570 research outputs found
Cystatin C and renal function in pediatric kidney transplant recipients
In clinical practice, the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is often determined with serum creatinine. However, studies have shown cystatin C to be a better parameter for the diagnosis of impaired renal function. We compared GFR estimated by plasma cystatin C with GFR estimated by serum creatinine in a sample of 50 pediatric renal transplant recipients and 24 healthy children. The correlation between GFR estimated by serum creatinine and by cystatin C was significant (r = 0.75; P < 0.001, Person’s correlation); however, in pediatric kidney transplant recipients, the GFR was 6.7 mL/min lower when determined using cystatin C rather than serum creatinine. Moreover, using GFR estimated by cystatin C we found that 42% of the pediatric kidney transplant recipients had an estimated GFR <60 mL·min-1·1.73 (m²)-1, whereas when GFR was estimated by the serum creatinine formula only 16% of the children had values below this cutoff point indicative of chronic kidney disease (P < 0.001). We conclude that, in pediatric kidney transplant recipients, estimation of GFR yields lower values when cystatin C is used rather than serum creatinine
A high-flux source of polarization-entangled photons from a periodically-poled KTP parametric downconverter
We have demonstrated a high-flux source of polarization-entangled photons
using a type-II phase-matched periodically-poled KTP parametric downconverter
in a collinearly propagating configuration. We have observed quantum
interference between the single-beam downconverted photons with a visibility of
99% and a measured coincidence flux of 300/s/mW of pump. The
Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt version of Bell's inequality was violated with a
value of 2.711 +/- 0.017.Comment: 7 pages submitted to Physical Review
Moduli stabilization and uplifting with dynamically generated F-terms
We use the F-term dynamical supersymmetry breaking models with metastable
vacua in order to uplift the vacuum energy in the KKLT moduli stabilization
scenario. The main advantage compared to earlier proposals is the manifest
supersymmetric treatment and the natural coexistence of a TeV gravitino mass
with a zero cosmological constant. We argue that it is generically difficult to
avoid anti de-Sitter supersymmetric minima, however the tunneling rate from the
metastable vacuum with zero vacuum energy towards them can be very suppressed.
We briefly comment on the properties of the induced soft terms in the
observable sector.Comment: 18 pages, no figures Comments and one reference adde
Identification of 19-epi-okadaic Acid, a New Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning Toxin, by Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry Detection
Okadaic acid (1) (OA) and its congeners are mainly responsible for diarrhetic
shellfish poisoning (DSP) syndrome. The presence of several OA derivatives have already
been confirmed in Prorocentrum and Dinophysis spp. In this paper, we report on the
detection and identification of a new DSP toxin, the OA isomer 19-epi-okadaic acid (2)
(19-epi-OA), isolated from cultures of Prorocentrum belizeanum, by determining its
retention time (RT) and fragmentation pattern using liquid chromatography coupled with
mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS).Versión del editor3,471
No-scale supersymmetry breaking vacua and soft terms with torsion
We analyze the conditions to have no-scale supersymmetry breaking solutions
of type IIA and IIB supergravity compactified on manifolds of SU(3)-structure.
The supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by the intrinsic torsion of the
internal space. For type IIB orientifolds with O9 and O5-planes the mass of the
gravitino is governed by the torsion class W_1, and the breaking is mediated
through F-terms associated to descendants of the original N=2 hypermultiplets.
For type IIA orientifolds with O6-planes we find two families of solutions,
depending on whether the breaking is mediated exclusively by hypermultiplets or
by a mixture of hypermultiplets and vector multiplets, the latter case
corresponding to a class of Scherk-Schwarz compactifications not dual to any
geometric IIB setup. We compute the geometrically induced mu-terms for D5, D6
and D9-branes on twisted tori, and discuss the patterns of soft-terms which
arise for pure moduli mediation in each type of breaking. As for D3 and
D7-branes in presence of 3-form fluxes, the effective scalar potential turns
out to possess interesting phenomenological properties.Comment: 44 pages; several minor corrections and added reference
String instantons, fluxes and moduli stabilization
We analyze a class of dual pairs of heterotic and type I models based on
freely-acting orbifolds in four dimensions.
