sammenlignet med kjøtt. De yngre forbrukergruppene mente i like stor grad som de eldre at fisk og sjømat smakte godt. Nesten ni av ti var helt eller delvis enig i denne påstanden.  På bakgrunn av resultatene fra pilotstudien er det ønskelig å se nærmere på faktorer knyttet til priselastisitet, markedsføring og kommunikasjon og utvikling av produkter og spisekonsepter. Videre må det ses nærmere på uro og bekymring knyttet til oppdrettsfisk. Prosjektet er initiert og finansiert av Sjømat Norge. Innovasjon Norge har gitt økonomisk bidrag til prosjektet

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal