1,862 research outputs found
The role of pathology in an investigation of an outbreak of West Nile encephalitis in New York, 1999.
An outbreak of encephalitis occurred in New York City in late August 1999, the first caused by West Nile virus in North America. Histopathologic and immunopathologic examinations performed on human autopsy materials helped guide subsequent laboratory and epidemiologic investigations that led to identification of the etiologic agent
Landau Levels, Magnetic Fields and Holographic Fermi Liquids
We further consider a probe fermion in a dyonic black hole background in
anti-de Sitter spacetime, at zero temperature, comparing and contrasting two
distinct classes of solution that have previously appeared in the literature.
Each class has members labeled by an integer n, corresponding to the n-th
Landau level for the fermion. Our interest is the study of the spectral
function of the fermion, interpreting poles in it as indicative of
quasiparticles associated with the edge of a Fermi surface in the
holographically dual strongly coupled theory in a background magnetic field H
at finite chemical potential. Using both analytical and numerical methods, we
explicitly show how one class of solutions naturally leads to an infinite
family of quasiparticle peaks, signaling the presence of a Fermi surface for
each level n. We present some of the properties of these peaks, which fall into
a well behaved pattern at large n, extracting the scaling of Fermi energy with
n and H, as well as the dispersion of the quasiparticles.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures. Changed some of the terminology: non-separable
-> infinite-sum. Clarified the relationship between our ansatz and the
separable ansat
Cathelicidin suppresses lipid accumulation and hepatic steatosis by inhibition of the CD36 receptor.
Background and objectivesObesity is a global epidemic which increases the risk of the metabolic syndrome. Cathelicidin (LL-37 and mCRAMP) is an antimicrobial peptide with an unknown role in obesity. We hypothesize that cathelicidin expression correlates with obesity and modulates fat mass and hepatic steatosis.Materials and methodsMale C57BL/6 J mice were fed a high-fat diet. Streptozotocin was injected into mice to induce diabetes. Experimental groups were injected with cathelicidin and CD36 overexpressing lentiviruses. Human mesenteric fat adipocytes, mouse 3T3-L1 differentiated adipocytes and human HepG2 hepatocytes were used in the in vitro experiments. Cathelicidin levels in non-diabetic, prediabetic and type II diabetic patients were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsLentiviral cathelicidin overexpression reduced hepatic steatosis and decreased the fat mass of high-fat diet-treated diabetic mice. Cathelicidin overexpression reduced mesenteric fat and hepatic fatty acid translocase (CD36) expression that was reversed by lentiviral CD36 overexpression. Exposure of adipocytes and hepatocytes to cathelicidin significantly inhibited CD36 expression and reduced lipid accumulation. Serum cathelicidin protein levels were significantly increased in non-diabetic and prediabetic patients with obesity, compared with non-diabetic patients with normal body mass index (BMI) values. Prediabetic patients had lower serum cathelicidin protein levels than non-diabetic subjects.ConclusionsCathelicidin inhibits the CD36 fat receptor and lipid accumulation in adipocytes and hepatocytes, leading to a reduction of fat mass and hepatic steatosis in vivo. Circulating cathelicidin levels are associated with increased BMI. Our results demonstrate that cathelicidin modulates the development of obesity
Cold Nuclear Matter In Holographic QCD
We study the Sakai-Sugimoto model of holographic QCD at zero temperature and
finite chemical potential. We find that as the baryon chemical potential is
increased above a critical value, there is a phase transition to a nuclear
matter phase characterized by a condensate of instantons on the probe D-branes
in the string theory dual. As a result of electrostatic interactions between
the instantons, this condensate expands towards the UV when the chemical
potential is increased, giving a holographic version of the expansion of the
Fermi surface. We argue based on properties of instantons that the nuclear
matter phase is necessarily inhomogeneous to arbitrarily high density. This
suggests an explanation of the "chiral density wave" instability of the quark
Fermi surface in large N_c QCD at asymptotically large chemical potential. We
study properties of the nuclear matter phase as a function of chemical
potential beyond the transition and argue in particular that the model can be
used to make a semi-quantitative prediction of the binding energy per nucleon
for nuclear matter in ordinary QCD.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure, v2: some formulae corrected, qualitative
results unchange
Magnetic Behavior of a Mixed Ising Ferrimagnetic Model in an Oscillating Magnetic Field
The magnetic behavior of a mixed Ising ferrimagnetic system on a square
lattice, in which the two interpenetrating square sublattices have spins +- 1/2
and spins +-1,0, in the presence of an oscillating magnetic field has been
studied with Monte Carlo techniques. The model includes nearest and
next-nearest neighbor interactions, a crystal field and the oscillating
external field. By studying the hysteretic response of this model to an
oscillating field we found that it qualitatively reproduces the increasing of
the coercive field at the compensation temperature observed in real
ferrimagnets, a crucial feature for magneto-optical applications. This behavior
is basically independent of the frequency of the field and the size of the
system. The magnetic response of the system is related to a dynamical
transition from a paramagnetic to a ferromagnetic phase and to the different
temperature dependence of the relaxation times of both sublattices.Comment: 10 figures. To be published in Phys.Rev
Coherent bremsstrahlung, boherent pair production, birefringence and polarimetry in the 20-170 GeV energy range using aligned crystals
The processes of coherent bremsstrahlung (CB) and coherent pair production
(CPP) based on aligned crystal targets have been studied in the energy range
20-170 GeV. The experimental arrangement allowed for measurements of single
photon properties of these phenomena including their polarization dependences.
