Glutamate Concentration in the Serum of Patients with Schizophrenia

Glutamate is the major neurotransmitter with multiple functions in the central nervous system. Glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity is involved in the pathophysiological processes in schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of glutamate in the serum of patients with paranoid schizophrenia compared with healthy individuals, and depending on the duration of the schizophrenic process and leading clinical symptoms. We investigated the level of glutamate in the serum of 158 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 94 healthy persons. Higher concentrations of glutamate in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy persons have been found. The maximum concentrations of glutamate were detected in patients with disease duration of more than ten years. Glutamate level in the serum does not depend on the prevailing negative or positive clinical symptoms. The increased concentration of glutamate can hypothetically contribute to dopaminergic and glutamatergic imbalance, leading to the development of psychotic symptoms and cognitive dysfunction

Stokes Diagnostis of 2D MHD-simulated Solar Magnetogranulation

We study the properties of solar magnetic fields on scales less than the spatial resolution of solar telescopes. A synthetic infrared spectropolarimetric diagnostics based on a 2D MHD simulation of magnetoconvection is used for this. We analyze two time sequences of snapshots that likely represent two regions of the network fields with their immediate surrounding on the solar surface with the unsigned magnetic flux density of 300 and 140 G. In the first region we find from probability density functions of the magnetic field strength that the most probable field strength at logtau_5=0 is equal to 250 G. Weak fields (B < 500 G) occupy about 70% of the surface, while stronger fields (B 1000 G) occupy only 9.7% of the surface. The magnetic flux is -28 G and its imbalance is -0.04. In the second region, these parameters are correspondingly equal to 150 G, 93.3 %, 0.3 %, -40 G, and -0.10. We estimate the distribution of line-of-sight velocities on the surface of log tau_5=-1. The mean velocity is equal to 0.4 km/s in the first simulated region. The averaged velocity in the granules is -1.2 km/s and in the intergranules is 2.5 km/s. In the second region, the corresponding values of the mean velocities are equal to 0, -1.8, 1.5 km/s. In addition we analyze the asymmetry of synthetic Stokes-V profiles of the Fe I 1564.8 nm line. The mean values of the amplitude and area asymmetry do not exceed 1%. The spatially smoothed amplitude asymmetry is increased to 10% while the area asymmetry is only slightly varied.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure

The nuclear energy density functional formalism

The present document focuses on the theoretical foundations of the nuclear energy density functional (EDF) method. As such, it does not aim at reviewing the status of the field, at covering all possible ramifications of the approach or at presenting recent achievements and applications. The objective is to provide a modern account of the nuclear EDF formalism that is at variance with traditional presentations that rely, at one point or another, on a {\it Hamiltonian-based} picture. The latter is not general enough to encompass what the nuclear EDF method represents as of today. Specifically, the traditional Hamiltonian-based picture does not allow one to grasp the difficulties associated with the fact that currently available parametrizations of the energy kernel $E[g',g]$ at play in the method do not derive from a genuine Hamilton operator, would the latter be effective. The method is formulated from the outset through the most general multi-reference, i.e. beyond mean-field, implementation such that the single-reference, i.e. "mean-field", derives as a particular case. As such, a key point of the presentation provided here is to demonstrate that the multi-reference EDF method can indeed be formulated in a {\it mathematically} meaningful fashion even if $E[g',g]$ does {\it not} derive from a genuine Hamilton operator. In particular, the restoration of symmetries can be entirely formulated without making {\it any} reference to a projected state, i.e. within a genuine EDF framework. However, and as is illustrated in the present document, a mathematically meaningful formulation does not guarantee that the formalism is sound from a {\it physical} standpoint. The price at which the latter can be enforced as well in the future is eventually alluded to.Comment: 64 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Euroschool Lecture Notes in Physics Vol.IV, Christoph Scheidenberger and Marek Pfutzner editor

A century of trends in adult human height

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3-19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8-144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries