Faith in the modern Reformed church: Calvin and Barth

Calvin and Barth are arguably the main exponents of two notable soteriological camps in the Reformed world nowadays and their soteriology has wide and sometimes unarticulated impacts on Reformed doctrine and praxis. By exploring the systematic theologies of Calvin and Barth, we articulate the similarities and differences between their views of faith. Both theologians emphasise that an individual’s faith must be in Christ and not in one’s own works; neither is one justified because of one’s faith, but because of Christ’s redemptive work. The locus of faith is the main point of difference: Calvin locates an individual’s faith in the Christ revealed in the Bible, whereas Barth locates it in Christ’s immanent revelation of himself at a time of crisis. Behind this difference are divergent views of the Bible and its relationships with theology and praxis

Thermal Field Theory and Generalized Light Front Coordinates

The dependence of thermal field theory on the surface of quantization and on the velocity of the heat bath is investigated by working in general coordinates that are arbitrary linear combinations of the Minkowski coordinates. In the general coordinates the metric tensor $g_{\bar{\mu\nu}}$ is non-diagonal. The Kubo, Martin, Schwinger condition requires periodicity in thermal correlation functions when the temporal variable changes by an amount $-i\big/(T\sqrt{g_{\bar{00}}})$. Light front quantization fails since $g_{\bar{00}}=0$, however various related quantizations are possible.Comment: 10 page

Interrelationships between atopic disorders in children

Purpose To study the prevalence and interrelationship between asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema using data obtained from ISAAC questionnaires. Method The Medline, Pubmed Publisher, EMBASE, Google Scholar and the Cochrane Controlled Clinical Trials Register databases were systematically reviewed to evaluate epidemiological data of children with atopic disorders. To study these interrelationships, a new approach was used. Risk ratios were calculated, describing the risk of having two different atopic disorders when the child is known with one disorder. Results Included were 31 studies, covering a large number of surveyed children (n=1,430,329) in 102 countries. The calculated worldwide prevalence for asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis is 12.00% (95% CI: 11.99-12.00), 7.88% (95% CI: 7.88-7.89) and 12.66% (95% CI: 12.65-12.67), respectively. The observed prevalence [1.17% (95% CI: 1.17-1.17)] of having all three diseases is 9.8 times higher than could be expected by chance. For children with asthma the calculated risk ratio of having the other two disorders is 5.41 (95% CI: 4.76-6.16), for children with eczema 4.24 (95% CI: 3.75-4.79), and for children with allergic rhinitis 6.20 (95% CI: 5.30-7.27). No studied confounders had a significant influence on these risk ratios. Conclusions Only a minority of children suffers from all three atopic disorders, however this co-occurrence is significantly higher than could be expected by chance and supports a close relationship of these disorders in children. The data of this meta-analysis supports the hypothesis that there could be a fourth distinct group of children with all three disorders. Researchers and clinicians might need to consider these children as a separate group with distinct characteristics regarding severity, causes, treatment or prognosis

Equivalence of light-front and conventional thermal field theory

ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, USA, MD, 20740-384

Gene expression and functional annotation of the human and mouse choroid plexus epithelium

Background: The choroid plexus epithelium (CPE) is a lobed neuro-epithelial structure that forms the outer blood-brain barrier. The CPE protrudes into the brain ventricles and produces the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is crucial for brain homeostasis. Malfunction of the CPE is possibly implicated in disorders like Alzheimer disease, hydrocephalus or glaucoma. To study human genetic diseases and potential new therapies, mouse models are widely used. This requires a detailed knowledge of similarities and differences in gene expression and functional annotation between the species. The aim of this study is to analyze and compare gene expression and functional annotation of healthy human and mouse CPE. Methods: We performed 44k Agilent microarray hybridizations with RNA derived from laser dissected healthy human and mouse CPE cells. We functionally annotated and compared the gene expression data of human and mouse CPE using the knowledge database Ingenuity. We searched for common and species specific gene expression patterns and function between human and mouse CPE. We also made a comparison with previously published CPE human and mouse gene expression data. Results: Overall, the human and mouse CPE transcriptomes are very similar. Their major functionalities included epithelial junctions, transport, energy production, neuro-endocrine signaling, as well as immunological, neurological and hematological functions and disorders. The mouse CPE presented two additional functions not found in the human CPE: carbohydrate metabolism and a more extensive list of (neural) developmental functions. We found three genes specifically expressed in the mouse CPE compared to human CPE, being ACE, PON1 and TRIM3 and no human specifically expressed CPE genes compared to mouse CPE. Conclusion: Human and mouse CPE transcriptomes are very similar, and display many common functionalities. Nonetheless, we also identified a few genes and pathways which suggest that the CPE between mouse and man differ with respect to transport and metabolic functions

