313 research outputs found
Annus Mirabilis - a guide to the 6th European Lupus meeting 3-5 March 2005
This article has no abstract
Parity Violation in Neutron Capture Reactions
In the last decade, the scattering of polarized neutrons on compound nucleus
resonances proved to be a powerful experimental technique for probing nuclear
parity violation. Longitudinal analyzing powers in neutron transmission
measurements on p-wave resonances in nuclei such as La and Th
were found to be as large as 10%. Here we examine the possibilities of carrying
out a parallel program to measure asymmetries in the ) reaction on
these same compound nuclear resonances. Symmetry-violating ) studies
can also show asymmetries as large as 10%, and have the advantage over
transmission experiments of allowing parity-odd asymmetries in several
different gamma-decay branches from the same resonance. Thus, studies of parity
violation in the reaction using high efficiency germanium
detectors at the Los Alamos Lujan facility, for example, could determine the
parity-odd nucleon-nucleon matrix elements in complex nuclei with high
accuracy. Additionally, simultaneous studies of the E1 and matrix
elements invol ved in these decays could be used to help constrain the
statistical theory of parity non-conservation in compound nuclei.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur
Association of FCGR3A and FCGR3B haplotypes with rheumatoid arthritis and primary Sjögren's syndrome [POSTER PRESENTATION]
Background
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that is thought to arise from a complex interaction between multiple genetic factors and environmental triggers. We have previously demonstrated an association between a Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) haplotype and RA in a cross-sectional cohort of RA patients. We have sought to confirm this association in an inception cohort of RA patients and matched controls. We also extended our study to investigate a second autoanti-body associated rheumatic disease, primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS).
Methods
The FCGR3A-158F/V and FCGR3B-NA1/NA2 functional polymorphisms were examined for association in an inception cohort of RA patients (n = 448), and a well-characterised PSS cohort (n = 83) from the United Kingdom. Pairwise disequilibrium coefficients (D') were calculated in 267 Blood Service healthy controls. The EHPlus program was used to estimate haplotype frequencies for patients and controls and to determine whether significant linkage disequilibrium was present. A likelihood ratio test is performed to test for differences between the haplotype frequencies in cases and controls. A permutation procedure implemented in this program enabled 1000 permutations to be performed on all haplotype associations to assess significance.
Results
There was significant linkage disequilibrium between FCGR3A and FCGR3B (D' = -0.445, P = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the FCGR3A or FCGR3B allele or genotype frequencies in the RA or PSS patients compared with controls. However, there was a significant difference in the FCGR3A-FCGR3B haplotype distributions with increased homozygosity for the FCGR3A-FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype in both our inception RA cohort (odds ratio = 2.15, 95% confidence interval = 1.1–4.2 P = 0.027) and PSS (odds ratio = 2.83, 95% confidence interval = 1.0–8.2, P = 0.047) compared with controls. The reference group for these analyses comprised individuals who did not possess a copy of the FCGR3A-FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype.
Conclusions
We have confirmed our original findings of association between the FCGR3A-FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype and RA in a new inception cohort of RA patients. This suggests that there may be an RA-susceptibility gene at this locus. The significant increased frequency of an identical haplotype in PSS suggests the FcγR genetic locus may contribute to the pathogenesis of diverse autoantibody-mediated rheumatic diseases
Looking into the matter of light-quark hadrons
In tackling QCD, a constructive feedback between theory and extant and
forthcoming experiments is necessary in order to place constraints on the
infrared behaviour of QCD's \beta-function, a key nonperturbative quantity in
hadron physics. The Dyson-Schwinger equations provide a tool with which to work
toward this goal. They connect confinement with dynamical chiral symmetry
breaking, both with the observable properties of hadrons, and hence provide a
means of elucidating the material content of real-world QCD. This contribution
illustrates these points via comments on: in-hadron condensates; dressed-quark
anomalous chromo- and electro-magnetic moments; the spectra of mesons and
baryons, and the critical role played by hadron-hadron interactions in
producing these spectra.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Contribution to the Proceedings of "Applications
of light-cone coordinates to highly relativistic systems - LIGHTCONE 2011,"
23-27 May, 2011, Dallas. The Proceedings will be published in Few Body
System
Parity Nonconservation in Neutron Resonances in 133Cs
Spatial parity nonconservation (PNC) has been studied in the compound-nuclear states of 134Cs by measuring the helicity dependence of the neutron total cross section. Transmission measurements on a thick 133Cs target were performed by the time-of-flight method at the Manuel Lujan Neutron Scattering Center with a longitudinally polarized neutron beam in the energy range from 5 to 400 eV. A total of 28 new p-wave resonances were found, their neutron widths determined, and the PNC longitudinal asymmetries of the resonance cross sections measured. The value obtained for the root-mean-square PNC element M=(0.06-0.02+0.25) meV in 133Cs is the smallest among all targets studied. This value corresponds to a weak spreading width Γw=(0.006-0.003+0.154)×10-7 eV
