Internal Delensing of Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization B-Modes with the POLARBEAR Experiment.

Using only cosmic microwave background polarization data from the polarbear experiment, we measure B-mode polarization delensing on subdegree scales at more than 5σ significance. We achieve a 14% B-mode power variance reduction, the highest to date for internal delensing, and improve this result to 22% by applying for the first time an iterative maximum a posteriori delensing method. Our analysis demonstrates the capability of internal delensing as a means of improving constraints on inflationary models, paving the way for the optimal analysis of next-generation primordial B-mode experiments.

The POLARBEAR Fourier transform spectrometer calibrator and spectroscopic characterization of the POLARBEAR instrument.

We describe the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) used for in-field testing of the POLARBEAR receiver, an experiment located in the Atacama Desert of Chile which measures the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. The POLARBEAR-FTS (PB-FTS) is a Martin-Puplett interferometer designed to couple to the Huan Tran Telescope (HTT) on which the POLARBEAR receiver is installed. The PB-FTS measured the spectral response of the POLARBEAR receiver with signal-to-noise ratio >20 for ∼69% of the focal plane detectors due to three features: a high throughput of 15.1 sr cm2, optimized optical coupling to the POLARBEAR optics using a custom designed output parabolic mirror, and a continuously modulated output polarizer. The PB-FTS parabolic mirror is designed to mimic the shape of the 2.5 m-diameter HTT primary reflector, which allows for optimum optical coupling to the POLARBEAR receiver, reducing aberrations and systematics. One polarizing grid is placed at the output of the PB-FTS and modulated via continuous rotation. This modulation allows for decomposition of the signal into different harmonics that can be used to probe potentially pernicious sources of systematic error in a polarization-sensitive instrument. The high throughput and continuous output polarizer modulation features are unique compared to other FTS calibrators used in the CMB field. In-field characterization of the POLARBEAR receiver was accomplished using the PB-FTS in April 2014. We discuss the design, construction, and operation of the PB-FTS and present the spectral characterization of the POLARBEAR receiver. We introduce future applications for the PB-FTS in the next-generation CMB experiment, the Simons Array.

Detection of CMB-Cluster Lensing using Polarization Data from SPTpol.

We report the first detection of gravitational lensing due to galaxy clusters using only the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The lensing signal is obtained using a new estimator that extracts the lensing dipole signature from stacked images formed by rotating the cluster-centered Stokes QU map cutouts along the direction of the locally measured background CMB polarization gradient. Using data from the SPTpol 500 deg^{2} survey at the locations of roughly 18 000 clusters with richness λ≥10 from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year-3 full galaxy cluster catalog, we detect lensing at 4.8σ. The mean stacked mass of the selected sample is found to be (1.43±0.40)×10^{14}M_{⊙} which is in good agreement with optical weak lensing based estimates using DES data and CMB-lensing based estimates using SPTpol temperature data. This measurement is a key first step for cluster cosmology with future low-noise CMB surveys, like CMB-S4, for which CMB polarization will be the primary channel for cluster lensing measurements.

A first principle comparative study of the ionic diffusivity in LiAlO2 and NaAlO2 polymorphs for solid-state battery applications.

Lithium aluminates are attracting increasing attention as battery materials. They are typically used for the coating of electrodes. The diffusive properties of the equilibrium tetragonal phase (γ) are well understood from both an experimental and a theoretical perspective, and the major diffusive mechanism is recognised to be vacancy hopping between neighbouring sites. Investigations of this type are however not reported for other, high-pressure LiAlO2 phases. Moreover, the ionic diffusivity of the Na-based aluminates, manifesting a similar polymorphism to LiAlO2, has never been studied using atomistic techniques. In this work, we address these points, by presenting a comparative density functional theory-based study of these materials, describing the structural properties of the various phases, and evaluating the activation energies for single vacancy hops. While LiAlO2 exhibits a poor ionic conductivity due to a significant degree of covalency of the Al-O bonding, orthorhombic ß-NaAlO2 exhibits a significantly lower diffusion barrier. This feature cannot be explained only in terms of the larger equilibrium volume, as the same trend is not observed for the high-pressure trigonal α-LiAlO2 and α-NaAlO2. We utilise here various electronic-structure tools to verify the lower degree of covalency of the Na-O bonds. The electron localisation function, in particular, is shown to be intrinsically correlated to the diffusion pathways of Li and Na ions, and its variation along the path is a qualitative measure of ionic conductivity.

