Cooling of Dark-Matter Admixed Neutron Stars with density-dependent Equation of State

We propose a dark-matter (DM) admixed density-dependent equation of state where the fermionic DM interacts with the nucleons via Higgs portal. Presence of DM can hardly influence the particle distribution inside neutron star (NS) but can significantly affect the structure as well as equation of state (EOS) of NS. Introduction of DM inside NS softens the equation of state. We explored the effect of variation of DM mass and DM Fermi momentum on the NS EOS. Moreover, DM-Higgs coupling is constrained using dark matter direct detection experiments. Then, we studied cooling of normal NSs using APR and DD2 EOSs and DM admixed NSs using dark-matter modified DD2 with varying DM mass and Fermi momentum. We have done our analysis by considering different NS masses. Also DM mass and DM Fermi momentum are varied for fixed NS mass and DM-Higgs coupling. We calculated the variations of luminosity and temperature of NS with time for all EOSs considered in our work and then compared our calculations with the observed astronomical cooling data of pulsars namely Cas A, RX J0822-43, 1E 1207-52, RX J0002+62, XMMU J17328, PSR B1706-44, Vela, PSR B2334+61, PSR B0656+14, Geminga, PSR B1055-52 and RX J0720.4-3125. It is found that APR EOS agrees well with the pulsar data for lighter and medium mass NSs but cooling is very fast for heavier NS. For DM admixed DD2 EOS, it is found that for all considered NS masses, all chosen DM masses and Fermi momenta agree well with the observational data of PSR B0656+14, Geminga, Vela, PSR B1706-44 and PSR B2334+61. Cooling becomes faster as compared to normal NSs in case of increasing DM mass and Fermi momenta. It is infered from the calculations that if low mass super cold NSs are observed in future that may support the fact that heavier WIMP can be present inside neutron stars.Comment: 24 Pages, 15 Figures and 2 Tables. Version accepted in The European Physical Journal

Propagation of Himalayan maple (Acer caesium Wall.) through seed and softwood cuttings

Propagation of Himalayan maple (Acer caesium Wall.) through seed and softwood cuttings was investigated to standardize nursery techniques for mass production of the species. The seedlings were raised from viable seeds in different containers filled with different combinations of growing media. Vegetative propagation of softwoodcuttings was carried out by treating with different combinations of IBA and Willow leachate of different durations. The statistical analysis revealed the differential behaviour of various nursery stocks with respect to survival, growth and biomass. The growing media soil:sand:vermicompost (2:1:2) and container (root trainer 300 cc) showed maximum germination (61.00%), seedlings height (35.17 cm), collar diameter (5.07 cm), shoot:root ratio (1.24) and survival percentage (76.33%). Conversely, the cuttings treated with IBA @ 8000 ppm showed maximum sprouting (74.50%), rooting (66.75%), length of longest root (14.65 cm), no. of roots per cutting (33.00%), shoot length (13.90 cm) and survival percentage (41.50%). Hence, the seeds of the species should be grown in Rot trainer of 300 cc having soil:sand:vermicompost (2:1:2) to get good quality planting materials. However, the softwood cuttings should be given treatments with IBA @ 8000 ppm for mass production of plants vegetatively

Can the Near-Horizon Black Hole Memory be detected through Binary Inspirals?

The memory effect, in the context of gravitational-waves (GWs), manifests itself in the permanent relative displacement of test masses when they encounter the GWs. A number of works have explored the possibility of detecting the memory when the source and detector are separated by large distances. A special type of memory, arising from BMS symmetries, called ``black-hole memory'', has been recently proposed. The black hole memory only manifests itself in the vicinity of its event horizon. Therefore, formally observing it requires placing a GW detector at the horizon of the BH, which prima-facie seems unfeasible. In this work, we describe a toy model that suggests a possible way the black hole memory may be observed, without requiring a human-made detector near the event horizon. The model considers a binary black hole (BBH), emanating GWs observable at cosmological distances, as a proxy for an idealized detector in the vicinity of a supermassive Schwarzschild black hole that is endowed with a supertranslation hair by sending a shock-wave to it. This sudden change affects the geometry near the horizon of the supertranslated black hole and it induces a change in the inspiraling orbital separation (and hence, orbital frequency) of the binary, which in turn imprints itself on the GWs. Using basic GW data analysis tools, we demonstrate that the black hole memory should be observable by a LISA-like space-based detector.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Comparative evaluation of triglyceride/high density lipoprotein cholesterol and C-reactive protein between ischemic stroke and healthy control group

