Explore the vast range of titles available.

The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the global average. This warming is influenced by clouds, which modulate the solar and terrestrial radiative fluxes and, thus, determine the surface energy budget. However, the interactions among clouds, aerosols, and radiative fluxes in the Arctic are still poorly understood. To address these uncertainties, the Ny-Ålesund Aerosol Cloud Experiment (NASCENT) study was conducted from September 2019 to August 2020 in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The campaign’s primary goal was to elucidate the life cycle of aerosols in the Arctic and to determine how they modulate cloud properties throughout the year. In situ and remote sensing observations were taken on the ground at sea level, at a mountaintop station, and with a tethered balloon system. An overview of the meteorological and the main aerosol seasonality encountered during the NASCENT year is introduced, followed by a presentation of first scientific highlights. In particular, we present new findings on aerosol physicochemical and molecular properties. Further, the role of cloud droplet activation and ice crystal nucleation in the formation and persistence of mixed-phase clouds, and the occurrence of secondary ice processes, are discussed and compared to the representation of cloud processes within the regional Weather Research and Forecasting Model. The paper concludes with research questions that are to be addressed in upcoming NASCENT publications.

SummaryThis study assessed the cost effectiveness of romosozumab versus teriparatide, both sequenced to alendronate, for the treatment of severe postmenopausal osteoporosis in Japan, using bone mineral density (BMD) efficacy data. Results show that romosozumab/alendronate produces greater health benefits at a lower cost than teriparatide/alendronate.IntroductionThis study aims to assess the cost effectiveness of romosozumab versus teriparatide, both sequenced to alendronate, for the treatment of severe postmenopausal osteoporosis in Japanese women previously treated with bisphosphonates.MethodsA Markov model was used to assess the relative cost effectiveness of 1 year of romosozumab versus 2 years of teriparatide, both sequenced to alendronate for a total treatment duration of 5 years. Outcomes for a cohort of women with a mean age of 78 years, a T-score ≤−2.5 and a previous fragility fracture were simulated over a lifetime horizon. The analysis was conducted from the perspective of the Japanese healthcare system and used a discount rate of 2% per annum. To inform relative fracture incidence, the bone mineral density (BMD) advantage of romosozumab over teriparatide was translated into relative risks of fracture, using relationships provided by a meta-regression of osteoporosis therapy trials. Outcomes were assessed in terms of lifetime costs (2020 US dollars) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).ResultsBase case results showed that, compared with teriparatide/alendronate, romosozumab/alendronate reduced costs by $5134 per patient and yielded 0.045 additional QALYs. Scenario analyses and probabilistic sensitivity analysis confirmed that results are robust to uncertainty in model assumptions and inputs.ConclusionResults show that romosozumab/alendronate produces greater health benefits at a lower total cost than teriparatide/alendronate.

We report airborne measurements of emission factors (EF) for trace gases and PM2.5 made in southern Mexico in March of 2006 on 6 crop residue fires, 3 tropical dry forest fires, 8 savanna fires, 1 garbage fire, and 7 mountain pine-oak forest fires. The savanna fire EF were measured early in the local dry season and when compared to EF measured late in the African dry season they were at least 1.7 times larger for NOx, NH3, H2, and most non-methane organic compounds. Our measurements suggest that urban deposition and high windspeed may also be associated with significantly elevated NOx EF. When considering all fires sampled, the percentage of particles containing soot increased from 15 to 60 % as the modified combustion efficiency increased from 0.88 to 0.98. We estimate that about 175 Tg of fuel was consumed by open burning of biomass and garbage and as biofuel (mainly wood cooking fires) in Mexico in 2006. Combining the fuel consumption estimates with our EF measurements suggests that the above combustion sources account for a large fraction of the reactive trace gases and more than 90 % of the total primary, fine carbonaceous particles emitted by all combustion sources in Mexico.

The Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon 2014–2015 (GoAmazon2014/5) experiment took place around the urban region of Manaus in central Amazonia across 2 years. The urban pollution plume was used to study the susceptibility of gases, aerosols, clouds, and rainfall to human activities in a tropical environment. Many aspects of air quality, weather, terrestrial ecosystems, and climate work differently in the tropics than in the more thoroughly studied temperate regions of Earth. GoAmazon2014/5, a cooperative project of Brazil, Germany, and the United States, employed an unparalleled suite of measurements at nine ground sites and on board two aircraft to investigate the flow of background air into Manaus, the emissions into the air over the city, and the advection of the pollution downwind of the city. Herein, to visualize this train of processes and its effects, observations aboard a low-flying aircraft are presented. Comparative measurements within and adjacent to the plume followed the emissions of biogenic volatile organic carbon compounds (BVOCs) from the tropical forest, their transformations by the atmospheric oxidant cycle, alterations of this cycle by the influence of the pollutants, transformations of the chemical products into aerosol particles, the relationship of these particles to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity, and the differences in cloud properties and rainfall for background compared to polluted conditions. The observations of the GoAmazon2014/5 experiment illustrate how the hydrologic cycle, radiation balance, and carbon recycling may be affected by present-day as well as future economic development and pollution over the Amazonian tropical forest.

BACKGROUNDCurrent literature comparing the prevalence rates of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in pregnant women in various global regions is limited. As a result, antenatal screening practices for curable STIs in pregnant women, specifically Treponema pallidum (syphilis), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) vary around the world, differing by country and particular STI. METHODSWe conducted a systematic review of publications on STI prevalence among pregnant women in 30 different low- and middle-income countries. We searched PubMed for studies reporting prevalence of syphilis, CT, NG, and TV in pregnant women. English language studies published between January 1, 2010, and March 1, 2015, were included. The adjusted mean STI prevalence by region was calculated via multivariable linear regression adjusting for health care setting, womenʼs mean age, study sample size, and sensitivity of diagnostic test. RESULTSWe identified 75 studies that met inclusion criteria, providing 116 point prevalence estimates for curable STIs among 3,489,621 pregnant women. Adjusted mean prevalence for NG ranged from 1.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0–1.3) in Latin America to 4.6% (95% CI, 4.0–5.2) in Southern Africa; syphilis prevalence ranged from 1.1% (95% CI, 0.5–1.6) in Asia to 6.5% (95% CI, 4.7–6.3) in Southern Africa; CT ranged from 0.8% (95% CI, 0.4–1.1) in Asia to 11.2% (95% CI, 6.0–16.4) in Latin America; and TV ranged from 3.9% (95% CI, 2.2–5.6) in Latin America to 24.6% (95% CI, 17.9–31.4) in Southern Africa. CONCLUSIONSAlthough we observed a wide variation in STI burden in pregnancy after adjusting for age, test, and health care setting, further valid comparison may depend on adjustment for access to care and screening practices.

The J-PARC 3 GeV Rapid-Cycling Synchrotron (RCS) delivers a high intensity proton beam to the 30 GeV Main Ring (MR). The improvement of longitudinal beam matching between RCS and MR is desired to suppress the beam loss in the MR. A scenario to improve the longitudinal beam matching between RCS and MR is designed. For the RCS, the bunch lengthening scheme using the unstable fixed point generated by the second harmonic is considered. For the MR, the RF voltage pattern is adjusted to match the longitudinal beam emittance of the RCS. The details of the scenario for improving the longitudinal beam matching between RCS and MR and the results of beam simulation studies are reported.