Dietary intake and major food sources of polyphenols in people with type 2 diabetes: The TOSCA.IT Study.

PURPOSE: Proper evaluation of polyphenols intake at the population level is a necessary step in order to establish possible associations with health outcomes. Available data are limited, and so far no study has been performed in people with diabetes. The aim of this work was to document the intake of polyphenols and their major food sources in a cohort of people with type 2 diabetes and in socio-demographic subgroups. METHODS: We studied 2573 men and women aged 50-75 years. Among others, anthropometry was measured by standard protocol and dietary habits were investigated by food frequency questionnaire (EPIC). The intake of polyphenols was evaluated using US Department of Agriculture and Phenol-Explorer databases. RESULTS: The mean total polyphenol intake was 683.3 ± 5.8 mg/day. Non-alcoholic beverages represented the main food source of dietary polyphenols and provided 35.5% of total polyphenol intake, followed by fruits (23.0%), alcoholic beverages (14.0%), vegetables (12.4%), cereal products and tubers (4.6%), legumes (3.7%) and oils (2.1%); chocolate, cakes and nuts are negligible sources of polyphenols in this cohort. The two most important polyphenol classes contributing to the total intake were flavonoids (47.5%) and phenolic acids (47.4%). Polyphenol intake increased with age and education level and decreased with BMI; furthermore, in the northern regions of Italy, the polyphenol intake was slightly, but significantly higher than in the central or southern regions. CONCLUSIONS: The study documents for the first time the intake of polyphenols and their main food sources in people with diabetes using validated and complete databases of the polyphenol content of food. Compared with published data, collected in people without diabetes, these results suggest a lower intake and a different pattern of intake in people with diabetes.

First-principles study of the structural stability and electrochemical properties of Na2MSiO4 (M = Mn, Fe, Co and Ni) polymorphs.

Sodium orthosilicates Na2MSiO4 (M = Mn, Fe, Co and Ni) have attracted much attention due to the possibility of exchanging two electrons per formula unit. They are also found to exhibit great structural stability due to a diamond-like arrangement of tetrahedral groups. In this work, we have systematically studied the possible polymorphism of these compounds by means of density functional theory, optimising the structure of a number of systems with different group symmetries. The ground state is found to be Pc-symmetric for all the considered M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and several similar structures exhibiting different symmetries coexist within a 0.3 eV energy window from this structural minimum. The intercalation/deintercalation potential is calculated for varying transition metal atoms M. Iron sodium orthosilicates, attractive due to the natural abundance of both materials, exhibit a low voltage, which can be enhanced by doping with nickel. The diffusion pathways for Na atoms are discussed, and the relevant barriers are calculated using the nudged elastic band method on top of DFT calculations. Also in this case, nickel impurities would improve the material performances by lowering the barrier heights. Notably, the ionic conductivity is found to be systematically larger with respect to the case of lithium orthosilicates, due to a larger spacing between atomic layers and to the non-directional bonding between Na and the neighbouring atoms. Overall, the great structural stability of the material together with the low barriers for Na diffusion indicates this class of materials as good candidates for modern battery technologies.

Molecular and chemical characterization of vetiver, Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty, germplasm.

