Oscillation of generalized differences of H\"older and Zygmund functions

In this paper we analyze the oscillation of functions having derivatives in the H\"older or Zygmund class in terms of generalized differences and prove that its growth is governed by a version of the classical Kolmogorov's Law of the Iterated Logarithm. A better behavior is obtained for functions in the Lipschitz class via an interesting connection with Calder\'on-Zygmund operators.Comment: 16 page

Health Literacy and Treatment Adherence in Hispanic HIV-infected Patients

This study examined health literacy in Hispanic HIV infected patients attending two large public clinics in Miami, Florida and assessed its association with adherence to antiretroviral medications. We performed a cross-sectional study. Eligible participants were enrolled from the Jackson Memorial Hospital HIV outpatient clinic and the University of Miami AIDS clinical research facility. Data were derived from socio-demographic information, the adult AIDS clinical trial group (AACTG) adherence questionnaire, the short test of functional literacy in adults (STOHFLA), and information about HIV clinical stages. Questionnaires were completed by study participants or by the study coordinator in their preferred language and the information about HIV stage was obtained from the medical record. Analysis included descriptive, univariate, and bivariate statistics. Sixty patients participated. There were high rates of low health literacy in this group and low levels of adherence to antiretrovirals. However, there was no statistically significant association between health literacy and medication adherence in 30 days or 4 days prior to the clinic visit. Low health literacy was evident in one-third of participants. Health literacy alone was not associated with adherence to antiretrovirals in this sample. Future studies need to identify factors associated with adherence to antiretrovirals in HIV infected Hispanic individuals to improve disease outcomes

Sub-Femto-g free fall for space-based gravitational wave observatories : LISA Pathfinder results

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2 +/- 0.1 fm s(-2)/root Hz, or (0.54 +/- 0.01) x 10(-15) g/root Hz, with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8 +/- 0.3) fm/root Hz, about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f <= 0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s(-2)/root Hz down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Prothymosin α is phosphorylated by casein kinase-2

AbstractProthymosin α (ProTα) is a 12.5 kDa acidic polypeptide that is considered to have a nuclear function related to cell proliferation. Inspection of its amino acid sequence revealed the presence of sequences that may serve as targets for phosphorylation by casein kinase-2 (CK-2). ProTα isolated from calf thymocytes was phosphorylated in vitro by CK-2. The phosphorylation sites are Ser and Thr residues located among the first 14 amino acid residues in the ProTα sequence. Another site that is theoretically suitable for phosphorylation by CK-2, at the C-terminus of the polypeptide, is not, in fact, phosphorylated. Thymosin α1 (Tα1), a peptide whose sequence corresponds to the first 28 amino acids of ProTα, is also phosphorylated by CK-2 at the same phosphorylation sites as ProTα. In cultured splenic lymphocytes ProTα was phosphorylated at Thr residues located at positions 7, 12 and/or 13. Based on these observations we conclude that CK-2, or another cellular kinase with similar sequence specifity, is responsible for phosphorylation of ProTα in vivo

Micrometeoroid events in LISA Pathfinder

The zodiacal dust complex, a population of dust and small particles that pervades the solar system, provides important insight into the formation and dynamics of planets, comets, asteroids, and other bodies. We present a new set of data obtained from direct measurements of momentum transfer to a spacecraft from individual particle impacts. This technique is made possible by the extreme precision of the instruments flown on the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, a technology demonstrator for a future space-based gravitational wave observatory. Pathfinder employed a technique known as drag-free control that achieved rejection of external disturbances, including particle impacts, using a micropropulsion system. Using a simple model of the impacts and knowledge of the control system, we show that it is possible to detect impacts and measure properties such as the transferred momentum, direction of travel, and location of impact on the spacecraft. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic search for impacts during 4348 hr of Pathfinder data. We report a total of 54 candidates with transferred momenta ranging from 0.2 to 230 µNs. We furthermore make a comparison of these candidates with models of micrometeoroid populations in the inner solar system, including those resulting from Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), Oort Cloud comets, Halley-type comets, and asteroids. We find that our measured population is consistent with a population dominated by JFCs, with some evidence for a smaller contribution from Halley-type comets, in agreement with consensus models of the zodiacal dust complex in the momentum range sampled by LISA Pathfinder.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Effects of heavy Majorana neutrinos on lepton flavor violating processes

The observation of lepton flavor violating processes at colliders could be a clear signal of a non-minimal neutrino sector. We define a 5-parameter model with a pair of TeV fermion singlets and arbitrary mixings with the three active neutrino flavors. Then we analyze several flavor violating transitions (ℓ→ℓ′γ,ℓ′ℓ′′ℓ¯′′′ or μ−e conversions in nuclei) and Z→ℓ¯ℓ′ decays induced by the presence of heavy neutrinos. In particular, we calculate all the one-loop contributions to these processes and present their analytic expressions. We focus on the genuine effects of the heavy Majorana masses, comparing the results in that case with the ones obtained when the two heavy neutrinos define a Dirac field. Finally, we use our results to update the bounds on the heavy-light mixings in the neutrino sector.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, under Grant No. FPA2016-78220-C3-1,2,3- P (fondos FEDER), and Junta de Andalucía, Grants No. FQM 101 and No. SOMM17/6104/UGR. G. H. T. wants to acknowledge financial support from Conacyt through the program “Estancia Postdoctoral en el Extranjero.” The work of P. R. has been partially funded by Conacyt through the Project No. 250628 (Ciencia Básica) and Fondo SEP-Cinvestav 2018 (Project No. 142)

