On non-gaussianities in single-field inflation

We study the impact of higher dimension operators in the inflaton Lagrangian on the non-gaussianity of the scalar spectrum. These terms can strongly enhance the effect without spoiling slow-roll, though it is difficult to exceed f_NL ~ 1, because the scale which suppresses the operators cannot be too low, if we want the effective field theory description to make sense. In particular we explicitly calculate the 3-point function given by an higher derivative interaction of the form (\nabla\phi)^4, which is expected to give the most important contribution. The angular dependence of the result turns out to be quite different from the minimal case without higher dimension operators.Comment: 10 page

Ovine IgA-reactive proteins from Teladorsagia circumcincta infective larvae

AbstractInfection of small ruminants with Teladorsagia circumcincta has, until now, been controlled using a combination of pasture management and frequent anthelmintic treatments. Resistance to the commonly used anthelmintics has driven research into the development of a subunit vaccine, encouraged by the demonstration of development of protective immunity in sheep following exposure to this parasite. Local immune effectors in the abomasum, in particular IgA, are thought to play important roles in naturally- and experimentally-acquired immunity. L3s represent the first contact of this pathogen with the host immune system and, herein, the presence of L3 antigen-specific IgA was demonstrated in abomasal mucus from immune sheep. This antibody source was used to immunoaffinity purify and identify IgA-reactive molecules present in L3s. We identified 155 different proteins in this way, including a number of activation-associated secretory proteins, venom allergen-like-type proteins, detoxifying enzymes, galectins and a suite of other potential vaccine candidate molecules. Levels of immunoaffinity-enriched L3 antigen-specific IgA in gastric lymph from previously-infected sheep were statistically significantly higher (P=0.004) than those measured in helminth-free sheep and a statistically significant negative correlation (P=0.005, rs=−0.565) was identified between immunoaffinity-enriched L3 antigen-specific IgA levels in efferent gastric lymph and total T. circumcincta burden measured at necropsy. In addition, a statistically significant positive correlation (P=0.007, rs=0.534) was measured between immunoaffinity-enriched L3 antigen-specific IgA levels in efferent gastric lymph and the percentage of inhibited L4s enumerated at necropsy. These results indicate that the purified antigens contain components that could be strongly considered as vaccine candidates