Spectroscopy of higher bottomonia

In this contribution, we discuss our recent unquenched quark model results for the spectrum of $b \bar b$ mesons with self energy corrections, due to the coupling to the meson-meson continuum. Our unquenched quark model predictions for the masses of the recently discovered $\chi_b(3P)$ states are compared to those of a re-fit of Godfrey and Isgur's relativized quark model to the most recent experimental data. The possible importance of continuum effects in the $\chi_b(3P)$ states is discussed. Finally, we show our quark model results for the radiative decays of the $\chi_b(3P)$ system and the open-bottom decays of $b \bar b$ mesons.Comment: Talk given at the conference "Dark Matter, Hadron Physics and Fusion Physics", Messina (Italy), September 24-26, 201

Light propagation in highly scattering biological tissues analyzed by Green's functions

Biomedical optical techniques of treatment, characterization and surgery are strongly dependent on light propagation in tissues. Information that goes beyond pure intensity, such as polarization or other coherence parameters, can provide increased contrast. This contrast is critical in clinical applications, as malignant tissue has to be distinguished from healthy one, or a particular component or structure has to be highlighted and detected. The appropriate consideration of these further light-tissue interaction properties requires taking into account phase and coherence. The complexity of the problem increases as biological tissues present usually high scattering. This fact greatly influences optical propagation, and is usually a fundamental limitation in optical diagnostic techniques. Light propagation in static scattering media can be analyzed by Green's functions. Electromagnetic propagation could be then considered, including coherence phenomena. However, analytical solutions are complex and require usually numerical methods to obtain a result. Monte Carlo approaches are particularly well-suited in biological tissues. In this work light propagation in highly scattering biological tissues is analyzed first by Green's functions. The limited geometry of this analytical approach serves as a first approach for more complex structures. More realistic biological tissue models are proposed and solved via a threedimensional time-resolved Monte Carlo approach. The model is applied to dermatological tumoral tissues. The results of scattering by Green's functions and the Monte Carlo approach are compared, and the potential contrast of coherence parameters is analyzed in diagnostic applications.This work has been partially supported by the project “New active phases in transition metals and rare earth nano-oxides stabilized at high pressure” (MAT2015-69508-P) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, cofunded by FEDER funds, and by the San Cándido Foundation

The role of RND-type efflux pumps in multidrug-resistant mutants of Klebsiella pneumoniae

The emergence of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is a worldwide problem. K. pneumoniae possesses numerous resistant genes in its genome. We isolated mutants resistant to various antimicrobials in vitro and investigated the importance of intrinsic genes in acquired resistance. The isolation frequency of the mutants was 10(-7)-10(-9). Of the multidrug-resistant mutants, hyper-multidrug-resistant mutants (EB256-1, EB256-2, Nov1-8, Nov2-2, and OX128) were identified, and accelerated efflux activity of ethidium from the inside to the outside of the cells was observed in these mutants. Therefore, we hypothesized that the multidrug efflux pump, especially RND-type efflux pump, would be related to changes of the phenotype. We cloned all RND-type multidrug efflux pumps from the K. pneumoniae genome and characterized them. KexEF and KexC were powerful multidrug efflux pumps, in addition to AcrAB, KexD, OqxAB, and EefABC, which were reported previously. It was revealed that the expression of eefA was increased in EB256-1 and EB256-2: the expression of oqxA was increased in OX128; the expression of kexF was increased in Nov2-2. It was found that a region of 1,485 bp upstream of kexF, was deleted in the genome of Nov2-2. K. pneumoniae possesses more potent RND-multidrug efflux systems than E. coli. However, we revealed that most of them did not contribute to the drug resistance of our strain at basic levels of expression. On the other hand, it was also noted that the overexpression of these pumps could lead to multidrug resistance based on exposure to antimicrobial chemicals. We conclude that these pumps may have a role to maintain the intrinsic resistance of K. pneumoniae when they are overexpressed. The antimicrobial chemicals selected many resistant mutants at the same minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) or a concentration slightly higher than the MIC. These results support the importance of using antibiotics at appropriate concentrations at clinical sites

Challenges for workplace risk assessment in home offices—results from a qualitative descriptive study on working life during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia

Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the National Research Programme of Latvia within the project “Life with COVID-19: Evaluation of overcoming the coronavirus crisis in Latvia and recommendations for societal resilience in the future” (agreement No: VPP-COVID-2020/1-0013). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Epidemiological restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have raised legal and practical questions related to the provision of workplace risk assessment in home offices of teleworkers. The objective of this qualitative study was to analyze practical experience of employers and occupational safety and health experts performing workplace risk assessment in Latvia during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that employers have not sufficiently implemented their legal obligations related to workplace risk assessment which can result in an increased number of physical and mental health problems of teleworkers in the short term and in the future. Work from home has shown how different working conditions can be for the same type of work (office work); therefore, the promotion of personalized workplace risk assessment should be encouraged. Even if virtual workplace visits using photos and videos are not the traditional way the workplace risk assessment should be done, it is effective; workers who report that their employers assessed their working conditions report fewer health effects. The experience of workers in participation in workplace risk assessment for telework might change the level and role of worker participation in the management of health and safety hazards at work in general.publishersversionPeer reviewe

