| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Deng, X. H., et al.
(författare)
-
Dynamics and waves near multiple magnetic null points in reconnection diffusion region
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 114:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Identifying the magnetic structure in the region where the magnetic field lines break and how reconnection happens is crucial to improving our understanding of three-dimensional reconnection. Here we show the in situ observation of magnetic null structures in the diffusion region, the dynamics, and the associated waves. Possible spiral null pair has been identified near the diffusion region. There is a close relation among the null points, the bipolar signature of the Z component of the magnetic field, and enhancement of the flux of energetic electrons up to 100 keV. Near the null structures, whistler-mode waves were identified by both the polarity and the power law of the spectrum of electric and magnetic fields. It is found that the angle between the fans of the nulls is quite close to the theoretically estimated maximum value of the group-velocity cone angle for the whistler wave regime of reconnection.
|
|
| 4. |
- Kotsopoulos, J, et al.
(författare)
-
Age at menarche and the risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Cancer Causes and Control. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-7225 .- 0957-5243. ; 16:6, s. 667-674
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Age at menarche is a strong and consistent predictor of breast cancer risk in the general population, but has not been well studied in women with a family history of breast cancer. We conducted this study to examine whether the presence of a deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation influences age at menarche and to investigate whether or not there is an association between age at menarche and the risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers. The presence of a deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation did not appear to influence a woman's age at menarche. A matched case-control study was conducted on 1311 pairs of women who have been identified to be carriers of a deleterious mutation in either the BRCA1 (n = 945 pairs) or the BRCA2 gene (n = 366 pairs). Information about age at menarche was derived from a questionnaire routinely administered to carriers of a mutation in either gene. Among women who carried a deleterious BRCA1 mutation, age at menarche was inversely associated with the risk of breast cancer (p trend = 0.0002). This association was not observed among BRCA2 mutation carriers (p trend = 0.49). Compared with BRCA1 carriers whose age at menarche was <= 11 years, women with a menarcheal age between 14 and 15 years old had a 54% reduction in risk (OR = 0.46; 95% CI 0.30-0.69). This study implicates early age at menarche as a determinant of breast cancer among women with a BRCA1 mutation.
|
|
| 5. |
- Retino, A., et al.
(författare)
-
Cluster observations of energetic electrons and electromagnetic fields within a reconnecting thin current sheet in the Earth's magnetotail
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 113:A12
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the acceleration of energetic electrons during magnetotail reconnection by using Cluster simultaneous measurements of three-dimensional electron distribution functions, electric and magnetic fields, and waves in a thin current sheet. We present observations of two consecutive current sheet crossings where the flux of electrons 35 127 keV peaks within an interval of tailward flows. The first crossing shows the signatures of a tailward moving flux rope. The observed magnetic field and density indicate that the flux rope was very dynamic, and a comparison with numerical simulation suggests a crossing right after coalescence of smaller flux ropes. The second crossing occurs within the ion diffusion region. The flux of electrons is largest within the flux rope where they are mainly directed perpendicular to the magnetic field. At the magnetic separatrices, the fluxes are smaller, but the energy spectra are harder and electrons are mainly field aligned. Reconnection electric fields E-Y similar to 7 mV/m are observed within the diffusion region, whereas in the flux rope, EY are much smaller. Waves around lower hybrid frequency do not show a clear correlation with energetic electrons. We interpret the field-aligned electrons at the separatrices as directly accelerated by the reconnection electric field in the diffusion region, whereas we interpret the perpendicular electrons as trapped within the flux rope and accelerated by a combination of betatron acceleration with nonadiabatic pitch-angle scattering. Our observations indicate that thin current sheets during dynamic reconnection are important for in situ production of energetic electrons and that simultaneous measurements of electrons and electromagnetic fields within thin sheets are crucial to understand the acceleration mechanisms.
|
|
| 6. |
- Winckler, W, et al.
(författare)
-
Association of common variation in the HNF1 alpha gene region with risk of type 2 diabetes
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Diabetes. - 1939-327X. ; 54:8, s. 2336-2342
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is currently unclear how often genes that are mutated to cause rare, early-onset monogenic forms of disease also harbor common variants that contribute to the more typical polygenic form of each disease. The gene for MODY3 diabetes, HNF1 alpha, lies in a region that has shown linkage to late-onset type 2 diabetes (12q24, NIDDM2), and previous association studies have suggested a weak trend toward association for common missense variants in HNF1a with glucose-related traits. Based on genotyping of 79 common SNPs in the 118 kb spanning HNF1 alpha, we selected 21 haplotype tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genotyped them in > 4,000 diabetic patients and control subjects from Sweden, Finland, and Canada. Several SNPs from the coding region and 5' of the gene demonstrated nominal association with type 2 diabetes, with the most significant marker (rs1920792) having an odds ratio of 1.17 and a P value of 0.002. We then genotyped three SNPs with the strongest evidence for association to type 2 diabetes (rs1920792, I27L, and A98V) in an additional 4,400 type 2 diabetic and control subjects from North America and Poland and compared our results with those of the original sample and of Weedon et al. None of the results were consistently observed across all samples, with the possible exception of a modest association of the rare (3-5%) A98V variant. These results indicate that common variants in HNF1 alpha either play no role in type 2 diabetes, a very small role, or a role that cannot be consistently observed without consideration of as yet unmeasured genetic or environmental modifiers.
|
|
| 7. |
- Apatenkov, S. V., et al.
