Religion and health : the application of a cognitive-behavioural framework

The empirical examination of the relationship between religion and health has often lacked theoretical direction. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between dimensions of religiosity and health within the context of James and Wells’ cognitive-behavioural framework of religion. A community sample of 177 UK adults completed measures of religious orientation, religious coping, and prayer activity alongside the SF-36 Health Survey. Consistent with the cognitive-behavioural framework of religion, intrinsic religiosity and meditative prayer scores accounted for unique variance in both physical and mental health scores over a number of religious measures. These findings suggest the potential usefulness and importance of a cognitive-behavioural framework to understand the relationship between religion (as measured by meditative prayer and intrinsic religiosity) and health

TABLE OF ENERGY LEVELS OF ASYMMETRIC EVEN NUCLEI WITH BETA-VIBRATION- ROTATION INTERACTION

The energy levels predicted by Davydov and Chaban's model were computed to compare theoretical predictions with experimental results. The computations were carried out for mu between 1.0, 0.90, 0.40, 0.35, and 0.1 and for gamma between 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, and 30 deg . (W.L.H.

A glassy contribution to the heat capacity of hcp 4^4He solids

We model the low-temperature specific heat of solid $^4$He in the hexagonal closed packed structure by invoking two-level tunneling states in addition to the usual phonon contribution of a Debye crystal for temperatures far below the Debye temperature, $T < \Theta_D/50$. By introducing a cutoff energy in the two-level tunneling density of states, we can describe the excess specific heat observed in solid hcp $^4$He, as well as the low-temperature linear term in the specific heat. Agreement is found with recent measurements of the temperature behavior of both specific heat and pressure. These results suggest the presence of a very small fraction, at the parts-per-million (ppm) level, of two-level tunneling systems in solid $^4$He, irrespective of the existence of supersolidity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

The genus Boccardia (Polychaeta: Spionidae) associated with mollusc shells on the south coast of South Africa

Three species of Boccardia (B. polybranchia, B. pseudonatrix and B. proboscidea) were associated with mollusc shells on the south and south-east coasts of South Africa. Boccardia polybranchia was widely distributed along the coast and falls within the known distribution range of this species. Comparisons with material from other, international, locations showed that some specimens have been misidentified. No characters could be found to characterize distinct species for different regions within the range of B. polybranchia, as currently recognized. Boccardia pseudonatrix was found only at the most eastern site, increasing its known distribution range. Boccardia proboscidea, a non-indigenous species, was found only on abalone farms and was most abundant in the west

The glassy response of solid He-4 to torsional oscillations

We calculated the glassy response of solid He-4 to torsional oscillations assuming a phenomenological glass model. Making only a few assumptions about the distribution of glassy relaxation times in a small subsystem of otherwise rigid solid He-4, we can account for the magnitude of the observed period shift and concomitant dissipation peak in several torsion oscillator experiments. The implications of the glass model for solid He-4 are threefold: (1) The dynamics of solid He-4 is governed by glassy relaxation processes. (2) The distribution of relaxation times varies significantly between different torsion oscillator experiments. (3) The mechanical response of a torsion oscillator does not require a supersolid component to account for the observed anomaly at low temperatures, though we cannot rule out its existence.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, presented at QFS200

Defects and glassy dynamics in solid He-4: Perspectives and current status

We review the anomalous behavior of solid He-4 at low temperatures with particular attention to the role of structural defects present in solid. The discussion centers around the possible role of two level systems and structural glassy components for inducing the observed anomalies. We propose that the origin of glassy behavior is due to the dynamics of defects like dislocations formed in He-4. Within the developed framework of glassy components in a solid, we give a summary of the results and predictions for the effects that cover the mechanical, thermodynamic, viscoelastic, and electro-elastic contributions of the glassy response of solid He-4. Our proposed glass model for solid He-4 has several implications: (1) The anomalous properties of He-4 can be accounted for by allowing defects to freeze out at lowest temperatures. The dynamics of solid He-4 is governed by glasslike (glassy) relaxation processes and the distribution of relaxation times varies significantly between different torsional oscillator, shear modulus, and dielectric function experiments. (2) Any defect freeze-out will be accompanied by thermodynamic signatures consistent with entropy contributions from defects. It follows that such entropy contribution is much smaller than the required superfluid fraction, yet it is sufficient to account for excess entropy at lowest temperatures. (3) We predict a Cole-Cole type relation between the real and imaginary part of the response functions for rotational and planar shear that is occurring due to the dynamics of defects. Similar results apply for other response functions. (4) Using the framework of glassy dynamics, we predict low-frequency yet to be measured electro-elastic features in defect rich He-4 crystals. These predictions allow one to directly test the ideas and very presence of glassy contributions in He-4.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figure

