2,181 research outputs found
Axial anomaly and magnetism of nuclear and quark matter
We consider the response of the QCD ground state at finite baryon density to
a strong magnetic field B. We point out the dominant role played by the
coupling of neutral Goldstone bosons, such as pi^0, to the magnetic field via
the axial triangle anomaly. We show that, in vacuum, above a value of B ~
m_pi^2/e, a metastable object appears - the pi^0 domain wall. Because of the
axial anomaly, the wall carries a baryon number surface density proportional to
B. As a result, for B ~ 10^{19} G a stack of parallel pi^0 domain walls is
energetically more favorable than nuclear matter at the same density.
Similarly, at higher densities, somewhat weaker magnetic fields of order B ~
10^{17}-10^{18} G transform the color-superconducting ground state of QCD into
new phases containing stacks of axial isoscalar (eta or eta') domain walls. We
also show that a quark-matter state known as ``Goldstone current state,'' in
which a gradient of a Goldstone field is spontaneously generated, is
ferromagnetic due to the axial anomaly. We estimate the size of the fields
created by such a state in a typical neutron star to be of order
10^{14}-10^{15} G.Comment: 18 pages, v2: added a discussion of the energy cost of neutralizing
the domain wall charg
Health system constraints to optimal coverage of the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programme in South Africa: lessons from the implementation of the national pilot programme
Background: It is three years since the government of South Africa began implementing a PMTCT programme. Over this period of time attempts have been made to scale up this programme across all provinces under routine health service conditions.
Objectives: To report on the uptake and performance of South Africa\'s national pilot programme for preventing mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) and to identify health system constraints to optimal coverage.
Methods: Routine programme data were collected from antenatal records and delivery registers at the pilot sites and interviews were conducted with health workers on site and with provincial programme managers.
Results: Routine PMTCT programme data were collected from all 18 pilot sites for the period January to December 2002. During this period, of 84406 women attending the sites for first antenatal visits, 47267 (56%) agreed to an HIV test. 14340 (30%) of the women tested were HIV positive and of these 7853 (55%) were dispensed nevirapine. 7950 (99%) of infants born to women identified as being HIV positive received nevirapine syrup. 58% (4196/7237) of HIV positive women expressed an intention to exclusively formula feed, and 42% (3041/7237) intended to exclusively breastfeed. 1907 infants were due for 12 month HIV testing between January and December 2002, of these 949 (50%) infants were tested.
Conclusions: Programme effectiveness was limited by the low rate of HIV test acceptance, poor delivery of nevirapine to mothers and inability to track mother-infant pairs postnatally for 12-month HIV testing of infants. Infant feeding intentions of mothers suggest inadequate counselling and possible negative effects of the provision of free formula milk. The poor perfor- mance of the main components of this programme will seriously reduce its operational effectiveness. There is a need for greater integration of VCT within antenatal care, a review of the current policy of providing free formula milk and an alternative model for mother-infant follow up. African Health Sciences Vol. 5 (3) 2005: pp. 213-21
Low Temperature Symmetry of Pyrochlore Oxide Cd2Re2O7
We report the X-ray study for the pyrochlore oxide Cd2Re2O7. Two
symmetry-lowering structural transitions were observed at Ts1=200K and
Ts2=120K. The former is of the second order from the ideal cubic pyrochlore
structure with space group Fd-3m to a tetragonally distorted structure with
I-4m2, while the latter is of the first order likely to another tetragonal
space group I4122. We discuss the feature of the lattice deformation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Mott-Superfluid transition in bosonic ladders
We show that in a commensurate bosonic ladder, a quantum phase transition
occurs between a Mott insulator and a superfluid when interchain hopping
increases. We analyse the properties of such a transition as well as the
physical properties of the two phases. We discuss the physical consequences for
experimental systems such as Josephson Junction arrays.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, revtex
Million-atom molecular dynamics simulation by order-N electronic structure theory and parallel computation
Parallelism of tight-binding molecular dynamics simulations is presented by
means of the order-N electronic structure theory with the Wannier states,
recently developed (J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 69,3773 (2000)). An application is
tested for silicon nanocrystals of more than millions atoms with the
transferable tight-binding Hamiltonian. The efficiency of parallelism is
perfect, 98.8 %, and the method is the most suitable to parallel computation.
The elapse time for a system of atoms is 3.0 minutes by a
computer system of 64 processors of SGI Origin 3800. The calculated results are
in good agreement with the results of the exact diagonalization, with an error
of 2 % for the lattice constant and errors less than 10 % for elastic
constants.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Effect of pressure on the Raman modes of antimony
The effect of pressure on the zone-center optical phonon modes of antimony in
the A7 structure has been investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The A_g and E_g
frequencies exhibit a pronounced softening with increasing pressure, the effect
being related to a gradual suppression of the Peierls-like distortion of the A7
phase relative to a cubic primitive lattice. Also, both Raman modes broaden
significantly under pressure. Spectra taken at low temperature indicate that
the broadening is at least partly caused by phonon-phonon interactions. We also
report results of ab initio frozen-phonon calculations of the A_g and E_g mode
frequencies. Presence of strong anharmonicity is clearly apparent in calculated
total energy versus atom displacement relations. Pronounced nonlinearities in
the force versus displacement relations are observed. Structural instabilities
of the Sb-A7 phase are briefly addressed in the Appendix.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Meissner effect in a bosonic ladder
We investigate the effect of a magnetic field on a bosonic ladder. We show
that such a system leads to the one dimensional equivalent of a vortex lattice
in a superconductor. We investigate the physical properties of the vortex
phase, such as vortex density and vortex correlation functions and show that
magnetization has plateaus for some commensurate values of the mag netic field.
The lowest plateau corresponds to a true Meissner to vortex transition at a
critical field that exists although the system has no long range
superconducting order. Implications for experimental realizations such as
Josephson junction arrays are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 Encapsulated Postscript figures, RevTe
Tight-binding study of high-pressure phase transitions in titanium: alpha to omega and beyond
We use a tight-binding total energy method, with parameters determined from a
fit to first-principles calculations, to examine the newly discovered gamma
phase of titanium. Our parameters were adjusted to accurately describe the
alpha Ti-omega Ti phase transition, which is misplaced by density functional
calculations. We find a transition from omega Ti to gamma Ti at 102 GPa, in
good agreement with the experimental value of 116 GPa. Our results suggest that
current density functional calculations will not reproduce the omega Ti-gamma
Ti phase transition, but will instead predict a transition from omega Ti to the
bcc beta Ti phase.Comment: 3 encapsulated Postscript figures, submitted to Phyical Review
Letter
P02.35. Methodology in integrative medicine research: challenges and solutions from a randomized clinical control trial using adapted yoga
Purpose
This randomized controlled clinical study evaluated the efficacy of adapted yoga (vs. usual care) to reduce psychosocial risks, which have been clinically shown to impact morbidity and mortality in implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) recipients. The ICD collects and records real-time cardiac data, which were used in the study.
Methods
Forty-six patients participated from a hospital in Connecticut. All participants were administered validated measures on psychosocial risk factors at weeks one and eight of the eight-week intervention. Patients in the intervention group participated in a weekly adapted yoga class for eighty minutes for eight weeks with assigned home practices. Clinical measures, including patients’ current and past medical health status and device usage, were collected three months prior to the study, during the study, and at a six-month follow-up.
Results
Data revealed that the yoga group’s overall shock anxiety decreased while the control group’s increased, t(4.43, 36), p<0.0001 (total). The yoga group had less shock anxiety, t(2.86,36) p=0.007 (mean consequence), greater overall self-compassion, t(-2.84,37), p=0.007 (total), and greater mindfulness (equanimity) regarding emotions, t(-2.10,37) p=0.04 (mindfulness), than the control group. Exploratory analyses utilizing a linear model (R2=.98) of the observed anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) events revealed that the expected number of ATP events in the intervention group was significantly lower than the control group. Additionally, the expected number of ATP events increased more rapidly as a function of the initial ATP events for the control group than for the intervention group.
Conclusion
Our study demonstrated psychological benefits from a program of adapted yoga compared to usual care for ICD recipients. Marked improvements were reported in total shock anxiety, self-compassion, sense of equanimity, and decreased likelihood of ATPs. The data supports the continuation of research in mind-body interventions to better understand the role of complementary medicine to address ICD-specific psychosocial stress and its potential contributory role in cardiac outcomes
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