809 research outputs found
Magnetized cosmological perturbations
A large-scale cosmic magnetic field affects not only the growth of density
perturbations, but also rotational instabilities and anisotropic deformation in
the density distribution. We give a fully relativistic treatment of all these
effects, incorporating the magneto-curvature coupling that arises in a
relativistic approach. We show that this coupling produces a small enhancement
of the growing mode on superhorizon scales. The magnetic field generates new
nonadiabatic constant and decaying modes, as well as nonadiabatic corrections
to the standard growing and decaying modes. Magnetized isocurvature
perturbations are purely decaying on superhorizon scales. On subhorizon scales
before recombination, magnetized density perturbations propagate as
magneto-sonic waves, leading to a small decrease in the spacing of acoustic
peaks. Fluctuations in the field direction induce scale-dependent vorticity,
and generate precession in the rotational vector. On small scales, magnetized
density vortices propagate as Alfv\'{e}n waves during the radiation era. After
recombination, they decay slower than non-magnetized vortices. Magnetic
fluctuations are also an active source of anisotropic distortion in the density
distribution. We derive the evolution equations for this distortion, and find a
particular growing solution.Comment: Revised version, typos corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Evaluation of e-liquid toxicity using an open-source high-throughput screening assay
The e-liquids used in electronic cigarettes (E-cigs) consist of propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerin (VG), nicotine, and chemical additives for flavoring. There are currently over 7,700 e-liquid flavors available, and while some have been tested for toxicity in the laboratory, most have not. Here, we developed a 3-phase, 384-well, plate-based, high-throughput screening (HTS) assay to rapidly triage and validate the toxicity of multiple e-liquids. Our data demonstrated that the PG/VG vehicle adversely affected cell viability and that a large number of e-liquids were more toxic than PG/VG. We also performed gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis on all tested e-liquids. Subsequent nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis revealed that e-liquids are an extremely heterogeneous group. Furthermore, these data indicated that (i) the more chemicals contained in an e-liquid, the more toxic it was likely to be and (ii) the presence of vanillin was associated with higher toxicity values. Further analysis of common constituents by electron ionization revealed that the concentration of cinnamaldehyde and vanillin, but not triacetin, correlated with toxicity. We have also developed a publicly available searchable website (www.eliquidinfo.org). Given the large numbers of available e-liquids, this website will serve as a resource to facilitate dissemination of this information. Our data suggest that an HTS approach to evaluate the toxicity of multiple e-liquids is feasible. Such an approach may serve as a roadmap to enable bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better regulate e-liquid composition
Risk factors for delirium and cognitive decline following coronary artery bypass grafting surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is known to improve heart function and quality of life, while rates of surgery-related mortality are low. However, delirium and cognitive decline are common complications. We sought to identify preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative risk or protective factors associated with delirium and cognitive decline (across time) in patients undergoing CABG. Methods and Results: We conducted a systematic search of Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and Cochrane (March 26, 2019) for peer-reviewed, English publications reporting post-CABG delirium or cognitive decline data, for at least one risk factor. Random-effects meta-analyses estimated pooled odds ratio for categorical data and mean difference or standardized mean difference for continuous data. Ninety-seven studies, comprising data from 60 479 patients who underwent CABG, were included. Moderate to large and statistically significant risk factors for delirium were as follows: (1) preoperative cognitive impairment, depression, stroke history, and higher European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) score, (2) intraoperative increase in intubation time, and (3) postoperative presence of arrythmia and increased days in the intensive care unit; higher preoperative cognitive performance was protective for delirium. Moderate to large and statistically significant risk factors for acute cognitive decline were as follows: (1) preoperative depression and older age, (2) intraoperative increase in intubation time, and (3) postoperative presence of delirium and increased days in the intensive care unit. Presence of depression preoperatively was a moderate risk factor for midterm (1–6 months) post-CABG cognitive decline. Conclusions: This meta-analysis identified several key risk factors for delirium and cognitive decline following CABG, most of which are nonmodifiable. Future research should target preoperative risk factors, such as depression or cognitive impairment, which are potentially modifiable.Danielle Greaves, Peter J. Psaltis, Daniel H.J. Davis, Tyler J. Ross, Erica S. Ghezzi, Amit Lampit, Ashleigh E. Smith, Hannah A.D. Keag
