Improved Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves using Planck, WMAP, and BICEP/Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season.

We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the BICEP2, Keck Array, and BICEP3 CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2018 observing season. We add additional Keck Array observations at 220 GHz and BICEP3 observations at 95 GHz to the previous 95/150/220 GHz dataset. The Q/U maps now reach depths of 2.8, 2.8, and 8.8 µK_{CMB} arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈600 square degrees at 95 GHz and ≈400 square degrees at 150 and 220 GHz. The 220 GHz maps now achieve a signal-to-noise ratio on polarized dust emission exceeding that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto- and cross-spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz and evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed ΛCDM+r+dust+synchrotron+noise. The foreground model has seven parameters, and no longer requires a prior on the frequency spectral index of the dust emission taken from measurements on other regions of the sky. This model is an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r_{0.05}<0.036 at 95% confidence. Running maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that σ(r)=0.009. These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.

Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves Using Planck, WMAP, and New BICEP2/Keck Observations through the 2015 Season.

We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the bicep2/Keck CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2015 observing season. This includes the first Keck Array observations at 220 GHz and additional observations at 95 and 150 GHz. The Q and U maps reach depths of 5.2, 2.9, and 26 µK_{CMB} arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈400 square degrees. The 220 GHz maps achieve a signal to noise on polarized dust emission approximately equal to that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto and cross spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz. We evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed-ΛCDM+r+dust+synchrotron+noise. The foreground model has seven parameters, and we impose priors on some of these using external information from Planck and WMAP derived from larger regions of sky. The model is shown to be an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r_{0.05}<0.07 at 95% confidence, which tightens to r_{0.05}<0.06 in conjunction with Planck temperature measurements and other data. The lensing signal is detected at 8.8σ significance. Running a maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that σ(r)=0.020. These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.

Excitation energy transfer and electron-vibrational coupling in phycobiliproteins of the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina investigated by site-selective spectroscopy.

In adaption to its specific environmental conditions, the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina developed two different types of light-harvesting complexes: chlorophyll-d-containing membrane-intrinsic complexes and phycocyanobilin (PCB) - containing phycobiliprotein (PBP) complexes. The latter complexes are believed to form a rod-shaped structure comprising three homo-hexamers of phycocyanin (PC), one hetero-hexamer of phycocyanin and allophycocyanin (APC) and probably a linker protein connecting the PBPs to the reaction centre. Excitation energy transfer and electron-vibrational coupling in PBPs have been investigated by selectively excited fluorescence spectra. The data reveal a rich spectral substructure with a total of five low-energy electronic states with fluorescence bands at 635nm, 645nm, 654nm, 659nm and a terminal emitter at about 673 nm. The electronic states at ~635 and 645 nm are tentatively attributed to PC and APC, respectively, while an apparent heterogeneity among PC subunits may also play a role. The other fluorescence bands may be associated with three different isoforms of the linker protein. Furthermore, a large number of vibrational features can be identified for each electronic state with intense phonon sidebands peaking at about 31 to 37cm⁻¹, which are among the highest phonon frequencies observed for photosynthetic antenna complexes. The corresponding Huang-Rhys factors S fall in the range between 0.98 (terminal emitter), 1.15 (APC), and 1.42 (PC). Two characteristic vibronic lines at about 1580 and 1634cm⁻¹ appear to reflect CNH⁺ and CC stretching modes of the PCB chromophore, respectively. The exact phonon and vibrational frequencies vary with electronic state implying that the respective PCB chromophores are bound to different protein environments. This article is part of a special issue entitled: photosynthesis research for sustainability: keys to produce clean energy.

Detection of B-mode polarization at degree angular scales by BICEP2.

We report results from the BICEP2 experiment, a cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeter specifically designed to search for the signal of inflationary gravitational waves in the B-mode power spectrum around ℓ∼80. The telescope comprised a 26 cm aperture all-cold refracting optical system equipped with a focal plane of 512 antenna coupled transition edge sensor 150 GHz bolometers each with temperature sensitivity of ≈300 µK(CMB)√s. BICEP2 observed from the South Pole for three seasons from 2010 to 2012. A low-foreground region of sky with an effective area of 380 square deg was observed to a depth of 87 nK deg in Stokes Q and U. In this paper we describe the observations, data reduction, maps, simulations, and results. We find an excess of B-mode power over the base lensed-ΛCDM expectation in the range 30 < ℓ < 150, inconsistent with the null hypothesis at a significance of >5σ. Through jackknife tests and simulations based on detailed calibration measurements we show that systematic contamination is much smaller than the observed excess. Cross correlating against WMAP 23 GHz maps we find that Galactic synchrotron makes a negligible contribution to the observed signal. We also examine a number of available models of polarized dust emission and find that at their default parameter values they predict power ∼(5-10)× smaller than the observed excess signal (with no significant cross-correlation with our maps). However, these models are not sufficiently constrained by external public data to exclude the possibility of dust emission bright enough to explain the entire excess signal. Cross correlating BICEP2 against 100 GHz maps from the BICEP1 experiment, the excess signal is confirmed with 3σ significance and its spectral index is found to be consistent with that of the CMB, disfavoring dust at 1.7σ. The observed B-mode power spectrum is well fit by a lensed-ΛCDM+tensor theoretical model with tensor-to-scalar ratio r = 0.20_(-0.05)(+0.07), with r = 0 disfavored at 7.0σ. Accounting for the contribution of foreground, dust will shift this value downward by an amount which will be better constrained with upcoming data sets.