Due to the economic interests in vetiver, Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty, molecular and chemical studies are essential to generate information for its sustainable exploitation. The aim of this study was to undertake a molecular and chemical characterization of vetiver accessions of the active germplasm bank of the Universidade Federal de Sergipe. The molecular characteristics of the accessions were studied using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers, with a total of 14 primer combinations that generated 442 loci, allowing us to observe that these accessions have similar genomes. The vetiver accessions were divided into three distinct groups, where accession UFS-VET005 was the most differentiated and accession UFS-VET004 had the lowest essential oil content (0.70%). The content of the chemical constituents of the essential oils was observed to vary, with a predominance of khusimol, which ranged from 18.97 to 25.02%. It was possible to divide the vetiver accessions into two groups based on chemical composition, and these groups do not correlate with the molecular grouping. Therefore, it is necessary to perform molecular and chemical analyses to characterize vetiver accessions.

Effects of an aglycone-rich biotransformed soybean extract in human endothelial cells.

Estrogen replacement therapy is not thought to be a safe treatment for prevention of cardiovascular disease in menopausal women; isoflavones are a possible alternative. Estrogen produces beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system by enhancing production of nitric oxide, a vasoprotective and antiatherosclerotic agent. Estrogen-like compounds such as isoflavones are also suggested for increasing nitric oxide production. Isoflavones are present mainly in soy foods as glucosides, but soy isoflavone aglycones, the biologically active estrogen-like compounds, are absorbed faster and in higher amounts than their glucoside derivatives and show higher biological activity, implying that they may be more effective in preventing chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease. We evaluated an extract of soybeans fermented by Aspergillus awamori on which polyphenol glucosides were biotransformed to aglycone forms on production of nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2 and endothelin-1 in vitro in human endothelial cells, comparing it with a non-fermented extract. Bioconverted soybean extracts enhanced endothelin-1, nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 production, while the unfermented extract only enhanced endothelin-1 production. Thus, only the aglycone-rich forms of soybean extracts were able to increase nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 production, demonstrating that, in endothelial cells in vitro, they may be usable as therapeutic agents against the development of atherosclerosis.

A selective egocentric topographical working memory deficit in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease: a preliminary study.

The aim of this study was to determine whether an egocentric topographical working memory (WM) deficit is present in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with respect to other forms of visuospatial WM. Further, we would investigate whether this deficit could be present in patients having AD without topographical disorientation (TD) signs in everyday life assessed through an informal interview to caregivers. Seven patients with AD and 20 healthy participants performed the Walking Corsi Test and the Corsi Block-Tapping Test. The former test requires memorizing a sequence of places by following a path and the latter is a well-known visuospatial memory task. Patients with AD also performed a verbal WM test to exclude the presence of general WM impairments. Preliminary results suggest that egocentric topographical WM is selectively impaired, with respect to visuospatial and verbal WM, even without TD suggesting an important role of this memory in the early stages of AD.

Spatial location and pathway memory compared in the reaching vs. walking domains.

Spatial information processing is influenced by the space in which an individual acts and the nature of the stimulus. This distinction is also present in spatial memory, where stimuli are processed differently because of their nature and the space in which they are released. The aim of the present study was to compare college students' performance on spatial location and pathway memory tasks in two different domains (reaching and walking). Reaching space refers to the portion of space within "grasping distance" and walking space to that beyond arm's reach. Research results indicate that it is easier to remember a pathway in the walking than the reaching domain and to remember single spatial locations in the reaching domain. Women are more able to perform the task in the walking domain than the reaching domain and men perform equally well in both domains.

TNFα receptor1 drives hypoxia-promoted invasiveness of human melanoma cells.

AIM: Oxygen deprivation leading to hypoxia represents a common feature of advanced solid tumors, able to control several aspects of tumor progression. Indeed, ability to respond to changes in oxygen partial pressure represents a hallmark of malignant cells. Aim of this study is to disclose new pathway of hypoxia-induced tumor cell invasion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hs294T human melanoma cells were grown in a gas mixture containing 0.3% O2 and used to evaluate invasion on Matrigel-coated polycarbonate filters mounted in Boyden's chambers, MMP release and expression of inflammatory receptors and their ligands. RESULTS: We demonstrate that hypoxia promotes the expression of TNFα receptor 1 (TNFαR1) able to drive a higher ability to penetrate Matrigel-coated filters of Hs294T human melanoma cells, an effect does not mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α. CONCLUSION: Expression of inflammatory cytokine receptors in hypoxic human melanoma cells might provide a new target for improving strategies against local and distant tumor cell diffusion.

