The Gluonic Field of a Heavy Quark in Conformal Field Theories at Strong Coupling

We determine the gluonic field configuration sourced by a heavy quark undergoing arbitrary motion in N=4 super-Yang-Mills at strong coupling and large number of colors. More specifically, we compute the expectation value of the operator tr[F^2+...] in the presence of such a quark, by means of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Our results for this observable show that signals propagate without temporal broadening, just as was found for the expectation value of the energy density in recent work by Hatta et al. We attempt to shed some additional light on the origin of this feature, and propose a different interpretation for its physical significance. As an application of our general results, we examine when the quark undergoes oscillatory motion, uniform circular motion, and uniform acceleration. Via the AdS/CFT correspondence, all of our results are pertinent to any conformal field theory in 3+1 dimensions with a dual gravity formulation.Comment: 1+38 pages, 16 eps figures; v2: completed affiliation; v3: corrected typo, version to appear in JHE

'Word from the street' : when non-electoral representative claims meet electoral representation in the United Kingdom

Taking the specific case of street protests in the UK – the ‘word from the street’– this article examines recent (re)conceptualizations of political representation, most particularly Saward’s notion of ‘representative claim’. The specific example of nonelectoral claims articulated by protestors and demonstrators in the UK is used to illustrate: the processes of making, constituting, evaluating and accepting claims for and by constituencies and audiences; and the continuing distinctiveness of claims based upon electoral representation. Two basic questions structure the analysis: first, why would the political representative claims of elected representatives trump the nonelectoral claims of mass demonstrators and, second, in what ways does the ‘perceived legitimacy’ of the former differ from the latter

Gene expression and matrix turnover in overused and damaged tendons

Chronic, painful conditions affecting tendons, frequently known as tendinopathy, are very common types of sporting injury. The tendon extracellular matrix is substantially altered in tendinopathy, and these changes are thought to precede and underlie the clinical condition. The tendon cell response to repeated minor injuries or “overuse” is thought to be a major factor in the development of tendinopathy. Changes in matrix turnover may also be effected by the cellular response to physical load, altering the balance of matrix turnover and changing the structure and composition of the tendon. Matrix turnover is relatively high in tendons exposed to high mechanical demands, such as the supraspinatus and Achilles, and this is thought to represent either a repair or tissue maintenance function. Metalloproteinases are a large family of enzymes capable of degrading all of the tendon matrix components, and these are thought to play a major role in the degradation of matrix during development, adaptation and repair. It is proposed that some metalloproteinase enzymes are required for the health of the tendon, and others may be damaging, leading to degeneration of the tissue. Further research is required to investigate how these enzyme activities are regulated in tendon and altered in tendinopathy. A profile of all the metalloproteinases expressed and active in healthy and degenerate tendon is required and may lead to the development of new drug therapies for these common and debilitating sports injuries

The transition of reported pain in different body regions – a one-year follow-up study

BACKGROUND: The course of pain at a specific region such as the lower back has previously been shown as well as for generalized pain. However we have not found any report on the course of pain from various different specific regions. The aim of this investigation was to study the one-year transition of reported pain in different body locations. METHODS: From a general population 14555 men and women, 46–68 years, responded to an extensive health questionnaire including the standardized Nordic questionnaire. The population represented 27% of the total population within the age group in Malmö, Sweden. At the one year follow-up 12607 responded to the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 87%. The one year prevalence of long-lasting pain and the pattern of pain reporting from different regions were studied for men and women. RESULTS: The one-year prevalence of long-lasting neck pain was 14% (95% CI 13–15) among men and 25% (95% CI 24–26) among women at baseline and 15% (95% CI 14–16) for the men and 23% (95% CI 22–24) for the women at follow-up. Of those reporting neck pain "all the time" at baseline, 48% of the men and 54% of the women also reported neck pain "all the time" at the one-year follow-up. At the follow-up neck pain was reported as present "often" by 43% of the men and 47% of the women who reported neck pain "often" at baseline. Similar transition pattern were found for neck, shoulders, elbow/wrist/hand and lower back symptoms, as well as consistent prevalence rates. CONCLUSION: The one-year transition pattern of reported pain was similar in different body regions and among men and women. Furthermore the prevalence rates of long-lasting pain in the population were consistent at baseline and the follow-up. The findings of similar transition patterns support the interpretation of long-lasting pain as a generalized phenomenon rather than attributed to specific exposure. This may have implications for future pain research

Severe MUPS in a sick-listed population: a cross-sectional study on prevalence, recognition, psychiatric co-morbidity and impairment

Background: Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) have a high prevalence in the general population and are associated with psychiatric morbidity. There are indications that MUPS are an important determinant of frequent and long-term disability. The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of MUPS in sick-listed-employees and its associations with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, health anxiety, distress and functional impairment. Secondary objectives were to investigate the classification of the occupational health physicians (OHPs), their opinions about the causes as well as the attributions of the employee. Methods: In a cross- sectional study of 489 sick-listed employees from 5 OHP group practices, MUPS, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, health anxiety, distress and functional impairment were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), the Whitely Index (WI), the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) and the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). We used a cut off score of 15 on the PHQ for the categorisation of severe MUPS. The opinions of the OHPs were evaluated by means of a separate questionnaire with regard to the presence of employees physical symptoms, and the symptoms attributions, and the diagnoses of the OHPs. Results: Severe MUPS had a prevalence of 15.1% in this population of sick-listed employees. These employees had 4-6 times more depressive and anxiety disorders, and were more impaired. Female gender and PHQ-9 scores were determinants of severe MUPS. Most of the time the OHPs diagnosed employees with severe MUPS as having a mental disorder. The employees attributed their physical symptoms in 66% to mental or to both mental and physical causes. Conclusion: The prevalence of severe MUPS is higher in long-term sick-listed employees than in the non-sick-listed working population and at least equals the prevalence in the general practice population. Severe MUPS are associated with psychiatric morbidity and functional impairment and must therefore be specifically recognised as such. Validated questionnaires, such as the PHQ-15, are useful instruments in order to help OHPs to recognise severe MUPS

