Anomalous c-axis charge dynamics in copper oxide materials

Within the t-J model, the c-axis charge dynamics of the copper oxide materials in the underdoped and optimally doped regimes is studied by considering the incoherent interlayer hopping. It is shown that the c-axis charge dynamics is mainly governed by the scattering from the in-plane fluctuation. In the optimally doped regime, the c-axis resistivity is a linear in temperatures, and shows the metallic-like behavior for all temperatures, while the c-axis resistivity in the underdoped regime is characterized by a crossover from the high temperature metallic-like behavior to the low temperature semiconducting-like behavior, which are consistent with experiments and numerical simulations.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, Three figures are adde

Raman scattering studies of spin, charge, and lattice dynamics in Ca_{2-x}Sr_{x}RuO_{4} (0 =< x < 0.2)

We use Raman scattering to study spin, charge, and lattice dynamics in various phases of Ca_{2-x}Sr_{x}RuO_{4}. With increasing substitution of Ca by Sr in the range 0 =< x < 0.2, we observe (1) evidence for an increase of the electron-phonon interaction strength, (2) an increased temperature-dependence of the two-magnon energy and linewidth in the antiferromagnetic insulating phase, and (3) evidence for charge gap development, and hysteresis associated with the structural phase change, both of which are indicative of a first-order metal-insulator transition (T_{MI}) and a coexistence of metallic and insulating components for T < T_{MI}

The in-plane paraconductivity in La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 thin film superconductors at high reduced-temperatures: Independence of the normal-state pseudogap

The in-plane resistivity has been measured in $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ (LSxCO) superconducting thin films of underdoped ($x=0.10,0.12$), optimally-doped ($x=0.15$) and overdoped ($x=0.20,0.25$) compositions. These films were grown on (100)SrTiO$_3$ substrates, and have about 150 nm thickness. The in-plane conductivity induced by superconducting fluctuations above the superconducting transition (the so-called in-plane paraconductivity, $\Delta\sigma_{ab}$) was extracted from these data in the reduced-temperature range 10^{-2}\lsim\epsilon\equiv\ln(T/\Tc)\lsim1. Such a $\Delta\sigma_{ab}(\epsilon)$ was then analyzed in terms of the mean-field--like Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) approach extended to the high-$\epsilon$ region by means of the introduction of a total-energy cutoff, which takes into account both the kinetic energy and the quantum localization energy of each fluctuating mode. Our results strongly suggest that at all temperatures above Tc, including the high reduced-temperature region, the doping mainly affects in LSxCO thin films the normal-state properties and that its influence on the superconducting fluctuations is relatively moderate: Even in the high-$\epsilon$ region, the in-plane paraconductivity is found to be independent of the opening of a pseudogap in the normal state of the underdoped films.Comment: 35 pages including 10 figures and 1 tabl

Onset of magnetism in B2 transition metals aluminides

Ab initio calculation results for the electronic structure of disordered bcc Fe(x)Al(1-x) (0.4<x<0.75), Co(x)Al(1-x) and Ni(x)Al(1-x) (x=0.4; 0.5; 0.6) alloys near the 1:1 stoichiometry, as well as of the ordered B2 (FeAl, CoAl, NiAl) phases with point defects are presented. The calculations were performed using the coherent potential approximation within the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method (KKR-CPA) for the disordered case and the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method for the intermetallic compounds. We studied in particular the onset of magnetism in Fe-Al and Co-Al systems as a function of the defect structure. We found the appearance of large local magnetic moments associated with the transition metal (TM) antisite defect in FeAl and CoAl compounds, in agreement with the experimental findings. Moreover, we found that any vacancies on both sublattices enhance the magnetic moments via reducing the charge transfer to a TM atom. Disordered Fe-Al alloys are ferromagnetically ordered for the whole range of composition studied, whereas Co-Al becomes magnetic only for Co concentration >0.5.Comment: 11 pages with 9 embedded postscript figures, to be published in Phys.Rev.

Treatment outcomes of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) treated with dupilumab through the early access to medicines scheme (EAMS) in the UK

BACKGROUND Dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody against interleukin (IL)-4 receptor alpha that inhibits IL-4/IL-13 signalling is indicated in dermatology for the treatment of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) in adult and adolescent patients 12 years and older and severe AD in children 6-11 years, who are candidates for systemic therapy. Dupilumab received Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) approval for adults in March 2017. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy outcomes of treatment with dupilumab in EAMS. METHODS A retrospective analysis of adult patients enrolled in the dupilumab EAMS in the UK. Scores were assessed at baseline and follow up, including the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI), Investigator’s Global Assessment Score (IGA) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). RESULTS Data were available for 57 adult patients treated with dupilumab for at least 12 weeks; 73.6% of patients had received prior treatment with 3 or 4 immunosuppressants. Baseline scores for the EASI and DLQI were 27.93 (standard deviation, SD 13.09) and 18.26 (SD 6.18) respectively. AD severity scores showed statistically significant improvement at week 16+4 weeks (p <0.001 for all). The mean change in EASI was 14.13 points with 66.7% and 36.7% achieving a 50% (EASI-50) and 75% (EASI-75) improvement in EASI, respectively at 16+/- 4 weeks. IGA scores improved by at least two categories for 75% patients. DLQI scores decreased by a mean of 9.0 points, with 80% patients demonstrating a MCID 4-point improvement. For 85% patients, clinicians rated the treatment response as being either ‘better’ (19%) or ‘much better’ (65%). CONCLUSIONS Dupilumab is associated with a significant and clinically relevant improvements in AD as measured by patient- and physician-reported outcome measures. Importantly, the clinical efficacy, despite the refractory disease of this EAMS cohort, is comparable to that previously reported in clinical trials

