Fatty acid profile of plasma NEFA does not reflect adipose tissue fatty acid profile

Adipose tissue (AT) fatty acid (FA) composition partly reflects habitual dietary intake. Circulating NEFA are mobilised from AT and might act as a minimally invasive surrogate marker of AT FA profile. Agreement between twenty-eight FA in AT and plasma NEFA was assessed using concordance coefficients in 204 male and female participants in a 12-month intervention using supplements to increase the intake of EPA and DHA. Concordance coefficients generally showed very poor agreement between AT FA and plasma NEFA at baseline SFA: 0·07; MUFA: 0·03; n-6 PUFA: 0·28; n-3 PUFA: 0·01). Participants were randomly divided into training (70 %) and validation (30 %) data sets, and models to predict AT and dietary FA were fitted using data from the training set, and their predictive ability was assessed using data from the validation set. AT n-6 PUFA and SFA were predicted from plasma NEFA with moderate accuracy (mean absolute percentage error n-6 PUFA: 11 % and SFA: 8 %), but predicted values were unable to distinguish between low, medium and high FA values, with only 25 % of n-6 PUFA and 33 % of SFA predicted values correctly assigned to the appropriate tertile group. Despite an association between AT and plasma NEFA EPA (P=0·001) and DHA (P=0·01) at baseline, there was no association after the intervention. To conclude, plasma NEFA are not a suitable surrogate for AT F

N=1N=1 supersymmetry and the three loop anomalous dimension for the chiral superfield

We calculate the three loop anomalous dimension for a general $N=1$ supersymmetric gauge theory. The result is used to probe the possible existence of renormalisation invariant relationships between the Yukawa and gauge couplings.Comment: 18 pages. Uses Harvmac. Revised version includes discussion of the special case of the Wess-Zumino mode

Predictors of lane-change errors in older drivers

OBJECTIVES: To determine the factors that predict errors in executing proper lane changes among older drivers. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of data from a longitudinal study. SETTING: Maryland's Eastern Shore. PARTICIPANTS: One thousand eighty drivers aged 67 to 87 enrolled in the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Driving Study. MEASUREMENTS: Tests of vision, cognition, health status, and self-reported distress and a driving monitoring system in each participant's car, used to quantify lane-change errors. RESULTS: In regression models, measures of neither vision nor perceived stress were related to lane-change errors after controlling for age, sex, race, and residence location. In contrast, cognitive variables, specifically performance on the Brief Test of Attention and the Beery-Buktenicka Test of Visual-Motor Integration, were related to lane-change errors. CONCLUSION: The current findings underscore the importance of specific cognitive skills, particularly auditory attention and visual perception, in the execution of driving maneuvers in older individuals

Topology, Entropy and Witten Index of Dilaton Black Holes

We have found that for extreme dilaton black holes an inner boundary must be introduced in addition to the outer boundary to give an integer value to the Euler number. The resulting manifolds have (if one identifies imaginary time) topology $S^1 \times R \times S^2$ and Euler number $\chi = 0$ in contrast to the non-extreme case with $\chi=2$. The entropy of extreme $U(1)$ dilaton black holes is already known to be zero. We include a review of some recent ideas due to Hawking on the Reissner-Nordstr\"om case. By regarding all extreme black holes as having an inner boundary, we conclude that the entropy of {\sl all} extreme black holes, including $[U(1)]^2$ black holes, vanishes. We discuss the relevance of this to the vanishing of quantum corrections and the idea that the functional integral for extreme holes gives a Witten Index. We have studied also the topology of ``moduli space'' of multi black holes. The quantum mechanics on black hole moduli spaces is expected to be supersymmetric despite the fact that they are not HyperK\"ahler since the corresponding geometry has torsion unlike the BPS monopole case. Finally, we describe the possibility of extreme black hole fission for states with an energy gap. The energy released, as a proportion of the initial rest mass, during the decay of an electro-magnetic black hole is 300 times greater than that released by the fission of an ${}^{235} U$ nucleus.Comment: 51 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX. Considerably extended version. New sections include discussion of the Witten index, topology of the moduli space, black hole sigma model, and black hole fission with huge energy releas

Scheme dependence and the NSVZ β\beta-function

We investigate the connection between the NSVZ and the DRED forms of the gauge $\beta$-function in an $N=1$ supersymmetric gauge theory. We construct a coupling constant redefinition that relates the two forms up to four loops. By abelian calculations, we are able to infer the complete non-abelian form of $\beta_g^{(3)DRED}$, and also $\beta_g^{(4)DRED}$ except for one undetermined parameter.Comment: 29 pages, including 4 figures (in 7 files). Plain TeX. Uses Harvmac and eps

Exploring skewed parton distributions with two body models on the light front II: covariant Bethe-Salpeter approach

We explore skewed parton distributions for two-body, light-front wave functions. In order to access all kinematical regimes, we adopt a covariant Bethe-Salpeter approach, which makes use of the underlying equation of motion (here the Weinberg equation) and its Green's function. Such an approach allows for the consistent treatment of the non-wave function vertex (but rules out the case of phenomenological wave functions derived from ad hoc potentials). Our investigation centers around checking internal consistency by demonstrating time-reversal invariance and continuity between valence and non-valence regimes. We derive our expressions by assuming the effective qq potential is independent of the mass squared, and verify the sum rule in a non-relativistic approximation in which the potential is energy independent. We consider bare-coupling as well as interacting skewed parton distributions and develop approximations for the Green's function which preserve the general properties of these distributions. Lastly we apply our approach to time-like form factors and find similar expressions for the related generalized distribution amplitudes.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, revised (minor changes but essential to consistency

Importance of exposure route for behavioural responses in Lumbriculus variegatus Müller (Oligochaeta: Lumbriculida) in short-term exposures to Pb

Abstract Goal, Scope and Background Lumbriculus variegatus Müller (Oligochaeta), a common freshwater sediment-dweller, has frequently been used in toxicokinetic studies, although has been less used in ecotoxicity tests. Methods For the first time the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor® (MFB) was applied in a short-term whole-sediment toxicity test. The MFB automatically and quantitatively recorded the spontaneous locomotory behaviour of Lumbriculus variegatus in exposures with two compartments, water and sediment. The study questioned, whether the animals altered their locomotion depending on the compartment which was spiked with lead (Pb). Results and Discussion As in the exposures to Pb-contaminated water/clean sediment, the animals exposed to Pb-contaminated sediment/clean water showed higher activities in intermediate Pb-concentrations. This indicates, that spontaneous locomotory activity is affected by Pb-concentrations at sublethal levels regardless of whether the Pb-concentration is found in the water or in the sediment, because these animals use both environmental compartments simultaneously. However, within the same Pb-levels, the animals showed higher locomotory activity in contaminated water compared with contaminated sediment. This indicates a possible tendency to withdraw from (‘avoidance’) contaminated water into the clean sediment compartment, whereas there was no withdrawal from contaminated sediment into clean water. The latter might be explained by the fact that withdrawal from sediment to water might increase the risk of predation and drift in nature, whereas retracting to sediment might provide shelter. Conclusions The study showed that spontaneous locomotory responses of L. variegatus to Pb depend on whether the water or sediment is contaminated. The study also concluded that the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor® can be applied effectively in sediment toxicity testing. Recommendations and Perspectives More emphasis should be given to the interactions of water/sediment in sediment ecotoxicity tests to better simulate field conditions and increase ecological realism in risk assessment, especially as quantitative recording methods exisit