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Abstract Background Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis has not been reported in anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-antibody encephalitis in the absence of an underlying thrombotic state while rituximab induced cerebral venous sinus thrombosis is rarely reported. We report a patient with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-antibody encephalitis without a prothrombotic state who developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis following rituximab treatment. Case presentation A 15-year-old Sri Lankan girl who had been in remission following an episode of anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-antibody encephalitis 2 years ago, presented with a relapse of anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-antibody encephalitis characterized by recurrent seizures, mutism, and cognitive abnormalities. Since response was inadequate to first-line immunotherapy, she was administered four doses of rituximab at weekly intervals. Two days after the fourth dose, she developed increasing headaches, and her cranial magnetic resonance venogram confirmed the development of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. Screening for prothrombotic states were negative. She made an unremarkable recovery following anticoagulation. Conclusion This case highlights the occurrence of the rare but serious complication of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis following rituximab in the context of anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-antibody encephalitis and informs the clinician to be wary of new onset headache in patients with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-antibody encephalitis treated with immunotherapy.

High accuracy reconstruction of historical ice flow velocity fields is crucial in mass balance research of the Antarctic Ice Sheet by utilizing the input-output approach. A historical flow velocity of the Western Pacific Ocean sector region of East Antarctica from 1963 to 1989 was mapped and then corrected for its velocity overestimation. In this study, we analyzed the spatial distribution of the corrected values, and further assessed the relationship between the corrected values and related factors including timespan of image pairs, ice flow velocity, the spatial acceleration of ice flow velocity, and surface slope. The results indicate that the corrected ice flow velocity points are mostly dispersed between a buffer 25 km upstream and a buffer 25 km downstream the grounding line, with the largest mean value emerging in the region between the grounding line and its 25 km downstream. The corrected values exhibit linear correlation with three conditions: 1) when the ice flow velocity range is 0 – 1586 m/y, 2) spatial acceleration is 0 – 69 (m/y)/km, and 3) the slope is 0 – 1.95 degrees and the R2 is higher than 0.7. However, the correlation between timespan and corrected values is not obvious. The corrected values for the floating region have a greater linear correlation with all three factors than the inland region. Ice flow velocity, spatial acceleration, and surface slope all have an influence on the distribution of the corrected values of the reconstructed historical ice flow velocity maps, and may further affect the assessment of the mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Active layer thickness (ALT) is an important index to reflect the stability of permafrost. The retrieval of ALT based on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technology has been investigated recently in permafrost research. However, most of such studies are carried out in a limited extend and relatively short temporal coverage. The combination of temporal-spatial multi-layer soil moisture data and multi-temporal InSAR is a promising approach for the large-scale characterization of ALT. In this study, we employed Small Baseline Subset Interferometry (SBAS-InSAR) technology to obtain the seasonal surface deformation from radar images of Envisat and Sentinel-1 in a permafrost region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). We attempt to verify and calibrate the temporal-spatial multi-layer soil moisture product in combination with the in-situ data. Based on the land subsidence data and the temporal-spatial multi-layer soil moisture data, we further improve method to retrieve the ALT information. This paper describes the progress so far and point out the future work.

ABSTRACT: Carotenoids, which are pigments known to have many health benefits, such as their antioxidant properties, are being researched for their potential as a feed additive for production animals. These pigments are found in varying quantities in different breeds of corn, and their impact on the chicken microbiome requires further investigation. This 35 d laying hen (Novagen White) feeding trial involved varying the levels and composition of carotenoids by changing the corn source: white (0.9 µg total carotinoids/g total diet), yellow (5.7 µg/g), and orange (24.9 µg/g). For each of the three corn diet treatments, 6 replicate cages were randomly assigned. The cecal microbial community composition of the hens was then studied by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The composition of the cecal bacterial community, as determined by Bray-Curtis dissimilarity, was different (P < 0.05) in chickens fed the orange corn diet, compared to chickens on the white corn diet, but there was no statistical difference between animals fed yellow corn compared to the white or orange corn groups. There was no change in the alpha diversity between any of the groups. Within Lactobacillus, which is one of the most abundant genera, 2 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were decreased and one ASV was increased in the orange corn group compared to both the white and yellow corn groups. While previous studies showed that orange corn did not alter the community composition in broilers, it appears that orange corn based feed may alter the community composition of laying hens.

