On Glauber modes in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

Gluon interactions involving spectator partons in collisions at hadronic machines are investigated. We find a class of examples in which a mode, called Glauber gluons, must be introduced to the effective theory for consistency.Comment: 19 pages, three figures. Uses JHEP3.cl

Prevalence and risk factors for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in people with severe mental illness: a total population study of Sweden

BACKGROUND: Severe mental illness is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The elevated risk of blood-borne viruses (BBVs) in people with severe mental illness is of concern, but the full extent of this problem is unclear. We aimed to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for BBVs in people with severe mental illness. METHODS: In this nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional study, we estimated the point prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), and hepatitis C (HCV) in people with severe mental illness, including the total adult (≥18 years) Swedish population. We defined severe mental illness as a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or other psychotic illness according to the Swedish version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases version 8, 9, or 10. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine the odds of BBVs in individuals with severe mental illness, relative to the general population, and to identify independent risk factors (age, sex, immigration status, socioeconomic status, education, and substance misuse) for BBV infection. We also did a sensitivity analysis excluding BBV diagnoses made before the introduction of the Register for Infection Disease Control (1997). FINDINGS: Of 6 815 931 adults in Sweden, 97 797 (1·43%) individuals had a diagnosis of severe mental illness. Prevalence of BBVs was elevated in people with severe mental illness, of which 230 (0·24%) had HIV, 518 (0·53%) had HBV, and 4476 (4·58%) had HCV. After accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, the odds of HIV were 2·57 (95% CI 2·25-2·94, p<0·0001) times higher in people with severe mental illness than in the general population, whereas the odds of HBV were 2·29 (2·09-2·51, p<0·0001) times higher and the odds of HCV were 6·18 (5·98-6·39, p<0·0001) times higher. Substance misuse contributed most to the increased risk of BBV: after adjustment, odds ratios were 1·61 (1·40-1·85, p<0·0001) for HIV, 1·28 (1·16-1·41, p<0·0001) for HBV, and 1·72 (1·67-1·78, p<0·0001) for HCV. INTERPRETATION: Our results highlight the need to address the issue of higher prevalence of BBVs in people with severe mental illness and identify interventions preventing infection. Targeting of comorbid substance misuse would have particular effect on reduction of BBV prevalence in this population. FUNDING: Medical Research Council and Swedish Research Council

Looking back at superfluid helium

A few years after the discovery of Bose Einstein condensation in several gases, it is interesting to look back at some properties of superfluid helium. After a short historical review, I comment shortly on boiling and evaporation, then on the role of rotons and vortices in the existence of a critical velocity in superfluid helium. I finally discuss the existence of a condensate in a liquid with strong interactions, and the pressure variation of its superfluid transition temperature.Comment: Conference "Bose Einstein Condensation", Institut henri Poincare, Paris, 29 march 200

Interpretation of non-invasive breath tests using 13C-labeled substrates - a preliminary report with 13C-methacetin

Non-invasive breath tests can serve as valuable diagnostic tools in medicine as they can determine particular enzymatic and metabolic functions in vivo. However, methodological pitfalls have limited the actual clinical application of those tests till today. A major challenge of non-invasive breath tests has remained the provision of individually reliable test results. To overcome these limitations, a better understanding of breath kinetics during non-invasive breaths tests is essential. This analysis compares the breath recovery of a 13C-methacetin breath test with the actual serum kinetics of the substrate. It is shown, that breath and serum kinetics of the same test are significantly different over a period of 60 minutes. The recovery of the tracer 13CO2 in breath seems to be significantly delayed due to intermediate storage in the bicarbonate pool. This has to be taken into account for the application of non-invasive breath test protocols. Otherwise, breath tests might display bicarbonate kinetics despite the metabolic capacity of the particular target enzyme

The physical and cellular conditions of the human pulmonary circulation enable thrombopoesis

Animal evidence that platelet production occurs in the lungs is growing [1]. We have investigated whether there is evidence to support pulmonary platelet production from studies using human conditions. We documented the presence of MK in the human pulmonary circulation and analysed the role of the vascular microenvironment on MK function. Our results suggest that the endothelial microenvironment favors platelet formation and that von Willebrand factor combined with appropriate physical forces in flowing blood are determinant for platelet release. We also demonstrate that MKs have the potential to change ploidy as they circulate. These findings demonstrate a new pathophysiological environment affecting platelet production. They also provide new targets for therapeutic intervention

The origin of defects induced in ultra-pure germanium by Electron Beam Deposition

The creation of point defects in the crystal lattices of various semiconductors by subthreshold events has been reported on by a number of groups. These observations have been made in great detail using sensitive electrical techniques but there is still much that needs to be clarified. Experiments using Ge and Si were performed that demonstrate that energetic particles, the products of collisions in the electron beam, were responsible for the majority of electron-beam deposition (EBD) induced defects in a two-step energy transfer process. Lowering the number of collisions of these energetic particles with the semiconductor during metal deposition was accomplished using a combination of static shields and superior vacuum resulting in devices with defect concentrations lower than $10^{11}\,$cm$^{-3}$, the measurement limit of our deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) system. High energy electrons and photons that samples are typically exposed to were not influenced by the shields as most of these particles originate at the metal target thus eliminating these particles as possible damage causing agents. It remains unclear how packets of energy that can sometimes be as small of 2eV travel up to a $\mu$m into the material while still retaining enough energy, that is, in the order of 1eV, to cause changes in the crystal. The manipulation of this defect causing phenomenon may hold the key to developing defect free material for future applications.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Decreasing the minimum length criterion for an episode of hypomania: evaluation using self-reported data from patients with bipolar disorder