The anatomist Hans Elias: A Jewish German in exile.

Hans Elias (1907 to 1985) was an anatomist, an educator, a mathematician, a cinematographer, a painter, and a sculptor. Above all, he was a German of Jewish descent, who had to leave his home country because of the policies of the National Socialist (NS) regime. He spent his life in exile, first in Italy and then in the United States. His biography is exemplary for a generation of younger expatriates from National Socialist Germany who had to find a new professional career under difficult circumstances. Elias was a greatly productive morphologist whose artistic talent led to the foundation of the new science of stereology and made him an expert in scientific cinematography. He struggled hard to fulfill his own high expectations of himself in terms of his effectiveness as a scientist, educator, and politically acting man in this world. Throughout his life this strong-willed and outspoken man never lost his great fondness for Germany and many of its people, while reserving some of his sharpest criticism for fellow anatomists who were active in National Socialist Germany, among them his friend Hermann Stieve, Max Clara, and Heinrich von Hayek. Hans Elias' life is well documented in his unpublished diaries and memoirs, and thus allows fresh insights into a time period when some anatomists were among the first victims of NS policies and other anatomists became involved in the execution of such policies.

Anatomy in the Third Reich: an outline, part 3. The science and ethics of anatomy in National Socialist Germany and postwar consequences.

Anatomists in National Socialist (NS) Germany did research on materials from animals and humans, including tissues from the bodies of NS victims. The research was competent but rarely innovative. This may be due to the isolation of the German research community from international developments, as well as to the dismissal of a great number of successful anatomists for racial or political reasons. Other research was unproductive because of its foundation in the pseudoscience of racial hygiene. Anatomists in the Third Reich acted according to a new set of medical ethics favored by the NS regime. Not the individual human being but the "body of the people" as a whole was the object of this ethics. Every action was ethical that ensured the health of the German people, including sterilization, so-called euthanasia, and finally mass murder. Anatomists made use of the opportunities given to them by the NS regime, which led to the postmortem utilization of the bodies of NS victims. After the war, most anatomists retained their positions and NS history was not discussed until the later 20th century. Since then, historical research and public discussions have led to an increased awareness of questions of ethics in anatomy. The history of anatomy in the Third Reich illustrates that the theory and practice of a science is dependent on the political system it exists in, and that the scientists' competence not only in their science but also in politics and ethics is a prerequisite for the freedom of science.

Anatomy in the Third Reich: an outline, part 1. National Socialist politics, anatomical institutions, and anatomists.

Although it is known that anatomists working in Germany during the Third Reich have used bodies of victims of the National Socialist (NS) regime for dissection and research, a comprehensive history of the anatomy in the Third Reich has not yet been written. Recent studies of the history of German anatomy departments during this time period provide material for a first outline of the subject matter. A historical review can help with the formulation of ethical foundations in modern anatomy. From the outset, the NS regime sought to reorganize German universities according to NS leadership principles and political goals. Many German academics, especially physicians and among them anatomists, followed these intentions with a voluntary "self-alignment" that encompassed their professional actions as well as their ethics. Currently, political information is available for 111 of 178 anatomists. Thirty-eight of the anatomists were dismissed for racial or political reasons, among them 10 chairmen of anatomy, whereas 35 of the anatomists were politically active members of one of the NS organizations. Over 70% of the chairmen of anatomical departments in the time period from 1941 to 1944 were members of NS organizations. Anatomists, as so many other physicians and academics, belonged both, to the group of victims of the regime, i.e., those being dismissed from their positions for racial and political reasons, and to the group of supporters and sometimes active perpetrators of NS policies.

Anatomy in the Third Reich: an outline, part 2. Bodies for anatomy and related medical disciplines.

