1,610 research outputs found
W/Z Bremsstrahlung as the Dominant Annihilation Channel for Dark Matter, Revisited
We revisit the calculation of electroweak bremsstrahlung contributions to
dark matter annihilation. Dark matter annihilation to leptons is necessarily
accompanied by electroweak radiative corrections, in which a or boson
is also radiated. Significantly, while many dark matter models feature a
helicity suppressed annihilation rate to fermions, bremsstrahlung process can
remove this helicity suppression such that the branching ratios Br(), Br(), and Br() dominate over
Br() and Br(). We find this is most significant in
the limit where the dark matter mass is nearly degenerate with the mass of the
boson which mediates the annihilation process. Electroweak bremsstrahlung has
important phenomenological consequences both for the magnitude of the total
dark matter annihilation cross section and for the character of the
astrophysical signals for indirect detection. Given that the and gauge
bosons decay dominantly via hadronic channels, it is impossible to produce
final state leptons without accompanying protons, antiprotons, and gamma rays.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; replaced to match published versio
Constraints on neutrino masses from leptogenesis models
Upper bounds on the CP asymmetry relevant for leptogenesis are reexamined and
found weaker than in previous literature, both for hierarchical and for
quasi-degenerate right-handed neutrinos. Successful leptogenesis implies the
usual lower bound on right-handed neutrino masses, and an upper bound on
left-handed neutrino masses (which we obtain to be 0.15eV at 3sigma) only if
right-handed neutrinos are assumed to be much more hierarchical than
left-handed neutrinos. Otherwise both bounds can be considerably relaxed. The
constraint on light neutrino masses varies assuming different interpretations
of why neutrinos should be quasi-degenerate. With conservative assumptions, we
find that a mild quasi-degeneracy allows neutrinos heavier than an eV
compatibly with leptogenesis.
We also extend computations of thermal leptogenesis to an alternative model
of neutrino mass mediated by fermion triplets which was never considered so far
for leptogenesis. Leptogenesis can be successful despite the effect of gauge
interactions, resulting in only slightly stronger constraints on neutrino
masses.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
The impact of the resident duty hour regulations on surgical patients’ perceptions of care
Implementation of the 2003 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) resident duty-hour regulations and access to publicly reported patient satisfaction measures have challenged administrators and clinicians to balance resident’s educational experience, patient care quality, and patients’ satisfaction and perceptions. A pre-post retrospective study design investigated association between implementation of ACGME regulations and patient satisfaction/perceptions using multinomial logistic regressions. The sample consisted of all surgical inpatients (July 2001 – June 2005), who responded to surveys at an academic medical center. Patients gave lower ratings for physician interactions (patient-physician interaction time, clinical updates, and courtesy) following the implementation of post-duty hour regulations. While the odds of patients rating “below good” post-implementation for physician survey questions (i.e., related to time spent, kept informed, and friendliness/ courtesy) were higher (i.e., 1.25 to 1.3) as compared to odds of rating “very good”, the overall rating of quality care improved post-implementation. This difference could be due to increased interaction of patients with other hospital personnel. To improve patient satisfactions and in turn their perceptions, initiatives such as workload balancing, hand-off protocols, patient communication, and interactive training for care providers are recommended. Finally, residency programs and institutions need to develop strategies for implementation of current and future ACGME duty hour regulations so as to balance patient safety, patient perceptions, and resident well-being
Imprints of dynamical dark energy on weak-lensing measurements
We show that simple models of scalar-field dark energy leave a generic
enhancement in the weak-lensing power spectrum when compared to the LCDM
prediction. In particular, we calculate the linear-scale enhancement in the
convergence (or cosmic-shear) power spectrum for two best-fit models of
scalar-field dark energy, namely, the Ratra-Peebles and SUGRA-type
quintessence. Our calculations are based on linear perturbation theory, using
gauge-invariant variables with carefully defined adiabatic initial conditions.
We find that geometric effects enhance the lensing power spectrum on a broad
range of scales, whilst the clustering of dark energy gives rise to additional
power on large scales. The dark-energy power spectrum for these models are also
explicitly obtained. On degree scales, the total enhancement may be as large as
30-40% for sources at redshift ~1. We argue that there are realistic prospects
for detecting such an enhancement using the next generation of large
telescopes.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, replacement matches version published in MNRA
A step towards testing general relativity using weak gravitational lensing and redshift surveys
Using the linear theory of perturbations in General Relativity, we express a
set of consistency relations that can be observationally tested with current
and future large scale structure surveys. We then outline a stringent
model-independent program to test gravity on cosmological scales. We illustrate
the feasibility of such a program by jointly using several observables like
peculiar velocities, galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing. After
addressing possible observational or astrophysical caveats like galaxy bias and
redshift uncertainties, we forecast in particular how well one can predict the
lensing signal from a cosmic shear survey using an over-lapping galaxy survey.
We finally discuss the specific physics probed this way and illustrate how
gravity models would fail such a test.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
The Interplay Between GUT and Flavour Symmetries in a Pati-Salam x S4 Model
Both Grand Unified symmetries and discrete flavour symmetries are appealing
ways to describe apparent structures in the gauge and flavour sectors of the
Standard Model. Both symmetries put constraints on the high energy behaviour of
the theory. This can give rise to unexpected interplay when building models
that possess both symmetries. We investigate on the possibility to combine a
Pati-Salam model with the discrete flavour symmetry that gives rise to
quark-lepton complementarity. Under appropriate assumptions at the GUT scale,
the model reproduces fermion masses and mixings both in the quark and in the
lepton sectors. We show that in particular the Higgs sector and the running
Yukawa couplings are strongly affected by the combined constraints of the Grand
Unified and family symmetries. This in turn reduces the phenomenologically
viable parameter space, with high energy mass scales confined to a small region
and some parameters in the neutrino sector slightly unnatural. In the allowed
regions, we can reproduce the quark masses and the CKM matrix. In the lepton
sector, we reproduce the charged lepton masses, including bottom-tau
unification and the Georgi-Jarlskog relation as well as the two known angles of
the PMNS matrix. The neutrino mass spectrum can present a normal or an inverse
hierarchy, and only allowing the neutrino parameters to spread into a range of
values between and , with .
Finally, our model suggests that the reactor mixing angle is close to its
current experimental bound.Comment: 62 pages, 4 figures; references added, version accepted for
publication in JHE
Impact of hiatal hernia on histological pattern of non-erosive reflux disease
BACKGROUND: Hiatus hernia (HH) has major pathophysiological effects favoring gastroesophageal reflux and hence contributing to esophageal mucosa injury, especially in patients with severe gastroesophageal disease. However, prospective studies investigating the impact of HH on the esophageal mucosa in non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) are lacking. This study evaluated the association between the presence of (HH) and the histological findings in symptomatic patients with NERD. METHODS: Fifty consecutive patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were enrolled. After conventional endoscopy, Lugol solution was applied and biopsy specimens were obtained. Histological parameters including basal zone hyperplasia, papillary length and cellular infiltration were evaluated. The chi-square test with Yates' correlation was used for comparing discrete parameters between groups. However, Fisher's exact probability test was used where the expected frequencies were lower than 5. Wilcoxon's test for unpaired samples was preferred in cases of semi-quantitative parameters. RESULTS: The presence of HH along with more severe findings (0.01 <P < 0.05) was confirmed in 18 patients. NERD was observed in 29 (58%) patients. Basal zone hyperplasia and loss of glycogen accompanied HH in all cases, and the correlation was significant in NERD (P < 0.001). The remaining histological patterns were similar between erosive reflux disease and NERD in the presence of HH. CONCLUSION: The presence of HH is correlated with more severe endoscopy findings, and predisposes for severe histological abnormality in cases of NERD
Impact of gastroesophageal reflux disease on daily life: the Systematic Investigation of Gastrointestinal Diseases in China (SILC) epidemiological study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastroesophageal reflux disease imposes a significant burden of illness in Western populations. However, data on the impact of reflux symptoms on daily life in Asian populations are scarce. The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of GERD (defined on the basis of symptoms) on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) in individuals from five regions in China, as part of the Systematic Investigation of Gastrointestinal Diseases in China (SILC) study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In total, 18 000 residents were randomly selected from across five regions of China and asked to complete a general information questionnaire and a Chinese version of the Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ). A randomly selected subsample of one-fifth of subjects (20% from each region) completed Chinese versions of the 36-item self-administered (SF-36) questionnaire and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) questionnaire. Reflux symptoms were defined as the presence of heartburn and/or regurgitation. Symptom-defined GERD was diagnosed as mild heartburn and/or regurgitation ≥2 days per week, or moderate/severe heartburn and/or regurgitation ≥1 day a week, based on the Montreal Definition of GERD for population-based studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The response rate was 89.4% for the total sample (16 091/18 000), and for the 20% subsample (3219/3600). Meaningful impairment was observed in all 8 SF-36 dimensions in participants with symptom-defined GERD, in 7 of the 8 SF-36 dimensions in participants with troublesome reflux symptoms, and in 6 of the 8 SF-36 dimensions in participants with reflux symptoms below the threshold for symptom-defined GERD. Meaningful daytime sleepiness was also observed in each of these groups. The proportion of individuals reporting troublesome symptoms increased as reflux symptom frequency and severity approached the threshold for symptom-defined GERD, and this was associated with concomitant decreases in all HRQoL measures. Troublesome symptoms were reported by 68.2% (75/110) of individuals with symptom-defined GERD.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>GERD diagnosed using symptom/frequency criteria (recommended for population-based studies), or based on troublesome reflux symptoms (recommended for the clinic), is associated with significantly impaired HRQoL in Chinese individuals. However, patient groups identified using these definitions do not overlap completely, suggesting that they capture slightly different, though clinically relevant, GERD populations.</p
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