Food additives: Sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, azorubine, and tartrazine modify the expression of NFκB, GADD45α, and MAPK8 genes

It has been reported that some of the food additives may cause sensitization, inflammation of tissues, and potentially risk factors in the development of several chronic diseases. Thus, we hypothesized that expressions of common inflammatory molecules – known to be involved in the development of various inflammatory conditions and cancers – are affected by these food additives. We investigated the effects of commonly used food preservatives and artificial food colorants based on the expressions of NFκB, GADD45α, and MAPK8 (JNK1) from the tissues of liver. RNA was isolated based on Trizol protocol and the activation levels were compared between the treated and the control groups. Tartrazine alone could elicit effects on the expressions of NFκB (p = 0.013) and MAPK8 (p = 0.022). Azorubine also resulted in apoptosis according to MAPK8 expression (p = 0.009). Preservatives were anti-apoptotic in high dose. Sodium benzoate (from low to high doses) dose-dependently silenced MAPK8 expression (p = 0.004 to p = 0.002). Addition of the two preservatives together elicited significantly greater expression of MAPK8 at half-fold dose (p = 0.002) and at fivefold dose (p = 0.008). This study suggests that some of the food preservatives and colorants can contribute to the activation of inflammatory pathways

A large multi-country outbreak of monkeypox across 41 countries in the WHO European Region, 7 March to 23 August 2022

Following the report of a non-travel-associated cluster of monkeypox cases by the United Kingdom in May 2022, 41 countries across the WHO European Region have reported 21,098 cases and two deaths by 23 August 2022. Nowcasting suggests a plateauing in case notifications. Most cases (97%) are MSM, with atypical rash-illness presentation. Spread is mainly through close contact during sexual activities. Few cases are reported among women and children. Targeted interventions of at-risk groups are needed to stop further transmission. © 2022 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). All rights reserved.The authors affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO) are alone responsible for the views expressed in this publication and they do not necessarily represent the decisions or policies of the WHO. The co-author is a fellow of the ECDC Fellowship Programme, supported financially by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The views and opinions expressed herein do not state or reflect those of ECDC. ECDC is not responsible for the data and information collation and analysis and cannot be held liable for conclusions or opinions drawn

Space group constraints on weak indices in topological insulators

Lattice translation symmetry gives rise to a large class of "weak" topological insulators (TIs), characterized by translation-protected gapless surface states and dislocation bound states. In this work we show that space group symmetries lead to constraints on the weak topological indices that define these phases. In particular, we show that screw rotation symmetry enforces the Hall conductivity in planes perpendicular to the screw axis to be quantized in multiples of the screw rank, which generally applies to interacting systems. We further show that certain 3D weak indices associated with quantum spin Hall effects (class AII) are forbidden by the Bravais lattice and by glide or even-fold screw symmetries. These results put strong constraints on weak TI candidates in the experimental and numerical search for topological materials, based on the crystal structure alone.</p

Space group constraints on weak indices in topological insulators

Lattice translation symmetry gives rise to a large class of "weak" topological insulators (TIs), characterized by translation-protected gapless surface states and dislocation bound states. In this work we show that space group symmetries lead to constraints on the weak topological indices that define these phases. In particular, we show that screw rotation symmetry enforces the Hall conductivity in planes perpendicular to the screw axis to be quantized in multiples of the screw rank, which generally applies to interacting systems. We further show that certain 3D weak indices associated with quantum spin Hall effects (class AII) are forbidden by the Bravais lattice and by glide or even-fold screw symmetries. These results put strong constraints on weak TI candidates in the experimental and numerical search for topological materials, based on the crystal structure alone

Amorphous topological phases protected by continuous rotation symmetry

Protection of topological surface states by reflection symmetry breaks down when the boundary of the sample is misaligned with one of the high symmetry planes of the crystal. We demonstrate that this limitation is removed in amorphous topological materials, where the Hamiltonian is invariant on average under reflection over any axis due to continuous rotation symmetry. We show that the edge remains protected from localization in the topological phase, and the local disorder caused by the amorphous structure results in critical scaling of the transport in the system. In order to classify such phases we perform a systematic search over all the possible symmetry classes in two dimensions and construct the example models realizing each of the proposed topological phases. Finally, we compute the topological invariant of these phases as an integral along a meridian of the spherical Brillouin zone of an amorphous Hamiltonian.QN/Akhmerov GroupQRD/Kouwenhoven LabQuTec

Logiciels de thermique de l'habitat : formalisme et precision (methodes detaillees et methodes simplifiees)

SIGLECNRS T 59023 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Qsymm: Algorithmic symmetry finding and symmetric Hamiltonian generation

Symmetry is a guiding principle in physics that allows us to generalize conclusions between many physical systems. In the ongoing search for new topological phases of matter, symmetry plays a crucial role by protecting topological phases. We address two converse questions relevant to the symmetry classification of systems: is it possible to generate all possible single-body Hamiltonians compatible with a given symmetry group? Is it possible to find all the symmetries of a given family of Hamiltonians? We present numerically stable, deterministic polynomial time algorithms to solve both of these problems. Our treatment extends to all continuous or discrete symmetries of non-interacting lattice or continuum Hamiltonians. We implement the algorithms in the Qsymm Python package, and demonstrate their usefulness through applications in active research areas of condensed matter physics, including Majorana wires and Kekule graphene.QuTechQRD/Kouwenhoven LabQN/Akhmerov Grou