Large galaxy redshift surveys have long been used to constrain cosmological models and structure formation scenarios. In particular, the largest structures discovered observationally are thought to carry critical information on the amplitude of large-scale density fluctuations or homogeneity of the universe, and have often challenged the standard cosmological framework. The Sloan Great Wall (SGW) recently found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) region casts doubt on the concordance cosmological model with a cosmological constant (i.e. the flat ΛCDM model). Here we show that the existence of the SGW is perfectly consistent with the ΛCDM model, a result that only our very large cosmological N -body simulation (the Horizon Run 2, HR2) could supply. In addition, we report on the discovery of a void complex in the SDSS much larger than the SGW, and show that such size of the largest void is also predicted in the ΛCDM paradigm. Our results demonstrate that an initially homogeneous isotropic universe with primordial Gaussian random phase density fluctuations growing in accordance with the General Relativity, can explain the richness and size of the observed large-scale structures in the SDSS. Using the HR2 simulation we predict that a future galaxy redshift survey about four times deeper or with 3 magnitude fainter limit than the SDSS should reveal a largest structure of bright galaxies about twice as big as the SGW.

The aim of this study was to determine whether pharmacopuncture is a clinically effective and safe method for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Patients were recruited between August 2008 and December 2008 at the Ilsan Hospital associated with Dongguk University. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the two groups. The experimental group (n = 30) received pharmacopuncture using root bark of Ulmus davidiana Planch (UDP) twice a week for 6 weeks; the control group (n = 30) received normal saline injections. Fifty-three patients completed the trial. After the seventh treatment, we found that UDP pharmacopuncture was more effective in pain improvement using a Visual Analog Scale than was normal saline injection. However, the two interventions were not significantly different as measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities pain score and total pain scores, 36-Item Short Form Health Survey, and Korean Health Assessment Questionnaire. No subject showed any serious adverse effects. The effects of pharmacopuncture treatment were a combination of placebo, needle stimulation, mechanical effect of the solution, and a chemical effect of UDP. However, normal saline used as the control intervention displayed the first three effects, and thus its effect was not inert. This may have influenced the results of the trial, which was statistically insignificant between the two groups, except following the seventh treatment session.

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[1] The brightness distributions of the lunar sodium exosphere reported by Flynn and Mendillo (1993) and the receding velocities of the lunar sodium tail observed by Mierkiewicz et al. (2006) are reproduced by 3-D Monte Carlo simulations. We consider the effects of two spatially different sodium sources simultaneously: dayside source with the dependency of solar zenith angle and an isotropic source due to micrometeoroid impact. In the simulations, the following effects are taken into account: (1) the gravity of the Moon, the Earth, and the Sun with the orbital motion of the Moon; (2) photoionizations, solar radiation pressure, and returns to the lunar surface; and (3) the shadows of the Earth and Moon. The sodium brightness observed by Flynn and Mendillo (1993) is successfully modeled, from which the most probable source ratio between the isotropic and dayside sources is estimated to be 70%∼80%: 30%∼20%, respectively. The best coma model provides an initial velocity of 2.0 km/s with a narrow Doppler width of 0.2 km/s and a total production rate of 0.7 × 10 22 /s. On the basis of the best 3-D lunar coma model, we also simulate the receding velocity distribution of lunar sodium tail, and we find satisfactory models for high receding velocity and its wide dispersion observed by Mierkiewicz et al. (2006) considering the effect of variable solar radiation pressure and appropriate ionization times.