21,369 research outputs found
Tensorial Reconstruction at the Integrand Level
We present a new approach to the reduction of one-loop amplitudes obtained by
reconstructing the tensorial expression of the scattering amplitudes. The
reconstruction is performed at the integrand level by means of a sampling in
the integration momentum. There are several interesting applications of this
novel method within existing techniques for the reduction of one-loop multi-leg
amplitudes: to deal with numerically unstable points, such as in the vicinity
of a vanishing Gram determinant; to allow for a sampling of the numerator
function based on real values of the integration momentum; to optimize the
numerical reduction in the case of long expressions for the numerator
functions.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure
Next-to-leading order QCD predictions for W+W+jj production at the LHC
Because the LHC is a proton-proton collider, sizable production of two
positively charged W-bosons in association with two jets is possible. This
process leads to a distinct signature of same sign high-pt leptons, missing
energy and jets. We compute the NLO QCD corrections to the QCD-mediated part of
pp -> W+W+jj. These corrections reduce the dependence of the production
cross-section on the renormalization and factorization scale to about +- 10
percent. We find that a large number of W+W+jj events contain a relatively hard
third jet. The presence of this jet should help to either pick up the W+W+jj
signal or to reject it as an unwanted background.Comment: 15 pages, 5 (lovely) figures, v3 accepted for publication in JHEP,
corrects tables in appendi
Elevated expression of artemis in human fibroblast cells is associated with cellular radiosensitivity and increased apoptosis
Copyright @ 2012 Nature Publishing GroupThis article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: The objective of this study was to determine the molecular mechanism(s) responsible for cellular radiosensitivity in two human fibroblast cell lines 84BR and 175BR derived from two cancer patients. Methods: Clonogenic assays were performed following exposure to increasing doses of gamma radiation to confirm radiosensitivity. γ-H2AX foci assays were used to determine the efficiency of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair in cells. Quantitative-PCR (Q-PCR) established the expression levels of key DNA DSB repair proteins. Imaging flow cytometry using Annexin V-FITC was used to compare artemis expression and apoptosis in cells. Results: Clonogenic cellular hypersensitivity in the 84BR and 175BR cell lines was associated with a defect in DNA DSB repair measured by the γ-H2AX foci assay. Q-PCR analysis and imaging flow cytometry revealed a two-fold overexpression of the artemis DNA repair gene which was associated with an increased level of apoptosis in the cells before and after radiation exposure. Over-expression of normal artemis protein in a normal immortalised fibroblast cell line NB1-Tert resulted in increased radiosensitivity and apoptosis. Conclusion: We conclude elevated expression of artemis is associated with higher levels of DNA DSB, radiosensitivity and elevated apoptosis in two radio-hypersensitive cell lines. These data reveal a potentially novel mechanism responsible for radiosensitivity and show that increased artemis expression in cells can result in either radiation resistance or enhanced sensitivity.This work was supported in part by The Vidal Sassoon Foundation USA. This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund
Refinement of metabolite detection in cystic fibrosis sputum reveals heme correlates with lung function decline
The bacterial growth environment within cystic fibrosis (CF) sputum is complex, dynamic, and shaped by both host and microbial processes. Characterization of the chemical parameters within sputum that stimulate the in vivo growth of airway pathogens (e.g. Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and their associated virulence factors may lead to improved CF treatment strategies. Motivated by conflicting reports of the prevalence and abundance of P. aeruginosa-derived metabolites known as phenazines within CF airway secretions, we sought to quantify these metabolites in sputum using quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In contrast to our previous work, all phenazines tested (pyocyanin (PYO), phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), phenazine-1-carboxamide, and 1-hydroxyphenazine) were below detection limits of the instrument (0.1 μM). Instead, we identified a late-eluting compound that shared retention time and absorbance characteristics with PCA, yet generated mass spectra and a fragmentation pattern consistent with ferriprotoporphyrin IX, otherwise known as heme B. These data suggested that UV-vis chromatographic peaks previously attributed to PCA and PYO in sputum were mis-assigned. Indeed, retrospective analysis of raw data from our prior study found that the heme B peak closely matched the peaks assigned to PCA, indicating that the previous study likely uncovered a positive correlation between pulmonary function (percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second, or ppFEV1) and heme B, not PCA or any other phenazine. To independently test this observation, we performed a new tandem mass-spectrometry analysis of 71 additional samples provided by the Mountain West CF Consortium Sputum Biomarker study and revealed a positive correlation (ρ = −0.47, p<0.001) between sputum heme concentrations and ppFEV1. Given that hemoptysis is strongly associated with airway inflammation, pulmonary exacerbations and impaired lung function, these new data suggest that heme B may be a useful biomarker of CF pathophysiology
Instantaneous Shape Sampling - a model for the -absorption cross section of transitional nuclei
The influence of the quadrupole shape fluctuations on the dipole vibrations
in transitional nuclei is investigated in the framework of the Instantaneous
Shape Sampling Model, which combines the Interacting Boson Model for the slow
collective quadrupole motion with the Random Phase Approximation for the rapid
dipole vibrations. Coupling to the complex background configurations is taken
into account by folding the results with a Lorentzian with an energy dependent
width. The low-energy energy portion of the - absorption cross section,
which is important for photo-nuclear processes, is studied for the isotopic
series of Kr, Xe, Ba, and Sm. The experimental cross sections are well
reproduced. The low-energy cross section is determined by the Landau
fragmentation of the dipole strength and its redistribution caused by the shape
fluctuations. Collisional damping only wipes out fluctuations of the absorption
cross section, generating the smooth energy dependence observed in experiment.
