In search of hair damage using metabolomics?

YesHair fibres are extraordinary materials, not least because they are exquisitely formed by each of the 5 million or so hair follicles on our bodies and have functions that cross from physiology to psychology, but also because they have well known resistance to degradation as seen in hair surviving from archaeological and historical samples [1]. Hair fibres on the head grow at around 1cm each month, together totalling approximately 12km of growth per person per year. Each fibre is incredibly strong for its small diameter; with one fibre typically holding 100g and together a well-formed ponytail [allegedly] has the collective strength to support the weight of a small elephant! Hair – and from here I mean scalp hair – is under constant scrutiny by each of us; whether it be style, split ends, the first few grey hairs or the collection of hairs in the shower that should be firmly attached - leading to the fear that is hair loss

Long Distance Contribution to s→dγs \to d\gamma and Implications for Ω−→Ξ−γ,Bs→Bd∗γ\Omega^-\to \Xi ^-\gamma, B_s \to B_d^*\gamma and b→sγb \to s\gamma

We estimate the long distance (LD) contribution to the magnetic part of the $s \to d\gamma$ transition using the Vector Meson Dominance approximation $(V=\rho,\omega,\psi_i)$. We find that this contribution may be significantly larger than the short distance (SD) contribution to $s \to d\gamma$ and could possibly saturate the present experimental upper bound on the $\Omega^-\to \Xi^-\gamma$ decay rate, $\Gamma^{\rm MAX}_{\Omega^-\to \Xi^-\gamma} \simeq 3.7\times10^{-9}$eV. For the decay $B_s \to B^*_d\gamma$, which is driven by $s \to d\gamma$ as well, we obtain an upper bound on the branching ratio $BR(B_s \to B_d^*\gamma)<3\times10^{-8}$ from $\Gamma^{\rm MAX}_{\Omega^-\to \Xi^-\gamma}$. Barring the possibility that the Quantum Chromodynamics coefficient $a_2(m_s)$ be much smaller than 1, $\Gamma^{\rm MAX}_{\Omega^-\to \Xi^-\gamma}$ also implies the approximate relation $\frac{2}{3} \sum_i \frac{g^2_{\psi_i}(0)}{m^2_{\psi_i}} \simeq \frac{1}{2} \frac{g^2_\rho(0)}{m^2_\rho} + \frac{1}{6}\frac{g^2_\omega(0)}{m^2_\omega}$. This relation agrees quantitatively with a recent independent estimate of the l.h.s. by Deshpande et al., confirming that the LD contributions to $b \to s\gamma$ are small. We find that these amount to an increase of $(4\pm2)\%$ in the magnitude of the $b \to s \gamma$ transition amplitude, relative to the SD contribution alone.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX fil

UNDERSTANDING THE SCALAR MESON qqˉq\bar q NONET

It is shown that one can fit the available data on the a0(980), f0(980), f0(1300) and K*0(1430) mesons as a distorted 0++ qq bar nonet using very few (5-6) parameters and an improved version of the unitarized quark model. This includes all light two-pseudoscalar thresholds, constraints from Adler zeroes, flavour symmetric couplings, unitarity and physically acceptable analyticity. The parameters include a bare uu bar or dd bar mass, an over-all coupling constant, a cutoff and a strange quark mass of 100 MeV, which is in accord with expectations from the quark model. It is found that in particular for the a0(980) and f0(980) the KK bar component in the wave function is large, i.e., for a large fraction of the time the qq bar state is transformed into a virtual KK bar pair. This KK bar component, together with a similar component of eta' pi for the a0(980) , and eta eta, eta eta' and eta' eta' components for the f0(980), causes the substantial shift to a lower mass than what is naively expected from the qq bar component alone. Mass, width and mixing parameters, including sheet and pole positions, of the four resonances are given, with a detailed pedagogical discussion of their meaning.Comment: 35 pages in plain latex (ZPC in press), 10 figures obtainable from the author ([email protected]) with regular mail or as a large PS fil

Tri-meson-mixing of π\pi-η\eta-η′\eta' and ρ\rho-ω\omega-ϕ\phi in the light-cone quark model

The radiative transition form factors of the pseudoscalar mesons {$\pi$, $\eta$, $\eta'$} and the vector mesons {$\rho$, $\omega$, $\phi$} are restudied with $\pi$-$\eta$-$\eta'$ and $\rho$-$\omega$-$\phi$ in tri-meson-mixing pattern, which is described by tri-mixing matrices in the light-cone constituent quark model. The experimental transition decay widths are better reproduced with tri-meson-mixing than previous results in a two-mixing-angle scenario of only two-meson $\eta$-$\eta'$ mixing and $\omega$-$\phi$ mixing.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, final version to appear in EPJ

Sum Rules for Radiative and Strong Decays of Heavy Mesons

We derive two model-independent sum rules relating the transition matrix elements for radiative and strong decays of excited heavy mesons to properties of the lowest-lying heavy mesons. The sum rule for the radiative decays is an analog of the Cabibbo-Radicati sum rule and expresses the sum of the radiative widths in terms of the isovector charge radius of the ground state heavy meson. Using model-dependent estimates and heavy hadron chiral perturbation theory calculations, we show that this sum rule is close to saturation with states of excitation energies less than 1 GeV. An analog of the Adler-Weisberger sum rule gives an useful sum rule for the pionic widths of heavy excited mesons, which is used to set a model-independent upper bound on the coupling of the P-wave heavy mesons.Comment: 12 pages, REVTe

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

Nucleus gracilis responses to knee joint motion: A frequency response study

1. (1) A systems analysis approach was used to study the dynamic responses of sensory cells in thenucleus gracilis of anesthetized cats. Sinusoidal changes in knee angle were used as inputs and the average firing rate of single gracile cells was recorded as the output. Frequency response functions were derived from data displayed as Bode plots.2. (2) Fifty-nine cells were studied. The majority of these cells exhibited an acceleration sensitivity but 5 cells exhibited a velocity sensitivity. No position sensitivity was evident and no slowly adapting or tonic responses were recorded.3. (3) The acceleration sensitive cells demonstrated significant non-linear responses. The gain associated with their frequency response function depended upon both static knee angle and input excursion amplitude. These cells also exhibited a bi-directional response to sinusoidal and square wave inputs.4. (4) These data are taken as evidence that the dorsal columns may carry acceleration and velocity information from receptors in the knee joint, but that positional information may travel by other pathways to cells located in other areas. If such is the case, lesion experiments involving the dorsal columns should reveal loss of velocity and acceleration sense but no decrement in position sense.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33751/1/0000003.pd

Radiative Decays, Nonet Symmetry and SU(3) Breaking

We re-examine the problem of simultaneously describing in a consistent way all radiative and leptonic decays of light mesons (V -> P gamma, P -> V gamma, P -> gamma gamma, V -> e^+ e^-). For this purpose, we rely on the Hidden Local Symmetry model in both its anomalous and non--anomalous sectors. We show that the SU(3) symmetry breaking scheme proposed by Bando, Kugo and Yamawaki, supplemented with nonet symmetry breaking in the pseudoscalar sector, allows one to reach a nice agreement with all data, except for the K^{*+/-} radiative decay. An extension of this breaking pattern allows one to account for this particular decay mode too. Considered together, the whole set of radiative decays provides a pseudoscalar mixing angle theta_P ~ -11^o and a value for theta_V which is ~ 3^o from that of ideal mixing. We also show that it is impossible, in a practical sense, to disentangle the effects of nonet symmetry breaking and those of glue inside the eta', using only light meson decays.Comment: 36 pages. Published versio