An experimental study of algorithms for obtaining a singly connected subgraph

A directed graph G = (V,E) is singly connected if for any two vertices v, u of V, the directed graph G contains at most one simple path from v to u. In this paper, we study different algorithms to find a feasible but necessarily optimal solution to the following problem. Given a directed acyclic graph G = (V, E), find a subset H of E of minimum size such that the subgraph (V, E-H) is singly connected. Moreover, we prove that this problem can be solved in polynomial time for a special kind of directed graphs

Broad antibacterial spectrum of endophytic fungi isolated from halophyte Suaeda fruticosa in Algeria

The purpose of this work was to isolate and evaluate the antimicrobial potential of endophytic fungi isolated from Suaeda fruticosa. Endophytic isolates were identified at the genus level. The genera Fusarium (33.33%), Phoma (26.67%), Penicillium (13.33%), and Aspergillus (13.33%) were more prevalent, while Trichoderma genus (6.67%) was less common. The isolated fungal endophytes were screened for their potential antifungal and antibacterial activities. Most isolates showed different levels of inhibitory activity against at least one of the pathogens. The best inhibition percentages were those obtained by Penicillium sp. 1; 74, 71, 65, and 47% against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. albedinis, Fusarium oxysporum f.p. ciccri, Fusarium solani var. coeruleum and Phytophthora infestans respectively. Regarding antibacterial activity, the zones of inhibition ranged from 0 to 25.5 mm. Fusarium isolates and Phoma sp. 4 showed the greatest antibacterial activity, the highest activity was observed with Fusarium sp.5 and Fusarium sp. 1, which gave zones of inhibition of 25.5 and 22.5 mm respectively against B. cereus ATCC 10876. Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to endophyte isolates than Gram-negative bacteria. From the results of the present work, it is possible to conclude that endophytic fungi isolated from Suaeda fruticosa could be a promising source of bioactive compounds and deserve further study. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.702827

The mass profile of early-type galaxies in overdense environments: the case of the double source plane gravitational lens SL2SJ02176-0513

SL2SJ02176-0513 is a remarkable lens for the presence of two multiply-imaged systems at different redshifts lensed by a foreground massive galaxy at $z_{\rm lens}=0.656$: a bright cusp arc at $z_{\rm arc}=1.847$ and an additional double-image system at an estimated redshift of $z_{\rm dbl}\sim2.9$ based on photometry and lensing geometry. The system is located about 400 kpc away from the center of a massive group of galaxies. Mass estimates for the group are available from X-ray observations and satellite kinematics. Multicolor photometry provides an estimate of the stellar mass of the main lens galaxy. The lensing galaxy is modeled with two components (stars and dark matter), and we include the perturbing effect of the group environment, and all available constraints. We find that classic lensing degeneracies, e.g. between external convergence and mass density slope, are significantly reduced with respect to standard systems and infer tight constraints on the mass density profile: (i) the dark matter content of the main lens galaxy is in line with that of typical galaxies $f_{\rm dm}(<R_{\rm e})=0.41^{+0.09}_{-0.06}$; (ii) the required mass associated with the dark matter halo of the nearby group is consistent with X-ray and weak-lensing estimates ($\sigma_{\rm grp}=550^{+130}_{-240}$); (iii) accounting for the group contribution in the form of an external convergence, the slope of the mass density profile of the main lens galaxy alone is found to be $\alpha=-1.03^{+0.22}_{-0.16}$, consistent with the isothermal ($\alpha=-1$) slope. We demonstrate that multiple source plane systems together with good ancillary dataset can be used to disentangle local and environmental effects.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to A&

Escorted Free Energy Simulations: Improving Convergence by Reducing Dissipation

Nonequilibrium, ``fast switching'' estimates of equilibrium free energy differences, Delta F, are often plagued by poor convergence due to dissipation. We propose a method to improve these estimates by generating trajectories with reduced dissipation. Introducing an artificial flow field that couples the system coordinates to the external parameter driving the simulation, we derive an identity for Delta F in terms of the resulting trajectories. When the flow field effectively escorts the system along a near-equilibrium path, the free energy estimate converges efficiently and accurately. We illustrate our method on a model system, and discuss the general applicability of our approach.Comment: 4 pages, including 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys Rev Let

Long-distance behavior of the quark-antiquark static potential. Application to light-quark mesons and heavy quarkonia

Screening effects from sea pairs on the quark-antiquark static potential are analyzed phenomenologically from the light-quark to the heavy-quark meson spectra. From the high excited light-quark meson spectrum a universal form for the screened static potential is proposed. This potential is then succesfully applied to heavy quarkonia. Our results suggest the assignment of X(4260) to the 4s state of charmonium and the possible existence of a 5s bottomonium resonance around 10748 MeV.Comment: Accepted in PR