570 research outputs found
The role of alcohol response phenotypes in the risk for alcohol use disorder
Heavy alcohol use is pervasive and one of our most significant global health burdens. Early theories posited that certain alcohol response phenotypes, notably low sensitivity to alcohol (âlow-level responseâ) imparts risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, other theories, and newer measures of subjective alcohol responses, have challenged that contention and argued that high sensitivity to some alcohol effects are equally important for AUD risk. This study presents results of a unique longitudinal study in 294 young adult non-dependent drinkers examined with alcohol and placebo testing in the laboratory at initial enrolment and repeated 5 years later, with regular follow-up intervals assessing AUD (trial registration: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00961792). Findings showed that alcohol sedation was negatively correlated with stimulation across the breath alcohol curve and at initial and re-examination testing. A higher rather than lower alcohol response phenotype was predictive of future AUD. The findings underscore a new understanding of factors increasing vulnerability to AUD
A universal constraint between charge and rotation rate for degenerate black holes surrounded by matter
We consider stationary, axially and equatorially symmetric systems consisting
of a central rotating and charged degenerate black hole and surrounding matter.
We show that always holds provided that a continuous sequence of
spacetimes can be identified, leading from the Kerr-Newman solution in
electrovacuum to the solution in question. The quantity is the black
hole's intrinsic angular momentum per unit mass, its electric charge and
the well known black hole mass parameter introduced by Christodoulou and
Ruffini.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, replaced with published versio
The dynamics of coset dimensional reduction
The evolution of multiple scalar fields in cosmology has been much studied,
particularly when the potential is formed from a series of exponentials. For a
certain subclass of such systems it is possible to get `assisted` behaviour,
where the presence of multiple terms in the potential effectively makes it
shallower than the individual terms indicate. It is also known that when
compactifying on coset spaces one can achieve a consistent truncation to an
effective theory which contains many exponential terms, however, if there are
too many exponentials then exact scaling solutions do not exist. In this paper
we study the potentials arising from such compactifications of eleven
dimensional supergravity and analyse the regions of parameter space which could
lead to scaling behaviour.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures; added citation
Towards the grain boundary phonon scattering problem: an evidence for a low-temperature crossover
The problem of phonon scattering by grain boundaries is studied within the
wedge disclination dipole (WDD) model. It is shown that a specific q-dependence
of the phonon mean free path for biaxial WDD results in a low-temperature
crossover of the thermal conductivity, . The obtained results allow to
explain the experimentally observed deviation of from a
dependence below in and .Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to J.Phys.:Condens.Matte
Ramond-Ramond Central Charges in the Supersymmetry Algebra of the Superstring
The free action for the massless sector of the Type II superstring was
recently constructed using closed RNS superstring field theory. The
supersymmetry transformations of this action are shown to satisfy an N=2 D=10
SUSY algebra with Ramond-Ramond central charges.Comment: 10 pages harvmac te
Superstring Theory on AdS_2 x S^2 as a Coset Supermanifold
We quantize the superstring on the AdS_2 x S^2 background with Ramond-Ramond
flux using a PSU(1,1|2)/U(1) x U(1) sigma model with a WZ term. One-loop
conformal invariance of the model is guaranteed by a general mechanism which
holds for coset spaces G/H where G is Ricci-flat and H is the invariant locus
of a Z_4 automorphism of G. This mechanism gives conformal theories for the
PSU(1,1|2) x PSU(2|2)/SU(2) x SU(2) and PSU(2,2|4)/SO(4,1) x SO(5) coset
spaces, suggesting our results might be useful for quantizing the superstring
on AdS_3 x S^3 and AdS_5 x S^5 backgrounds.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, harvmac big mode ; typos corrected, clarified
the choice of the real form
Phonons from neutron powder diffraction
The spherically averaged structure function \soq obtained from pulsed
neutron powder diffraction contains both elastic and inelastic scattering via
an integral over energy. The Fourier transformation of \soq to real space, as
is done in the pair density function (PDF) analysis, regularizes the data, i.e.
it accentuates the diffuse scattering. We present a technique which enables the
extraction of off-center phonon information from powder diffraction experiments
by comparing the experimental PDF with theoretical calculations based on
standard interatomic potentials and the crystal symmetry. This procedure
(dynamics from powder diffraction(DPD)) has been successfully implemented for
two systems, a simple metal, fcc Ni, and an ionic crystal, CaF. Although
computationally intensive, this data analysis allows for a phonon based
modeling of the PDF, and additionally provides off-center phonon information
from powder neutron diffraction
Lower cardiorespiratory fitness contributes to increased insulin resistance and fasting glycaemia in middle-aged South Asian compared with European men living in the UK
AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: This study aimed to determine the extent to which increased insulin resistance and fasting glycaemia in South Asian men, compared with white European men, living in the UK, was due to lower cardiorespiratory fitness (maximal oxygen uptake [[Formula: see text]]) and physical activity. METHODS: One hundred South Asian and 100 age- and BMI-matched European men without diagnosed diabetes, aged 40â70Â years, had fasted blood taken for measurement of glucose concentration, HOMA-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA(IR)), plus other risk factors, and underwent assessment of physical activity (using accelerometry), [Formula: see text], body size and composition, and demographic and other lifestyle factors. For 13 South Asian and one European man, HbA(1c) levels were >6.5% (>48Â mmol/mol), indicating potential undiagnosed diabetes; these men were excluded from the analyses. Linear regression models were used to determine the extent to which body size and composition, fitness and physical activity variables explained differences in HOMA(IR) and fasting glucose between South Asian and European men. RESULTS: HOMA(IR) and fasting glucose were 67% (pâ<â0.001) and 3% (pâ<â0.018) higher, respectively, in South Asians than Europeans. Lower [Formula: see text], lower physical activity and greater total adiposity in South Asians individually explained 68% (95% CI 45%, 91%), 29% (11%, 46%) and 52% (30%, 80%), respectively, and together explained 83% (50%, 119%) (all pâ<â0.001) of the ethnic difference in HOMA(IR). Lower [Formula: see text] and greater total adiposity, respectively, explained 61% (9%, 111%) and 39% (9%, 76%) (combined effect 63% [8%, 115%]; all pâ<â0.05) of the ethnic difference in fasting glucose. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Lower cardiorespiratory fitness is a key factor associated with the excess insulin resistance and fasting glycaemia in middle-aged South Asian, compared with European, men living in the UK. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00125-013-2969-y) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users
Breathing Current Domains in Globally Coupled Electrochemical Systems: A Comparison with a Semiconductor Model
Spatio-temporal bifurcations and complex dynamics in globally coupled
intrinsically bistable electrochemical systems with an S-shaped current-voltage
characteristic under galvanostatic control are studied theoretically on a
one-dimensional domain. The results are compared with the dynamics and the
bifurcation scenarios occurring in a closely related model which describes
pattern formation in semiconductors. Under galvanostatic control both systems
are unstable with respect to the formation of stationary large amplitude
current domains. The current domains as well as the homogeneous steady state
exhibit oscillatory instabilities for slow dynamics of the potential drop
across the double layer, or across the semiconductor device, respectively. The
interplay of the different instabilities leads to complex spatio-temporal
behavior. We find breathing current domains and chaotic spatio-temporal
dynamics in the electrochemical system. Comparing these findings with the
results obtained earlier for the semiconductor system, we outline bifurcation
scenarios leading to complex dynamics in globally coupled bistable systems with
subcritical spatial bifurcations.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 70 references, RevTex4 accepted by PRE
http://pre.aps.or
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