1,392 research outputs found
Health Promoting Behaviors of Young Adults with Chronic Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is the most prevalent arthropod-borne (tick) disease in North America. The disease is more prevalent in some Eastern and Central states than in Western states. The general problem is that, in southern California especially in Los Angeles County, both patients and practitioners fail to recognize the disease, resulting in misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. Consequently, the patient may develop the long-term, chronic Lyme disease (CLD). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impact of CLD on the health-promoting behaviors of ethnically diverse young adults from similar educational and socioeconomic backgrounds based on their lived experiences. The geographical focus of this study was restricted to Los Angeles County, California, because researchers have demonstrated a general lack of awareness of CLD as well as a gap when it comes to representing CLD clients from diverse ethical and socio-economic groupings. Data were collected from face-to-face semistructured interviews of 9 participants, based on the health belief model constructs on an ethnically diverse group of young adults clinically diagnosed with CLD. Data were coded and explored for themes. Key results of the study include the existence of excellent health prior to CLD, marked declined in health status because of the disease not being recognized or properly treated, and the use of various modalities of treatment including conventional antibiotic treatment and complementary and alternative treatments to combat the disease. Social implications of this study include increased awareness of physicians and the community in the Los Angeles County of Lyme Disease as an emerging epidemic, development of preventive measures against this disease, and generation of rich data and propositions regarding CLD for further research
Left-Handed W Bosons at the LHC
The production of W bosons in association with jets is an important
background to new physics at the LHC. Events in which the W carries large
transverse momentum and decays leptonically lead to large missing energy and
are of particular importance. We show that the left-handed nature of the W
coupling, combined with valence quark domination at a pp machine, leads to a
large left-handed polarization for both W^+ and W^- bosons at large transverse
momenta. The polarization fractions are very stable with respect to QCD
corrections. The leptonic decay of the W bosons translates the common
left-handed polarization into a strong asymmetry in transverse momentum
distributions between positrons and electrons, and between neutrinos and
anti-neutrinos (missing transverse energy). Such asymmetries may provide an
effective experimental handle on separating W + jets from top quark production,
which exhibits very little asymmetry due to C invariance, and from various
types of new physics.Comment: 32 pages, revtex, 17 figures, 3 tables, v2 minor corrections to ME+PS
results, no changes to conclusions, added reference
Time-resolved broadband analysis of slow-light propagation and superluminal transmission of electromagnetic waves in three-dimensional photonic crystals
A time-resolved analysis of the amplitude and phase of THz pulses propagating
through three-dimensional photonic crystals is presented. Single-cycle pulses
of THz radiation allow measurements over a wide frequency range, spanning more
than an octave below, at and above the bandgap of strongly dispersive photonic
crystals. Transmission data provide evidence for slow group velocities at the
photonic band edges and for superluminal transmission at frequencies in the
gap. Our experimental results are in good agreement with
finite-difference-time-domain simulations.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
The Addition of Arachidin 1 or Arachidin 3 to Human Rotavirus-infected Cells Inhibits Viral Replication and Alters the Apoptotic Cell Death Pathway
Rotavirus (RV) infections are a leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in infants and children under the age of five. There are two vaccines available in the United States and one in India that can be administered early in childhood, however they only protect against specific strains1. From our previous work, both arachidin-1 (A1) and arachidin-3 (A3) from peanut (Arachis hypogaea) hairy root cultures significantly inhibit simian RV replication2,3,4. The purpose of this study was to determine if a human intestinal cell line, HT29.f8, infected with a human RV, Wa, was affected by A1 and A3. Cell viability assays were utilized to determine if A1 and A3 affect the HT29.f8 cells with/without RV infections. At eighteen hours post infection (hpi), supernatants from the RV-infected HT29.f8 cells with/without the arachidins were used in plaque forming assays to quantify and compare the amount of infectious RV particles that are produced during an infection. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to visualize cell ultrastructure and individual RV particles. Additionally, tunable resistive pulse sensing technology (TRPS) using the qNano system by IZON was employed to quantify and measure virus particle sizes, and display the size distribution of RV particles. Likewise, quantitative real time polymerase chain reactions (qRT-PCR) were performed to determine if A1 and A3 regulated cell death pathways in the HT29.f8 cell line. This data will guide our future studies to determine the antiviral mechanism(s) of action of A1 and A3
Next-to-leading order diphoton+2-jet production at the LHC
We present results from a recent calculation of prompt photon-pair production
in association with two jets to next-to-leading order (NLO) at the LHC. The
virtual contribution is evaluated using the BlackHat library, a numerical
implementation of on-shell methods for one-loop amplitudes, in conjunction with
SHERPA. We study four sets of cuts: standard jet cuts, a set of Higgs-related
cuts suggested by ATLAS, and corresponding sets which isolate the kinematic
region where the process becomes the largest background to Higgs production via
vector-boson fusion.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Presented at 11th International Symposium on
Radiative Corrections (RADCOR 2013), 22-27 September 2013, Lumley Castle
Hotel, Durham, U
Wigner phase space distribution as a wave function
