613 research outputs found
Hadronic physics with domain-wall valence and improved staggered sea quarks
With the advent of chiral fermion formulations, the simulation of light
valence quarks has finally become realistic for numerical simulations of
lattice QCD. The simulation of light dynamical quarks, however, remains one of
the major challenges and is still an obstacle to realistic simulations. We
attempt to meet this challenge using a hybrid combination of Asqtad sea quarks
and domain-wall valence quarks. Initial results for the proton form factor and
the nucleon axial coupling are presented.Comment: Two Talks presented at Lattice2004(spectrum), LaTex, 6 pages, 6 eps
figure
On the effects of (partial) quenching on penguin contributions to K-> pi pi
Recently, we pointed out that chiral transformation properties of strong
penguin operators change in the transition from unquenched to (partially)
quenched QCD. As a consequence, new penguin-like operators appear in the
(partially) quenched theory, along with new low-energy constants, which should
be interpreted as a quenching artifact. Here, we extend the analysis to the
contribution of the new low-energy constants to the K^0 -> pi^+ pi^- amplitude,
at leading order in chiral perturbation theory, and for arbitrary (momentum
non-conserving) kinematics. Using these results, we provide a detailed
discussion of the intrinsic systematic error due to this (partial) quenching
artifact. We also give a simple recipe for the determination of the
leading-order low-energy constant parameterizing the new operators in the case
of strong penguins.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, minor correction
Study protocol: a randomised controlled trial on the clinical effects of levothyroxine treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism in people aged 80 years and over
Background:
Subclinical hypothyroidism is common in older people and its contribution to health and disease needs to be elucidated further. Observational and clinical trial data on the clinical effects of subclinical hypothyroidism in persons aged 80 years and over is inconclusive, with some studies suggesting harm and some suggesting benefits, translating into equipoise whether levothyroxine therapy provides clinical benefits. This manuscript describes the study protocol for the Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine in Old Age (IEMO) 80-plus thyroid trial to generate the necessary evidence base.
Methods:
The IEMO 80-plus thyroid trial was explicitly designed as an ancillary experiment to the Thyroid hormone Replacement for Untreated older adults with Subclinical hypothyroidism randomised placebo controlled Trial (TRUST) with a near identical protocol and shared research infrastructure. Outcomes will be presented separately for the IEMO and TRUST 80-plus groups, as well as a pre-planned combined analysis of the 145 participants included in the IEMO trial and the 146 participants from the TRUST thyroid trial aged 80 years and over.
The IEMO 80-plus thyroid trial is a multi-centre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled parallel group trial of levothyroxine treatment in community-dwelling participants aged 80 years and over with persistent subclinical hypothyroidism (TSH â„4.6 andââ€â19.9 mU/L and fT4 within laboratory reference ranges). Participants are randomised to levothyroxine 25 or 50 micrograms daily or matching placebo with dose titrations according to TSH levels, for a minimum follow-up of one and a maximum of three years.
Primary study endpoints: hypothyroid physical symptoms and tiredness on the thyroid-related quality of life patient-reported outcome (ThyPRO) at one year. Secondary endpoints: generic quality of life, executive cognitive function, handgrip strength, functional ability, blood pressure, weight, body mass index, and mortality. Adverse events will be recorded with specific interest on cardiovascular endpoints such as atrial fibrillation and heart failure.
Discussion:
The combined analysis of participants in the IEMO 80-plus thyroid trial with the participants aged over 80 in the TRUST trial will provide the largest experimental evidence base on multimodal effects of levothyroxine treatment in 80-plus persons to date
Study protocol; Thyroid hormone Replacement for Untreated older adults with Subclinical hypothyroidism - a randomised placebo controlled Trial (TRUST).
Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is a common condition in elderly people, defined as elevated serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) with normal circulating free thyroxine (fT4). Evidence is lacking about the effect of thyroid hormone treatment. We describe the protocol of a large randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Levothyroxine treatment for SCH.
Participants are community-dwelling subjects aged â„65 years with SCH, diagnosed by elevated TSH levels (â„4.6 and â€19.9 mU/L) on a minimum of two measuresââ„âthree months apart, with fT4 levels within laboratory reference range. The study is a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled parallel group trial, starting with levothyroxine 50 micrograms daily (25 micrograms in subjects <50Kg body weight or known coronary heart disease) with titration of dose in the active treatment group according to TSH level, and a mock titration in the placebo group. The primary outcomes are changes in two domains (hypothyroid symptoms and fatigue / vitality) on the thyroid-related quality of life questionnaire (ThyPRO) at one year. The study has 80% power (at pâ=â0.025, 2-tailed) to detect a change with levothyroxine treatment of 3.0% on the hypothyroid scale and 4.1% on the fatigue / vitality scale with a total target sample size of 750 patients. Secondary outcomes include general health-related quality of life (EuroQol), fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, handgrip strength, executive cognitive function (Letter Digit Coding Test), basic and instrumental activities of daily living, haemoglobin, blood pressure, weight, body mass index and waist circumference. Patients are monitored for specific adverse events of interest including incident atrial fibrillation, heart failure and bone fracture.
This large multicentre RCT of levothyroxine treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism is powered to detect clinically relevant change in symptoms / quality of life and is likely to be highly influential in guiding treatment of this common condition.
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01660126 ; registered 8th June 2012
Scaling tests of the improved Kogut-Susskind quark action
Improved lattice actions for Kogut-Susskind quarks have been shown to improve
rotational symmetry and flavor symmetry. In this work we find improved scaling
behavior of the rho and nucleon masses expressed in units of a length scale
obtained from the static quark potential, and better behavior of the Dirac
operator in instanton backgrounds.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Revte
The liquid-vapor interface of an ionic fluid
We investigate the liquid-vapor interface of the restricted primitive model
(RPM) for an ionic fluid using a density-functional approximation based on
correlation functions of the homogeneous fluid as obtained from the
mean-spherical approximation (MSA). In the limit of a homogeneous fluid our
approach yields the well-known MSA (energy) equation of state. The ionic
interfacial density profiles, which for the RPM are identical for both species,
have a shape similar to those of simple atomic fluids in that the decay towards
the bulk values is more rapid on the vapor side than on the liquid side. This
is the opposite asymmetry of the decay to that found in earlier calculations
for the RPM based on a square-gradient theory. The width of the interface is,
for a wide range of temperatures, approximately four times the second moment
correlation length of the liquid phase. We discuss the magnitude and
temperature dependence of the surface tension, and argue that for temperatures
near the triple point the ratio of the dimensionless surface tension and
critical temperature is much smaller for the RPM than for simple atomic fluids.Comment: 6 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Against all odds? Forming the planet of the HD196885 binary
HD196885Ab is the most "extreme" planet-in-a-binary discovered to date, whose
orbit places it at the limit for orbital stability. The presence of a planet in
such a highly perturbed region poses a clear challenge to planet-formation
scenarios. We investigate this issue by focusing on the planet-formation stage
that is arguably the most sensitive to binary perturbations: the mutual
accretion of kilometre-sized planetesimals. To this effect we numerically
estimate the impact velocities amongst a population of circumprimary
planetesimals. We find that most of the circumprimary disc is strongly hostile
to planetesimal accretion, especially the region around 2.6AU (the planet's
location) where binary perturbations induce planetesimal-shattering of
more than 1km/s. Possible solutions to the paradox of having a planet in such
accretion-hostile regions are 1) that initial planetesimals were very big, at
least 250km, 2) that the binary had an initial orbit at least twice the present
one, and was later compacted due to early stellar encounters, 3) that
planetesimals did not grow by mutual impacts but by sweeping of dust (the
"snowball" growth mode identified by Xie et al., 2010b), or 4) that HD196885Ab
was formed not by core-accretion but by the concurent disc instability
mechanism. All of these 4 scenarios remain however highly conjectural.Comment: accepted for publication by Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical
Astronomy (Special issue on EXOPLANETS
Sustainability, certification, and regulation of biochar
Biochar has a relatively long half-life in soil and can fundamentally alter soil properties, processes, and ecosystem services. The prospect of global-scale biochar application to soils highlights the importance of a sophisticated and rigorous certification procedure. The objective of this work was to discuss the concept of integrating biochar properties with environmental and socioeconomic factors, in a sustainable biochar certification procedure that optimizes complementarity and compatibility between these factors over relevant time periods. Biochar effects and behavior should also be modelled at temporal scales similar to its expected functional lifetime in soils. Finally, when existing soil data are insufficient, soil sampling and analysis procedures need to be described as part of a biochar certification procedure.O âbiocharâ tem um tempo de meia-vida no solo relativamente longo e pode alterar substancialmente as propriedades, processos e funçÔes do solo. A perspectiva da aplicação de âbiocharâ aos solos, em escala global, evidencia a importĂąncia de se lhe atribuir um processo de certificação sofisticado e rigoroso. O objetivo deste trabalho foi discutir o conceito da integração das propriedades do âbiocharâ com os fatores ambientais e socioeconĂŽmicos relevantes do local de aplicação selecionado, como parte de um procedimento de certificação sustentĂĄvel que otimize a complementaridade e a compatibilidade entre esses fatores, em perĂodos de tempo relevantes. Os efeitos e o comportamento do âbiocharâ devem, tambĂ©m, ser modelados em escalas temporais similares Ă s de seu tempo de vida funcional nos solos do local selecionado. Finalmente, onde os dados existentes sobre as caracterĂsticas do solo forem insuficientes, procedimentos de amostragem e anĂĄlise do solo devem ser descritos como parte do procedimento de certificação do âbiocharâ.publishe
A Measurement of Psi(2S) Resonance Parameters
Cross sections for e+e- to hadons, pi+pi- J/Psi, and mu+mu- have been
measured in the vicinity of the Psi(2S) resonance using the BESII detector
operated at the BEPC. The Psi(2S) total width; partial widths to hadrons,
pi+pi- J/Psi, muons; and corresponding branching fractions have been determined
to be Gamma(total)= (264+-27) keV; Gamma(hadron)= (258+-26) keV, Gamma(mu)=
(2.44+-0.21) keV, and Gamma(pi+pi- J/Psi)= (85+-8.7) keV; and Br(hadron)=
(97.79+-0.15)%, Br(pi+pi- J/Psi)= (32+-1.4)%, Br(mu)= (0.93+-0.08)%,
respectively.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
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