Relationships between neighbourhood characteristics and current STI status among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women living in the Southern USA: A cross-sectional multilevel analysis

Objectives Neighbourhood characteristics (eg, high poverty rates) are associated with STIs among HIV-uninfected women in the USA. However, no multilevel analyses investigating the associations between neighbourhood exposures and STIs have explored these relationships among women living with HIV infection. The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine relationships between neighbourhood characteristics and current STI status and (2) investigate whether the magnitudes and directions of these relationships varied by HIV status in a predominantly HIV-infected cohort of women living in the Southern USA. Methods This cross-sectional multilevel analysis tests relationships between census tract characteristics and current STI status using data from 737 women enrolled at the Women's Interagency HIV Study's southern sites (530 HIV-infected and 207 HIV-uninfected women). Administrative data (eg, US Census) described the census tract-level social disorder (eg, violent crime rate) and social disadvantage (eg, alcohol outlet density) where women lived. Participant-level data were gathered via survey. Testing positive for a current STI was defined as a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis or syphilis. Hierarchical generalised linear models were used to determine relationships between tract-level characteristics and current STI status, and to test whether these relationships varied by HIV status. Results Eleven per cent of participants tested positive for at least one current STI. Greater tract-level social disorder (OR=1.34, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.87) and social disadvantage (OR=1.34, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.86) were associated with having a current STI. There was no evidence of additive or multiplicative interaction between tract-level characteristics and HIV status. Conclusions Findings suggest that neighbourhood characteristics may be associated with current STIs among women living in the South, and that relationships do not vary by HIV status. Future research should establish the temporality of these relationships and explore pathways through which neighbourhoods create vulnerability to STIs. Trial registration number NCT00000797; results

Experimental Study of the Shortest Reset Word of Random Automata

In this paper we describe an approach to finding the shortest reset word of a finite synchronizing automaton by using a SAT solver. We use this approach to perform an experimental study of the length of the shortest reset word of a finite synchronizing automaton. The largest automata we considered had 100 states. The results of the experiments allow us to formulate a hypothesis that the length of the shortest reset word of a random finite automaton with $n$ states and 2 input letters with high probability is sublinear with respect to $n$ and can be estimated as $1.95 n^{0.55}.

Two-proton correlations from 158 AGeV Pb+Pb central collisions

The two-proton correlation function at midrapidity from Pb+Pb central collisions at 158 AGeV has been measured by the NA49 experiment. The results are compared to model predictions from static thermal Gaussian proton source distributions and transport models RQMD and VENUS. An effective proton source size is determined by minimizing CHI-square/ndf between the correlation functions of the data and those calculated for the Gaussian sources, yielding 3.85 +-0.15(stat.) +0.60-0.25(syst.) fm. Both the RQMD and the VENUS model are consistent with the data within the error in the correlation peak region.Comment: RevTeX style, 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. More discussion are added about the structure on the tail of the correlation function. The systematic error is revised. To appear in Phys. Lett.

Event-by-event fluctuations of average transverse momentum in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present first data on event-by-event fluctuations in the average transverse momentum of charged particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. This measurement provides previously unavailable information allowing sensitive tests of microscopic and thermodynamic collision models and to search for fluctuations expected to occur in the vicinity of the predicted QCD phase transition. We find that the observed variance of the event-by-event average transverse momentum is consistent with independent particle production modified by the known two-particle correlations due to quantum statistics and final state interactions and folded with the resolution of the NA49 apparatus. For two specific models of non-statistical fluctuations in transverse momentum limits are derived in terms of fluctuation amplitude. We show that a significant part of the parameter space for a model of isospin fluctuations predicted as a consequence of chiral symmetry restoration in a non-equilibrium scenario is excluded by our measurement.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Effects of Health Insurance Interruption on Loss of Hypertension Control in Women with and Women Without HIV

Background: Among low-income women with and without HIV, it is a priority to reduce age-related comorbidities, including hypertension and its sequelae. Because consistent health insurance access has been identified as an important factor in controlling many chronic diseases, we estimated the effects of coverage interruption on loss of hypertension control in a cohort of women in the United States. Methods: We analyzed prospective, longitudinal data from the Women's Interagency HIV Study. HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women were included between 2005 and 2014 when they reported health insurance at consecutive biannual visits and had controlled hypertension, and were followed for any insurance break and loss of hypertension control. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) by Cox proportional hazards regression with inverse-probability-of-treatment-and censoring weights (marginal structural models), and plotted the cumulative incidence of hypertension control loss. Results: Among 890 HIV-infected women, the weighted HR for hypertension control loss comparing health insurance interruption to uninterrupted coverage was 1.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.91). Inclusion of AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) participation with health insurance modestly increased the HR (1.47; 95% CI, 1.04-2.07). Analysis of 272 HIV-uninfected women yielded a similar HR (1.39; 95% CI, 0.88-2.21). Additionally, there were indications of uninterrupted coverage having a protective effect on hypertension when compared with the natural course in HIV-infected (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.61-1.11) and HIV-uninfected (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.52-1.19) women. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that health insurance continuity promotes hypertension control in key populations. Interventions that ensure coverage stability and ADAP access should be a policy priority