The Walking Corsi Test (WalCT): standardization of the topographical memory test in an Italian population.

Selective visuo-spatial memory deficits can seriously affect many aspects of daily life; for example, an individual may not remember where he put an object or which path he took to reach his destination. In general, visuo-spatial memory is assessed through pen-and-paper tests that mainly assess memory components in peripersonal space. Recent studies (Piccardi et al. in Exp Brain Res 206:171-177, 2010; Piccardi et al. in Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 18:362-384, 2011) have shown that brain-damaged patients selectively fail on navigation memory tasks but not on other tests of visuo-spatial memory ability. These findings underline the need for a standardized test that measures memory in navigation separately from other types of visuo-spatial memory. Here, we report the validation of the Walking Corsi Test (WalCT: Piccardi et al. in Neurosci Lett 432:127-131, 2008) on 289 individuals aged 15-86 years. The WalCT is a new instrument that assesses topographical memory in real environments and reproduces on a large-scale version the Corsi Block-Tapping Test (CBT: Corsi in Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McGill University, Montreal, 1972). The WalCT has been used in clinical practice and has proven sensitive in detecting navigational memory deficits even in individuals who have no other memory impairments (Piccardi et al. in Exp Brain Res 206:171-177, 2010; Piccardi et al. in Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 18:362-384, 2011; Bianchini et al. in Neuropsychologia 48:1563-1573, 2010 ).

The "Altitudinal Anton's syndrome": coexistence of anosognosia, blindsight and left inattention.

We describe a 69-year-old patient with superior altitudinal hemianopia who contentiously denied having any visual impairment after stroke in the lower banks of both calcarine fissures. Although the patient did not produce intentional responses to visual stimuli in the blind fields, he showed reduced reaction times to stimuli presented in the inferior visual fields when they were primed by identical stimuli in the superior blind fields. Furthermore he showed left extinction to the double stimulation and delayed reaction times for left unprimed stimuli in the inferior fields. Based on these findings we discuss the possibility that blindsight and right hemisphere damage might be both necessary conditions for denying bilateral blindness.

Extracellular acidity as favouring factor of tumor progression and metastatic dissemination.

The bidirectional interactions between tumor cells and the so-called "host reactive stroma" play a critical role in most of the events characterizing tumor progression and distant organ colonization. This review discusses critical components of tumor environment involved in tumor cell dissemination. More specifically, it addresses some of the experimental evidences providing that acidity of tumor environment facilitates local invasiveness and metastasis formation, independently from hypoxia, with which acidity may be associated. Besides, acidity renders tumor cells resistant to radiation therapy and chemotherapeutic drugs. Therefore, this review examines the strategies for raising the low extracellular pH of tumors that might have considerable potential in cancer therapy.

Dissociated deficits of visuo-spatial memory in near space and navigational space: evidence from brain-damaged patients and healthy older participants.

Defects confined to spatial memory can severely affect a variety of daily life activities, such as remembering the location of objects or navigating the environment, until now the skills involved have been mostly assessed with regard to the visual domain using traditional pencil and paper tests. Our aim was to test the efficacy of a recently developed psychometric instrument (Walking Corsi Test: WalCT) to assess the specific contribution of spatial memory to the complex task of retrieving route knowledge. The WalCT is a 3 × 2.5-m version of the well-known Corsi Block-tapping Test (CBT), in which patients are required to memorize (and replicate) a sequence of body displacements. We assessed the ability of left and right brain-damaged patients, as well as healthy young and senior controls, to perform both the CBT and the WalCT. Results showed differences related to age in the healthy individuals and specific functional dissociations in the brain-damaged patients. The double dissociations found in this study demonstrate the importance of having a task able to detect navigational disorders, because virtual reality tasks are often much too difficult for aged brain-damaged patients to perform.

