Nonrelativistic Conformal Invariance in Mesoscopic Two-Dimensional Fermi Gases

Two-dimensional Fermi gases with universal short-range interactions are known to exhibit a quantum anomaly, where a classical scale and conformal invariance is broken by quantum effects at strong coupling. We argue that in a quasi two-dimensional geometry, a conformal window remains at weak interactions. Using degenerate perturbation theory, we verify the conformal symmetry by computing the energy spectrum of mesoscopic particle ensembles in a harmonic trap, which separates into conformal towers formed by so-called primary states and their center-of-mass and breathing-mode excitations, the latter having excitation energies at precisely twice the harmonic oscillator energy. In addition, using Metropolis importance sampling, we compute the hyperradial distribution function of the many-body wave functions, which are predicted by the conformal symmetry in closed analytical form. The weakly interacting Fermi gas constitutes a system where the nonrelativistic conformal symmetry can be revealed using elementary methods, and our results are testable in current experiments on mesoscopic Fermi gases.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures + 9 pages of Supplemental Materia

Scale and conformal invariance in rotating few-fermion systems

We show that rotating two-dimensional Fermi gases possess a nonrelativistic scale and conformal invariance at weak interactions, where the scale invariance of universal short-range interactions is not broken by quantum effects. We demonstrate the symmetry in the excitation spectrum of few-fermion ensembles in a harmonic trap obtained by exact diagonalization, which are constrained by the operator-state correspondence. The excitation spectrum is shown to split in a set of primary states, the energies of which correspond to scaling dimensions of conformal operators, and derived excited states that consist of breathing modes as well as two different center-of-mass excitations, which describe cyclotron and guiding-center excitations of the total particle cloud. Furthermore, the conformal symmetry is manifest in the many-body wave function, where it dictates the form of the hyperradial component, which we demonstrate using Monte Carlo sampling of few-body wave functions.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Antimicrobial Effects of the Stinging Nettle (Urtica Dioica L.).

Nowadays increasing attention is being paid to herbs, one of the reasons is to avoid the undesirable side effects of synthetic drugs. This is the reason why the analysis of the antimicrobial activities of medicinal plants are increasingly in the focus of scientific experiments as well. One of the best-known medicinal plants is nettle. Among the nettle species in Hungary, Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.) can be found in the country and is most commonly utilised for medical purposes, with a focus on its leaves and roots. Nettle tea consumption is widespread in folk medicine for treating diabetes, allergies, abdominal pain, benign prostatic hyperplasia, rheumatoid arthritis and treatment of infections. This study gives a widespread summary of the reseach results about the antimicrobal impact of Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica L.) in the scientific literature. The papers documented a positive effect of nettle for more than 30 Gram positive and Gram negative bacterias, yeasts and fungis

Leukocyte Esterase Activity in Vaginal Fluid of Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women With Vaginitis/Vaginosis and in Controls

Objectives: To determine the leukocyte esterase (LE) activity in vaginal lavage fluid of women with acute and recurrent vulvovaginal candidosis (VVC and RVVC respectively), bacterial vaginosis (BV), and in pregnant and non-pregnant women without evidence of the three conditions. Also to compare the result of LE tests in women consulting at different weeks in the cycle and trimesters of pregnancy.The LE activity was correlated to vaginal pH, number of inflammatory cells in stained vaginal smears, type of predominating vaginal bacteria and presence of yeast morphotypes. Methods: One hundred and thirteen women with a history of RVVC, i.e. with at least four attacks of the condition during the previous year and who had consulted with an assumed new attack of the condition, were studied. Furthermore, we studied 16 women with VVC, 15 women with BV, and 27 women attending for control of cytological abnormalities, who all presented without evidence of either vaginitis or vaginosis. Finally, 73 pregnant women were investigated. The LE activity in vaginal fluid during different weeks in the cycle of 53 of the women was measured. Results: In the non-pregnant women, an increased LE activity was found in 96, 88, 73 and 56% of those with RVVC, VVC and BV and in the non-VVC/BV cases, respectively. In 73% of pregnant women in the second trimester, and 76% of those in the third, the LE test was positive. In all groups of non-pregnant women tested, the LE activity correlated with the number of leukocytes in vaginal smears, but it did not in those who were pregnant. There was no correlation between LE activity and week in cycle. The vaginal pH showed no correlation to LE activity in any of the groups studied. Conclusions: The use of commercial LE dipsticks has a limited value in the differential diagnosis of RVVC, VVCand BV. There is no correlation between the LE activity in vaginal secretion on one hand and vaginal pH, week in the menstrual cycle and trimester in pregnancy on the other. Women with BV often have signs of inflammation as evidenced by a positive LE test and inflammatory cells in genital smears

Outcome of patients with acquired aplastic anemia given first line bone marrow transplantation or immunosuppressive treatment in the last decade: a report from the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Background and Objectives The treatment of acquired aplastic anemia (AA) is based on allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and immunosuppressive therapy. The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of children and adults with AA treated in the last decade, and to determine whether results have improved in two sequential time periods: 1991–1996 and 1997–2002.Design and Methods We studied 2479 consecutive patients with AA, classified according to first-line treatment, BMT (n=1567) or immunosuppressive therapy (n=912), and stratified according to two sequential time periods. Analyses included variables related to the patients, disease and transplant.Results The actuarial 10-year survival was 73% and 68% for patients treated with BMT or immunosuppression, respectively (p=0.002). BMT outcome improved significantly with time (69% and 77%, p=001) for both matched sibling donor (MSD) (74% and 80%; p=0.003) and alternative donor (38% and 65% p=0.0001) transplants, and was better in children (79% versus 68%,

Concentration of apricot juice using complex membrane technology

In this study, pressed apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) juice was concentrated using complex membrane technology with different module combinations: UF-RO-OD, UF-RO-MD, UF-NF-OD and UF-NF-MD. In case of the best combination a cross-flow polyethylene ultrafiltration membrane (UF) was applied for clarification, after which preconcentration was done using reverse osmosis (RO) with a polyamide membrane, and the final concentration was completed by osmotic distillation (OD) using a polypropylene module. The UF-RO-OD procedure resulted in a final concentrate with a 65-70 °Brix dry solid content and an excellent quality juice with high polyphenol content and high antioxidant capacity.Nanofiltration (NF) and membrane distillation (MD) were not proper economic solutions.The influence of certain operation parameters was examined experimentally. Temperatures of UF and RO were: 25, 30, and 35 °C, and of OD 25 °C. Recycle flow rates were: UF: 1, 1.5, and 2 m3 h−1; RO: 200, 400, and 600 l h−1; OD: 20, 30 and 40 l h−1. The flow rates in the module were expressed by the Reynolds number, as well. Based on preliminary experiments, the transmembrane pressures of UF and RO filtration were 4 bar and 50 bar, respectively. Each experimental run was performed three times. The following optimal operation parameters provided the lowest total cost: UF: 35 °C, 2 m3 h−1, 4 bar; RO: 35 °C, 600 l h−1, 50 bar; OD: 20, 30 and 40 l h−1; temperature 25 °C.In addition, experiments were performed for apricot juice concentration by evaporation, which technique is widely applied in the industry using vacuum and low temperature.For description the UF filtration, a dynamic model and regression by SPSS 14.0 statistics software were applied