The 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign: An Overview

A major goal of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to make accurate images with resolutions of tens of milliarcseconds, which at submillimeter (submm) wavelengths requires baselines up to ~15 km. To develop and test this capability, a Long Baseline Campaign (LBC) was carried out from September to late November 2014, culminating in end-to-end observations, calibrations, and imaging of selected Science Verification (SV) targets. This paper presents an overview of the campaign and its main results, including an investigation of the short-term coherence properties and systematic phase errors over the long baselines at the ALMA site, a summary of the SV targets and observations, and recommendations for science observing strategies at long baselines. Deep ALMA images of the quasar 3C138 at 97 and 241 GHz are also compared to VLA 43 GHz results, demonstrating an agreement at a level of a few percent. As a result of the extensive program of LBC testing, the highly successful SV imaging at long baselines achieved angular resolutions as fine as 19 mas at ~350 GHz. Observing with ALMA on baselines of up to 15 km is now possible, and opens up new parameter space for submm astronomy

A case–control study of risk of leukaemia in relation to mobile phone use

Background Mobile phone use is now ubiquitous, and scientific reviews have recommended research into its relation to leukaemia risk, but no large studies have been conducted.Methods In a case-control study in South East England to investigate the relation of acute and non-lymphocytic leukaemia risk to mobile phone use, 806 cases with leukaemia incident 2003-2009 at ages 18-59 years (50% of those identified as eligible) and 585 non-blood relatives as controls (provided by 392 cases) were interviewed about mobile phone use and other potentially aetiological variables.Results No association was found between regular mobile phone use and risk of leukaemia (odds ratio (OR)=1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.76, 1.46). Analyses of risk in relation to years since first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative number of calls and cumulative hours of use produced no significantly raised risks, and there was no evidence of any trends. A non-significantly raised risk was found in people who first used a phone 15 or more years ago (OR=1.87, 95% CI=0.96, 3.63). Separate analyses of analogue and digital phone use and leukaemia subtype produced similar results to those overall.Conclusion This study suggests that use of mobile phones does not increase leukaemia risk, although the possibility of an effect after long-term use, while biologically unlikely, remains open

Estimating the Duration of Pertussis Immunity Using Epidemiological Signatures

Case notifications of pertussis have shown an increase in a number of countries with high rates of routine pediatric immunization. This has led to significant public health concerns over a possible pertussis re-emergence. A leading proposed explanation for the observed increase in incidence is the loss of immunity to pertussis, which is known to occur after both natural infection and vaccination. Little is known, however, about the typical duration of immunity and its epidemiological implications. Here, we analyze a simple mathematical model, exploring specifically the inter-epidemic period and fade-out frequency. These predictions are then contrasted with detailed incidence data for England and Wales. We find model output to be most sensitive to assumptions concerning naturally acquired immunity, which allows us to estimate the average duration of immunity. Our results support a period of natural immunity that is, on average, long-lasting (at least 30 years) but inherently variable

Psychology of Fragrance Use: Perception of Individual Odor and Perfume Blends Reveals a Mechanism for Idiosyncratic Effects on Fragrance Choice

Cross-culturally, fragrances are used to modulate body odor, but the psychology of fragrance choice has been largely overlooked. The prevalent view is that fragrances mask an individual's body odor and improve its pleasantness. In two experiments, we found positive effects of perfume on body odor perception. Importantly, however, this was modulated by significant interactions with individual odor donors. Fragrances thus appear to interact with body odor, creating an individually-specific odor mixture. In a third experiment, the odor mixture of an individual's body odor and their preferred perfume was perceived as more pleasant than a blend of the same body odor with a randomly-allocated perfume, even when there was no difference in pleasantness between the perfumes. This indicates that fragrance use extends beyond simple masking effects and that people choose perfumes that interact well with their own odor. Our results provide an explanation for the highly individual nature of perfume choice

Peptidoglycan-Modifying Enzyme Pgp1 Is Required for Helical Cell Shape and Pathogenicity Traits in Campylobacter jejuni