All anatomical departments of German universities used bodies of the executed and other victims of the National Socialist (NS) regime for their work. Many of these victims had been executed in prisons and were members of the German political opposition; others had perished in camps for prisoners of war or forced laborers and concentration camps, and were of various European and other descent. Anatomists generally welcomed the increased influx of "fresh material" for purposes of research and education of the growing numbers of medical students. No anatomist is known to have refused work with the bodies of NS victims. Other medical disciplines also made use of these bodies, among them were racial hygienists and neuropathologists. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the fields of anatomy, physical anthropology, and racial hygiene (eugenics) were closely related in their subject matter. Anatomists were involved in the biological foundation of racial hygiene, most prominently among them Eugen Fischer. The discipline was established as part of the medical curriculum after 1920. Racial hygiene became the scientific justification for NS policies that led to racial discrimination, involuntary sterilization and ultimately mass murder. Anatomists taught racial hygiene throughout the Third Reich and did research in this area. Some were actively involved in NS policies through propaganda and evaluations for the so-called Genetic Health Courts, whereas others became victims of their own science in that they were dismissed for racial reasons.

Comparison of different extraction solutions for the analysis of allergens in hen's egg.

An important requirement for the correct procedure of allergen analysis in hen's egg is to obtain complete and unaltered protein extracts. Besides the aim of a quantitative extraction of the allergens from the matrix, it is equally important not to alter their allergenic potential during the extraction process. This paper describes and compares six extraction solutions for the analysis of whole-egg proteins and allergens. These requirements were examined via protein determination according to Bradford [Bradford, M. M. (1976). Rapid and sensitive method for quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing principle of protein-dye binding. Analytical Biochemistry, 72, 248-254] and Kjeldahl [Meyer, A. H. (2006). Lebensmittelrecht, Verlag C.H. Beck München, Stand: 1. February 2006, § 64, Lebensmittel- und Futtermittelgesetzbuch, Amtliche Sammlung von Untersuchungsmethoden, Nr. L 06.00-7] as well as the EAST-inhibition method. It could be demonstrated that the extraction with a urea solution (8M) led to significant interferences during the protein determination, and substantially reduced the allergenic potential of egg proteins. With all other extraction solutions adequate protein contents could be extracted. The highest protein content was achieved by the extraction with phosphate buffered saline followed by a Tween 20 solution, physiological saline, water, and acetate buffer. The results show that none of these extracts - except for the urea solution (8M) - was altered in its' allergenic potential.

Capital punishment and anatomy: history and ethics of an ongoing association.

Anatomical science has used the bodies of the executed for dissection over many centuries. As anatomy has developed into a vehicle of not only scientific but also moral and ethical education, it is important to consider the source of human bodies for dissection and the manner of their acquisition. From the thirteenth to the early seventeenth century, the bodies of the executed were the only legal source of bodies for dissection. Starting in the late seventeenth century, the bodies of unclaimed persons were also made legally available. With the developing movement to abolish the death penalty in many countries around the world and with the renunciation of the use of the bodies of the executed by the British legal system in the nineteenth century, two different practices have developed in that there are Anatomy Departments who use the bodies of the executed for dissection or research and those who do not. The history of the use of bodies of the executed in German Anatomy Departments during the National Socialist regime is an example for the insidious slide from an ethical use of human bodies in dissection to an unethical one. There are cases of contemporary use of unclaimed or donated bodies of the executed, but they are rarely well documented. The intention of this review is to initiate an ethical discourse about the use of the bodies of the executed in contemporary anatomy.

Tuning the redox properties of the titanocene(III)/(IV)-couple for atom-economical catalysis in single electron steps.

Radical-based transformations are an attractive target for the development of catalytic processes due to ease of radical generation, high functional group tolerance and selectivity of bond-forming reactions. In spite of these appealing features, the potential of radicals as key intermediates in catalysis remains largely untapped. Herein we present recent work that exploits the innate ability of titanocene-based catalysts to undergo both oxidative addition and reductive elimination in single electron steps. We further demonstrate that tuning the redox properties of the titanocene-based catalyst can be used to develop efficient catalytic free radical processes including tetrahydrofuran synthesis, and radical arylation.

Idiotypic analysis of human anti-topoisomerase I autoantibodies.

Anti-topoisomerase I autoantibodies (anti-topo I) are associated with proximal scleroderma and are of prognostic significance in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon. Polyclonal anti-idiotypic sera were raised against affinity-purified anti-topo I from 2 patients with scleroderma (EM, SG) and 1 healthy individual (NM). All 3 anti-topo I preparations expressed immunodominant private Ids in or near the antigen binding site of the autoantibody. Further analysis of Id-EM showed isotypic restriction to IgG and a stable Id-expression over the course of 9 years. Id-SG and Id-NM were expressed on IgG and on IgA. The idiotypic character of anti-topo I closely resembles that of anti-centromere autoantibodies which are associated with the CREST syndrome of scleroderma. The data suggest an antigen-driven process in the origin of autoantibodies in scleroderma.

Idiotypic analysis of human anticentromere autoantibodies.

