1,529 research outputs found
White blood cell count and risk of incident lung cancer in the UK Biobank
Background The contribution of measurable immunological/inflammatory parameters to lung cancer development remains unclear, particularly among never-smokers. We investigated the relationship between total and differential white blood cell (WBC) counts and incident lung cancer risk overall and among subgroups defined by smoking status and sex in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods We evaluated 424,407 adults aged 37-73 years from the UK Biobank. Questionnaires, physical measurements, and blood were administered/collected at baseline in 2006-2010. Complete blood cell counts were measured using standard methods. Lung cancer diagnoses and histological classifications were obtained from cancer registries. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident lung cancer in relation to quartiles (Q) of total WBC and subtype-specific counts, with Q1 as the reference. Results There were 1,493 incident cases diagnosed over an average 7-year follow-up. Overall, the highest quartile of total WBC count was significantly associated with elevated lung cancer risk (HRQ4=1.67, 95% CI:1.41-1.98). Among women, increased risks were found in current-smokers (ncases/n=244/19,464, HRQ4=2.15, 95% CI:1.46-3.16), former-smokers (ncases/n=280/69,198, HRQ4=1.75, 95% CI:1.24-2.47), and never-smokers without environmental tobacco smoke exposure (ncases/n=108/111,294, HRQ4=1.93, 95% CI:1.11-3.35). Among men, stronger associations were identified in current-smokers (ncases/n=329/22,934, HRQ4=2.95, 95% CI:2.04-4.26) and former-smokers (ncases/n= 358/71,616, HRQ4=2.38, 95% CI:1.74-3.27) but not in never-smokers. Findings were similar for lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma and were driven primarily by elevated neutrophil fractions. Conclusions Elevated WBCs could potentially be one of many important markers for increased lung cancer risk, especially among never-smoking women and ever-smoking men
An investigation of minimisation criteria
Minimisation can be used within treatment trials to ensure that prognostic factors are evenly distributed between treatment groups. The technique is relatively straightforward to apply but does require running tallies of patient recruitments to be made and some simple calculations to be performed prior to each allocation. As computing facilities have become more widely available, minimisation has become a more feasible option for many. Although the technique has increased in popularity, the mode of application is often poorly reported and the choice of input parameters not justified in any logical way
Testing Leggett's Inequality Using Aharonov-Casher Effect
Bell's inequality is established based on local realism. The violation of
Bell's inequality by quantum mechanics implies either locality or realism or
both are untenable. Leggett's inequality is derived based on nonlocal realism.
The violation of Leggett's inequality implies that quantum mechanics is neither
local realistic nor nonlocal realistic. The incompatibility of nonlocal realism
and quantum mechanics has been urrently confirmed by photon experiments. In our
work, we propose to test Leggett's inequality using the Aharonov-Casher effect.
In our scheme, four entangled particles emitted from two sources manifest a
two-qubit-typed correlation that may result in the violation of the Leggett
inequality, while satisfying the no-signaling condition for spacelike
separation. Our scheme is tolerant to some local inaccuracies due to the
topological nature of the Aharonov-Casher phase. The experimental
implementation of our scheme can be possibly realized by a calcium atomic
polarization interferometer experiment.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by Scientific Report
Comments on Supercurrent Multiplets, Supersymmetric Field Theories and Supergravity
We analyze various supersymmetry multiplets containing the supercurrent and
the energy-momentum tensor. The most widely known such multiplet, the
Ferrara-Zumino (FZ) multiplet, is not always well-defined. This can happen once
Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) terms are present or when the Kahler form of the target
space is not exact. We present a new multiplet S which always exists. This
understanding of the supersymmetry current allows us to obtain new results
about the possible IR behavior of supersymmetric theories. Next, we discuss the
coupling of rigid supersymmetric theories to supergravity. When the theory has
an FZ-multiplet or it has a global R-symmetry the standard formalism can be
used. But when this is not the case such simple gauging is impossible. Then, we
must gauge the current S. The resulting theory has, in addition to the graviton
and the gravitino, another massless chiral superfield Phi which is essential
for the consistency of the theory. Some of the moduli of various string models
play the role of Phi. Our general considerations, which are based on the
consistency of supergravity, show that such moduli cannot be easily lifted thus
leading to constraints on gravity/string models.Comment: 27 pages. v2: references added and minor changes. v3: minor changes.
v4: minor clarification
New Sum Rules from Low Energy Compton Scattering on Arbitrary Spin Target
We derive two sum rules by studying the low energy Compton scattering on a
target of arbitrary (nonzero) spin j. In the first sum rule, we consider the
possibility that the intermediate state in the scattering can have spin |j \pm
1| and the same mass as the target. The second sum rule applies if the theory
at hand possesses intermediate narrow resonances with masses different from the
mass of the scatterer. These sum rules are generalizations of the
Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn-Weinberg sum rule. Along with the requirement of tree
level unitarity, they relate different low energy couplings in the theory.
Using these sum rules, we show that in certain cases the gyromagnetic ratio can
differ from the "natural" value g=2, even at tree level, without spoiling
perturbative unitarity. These sum rules can be used as constraints applicable
to all supergravity and higher-spin theories that contain particles charged
under some U(1) gauge field. In particular, applied to four dimensional N=8
supergravity in a spontaneously broken phase, these sum rules suggest that for
the theory to have a good ultraviolet behavior, additional massive states need
to be present, such as those coming from the embedding of the N=8 supergravity
in type II superstring theory. We also discuss the possible implications of the
sum rules for QCD in the large-N_c limit.Comment: 18 pages, v2: discussion on black hole contribution is included,
references added; v3: extended discussion in introduction, version to appear
in JHE
Area-level deprivation and adiposity in children: is the relationship linear?
OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that childhood obesity is inversely associated with deprivation, such that the prevalence is higher in more deprived groups. However, comparatively few studies actually use an area-level measure of deprivation, limiting the scope to assess trends in the association with obesity for this indicator. Furthermore, most assume a linear relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate associations between area-level deprivation and three measures of adiposity in children: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study in which data were collected on three occasions a year apart (2005-2007). SUBJECTS: Data were available for 13,333 children, typically aged 11-12 years, from 37 schools and 542 lower super-output areas (LSOAs). MEASURES: Stature, mass and WC. Obesity was defined as a BMI and WC exceeding the 95th centile according to British reference data. WHtR exceeding 0.5 defined obesity. The Index of Multiple Deprivation affecting children (IDACI) was used to determine area-level deprivation. RESULTS: Considerable differences in the prevalence of obesity exist between the three different measures. However, for all measures of adiposity the highest probability of being classified as obese is in the middle of the IDACI range. This relationship is more marked in girls, such that the probability of being obese for girls living in areas at the two extremes of deprivation is around half that at the peak, occurring in the middle. CONCLUSION: These data confirm the high prevalence of obesity in children and suggest that the relationship between obesity and residential area-level deprivation is not linear. This is contrary to the 'deprivation theory' and questions the current understanding and interpretation of the relationship between obesity and deprivation in children. These results could help make informed decisions at the local level
An experimental test of non-local realism
Most working scientists hold fast to the concept of 'realism' - a viewpoint
according to which an external reality exists independent of observation. But
quantum physics has shattered some of our cornerstone beliefs. According to
Bell's theorem, any theory that is based on the joint assumption of realism and
locality (meaning that local events cannot be affected by actions in space-like
separated regions) is at variance with certain quantum predictions. Experiments
with entangled pairs of particles have amply confirmed these quantum
predictions, thus rendering local realistic theories untenable. Maintaining
realism as a fundamental concept would therefore necessitate the introduction
of 'spooky' actions that defy locality. Here we show by both theory and
experiment that a broad and rather reasonable class of such non-local realistic
theories is incompatible with experimentally observable quantum correlations.
In the experiment, we measure previously untested correlations between two
entangled photons, and show that these correlations violate an inequality
proposed by Leggett for non-local realistic theories. Our result suggests that
giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient to be consistent with
quantum experiments, unless certain intuitive features of realism are
abandoned.Comment: Minor corrections to the manuscript, the final inequality and all its
conclusions do not change; description of corrections (Corrigendum) added as
new Appendix III; Appendix II replaced by a shorter derivatio
Quantum anti-Zeno effect without wave function reduction
We study the measurement-induced enhancement of the spontaneous decay (called
quantum anti-Zeno effect) for a two-level subsystem, where measurements are
treated as couplings between the excited state and an auxiliary state rather
than the von Neumann's wave function reduction. The photon radiated in a fast
decay of the atom, from the auxiliary state to the excited state, triggers a
quasi-measurement, as opposed to a projection measurement. Our use of the term
"quasi-measurement" refers to a "coupling-based measurement". Such frequent
quasi-measurements result in an exponential decay of the survival probability
of atomic initial state with a photon emission following each
quasi-measurement. Our calculations show that the effective decay rate is of
the same form as the one based on projection measurements. What is more
important, the survival probability of the atomic initial state which is
obtained by tracing over all the photon states is equivalent to the survival
probability of the atomic initial state with a photon emission following each
quasi-measurement to the order under consideration. That is because the
contributions from those states with photon number less than the number of
quasi-measurements originate from higher-order processes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Anyons in a weakly interacting system
We describe a theoretical proposal for a system whose excitations are anyons
with the exchange phase pi/4 and charge -e/2, but, remarkably, can be built by
filling a set of single-particle states of essentially noninteracting
electrons. The system consists of an artificially structured type-II
superconducting film adjacent to a 2D electron gas in the integer quantum Hall
regime with unit filling fraction. The proposal rests on the observation that a
vacancy in an otherwise periodic vortex lattice in the superconductor creates a
bound state in the 2DEG with total charge -e/2. A composite of this
fractionally charged hole and the missing flux due to the vacancy behaves as an
anyon. The proposed setup allows for manipulation of these anyons and could
prove useful in various schemes for fault-tolerant topological quantum
computation.Comment: 7 pages with 3 figures. For related work and info visit
http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~fran
Solution to the Ward Identities for Superamplitudes
Supersymmetry and R-symmetry Ward identities relate on-shell amplitudes in a
supersymmetric field theory. We solve these Ward identities for (Next-to)^K MHV
amplitudes of the maximally supersymmetric N=4 and N=8 theories. The resulting
superamplitude is written in a new, manifestly supersymmetric and R-invariant
form: it is expressed as a sum of very simple SUSY and SU(N)_R-invariant
Grassmann polynomials, each multiplied by a "basis amplitude". For (Next-to)^K
MHV n-point superamplitudes the number of basis amplitudes is equal to the
dimension of the irreducible representation of SU(n-4) corresponding to the
rectangular Young diagram with N columns and K rows. The linearly independent
amplitudes in this algebraic basis may still be functionally related by
permutation of momenta. We show how cyclic and reflection symmetries can be
used to obtain a smaller functional basis of color-ordered single-trace
amplitudes in N=4 gauge theory. We also analyze the more significant reduction
that occurs in N=8 supergravity because gravity amplitudes are not ordered. All
results are valid at both tree and loop level.Comment: 29 pages, published versio
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