Classification of a supersolid: Trial wavefunctions, Symmetry breakings and Excitation spectra

A state of matter is characterized by its symmetry breaking and elementary excitations. A supersolid is a state which breaks both translational symmetry and internal $U(1)$ symmetry. Here, we review some past and recent works in phenomenological Ginsburg-Landau theories, ground state trial wavefunctions and microscopic numerical calculations. We also write down a new effective supersolid Hamiltonian on a lattice. The eigenstates of the Hamiltonian contains both the ground state wavefunction and all the excited states (supersolidon) wavefunctions. We contrast various kinds of supersolids in both continuous systems and on lattices, both condensed matter and cold atom systems. We provide additional new insights in studying their order parameters, symmetry breaking patterns, the excitation spectra and detection methods.Comment: REVTEX4, 19 pages, 3 figure

In vivo fiber optic raman spectroscopy of muscle in preclinical models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Neuromuscular diseases result in muscle weakness, disability, and, in many instances, death. Preclinical models form the bedrock of research into these disorders, and the development of in vivo and potentially translational biomarkers for the accurate identification of disease is crucial. Spontaneous Raman spectroscopy can provide a rapid, label-free, and highly specific molecular fingerprint of tissue, making it an attractive potential biomarker. In this study, we have developed and tested an in vivo intramuscular fiber optic Raman technique in two mouse models of devastating human neuromuscular diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (SOD1G93A and mdx, respectively). The method identified diseased and healthy muscle with high classification accuracies (area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC): 0.76–0.92). In addition, changes in diseased muscle over time were also identified (AUROCs 0.89–0.97). Key spectral changes related to proteins and the loss of α-helix protein structure. Importantly, in vivo recording did not cause functional motor impairment and only a limited, resolving tissue injury was seen on high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Lastly, we demonstrate that ex vivo muscle from human patients with these conditions produced similar spectra to those observed in mice. We conclude that spontaneous Raman spectroscopy of muscle shows promise as a translational research tool

Conformational fingerprinting with Raman spectroscopy reveals protein structure as a translational biomarker of muscle pathology

Neuromuscular disorders are a group of conditions that can result in weakness of skeletal muscles. Examples include fatal diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and conditions associated with high morbidity such as myopathies (muscle diseases). Many of these disorders are known to have abnormal protein folding and protein aggregates. Thus, easy to apply methods for the detection of such changes may prove useful diagnostic biomarkers. Raman spectroscopy has shown early promise in the detection of muscle pathology in neuromuscular disorders and is well suited to characterising the conformational profiles relating to protein secondary structure. In this work, we assess if Raman spectroscopy can detect differences in protein structure in muscle in the setting of neuromuscular disease. We utilise in vivo Raman spectroscopy measurements from preclinical models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and the myopathy Duchenne muscular dystrophy, together with ex vivo measurements of human muscle samples from individuals with and without myopathy. Using quantitative conformation profiling and matrix factorisation we demonstrate that quantitative ‘conformational fingerprinting’ can be used to identify changes in protein folding in muscle. Notably, myopathic conditions in both preclinical models and human samples manifested a significant reduction in α-helix structures, with concomitant increases in β-sheet and, to a lesser extent, nonregular configurations. Spectral patterns derived through non-negative matrix factorisation were able to identify myopathy with a high accuracy (79% in mouse, 78% in human tissue). This work demonstrates the potential of conformational fingerprinting as an interpretable biomarker for neuromuscular disorders