The idiotypes (Ids) of anticentromere antibodies (ACA) have been studied using a fusion protein obtained from cloned cDNA of the major centromere antigen, CENP-B, for isolation of the autoantibodies. IgG-ACA were affinity purified from 4 patient sera and anti-Ids prepared in rabbits. Analysis revealed the existence of two distinct types of immunodominant Ids. One Id is near the antibody combining site and one is framework associated. A longterm longitudinal study of Id expression in a patient who seroconverted from ACA (-) to ACA (+) when she developed Raynaud's phenomenon showed a close correlation between Id expression and ACA titers (r = 0.94). These results may be interpreted as evidence for an autoantigen driven process in the anticentromere immune response.

Effects of participation in bariatric support group after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

BACKGROUND: Support group is a service provided by Pacific Bariatric Surgical Medical Group to its gastric bypass patients before and after surgery. It has already been well established that group therapy helps breast cancer patients survive longer. METHODS: 102 patients answered self-report questionnaires that were mailed out in the spring 1998 newsletter. The questionnaire was designed to investigate weight loss, mood, postsurgical problems, and the reasons patients chose not to attend the support group meetings. RESULTS: The mean preoperative weight was 303.65 lb (137.73 kg), with a mean weight loss of 95.79 lb (43.45 kg). The mean desired goal weight was 152.47 lb (69.16 kg), and there was a 63.3% loss of excess weight. The mean elapsed time since surgery was 15.2 months. After surgery, 25.5% of patients reported seeing a mental health professional. There was no difference in mood between group meeting attenders and nonattenders. There was a statistical trend for more weight loss (P = .08) in group attenders than in nonattenders. For group attenders, the more often patients attended group meetings, the more weight they lost (P < .05). Patients with reported emotional, psychosocial, dietary, and lifestyle problems were no more likely to attend group than nonattenders. CONCLUSIONS: The mean weight loss was as good as or better than reported in the literature. Patients who attended group meetings regularly tended to lose more weight, and increased frequency of attendance was associated with greater weight loss. The implications are discussed.

Drinking motives in alcohol use disorder patients with and without social anxiety disorder.

The high comorbidity of alcohol use disorders (AUD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) is often explained by excessive drinking in social situations to self-medicate social anxiety. Indeed, the motive to drink alcohol to lower social fears was found to be elevated in socially anxious persons. However, this social anxiety specific motive has not been directly investigated in primarily alcohol dependent individuals. We explored social anxiety, the motivation to drink alcohol in order to cope with social fears, and social anxiety as a consequence of drinking in AUD with and without comorbid SAD. Male AUD inpatients with (AUD+SAD group, N=23) and without comorbid SAD (N=37) completed a clinical interview and a questionnaire assessment. AUD+SAD patients reported higher levels of depression and an elevated motive to drink due to social anxiety but did not experience more social fears as a consequence of drinking. Previous results concerning alcohol drinking motives in order to relieve social fears could be replicated in a clinical AUD sample. Additionally, our findings suggest comorbid AUD+SAD patients to be more burdened regarding broader psychopathological symptoms. Thus, accessibility to SAD-specific screening and treatment procedures may be beneficial for primary AUD patients.

Analysis of cellular response to protein overexpression.

The overexpression of secreted proteins is of critical importance to the biotechnology and biomedical fields. A common roadblock to high yields of proteins is in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) where proofreading for properly folded proteins is often rate limiting. Heterologous expression of secreted proteins can saturate the cell's capacity to properly fold protein, initiating the unfolded protein response (UPR), and resulting in a loss of protein expression. An obvious method for overcoming this block would be to increase the capacity of the folding process (overexpressing chaperones) or decreasing the proofreading process (blocking the down-regulation by the UPR). Unfortunately, these processes are tightly interlinked, whereby modification of one mechanism has unknown effects on the other. Although some success has been achieved in improving expression via co-overexpressing ER chaperones, the results have not lead to a global method for increasing all heterologously overexpressed proteins. Further, many diseases have been linked to extended periods of stress and are not treatable by these approaches. This work utilises both experimental analysis of the interactions within the ER and modelling in order to understand how these interactions affect early secretory pathway dynamics. This study shows that overexpression of the ER chaperone binding protein does not regulate Ire1p and the UPR as predicted by a model based on the published understanding of the molecular mechanism. A new model is proposed for Ire1p regulation and the UPR that better fits the experimental data and recent studies on Ire1p.

[B-cell subpopulation, rosetting with mouse erythrocytes, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis]. / Untersuchungen zu einer B-Zell-Subpopulation, die mit Maus-Erythrozyten Rosetten bildet, bei Patienten mit rheumatoider Arthritis.

Inactive peripheral B-cells rosetting with mouse erythrocytes (BMR+), as well as the stimulation with anti-mu sepharose beads of peripheral mononuclear cells, are diminished in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These data provide further evidence for a B-cell activation in active RA.