Search

FabIO is a Python module written for easy and transparent reading of raw two-dimensional data from various X-ray detectors. The module provides a function for reading any image and returning a fabioimage object which contains both metadata (header information) and the raw data. All fabioimage objects offer additional methods to extract information about the image and to open other detector images from the same data series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary explanations for helping in cooperative breeding systems usually require a positive effect of helping on the fitness of the breeders being assisted. However, such helper effects have proven surprisingly difficult to quantify. Cockburn et al. (this issue ) apply detailed statistical analyses to long-term field data on the enigmatic superb fairy-wren. They show that it is possible to disentangle the complex web of ecological and evolutionary interactions that confound so many studies. Whilst fairy-wren helpers may not increase nest productivity, they do increase future survival of breeding females. This study points the way for future statistical explorations of long-term data in other cooperative birds and mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is an uncommon, but well described, clinical entity that typically occurs following chemotherapy in patients with rapidly growing hematological malignancies. It is rarely described in patients with solid tumors. We report a case of TLS in a patient with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate after treatment with paclitaxel chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on various facts related to urothelial carcinoma which is the sixth most common disease in the U.S. and mentions the impact of cisplatin-based chemotherapy on circulating tumor cells (CTC) in bladder cancer. Topics discussed include neoadjuvant chemotherapy, experience of a decline in CTC post-chemotherapy in some patients and a table related to CTC change relative to cisplatin-based chemotherapy is ppresented

The article reviews the book "The Horizon: A History of Our Infinite Longing," by Didier Maleuvre.

A response from the author of the article related to circumcision for reducing the relative risk of prostate cancer (PCa) in a previous issue of the journal is presented.

We present the first nitridic analogs of micas, namely AESi3P4N10(NH)2 (AE=Mg, Mg0.94Ca0.06, Ca, Sr), which were synthesized under high‐pressure high‐temperature conditions at 1400 °C and 8 GPa from the refractory nitrides P3N5 and Si3N4, the respective alkaline earth amides, implementing NH4F as a mineralizer. The crystal structure was elucidated by single‐crystal diffraction with microfocused synchrotron radiation, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopic (EDX) mapping with atomic resolution, powder X‐ray diffraction, and solid‐state NMR. The structures consist of typical tetrahedra–octahedra–tetrahedra (T‐O‐T) layers with P occupying T and Si occupying O layers, realizing the rare motif of sixfold coordinated silicon atoms in nitrides. The presence of H, as an imide group forming the SiN4(NH)2 octahedra, is confirmed by SCXRD, MAS‐NMR, and IR spectroscopy. Eu2+‐doped samples show tunable narrow‐band emission from deep blue to cyan (451–492 nm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterizing the pathways by which crystals form remains a significant challenge, particularly when multiple pathways operate simultaneously. Here, an imaging‐based strategy is introduced that exploits confinement effects to track the evolution of a population of crystals in 3D and to characterize crystallization pathways. Focusing on calcium sulfate formation in aqueous solution at room temperature, precipitation is carried out within nanoporous media, which ensures that the crystals are fixed in position and develop slowly. The evolution of their size, shape, and polymorph can then be tracked in situ using synchrotron X‐ray computed tomography and diffraction computed tomography without isolating and potentially altering the crystals. The study shows that bassanite (CaSO4 0.5H2O) forms via an amorphous precursor phase and that it exhibits long‐term stability in these nanoscale pores. Further, the thermodynamically stable phase gypsum (CaSO4 2H2O) can precipitate by different pathways according to the local physical environment. Insight into crystallization in nanoconfinement is also gained, and the crystals are seen to grow throughout the nanoporous network without causing structural damage. This work therefore offers a novel strategy for studying crystallization pathways and demonstrates the significant impact of confinement on calcium sulfate precipitation, which is relevant to its formation in many real‐world environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. The effects of spatial structure on metapopulation dynamics depend upon the interaction between local population dynamics and dispersal, and how this relationship is affected by the geographical isolation and spatial heterogeneity in habitat characteristics. 2. Our aim is to examine how emigration and immigration of house sparrows Passer domesticus in a Norwegian archipelagic metapopulation are affected by key factors predicted by classic metapopulation models to affect dispersal--spatial and temporal variation in population size, inter-island distance, local demography and habitat characteristics. 3. This metapopulation can be divided into two major habitat types: (a) islands closer to the mainland where sparrows breed in colonies on farms, and (b) islands without farms, situated farther away from the mainland where sparrows are exposed to harsher environmental conditions. 4. Dispersal was spatially structured within the metapopulation; there was proportionally and numerically less emigration and immigration involving farm islands, as compared to non-farm islands. Furthermore, emigration and immigration occurred mostly between nearby islands. Moreover, emigration in response to spatial differences in mean population size differed between the habitat types, but populations with large mean received more immigrants in both habitat types. The number of emigrants and immigrants was negatively related to long-term recruit production, which was not the case in non-farm islands. The proportion and number of emigrants was positively related to temporal increases in recruit production on farm islands, however not on non-farm islands. 5. Our results demonstrate that spatial heterogeneity in environmental conditions influences how spatial variation in long-term mean population size, and temporal and spatial variation in recruit production, affects dispersal dynamics. The spatial structure of this metapopulation is therefore best described by a spatially explicit model in which the exchange of individuals within each habitat type is strongly affected by the degree of geographical isolation, population size and recruit production. However, these relationships differed between the two habitat types; non-farm islands showing similarities to a mainland-island model type of structure, whereas farm islands showed features more associated with source-sink or balanced dispersal models. Such differential dispersal dynamics between habitat types are expected to have important consequences for the ecological and evolutionary dynamics within this metapopulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of bovine insulin samples were obtained as 14 polycrystalline precipitates at room temperature in the pH range 5.0-7.6. High-resolution powder X-ray diffraction data were collected to reveal the T6 hexameric insulin form. Sample homogeneity and reproducibility were verified by additional synchrotron measurements using an area detector. Pawley analyses of the powder patterns displayed pH- and radiation-induced anisotropic lattice modifications. The pronounced anisotropic lattice variations observed for T6 insulin were exploited in a 14-data-set Rietveld refinement to obtain an average crystal structure over the pH range investigated. Only the protein atoms of the known structure with PDB code 2a3g were employed in our starting model. A novel approach for refining protein structures using powder diffraction data is presented. In this approach, each amino acid is represented by a flexible rigid body (FRB). The FRB model requires a significantly smaller number of refinable parameters and restraints than a fully free-atom refinement. A total of 1542 stereochemical restraints were imposed in order to refine the positions of 800 protein atoms, two Zn atoms and 44 water molecules in the asymmetric unit using experimental data in the resolution range 18.2-2.7 Å for all profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a research study which examines the usefulness of multiple crystals in collecting X-ray diffraction data simultaneously from assemblies of up to seven crystals with regard to macromolecular crytallography. It describes the features of the algorithms used to extract data and their practical implementation. It explains that this procedure could be of good use to obtain data on intergrown crystals and deal with rapid diffraction decay.

Multi‐anvil and laser‐heated diamond anvil methods have been used to subject Ge and Si mixtures to pressures and temperatures of between 12 and 17 GPa and 1500–1800 K, respectively. Synchrotron angle dispersive X‐ray diffraction, precession electron diffraction and chemical analysis using electron microscopy, reveal recovery at ambient pressure of hexagonal Ge−Si solid solutions (P63/mmc). Taken together, the multi‐anvil and diamond anvil results reveal that hexagonal solid solutions can be prepared for all Ge−Si compositions. This hexagonal class of solid solutions constitutes a significant expansion of the bulk Ge−Si solid solution family, and is of interest for optoelectronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]