This is significant as the theoretical description of CB and CPP is an area of
active theoretical debate and development. With the theoretical approach used
in this paper both the measured cross sections and polarization observables are
predicted very well. This indicates a proper understanding of CB and CPP up to
energies of 170 GeV. Birefringence in CPP on aligned crystals is applied to
determine the polarization parameters in our measurements. New technologies for
high energy photon beam optics including phase plates and polarimeters for
linear and circular polarization are demonstrated in this experiment. Coherent
bremsstrahlung for the strings-on-strings (SOS) orientation yields a larger
enhancement for hard photons than CB for the channeling orientations of the
crystal. Our measurements and our calculations indicate low photon
polarizations for the high energy SOS photons.Comment: 23 pages, 27 figures, 2 tables, REVTeX4 two column
Reemerging Leptospirosis, California
Leptospirosis is a reemerging infectious disease in California. Leptospirosis is the most widespread zoonosis throughout the world, though it is infrequently diagnosed in the continental United States. From 1982 to 2001, most reported California cases occurred in previously healthy young adult white men after recreational exposures to contaminated freshwater. We report five recent cases of human leptospirosis acquired in California, including the first documented common-source outbreak of human leptospirosis acquired in this state, and describe the subsequent environmental investigation. Salient features in the California cases include high fever with uniform renal impairment and mild hepatitis. Because leptospirosis can progress rapidly if untreated, this reemerging infection deserves consideration in febrile patients with a history of recreational freshwater exposure, even in states with a low reported incidence of infection
Selective N,N-Dibenzylation of primary aliphatic amines with dibenzylcarbonate in the presence of phosphonium salts
In the presence of catalytic amounts of tetraalkylphosphonium
salts and under solventless conditions,
primary aliphatic amines (RNH2: R ) PhCH2, Ph(CH2)2,
n-decyl, and 1-naphthylmethyl) are efficiently N-benzylated
to the corresponding RN(CH2Ph)2, using dibenzyl carbonate
as the benzylating reagent. Compared to the reaction run
without salt, where the competitive formation of the benzyl
carbamate is favored, the phosphonium salt promotes high
selectivity toward the benzylated amine and an increase of
the reaction rate as well. However, in a single case explored
for an amino acidic compound, namely 4-(aminomethyl)benzoic
acid [4-(NH2CH2)C6H4CO2H], both N,N-dibenzylation
and esterification of the acid group were observed. Analysis
of the IR vibrational modes of benzylamine in the presence
of tetrabutylphosphonium bromide supports the hypothesis
that this enhanced selectivity may be due to an acid-base
interaction between the salt and the amine, which increases
the steric bulk of the amine and favors attack of the
nucleophile on the less hindered alkyl terminus of dibenzyl
carbonate
Norovirus gastroenteritis general outbreak associated with raw shellfish consumption in South Italy
BACKGROUND: Despite Noroviruses (NV, previously "Norwalk-like viruses") being a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks, the impact of NV infection is at present unknown and little information is available about strains circulating in Italy. In April 2002 an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in the province of Bari (South-east Italy), involving several households. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed in order to assess risk factors associated with illness. All households where a case occurred were included in the study. Faecal specimens were collected from ill individuals. NV-specific RT-PCR was performed. Eleven samples of mussels were collected from fish-markets involved in the outbreak. A nested PCR was used for mussel samples. RESULTS: One hundred and three cases, detected by means of active surveillance, met the case definition. Raw shellfish eating was the principal risk factor for the disease, as indicated by the analytic issues (Risk Ratio: 1.50; IC 95%: 1.18 – 1.89; p < 0.001). NVs were found by means of RT-PCR of all the stool specimens from the 24 patients tested. Eleven samples of shellfish from local markets were tested for the presence or NVs; six were positive by nested PCR and genotypes were related to that found in patients' stools. CONCLUSION: This is the first community outbreak caused by NVs related to sea-food consumption described in Italy. The study confirms that the present standards for human faecal contamination do not seem to be a reliable indicator of viral contaminants in mussels
Black Holes as Effective Geometries
Gravitational entropy arises in string theory via coarse graining over an
underlying space of microstates. In this review we would like to address the
question of how the classical black hole geometry itself arises as an effective
or approximate description of a pure state, in a closed string theory, which
semiclassical observers are unable to distinguish from the "naive" geometry. In
cases with enough supersymmetry it has been possible to explicitly construct
these microstates in spacetime, and understand how coarse-graining of
non-singular, horizon-free objects can lead to an effective description as an
extremal black hole. We discuss how these results arise for examples in Type II
string theory on AdS_5 x S^5 and on AdS_3 x S^3 x T^4 that preserve 16 and 8
supercharges respectively. For such a picture of black holes as effective
geometries to extend to cases with finite horizon area the scale of quantum
effects in gravity would have to extend well beyond the vicinity of the
singularities in the effective theory. By studying examples in M-theory on
AdS_3 x S^2 x CY that preserve 4 supersymmetries we show how this can happen.Comment: Review based on lectures of JdB at CERN RTN Winter School and of VB
at PIMS Summer School. 68 pages. Added reference
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