The effects of stress on the enzymes of peripheral leukocytes

Previous work showed an early response of rabbit and human leukocyte enzymes to the stress of bacterial infection. Since these represented a mixed population of leukocytes and since polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) increased in these preparations, it was necessary to establish whether the observed increase in lactate dehydrenase (LDH) and protein was the result of an increase in any one particular cell type or in all cells. The need for the development of a simple reproducible method for the differential separation of peripheral leukocytes for the furtherance of our own studies was apparent. It was also becoming increasingly apparent that morphologically similar cells, such as small lymphocytes (L) and macrophages, were capable of different biological functions. A dextran gradient centrifugation method was developed which has provided an easily reproducible technique for separating L from PMN. During the course of this work, in which over 250 rabbits were examined, the pattern of daily leukocyte protein and enzyme variation became increasingly more apparent. This information could have some impact on future work with leukocyte enzymes, by our group and by other workers. The differences in normal protein and enzyme levels maintained by some individuals, and some inbred strains, were evaluated and reported separately. It has been shown that one type of leukocyte may react more to a given stress than other leukocytes

Use of record-linkage to handle non-response and improve alcohol consumption estimates in health survey data: a study protocol

<p>Introduction: Reliable estimates of health-related behaviours, such as levels of alcohol consumption in the population, are required to formulate and evaluate policies. National surveys provide such data; validity depends on generalisability, but this is threatened by declining response levels. Attempts to address bias arising from non-response are typically limited to survey weights based on sociodemographic characteristics, which do not capture differential health and related behaviours within categories. This project aims to explore and address non-response bias in health surveys with a focus on alcohol consumption.</p> <p>Methods and analysis: The Scottish Health Surveys (SHeS) aim to provide estimates representative of the Scottish population living in private households. Survey data of consenting participants (92% of the achieved sample) have been record-linked to routine hospital admission (Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR)) and mortality (from National Records of Scotland (NRS)) data for surveys conducted in 1995, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (total adult sample size around 40 000), with maximum follow-up of 16 years. Also available are census information and SMR/NRS data for the general population. Comparisons of alcohol-related mortality and hospital admission rates in the linked SHeS-SMR/NRS with those in the general population will be made. Survey data will be augmented by quantification of differences to refine alcohol consumption estimates through the application of multiple imputation or inverse probability weighting. The resulting corrected estimates of population alcohol consumption will enable superior policy evaluation. An advanced weighting procedure will be developed for wider use.</p> <p>Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval for SHeS has been given by the National Health Service (NHS) Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committee and use of linked data has been approved by the Privacy Advisory Committee to the Board of NHS National Services Scotland and Registrar General. Funding has been granted by the MRC. The outputs will include four or five public health and statistical methodological international journal and conference papers.</p&gt

High resolution spectroscopic study of red clump stars in the Galaxy: iron group elements

The main atmospheric parameters and abundances of the iron group elements (vanadium, chromium, iron, cobalt and nickel) are determined for 62 red giant "clump" stars revealed in the Galactic field by the Hipparcos orbiting observatory. The stars form a homogeneous sample with the mean value of temperature T=4750 +- 160K, of surface gravity log g = 2.41 +- 0.26 and the mean value of metallicity [Fe/H] = -0.04 +- 0.15 dex. A Gaussian fit to the [Fe/H] distribution produces the mean [Fe/H] = -0.01 dex and dispersion of [Fe/H] = 0.08 dex. The near-solar metallicity and small dispersion of [Fe/H] of clump stars of the Galaxy obtained in this work confirm the theoretical model of the Hipparcos clump by Girardi & Salaris (2001). This suggests that nearby clump stars are (in the mean) relatively young objects, reflecting mainly the near-solar metallicities developed in the local disk during the last few Gyrs of its history. We find iron group element to iron abundance ratios in clump giants to be close to solar.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Non-ergodic Intensity Correlation Functions for Blinking Nano Crystals

We investigate the non-ergodic properties of blinking nano-crystals using a stochastic approach. We calculate the distribution functions of the time averaged intensity correlation function and show that these distributions are not delta peaked on the ensemble average correlation function values; instead they are W or U shaped. Beyond blinking nano-crystals our results describe non-ergodicity in systems stochastically modeled using the Levy walk framework for anomalous diffusion, for example certain types of chaotic dynamics, currents in ion-channel, and single spin dynamics to name a few.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The Upsilon spectrum and m_b from full lattice QCD

