Hartle-Hawking state is a maximum of entanglement entropy

It is shown that the Hartle-Hawking state of a scalar field is a maximum of entanglement entropy in the space of pure quantum states satisfying the condition that backreaction is finite. In other words, the Hartle-Hawking state is a curved-space analogue of the EPR state, which is also a maximum of entanglement entropy.Comment: Latex, 4 pages, Some comments are added on the "small backreaction condition

Māori and community news constructions of Meningococcal B: the promotion of a moral obligation to vaccinate

News media communicate various risks of disease, showcase medical breakthroughs and disseminate texts that both reflect and renegotiate shared cultural understandings of health and illness. Little is known about the role of Māori and community news media in the social negotiation of health and illness in Aotearoa. To address this gap in the literature, this paper reports findings from a study of news reporting on Meningococcal B by the Māori Television Service and two community newspapers serving Māori communities. Findings document how news works to position vaccination as a ‘common sense’ practice that whānau have a moral obligation to undergo. Neglected are wider socio-structural considerations that impact the prevalence of illness among Māori

Bacterial meningitis: Mechanisms of disease and therapy

Bacterial meningitis continues to be a serious infectious disease with a high morbidity and mortality in young children. Early recognition and initiation of adequate treatment are the major determinants for a good outcome. Recent advances in our understanding of the host inflammatory response by cytokines may result in the use of new therapeutic strategies. Such modulation of the inflammatory response may reduce the incidence of sequelae and death. The use of steroids as adjunctive therapy in children with bacterial meningitis probably has beneficial effects although the available data are still controversial. Additionally, studies in experimental meningitis models indicate that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and monoclonal antibodies against bacterial products, cytokines and CD18 on leucocytes reduce the extent of the meningeal inflammation. Human studies to evaluate the efficacy of these immune modulators are expected to start soon. However, prevention of bacterial meningitis by conjugate vaccines againstStreptococcus pneumoniae andNeisseria meningitidis will be the most promising development in the next decade

Glafenine-associated anaphylaxis as a cause of hospital admission in The Netherlands

Summary. In 1981 generalized anaphylaxis was registered on 166 occasions in Dutch general an

Bench-to-bedside review: genetic influences on meningococcal disease

This review discusses the possible involvement of a variety of genetic polymorphisms on the course of meningococcal disease. It has been shown that several common genetic polymorphisms can either influence the susceptibility to meningococcal disease or can account for a higher mortality rate in patients. Gene polymorphisms concerning antibody receptors, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) binding receptors or proteins, innate complement proteins as well as cytokines and hemostatic proteins are described. The study of genetic polymorphisms might provide important insights in the pathogenesis of meningococcal disease and could make it possible to identify individuals who are at risk of either contracting or dying from meningococcal disease

Correlated evolution of nucleotide substitution rates and allelic variation in Mhc-DRB lineages of primates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a key model of genetic polymorphism. Selection pressure by pathogens or other microevolutionary forces may result in a high rate of non-synonymous substitutions at the codons specifying the contact residues of the antigen binding sites (ABS), and the maintenance of extreme MHC allelic variation at the population/species level. Therefore, selection forces favouring MHC variability for any reason should cause a correlated evolution between substitution rates and allelic polymorphism. To investigate this prediction, we characterised nucleotide substitution rates and allelic polymorphism (i.e. the number of alleles detected in relation to the number of animals screened) of several <it>Mhc </it>class II <it>DRB </it>lineages in 46 primate species, and tested for a correlation between them.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>First, we demonstrate that species-specific and lineage-specific evolutionary constraints favour species- and lineage-dependent substitution rate at the codons specifying the ABS contact residues (i.e. certain species and lineages can be characterised by high substitution rate, while others have low rate). Second, we show that although the degree of the non-synonymous substitution rate at the ABS contact residues was systematically higher than the degree of the synonymous substitution rate, these estimates were strongly correlated when we controlled for species-specific and lineage-specific effects, and also for the fact that different studies relied on different sample size. Such relationships between substitution rates of different types could even be extended to the non-contact residues of the molecule. Third, we provide statistical evidence that increased substitution rate along a MHC gene may lead to allelic variation, as a high substitution rate can be observed in those lineages in which many alleles are maintained. Fourth, we show that the detected patterns were independent of phylogenetic constraints. When we used phylogenetic models that control for similarity between species, due to common descent, and focused on variations within a single lineage (<it>DRB1*03</it>), the positive relationship between different substitution rates and allelic polymorphisms was still robust. Finally, we found the same effects to emerge in the analyses that eliminated within-species variation in MHC traits by using strictly single population-level studies. However, in a set of contrasting analyses, in which we focused on the non-functional <it>DRB6 </it>locus, the correlation between substitution rates and allelic variation was not prevalent.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate that positive selection for the generation of allelic polymorphism acting on the functional part of the protein has consequences for the nucleotide substitution rate along the whole exon 2 sequence of the <it>Mhc-DRB </it>gene. Additionally, we proved that an increased substitution rate can promote allelic variation within lineages. Consequently, the evolution of different characteristics of genetic polymorphism is not independent.</p

Electronic transport coefficients from ab initio simulations and application to dense liquid hydrogen

Using Kubo's linear response theory, we derive expressions for the frequency-dependent electrical conductivity (Kubo-Greenwood formula), thermopower, and thermal conductivity in a strongly correlated electron system. These are evaluated within ab initio molecular dynamics simulations in order to study the thermoelectric transport coefficients in dense liquid hydrogen, especially near the nonmetal-to-metal transition region. We also observe significant deviations from the widely used Wiedemann-Franz law which is strictly valid only for degenerate systems and give an estimate for its valid scope of application towards lower densities