394 research outputs found

    6D Dyonic String With Active Hyperscalars

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    We derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a Killing spinor in N=(1,0) gauge supergravity in six dimensions coupled to a single tensor multiplet, vector multiplets and hypermultiplets. These are shown to imply most of the field equations and the remaining ones are determined. In this framework, we find a novel 1/8 supersymmetric dyonic string solution with nonvanishing hypermultiplet scalars. The activated scalars parametrize a 4 dimensional submanifold of a quaternionic hyperbolic ball. We employ an identity map between this submanifold and the internal space transverse to the string worldsheet. The internal space forms a 4 dimensional analog of the Gell-Mann-Zwiebach tear-drop which is noncompact with finite volume. While the electric charge carried by the dyonic string is arbitrary, the magnetic charge is fixed in Planckian units, and hence necessarily non-vanishing. The source term needed to balance a delta function type singularity at the origin is determined. The solution is also shown to have 1/4 supersymmetric AdS_3 x S^3 near horizon limit where the radii are proportional to the electric charge.Comment: 28 pages, latex, minor corrections mad

    Absolute properties of the binary system BB Pegasi

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    We present a ground based photometry of the low-temperature contact binary BB Peg. We collected all times of mid-eclipses available in literature and combined them with those obtained in this study. Analyses of the data indicate a period increase of 3.0(1) x 10^{-8} days/yr. This period increase of BB Peg can be interpreted in terms of the mass transfer 2.4 x 10^{-8} Ms yr^{-1} from the less massive to the more massive component. The physical parameters have been determined as Mc = 1.42 Ms, Mh = 0.53 Ms, Rc = 1.29 Rs, Rh = 0.83 Rs, Lc = 1.86 Ls, and Lh = 0.94 Ls through simultaneous solution of light and of the radial velocity curves. The orbital parameters of the third body, that orbits the contact system in an eccentric orbit, were obtained from the period variation analysis. The system is compared to the similar binaries in the Hertzsprung-Russell and Mass-Radius diagram.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, accepted for Astronomical Journa

    Paracetamol, NSAIDS and opioid analgesics for chronic low back pain: A network meta-analysis (Protocol)

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    This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To answer the clinical question: ‘what analgesic medicine shall I prescribe this patient with chronic low back pain to reduce their pain?’. The objectives are to determine the analgesic effects, safety, effect on function, and relative rank according to analgesic effect, safety and effect on function of a single course of opioid analgesics, NSAIDs or paracetamol or combinations of these medicines

    The infrared JHK light curves of RR Lyr

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    We present infrared JHK time series photometry of the variable star RR Lyr, that allow us to construct the first complete and accurate infrared light curves for this star. The derived mean magnitudes are =6.74 +/- 0.02, =6.60 +/- 0.03 and =6.50 +/- 0.02. The magnitude is used to estimate the reddening, the mass, the mean luminosity and temperature of this variable star. The use of these RR Lyr data provide a more accurate absolute calibration of the P-L_K-[Fe/H] relation, and a distance modulus (m-M)_0=18.48 +/- 0.11 to the globular cluster Reticulum in the LMC.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA

    The RESOLVE Trial for people with chronic low back pain: Statistical analysis plan

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    Background: Statistical analysis plans describe the planned data management and analysis for clinical trials. This supports transparent reporting and interpretation of clinical trial results. This paper reports the statistical analysis plan for the RESOLVE clinical trial. The RESOLVE trial assigned participants with chronic low back pain to graded sensory-motor precision training or sham-control. Results: We report the planned data management and analysis for the primary and secondary outcomes. The primary outcome is pain intensity at 18-weeks post randomization. We will use mixed-effects models to analyze the primary and secondary outcomes by intention-to-treat. We will report adverse effects in full. We also describe analyses if there is non-adherence to the interventions, data management procedures, and our planned reporting of results. Conclusion: This statistical analysis plan will minimize the potential for bias in the analysis and reporting of results from the RESOLVE trial. Trial registration: ACTRN12615000610538 (https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/ TrialReview.aspx?id=368619). © 2020 Associac¸ao˜ Brasileira de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduac ´ ¸ao˜ em Fisioterapia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved

    The polycomb group proteins, BMI-1 and EZH2, are tumour-associated antigens

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    We used SEREX technology to identify novel tumour-associated antigens in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma and found serological responses to the polycomb group (PcG) protein BMI-1, which is overexpressed in a range of different tumour types. Further studies identified T-cell responses to both BMI-1 and another PcG protein, EZH2, in cancer patients and at relatively lower levels in some normal donors. We next identified several CD8+ T-cell epitopes derived from BMI-1 and EZH2 and demonstrated that EZH2-derived peptides elicited more significant interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release than BMI-1-derived peptides. That CD8+ T cells were responsible for the observed responses was confirmed for EZH2 by both IFN-γ capture assays and tetramer staining using an HLA-A0201-restricted, EZH2-derived YMSCSFLFNL (aa 666–674) epitope. The ability of YMSCSFLFNL (aa 666–674) to stimulate the in vitro expansion of specific T cells from peripheral blood lymphocytes was greatly enhanced when the CD25+ T-cell population was depleted. EZH2-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones specific for two HLA-A0201 epitopes were generated and found to recognise endogenously processed EZH2 in both HLA-matched fibroblasts and tumour cell lines. Given the widespread overexpression of PcG proteins in cancer and their critical role in oncogenesis, these data suggest that they may be useful targets for cancer immunotherapy

    Vascular adhesion protein-1 is elevated in primary sclerosing cholangitis, is predictive of clinical outcome and facilitates recruitment of gut-tropic lymphocytes to liver in a substrate-dependent manner