Background: Triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-C) are predictive of the start of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Dyslipidemia is a multifactorial disorder that exacerbates the vascular pathology associated with stroke. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are elevated in people with a higher prevalence of stroke risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. This study aims to compare and analyze the values of lipid ratio such as TG/HDL-C and inflammatory marker, CRP in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Methods: This study was conducted at Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute in Thrissur, Kerala. The duration of the research period was 2022 September to 2024 July. It was a prospective comparative cross sectional study. Data collection included physical, medical examinations and laboratory investigations. Statistical analysis was performed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 26. Results: The comparison of inflammatory marker, CRP and lipid profile ratio such as TG/HDL-C showed an increased level in AIS than control. No correlation was observed between CRP and TG/HDL-C in AIS group. Conclusions: Our study observed that inflammatory markers especially CRP have strong predictive potential in diagnosing AIS. The lipid profile ratio such as TG/HDL-C have moderate predictive potential in AIS

Eccentricity-induced systematic error on parametrized tests of general relativity: hierarchical Bayesian inference applied to a binary black hole population

One approach to testing general relativity (GR) introduces free parameters in the post-Newtonian (PN) expansion of the gravitational-wave (GW) phase. If systematic errors on these testing GR (TGR) parameters exceed the statistical errors, this may signal a false violation of GR. Here, we consider systematic errors produced by unmodeled binary eccentricity. Since the eccentricity of GW events in ground-based detectors is expected to be small or negligible, the use of quasicircular waveform models for testing GR may be safe when analyzing a small number of events. However, as the catalog size of GW detections increases, more stringent bounds on GR deviations can be placed by combining information from multiple events. In that case, even small systematic biases may become significant. We apply the approach of hierarchical Bayesian inference to model the posterior probability distributions of the TGR parameters inferred from a population of eccentric binary black holes (BBHs). We assume each TGR parameter value varies across the BBH population according to a Gaussian distribution. We compute the posterior distributions for these Gaussian hyperparameters. This is done for LIGO and Cosmic Explorer (CE). We find that systematic biases from unmodeled eccentricity can signal false GR violations for both detectors when considering constraints set by a catalog of events. We also compute the projected bounds on the $10$ TGR parameters when eccentricity is included as a parameter in the waveform model. We find that the first four dimensionless TGR deformation parameters can be bounded at $90\%$ confidence to $\delta \hat{\varphi}_i \lesssim 10^{-2}$ for LIGO and $\lesssim 10^{-3}$ for CE [where $i=(0,1,2,3)$]. In comparison to the circular orbit case, the combined bounds on the TGR parameters worsen by a modest factor of $\lesssim 2$ when eccentricity is included in the waveform.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Checkpoint Blockade Rescues the Repressive Effect of Histone Deacetylases Inhibitors on γδ T Cell Function

Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are one of the key epigenetic modifiers that control chromatin accessibility and gene expression. Their role in tumorigenesis is well established and HDAC inhibitors have emerged as an effective treatment modality. HDAC inhibitors have been investigated for their specific antitumor activities and also clinically evaluated in treatment of various malignancies. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of HDAC inhibitors on the effector functions of human γδ T cells. HDAC inhibitors inhibit the antigen-specific proliferative response of γδ T cells and cell cycle progression. In antigen-activated γδ T cells, the expression of transcription factors (Eomes and Tbet) and effector molecules (perforin and granzyme B) were decreased upon treatment with HDAC inhibitors. Treatment with HDAC inhibitors attenuated the antitumor cytotoxic potential of γδ T cells, which correlated with the enhanced expression of immune checkpoints programmed death-1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand-1 in γδ T cells. Interestingly, PD-1 blockade improves the antitumor effector functions of HDAC inhibitor-treated γδ T cells, which is reflected in the increased expression of Granzyme B and Lamp-1. This study provides a rationale for designing HDAC inhibitor and immune check point blockade as a combinatorial treatment modality for cancer

Smoking behaviour among young doctors of a tertiary care hospital in North India

Background:Tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. There are more than one billion smokers in the world. Almost half of the world's children breathe air polluted by tobacco. Aim of current study was to study the smoking trends among young doctors in a tertiary care institute in north India.Methods:A descriptive observational cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted among 250 doctors of a tertiary care Hospital in Jammu & Kashmir (Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, SKIMS) during the two months of February-March, 2014. The predesigned tool adopted during data collection was a questionnaire that was developed at the institute with the assistance from the faculty members and other experts.Results:Among 250 participants, (20%) were smokers; among smokers, (76%) were regular smokers and (24%) were occasional smokers. Majority of smokers were in the age group of 21-30 years (80%) & started smoking between 11-20 years (70%). All of them were male (100%). No significant difference was observed among urban and rural students. Among smokers, majority (60%) was in the practice of smoking for last 6 months to 1 year and 26% smoked for <6 months; & (14%) smoked for more than 5 years .It was found more than half of the responding (60%) students used to smoke 5-9 cigarettes per day; 14% is <5 and 26% consumed 10 or more per day .Among smokers, peer pressure was found in 80% cases. (χ2 = 107, P <0.001). Among smokers, almost 20% had other addiction and among non-smokers only 5% had .Effect of parental smoking  was significantly higher in smokers than non-smoker (χ2 = 66.2, P <0.001) .It was seen that peer pressure was the most important risk factor (60%) of initiation of smoking habit followed by parental influence (20%). Majority (78.4%) had no intention to quit in the next 6 months. Lack of Incentive (36.36%) and Addiction (27.27%) were the main reasons for not quitting.Conclusion:We need to create more awareness regarding hazards of smoking in general population especially in medical students, and afterwards provide psychological and pharmacological support for those who intend to quit, as medical students can themselves become a tool to fight this hazard at all levels.

Studies on the Composition, Distribution and Detection of Dark Matter in the Universe

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de Nova Whole Genome Sequencing of Marssonina Juglandis Causing Walnut (Juglandis Regia L.) Anthracnose and Development of PCR-Based Diagnosis Using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers

Walnut anthracnose, caused by Marssonina juglandis, is one of the economically important diseases of walnuts worldwide. The pathogen is a filamentous fungus belonging to the class Leotiomycetes. In this study, we isolated and purified the Marssonina juglandis from walnut leaves collected from the walnut orchard of SKUAST-Kashmir. The whole genome of the pathogen was sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq NGS platform. The whole genome of the pathogen was found to be 63.6354 Mb in size with 1916 scaffolds, 12086 genes, 205 total tRNAs, and 6884 SSRs containing 5861 SSRs with 150 flanking regions. A phylogenetic analysis using whole-genome alignment revealed that Marssonina juglandis is closely related to Cryphonectria parasitica and Coniella lustricola. The BlastP analysis using Uniprot, Pfam, and KOG showed 7612, 5515, and 5163 protein hits out of 12086 proteins. The total number of genes responsible for biological processes, molecular function, and cellular components were 1583, 1429, and 1843, respectively. In the Venn diagram, 3912 genes were found to be common in all three software, namely Uniprot, Pfam, and KOG including NR. In addition, we developed the SSR markers based on the whole genome and standardized them against 25 isolates of the Marssonina juglandis collected, isolated, and purified from the walnut-infected leaves in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Out of 30 randomly selected SSRs, 17 SSRs showed successful PCR amplification in 25 pathogen isolates that were found to be highly polymorphic. Further, a PCR-based detection protocol using SSR markers was also developed for early detection of the disease in the field for timely management. We found two primers that could successfully amplify the pathogen in DNA extracted directly from the infected walnut leaves.