Produção de mudas de dois genótipos de alecrim-de-tabuleiro (Lippia gracilis Schauer) em função de fertilizante mineral, calcário, substratos e recipientes / Seedling production of two "alecrim-de-tabuleiro" (Lippia gracilis Schauer) genotypes under mineral fertilizer, limestone, substrates and containers

Lippia gracilis Schauer popularmente conhecida como alecrim-de-tabuleiro possui moderada atividade antibacteriana, antimicrobiana e antiséptica. Objetivando avaliar o efeito de doses de fertilizante mineral, calcário, substratos e recipientes na produção de mudas de dois genótipos de alecrim-de-tabuleiro realizou-se experimentos com estacas de dois genótipos de L. gracilis. No experimento 1, foram utilizadas estacas apicais distribuídas em bandejas de poliestireno expandido de 128 células com o substrato pó-de-coco + areia (1:1), três repetições e oito estacas por repetição. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos ao acaso, em esquema fatorial 4x2x2, sendo quatro doses do fertilizante (6-24-12+micronutrientes) (1, 2, 3 e 4 g L-1), duas doses de calcário (0 e 1 g L-1) e dois genótipos (LGRA106 e LGRA201). Aos 35 após plantio, foram avaliadas a sobrevivência ( por cento), enraizamento ( por cento), comprimento de raiz (cm) e massa seca de raiz (mg). No experimento 2, foram utilizadas três repetições com oito estacas por repetição. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos ao acaso, em esquema de parcelas subdivididas onde foram testados nas parcelas dois recipientes (bandeja de poliestireno expandido de 128 alvéolos e tubetes de 110 cm³, na sub parcela foram testadas as combinações de quatro substratos (PC - pó de coco; PCA (1:1) - pó de coco + areia (1:1); PCA (2:1) - pó de coco + areia (2:1) e PCA (3:1) - pó de coco + areia (3:1) e dois genótipos (LGRA106 e LGRA201). Aos 35 dias após o plantio foram analisadas as mesmas variáveis do experimento 1, além de altura de parte aérea (cm) e massa seca de parte aérea (mg). A utilização de 1 g L-1 do fertilizante na ausência de calcário foi efetivo para sobrevivência de plantas e enraizamento de estacas de alecrim-de-tabuleiro. Com base nesses experimentos, concluiu-se que o genótipo LGRA106 é superior ao LGRA201 nas variáveis analisadas e recomenda-se a bandeja de poliestireno expandido para produção de mudas de L. gracilis via estaquia.

Commonly known as "alecrim-de-tabuleiro", Lippia gracilis Schauer (Verbenaceae) has moderate antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiseptic activity. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of doses of mineral fertilizer, limestone, substrates and containers on seedling production of two "alecrim-de-tabuleiro" genotypes, using cuttings. In experiment 1, apical cuttings were distributed on expanded polystyrene trays of 128 cells containing coir + sand (1:1), using three replicates of eight cuttings each. Experimental design was in randomized blocks, in a 4x2x2 factorial arrangement, i.e. four doses of fertilizer (6-24-12 + micronutrients) (1, 2, 3 and 4 g L-1), two doses of limestone (0 and 1 g L-1) and two genotypes (LGRA106 and LGRA201). At 35 days after planting, we evaluated survival ( percent), rooting ( percent), root length (cm) and root dry matter (mg). In experiment 2, three replicates of eight cuttings each were used. Experimental design was in randomized blocks, in a split-plot scheme. In the plots, we tested two containers (expanded polystyrene tray of 128 cells and 110 cm³ tubets). In the subplots, we tested four substrate combinations [coir, coir + sand (1:1), coir + sand (2:1) and coir + sand (3:1)] and two genotypes (LGRA106 and LGRA201). At 35 days after planting, the same variables of experiment 1 were evaluated, besides shoot length (cm) and shoot dry matter (mg). The use of 1 g L-1 fertilizer without limestone was effective for plant survival and cutting rooting. Based on these experiments, the genotype LGRA106 is superior to LGRA201 as to the evaluated variables and the expanded polystyrene tray is recommended for the production of L. gracilis seedlings through cuttings.

