17,212 research outputs found
Association between Antibiotic Prescribing in Pregnancy and Cerebral Palsy or Epilepsy in Children Born at Term: A Cohort Study Using The Health Improvement Network.
Between 19%-44% pregnant women are prescribed antibiotics during pregnancy. A single, large randomised-controlled-trial (ORACLE Childhood Study II) found an increased risk of childhood cerebral palsy and possibly epilepsy following prophylactic antibiotic use in pregnant women with spontaneous preterm labour. We ascertained whether this outcome could be reproduced across the population of babies delivered at term and prospectively followed in primary-care using data from The Health Improvement Network
The Fractality of the Hydrodynamic Modes of Diffusion
Transport by normal diffusion can be decomposed into the so-called
hydrodynamic modes which relax exponentially toward the equilibrium state. In
chaotic systems with two degrees of freedom, the fine scale structure of these
hydrodynamic modes is singular and fractal. We characterize them by their
Hausdorff dimension which is given in terms of Ruelle's topological pressure.
For long-wavelength modes, we derive a striking relation between the Hausdorff
dimension, the diffusion coefficient, and the positive Lyapunov exponent of the
system. This relation is tested numerically on two chaotic systems exhibiting
diffusion, both periodic Lorentz gases, one with hard repulsive forces, the
other with attractive, Yukawa forces. The agreement of the data with the theory
is excellent
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A constraint based structure description language for Biosequences
Fractal dimension of transport coefficients in a deterministic dynamical system
In many low-dimensional dynamical systems transport coefficients are very
irregular, perhaps even fractal functions of control parameters. To analyse
this phenomenon we study a dynamical system defined by a piece-wise linear map
and investigate the dependence of transport coefficients on the slope of the
map. We present analytical arguments, supported by numerical calculations,
showing that both the Minkowski-Bouligand and Hausdorff fractal dimension of
the graphs of these functions is 1 with a logarithmic correction, and find that
the exponent controlling this correction is bounded from above by 1 or
2, depending on some detailed properties of the system. Using numerical
techniques we show local self-similarity of the graphs. The local
self-similarity scaling transformations turn out to depend (irregularly) on the
values of the system control parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures; ver.2: 18 pages, 7 figures (added section 5.2,
corrected typos, etc.
Drift of particles in self-similar systems and its Liouvillian interpretation
We study the dynamics of classical particles in different classes of
spatially extended self-similar systems, consisting of (i) a self-similar
Lorentz billiard channel, (ii) a self-similar graph, and (iii) a master
equation. In all three systems the particles typically drift at constant
velocity and spread ballistically. These transport properties are analyzed in
terms of the spectral properties of the operator evolving the probability
densities. For systems (i) and (ii), we explain the drift from the properties
of the Pollicott-Ruelle resonance spectrum and corresponding eigenvectorsComment: To appear in Phys. Rev.
Zinc Nutrition and Inflammation in the Aging Retina
Zinc is an essential nutrient for human health. It plays key roles in maintaining protein structure and stability, serves as catalytic factor for many enzymes, and regulates diverse fundamental cellular processes. Zinc is important in affecting signal transduction and, in particular, in the development and integrity of the immune system, where it affects both innate and adaptive immune responses. The eye, especially the retina‐choroid complex, has an unusually high concentration of zinc compared to other tissues. The highest amount of zinc is concentrated in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) (RPE‐choroid, 292 ± 98.5 µg g−1 dry tissue), followed by the retina (123 ± 62.2 µg g−1 dry tissue). The interplay between zinc and inflammation has been explored in other parts of the body but, so far, has not been extensively researched in the eye. Several lines of evidence suggest that ocular zinc concentration decreases with age, especially in the context of age‐related disease. Thus, a hypothesis that retinal function could be modulated by zinc nutrition is proposed, and subsequently trialled clinically. In this review, the distribution and the potential role of zinc in the retina‐choroid complex is outlined, especially in relation to inflammation and immunity, and the clinical studies to date are summarized
Factors associated with influenza vaccine uptake during a universal vaccination programme of preschool children in England and Wales: a cohort study
