288 research outputs found
Developing Health System Surge Capacity: Community Efforts in Jeopardy
Examines six communities' efforts to build surge healthcare capacities to respond to terrorist attacks, epidemics, and natural and manmade disasters; the needed components and funding; and the effects of the restrictions and decline in federal funds
Microwave Dielectric Loss at Single Photon Energies and milliKelvin Temperatures
The microwave performance of amorphous dielectric materials at very low
temperatures and very low excitation strengths displays significant excess
loss. Here, we present the loss tangents of some common amorphous and
crystalline dielectrics, measured at low temperatures (T < 100 mK) with near
single-photon excitation energies, using both coplanar waveguide (CPW) and
lumped LC resonators. The loss can be understood using a two-level state (TLS)
defect model. A circuit analysis of the half-wavelength resonators we used is
outlined, and the energy dissipation of such a resonator on a multilayered
dielectric substrate is considered theoretically.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Applied Physics Letter
Holomorphic anomaly equations and the Igusa cusp form conjecture
Let be a K3 surface and let be an elliptic curve. We solve the
reduced Gromov-Witten theory of the Calabi-Yau threefold for all
curve classes which are primitive in the K3 factor. In particular, we deduce
the Igusa cusp form conjecture.
The proof relies on new results in the Gromov-Witten theory of elliptic
curves and K3 surfaces. We show the generating series of Gromov-Witten classes
of an elliptic curve are cycle-valued quasimodular forms and satisfy a
holomorphic anomaly equation. The quasimodularity generalizes a result by
Okounkov and Pandharipande, and the holomorphic anomaly equation proves a
conjecture of Milanov, Ruan and Shen. We further conjecture quasimodularity and
holomorphic anomaly equations for the cycle-valued Gromov-Witten theory of
every elliptic fibration with section. The conjecture generalizes the
holomorphic anomaly equations for ellliptic Calabi-Yau threefolds predicted by
Bershadsky, Cecotti, Ooguri, and Vafa. We show a modified conjecture holds
numerically for the reduced Gromov-Witten theory of K3 surfaces in primitive
classes.Comment: 68 page
Cycling exercise classes may be bad for your (hearing) health
OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: 1) Determine feasibility of smartphone-based mobile technology to measure noise exposure; and 2) measure noise exposure in exercise spin classes. STUDY DESIGN: Observational Study. METHODS: The SoundMeter Pro app (Faber Acoustical, Salt Lake City, UT) was installed and calibrated on iPhone and iPod devices in an audiology chamber using an external sound level meter to within 2 dBA of accuracy. Recording devices were placed in the bike cupholders of participants attending spin classes in Boston, Massachusetts (n = 17) and used to measure sound level (A-weighted) and noise dosimetry during exercise according to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) guidelines. RESULTS: The average length of exposure was 48.9 ± 1.2 (standard error of the mean) minutes per class. Maximum sound recorded among 17 random classes was 116.7 dBA, which was below the NIOSH instantaneous exposure guideline of 140 dBA. An average of 31.6 ± 3.8 minutes were spent at >100 dBA. This exceeds NIOSH recommendations of 15 minutes of exposure or less at 100 dBA per day. Average noise exposure for one 45-minute class was 8.95 ± 1.2 times the recommended noise exposure dose for an 8-hour workday. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary data shows that randomly sampled cycling classes may have high noise levels with a potential for noise-induced hearing loss. Mobile dosimetry technology may enable users to self-monitor risk to their hearing and actively engage in noise protection measures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: NA Laryngoscope, 127:1873-1877, 2017.Accepted manuscrip
DREDed Anomaly Mediation
We offer a guide to dimensional reduction (DRED) in theories with anomaly
mediated supersymmetry breaking. Evanescent operators proportional to epsilon
arise in the bare Lagrangian when it is reduced from d=4 to d= (4-2 epsilon)
dimensions. In the course of a detailed diagrammatic calculation, we show that
inclusion of these operators is crucial. The evanescent operators conspire to
drive the supersymmetry-breaking parameters along anomaly-mediation
trajectories across heavy particle thresholds, guaranteeing the ultraviolet
insensitivity.Comment: 24 pages. 10 figures. Uses Axodraw. Reference adde
CoGeNT Interpretations
Recently, the CoGeNT experiment has reported events in excess of expected
background. We analyze dark matter scenarios which can potentially explain this
signal. Under the standard case of spin independent scattering with equal
couplings to protons and neutrons, we find significant tensions with existing
constraints. Consistency with these limits is possible if a large fraction of
the putative signal events is coming from an additional source of experimental
background. In this case, dark matter recoils cannot be said to explain the
excess, but are consistent with it. We also investigate modifications to dark
matter scattering that can evade the null experiments. In particular, we
explore generalized spin independent couplings to protons and neutrons, spin
dependent couplings, momentum dependent scattering, and inelastic interactions.