Brief hypomania lasting less than 4 days may impair functioning and help to detect bipolarity. This study analyzed brief hypomania that occurred in patients with bipolar disorder who were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Daily self-reported mood ratings were obtained from 393 patients (247 bipolar I and 146 bipolar II) for 6 months (75,284 days of data, mean 191.6 days). Episodes of hypomania were calculated using a 4, 3, 2, and single day length criterion. Brief hypomania occurred frequently. With a decrease in the minimum criterion from 4 days to 2 days, there were almost twice as many patients with an episode of hypomania (102 vs. 190), and more than twice as many episodes (305 vs. 863). Single days of hypomania were experienced by 271 (69%) of the sample. With a 2-day episode length, 33% of all hypomania remained outside of an episode. There was no significant difference in the percent of hypomanic days outside of an episode between patients with bipolar I and II disorders. There were no significant differences in the demographic characteristics of patients who met the 4-day minimum as compared with those who only experienced episodes of hypomania using a shortened length criterion. Decreasing the minimum length criterion for an episode of hypomania will cause a large increase in the number of patients who experience an episode and in the aggregate number of episodes, but will not distinguish subgroups within a sample who meet the DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder. Frequency may be an important dimensional aspect of brief hypomania. Clinicians should regularly probe for brief hypomania

Macroeconomic impact of stranded fossil-fuel assets

Several major economies rely heavily on fossil-fuel production and exports, yet current low-carbon technology diffusion, energy efficiency and climate policy may be substantially reducing global demand for fossil fuels.1-4 This trend is inconsistent with observed investment in new fossil-fuel ventures1,2, which could become stranded as a result. Here we use an integrated global economy environment simulation model to study the macroeconomic impact of stranded fossil-fuel assets (SFFA). Our analysis suggests that part of the SFFA would occur as a result of an already ongoing technological trajectory, irrespective of whether new climate policies are adopted or not; the loss would be amplified if new climate policies to reach the 2°C target are adopted and/or if low-cost producers (some OPEC countries) maintain their level of production (‘sell-out’) despite declining demand; the magnitude of the loss from SFFA may amount to a discounted global wealth loss of $1-4tn; and there are clear distributional impacts, with winners (e.g. net importers such as China or the EU) and losers (e.g. Russia, the US or Canada, which could see their fossil-fuel industries nearly shut down), although the two effects would largely offset each other at the level of aggregate global GDP.The authors acknowledge C-EERNG and Cambridge Econometrics for support, and funding from EPSRC (JFM, fellowship no. EP/ K007254/1); the Newton Fund (JFM, PS, JV, EPSRC grant no EP/N002504/1 and ESRC grant no ES/N013174/1), NERC (NRE, PH, HP, grant no NE/P015093/1), CONICYT (PS), the Philomathia Foundation (JV), the Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme (JV), and Horizon 2020 (HP, JFM; Sim4Nexus project)

Thermoelectric spin voltage in graphene

In recent years, new spin-dependent thermal effects have been discovered in ferromagnets, stimulating a growing interest in spin caloritronics, a field that exploits the interaction between spin and heat currents. Amongst the most intriguing phenomena is the spin Seebeck effect, in which a thermal gradient gives rise to spin currents that are detected through the inverse spin Hall effect. Non-magnetic materials such as graphene are also relevant for spin caloritronics, thanks to efficient spin transport, energy-dependent carrier mobility and unique density of states. Here, we propose and demonstrate that a carrier thermal gradient in a graphene lateral spin valve can lead to a large increase of the spin voltage near to the graphene charge neutrality point. Such an increase results from a thermoelectric spin voltage, which is analogous to the voltage in a thermocouple and that can be enhanced by the presence of hot carriers generated by an applied current. These results could prove crucial to drive graphene spintronic devices and, in particular, to sustain pure spin signals with thermal gradients and to tune the remote spin accumulation by varying the spin-injection bias

Tunable Emergent Heterostructures in a Prototypical Correlated Metal

At the interface between two distinct materials desirable properties, such as superconductivity, can be greatly enhanced, or entirely new functionalities may emerge. Similar to in artificially engineered heterostructures, clean functional interfaces alternatively exist in electronically textured bulk materials. Electronic textures emerge spontaneously due to competing atomic-scale interactions, the control of which, would enable a top-down approach for designing tunable intrinsic heterostructures. This is particularly attractive for correlated electron materials, where spontaneous heterostructures strongly affect the interplay between charge and spin degrees of freedom. Here we report high-resolution neutron spectroscopy on the prototypical strongly-correlated metal CeRhIn5, revealing competition between magnetic frustration and easy-axis anisotropy -- a well-established mechanism for generating spontaneous superstructures. Because the observed easy-axis anisotropy is field-induced and anomalously large, it can be controlled efficiently with small magnetic fields. The resulting field-controlled magnetic superstructure is closely tied to the formation of superconducting and electronic nematic textures in CeRhIn5, suggesting that in-situ tunable heterostructures can be realized in correlated electron materials