We show results for the Upsilon spectrum calculated in lattice QCD including for the first time vacuum polarization effects for light u and d quarks as well as s quarks. We use gluon field configurations generated by the MILC collaboration. The calculations compare the results for a variety of u and d quark masses, as well as making a comparison to quenched results (in which quark vacuum polarisation is ignored) and results with only u and d quarks. The b quarks in the Upsilon are treated in lattice Nonrelativistic QCD through NLO in an expansion in the velocity of the b quark. We concentrate on accurate results for orbital and radial splittings where we see clear agreement with experiment once u, d and s quark vacuum polarisation effects are included. This now allows a consistent determination of the parameters of QCD. We demonstrate this consistency through the agreement of the Upsilon and B spectrum using the same lattice bare b quark mass. A one-loop matching to continuum QCD gives a value for the b quark mass in full lattice QCD for the first time. We obtain m_b^{\bar{MS}}(m_b^{\bar{MS}}) = 4.4(3) GeV. We are able to give physical results for the heavy quark potential parameters, r_0 = 0.469(7) fm and r_1 = 0.321(5) fm. Results for the fine structure in the spectrum and the Upsilon leptonic width are also presented. We predict the Upsilon - eta_b splitting to be 61(14) MeV, the Upsilon^{\prime} - eta_b^{\prime} splitting as 30(19) MeV and the splitting between the h_b and the spin-average of the chi_b states to be less than 6 MeV. Improvements to these calculations that will be made in the near future are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures. Version to be published. Minor changes made and typographical errors corrected. Experimental leptonic widths updated in section

Evidence of Strong-Coupled Superconductivity in CaC6 from Tunneling Spectroscopy

Point-contact tunneling on CaC$_6$ crystals reproducibly reveals superconducting gaps, $\Delta$, of 2.3$\pm$0.2 meV which are $\sim$~40% larger than earlier reports. That puts CaC$_6$ into the class of very strong-coupled superconductors since 2$\Delta$/kT$_c\sim$~4.6. Thus soft Ca phonons will be primarily involved in the superconductivity, a conclusion that explains the large Ca isotope effect found recently for CaC$_6$. Consistency among superconductor-insulator-normal metal (SIN), SIS and Andreev reflection (SN) junctions reinforces the intrinsic nature of this result.Comment: 2nd version, 4 pages, 4 figures, re-submitted to Physical Review Letter

Electron-nuclei spin dynamics in II-VI semiconductor quantum dots

We report on the dynamics of optically induced nuclear spin polarization in individual CdTe/ZnTe quantum dots loaded with one electron by modulation doping. The fine structure of the hot trion (charged exciton $X^-$ with an electron in the $P$-shell) is identified in photoluminescence excitation spectra. A negative polarisation rate of the photoluminescence, optical pumping of the resident electron and the built-up of dynamic nuclear spin polarisation (DNSP) are observed in time-resolved optical pumping experiments when the quantum dot is excited at higher energy than the hot trion triplet state. The time and magnetic field dependence of the polarisation rate of the $X^-$ emission allows to probe the dynamics of formation of the DNSP in the optical pumping regime. We demonstrate using time-resolved measurements that the creation of a DNSP at B=0T efficiently prevents longitudinal spin relaxation of the electron caused by fluctuations of the nuclear spin bath. The DNSP is built in the microsecond range at high excitation intensity. A relaxation time of the DNSP in about 10 microseconds is observed at $B=0T$ and significantly increases under a magnetic field of a few milli-Tesla. We discuss mechanisms responsible for the fast initialisation and relaxation of the diluted nuclear spins in this system

A Note on Doubly Warped Product Contact CR-Submanifolds in trans-Sasakian Manifolds

Warped product CR-submanifolds in Kaehlerian manifolds were intensively studied only since 2001 after the impulse given by B.Y. Chen. Immediately after, another line of research, similar to that concerning Sasakian geometry as the odd dimensional version of Kaehlerian geometry, was developed, namely warped product contact CR-submanifolds in Sasakian manifolds. In this note we proved that there exists no proper doubly warped product contact CR-submanifolds in trans-Sasakian manifolds.Comment: 5 Latex page

Limit cycles in the presence of convection, a travelling wave analysis

We consider a diffusion model with limit cycle reaction functions, in the presence of convection. We select a set of functions derived from a realistic reaction model: the Schnakenberg equations. This resultant form is unsymmetrical. We find a transformation which maps the irregular equations into model form. Next we transform the dependent variables into polar form. From here, a travelling wave analysis is performed on the radial variable. Results are complex, but we make some simple estimates. We carry out numerical experiments to test our analysis. An initial `knock' starts the propagation of pattern. The speed of the travelling wave is not quite as expected. We investigate further. The system demonstrates distinctly different behaviour to the left and the right. We explain how this phenomenon occurs by examining the underlying behaviour.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Quantum Channels with Memory

We present a general model for quantum channels with memory, and show that it is sufficiently general to encompass all causal automata: any quantum process in which outputs up to some time t do not depend on inputs at times t' > t can be decomposed into a concatenated memory channel. We then examine and present different physical setups in which channels with memory may be operated for the transfer of (private) classical and quantum information. These include setups in which either the receiver or a malicious third party have control of the initializing memory. We introduce classical and quantum channel capacities for these settings, and give several examples to show that they may or may not coincide. Entropic upper bounds on the various channel capacities are given. For forgetful quantum channels, in which the effect of the initializing memory dies out as time increases, coding theorems are presented to show that these bounds may be saturated. Forgetful quantum channels are shown to be open and dense in the set of quantum memory channels.Comment: 21 pages with 5 EPS figures. V2: Presentation clarified, references adde