(författare)
-
Multi-spacecraft observation of plasma dipolarization/injection in the inner magnetosphere
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Annales Geophysicae. - 0992-7689 .- 1432-0576. ; 25:3, s. 801-814
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Addressing the origin of the energetic particle injections into the inner magnetosphere, we investigate the 23 February 2004 substorm using a favorable constellation of four Cluster (near perigee), LANL and Geotail spacecraft. Both an energy-dispersed and a dispersionless injection were observed by Cluster crossing the plasma sheet horn, which mapped to 9-12 R-E in the equatorial plane close to the midnight meridian. Two associated narrow equatorward auroral tongues/streamers propagating from the oval poleward boundary could be discerned in the global images obtained by IMAGE/WIC. As compared to the energy-dispersed event, the dispersionless injection front has important distinctions consequently repeated at 4 spacecraft: a simultaneous increase in electron fluxes at energies similar to 1.300 keV, similar to 25 nT increase in B-Z and a local increase by a factor 1.5-1.7 in plasma pressure. The injected plasma was primarily of solar wind origin. We evaluated the change in the injected flux tube configuration during the dipolarization by fitting flux increases observed by the PEACE and RAPID instruments, assuming adiabatic heating and the Liouville theorem. Mapping the locations of the injection front detected by the four spacecraft to the equatorial plane, we estimated the injection front thickness to be similar to 1 R-E and the earthward propagation speed to be similar to 200-400km/s (at 9-12 RE). Based on observed injection properties, we suggest that it is the underpopulated flux tubes (bubbles with enhanced magnetic field and sharp inner front propagating earthward), which accelerate and transport particles into the strong-field dipolar region.
|
|
| 8. |
- Chen, Li-Jen, et al.
(författare)
-
Observation of energetic electrons within magnetic islands
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Nature Physics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1745-2473 .- 1745-2481. ; 4:1, s. 19-23
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Magnetic reconnection is the underlying process that releases impulsively an enormous amount of magnetic energy(1) in solar flares(2,3), flares on strongly magnetized neutron stars(4) and substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere(5). Studies of energy release during solar flares, in particular, indicate that up to 50% of the released energy is carried by accelerated 20-100 keV suprathermal electrons(6-8). How so many electrons can gain so much energy during reconnection has been a long-standing question. A recent theoretical study suggests that volume-filling contracting magnetic islands formed during reconnection can produce a large number of energetic electrons(9). Here we report the first evidence of the link between energetic electrons and magnetic islands during reconnection in the Earth's magnetosphere. The results indicate that energetic electron fluxes peak at sites of compressed density within islands, which imposes a new constraint on theories of electron acceleration.
|
|
| 9. |
- Winckler, W, et al.
(författare)
-
Association testing of variants in the hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha gene with risk of type 2 diabetes in 7,883 people
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Diabetes. - : American Diabetes Association. - 1939-327X .- 0012-1797. ; 54:3, s. 886-892
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two recent publications reported association of common polymorphisms in the P2 promoter of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha (HNF4alpha) (the MODY1 gene) with risk for type 2 diabetes. We attempted to reproduce this putative association by genotyping 11 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) spanning the HNF4a coding region and the P2 promoter in >3,400 patients and control subjects from Sweden, Finland, and Canada. One SNP that was consistently associated in the two previous reports (rs1884613, in the P2 promoter region) also trended in the same direction in our sample, albeit with a lower estimated odds ratio (OR) of 1.11 (P = 0.05, one-tailed). We genotyped this SNP (rs1884613) in an additional 4,400 subjects from North America and Poland. In this sample, the association was not confirmed and trended in the opposite direction (OR 0.88). Meta-analysis of our combined sample of 7,883 people (three times larger than the two initial reports combined) yielded an OR of 0.97 (P = 0.27). Finally, we provide an updated analysis of haplotype structure in the region to guide any further investigation of common variation in HNF4alpha. Although our combined results fail to replicate the previously reported association of common variants in HNF4alpha with risk for type 2 diabetes, we cannot exclude an effect smaller than that originally proposed, heterogeneity among samples, variation in as-yet-unmeasured genotypic or environmental modifiers, or true association secondary to linkage disequilibrium (LD) with as-yet-undiscovered variant(s) in the region.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