INTRODUCTION: Influenza vaccination through primary care has been recommended for all preschool children in the UK since 2013 as part of a universal immunisation programme. Vaccination is required annually and effectiveness varies by season. Factors associated with influenza vaccine receipt and those for other childhood vaccines may therefore differ. METHODS: We used The Health Improvement Network, a large primary care database, to create a cohort of children in England and Wales aged 2-4 years eligible for vaccination in the 2014/2015 season. Mixed-effects Poisson regression models were used to determine sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with influenza vaccine receipt, allowing for practice-level variation. RESULTS: Overall, 38.7% (95% CI 38.3% to 39.1%) of 57 545 children were vaccinated against influenza. Children in the poorest deprivation quintile were 19% less likely to receive influenza vaccine than those in the wealthiest quintile (adjusted risk ratio (ARR) 0.81, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.86). Children who received a timely first dose of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine were twice as likely to receive influenza vaccine (ARR 2.00 95% CI 1.87 to 2.13). Being 4 years old, not in a clinical risk group, or living with 2 or more other children were also significantly associated with a lower probability of vaccination. DISCUSSION: Children living in areas of higher deprivation and in larger families are less likely to receive influenza vaccine. Further research is required into whether interventions, such as offering vaccinations in other settings, could increase uptake in children, particularly in deprived areas
Steady-state conduction in self-similar billiards
The self-similar Lorentz billiard channel is a spatially extended
deterministic dynamical system which consists of an infinite one-dimensional
sequence of cells whose sizes increase monotonically according to their
indices. This special geometry induces a nonequilibrium stationary state with
particles flowing steadily from the small to the large scales. The
corresponding invariant measure has fractal properties reflected by the
phase-space contraction rate of the dynamics restricted to a single cell with
appropriate boundary conditions. In the near-equilibrium limit, we find
numerical agreement between this quantity and the entropy production rate as
specified by thermodynamics
K-Band Spectroscopy of an Obscured Massive Stellar Cluster in the Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/4039) with NIRSPEC
We present infrared spectroscopy of the Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/4039)
with NIRSPEC at the W. M. Keck Observatory. We imaged the star clusters in the
vicinity of the southern nucleus (NGC 4039) in 0.39" seeing in K-band using
NIRSPEC's slit-viewing camera. The brightest star cluster revealed in the
near-IR (M_K(0) = -17.9) is insignificant optically, but coincident with the
highest surface brightness peak in the mid-IR (12-18 um) ISO image presented by
Mirabel et al (1998). We obtained high signal-to-noise 2.03-2.45 um spectra of
the nucleus and the obscured star cluster at R = 1900.
The cluster is very young (age ~ 4 Myr), massive (M ~ 16E6 M_sun), and
compact (density ~ 115 M_sun pc^(-3) within a 32 pc half-light radius),
assuming a Salpeter IMF (0.1-100 M_sun). Its hot stars have a radiation field
characterized by T_eff ~ 39,000 K, and they ionize a compact HII region with
n_e ~ 10^4 cm^(-3). The stars are deeply embedded in gas and dust (A_V = 9-10
mag), and their strong FUV field powers a clumpy photodissociation region with
densities n_H > 10^5 cm^(-3) on scales of ~ 200 pc, radiating L{H_2 1-0 S(1)}=
9600 L_sun.Comment: 4 pages, 4 embedded figures, uses emulateapj.sty. To appear in ApJL.
Also available at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~agilber
A priori Wannier functions from modified Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham equations
The Hartree-Fock equations are modified to directly yield Wannier functions
following a proposal of Shukla et al. [Chem. Phys. Lett. 262, 213-218 (1996)].
This approach circumvents the a posteriori application of the Wannier
transformation to Bloch functions. I give a novel and rigorous derivation of
the relevant equations by introducing an orthogonalizing potential to ensure
the orthogonality among the resulting functions. The properties of these,
so-called a priori Wannier functions, are analyzed and the relation of the
modified Hartree-Fock equations to the conventional, Bloch-function-based
equations is elucidated. It is pointed out that the modified equations offer a
different route to maximally localized Wannier functions. Their computational
solution is found to involve an effort that is comparable to the effort for the
solution of the conventional equations. Above all, I show how a priori Wannier
functions can be obtained by a modification of the Kohn-Sham equations of
density-functional theory.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX4, revise
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