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    OBJECTIVE: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is the classical hepatobiliary manifestation of IBD. This clinical association is linked pathologically to the recruitment of mucosal T cells to the liver, via vascular adhesion protein (VAP)-1-dependent enzyme activity. Our aim was to examine the expression, function and enzymatic activation of the ectoenzyme VAP-1 in patients with PSC.DESIGN: We examined VAP-1 expression in patients with PSC, correlated levels with clinical characteristics and determined the functional consequences of enzyme activation by specific enzyme substrates on hepatic endothelium.RESULTS: The intrahepatic enzyme activity of VAP-1 was elevated in PSC versus immune-mediated disease controls and non-diseased liver (p<0.001). The adhesion of gut-tropic α4β7+lymphocytes to hepatic endothelial cells in vitro under flow was attenuated by 50% following administration of the VAP-1 inhibitor semicarbazide (p<0.01). Of a number of natural VAP-1 substrates tested, cysteamine-which can be secreted by inflamed colonic epithelium and gut bacteria-was the most efficient (yielded the highest enzymatic rate) and efficacious in its ability to induce expression of functional mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 on hepatic endothelium. In a prospectively evaluated patient cohort with PSC, elevated serum soluble (s)VAP-1 levels predicted poorer transplant-free survival for patients, independently (HR: 3.85, p=0.003) and additively (HR: 2.02, p=0.012) of the presence of liver cirrhosis.CONCLUSIONS: VAP-1 expression is increased in PSC, facilitates adhesion of gut-tropic lymphocytes to liver endothelium in a substrate-dependent manner, and elevated levels of its circulating form predict clinical outcome in patients.</p

    Characterizing low-sulfide instrumented waste-rock piles: image grain-size analysis and wind-induced gas transport

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    This study is part of the Diavik Waste-Rock Pile Project taking place at the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The project involves the construction of three 15m-scale low sulfide test waste-rock piles and monitoring of fluid flow, geochemical reactions, heat and gas transport within the waste-rock piles and characterization of the physical properties of the waste-rock piles. The focus of this thesis is characterizing grain-size distribution of the waste-rock and quantifying gas transport in the test waste-rock piles. Grain size of waste rock ranges from millimeters to meters. Sieve analysis typically only provides information of grain size 0.1 m and employs a region-growing algorithm for segmentation of waste-rock grains with pre- and post-processing techniques to improve the accuracy of segmentation. The program was applied to photographs of six different tip faces of the test waste-rock piles. For grain size <0.1 m, data from sieve analyses were attached to the grain-size curves generated from image grain-size analyses to obtain a full spectrum grain-size analyses ranging from boulders to fines. The results show that fine fractions are retained at the top of the tip faces and grain size increases non-linearly from top to bottom of a waste-rock pile. Calculations show that although the greatest mass is associated with the medium and coarse fractions, the greatest surface area is associated with the fine fractions. The results are consistent with field observation that the initial solute concentrations are greatest at the top of the pile and saturated hydraulic conductivity are lower at the top of the pile than in the pile interior. Statistical moments show that the test waste-rock piles have mean grain size of granules and are very poorly sorted, coarse skewed and leptokurtic. Permeability is calculated using empirical formulae and good agreement is obtained between calculated values and field measurements. The heterogeneity of grain size obtained from this study can provide a basis for future modeling efforts. Gas transport analysis focused on 1) substantiating the relationship between wind flow external to the waste-rock pile and gas pressures within the pile, 2) determining the gas flow regime in the pile, and 3) quantifying the temporal variation in wind speed and direction and determining the relevant time scales. Differential gas pressures were measured in 2008 at 49 locations within one of the three test waste-rock piles and 14 locations on the surface of the pile at one-minute intervals. Wind speed and direction were measured at 10-min intervals. Correlations between wind vectors and pressure measurements show that the wind influences pressure fluctuations in the test pile. The strength of the correlation is roughly inversely proportional to the distance between measurement ports and the atmospheric boundary. The linear relationship between internal pressure measurements and surface pressure measurements demonstrate that gas flow is Darcian within the test waste-rock pile. Spectral analysis of wind data and a one-dimensional analytical solution to the flow equations show that the persistence of wind in a certain direction has most pronounced effects on transient gas flow within the pile. The penetration depth of wind-induced gas pressure wave is a function of the periodicity of the wind and permeability of the waste-rock pile

    Subjects with Knee Osteoarthritis Exhibit Widespread Hyperalgesia to Pressure and Cold

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    Hyperalgesia to mechanical and thermal stimuli are characteristics of a range of disorders such as tennis elbow, whiplash and fibromyalgia. This study evaluated the presence of local and widespread mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia in individuals with knee osteoarthritis, compared to healthy control subjects. Twenty-three subjects with knee osteoarthritis and 23 healthy controls, matched for age, gender and body mass index, were recruited for the study. Volunteers with any additional chronic pain conditions were excluded. Pain thresholds to pressure, cold and heat were tested at the knee, ipsilateral heel and ipsilateral elbow, in randomized order, using standardised methodology. Significant between-groups differences for pressure pain and cold pain thresholds were found with osteoarthritic subjects demonstrating significantly increased sensitivity to both pressure (p = .018) and cold (p = .003) stimuli, compared with controls. A similar pattern of results extended to the pain-free ipsilateral ankle and elbow indicating widespread pressure and cold hyperalgesia. No significant differences were found between groups for heat pain threshold, although correlations showed that subjects with greater sensitivity to pressure pain were also likely to be more sensitive to both cold pain and heat pain. This study found widespread elevated pain thresholds in subjects with painful knee osteoarthritis, suggesting that altered nociceptive system processing may play a role in ongoing arthritic pain for some patients
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