On CP Asymmetries in Two-, Three- and Four-Body D Decays

Indirect and direct CP violations have been established in K_L and B_d decays. They have been found in two-body decay channels -- with the exception of K_L to pi^+ pi^- e^+ e^- transitions. Evidence for direct CP asymmetry has just appeared in LHCb data on A_{CP}(D^0 to K^+ K^-) - A_{CP}(D^0 to pi^+ pi^-) with 3.5 sigma significance. Manifestations of New Dynamics (ND) can appear in CP asymmetries just below experimental bounds. We discuss D^{\pm}_{(s)}, D^0/\bar D^0 and D_L/D_S transitions to 2-, 3- and 4-body final states with a comment on predictions for inclusive vs. exclusive CP asymmetries. In particular we discuss T asymmetries in D to h_1 h_2 l^+ l^- in analogy with K_L to pi^+ pi^- e^+ e^- transitions due to interference between M1, internal bremsstrahlung and possible E1 amplitudes. Such an effect depends on the strength of CP violation originating from the ND -- as discussed here for Little Higgs Models with T parity and non-minimal Higgs sectors -- but also in the interferences between these amplitudes even in the Standard Model (SM). More general lessons can be learnt for T asymmetries in non-leptonic D decays like D to h_1h_2 h_3 h_4. Such manifestations of ND can be tested at LHCb and other Super-Flavour Factories like the projects at KEK near Tokyo and at Tor Vergata/Frascati near Rome.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures. Revised with current results from LHCb and HFAG and further interpretation

Role of oesophageal cooling in the prevention of oesophageal injury in atrial fibrillation catheter ablation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy of oesophageal cooling in the prevention of oesophageal injury in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases through April 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the role of oesophageal cooling compared with control in the prevention of oesophageal injury during AF catheter ablation. The study primary outcome was the incidence of any oesophageal injury. The meta-analysis included 4 RCTs with a total of 294 patients. There was no difference in the incidence of any oesophageal injury between oesophageal cooling and control [15% vs. 19%; relative risk (RR) 0.86; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31-2.41]. Compared with control, oesophageal cooling showed lower risk of severe oesophageal injury (1.5% vs. 9%; RR 0.21; 95% CI 0.05-0.80). There were no significant differences among the two groups in mild to moderate oesophageal injury (13.6% vs. 12.1%; RR 1.09; 95% CI 0.28-4.23), procedure duration [standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.03; 95% CI -0.36-0.30], posterior wall radiofrequency (RF) time (SMD 0.27; 95% CI -0.04-0.58), total RF time (SMD -0.50; 95% CI -1.15-0.16), acute reconnection incidence (RR 0.93; 95% CI 0.02-36.34), and ablation index (SMD 0.16; 95% CI -0.33-0.66). CONCLUSION: Among patients undergoing AF catheter ablation, oesophageal cooling did not reduce the overall risk of any oesophageal injury compared with control. Oesophageal cooling might shift the severity of oesophageal injuries to less severe injuries. Further studies should evaluate the long-term effects after oesophageal cooling during AF catheter ablation

Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy Among Single Mothers in Khartoum, Sudan: Sociodemographic Characteristics, Causes, and Consequences

Background: Out-of-wedlock childbearing is a global phenomenon that has lifelong consequences on the lives of both mothers and their children. The aim of this study is to identify the sociodemographic characteristics, causes, and consequences of outof- wedlock pregnancy among single mothers in Khartoum, Sudan.Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at the Mygoma Orphanage Center (MOC) and Shamaa Rehabilitation Center (SRC) using convenience sampling among 200 participants. A validated questionnaire with 25 items was used to collect data. The data were entered into Epi-Data Manager and analyzed using the SPSS. Results: The study found that most of the single mothers in Khartoum who gave birth out of wedlock were young and had just completed their university education. Most of them discovered their pregnancy during the second or third trimester, and nearly half of them did not receive any antenatal care. The majority of the children born to these mothers were preterm and had a low birth weight. Additionally, many mothers reported experiencing social stigma and rejection from their families due to their out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The study also highlighted loneliness, stress, and romantic relations as the main causes of out-of-wedlock pregnancy among single mothers in Khartoum, Sudan.Conclusion: The study provides useful insights into the sociodemographic characteristics, causes, and consequences of out-of-wedlock pregnancy among single mothers in Khartoum, Sudan. Social stigma and lack of support were identified as significant barriers to the reintegration of single mothers and their children into society. Future research should focus on investigating the long-term effects of outof- wedlock pregnancy on mothers and their children