Using the adiabatic argument, it is possible to calculate non-perturbative
contributions to the gauge coupling threshold corrections on the type I side by
exploiting perturbative calculations on the heterotic side, without the
drawbacks due to twisted moduli. The instanton effects can then be combined
with closed-string fluxes to stabilize most of the moduli fields of the
internal manifold, and also the dilaton, in a racetrack realization of the type
I model.Comment: 1+49 page
Low Energy Supersymmetry from Non-Geometry
We study a class of flux compactifications that have all the moduli
stabilised, a high (GUT) string scale and a low (TeV) gravitino mass that is
generated dynamically. These non-geometric compactifications correspond to type
II string theories on SU(3)xSU(3) structure orientifolds. The resulting
superpotentials admit, excluding non-perturbative effects, supersymmetric
Minkowski vacua with any number of moduli stabilised. We argue that
non-perturbative effects are present and introduce terms in the superpotential
that are exponentially suppressed by the same moduli that appear
perturbatively. These deform the supersymmetric Minkowski vacua to
supersymmetric AdS vacua with an exponentially small gravitino mass. The
resulting vacua allow for low scale supersymmetry breaking which can be
realised by a number of mechanisms.Comment: 36pp; v2 references added, minor clarifications, JHEP versio
Slepton Flavor Nonuniversality, the Muon EDM and its Proposed sensitive Search at Brookhaven
We analyze the electric dipole moment of the electron (), of the neutron
() and of the muon () using the cancellation mechanism in the
presence of nonuniversalities of the soft breaking parameters. It is shown that
the nonuniversalities in the slepton sector produce a strong violation of the
scaling relation in the cancellation region. An
analysis of and under the constraints of the current
experimental limits on and and under the constraints of the recent
Brookhaven result on shows that in the non-scaling region
can be as large as ()ecm and thus within reach of the
recently proposed Brookhaven experiment for a sensitive search for at
the level of ecm.Comment: 24 pages, Latex, including 5 figures with additional reference
Effects of Large CP violating phases on g_{\m}-2 in MSSM
Effects of CP violation on the supersymmetric electro-weak correction to the
anomalous magnetic moment of the muon are investigated with the most general
allowed set of CP violating phases in MSSM. The analysis includes contributions
from the chargino and the neutralino exchanges to the muon anomaly. The
supersymmetric contributions depend only on specific combinations of CP phases.
The independent set of such phases is classified. We analyse the effects of the
phases under the EDM constraints and show that large CP violating phases can
drastically affect the magnitude of the supersymmetric electro-weak
contribution to and may even affect its overall sign.Comment: 26 pages Latex file including 4 figure
Quantum Interference in Superconducting Wire Networks and Josephson Junction Arrays: Analytical Approach based on Multiple-Loop Aharonov-Bohm Feynman Path-Integrals
We investigate analytically and numerically the mean-field
superconducting-normal phase boundaries of two-dimensional superconducting wire
networks and Josephson junction arrays immersed in a transverse magnetic field.
The geometries we consider include square, honeycomb, triangular, and kagome'
lattices. Our approach is based on an analytical study of multiple-loop
Aharonov-Bohm effects: the quantum interference between different electron
closed paths where each one of them encloses a net magnetic flux. Specifically,
we compute exactly the sums of magnetic phase factors, i.e., the lattice path
integrals, on all closed lattice paths of different lengths. A very large
number, e.g., up to for the square lattice, exact lattice path
integrals are obtained. Analytic results of these lattice path integrals then
enable us to obtain the resistive transition temperature as a continuous
function of the field. In particular, we can analyze measurable effects on the
superconducting transition temperature, , as a function of the magnetic
filed , originating from electron trajectories over loops of various
lengths. In addition to systematically deriving previously observed features,
and understanding the physical origin of the dips in as a result of
multiple-loop quantum interference effects, we also find novel results. In
particular, we explicitly derive the self-similarity in the phase diagram of
square networks. Our approach allows us to analyze the complex structure
present in the phase boundaries from the viewpoint of quantum interference
effects due to the electron motion on the underlying lattices.Comment: 18 PRB-type pages, plus 8 large figure
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