Loop expansion in Yang-Mills thermodynamics

We argue that a selfconsistent spatial coarse-graining, which involves interacting (anti)calorons of unit topological charge modulus, implies that real-time loop expansions of thermodynamical quantities in the deconfining phase of SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills thermodynamics are, modulo 1PI resummations, determined by a finite number of connected bubble diagrams.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, v5: discussion of much more severely constrained nonplanar situation included in Sec.

Alkali Metal Complexes of Phosphine-Borane-Substituted Benzyl Ligands and Their Application in the Synthesis of B-H\ub7\ub7\ub7Sn Stabilized Dialkylstannylenes

\ua9 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.The benzyl-substituted phosphine-boranes PhCH2P(BH3)R2 [R = iPr (1H), Ph (2H), Cy (3H)] are accessible through either the reaction between R2PCl and PhCH2MgBr, followed by treatment with BH3\ub7SMe2 or the reaction between R2P(BH)3Li and PhCH2Br. Treatment of 1H, 2H, or 3H with nBuLi, PhCH2Na, or PhCH2K gave the corresponding alkali metal complexes [{iPr2P(BH3)CHPh}Li(THF)]2 (1Li), [{Ph2P(BH3)CHPh}Li(OEt2)2] (2Li), [{Cy2P(BH3)CHPh}Li(TMEDA)] (3Li), [iPr2P(BH3)CHPh]Na (1Na), [{Ph2P(BH3)CHPh}Na(THF)2]2 (2Na), [Cy2P(BH3)CHPh]Na(THF)0.5 (3Na), [{iPr2P(BH3)CHPh}K]∞ (1K), [{Ph2P(BH3)CHPh}K(THF)]∞ (2K), and [{Cy2P(BH3)CHPh}K.0.5PhMe]∞ (3K). X-ray crystallography revealed that, while 2Li and 3Li crystallize as monomers, 1Li and 2Na crystallize as borane-bridged dimers. The potassium complexes 1K, 2K, and 3K all crystallize with polymeric structures, in which the monomer units are linked to each other through a range of both bridging BH3 groups and multihapto interactions between the potassium cations and the aromatic rings. The reactions between two equivalents of either 1Li or 3Li and Cp2Sn gave the corresponding dialkylstannylenes [{R2P(BH3)CHPh}2Sn] [R = iPr (1Sn), Cy (3Sn)]. These compounds were isolated as mixtures of the rac and meso diastereomers. X-ray crystallography reveals that rac-1Sn and rac-3Sn crystallize as discrete monomers each exhibiting two agostic-type B-H\ub7\ub7\ub7Sn contacts

Saleability of Anti-malarials in Private Drug Shops in Muheza, Tanzania: A Baseline study in an era of assumed Artemisinin Ccombination Therapy (ACT).

Artemether-lumefantrine (ALu) replaced sulphadoxine-pymimethamine (SP) as the official first-line anti-malarial in Tanzania in November 2006. So far, artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) is contra-indicated during pregnancy by the national malaria treatment guidelines, and pregnant women depend on SP for Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTp) during pregnancy. SP is still being dispensed by private drug stores, but it is unknown to which extent. If significant, it may undermine its official use for IPTp through induction of resistance. The main study objective was to perform a baseline study of the private market for anti-malarials in Muheza town, an area with widespread anti-malarial drug resistance, prior to the implementation of a provider training and accreditation programme that will allow accredited drug shops to sell subsidized ALu. All drug shops selling prescription-only anti-malarials, in Muheza town, Tanga Region voluntarily participated from July to December 2009. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with owners or shopkeepers on saleability of anti-malarials, and structured questionnaires provided quantitative data on drugs sales volume. All surveyed drug shops illicitly sold SP and quinine (QN), and legally amodiaquine (AQ). Calculated monthly sale was 4,041 doses, in a town with a population of 15,000 people. Local brands of SP accounted for 74% of sales volume, compared to AQ (13%), QN (11%) and ACT (2%). In community practice, the saleability of ACT was negligible. SP was best-selling, and use was not reserved for IPTp, as stipulated in the national anti-malarial policy. It is a major reason for concern that such drug-pressure in the community equals de facto intermittent presumptive treatment. In an area where SP drug resistance remains high, unregulated SP dispensing to people other than pregnant women runs the risk of eventually jeopardizing the effectiveness of the IPTp strategy. Further studies are recommended to find out barriers for ACT utilization and preference for self-medication and to train private drug dispensers

Preparation, structural characterisation and antibacterial properties of Ga-doped sol-gel phosphate-based glass

A sol-gel preparation of Ga-doped phosphate-based glass with potential application in antimicrobial devices has been developed. Samples of composition (CaO)(0.30)(Na2O)(0.20-x) (Ga2O3) (x) (P2O5)(0.50) where x = 0 and 0.03 were prepared, and the structure and properties of the gallium-doped sample compared with those of the sample containing no gallium. Analysis of the P-31 MAS NMR data demonstrated that addition of gallium to the sol-gel reaction increases the connectivity of the phosphate network at the expense of hydroxyl groups. This premise is supported by the results of the elemental analysis, which showed that the gallium-free sample contains significantly more hydrogen and by FTIR spectroscopy, which revealed a higher concentration of -OH groups in that sample. Ga K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure and X-ray absorption near-edge structure data revealed that the gallium ions are coordinated by six oxygen atoms. In agreement with the X-ray absorption data, the high-energy XRD results also suggest that the Ga3+ ions are octahedrally coordinated with respect to oxygen. Antimicrobial studies demonstrated that the sample containing Ga3+ ions had significant activity against Staphylococcus aureus compared to the control

The melanoma-specific graded prognostic assessment does not adequately discriminate prognosis in a modern population with brain metastases from malignant melanoma

The melanoma-specific graded prognostic assessment (msGPA) assigns patients with brain metastases from malignant melanoma to 1 of 4 prognostic groups. It was largely derived using clinical data from patients treated in the era that preceded the development of newer therapies such as BRAF, MEK and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Therefore, its current relevance to patients diagnosed with brain metastases from malignant melanoma is unclear. This study is an external validation of the msGPA in two temporally distinct British populations.Performance of the msGPA was assessed in Cohort I (1997-2008, n=231) and Cohort II (2008-2013, n=162) using Kaplan-Meier methods and Harrell's c-index of concordance. Cox regression was used to explore additional factors that may have prognostic relevance.The msGPA does not perform well as a prognostic score outside of the derivation cohort, with suboptimal statistical calibration and discrimination, particularly in those patients with an intermediate prognosis. Extra-cerebral metastases, leptomeningeal disease, age and potential use of novel targeted agents after brain metastases are diagnosed, should be incorporated into future prognostic models.An improved prognostic score is required to underpin high-quality randomised controlled trials in an area with a wide disparity in clinical care

Observational Evidence of For-Profit Delivery and Inferior Nursing Home Care: When Is There Enough Evidence for Policy Change?

This research was financially supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Repeatability and sensitivity of T2* measurements in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma at 3T.

Purpose To determine whether quantitation of T2* is sufficiently repeatable and sensitive to detect clinically relevant oxygenation levels in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) at 3T.Materials and methods Ten patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced HNSCC underwent two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans between 24 and 168 hours apart prior to chemoradiotherapy treatment. A multiple gradient echo sequence was used to calculate T2* maps. A quadratic function was used to model the blood transverse relaxation rate as a function of blood oxygenation. A set of published coefficients measured at 3T were incorporated to account for tissue hematocrit levels and used to plot the dependence of fractional blood oxygenation (Y) on T2* values, together with the corresponding repeatability range. Repeatability of T2* using Bland-Altman analysis, and calculation of limits of agreement (LoA), was used to assess the sensitivity, defined as the minimum difference in fractional blood oxygenation that can be confidently detected.Results T2* LoA for 22 outlined tumor volumes were 13%. The T2* dependence of fractional blood oxygenation increases monotonically, resulting in increasing sensitivity of the method with increasing blood oxygenation. For fractional blood oxygenation values above 0.11, changes in T2* were sufficient to detect differences in blood oxygenation greater than 10% (Δ T2* > LoA for ΔY > 0.1).Conclusion Quantitation of T2* at 3T can detect clinically relevant changes in tumor oxygenation within a wide range of blood volumes and oxygen tensions, including levels reported in HNSCC. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:72-80