Formulation of a mmaA4 Gene Deletion Mutant of Mycobacterium bovis BCG in Cationic Liposomes Significantly Enhances Protection against Tuberculosis

A new vaccination strategy is urgently needed for improved control of the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Using a mouse aerosol Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge model, we investigated the protective efficacy of a mmaA4 gene deletion mutant of Mycobacterium bovis BCG (ΔmmaA4BCG) formulated in dimethyl dioctadecyl ammonium bromide (DDA) – D(+) trehalose 6,6 dibenenate (TDB) (DDA/TDB) adjuvant. In previous studies, deletion of the mmaA4 gene was shown to reduce the suppression of IL-12 production often seen after mycobacterial infections. While the non-adjuvanted ΔmmaA4BCG strain did not protect mice substantially better than conventional BCG against a tuberculous challenge in four protection experiments, the protective responses induced by the ΔmmaA4BCG vaccine formulated in DDA/TDB adjuvant was consistently increased relative to nonadjuvanted BCG controls. Furthermore, the ΔmmaA4BCG-DDA/TDB vaccine induced significantly higher frequencies of multifunctional (MFT) CD4 T cells expressing both IFNγ and TNFα (double positive) or IFNγ, TNFα and IL-2 (triple positive) than CD4 T cells derived from mice vaccinated with BCG. These MFT cells were characterized by having higher IFNγ and TNFα median fluorescence intensity (MFI) values than monofunctional CD4 T cells. Interestingly, both BCG/adjuvant and ΔmmaA4BCG/adjuvant formulations induced significantly higher frequencies of CD4 T cells expressing TNFα and IL-2 than nonadjuvanted BCG or ΔmmaA4BCG vaccines indicating that BCG/adjuvant mixtures may be more effective at inducing central memory T cells. Importantly, when either conventional BCG or the mutant were formulated in adjuvant and administered to SCID mice or immunocompromised mice depleted of IFNγ, significantly lower vaccine-derived mycobacterial CFU were detected relative to immunodeficient mice injected with non-adjuvanted BCG. Overall, these data suggest that immunization with the ΔmmaA4BCG/adjuvant formulation may be an effective, safe, and relatively inexpensive alternative to vaccination with conventional BCG

'Open Marxism' against and beyond the 'Great Enclosure'? Reflections on How (Not) to Crack Capitalism

The main purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth discussion of John Holloway’s recent book, Crack Capitalism. To this end, the paper offers a detailed account of the key strengths and weaknesses of Holloway’s version of ‘open Marxism’. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on six significant strengths of Crack Capitalism: (1) its insistence upon the importance of autonomous forms of agenda-setting for both individual and collective emancipation; (2) its emphasis on the ordinary constitution of social struggles; (3) its fine-grained interpretation of the socio-ontological conditions underlying human agency; (4) its processual conception of radical social transformation; (5) its recognition of the elastic, adaptable, and integrative power of capitalism; and (6) its proposal for an alternative critical theory, commonly known as ‘open Marxism’ or ‘autonomous Marxism’. The second part of the study examines the principal weaknesses of Crack Capitalism: (1) the counterproductive implications of the preponderance of negativity, owing to a one-sided concern with critique, cracks, and crises; (2) conceptual vagueness; (3) an overuse of poetic and metaphorical language; (4) the absence of a serious engagement with the question of normativity; (5) a lack of substantive evidence; (6) a residual economic reductionism; (7) a simplistic notion of gender; (8) the continuing presence of various problematic ‘isms’; (9) the misleading distinction between ‘doing’ and ‘labour’; (10) a reductive understanding of capitalism; (11) an unrealistic view of society; and (12) socio-ontological idealis

A database of chlorophyll a in Australian waters

© The Author(s) 2018. Chlorophyll a is the most commonly used indicator of phytoplankton biomass in the marine environment. It is relatively simple and cost effective to measure when compared to phytoplankton abundance and is thus routinely included in many surveys. Here we collate 173, 333 records of chlorophyll a collected since 1965 from Australian waters gathered from researchers on regular coastal monitoring surveys and ocean voyages into a single repository. This dataset includes the chlorophyll a values as measured from samples analysed using spectrophotometry, fluorometry and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The Australian Chlorophyll a database is freely available through the Australian Ocean Data Network portal (https://portal.aodn.org.au/). These data can be used in isolation as an index of phytoplankton biomass or in combination with other data to provide insight into water quality, ecosystem state, and relationships with other trophic levels such as zooplankton or fish

Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Turkish, Moroccan, Indian and sub-Sahara African populations in Europe and their countries of origin: an overview

Public Health and primary carePrevention and community carePrevention, Population and Disease management (PrePoD