RPGR-associated dystrophies: Clinical, genetic, and histopathological features

This study describes the clinical, genetic, and histopathological features in patients with RPGR-associated retinal dystrophies. Nine male patients from eight unrelated families underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination. Additionally, the histopathology of the right eye from a patient with an end-stage cone-rod-dystrophy (CRD)/sector retinitis pigmentosa (RP) phenotype was examined. All RPGR mutations causing a CRD phenotype were situated in exon ORF15. The mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA, decimals) was 0.58 (standard deviation (SD)): 0.34; range: 0.05–1.13); and the mean spherical refractive error was −4.1 D (SD: 2.11; range: −1.38 to −8.19). Hyperautofluorescent rings were observed in six patients. Full-field electroretinography responses were absent in all patients. The visual field defects ranged from peripheral constriction to central islands. The mean macular sensitivity on microperimetry was 11.6 dB (SD: 7.8; range: 1.6–24.4) and correlated significantly with BCVA (r = 0.907; p = 0.001). A histological examination of the donor eye showed disruption of retinal topology and stratification, with a more severe loss found in the peripheral regions. Reactive gliosis was seen in the inner layers of all regions. Our study demonstrates the highly variable phenotype found in RPGR-associated retinal dystrophies. Therapies should be applied at the earliest signs of photoreceptor degeneration, prior to the remodeling of the inner retina

From the Big Bang Theory to the Theory of a Stationary Universe

We consider chaotic inflation in the theories with the effective potentials phi^n and e^{\alpha\phi}. In such theories inflationary domains containing sufficiently large and homogeneous scalar field \phi permanently produce new inflationary domains of a similar type. We show that under certain conditions this process of the self-reproduction of the Universe can be described by a stationary distribution of probability, which means that the fraction of the physical volume of the Universe in a state with given properties (with given values of fields, with a given density of matter, etc.) does not depend on time, both at the stage of inflation and after it. This represents a strong deviation of inflationary cosmology from the standard Big Bang paradigm. We compare our approach with other approaches to quantum cosmology, and illustrate some of the general conclusions mentioned above with the results of a computer simulation of stochastic processes in the inflationary Universe.Comment: No changes to the file, but original figures are included. They substantially help to understand this paper, as well as eternal inflation in general, and what is now called the "multiverse" and the "string theory landscape." High quality figures can be found at http://www.stanford.edu/~alinde/LLMbigfigs

Demonstration of the temporal matter-wave Talbot effect for trapped matter waves

We demonstrate the temporal Talbot effect for trapped matter waves using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We investigate the phase evolution of an array of essentially non-interacting matter waves and observe matter-wave collapse and revival in the form of a Talbot interference pattern. By using long expansion times, we image momentum space with sub-recoil resolution, allowing us to observe fractional Talbot fringes up to 10th order.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Azimuthal anisotropy at RHIC: the first and fourth harmonics

We report the first observations of the first harmonic (directed flow, v_1), and the fourth harmonic (v_4), in the azimuthal distribution of particles with respect to the reaction plane in Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Both measurements were done taking advantage of the large elliptic flow (v_2) generated at RHIC. From the correlation of v_2 with v_1 it is determined that v_2 is positive, or {\it in-plane}. The integrated v_4 is about a factor of 10 smaller than v_2. For the sixth (v_6) and eighth (v_8) harmonics upper limits on the magnitudes are reported.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figures, as accepted for Phys. Rev. Letters The data tables are at http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications/pubDetail.php?id=3

Pion, kaon, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum distributions from p+p and d+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

Identified mid-rapidity particle spectra of $\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, and $p(\bar{p})$ from 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions are reported. A time-of-flight detector based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology is used for particle identification. The particle-species dependence of the Cronin effect is observed to be significantly smaller than that at lower energies. The ratio of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{dAu}$) between protons $(p+\bar{p})$ and charged hadrons ($h$) in the transverse momentum range $1.2<{p_{T}}<3.0$ GeV/c is measured to be $1.19\pm0.05$(stat)$\pm0.03$(syst) in minimum-bias collisions and shows little centrality dependence. The yield ratio of $(p+\bar{p})/h$ in minimum-bias d+Au collisions is found to be a factor of 2 lower than that in Au+Au collisions, indicating that the Cronin effect alone is not enough to account for the relative baryon enhancement observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. We extended the pion spectra from transverse momentum 1.8 GeV/c to 3. GeV/