Dynamical Instability of Holographic QCD at Finite Density

In this paper we study the dynamical instability of Sakai-Sugimoto's holographic QCD model at finite baryon density. In this model, the baryon density, represented by the smeared instanton on the worldvolume of the probe D8-\overline{D8} mesonic brane, sources the worldvolume electric field, and through the Chern-Simons term it will induces the instability to form a chiral helical wave. This is similar to Deryagin-Grigoriev-Rubakov instability to form the chiral density wave for large N_c QCD at finite density. Our results show that this kind of instability occurs for sufficiently high baryon number densities. The phase diagram of holographic QCD will thus be changed from the one which is based only on thermodynamics. This holographic approach provides an effective way to study the phases of QCD at finite density, where the conventional perturbative QCD and lattice simulation fail.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures;v2. add thermodynamics discussion; v4. Treatment of the instanton energy changed and QGP analysis added. Some figures replaced and added, including the phase diagra

Comparison between the use of percutaneous nephrostomy and internal ureteral stenting in the management of long-term ureteral obstructions

AbstractObjectivesIn this study, we compared between the efficacy and complications of percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) tubes and those of internal ureteral stents (e.g., double-J stents) used for relieving ureteral obstructions.Materials and methodsA retrospective chart review was performed. Between 2003 and 2009, 110 patients (63 females and 47 males, with a mean age of 63.6 years, range 19–89 years) who had an extrinsic ureteral obstruction, and subsequently underwent either PCN tube placement (n = 44) or internal ureteral stent placement (n = 66), were enrolled. Clinical data on patients with duration of diversion/drainage for more than 6 months were collected. Statistical analyses were performed with respect to a patient's age, etiology of the obstruction, outcome of residual hydronephrosis, and renal function tests.ResultsPatient ages and procedure-related complications were comparable between these two groups. The mean duration of diversion was 16.8 ± 8.6 months in the stent group versus 14.1 ± 6.7 months in the PCN group (p = 0.067). A smaller elevation in serum creatinine was noted in the PCN group (0.21 vs. 0.78 mg/dL, p = 0.03). Nine of 86 (10.4%) double-J stents were converted to PCN tubes during the study period. Residual hydronephrosis after decompression was more common in the stent group than in the PCN group (65.2% vs. 27.2%, p = 0.01). These findings suggest better preservation of renal function by a PCN tube.ConclusionsResults of this study suggest that, to better preserve renal function, PCN is the choice of treatment, irrespective of the etiology. While patients who have a PCN tube may have to carry an additional external drainage device, the complications did not seem to differ significantly from those who used internal drainage with a ureteral stent. Because young cancer patients may especially need aggressive chemotherapy to prolong their survival, PCN urinary drainage may become a better choice from the standpoint of cancer control

Endoscopic Balloon Dilatation for Esophageal Strictures in Children Younger Than 6 Years: Experience in a Medical Center

Esophageal strictures in children may be caused by congenital anomaly, caustic agent or foreign body ingestion, complication of reflux esophagitis, and after esophageal surgery. Accidental ingestion of alkaline fluid is the most common cause of corrosive esophagitis in children in Taiwan. In this article, we studied 10 pediatric patients who had esophageal strictures and required endoscopic balloon dilatation (EBD) therapy under general anesthesia from January 2003 to June 2009. The median age of the studied children who received their first EBD treatment was 36.2 months (13.4–60.9 months), with a dilator size of 8.0mm (5–12 mm). The interval between injury and initial EBD was 3.0 months (1.3–60.8 months). The treatment duration averaged 16.7 months (3.0–69.3 months), with 13.5 (4–31) instances of EBD therapy per patient. The greater the length of stricture, the more number of times EBD was needed. In these cases, no severe complication was found after the procedure. The result indicated that EBD under general anesthesia was a safe and effective method to resolve the symptom of dysphagia and diet condition. Because of the limited number of study cases, long-term studies are required to further confirm the clinical effect of EBD under general anesthesia

Ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella enterica Typhimurium and Choleraesuis from Pigs to Humans, Taiwan

We evaluated the disk susceptibility data of 671 nontyphoid Salmonella isolates collected from different parts of Taiwan from March 2001 to August 2001 and 1,261 nontyphoid Salmonella isolates from the National Taiwan University Hospital from 1996 to 2001. Overall, ciprofloxacn resistance was found in 2.7% (18/671) of all nontyphoid Salmonella isolates, in 1.4% (5/347) of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium and in 7.5% (8/107) in S. enterica serotype Choleraesuis nationwide. MICs of six newer fluoroquinolones were determined for the following isolates: 37 isolates of ciprofloxacin-resistant (human) S. enterica Typhimurium (N = 26) and Choleraesuis (N = 11), 10 isolates of ciprofloxacin-susceptible (MIC <1 μg/mL) (human) isolates of these two serotypes, and 15 swine isolates from S. enterica Choleraesuis (N = 13) and Typhmurium (N = 2) with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (MIC >0.12 μg/mL). Sequence analysis of the gryA, gyrB, parC, parE, and acrR genes, ciprofloxacin accumulation; and genotypes generated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis with three restriction enzymes (SpeI, XbaI, and BlnI) were performed. All 26 S. enterica Typhimurium isolates from humans and pigs belonged to genotype I. For S. enterica Choleraesuis isolates, 91% (10/11) of human isolates and 54% (7/13) of swine isolates belonged to genotype B. These two genotypes isolates from humans all exhibited a high-level of resistance to ciprofloxacin (MIC 16–64 μg/mL). They had two-base substitutions in the gyrA gene at codons 83 (Ser83Phe) and 87 (Asp87Gly or Asp87Asn) and in the parC gene at codon 80 (Ser80Arg, Ser80Ile, or Ser84Lys). Our investigation documented that not only did these two S. enterica isolates have a high prevalence of ciprofloxacin resistance nationwide but also that some closely related ciprofloxacin-resistant strains are disseminated from pigs to humans

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Measurement of associated W plus charm production in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació