Antidepressant drugs and the response in the placebo group: the real problem lies in our understanding of the issue

In a recent paper, Horder and colleagues (Horder et al., 2010, J Psychopharmacol 25: 1277–1288) have suggested that the mainproblem in the Kirsch analysis is methodological. We argue that the results are similar irrespective of the method used. In our opinion the data suggest that placebo and drug effects are non-additive: antidepressants act independently of depression severity, while the placebo effect is present only in milder cases. While the response in the placebo group is due to unstable ‘noise’ and ‘artefacts’, the medication effect is reliable, valid and stable

Methodological determinism and the free will hypothesis.

In this comment on the article by Papanicolaou, we introduce the concept of methodological determinism and discuss the scientific status of the concept of free will. We argue that determinism is an implicit heuristic assumption of modern science, dating back to Newton's optics. Papanicolaou acknowledges that instances of free will being an illusion have been corroborated. We add that the proposition of free will determining behavior is unfalsifiable. It is, therefore, a metaphysical proposition and not a scientific hypothesis

Lifshitz tails for alloy type models in a constant magnetic field

In this note, we study Lifshitz tails for a 2D Landau Hamiltonian perturbed by a random alloy-type potential constructed with single site potentials decaying at least at a Gaussian speed. We prove that, if the Landau level stays preserved as a band edge for the perturbed Hamiltonian, at the Landau levels, the integrated density of states has a Lifshitz behavior of the type $e^{-\log^2|E-2bq|}$

From Poincare to affine invariance: How does the Dirac equation generalize?

A generalization of the Dirac equation to the case of affine symmetry, with SL(4,R) replacing SO(1,3), is considered. A detailed analysis of a Dirac-type Poincare-covariant equation for any spin j is carried out, and the related general interlocking scheme fulfilling all physical requirements is established. Embedding of the corresponding Lorentz fields into infinite-component SL(4,R) fermionic fields, the constraints on the SL(4,R) vector-operator generalizing Dirac's gamma matrices, as well as the minimal coupling to (Metric-)Affine gravity are studied. Finally, a symmetry breaking scenario for SA(4,R) is presented which preserves the Poincare symmetry.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX2e, 8 figures, revised introduction, typos correcte

Preheating after N-flation

We study preheating in N-flation, assuming the Mar\v{c}enko-Pastur mass distribution, equal energy initial conditions at the beginning of inflation and equal axion-matter couplings, where matter is taken to be a single, massless bosonic field. By numerical analysis we find that preheating via parametric resonance is suppressed, indicating that the old theory of perturbative preheating is applicable. While the tensor-to-scalar ratio, the non-Gaussianity parameters and the scalar spectral index computed for N-flation are similar to those in single field inflation (at least within an observationally viable parameter region), our results suggest that the physics of preheating can differ significantly from the single field case.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, references added, fixed typo

Books

Portrait of Don Craib In Search of Truth - A Portrait of Don Craib: By E.B. Adams pp. xi + 123. Illustrated.London and New York: Royal Society of Medicine Services. 1990.Internal medicine Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 12th ed. Bd. by ].D. Wilson, E. Braunwald, K.]. Isselbacher, et al. pp. xxx + 2208. Illustrated. USA: McGraw-Hill. 1991.HPV and cervical cancer Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer. Ed. by N. Munoz, F. X. Bosch and O. M. Jensen. Pp. xii + 155. Illustrated. France: International Agency for Research on Cancer. 1989

Global Bounds for the Lyapunov Exponent and the Integrated Density of States of Random Schr\"odinger Operators in One Dimension

In this article we prove an upper bound for the Lyapunov exponent $\gamma(E)$ and a two-sided bound for the integrated density of states $N(E)$ at an arbitrary energy $E>0$ of random Schr\"odinger operators in one dimension. These Schr\"odinger operators are given by potentials of identical shape centered at every lattice site but with non-overlapping supports and with randomly varying coupling constants. Both types of bounds only involve scattering data for the single-site potential. They show in particular that both $\gamma(E)$ and $N(E)-\sqrt{E}/\pi$ decay at infinity at least like $1/\sqrt{E}$. As an example we consider the random Kronig-Penney model.Comment: 9 page

In-orbit Vignetting Calibrations of XMM-Newton Telescopes

We describe measurements of the mirror vignetting in the XMM-Newton Observatory made in-orbit, using observations of SNR G21.5-09 and SNR 3C58 with the EPIC imaging cameras. The instrument features that complicate these measurements are briefly described. We show the spatial and energy dependences of measured vignetting, outlining assumptions made in deriving the eventual agreement between simulation and measurement. Alternate methods to confirm these are described, including an assessment of source elongation with off-axis angle, the surface brightness distribution of the diffuse X-ray background, and the consistency of Coma cluster emission at different position angles. A synthesis of these measurements leads to a change in the XMM calibration data base, for the optical axis of two of the three telescopes, by in excess of 1 arcminute. This has a small but measureable effect on the assumed spectral responses of the cameras for on-axis targets.Comment: Accepted by Experimental Astronomy. 26 pages, 18 figure

Synthesis of Novel Thieno[3,2-b]quinolines and Thieno[3,2-d][1,3]thiazoles

New heterocyclic 2-Aryl-9-chloro-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrothieno[3,2-b]quinoline derivatives [Aryl-CTTQ] (2a–e) and 5-arylthieno[3,2-d][1,3]thiazol-2-amine derivatives[Aryl-TZA] (6a–e)were achieved in good yields starting from 5-aryl-3-aminothiophene-2-carboxylic acid (1a–c).Keywords: 5-Aryl-3-aminothiophene-2-carboxylic acid, thieno[3,2-b]quinoline, thiourea, thieno [3,2-d][1,3]thiazol