Charge-induced force noise on free-falling test masses: results from LISA pathfinder

We report on electrostatic measurements made on board the European Space Agency mission LISA Pathfinder. Detailed measurements of the charge-induced electrostatic forces exerted on free-falling test masses (TMs) inside the capacitive gravitational reference sensor are the first made in a relevant environment for a space-based gravitational wave detector. Employing a combination of charge control and electric-field compensation, we show that the level of charge-induced acceleration noise on a single TM can be maintained at a level close to 1.0¿¿fm¿s-2¿Hz-1/2 across the 0.1–100 mHz frequency band that is crucial to an observatory such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Using dedicated measurements that detect these effects in the differential acceleration between the two test masses, we resolve the stochastic nature of the TM charge buildup due to interplanetary cosmic rays and the TM charge-to-force coupling through stray electric fields in the sensor. All our measurements are in good agreement with predictions based on a relatively simple electrostatic model of the LISA Pathfinder instrument.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Zooming in on VY CMa ejecta

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), Cagliari, Italy 14–18 October 2019ALMA has allowed us to study the ejecta around evolved stars with unprecedented resolution. This extremely high resolution at the millimeter domain provides a unique tool to study the processes taking place in the innermost regions of these evolved stars. In particular, the processes leading to the mass ejections of the Red Supergiant stars are unknown. The pulsation process responsible for mass ejection in the intermediate mass AGB phase does not work in the high mass evolved stars. Therefore, studying the characteristics of the mass ejections near the photosphere of the massive stars is essential to constrain the processes leading to the observed gas ejection. In this sense, we have obtained interferometric maps in the range 231.7 ¿ 235.3 GHz of the ejecta around the Red Supergiant star VY CMa with an spatial resolution of 0.02>. These maps revealed a level of complexity higher than previously anticipated from previous observations. The complexity seems to be due both to structural and chemical processes. The molecular lines covered within these maps range from upper energies 19 up to 3400 K, tracing different excitation conditions. We will present a global view of the different structures observedThe research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 610256 (NANOCOSMOS). We would also like to thank the Spanish MINECO for funding support from grants CSD2009-00038, AYA2012-32032, AYA2016-75066-C2-1-P & AYA2016-78994-P. M.A. also thanks for funding support from the Ramón y Cajal programme of Spanish MINECO (RyC-2014- 16277)

Local and Regional Re-Establishment of Cellular Immunity during Curative Antibiotherapy of Murine Mycobacterium ulcerans Infection

BACKGROUND: Buruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected necrotizing disease of the skin, subcutaneous tissue and bone, caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. BU pathogenesis is associated with mycolactone, a lipidic exotoxin with cytotoxic and immunosuppressive properties. Since 2004, the World Health Organization recommends the treatment of BU with a combination of rifampicin and streptomycin (RS). Histological analysis of human tissue samples suggests that such antibiotic treatment reverses the mycolactone-induced local immunosuppression, leading to increased inflammatory infiltrations and phagocytosis of bacilli. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used a mouse model of M. ulcerans footpad infection, followed by combined RS treatment. Time-lapsed analyses of macroscopic lesions, bacterial burdens, histology and immunohistochemistry were performed in footpads. We also performed CFU counts, histology and immunohistochemistry in the popliteal draining lymph nodes (DLN). We observed a shift in the cellular infiltrates from a predominantly neutrophilic/macrophagic to a lymphocytic/macrophagic profile in the infected footpads of antibiotic-treated mice. This shift occurred before the elimination of viable M. ulcerans organisms, which were ultimately eradicated as demonstrated by the administration of dexamethasone. This reduction of bacillary loads was accompanied by an increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2 or iNOS). Predominantly mononuclear infiltrates persisted in the footpads during and after treatment, coincident with the long persistence of non-viable poorly stained acid-fast bacilli (AFB). We additionally observed that antibiotherapy prevented DLN destruction and lymphocyte depletion, which occurs during untreated experimental infections. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Early RS treatment of M. ulcerans mouse footpad infections results in the rapid elimination of viable bacilli with pathogen eradication. However, non-viable AFB persisted for several months after lesion sterilization. This RS regimen prevented DLN destruction, allowing the rapid re-establishment of local and regional cell mediated immune responses associated with macrophage activation. Therefore it is likely that this re-establishment of protective cellular immunity synergizes with antibiotherapy.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/41598/2007, SFRH/BD/33573/2009 and SFRH/BPD/68547/2010, Ciência 200