We demonstrate that the Wigner function of a pure quantum state is a wave
function in a specially tuned Dirac bra-ket formalism and argue that the Wigner
function is in fact a probability amplitude for the quantum particle to be at a
certain point of the classical phase space. Additionally, we establish that in
the classical limit, the Wigner function transforms into a classical
Koopman-von Neumann wave function rather than into a classical probability
distribution. Since probability amplitude need not be positive, our findings
provide an alternative outlook on the Wigner function's negativity.Comment: 6 pages and 2 figure
Next-to-Leading Order W + 5-Jet Production at the LHC
We present next-to-leading order QCD predictions for the total cross section
and for a comprehensive set of transverse-momentum distributions in W + 5-jet
production at the Large Hadron Collider. We neglect the small contributions
from subleading-color virtual terms, top quarks and some terms containing four
quark pairs. We also present ratios of total cross sections, and use them to
obtain an extrapolation formula to an even larger number of jets. We include
the decay of the boson into leptons. This is the first such computation
with six final-state vector bosons or jets. We use BlackHat together with
SHERPA to carry out the computation.Comment: RevTex, 27 pages, 7 figures, v2 minor corrections and corrected
reference
Effective gravity from a quantum gauge theory in Euclidean space-time
We consider a gauge theory in an Euclidean -dimensional
space-time, which is known to be renormalizable to all orders in perturbation
theory for . Then, with the help of a space-time representation of
the gauge group, the gauge theory is mapped into a curved space-time with
linear connection. Further, in that mapping the gauge field plays the role of
the linear connection of the curved space-time and an effective metric tensor
arises naturally from the mapping. The obtained action, being quadratic in the
Riemann-Christoffel tensor, at a first sight, spoils a gravity interpretation
of the model. Thus, we provide a sketch of a mechanism that breaks the
color invariance and generates the Einstein-Hilbert term, as well as a
cosmological constant term, allowing an interpretation of the model as a
modified gravity in the Palatini formalism. In that sense, gravity can be
visualized as an effective classical theory, originated from a well defined
quantum gauge theory. We also show that, in the four dimensional case, two
possibilities for particular solutions of the field equations are the de Sitter
and Anti de Sitter space-times.Comment: 20 pages; Final version accepted for publication in Class.Quant.Gra
Investigation of Stilbenoids as Potential Therapeutic Agents for Rotavirus Gastroenteritis
Rotavirus (RV) infections cause severe diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide. Vaccines are available but cost prohibitive for many countries and only reduce severe symptoms. Vaccinated infants continue to shed infectious particles, and studies show decreased efficacy of the RV vaccines in tropical and subtropical countries where they are needed most. Continuing surveillance for new RV strains, assessment of vaccine efficacy, and development of cost effective antiviral drugs remain an important aspect of RV studies. This study was to determine the efficacy of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory stilbenoids to inhibit RV replication. Peanut (A. hypogaea) hairy root cultures were induced to produce stilbenoids, which were purified by high performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC) and analyzed by HPLC. HT29.f8 cells were infected with RV in the presence stilbenoids. Cell viability counts showed no cytotoxic effects onHT29.f8 cells. Viral infectivity titers were calculated and comparatively assessed to determine the effects of stilbenoid treatments. Two stilbenoids, trans-arachidin-1 and trans-arachidin-3, show a significant decrease in RV infectivity titers.Western blot analyses performed on the infected cell lysates complemented the infectivity titrations and indicated a significant decrease in viral replication. These studies show the therapeutic potential of the stilbenoids against RV replication
Effect of a gum-based thickener on the safety of swallowing in patients with poststroke oropharyngeal dysphagia
Altres ajuts: This work has been supported by Danone Nutricia Research, Fundació Salut del Consorci Sanitari del Maresme, Furega (Fundació per a la Recerca en Gastroenterologia) and Centro de Investigación en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd).Background: Increasing viscosity with thickening agents is a valid therapeutic strategy for oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD). To assess the therapeutic effect of a xanthan gum-based thickener (Nutilis Clear) at six viscosities compared with thin liquid in poststroke OD (PSOD) patients. Methods: A total of 120 patients with PSOD were studied in this controlled, multiple-dose, fixed-order, and single-blind study using videofluoroscopy (VFSS). A series of boluses of 10 mL thin liquid and 2000, 1400, 800, 450, 250, and 150 mPa s viscosities were given in duplicate, interrupted in case of aspiration. We assessed the safety and efficacy of swallow and the kinematics of the swallow response. Key Results: A total of 41.2% patients had safe swallow at thin liquid which significantly increased for all viscosities from 71.9% at 150 mPa s to 95.6% at 1400 mPa s (P <.001). PAS score (3.7 ± 2.3) at thin liquid was also reduced by increasing bolus viscosity (P <.001). The prevalence of patients with aspiration at thin liquid was 17.5% and decreased at all viscosities (P <.01), except at 150 mPa s. Increasing viscosity shortened time to laryngeal vestibule closure (LVC) at all viscosities (P <.01) and reduced bolus velocity at ≥450 mPa s (P <.05). The prevalence of patients with pharyngeal residue at each viscosity 37.7%-44.7% was similar to that at thin liquid (41.2%). Conclusions and Inferences: The prevalence of unsafe swallow with thin liquids is very high in PSOD. Increasing shear bolus viscosity with this xanthan gum-based thickener significantly increased the safety of swallow in patients with PSOD in a viscosity-dependent manner without increasing the prevalence of pharyngeal residue
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