Explosion-generated infrasound recorded on ground and airborne microbarometers at regional distances
Recent work in deploying infrasound (low-frequency sound) sensors on aerostats and free-flying balloons has shown them to be viable alternatives to ground stations. However, no study to date has compared the performance of surface and freefloating infrasound microbarometers with respect to acoustic events at regional (100s of kilometers) range. The prospect of enhanced detection of aerial explosions at similar ranges, such as those from bolides, has not been investigated either. We examined infrasound signals from three 1-ton trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalent chemical explosions using microbarometers on two separate balloons at 280- to 400-km ranges and ground stations at 6.3- to 350-km ranges. Signal celerities were consistent with acoustic waves traveling in the stratospheric duct. However, significant differences were noted between the observed arrival patterns and those predicted by an acoustic propagation model. Very low-background noise levels on the balloons were consistent with previous studies that suggest wind interference is minimal on freely drifting sensors. Simulated propagation patterns and observed noise levels also confirm that balloon-borne microbarometers should be very effective at detecting explosions in the middle and upper atmosphere as well as those on the surface
A dynamical gluon mass solution in a coupled system of the Schwinger-Dyson equations
We study numerically the Schwinger-Dyson equations for the coupled system of
gluon and ghost propagators in the Landau gauge and in the case of pure gauge
QCD. We show that a dynamical mass for the gluon propagator arises as a
solution while the ghost propagator develops an enhanced behavior in the
infrared regime of QCD. Simple analytical expressions are proposed for the
propagators, and the mass dependency on the scale and its
perturbative scaling are studied. We discuss the implications of our results
for the infrared behavior of the coupling constant, which, according to fits
for the propagators infrared behavior, seems to indicate that as .Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures - Revised version to be consistent with erratum
to appear in JHE
EULAR Sjogren's syndrome disease activity index (ESSDAI):a user guide
The EULAR Sj\uf6gren's syndrome (SS) disease activity index (ESSDAI) is a systemic disease activity index that was designed to measure disease activity in patients with primary SS. With the growing use of the ESSDAI, some domains appear to be more challenging to rate than others. The ESSDAI is now in use as a gold standard to measure disease activity in clinical studies, and as an outcome measure, even a primary outcome measure, in current randomised clinical trials. Therefore, ensuring an accurate and reproducible rating of each domain, by providing a more detailed definition of each domain, has emerged as an urgent need. The purpose of the present article is to provide a user guide for the ESSDAI. This guide provides definitions and precisions on the rating of each domain. It also includes some minor improvement of the score to integrate advance in knowledge of disease manifestations. This user guide may help clinicians to use the ESSDAI, and increase the reliability of rating and consequently of the ability to detect true changes over time. This better appraisal of ESSDAI items, along with the recent definition of disease activity levels and minimal clinically important change, will improve the assessment of patients with primary SS and facilitate the demonstration of effectiveness of treatment for patients with primary SS
Strong Decays of Light Vector Mesons
The vector meson strong decays rho-->pi pi, phi-->KK, and K^star-->pi K are
studied within a covariant approach based on the ladder-rainbow truncation of
the QCD Dyson--Schwinger equation for the quark propagator and the
Bethe--Salpeter equation for the mesons. The model preserves the one-loop
behavior of QCD in the ultraviolet, has two infrared parameters, and implements
quark confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking. The 3-point decay
amplitudes are described in impulse approximation. The Bethe--Salpeter study
motivates a method for estimating the masses for heavier mesons within this
model without continuing the propagators into the complex plane. We test the
accuracy via the rho, phi and K^{star} masses and then produce estimates of the
model results for the a_1 and b_1 masses as well as the mass of the proposed
exotic vector pi_1(1400).Comment: Submitted for publication; 10x2-column pages, REVTEX 4, 3 .eps files
making 3fig
Analytic properties of the Landau gauge gluon and quark propagators
We explore the analytic structure of the gluon and quark propagators of
Landau gauge QCD from numerical solutions of the coupled system of renormalized
Dyson--Schwinger equations and from fits to lattice data. We find sizable
negative norm contributions in the transverse gluon propagator indicating the
absence of the transverse gluon from the physical spectrum. A simple analytic
structure for the gluon propagator is proposed. For the quark propagator we
find evidence for a mass-like singularity on the real timelike momentum axis,
with a mass of 350 to 500 MeV. Within the employed Green's functions approach
we identify a crucial term in the quark-gluon vertex that leads to a positive
definite Schwinger function for the quark propagator.Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures, revtex; version to be published in Phys Rev
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