Developmental topographical disorientation in a healthy subject.

We present the case of F.G., a healthy, normally developed 22-year-old male subject affected by a pervasive disorder in environmental orientation and navigation who presents no history of neurological or psychiatric disease. A neuro-radiological examination showed no evidence of anatomical or structural alterations to the brain. We submitted the subject for a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of the different cognitive processes involved in topographical orientation to evaluate his ability to navigate the spatial environment. The results confirmed a severe developmental topographical disorder and deficits in a number of specific cognitive processes directly or indirectly involved in navigation. The results are discussed with reference to the sole previously described case of developmental topographical disorientation (Pt1; Iaria et al., 2009). F.G. differs from the former case due to the following: the greater severity of his disorder, his complete lack of navigational skills, the failure to develop compensatory strategies, and the presence of a specific deficit in processing the spatial relationships between the parts of a whole. The present case not only confirms the existence of developmental topographical-skill disorders, but also sheds light on the architecture of topographical processes and their development in human beings.

Liver HCV-antigens and steatosis in chronic hepatitis C: role of different genotypes.

BACKGROUND: HCV infection is frequently associated with liver steatosis. AIMS AND METHODS: We studied 126 frozen liver HCV positive specimens (genotype-3=27) without any features of metabolic syndrome, searching for a correlation between the number of HCV infected hepatocytes and the presence, amount and distribution of steatosis in relation to different genotypes. RESULTS: Mean steatosis score was higher in genotype-3 with respect to non-3 (1.11 vs 0.66, p=0.022). HCV-antigens were detected by an immunoperoxidase technique in 91/126 (72.2%) cases. A significant correlation between the number of HCV-antigen positive cells and the degree of liver steatosis was observed in genotype-3 (p=0.01) but not in non-3 patients, matched for sex and age. Steatotic cells usually outnumbered HCV-infected cells. Steatosis was observed both in HCV-antigen positive and negative hepatocytes, and HCV-antigens were detected in both hepatocytes with and without steatosis: while no lobular codistribution was found in genotype non-3, in genotype-3 steatosis and HCV-antigens were usually found in the same areas. CONCLUSION: Our data support the role of HCV-antigen liver expression in the pathogenesis of steatosis in genotype-3, however, since the presence of HCV-antigens is not directly related to steatosis within single hepatocytes, an indirect mechanism might be operative too.

Pure representational neglect and navigational deficits in a case with preserved visuo-spatial working memory.

We describe a patient who, after right hemisphere damage, showed severe, persistent, pure representational neglect but no evidence of perceptual neglect and no deficits in spatial working memory when evaluated with a traditional clinical test (Corsi Block Tapping test). This finding provides evidence against a full explanation of representational neglect within the context of visuo-spatial working memory. Indeed, this patient showed a peculiar deficit in navigational tasks requiring re-orientation in a novel environment by means of his mental representation of the environment. Since no representational neglect was observed in tests requiring mental representation of single or multiple objects (i.e., o'clock test) we suggest that in our patient representational neglect is caused by damage to the cognitive system involved in coding and storing environmental information to be used during navigation.

Landmark based navigation in brain-damaged patients with neglect.

We tested navigational abilities of brain-damaged patients suffering from representational or perceptual neglect asking them to retrieve a location according to salient spatial cues included in a rectangular empty room. Both groups of patients showed difficulties in learning the spatial definition of the target location in relation to two landmarks. However in a delayed attempt performed after several trials the group of patients with perceptual neglect proved able to easily retrieve the target location. In this condition they performed as controls showing a spared ability to navigate according to a stable representation of the room in long-term memory. In contrast the difficulty of patients with representational neglect remained unchanged across experimental conditions. At variance with clinical assessment, in which patients show asymmetrical performances in describing a well-known environment from memory, this latter result depicts a behavioural counterpart of the disorder, namely the inability to orient in a new environment according to an inner representation. Data are further discussed in order to provide a description of the cognitive mechanisms required for space representation for navigation.