On the role of the magnetic dipolar interaction in cold and ultracold collisions: Numerical and analytical results for NH() + NH()
We present a detailed analysis of the role of the magnetic dipole-dipole
interaction in cold and ultracold collisions. We focus on collisions between
magnetically trapped NH molecules, but the theory is general for any two
paramagnetic species for which the electronic spin and its space-fixed
projection are (approximately) good quantum numbers. It is shown that dipolar
spin relaxation is directly associated with magnetic-dipole induced avoided
crossings that occur between different adiabatic potential curves. For a given
collision energy and magnetic field strength, the cross-section contributions
from different scattering channels depend strongly on whether or not the
corresponding avoided crossings are energetically accessible. We find that the
crossings become lower in energy as the magnetic field decreases, so that
higher partial-wave scattering becomes increasingly important \textit{below} a
certain magnetic field strength. In addition, we derive analytical
cross-section expressions for dipolar spin relaxation based on the Born
approximation and distorted-wave Born approximation. The validity regions of
these analytical expressions are determined by comparison with the NH + NH
cross sections obtained from full coupled-channel calculations. We find that
the Born approximation is accurate over a wide range of energies and field
strengths, but breaks down at high energies and high magnetic fields. The
analytical distorted-wave Born approximation gives more accurate results in the
case of s-wave scattering, but shows some significant discrepancies for the
higher partial-wave channels. We thus conclude that the Born approximation
gives generally more meaningful results than the distorted-wave Born
approximation at the collision energies and fields considered in this work.Comment: Accepted by Eur. Phys. J. D for publication in Special Issue on Cold
Quantum Matter - Achievements and Prospects (2011
Kaon-Nucleon Scattering Amplitudes and Z-Enhancements from Quark Born Diagrams
We derive closed form kaon-nucleon scattering amplitudes using the ``quark
Born diagram" formalism, which describes the scattering as a single interaction
(here the OGE spin-spin term) followed by quark line rearrangement. The low
energy I=0 and I=1 S-wave KN phase shifts are in reasonably good agreement with
experiment given conventional quark model parameters. For Gev
however the I=1 elastic phase shift is larger than predicted by Gaussian
wavefunctions, and we suggest possible reasons for this discrepancy. Equivalent
low energy KN potentials for S-wave scattering are also derived. Finally we
consider OGE forces in the related channels K, KN and K,
and determine which have attractive interactions and might therefore exhibit
strong threshold enhancements or ``Z-molecule" meson-baryon bound states.
We find that the minimum-spin, minimum-isospin channels and two additional
K channels are most conducive to the formation of bound states.
Related interesting topics for future experimental and theoretical studies of
KN interactions are also discussed.Comment: 34 pages, figures available from the authors, revte
Cosmology With Non-Minimally Coupled K-Field
We consider non-minimally coupled (with gravity) scalar field with
non-canonical kinetic energy. The form of the kinetic term is of
Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) form.We study the early evolution of the universe when
it is sourced only by the k-field, as well as late time evolution when both the
matter and k-field are present. For the k-field, we have considered constant
potential as well as potential inspired from Boundary String Field Theory
(B-SFT). We show that it is possible to have inflationary solution in early
time as well as late time accelerating phase. The solutions also exhibit
attractor property in a sense that it does not depend on the initial conditions
for a certain values of the parameters.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex style, 14 eps figures, to appear in General
Relativity and Gravitatio
Rotating Black Branes in the presence of nonlinear electromagnetic field
In this paper, we consider a class of gravity whose action represents itself
as a sum of the usual Einstein-Hilbert action with cosmological constant and an
gauge field for which the action is given by a power of the Maxwell
invariant. We present a class of the rotating black branes with Ricci flat
horizon and show that the presented solutions may be interpreted as black brane
solutions with two event horizons, extreme black hole and naked singularity
provided the parameters of the solutions are chosen suitably. We investigate
the properties of the solutions and find that for the special values of the
nonlinear parameter, the solutions are not asymptotically anti-deSitter. At
last, we obtain the conserved quantities of the rotating black branes and find
that the nonlinear source effects on the electric field, the behavior of
spacetime, type of singularity and other quantities.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in EPJ
Avaliação da aterosclerose subclínica e de níveis plasmáticos de LDL minimamente modificada em pacientes com espondilite anquilosante e sua correlação com a atividade da doença
AbstractIntroductionAccelerated atherosclerosis has been shown in some autoimmune diseases, mainly in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Although high preva- lence of corticosteroids use may be a confounding factor due to their detrimental effects on several risk factors, systemic inflammation per se is supposed to play an important role in atherogenesis in these patients.MethodsWe have evaluated sub-clinical atherosclerosis and plasma levels of circulating electronegative LDL, which represents the fraction of LDL that is minimally modified, in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Fourteen patients who fulfilled the modified New York criteria for AS were compared with 13 paired controls. Carotid intimal-media thick- ness (IMT) was assessed by ultrasonography bilaterally in common carotid artery, internal carotid artery and in the bifurcation. Groups were homogeneous regarding cardiovascular risk factors. Only a single patient in AS group was in use of corticosteroid.ResultsThe presence of active inflammation was demonstrated by elevated BASDAI and higher CRP levels and in patients versus controls (12.36 vs. 3.45mg/dl, P = 0.002). No dif- ference was found in carotid IMT between both groups, in any site of artery. Averaged IMT (6 measurements, at 3 pre-specified sites bilaterally) was 0.72 ± 0.28 in AS group and 0.70 ± 0.45mm in controls (P = 0.91). Minimally modified LDL did not differ significantly either between patients and controls (14.03 ± 17.40 vs. 13.21 ± 10.21; P = 0.88).ConclusionsPatients with AS did not show increased carotid IMT in comparison to con- trols. In the same way, circulating plasma levels of LDL (-), did not differ significantly in both groups
Observing Supermassive Black Holes across cosmic time: from phenomenology to physics
In the last decade, a combination of high sensitivity, high spatial
resolution observations and of coordinated multi-wavelength surveys has
revolutionized our view of extra-galactic black hole (BH) astrophysics. We now
know that supermassive black holes reside in the nuclei of almost every galaxy,
grow over cosmological times by accreting matter, interact and merge with each
other, and in the process liberate enormous amounts of energy that influence
dramatically the evolution of the surrounding gas and stars, providing a
powerful self-regulatory mechanism for galaxy formation. The different
energetic phenomena associated to growing black holes and Active Galactic
Nuclei (AGN), their cosmological evolution and the observational techniques
used to unveil them, are the subject of this chapter. In particular, I will
focus my attention on the connection between the theory of high-energy
astrophysical processes giving rise to the observed emission in AGN, the
observable imprints they leave at different wavelengths, and the methods used
to uncover them in a statistically robust way. I will show how such a combined
effort of theorists and observers have led us to unveil most of the SMBH growth
over a large fraction of the age of the Universe, but that nagging
uncertainties remain, preventing us from fully understating the exact role of
black holes in the complex process of galaxy and large-scale structure
formation, assembly and evolution.Comment: 46 pages, 21 figures. This review article appears as a chapter in the
book: "Astrophysical Black Holes", Haardt, F., Gorini, V., Moschella, U and
Treves A. (Eds), 2015, Springer International Publishing AG, Cha
Large-scale magnetic fields from inflation due to a -even Chern-Simons-like term with Kalb-Ramond and scalar fields
We investigate the generation of large-scale magnetic fields due to the
breaking of the conformal invariance in the electromagnetic field through the
-even dimension-six Chern-Simons-like effective interaction with a fermion
current by taking account of the dynamical Kalb-Ramond and scalar fields in
inflationary cosmology. It is explicitly demonstrated that the magnetic fields
on 1Mpc scale with the field strength of G at the present time
can be induced.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, version accepted for publication in Eur. Phys.
J.
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