3,064 research outputs found
Hypercharge and the Cosmological Baryon Asymmetry
Stringent bounds on baryon and lepton number violating interactions have been
derived from the requirement that such interactions, together with electroweak
instantons, do not destroy a cosmological baryon asymmetry produced at an
extremely high temperature in the big bang. While these bounds apply in
specific models, we find that they are generically evaded. In particular, the
only requirement for a theory to avoid these bounds is that it contain charged
particles which, during a certain cosmological epoch, carry a non-zero
hypercharge asymmetry. Hypercharge neutrality of the universe then dictates
that the remaining particles must carry a compensating hypercharge density,
which is necessarily shared amongst them so as to give a baryon asymmetry.
Hence the generation of a hypercharge density in a sector of the theory forces
the universe to have a baryon asymmetry.Comment: 12 pages plus 1 Postscript figure available upon request. LBL 3482
Current measurement by real-time counting of single electrons
The fact that electrical current is carried by individual charges has been
known for over 100 years, yet this discreteness has not been directly observed
so far. Almost all current measurements involve measuring the voltage drop
across a resistor, using Ohm's law, in which the discrete nature of charge does
not come into play. However, by sending a direct current through a
microelectronic circuit with a chain of islands connected by small tunnel
junctions, the individual electrons can be observed one by one. The quantum
mechanical tunnelling of single charges in this one-dimensional array is time
correlated, and consequently the detected signal has the average frequency
f=I/e, where I is the current and e is the electron charge. Here we report a
direct observation of these time-correlated single-electron tunnelling
oscillations, and show electron counting in the range 5 fA-1 pA. This
represents a fundamentally new way to measure extremely small currents, without
offset or drift. Moreover, our current measurement, which is based on electron
counting, is self-calibrated, as the measured frequency is related to the
current only by a natural constant.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor revisions, 2 refs added, words added to
title, typos correcte
Prices and availability of locally produced and imported medicines in Ethiopia and Tanzania
Background: To assess the effect of policies supporting local medicine production to improve access to medicines. Methods: We adapted the WHO/HAI instruments measuring medicines availability and prices to differentiate local from imported products, then pilot tested in Ethiopia and Tanzania. In each outlet, prices were recorded for all products in stock for medicines on a country-specific list. Government procurement prices were also collected. Prices were compared to an international reference and expressed as median price ratios (MPR). Results: The Ethiopian government paid more for local products (median MPR = 1.20) than for imports (median MPR = 0.84). Eight of nine medicines procured as both local and imported products were cheaper when imported. Availability was better for local products compared to imports, in the public (48% vs. 19%, respectively) and private (54% vs. 35%, respectively) sectors. Patient prices were lower for imports in the public sector (median MPR = 1.18[imported] vs. 1.44[local]) and higher in the private sector (median MPR = 5.42[imported] vs. 1.85[local]). In the public sector, patients paid 17% and 53% more than the government procurement price for local and imported products, respectively. The Tanzanian government paid less for local products (median MPR = 0.69) than imports (median MPR = 1.34). In the public sector, availability of local and imported products was 21% and 32% respectively, with patients paying slightly more for local products (median MPR = 1.35[imported] vs. 1.44[local]). In the private sector, local products were less available (21%) than imports (70%) but prices were similar (median MPR = 2.29[imported] vs. 2.27[local]). In the public sector, patients paid 135% and 65% more than the government procurement price for local and imported products, respectively. Conclusions: Our results show how local production can affect availability and prices, and how it can be influenced by preferential purchasing and mark-ups in the public sector. Governments need to evaluate the impact of local production policies, and adjust policies to protect patients from paying more for local products.Scopu
Asymmetric Dark Matter from Leptogenesis
We present a new realization of asymmetric dark matter in which the dark
matter and lepton asymmetries are generated simultaneously through two-sector
leptogenesis. The right-handed neutrinos couple both to the Standard Model and
to a hidden sector where the dark matter resides. This framework explains the
lepton asymmetry, dark matter abundance and neutrino masses all at once. In
contrast to previous realizations of asymmetric dark matter, the model allows
for a wide range of dark matter masses, from keV to 10 TeV. In particular, very
light dark matter can be accommodated without violating experimental
constraints. We discuss several variants of our model that highlight
interesting phenomenological possibilities. In one, late decays repopulate the
symmetric dark matter component, providing a new mechanism for generating a
large annihilation rate at the present epoch and allowing for mixed warm/cold
dark matter. In a second scenario, dark matter mixes with the active neutrinos,
thus presenting a distinct method to populate sterile neutrino dark matter
through leptogenesis. At late times, oscillations and dark matter decays lead
to interesting indirect detection signals.Comment: 32 pages + appendix, references added, minor change
MiniBooNE and LSND data: non-standard neutrino interactions in a (3+1) scheme versus (3+2) oscillations
The recently observed event excess in MiniBooNE anti-neutrino data is in
agreement with the LSND evidence for electron anti-neutrino appearance. We
propose an explanation of these data in terms of a (3+1) scheme with a sterile
neutrino including non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) at neutrino
production and detection. The interference between oscillations and NSI
