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Diffusion of Botulinum Toxins
Background: It is generally agreed that diffusion of botulinum toxin occurs, but the extent of the spread and its clinical importance are disputed. Many factors have been suggested to play a role but which have the most clinical relevance is a subject of much discussion. Methods: This review discusses the variables affecting diffusion, including protein composition and molecular size as well as injection factors (e.g., volume, dose, injection method). It also discusses data on diffusion from comparative studies in animal models and human clinical trials that illustrate differences between the available botulinum toxin products (onabotulinumtoxinA, abobotulinumtoxinA, incobotulinumtoxinA, and rimabotulinumtoxinB). Results: Neither molecular weight nor the presence of complexing proteins appears to affect diffusion; however, injection volume, concentration, and dose all play roles and are modifiable. Both animal and human studies show that botulinum toxin products are not interchangeable, and that some products are associated with greater diffusion and higher rates of diffusion-related adverse events than others. Discussion: Each of the botulinum toxins is a unique pharmacologic entity. A working knowledge of the different serotypes is essential to avoid unwanted diffusion-related adverse events. In addition, clinicians should be aware that the factors influencing diffusion may range from properties intrinsic to the drug to accurate muscle selection as well as dilution, volume, and dose injected
Optimal Renormalization Scale and Scheme for Exclusive Processes
We use the BLM method to fix the renormalization scale of the QCD coupling in
exclusive hadronic amplitudes such as the pion form factor and the
photon-to-pion transition form factor at large momentum transfer.
Renormalization-scheme-independent commensurate scale relations are established
which connect the hard scattering subprocess amplitudes that control exclusive
processes to other QCD observables such as the heavy quark potential and the
electron-positron annihilation cross section. The commensurate scale relation
connecting the heavy quark potential, as determined from lattice gauge theory,
to the photon-to-pion transition form factor is in excellent agreement with
data assuming that the pion distribution amplitude is
close to its asymptotic form . We also reproduce the
scaling and normalization of the data at large
momentum transfer. Because the renormalization scale is small, we argue that
the effective coupling is nearly constant, thus accounting for the nominal
scaling behavior of the data. However, the normalization of the space-like pion
form factor obtained from electroproduction experiments is
somewhat higher than that predicted by the corresponding commensurate scale
relation. This discrepancy may be due to systematic errors introduced by the
extrapolation of the electroproduction data to the
pion pole.Comment: 22 pages, Latex, 7 Latex figures. Several references added,
discussion of scale fixing revised for clarity. Final version to appear in
Phys. Rev.
Renormalization-Scale-Invariant PQCD Predictions for R_e+e- and the Bjorken Sum Rule at Next-to-Leading Order
We discuss application of the physical QCD effective charge ,
defined via the heavy-quark potential, in perturbative calculations at
next-to-leading order. When coupled with the Brodsky-Lepage-Mackenzie
prescription for fixing the renormalization scales, the resulting series are
automatically and naturally scale and scheme independent, and represent
unambiguous predictions of perturbative QCD. We consider in detail such
commensurate scale relations for the annihilation ratio
and the Bjorken sum rule. In both cases the improved predictions are in
excellent agreement with experiment.Comment: 13 Latex pages with 5 figures; to be published in Physical Review
Scaling laws in hadronic processes and string theory
We propose a possible scheme for getting the known QCD scaling laws within
string theory. In particular, we consider amplitudes for exclusive scattering
of hadrons at large momentum transfer, hadronic form factors and distribution
functions.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, a comment and a reference added, a final version
to appear in Physical Review
Light-Cone Quantization of Gauge Fields
Light-cone quantization of gauge field theory is considered. With a careful
treatment of the relevant degrees of freedom and where they must be
initialized, the results obtained in equal-time quantization are recovered, in
particular the Mandelstam-Leibbrandt form of the gauge field propagator. Some
aspects of the ``discretized'' light-cone quantization of gauge fields are
discussed.Comment: SMUHEP/93-20, 17 pages (one figure available separately from the
authors). Plain TeX, all macros include
Nucleon Helicity in Pion Photoproduction
Pion-photoproduction data is examined to check for the nucleon-helicity
conservation predicted by asymptotic QCD. The differential cross section shows
agreement with constituent-counting rules, and polarization data is not in
disagreement with conservation of nucleon helicity. However large uncertainties
in the polarization measurements do not allow a conclusive statement. The
helicity amplitudes from a partial-wave analysis are also examined for helicity
conservation. While the amplitudes become small as increases, the
dependence of the helicity-conserving amplitudes is similar to the dependence
of the non-conserving amplitudes.Comment: plain tex, 6 pages, 8 figure
Vacuum Structure of Two-Dimensional Gauge Theories on the Light Front
We discuss the problem of vacuum structure in light-front field theory in the
context of (1+1)-dimensional gauge theories. We begin by reviewing the known
light-front solution of the Schwinger model, highlighting the issues that are
relevant for reproducing the -structure of the vacuum. The most
important of these are the need to introduce degrees of freedom initialized on
two different null planes, the proper incorporation of gauge field zero modes
when periodicity conditions are used to regulate the infrared, and the
importance of carefully regulating singular operator products in a
gauge-invariant way. We then consider SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in 1+1 dimensions
coupled to massless adjoint fermions. With all fields in the adjoint
representation the gauge group is actually SU(2), which possesses
nontrivial topology. In particular, there are two topological sectors and the
physical vacuum state has a structure analogous to a vacuum. We
formulate the model using periodicity conditions in for infrared
regulation, and consider a solution in which the gauge field zero mode is
treated as a constrained operator. We obtain the expected vacuum
structure, and verify that the discrete vacuum angle which enters has no effect
on the spectrum of the theory. We then calculate the chiral condensate, which
is sensitive to the vacuum structure. The result is nonzero, but inversely
proportional to the periodicity length, a situation which is familiar from the
Schwinger model. The origin of this behavior is discussed.Comment: 29 pages, uses RevTeX. Improved discussion of the physical subspace
generally and the vacuum states in particular. Basic conclusions are
unchanged, but some specific results are modifie
Photoproduction at collider energies: from RHIC and HERA to the LHC
We present the mini-proceedings of the workshop on ``Photoproduction at
collider energies: from RHIC and HERA to the LHC'' held at the European Centre
for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*, Trento)
from January 15 to 19, 2007. The workshop gathered both theorists and
experimentalists to discuss the current status of investigations of high-energy
photon-induced processes at different colliders (HERA, RHIC, and Tevatron) as
well as preparations for extension of these studies at the LHC. The main
physics topics covered were: (i) small- QCD in photoproduction studies with
protons and in electromagnetic (aka. ultraperipheral) nucleus-nucleus
collisions, (ii) hard diffraction physics at hadron colliders, and (iii)
photon-photon collisions at very high energies: electroweak and beyond the
Standard Model processes. These mini-proceedings consist of an introduction and
short summaries of the talks presented at the meeting
Scale Setting in QCD and the Momentum Flow in Feynman Diagrams
We present a formalism to evaluate QCD diagrams with a single virtual gluon
using a running coupling constant at the vertices. This method, which
corresponds to an all-order resummation of certain terms in a perturbative
series, provides a description of the momentum flow through the gluon
propagator. It can be viewed as a generalization of the scale-setting
prescription of Brodsky, Lepage and Mackenzie to all orders in perturbation
theory. In particular, the approach can be used to investigate why in some
cases the ``typical'' momenta in a loop diagram are different from the
``natural'' scale of the process. It offers an intuitive understanding of the
appearance of infrared renormalons in perturbation theory and their connection
to the rate of convergence of a perturbative series. Moreover, it allows one to
separate short- and long-distance contributions by introducing a hard
factorization scale. Several applications to one- and two-scale problems are
discussed in detail.Comment: eqs.(51) and (83) corrected, minor typographic changes mad
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