Abstract By analyzing e + e − annihilation data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.93 fb −1 collected at a center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector, the first observation of the semileptonic decays D 0 → K S 0 π − π 0 e + ν e $$ {D}^0\to {K}_S^0{\pi}^{-}{\pi}^0{e}^{+}{\nu}_e $$ and D + → K S 0 π + π − e + ν e $$ {D}^{+}\to {K}_S^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}{e}^{+}{\nu}_e $$ is reported. In the hypothesis that all events correspond to K 1(1270) decays, the branching fractions are measured to be B D 0 → K 1 1270 − → K S 0 π − π 0 e + ν e = 1.69 − 0.46 + 0.53 ± 0.15 × 10 − 4 $$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}^0\to {K}_1{(1270)}^{-}\left(\to {K}_S^0{\pi}^{-}{\pi}^0\right){e}^{+}{\nu}_e\right)=\left({1.69}_{-0.46}^{+0.53}\pm 0.15\right)\times {10}^{-4} $$ and B D + → K ¯ 1 1270 0 → K S 0 π + π − e + ν e = 1.47 − 0.40 + 0.45 ± 0.14 × 10 − 4 $$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}^{+}\to {\overline{K}}_1{(1270)}^0\left(\to {K}_S^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right){e}^{+}{\nu}^e\right)=\left({1.47}_{-0.40}^{+0.45}\pm 0.14\right)\times {10}^{-4} $$ with statistical significance of 5.4σ and 5.6σ, respectively. When combined with measurements of the K 1(1270) → K + π − π decays, the absolute branching fractions are determined to be B D 0 → K 1 1270 − e + ν e = 1.08 − 0.13 − 0.10 + 0.14 + 0.08 ± 0.21 × 10 − 3 $$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}^0\to {K}_1{(1270)}^{-}{e}^{+}{\nu}_e\right)=\left({1.08}_{-0.13-0.10}^{+0.14+0.08}\pm 0.21\right)\times {10}^{-3} $$ and B D + → K ¯ 1 1270 0 e + ν e = 1.70 − 0.23 + 0.26 ± 0.13 ± 0.35 × 10 − 3 $$ \mathcal{B}\left({D}^{+}\to {\overline{K}}_1{(1270)}^0{e}^{+}{\nu}_e\right)=\left({1.70}_{-0.23}^{+0.26}\pm 0.13\pm 0.35\right)\times {10}^{-3} $$ . The first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively, and the third uncertainties originate from the assumed branching fractions of the K 1(1270) → Kππ decays.

Rank-Ordered Multifractal Analysis (ROMA), a technique capable of deciphering the multifractal characteristics of intermittent fluctuations, was originally applied to the results of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation. Application of ROMA to measured fluctuations in the auroral zone, due to the dominant physical effects changing from kinetic to MHD as the scale increases, requires an additional level of rank-ordering in order to divide the domain of scales into regimes. An algorithm for the additional step in this double rank-ordering technique is discussed, and is demonstrated in the application to the electric field fluctuations in the auroral zone as an example. As a result of the double rank-ordering, ROMA is able to take into account the nonlinear crossover behavior characterized by the multiple regimes of time scales by providing a scaling variable and a scaling function that are global to all the time scales.

Rank-Ordered Multifractal Analysis (ROMA) was introduced by Chang and Wu (2008) to describe the multifractal characteristic of intermittent events. The procedure provides a natural connection between the rank-ordered spectrum and the idea of one-parameter scaling for monofractals. This technique has successfully been applied to MHD turbulence simulations and turbulence data observed in various space plasmas. In this paper, the technique is applied to the probability distributions in the inertial range of the turbulent fluid flow, as given in the vast Johns Hopkins University (JHU) turbulence database. In addition, a new way of finding the continuous ROMA spectrum and the scaled probability distribution function (PDF) simultaneously is introduced.

Intermittent fluctuations are the consequence of the dynamic interactions of multiple coherent or pseudo-coherent structures of varied sizes in the stochastic media (Chang, 1999). We briefly review here a recently developed technique, the Rank-Ordered Multifractal Analysis (ROMA), which is both physically explicable and quantitatively accurate in deciphering the multifractal characteristics of such intermittent structures (Chang and Wu, 2008). The utility of the method is demonstrated using results obtained from large-scale 2-D MHD simulations as well as in-situ observations of magnetic field fluctuations from the interplanetary and magnetospheric cusp regions, and the broadband electric field oscillations from the auroral zone.

In this paper we investigate the statistical properties of magnetic field fluctuations measured by the four Cluster spacecraft in the cusp and close to the interface with the magnetospheric lobes, magnetopause and magnetosheath. At lower altitudes along the outbound orbit of 26 February 2001, the magnetic field fluctuations recorded by all four spacecraft are random and their Probability Distribution Functions (PDFs) are Gaussian at all scales. The flatness parameter, F – related to the kurtosis of the time series, is equal to 3. At higher altitudes, in the cusp and its vicinity, closer to the interface with the magnetopause and magnetosheath, the PDFs from all Cluster satellites are non-Gaussian and show a clear intermittent behavior at scales smaller than τG≈ 61 s (or 170 km). The flatness parameter increases to values greater than 3 for scales smaller than τG. A Haar wavelet transform enables the identification of the "events" that produce sudden variations of the magnetic field and of the scales that have most of the power. The LIM parameter (i.e. normalized wavelet power) indicates that events for scales below 65 s are non-uniformly distributed throughout the cusp passage. PDFs, flatness and wavelet analysis show that at coarse-grained scales larger than τG the intermittency is absent in the cusp. Fluctuations of the magnetic energy observed during the same orbit in the magnetosheath show PDFs that tend toward a Gaussian at scales smaller than τG found in the cusp. The flatness analysis confirms the decreasing of τG from cusp to magnetosheath. Our analysis reveals the turbulent cusp as a transition region from a non-intermittent turbulent state inside the magnetosphere to an intermittent turbulent state in the magnetosheath that has statistical properties resembling the solar wind turbulence. The observed turbulent fluctuations in the cusp suggests a phenomenon of nonlinear interactions of plasma coherent structures as in contemporary models of space plasma turbulence.

We consider the phenomena of intermittent turbulence in magnetized space plasmas from the point of view of topological phase transitions involving the merging and interactions of anisotropic coherent structures. The stochastic behaviour of these coherent plasma structures can undergo complex changes as the dynamic system evolves, similar to those commonly observed in (first and second order) equilibrium phase transitions. When conditions are favourable, such topological entities can evolve into a state of forced and/or self-organized criticality (FSOC). As an example, we apply these ideas to the understanding of the origin of the commonly observed broadband power-law low frequency electric field spectral densities and the characteristic filamentary current structures in the auroral zone. The broadband turbulence can provide efficient resonant energization of the ionospheric oxygen ions.

Recent in situ observations have revealed novel features in the polar wind. Measurements between 5000 and 9000 km altitude by the Akebono satellite indicate that both H+ and O+ ions can have remarkably higher outflow velocities in the sunlit region than on the nightside. Electrons also display an asymmetric behavior: the dayside difference in energy spread, greater for upward-moving than downward-moving electrons, is absent on the nightside. Here, we discuss the further development of a theory by Tam et al. that can explain most of these observed peculiar properties by properly taking into account the global, kinetic, collisional effects of the sunlit photoelectrons, on the background polar wind and the electric field. Quantitative comparisons of the calculated results with actual data will be described. In addition, transition from the daytime photoelectron-driven polar wind to the night-time polar wind will be discussed.

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