In the case of semi-magic nuclei, shallow pygmy resonances are found in
agreement with experiment
Transport theory yields renormalization group equations
We show that dissipative transport and renormalization can be described in a
single theoretical framework. The appropriate mathematical tool is the
Nakajima-Zwanzig projection technique. We illustrate our result in the case of
interacting quantum gases, where we use the Nakajima-Zwanzig approach to
investigate the renormalization group flow of the effective two-body
interaction.Comment: 11 pages REVTeX, twocolumn, no figures; revised version with
additional examples, to appear in Phys. Rev.
A Tree-Loop Duality Relation at Two Loops and Beyond
The duality relation between one-loop integrals and phase-space integrals,
developed in a previous work, is extended to higher-order loops. The duality
relation is realized by a modification of the customary +i0 prescription of the
Feynman propagators, which compensates for the absence of the multiple-cut
contributions that appear in the Feynman tree theorem. We rederive the duality
theorem at one-loop order in a form that is more suitable for its iterative
extension to higher-loop orders. We explicitly show its application to two- and
three-loop scalar master integrals, and we discuss the structure of the
occurring cuts and the ensuing results in detail.Comment: 20 pages. Few typos corrected, some additional comments included,
Appendix B and one reference added. Final version as published in JHE
Simple Observables from Fat Link Fermion Actions
A comparison is made of the (quenched) light hadron spectrum and of simple
matrix elements for a hypercubic fermion action (based on a fixed point action)
and the clover action, both using fat links, at a lattice spacing a= 0.18 fm.
Renormalization constants for the naive and improved vector current and the
naive axial current are computed using Ward identities. The renormalization
factors are very close to unity, and the spectroscopy of light hadrons and the
pseudoscalar and vector decay constants agree well with simulations at smaller
lattice spacings (and with experiment).Comment: 22 pages, 12 postscript figures, Revtex plus eps
Disentangled Representations for Domain-generalized Cardiac Segmentation
Robust cardiac image segmentation is still an open challenge due to the
inability of the existing methods to achieve satisfactory performance on unseen
data of different domains. Since the acquisition and annotation of medical data
are costly and time-consuming, recent work focuses on domain adaptation and
generalization to bridge the gap between data from different populations and
scanners. In this paper, we propose two data augmentation methods that focus on
improving the domain adaptation and generalization abilities of
state-to-the-art cardiac segmentation models. In particular, our "Resolution
Augmentation" method generates more diverse data by rescaling images to
different resolutions within a range spanning different scanner protocols.
Subsequently, our "Factor-based Augmentation" method generates more diverse
data by projecting the original samples onto disentangled latent spaces, and
combining the learned anatomy and modality factors from different domains. Our
extensive experiments demonstrate the importance of efficient adaptation
between seen and unseen domains, as well as model generalization ability, to
robust cardiac image segmentation.Comment: Accepted by STACOM 202
The use of biomedicine, complementary and alternative medicine, and ethnomedicine for the treatment of epilepsy among people of South Asian origin in the UK
Studies have shown that a significant proportion of people with epilepsy use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM use is known to vary between different ethnic groups and cultural contexts; however, little attention has been devoted to inter-ethnic differences within the UK population. We studied the use of biomedicine, complementary and alternative medicine, and ethnomedicine in a sample of people with epilepsy of South Asian origin living in the north of England.
Interviews were conducted with 30 people of South Asian origin and 16 carers drawn from a sampling frame of patients over 18 years old with epilepsy, compiled from epilepsy registers and hospital databases. All interviews were tape-recorded, translated if required and transcribed. A framework approach was adopted to analyse the data.
All those interviewed were taking conventional anti-epileptic drugs. Most had also sought help from traditional South Asian practitioners, but only two people had tried conventional CAM. Decisions to consult a traditional healer were taken by families rather than by individuals with epilepsy. Those who made the decision to consult a traditional healer were usually older family members and their motivations and perceptions of safety and efficacy often differed from those of the recipients of the treatment. No-one had discussed the use of traditional therapies with their doctor. The patterns observed in the UK mirrored those reported among people with epilepsy in India and Pakistan.
The health care-seeking behaviour of study participants, although mainly confined within the ethnomedicine sector, shared much in common with that of people who use global CAM. The appeal of traditional therapies lay in their religious and moral legitimacy within the South Asian community, especially to the older generation who were disproportionately influential in the determination of treatment choices. As a second generation made up of people of Pakistani origin born in the UK reach the age when they are the influential decision makers in their families, resort to traditional therapies may decline. People had long experience of navigating plural systems of health care and avoided potential conflict by maintaining strict separation between different sectors. Health care practitioners need to approach these issues with sensitivity and to regard traditional healers as potential allies, rather than competitors or quacks
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