The semen production traits of bulls from 2 major cattle breeds in Japan, Holstein and Japanese Black, were analyzed comprehensively using genome-wide markers. Weaker genetic correlations were observed between the 2 age groups (1 to 3 yr old and 4 to 6 yr old) regarding semen volume and sperm motility compared with those observed for sperm number and motility after freeze-thawing. The preselection of collected semen for freezing had a limited effect. Given the increasing importance of bull proofs at a young age because of genomic selection and the results from preliminary studies, we used a multiple-trait model that included motility after freeze-thawing with records collected at young ages. Based on variations in contemporary group effects, accounting for both seasonal and management factors, Holstein bulls may be more sensitive than Japanese Black bulls to seasonal environmental variations; however, the seasonal variations of contemporary group effects were smaller than those of overall contemporary group effects. The improvement of motilities, recorded immediately after collection and freeze-thawing, was observed in recent years; thus, good management and better freeze-thawing protocol may alleviate seasonal phenotypic differences. The detrimental effects of inbreeding were observed in all traits of both breeds; accordingly, the selection of candidate bulls with high inbreeding coefficients should be avoided per general recommendations. Semen production traits have never been considered for bull selection. However, negative genetic trends were observed. The magnitudes of the estimated h were comparable to those of other economically important traits. A single-step genomic BLUP will provide more accurate predictions of breeding values compared with BLUP; thus, marker genotype information is useful for estimating the genetic merits of bulls for semen production traits. The selection of these traits would improve sperm viability, a component related to breeding success, and alleviate negative genetic trends.

In the present report, we describe the use of narrow band imaging during video-laryngomicrosurgery for laryngeal papillomatosis. It is difficult to peri-operatively locate all the superficial papillomatous lesions when the disease is widespread, which then results in tumor recurrence. Therefore, we have constructed a narrow band imaging video-laryngomicrosurgery system, which we have used for two cases of laryngeal papillomatosis. Our narrow band imaging-assisted video-laryngomicrosurgery system to visualise superficial laryngeal papillomatosis more clearly.

We have been developing a superconducting NbN thin film coil in a spiral trench on a Si-wafer using MEMS technology. Connecting the coils on the different wafers using waferbonding process, a cylindrical wafer stack is to be formed as a unit of a compact SMES. The critical current density of our NbN film was measured to be around 1100 A/mm2. We measured critical current Ic of 47 mA for the previously fabricated coil of the film thickness tf = 0.5 μm. Ic in the spiral coil increases with tf. However, if we make the NbN film thicker, the film is apt to have higher lateral force caused by tensile or compressive stress which can cause peeling of the film from the Si substrate. It is well known that the stress of the sputtered thin films can be controlled from tensile to compressive stress by controlling the bombardment of high energy particles including argon atoms backscattered from the target surface. Based on this knowledge, a specially designed sputter-deposition apparatus was fabricated in which the substrate can be located not only at the different target-to-substrate distances but also at several different lateral distances from the central axis of the target (off-axis lateral shift). Using this apparatus, various stress conditions could be realized which contributed to fabrication of thick NbN film spiral coil in the trench. The film stress was calculated from bending analysis of the substrate Si wafer by stylus method using Stoney's formula. The maximum compressive stress of 2.5 GPa was measured. By an off-axis lateral shift, tf could be increased from 0.5 to 1 μm. By increasing sputtering gas pressure from 0.7 to 2 Pa, the compressive stress could be mitigated and tf could be further increased from 1.0 to 3 μm. Up to now, we measured Ic of 220 mA for a NbN spiral coil at tf around 3 μm. More detailed adjustment of the deposition condition will bring further increase in tf, and hence Ic into sight.

We synthesized single crystals of Zn-based Sm-compound SmOs2Zn20. T-dependence of magnetization M(T) shows a sudden increase at the ferromagnetic transition temperature TC ∼ 3 K. T-dependence of electrical resistivity ρ(T) shows typical metallic behavior. At TC, ρ(T) slightly decreases, which originates from the ferromagnetic transition. Specific heat C(T) shows a clear but broad anomaly at TC. Magnetic entropy Smag(T) at TC is about R ln 2, and suggests that a Γ7 doublet of the J = 5 2 multiplet is the ground state.