2,406 research outputs found

    Spontaneously induced general relativity with holographic interior and general exterior

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    We study the spontaneously induced general relativity (GR) from the scalar-tensor gravity. We demonstrate by numerical methods that a novel inner core can be connected to the Schwarzschild exterior with cosmological constants and any sectional curvature. Deriving an analytic core metric for a general exterior, we show that all the nontrivial features of the core, including the locally holographic entropy packing, are universal for the general exterior in static spacetimes. We also investigate whether the f(R) gravity can accommodate the nontrivial core.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; v3: clarification improved, revised version accepted by PL

    Epidemiology and Management of Depression Following Coronary Heart Disease Diagnosis in Women

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    Coronary heart disease (CHD) and depression are both highly prevalent in women. Importantly, depression is associated with significantly elevated morbidity and mortality in women with CHD. There are intriguing speculations about biological mechanisms underlying this association, such as endothelial dysfunction, subclinical atherosclerosis, inflammation, and autonomic dysregulation. Social and behavioral mechanisms, such as lack of social support and physical inactivity, have also been shown to play important roles. Unfortunately, many randomized clinical trials of counseling and pharmacologic interventions for depression in patients with CHD have failed to improve cardiovascular outcomes, and in fact have raised the possibility that interventions might be harmful in women. Several recent trials of new treatment strategies, however, have been more effective in improving depressive symptoms and quality of life and deserve further investigation. In this review, we summarize recent findings with regards to the epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis, and management of depression in women diagnosed with CHD

    Psychosocial vulnerabilities to depression after acute coronary syndrome: the pivotal role of rumination in predicting and maintaining depression

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    Psychosocial vulnerabilities may predispose individuals to develop depression after a significant life stressor, such as an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The aims are (1) to examine the interrelations among vulnerabilities, and their relation with changes in depressive symptoms 3 months after ACS, (2) to prospectively assess whether rumination interacts with other vulnerabilities as a predictor of later depressive symptoms, and (3) to examine how these relations differ between post-ACS patients who meet diagnostic criteria for depression at baseline versus patients who do not. Within 1 week after hospitalization for ACS, and again after 3 months, 387 patients (41% female, 79.6% white, mean age 61) completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and measures of vulnerabilities (lack of pleasant events, dysfunctional attitudes, role transitions, poor dyadic adjustment). Exclusion criteria were a BDI score of 5–9, terminal illness, active substance abuse, cognitive impairment, and unavailability for follow-up visits. We used hierarchical regression modeling cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Controlling for baseline (in-hospital) depression and cardiovascular disease severity, vulnerabilities significantly predicted 3 month depression severity. Rumination independently predicted increased depression severity, above other vulnerabilities (β = 0.75, p < 0.001), and also interacted with poor dyadic adjustment (β = 0.32, p < 0.001) to amplify depression severity. Among initially non-depressed patients, the effects of vulnerabilities were amplified by rumination. In contrast, in patients who were already depressed at baseline, there was a direct effect of rumination above vulnerabilities on depression severity. Although all vulnerabilities predict depression 3 months after an ACS event has occurred rumination plays a key role to amplify the impact of vulnerabilities on depression among the initially non-depressed, and maintains depression among those who are already depressed

    Physical Constraints and Functional Characteristics of Transcription Factor-DNA Interaction

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    We study theoretical ``design principles'' for transcription factor-DNA interaction in bacteria, focusing particularly on the statistical interaction of the transcription factors (TF's) with the genomic background (i.e., the genome without the target sites). We introduce and motivate the concept of `programmability', i.e. the ability to set the threshold concentration for TF binding over a wide range merely by mutating the binding sequence of a target site. This functional demand, together with physical constraints arising from the thermodynamics and kinetics of TF-DNA interaction, leads us to a narrow range of ``optimal'' interaction parameters. We find that this parameter set agrees well with experimental data for the interaction parameters of a few exemplary prokaryotic TF's. This indicates that TF-DNA interaction is indeed programmable. We suggest further experiments to test whether this is a general feature for a large class of TF's.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; revised version as published in PNA

    The benefits of neighborhood racial diversity: Neighborhood factors and its association with increased physical activity in ACS patients

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    Regular physical activity reduces the risk of adverse events after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) [1]. Physical activity level is influenced by neighborhood factors such as racial diversity in the general population [2] and [3], but the impact of neighborhood factors on physical activity after an ACS is unknown. We therefore prospectively evaluated the relationship of post-ACS physical activity assessed by continuous activity monitors with neighborhood characteristics, including ethnic density, income, female headed households, and racial diversity, in patients enrolled in the Prescription Use, Lifestyle, and Stress Evaluation (PULSE) Study. We included 107 patients enrolled in the PULSE study from February 1, 2009 to June 30, who were monitored with an Actical® (Philips Respironics, Inc., Bend, Oregon) accelerometer device during the first 45 days following discharge from their ACS. For this analysis, physical activity level was operationalized as the mean maximum 6 min of activity during the day (M6m), which has previously been employed in studies of patients with chronic heart failure to summarize the patients' peak activity level [4] and [5]. Because the trajectory of physical activity is expected to change after hospital discharge, we calculated the M6m measure at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days post-discharge

    Maternal obesity-induced decreases in plasma, hepatic and uterine polyunsaturated fatty acids during labour is reversed through improved nutrition at conception

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    Maternal obesity is associated with prolonged and dysfunctional labour, potentially through decreased synthesis of prostaglandins that stimulate myometrial contractions. We assessed the impact of maternal obesity on concentrations of precursor fatty acids (FA) for prostaglandin synthesis and whether any changes could be reversed by improved nutrition post-conception. Wistar rats were fed control (CON) or High-Fat, High-cholesterol (HFHC) diets 6 weeks before mating. At conception half the dams switched diets providing 4 dietary groups: (1) CON, (2) HFHC, (3) CON-HFHC or (4) HFHC-CON. During parturition rats were euthanized and FA composition of plasma, liver and uterus determined. Visceral fat was doubled in rats exposed to the HFHC diet prior to and/or during pregnancy compared to CON. HFHC diet increased MUFAs but decreased omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs in plasma and liver. Uterine omega-3 FA concentrations were halved in HFHC versus CON rats, but all other FAs were similar. Switching from HFHC to CON diet at conception restored all FA profles to those seen in CON rats. The increased MUFA and decreased PUFA concentrations in obese HFHC dams may contribute to aberrant prostaglandin synthesis and dysfunctional myometrial activity and it may be possible to reverse these changes, and potentially improve labour outcomes, by improving nutrition at conception

    Deviation from Tri-Bimaximal Mixing and Large Reactor Mixing Angle

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    Recent observations for a non-zero θ13\theta_{13} have come from various experiments. We study a model of lepton mixing with a 2-3 flavor symmetry to accommodate the sizable θ13\theta_{13} measurement. In this work, we derive deviations from the tri-bimaximal (TBM) pattern arising from breaking the flavor symmetry in the neutrino sector, while the charged leptons contribution has been discussed in a previous work. Contributions from both sectors towards accommodating the non-zero θ13\theta_{13} measurement are presented.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1109.232

    Real earnings management activities prior to bondissuance

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    We examine real activities manipulation by firms prior to their debt issuances andhow such manipulation activities affect bond yield spreads. We find that bond-issuing firmsincrease their real activities manipulation in the five quarters leading to a bond issuance. Wedocument an inverse association between yield spread and pre-issue real activities manipula-tion, i.e., firms engaged in abnormally high levels of real activities manipulation are associatedwith subsequent lower cost of debt
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