provides a source for CP violation which we use to reconcile different results
from neutrino and anti-neutrino data. Our best fit results imply NSI at the
level of a few percent relative to the standard weak interaction, in agreement
with current bounds. We compare the quality of the NSI fit to the one obtained
within the (3+1) and (3+2) pure oscillation frameworks. We also briefly comment
on using NSI (in an effective two-flavour framework) to address a possible
difference in neutrino and anti-neutrino results from the MINOS experiment.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, discussion improved, new appendix added,
conclusions unchange
Evidence for the role of EPHX2 gene variants in anorexia nervosa.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) and related eating disorders are complex, multifactorial neuropsychiatric conditions with likely rare and common genetic and environmental determinants. To identify genetic variants associated with AN, we pursued a series of sequencing and genotyping studies focusing on the coding regions and upstream sequence of 152 candidate genes in a total of 1205 AN cases and 1948 controls. We identified individual variant associations in the Estrogen Receptor-ß (ESR2) gene, as well as a set of rare and common variants in the Epoxide Hydrolase 2 (EPHX2) gene, in an initial sequencing study of 261 early-onset severe AN cases and 73 controls (P=0.0004). The association of EPHX2 variants was further delineated in: (1) a pooling-based replication study involving an additional 500 AN patients and 500 controls (replication set P=0.00000016); (2) single-locus studies in a cohort of 386 previously genotyped broadly defined AN cases and 295 female population controls from the Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS) and a cohort of 58 individuals with self-reported eating disturbances and 851 controls (combined smallest single locus P<0.01). As EPHX2 is known to influence cholesterol metabolism, and AN is often associated with elevated cholesterol levels, we also investigated the association of EPHX2 variants and longitudinal body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol in BHS female and male subjects (N=229) and found evidence for a modifying effect of a subset of variants on the relationship between cholesterol and BMI (P<0.01). These findings suggest a novel association of gene variants within EPHX2 to susceptibility to AN and provide a foundation for future study of this important yet poorly understood condition
User needs elicitation via analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A case study on a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner
Background:
The rigorous elicitation of user needs is a crucial step for both medical device design and purchasing. However, user needs elicitation is often based on qualitative methods whose findings can be difficult to integrate into medical decision-making. This paper describes the application of AHP to elicit user needs for a new CT scanner for use in a public hospital.
Methods:
AHP was used to design a hierarchy of 12 needs for a new CT scanner, grouped into 4 homogenous categories, and to prepare a paper questionnaire to investigate the relative priorities of these. The questionnaire was completed by 5 senior clinicians working in a variety of clinical specialisations and departments in the same Italian public hospital.
Results:
Although safety and performance were considered the most important issues, user needs changed according to clinical scenario. For elective surgery, the five most important needs were: spatial resolution, processing software, radiation dose, patient monitoring, and contrast medium. For emergency, the top five most important needs were: patient monitoring, radiation dose, contrast medium control, speed run, spatial resolution.
Conclusions:
AHP effectively supported user need elicitation, helping to develop an analytic and intelligible framework of decision-making. User needs varied according to working scenario (elective versus emergency medicine) more than clinical specialization. This method should be considered by practitioners involved in decisions about new medical technology, whether that be during device design or before deciding whether to allocate budgets for new medical devices according to clinical functions or according to hospital department
A multifunctional serine protease primes the malaria parasite for red blood cell invasion
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum replicates within an intraerythrocytic parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Rupture of the host cell allows release (egress) of daughter merozoites, which invade fresh erythrocytes. We previously showed that a subtilisin-like protease called PfSUB1 regulates egress by being discharged into the PV in the final stages of merozoite development to proteolytically modify the SERA family of papain-like proteins. Here, we report that PfSUB1 has a further role in ‘priming' the merozoite prior to invasion. The major protein complex on the merozoite surface comprises three proteins called merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), MSP6 and MSP7. We show that just before egress, all undergo proteolytic maturation by PfSUB1. Inhibition of PfSUB1 activity results in the accumulation of unprocessed MSPs on the merozoite surface, and erythrocyte invasion is significantly reduced. We propose that PfSUB1 is a multifunctional processing protease with an essential role in both egress of the malaria merozoite and remodelling of its surface in preparation for erythrocyte invasion
Magnetic Fluffy Dark Matter
We explore extensions of inelastic Dark Matter and Magnetic inelastic Dark
Matter where the WIMP can scatter to a tower of heavier states. We assume a
WIMP mass GeV and a constant splitting between
successive states keV. For the
spin-independent scattering scenario we find that the direct experiments CDMS
and XENON strongly constrain most of the DAMA/LIBRA preferred parameter space,
while for WIMPs that interact with nuclei via their magnetic moment a region of
parameter space corresponding to GeV and keV
is allowed by all the present direct detection constraints.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, added comments about magnetic moment form factor
to Sec 3.1.2 and results to Sec 3.2.2, final version to be published in JHE
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