Holographic dark energy in a universe with spatial curvature and massive neutrinos: a full Markov Chain Monte Carlo exploration

In this paper, we report the results of constraining the holographic dark energy model with spatial curvature and massive neutrinos, based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo global fit technique. The cosmic observational data include the full WMAP 7-yr temperature and polarization data, the type Ia supernova data from Union2.1 sample, the baryon acoustic oscillation data from SDSS DR7 and WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, and the latest measurements of $H_0$ from HST. To deal with the perturbations of dark energy, we adopt the parameterized post-Friedmann method. We find that, for the simplest holographic dark energy model without spatial curvature and massive neutrinos, the phenomenological parameter $c<1$ at more than $4\sigma$ confidence level. The inclusion of spatial curvature enlarges the error bars and leads to $c<1$ only in about $2.5\sigma$ range; in contrast, the inclusion of massive neutrinos does not have significant influence on $c$. We also find that, for the holographic dark energy model with spatial curvature but without massive neutrinos, the $3\sigma$ error bars of the current fractional curvature density $\Omega_{k0}$ are still in order of $10^{-2}$; for the model with massive neutrinos but without spatial curvature, the $2\sigma$ upper bound of the total mass of neutrinos is $\sum m_{\nu} < 0.48$ eV. Moreover, there exists clear degeneracy between spatial curvature and massive neutrinos in the holographic dark energy model, which enlarges the upper bound of $\sum m_{\nu}$ by more than 2 times. In addition, we demonstrate that, making use of the full WMAP data can give better constraints on the holographic dark energy model, compared with the case using the WMAP ``distance priors''.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures; major revision; new figures and discussions added; accepted by JCA

Closed diaphyseal fractures of femur in children treated by hip spica: early result of a clinical study

Background: Diaphyseal fracture of femur is a common injury in children with bimodal age distribution. The treatment modality of these fractures depend on several factors such as age of the patient, characteristics of the fracture– degree of displacement, location of fracture in femur, comminution, and open or closed injury. With the invention of titanium elastic nails, the recent trend in treating these fractures is by closed reduction and TENS, but the surgical management is not without complications hence we share our experience to reemphasize the role of hip spica cast immobilisation in treating these injuries.Methods: This is a prospective study of 30 cases of diaphyseal fractures of femur in children between the ages of 6 month to 6 years. History and mode of injury were recorded and complete physical examination was done. Plain anteroposterior and lateral radiographs confirmed diagnosis. Hip spica cast was applied under sedation or short general anesthesia. One and half spica was applied over thick padding with hip flexed 45 degrees abducted 30 degrees and external rotation of 10 degree. No attempt was made to obtain an end to end reduction. Patients were allowed to go home the same day after giving instructions regarding spica care. Follow up was done and radiographs were taken at 1, 2, 4 and 12 weeks. Any malunion– LLD, angulation or rotation were recorded.Results: The mean age of patients was 3.5 years (range 0.5 to 6 years). Of these 12 (40%) were male and 18 (60%) were female. The commonest mode of injury was fall while play in 73.33% (n=22) of patients. Mid shaft fractures are more common 53.33% (n=16) followed by upper third 40% (n=12). Average time for fracture union was 6 weeks (range 4-10 weeks). At one year all fractures healed in a satisfactory position without any LLD. Two patients had minor skin problems which were easily treated and cast continued. No stiffness of hip, knee or ankle was noted. Conclusions: Hip spica casting is an effective and reliable method for treating femoral shaft fractures in children with a union rate of 100%. The advantages of conservative treatment such as the avoidance of general anaesthesia on two occasions and the avoidance of surgery make a compelling argument in favour of this form of treatment

Autologous blood injection technique in the treatment of refractory lateral elbow tendinopathy

Background: Lateral elbow tendinopathy is a very common clinical condition whose management by the consultant often shifts from one to another modality. This study was conducted to know the efficacy of a minimally invasive technique of autologous blood injection in patients who were resistant to more conservative methods.Methods: This is a randomized prospective study of forty-eight patients (median age, 37 to 40 years), presenting with lateral elbow symptoms for a duration of more than six weeks and failed to respond to other methods of conservative treatment. Patients were consecutively grouped into treatment with autologous blood injections (Group I, n = 24) and control group with injection of normal saline (Group II, n = 24). 1 ml of autologous blood was drawn from dorsal venous arch and injected into the site of maximum tenderness over lateral aspect of the elbow under all aseptic precautions for all patients in group I. Similarly 1 ml of normal saline was injected at the site of maximum tenderness for patients in group II.  Results were evaluated based on severity of the elbow complaints, tenderness and Cozen’s test at the end of follow-up of twenty weeks.Results: The incidence of this condition was more in the third decade 39.6% (n=19), with female preponderance 58.3% (n=28) and the dominant arm being more commonly involved 58.3% (n=28). Excellent results were found in group I in n=15 (62.5%) whereas poor results were more in group II in n=14 (58.3%). Group I had poor result only in n=03 (12.5%) of patients who later were given another dose of autologous blood or were treated surgically. Conclusions: Injection of autologous blood is a very efficacious minimally invasive procedure with satisfactory results in patients of lateral elbow tendinopathy who do not respond to other conservative methods of treatment

Effects of temperature on thick branes and the fermion (quasi-)localization

Following Campos's work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 141602 (2002)], we investigate the effects of temperature on flat, de Sitter (dS), and anti-de Following Campos's work [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{88}, 141602 (2002)], we investigate the effects of temperature on flat, de Sitter (dS), and anti-de Sitter (AdS) thick branes in five-dimensional (5D) warped spacetime, and on the fermion (quasi-)localization. First, in the case of flat brane, when the critical temperature reaches, the solution of the background scalar field and the warp factor is not unique. So the thickness of the flat thick brane is uncertain at the critical value of the temperature parameter, which is found to be lower than the one in flat 5D spacetime. The mass spectra of the fermion Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes are continuous, and there is a series of fermion resonances. The number and lifetime of the resonances are finite and increase with the temperature parameter, but the mass of the resonances decreases with the temperature parameter. Second, in the case of dS brane, we do not find such a critical value of the temperature parameter. The mass spectra of the fermion KK modes are also continuous, and there is a series of fermion resonances. The effects of temperature on resonance number, lifetime, and mass are the same with the case of flat brane. Last, in the case of AdS brane, {the critical value of the temperature parameter can less or greater than the one in the flat 5D spacetime.} The spectra of fermion KK modes are discrete, and the mass of fermion KK modes does not decrease monotonically with increasing temperature parameter.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, published versio

Management of complete dislocation of tarsal scaphoid without fracture

Background: Injuries to the mid tarsal joints usually occur in the form of various combinations such as fracture, fracture subluxation, and fracture dislocation. Dislocations of navicular without fracture are rare injuries, minimal literatures exist, which describe the probable mechanism of injury and optimal treatment.Methods: Four patients with complete dislocation of navicular without fracture presented to us following a history of trauma. The diagnosis was confirmed by radiology and further details were studied by CT scans. One injury was open and the rest were closed. One had associated fracture of talus and two had metatarsal fracture and one was purely isolated navicular dislocation without any associated injury. All were initially stabilized in a below knee plaster of paris slab and foot end elevated. All were successfully treated surgically under spinal anesthesia with open reduction and internal fixation with Kirschner wires through a dorsomedial approach. Postoperative immobilization was continued for twelve weeks then gradual mobilization begun followed by physiotherapy.Results: All patients had good clinical results with two patients resuming their work within twelve weeks and the one with open wound took twenty weeks for resuming his original work. One with associated talar fracture later had to undergo subtalar arthrodesis for pain in the foot while weight bearing after one year of surgery for navicular dislocation. Conclusions: Open reduction and internal fixation with Kirschner wire is an effective way of managing patients with complete dislocation of tarsal navicular for early resuming of the functions and return to work

Review: optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications

Optical fiber sensor (OFS) technologies have developed rapidly over the last few decades, and various types of OFS have found practical applications in the field of civil engineering. In this paper, which is resulting from the work of the RILEM technical committee “Optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications”, different kinds of sensing techniques, including change of light intensity, interferometry, fiber Bragg grating, adsorption measurement and distributed sensing, are briefly reviewed to introduce the basic sensing principles. Then, the applications of OFS in highway structures, building structures, geotechnical structures, pipelines as well as cables monitoring are described, with focus on sensor design, installation technique and sensor performance. It is believed that the State-of-the-Art review is helpful to engineers considering the use of OFS in their projects, and can facilitate the wider application of OFS technologies in construction industry

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Systems Immunology Analysis Reveals an Immunomodulatory Effect of Snail-p53 Binding on Neutrophil- and T Cell-Mediated Immunity in KRAS Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Immunomodulation and chronic inflammation are important mechanisms utilized by cancer cells to evade the immune defense and promote tumor progression. Therefore, various efforts were focused on the development of approaches to reprogram the immune response to increase the immune detection of cancer cells and enhance patient response to various types of therapy. A number of regulatory proteins were investigated and proposed as potential targets for immunomodulatory therapeutic approaches including p53 and Snail. In this study, we investigated the immunomodulatory effect of disrupting Snail-p53 binding induced by the oncogenic KRAS to suppress p53 signaling. We analyzed the transcriptomic profile mediated by Snail-p53 binding inhibitor GN25 in non-small cell lung cancer cells (A549) using Next generation whole RNA-sequencing. Notably, we observed a significant enrichment in transcripts involved in immune response pathways especially those contributing to neutrophil (IL8) and T-cell mediated immunity (BCL6, and CD81). Moreover, transcripts associated with NF-κB signaling were also enriched which may play an important role in the immunomodulatory effect of Snail-p53 binding. Further analysis revealed that the immune expression signature of GN25 overlaps with the signature of other therapeutic compounds known to exhibit immunomodulatory effects validating the immunomodulatory potential of targeting Snail-p53 binding. The effects of GN25 on the immune response pathways suggest that targeting Snail-p53 binding might be a potentially effective therapeutic strategy

Enzyme immobilisation on amino-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes : structural and biocatalytic characterisation

BACKGROUND: The aim of this work is to investigate the structure and function of enzymes immobilised on nanomaterials. This work will allow better understanding of enzyme-nanomaterial interactions, as well as designing functional protein-nanomaterial conjugates. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were functionalised with amino groups to improve solubility and biocompatibility. The pristine and functionalised forms of MWNTs were characterised with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis was done to examine the degree of the functionalisation process. An immobilised biocatalyst was prepared on functionalised nanomaterial by covalent binding. Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase was used as a model enzyme. The structural change of the immobilised and free lipases were characterised with transmission electron Microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and Circular dichroism spectroscopy. Biochemical characterisation of immobilised enzyme showed broader pH and thermal optima compared to soluble form. Reusability of the immobilised enzyme for hydrolysis of long chain esters was demonstrated up to ten cycles. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Lipase immobilised on MWNTs has exhibited significantly improved thermal stability. The exploration of advanced nanomaterial for enzyme immobilisation support using sophisticated techniques makes nanobiocatalyst of potential interest for biosensor applications