The impact of bacterial morphology on virulence and transmission attributes of pathogens is poorly understood. The prevalent enteric pathogen Campylobacter jejuni displays a helical shape postulated as important for colonization and host interactions. However, this had not previously been demonstrated experimentally. C. jejuni is thus a good organism for exploring the role of factors modulating helical morphology on pathogenesis. We identified an uncharacterized gene, designated pgp1 (peptidoglycan peptidase 1), in a calcofluor white-based screen to explore cell envelope properties important for C. jejuni virulence and stress survival. Bioinformatics showed that Pgp1 is conserved primarily in curved and helical bacteria. Deletion of pgp1 resulted in a striking, rod-shaped morphology, making pgp1 the first C. jejuni gene shown to be involved in maintenance of C. jejuni cell shape. Pgp1 contributes to key pathogenic and cell envelope phenotypes. In comparison to wild type, the rod-shaped pgp1 mutant was deficient in chick colonization by over three orders of magnitude and elicited enhanced secretion of the chemokine IL-8 in epithelial cell infections. Both the pgp1 mutant and a pgp1 overexpressing strain – which similarly produced straight or kinked cells – exhibited biofilm and motility defects. Detailed peptidoglycan analyses via HPLC and mass spectrometry, as well as Pgp1 enzyme assays, confirmed Pgp1 as a novel peptidoglycan DL-carboxypeptidase cleaving monomeric tripeptides to dipeptides. Peptidoglycan from the pgp1 mutant activated the host cell receptor Nod1 to a greater extent than did that of wild type. This work provides the first link between a C. jejuni gene and morphology, peptidoglycan biosynthesis, and key host- and transmission-related characteristics

The role of vitamin D in pulmonary disease: COPD, asthma, infection, and cancer

The role of vitamin D (VitD) in calcium and bone homeostasis is well described. In the last years, it has been recognized that in addition to this classical function, VitD modulates a variety of processes and regulatory systems including host defense, inflammation, immunity, and repair. VitD deficiency appears to be frequent in industrialized countries. Especially patients with lung diseases have often low VitD serum levels. Epidemiological data indicate that low levels of serum VitD is associated with impaired pulmonary function, increased incidence of inflammatory, infectious or neoplastic diseases. Several lung diseases, all inflammatory in nature, may be related to activities of VitD including asthma, COPD and cancer. The exact mechanisms underlying these data are unknown, however, VitD appears to impact on the function of inflammatory and structural cells, including dendritic cells, lymphocytes, monocytes, and epithelial cells. This review summarizes the knowledge on the classical and newly discovered functions of VitD, the molecular and cellular mechanism of action and the available data on the relationship between lung disease and VitD status

Определение эффективности способов борьбы с асфальтеносмолопарафиновыми отложениями при эксплуатации нефтяных месторождений

В качестве объекта исследования – рассматривается нефтяные месторождения, а именно Талаканского месторождения, а предметом является технологии предупреждение асфальтеносмолопарафиновых отложений (АСПО) на нефтепромысловых оборудованиях. Цель работы – определение наиболее эффективного метода борьбы с асфальтеносмолопарафиновыми отложениями, и применение технологий удаления отложений на различных нефтяных месторождениях. В процессе исследования были раскрыты причины образования парафиновых отложений и эффективность применения некоторых методов борьбы с АСПО на месторождениях. Область применения: месторождения нефти и газа, имеющие осложнения в виде асфальтосмолопарафиновых отложений.The object of the study is the oil fields, namely the Talakan field, and the subject is the technologies for the prevention of asphaltene-tar-paraffin deposits (ASPO) on oilfield equipment. The purpose of the work is to determine the most effective method of controlling asphaltene-tar-paraffin deposits, and to apply technologies for removing deposits in various oil fields. In the course of the study, the reasons for the formation of paraffin deposits and the effectiveness of the use of some methods of combating ASPO in the fields were revealed. Field of application: oil and gas fields with complications in the form of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits