21,487 research outputs found
Living healthier for longer: comparative effects of three heart-healthy behaviors on life expectancy with and without cardiovascular disease
Background: Non-smoking, having a normal weight and increased levels of physical activity are perhaps the three key factors for preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the relative effects of these factors on healthy longevity have not been well described. We aimed to calculate and compare the effects of non-smoking, normal weight and physical activity in middle-aged populations on life expectancy with and without cardiovascular disease.
Methods: Using multi-state life tables and data from the Framingham Heart Study (n = 4634) we calculated the effects of three heart healthy behaviours among populations aged 50 years and over on life expectancy with and without cardiovascular disease. For the life table calculations, we used hazard ratios for 3 transitions (No CVD to CVD, no CVD to death, and CVD to death) by health behaviour category, and adjusted for age, sex, and potential confounders.
Results: High levels of physical activity, never smoking (men), and normal weight were each associated with 20-40% lower risks of developing CVD as compared to low physical activity, current smoking and obesity, respectively. Never smoking and high levels of physical activity reduced the risks of dying in those with and without a history of CVD, but normal weight did not. Never-smoking was associated with the largest gains in total life expectancy (4.3 years, men, 4.1 years, women) and CVD-free life expectancy (3.8 and 3.4 years, respectively). High levels of physical activity and normal weight were associated with lesser gains in total life expectancy (3.5 years, men and 3.4 years, women, and 1.3 years, men and 1.0 year women, respectively), and slightly lesser gains in CVD-free life expectancy (3.0 years, men and 3.1 years, women, and 3.1 years men and 2.9 years women, respectively). Normal weight was the only behaviour associated with a reduction in the number of years lived with CVD (1.8 years, men and 1.9 years, women).
Conclusions: Achieving high levels of physical activity, normal weight, and never smoking, are effective ways to prevent cardiovascular disease and to extend total life expectancy and the number of years lived free of CVD. Increasing the prevalence of normal weight could further reduce the time spent with CVD in the population
The Survival of Planetary Nebulae in the Intracluster Medium
The stellar population stripped from galaxies in clusters evolve under the
extreme conditions imposed by the intracluster (IC) medium. Intracluster stars
generally suffer very high systemic velocities, and evolve within a rarefied
and extremely hot IC medium. We present numerical simulations which aim to
explore the evolution and survival of IC Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB)
envelopes and Planetary Nebula (PN) shells. Our models reflect the evolution of
a low-mass star under the observed conditions in the Virgo IC medium. We find
that the integrated hydrogen-recombination line emission of a PN is dominated
by the inner dense shell, whose evolution is unaffected by the environment. Ram
pressure stripping affects mainly the outermost IC PN shell, which hardly
influences the emission when the PN is observed as a point source. More
importantly, we find that a PN with progenitor mass of 1 Msun fades to ~30% and
10% of its maximum emission, in 5,000 and 10,000 yr respectively, disclosing an
actual PN lifetime t_PN several times shorter to what is usually adopted
(25,000 yr). This result affects the theoretical calculation of the
luminosity-specific density of IC PNe, which scales with t_PN. For t_PN=10,000
yr, our more conservative estimate, we obtain that the luminosity-specific
density of PNe is in fair agreement with the value obtained from Red Giants.
With our more realistic PN lifetime we infer a higher fraction (above 15%) of
IC starlight in the Virgo core than current estimates.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal 14 pages,
including 2 figure
Dynamics of a magnetic dimer with exchange, dipolar and Dzyalozhinski-Moriya interaction
We investigate the dynamics of a magnetic system consisting of two magnetic
moments coupled by either exchange, dipole-dipole, or Dzyalozhinski-Moriya
interaction. We compare the switching mechanisms and switching rates as induced
by the three couplings. For each coupling and each configuration of the two
anisotropy axes, we describe the switching modes and, using the kinetic theory
of Langer, we provide (semi-)analytical expressions for the switching rate. We
then compare the three interactions with regard to their efficiency in the
reversal of the net magnetic moment of the dimer. We also investigate how the
energy barriers vary with the coupling. For the dipole-dipole interaction we
find that the energy barrier may either increase or decrease with the coupling
depending on whether the latter is weak or strong. Finally, upon comparing the
various switching rates, we find that the dipole-dipole coupling leads to the
slowest magnetic dimer, as far as the switching of its net magnetic moment is
concerned.Comment: 20 pages, 18 Figures, 2 table
Ferromagnetic resonance of a two-dimensional array of nanomagnets: Effects of surface anisotropy and dipolar interactions
We develop an analytical approach for studying the FMR frequency shift due to
dipolar interactions and surface effects in two-dimensional arrays of
nanomagnets with (effective) uniaxial anisotropy along the magnetic field. For
this we build a general formalism on the basis of perturbation theory that
applies to dilute assemblies but which goes beyond the point-dipole
approximation as it takes account of the size and shape of the nano-elements,
in addition to their separation and spatial arrangement. The contribution to
the frequency shift due to the shape and size of the nano-elements has been
obtained in terms of their aspect ratio, their separation and the lattice
geometry. We have also varied the size of the array itself and compared the
results with a semi-analytical model and reached an agreement that improves as
the size of the array increases. We find that the red-shift of the
ferromagnetic resonance due to dipolar interactions decreases for smaller
arrays. Surface effects may induce either a blue-shift or a red-shift of the
FMR frequency, depending on the crystal and magnetic properties of the
nano-elements themselves. In particular, some configurations of the
nano-elements assemblies may lead to a full compensation between surface
effects and dipole interactions.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Enhancing the conductance of a two-electron nanomechanical oscillator
We consider electron transport through a mobile island (i.e., a
nanomechanical oscillator) which can accommodate one or two excess electrons
and show that, in contrast to immobile islands, the Coulomb blockade peaks,
associated with the first and second electrons entering the island, have
different functional dependences on the nano-oscillator parameters when the
island coupling to its leads is asymmetric. In particular, the conductance for
the second electron (i.e., when the island is already charged) is greatly
enhanced in comparison to the conductance of the first electron in the presence
of an external electric field. We also analyze the temperature dependence of
the two conduction peaks and show that these exhibit different functional
behaviors.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Schematic baryon models, their tight binding description and their microwave realization
A schematic model for baryon excitations is presented in terms of a symmetric
Dirac gyroscope, a relativistic model solvable in closed form, that reduces to
a rotor in the non-relativistic limit. The model is then mapped on a nearest
neighbour tight binding model. In its simplest one-dimensional form this model
yields a finite equidistant spectrum. This is experimentally implemented as a
chain of dielectric resonators under conditions where their coupling is
evanescent and good agreement with the prediction is achieved.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure
Doorway States and Billiards
Whenever a distinct state is immersed in a sea of complicated and dense
states, the strength of the distinct state, which we refer to as a doorway, is
distributed in their neighboring states. We analyze this mechanism for 2-D
billiards with different geometries. One of them is symmetric and integrable,
another is symmetric but chaotic, and the third has a capricious form. The fact
that the doorway-state mechanism is valid for such highly diverse cases, proves
that it is robust.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Accepted in Proceedings of "Symmetries in
Nature", Symposium in Memoriam Marcos Moshinsk
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