Magnetic moments of spin {1/2}^+ and spin {3/2}^+ charmed baryons

The magnetic moments of spin ${1/2}{^+}$ and spin ${3/2}{^+}$ charmed baryons have been calculated in chiral constituent quark model ($\chi$CQM). The effects of configuration mixing and quark masses have also been investigated. The results are not only in good agreement with existing experimental data but also show improvement over other phenomenological models.Comment: 5 pages, 2 tables. Presented at the XIII International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy, Florida State University, Florida, USA, November 29-December 4, 200

Echocardiographic Assessment of Epicardial Adipose Tissue - A Marker of Visceral Adiposity

Visceral adipose tissue predicts an unfavorable cardiovascular and metabolic risk profile in humans. Existing methods to assess visceral adipose tissue have been limited. Thus, echocardiographic assessment of epicardial adipose tissue as a marker of visceral adiposity was suggested. The technique has been shown to be a very reliable method and an excellent measure of visceral adiposity. In this article, epicardial adipose tissue’s localization on the heart, function, method of assessment and reliability as a marker of visceral adiposity is briefly reviewed. Areas of the technique requiring further study are identified

Evidence of system-based stigma in treatment of somatic and biomedical disorders in children with mental disorder: A population-based health utilization study

Objective: In this study we examine, across physician billing, ambulatory and inpatient/emergency datasets, the health care utilization of individuals under the age of 18 years for somatic disorders in relationship to the existence of a physician assigned psychiatric disorder [1]. Methods: Visit data for all cases receiving specialized ambulatory, emergency or inpatient (tertiary) mental health services was constructed and subsequently matched on age and sex with comparisons in a final ratio of 1:8. Comparisons were health care users who did not receive treatment in the specialized tertiary public mental health system. Based on approximately 10 million billing records, we compared the average number of visits per unique individual for “physical diagnoses” (non-psychiatric) and psychiatric diagnoses over the 16 year comparison groups. Results: We report among those with and without psychiatric disorders that physical disorders are significantly greater for with any psychiatric disorder over the 16 year study period in both physician billing and ambulatory datasets. This result differs in the inpatient/emergency dataset in that cases have about 1/3 the number of admissions for physical diagnoses. Discussion: It was unexpected that cases with a psychiatric diagnosis in the physician billing dataset had fewer physical disorder inpatient and emergency admissions. We suggest that this finding represents a form of system-based stigma [2]. Conclusion: System-Based stigma or treatment bias is a very serious issue that marginalizes the treatment of the biomedical disorders of children identified with Mental Disorder

Chiral constituent quark model and the coupling strength of eta'

Using the latest data pertaining to \bar u-\bar d asymmetry and the spin polarization functions, detailed implications of the possible values of the coupling strength of the singlet Goldstone boson \eta' have been investigated in the \chiCQM with configuration mixing. Using \Delta u, \Delta_3, \bar u-\bar d and \bar u/\bar d, the possible ranges of the coupling parameters a, \alpha^ 2, \beta^ 2 and \zeta^ 2, representing respectively the probabilities of fluctuations to pions, K, \eta and \eta^{'}, are shown to be 0.10 \lesssim a \lesssim 0.14, 0.2\lesssim \alpha \lesssim 0.5, 0.2\lesssim \beta \lesssim 0.7 and 0.10 lesssim |\zeta| \lesssim 0.70. To constrain the coupling strength of \eta', detailed fits have been obtained for spin polarization functions, quark distribution functions and baryon octet magnetic moments corresponding to the following sets of parameters: a=0.1, \alpha=0.4, \beta=0.7, |\zeta|=0.65 (Case I); a=0.1, \alpha=0.4, \beta=0.6, |\zeta|=0.70 (Case II); a=0.14, \alpha=0.4, \beta=0.2, \zeta=0 (Case III) and a=0.13, \alpha=\beta=0.45, |\zeta|=0.10 (Case IV). Case I represents the calculations where a is fixed to be 0.1, in accordance with earlier calculations, whereas other parameters are treated free and the Case IV represents our best fit. The fits clearly establish that a small non-zero value of the coupling of \eta' is preferred over the higher values of \eta' as well as when \zeta=0, the latter implying the absence of \eta' from the dynamics of \chiCQM. Our best fit achieves an overall excellent fit to the data, in particular the fit for \Delta u, \Delta d, \Delta_8 as well as the magnetic moments \mu_{n}, \mu_{\Sigma^-}, \mu_{\Sigma^+} and \mu_{\Xi^-} is almost perfect, the \mu_{\Xi^-} being a difficult case for most of the similar calculations.Comment: 8 RevTeX pages, 2 Tables, Revised version to appear in Int.J.Mod.Phys

Semi-leptonic Octet Baryon Weak Axial-Vector Form Factors in the Chiral Constitutent Quark Model

The weak vector and axial-vector form factors have been investigated for the semi-leptonic octet baryon decays in the chiral constituent quark model with configuration mixing (\chiCQM_{config}). The effects of SU(3) symmetry breaking and configuration mixing have also been investigated and the results are not only in good agreement with existing experimental data but also show improvement over other phenomenological models.Comment: 5 pages, 2 tables. Presented at the 18th International Spin Physics Symposium, University of Virginia, USA, October 6-11, 200

Vitamin D status in pregnant women and their newborns in a tertiary care hospital

Background: In the recent years there has been an increased understanding of the role that vitamin D plays in regulation of cell growth, calcium absorption and immunity and its impact on the developing fetus and maternal health is of significant concern. This study aims at evaluating the Vitamin D status in pregnant women and their newborns.Methods: A cross sectional study was done on 100 pregnant females according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. At the time of delivery, maternal blood was collected, and newborn samples were taken from newborn side of umbilical cord and sent for analysis.Results: The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency has been found to be 85% of pregnant females and 91% of the newborns. Only 5% of pregnant females and 1% of the newborns showed Vitamin D sufficiency. Maternal and newborn vitamin D levels show a positive correlation. Mean maternal and newborn Vitamin D levels were found to be 16.78±7.04 ng/mL and 11.29±5.75 ng/ml.Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among pregnant women in north India. Low maternal vitamin D levels lead to vitamin D deficiency in the newborns also

Strangeness and Chiral Symmetry Breaking

The implications of chiral symmetry breaking and SU(3) symmetry breaking have been studied in the chiral constituent quark model ($\chi$CQM). The role of hidden strangeness component has been investigated for the scalar matrix elements of the nucleon with an emphasis on the meson-nucleon sigma terms. The $\chi$CQM is able to give a qualitative and quantitative description of the "quark sea" generation through chiral symmetry breaking. The significant contribution of the strangeness is consistent with the recent available experimental observations.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table. To appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.