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit

f(R) theories

Over the past decade, f(R) theories have been extensively studied as one of the simplest modifications to General Relativity. In this article we review various applications of f(R) theories to cosmology and gravity - such as inflation, dark energy, local gravity constraints, cosmological perturbations, and spherically symmetric solutions in weak and strong gravitational backgrounds. We present a number of ways to distinguish those theories from General Relativity observationally and experimentally. We also discuss the extension to other modified gravity theories such as Brans-Dicke theory and Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and address models that can satisfy both cosmological and local gravity constraints.Comment: 156 pages, 14 figures, Invited review article in Living Reviews in Relativity, Published version, Comments are welcom

Synthesis, Magnetic Anisotropy and Optical Properties of Preferred Oriented Zinc Ferrite Nanowire Arrays

Preferred oriented ZnFe2O4 nanowire arrays with an average diameter of 16 nm were fabricated by post-annealing of ZnFe2 nanowires within anodic aluminum oxide templates in atmosphere. Selected area electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction exhibit that the nanowires are in cubic spinel-type structure with a [110] preferred crystallite orientation. Magnetic measurement indicates that the as-prepared ZnFe2O4 nanowire arrays reveal uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, and the easy magnetization direction is parallel to the axis of nanowire. The optical properties show the ZnFe2O4 nanowire arrays give out 370–520 nm blue-violet light, and their UV absorption edge is around 700 nm. The estimated values of direct and indirect band gaps for the nanowires are 2.23 and 1.73 eV, respectively

Chronic kidney disease in children: the global perspective

In contrast to the increasing availability of information pertaining to the care of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) from large-scale observational and interventional studies, epidemiological information on the incidence and prevalence of pediatric CKD is currently limited, imprecise, and flawed by methodological differences between the various data sources. There are distinct geographic differences in the reported causes of CKD in children, in part due to environmental, racial, genetic, and cultural (consanguinity) differences. However, a substantial percentage of children develop CKD early in life, with congenital renal disorders such as obstructive uropathy and aplasia/hypoplasia/dysplasia being responsible for almost one half of all cases. The most favored end-stage renal disease (ESRD) treatment modality in children is renal transplantation, but a lack of health care resources and high patient mortality in the developing world limits the global provision of renal replacement therapy (RRT) and influences patient prevalence. Additional efforts to define the epidemiology of pediatric CKD worldwide are necessary if a better understanding of the full extent of the problem, areas for study, and the potential impact of intervention is desired

Magnetic Response in the Holographic Insulator/Superconductor Transition

We study the magnetic response of holographic superconductors exhibiting an insulating "normal" phase. These materials can be realized as a CFT compactified on a circle, which is dual to the AdS Soliton geometry. We study the response under i) magnetic fields and ii) a Wilson line on the circle. Magnetic fields lead to formation of vortices and allows one to infer that the superconductor is of type II. The response to a Wilson line is in the form of Aharonov-Bohm-like effects. These are suppressed in the holographic conductor/superconductor transition but, instead, they are unsuppressed for the insulator case. Holography, thus, predicts that generically insulators display stronger Aharonov-Bohm effects than conductors. In the fluid-mechanical limit the AdS Soliton is interpreted as a supersolid. Our results imply that supersolids display unsuppressed Aharonov-Bohm (or "Sagnac") effects - stronger than in superfluids.Comment: 31 pages, 24 figures; discussion on vortex lattice, few comments and references added; article published in JHE