We find that some of these generalizations can explain most of the CoGeNT
events without violation of other constraints. Generalized couplings with some
momentum dependence, allows further consistency with the DAMA modulation
signal, realizing a scenario where both CoGeNT and DAMA signals are coming from
dark matter. A model with dark matter interacting and annihilating into a new
light boson can realize most of the scenarios considered.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figs, v2: published version, some discussions clarifie
The Influence of Feedback on Task-Switching Performance:A Drift Diffusion Modeling Account
Task-switching is an important cognitive skill that facilitates our ability to choose appropriate behavior in a varied and changing environment. Task-switching training studies have sought to improve this ability by practicing switching between multiple tasks. However, an efficacious training paradigm has been difficult to develop in part due to findings that small differences in task parameters influence switching behavior in a non-trivial manner. Here, for the first time we employ the Drift Diffusion Model (DDM) to understand the influence of feedback on task-switching and investigate how drift diffusion parameters change over the course of task switch training. We trained 316 participants on a simple task where they alternated sorting stimuli by color or by shape. Feedback differed in six different ways between subjects groups, ranging from No Feedback (NFB) to a variety of manipulations addressing trial-wise vs. Block Feedback (BFB), rewards vs. punishments, payment bonuses and different payouts depending upon the trial type (switch/non-switch). While overall performance was found to be affected by feedback, no effect of feedback was found on task-switching learning. Drift Diffusion Modeling revealed that the reductions in reaction time (RT) switch cost over the course of training were driven by a continually decreasing decision boundary. Furthermore, feedback effects on RT switch cost were also driven by differences in decision boundary, but not in drift rate. These results reveal that participants systematically modified their task-switching performance without yielding an overall gain in performance
The Intriguing Effects of Substituents in the N-Phenethyl Moiety of Norhydromorphone: A Bifunctional Opioid from a Set of âTail Wags Dogâ Experiments
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.(â)-N-Phenethyl analogs of optically pure N-norhydromorphone were synthesized and pharmacologically evaluated in several in vitro assays (opioid receptor binding, stimulation of [35S]GTPÎłS binding, forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation assay, and MOR-mediated ÎČ-arrestin recruitment assays). âBodyâ and âtailâ interactions with opioid receptors (a subset of Portogheseâs message-address theory) were used for molecular modeling and simulations, where the âaddressâ can be considered the âbodyâ of the hydromorphone molecule and the âmessageâ delivered by the substituent (tail) on the aromatic ring of the N-phenethyl moiety. One compound, N-p-chloro-phenethynorhydromorphone ((7aR,12bS)-3-(4-chlorophenethyl)-9-hydroxy-2,3,4,4a,5,6-hexahydro-1H-4,12-methanobenzofuro[3,2-e]isoquinolin-7(7aH)-one, 2i), was found to have nanomolar binding affinity at MOR and DOR. It was a potent partial agonist at MOR and a full potent agonist at DOR with a ÎŽ/ÎŒ potency ratio of 1.2 in the ([35S]GTPÎłS) assay. Bifunctional opioids that interact with MOR and DOR, the latter as agonists or antagonists, have been reported to have fewer side-effects than MOR agonists. The p-chlorophenethyl compound 2i was evaluated for its effect on respiration in both mice and squirrel monkeys. Compound 2i did not depress respiration (using normal air) in mice or squirrel monkeys. However, under conditions of hypercapnia (using air mixed with 5% CO2), respiration was depressed in squirrel monkeys.NIDA grant P30 DA13429NIDA grant DA039997NIDA grant DA018151NIDA grant DA035857NIDA grant DA047574NIH Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute on Drug AbuseNational Institute of Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholismNIH Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute on Drug AbuseNIH Intramural Research Program through the Center for Information TechnologyNIH Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute on Drug Abus
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Extended haplotype association study in Crohnâs disease identifies a novel, Ashkenazi Jewish-specific missense mutation in the NF-ÎșB pathway gene, HEATR3
The Ashkenazi Jewish population has a several-fold higher prevalence of Crohnâs disease compared to non-Jewish European ancestry populations and has a unique genetic history. Haplotype association is critical to Crohnâs disease etiology in this population, most notably at NOD2, in which three causal, uncommon, and conditionally independent NOD2 variants reside on a shared background haplotype. We present an analysis of extended haplotypes which showed significantly greater association to Crohnâs disease in the Ashkenazi Jewish population compared to a non-Jewish population (145 haplotypes and no haplotypes with P-value < 10â3, respectively). Two haplotype regions, one each on chromosomes 16 and 21, conferred increased disease risk within established Crohnâs disease loci. We performed exome sequencing of 55 Ashkenazi Jewish individuals and follow-up genotyping focused on variants in these two regions. We observed Ashkenazi Jewish-specific nominal association at R755C in TRPM2 on chromosome 21. Within the chromosome 16 region, R642S of HEATR3 and rs9922362 of BRD7 showed genome-wide significance. Expression studies of HEATR3 demonstrated a positive role in NOD2-mediated NF-ÎșB signaling. The BRD7 signal showed conditional dependence with only the downstream rare Crohnâs disease-causal variants in NOD2, but not with the background haplotype; this elaborates NOD2 as a key illustration of synthetic association
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