318 research outputs found
Supersymmetry of consistent massive truncations of IIB supergravity
We discuss the supersymmetry and fermionic sector of the recently obtained
consistent truncations of IIB supergravity containing massive modes. In
particular, we present the general form of the five-dimensional N = 4
supersymmetry transformations and equations of motion for the fermions arising
in the reduction of IIB theory on T^{1,1} which contains all modes invariant
under the SU(2) x SU(2) isometry group. The N = 4 reduction can be further
truncated to two different N = 2 sub-sectors. For each of these, we present the
N = 2 fermionic supersymmetry transformations and corresponding
superpotentials. As an application, we obtain the explicit Killing spinors of
the Klebanov-Strassler solution and comment on the relation to the ansatz of
Papadopoulos and Tseytlin. We also demonstrate the applicability of consistent
truncations on squashed Sasaki-Einstein manifolds to a class of flux
compactifications, focusing on a recent solution describing the geometry of
gaugino condensation on wrapped D7 branes and which possesses dynamic SU(2)
structure.Comment: v2: minor typos corrected, references added, v3: significant
additions to include fermion equations of motion, journal versio
Consistent massive truncations of IIB supergravity on Sasaki-Einstein manifolds
Recent work on holographic superconductivity and gravitational duals of
systems with non-relativistic conformal symmetry have made use of consistent
truncations of D=10 and D=11 supergravity retaining some massive modes in the
Kaluza-Klein tower. In this paper we focus on reductions of IIB supergravity to
five dimensions on a Sasaki-Einstein manifold, and extend these previous
truncations to encompass the entire bosonic sector of gauged D=5, N=2
supergravity coupled to massive multiplets up to the second Kaluza-Klein level.
We conjecture that a necessary condition for the consistency of massive
truncations is to only retain the lowest modes in the massive trajectories of
the Kaluza-Klein mode decomposition of the original fields. This is an
extension of the well-known result that consistent truncations may be obtained
by restricting to the singlet sector of the internal symmetry group.Comment: 27 pages, typos corrected and references adde
Density mapping with weak lensing and phase information
The available probes of the large scale structure in the Universe have
distinct properties: galaxies are a high resolution but biased tracer of mass,
while weak lensing avoids such biases but, due to low signal-to-noise ratio,
has poor resolution. We investigate reconstructing the projected density field
using the complementarity of weak lensing and galaxy positions. We propose a
maximum-probability reconstruction of the 2D lensing convergence with a
likelihood term for shear data and a prior on the Fourier phases constructed
from the galaxy positions. By considering only the phases of the galaxy field,
we evade the unknown value of the bias and allow it to be calibrated by lensing
on a mode-by-mode basis. By applying this method to a realistic simulated
galaxy shear catalogue, we find that a weak prior on phases provides a good
quality reconstruction down to scales beyond l=1000, far into the noise domain
of the lensing signal alone.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, published in MNRA
The New Insight into the Role of Antimicrobial Proteins-Alarmins in the Immunopathogenesis of Psoriasis
The pathognesis of psoriasis still remains not fully elucidated. Recent advances favor the idea that interactions between innate and adaptive immune response drive inflammatory process in this disease. Innate antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) are diverse group of small molecules that provide the first line of defense against invading pathogens. In recent years, the novel functions ofAMPs have been identified. There are three subclasses among AMPs that have gained the special interest as a potentially important player in the pathogenesis of psoriasis: cathelicidin, S100 proteins, and defensins. These AMPs have been shown to modulate and trigger host immune response in psoriasis acting as interplayer between innate and adaptive immune mechanisms. Overexpressed in psoriatic lesions, they prime immune cells for enhanced production of proinflammatory mediators and act as chemoattractant for leukocytes. Therefore, the novel term describing AMPs alarmins has been suggested. As multifunctional player in pathogenesis of psoriasis, AMPs may constitute potential target for therapeutic interventions. However, further investigations are required to establish the methods of downregulation of the aberrant proinflammatory functions of AMPs without increasing the risk of infections
Arabic language skin-related stigmatization instruments: Translation and validation process
Contains fulltext :
205447.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Skin diseases are frequently the reason for social rejection. Therefore, the assessment of stigmatization level in patients suffering from dermatoses plays a crucial role in providing proper health service. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to create and validate Arabic language versions of stigmatization instruments - the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Development of the Arabic language versions was done with international standards of forward-back translations. The validation was performed on 39 psoriatic individuals. The group included 11 females and 28 males. The subjects were asked to fill out both questionnaires: the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire (Arabic language versions) at the time of examination and 7 days after enrollment for reassessment to evaluate test-retest reliability. During the first visit the patients additionally filled out an already existing Arabic version of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), which was used as a reference questionnaire. RESULTS: The results concerning the integrity of instruments were very good, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for both scales was 0.89. The reproducibility level assessed with interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) stood at 0.91 for the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and 0.92 for the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. There was a strong correlation between total score of the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and DLQI. Significant negative moderate correlation was documented between the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire and DLQI. Moreover, both stigmatization instruments correlated significantly with each other. CONCLUSIONS: The developed Arabic language versions of the abovementioned stigmatization instruments can be successfully used in daily clinical practice as well as in clinical research
Identification and differentiation of Trichophyton rubrum clinical isolates using PCR-RFLP and RAPD methods
Trichophyton rubrum represents the most frequently isolated causative agent of superficial dermatophyte infections. Several genotyping methods have recently been introduced to improve the delineation between pathogenic fungi at both the species and the strain levels. The purpose of this study was to apply selected DNA fingerprinting methods to the identification and strain discrimination of T. rubrum clinical isolates. Fifty-seven isolates from as many tinea patients were subjected to species identification by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and strain differentiation using a randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method, with two primers designated 1 and 6. Using PCR-RFLP, 55 of the isolates studied were confirmed to be T. rubrum. Among those, a total of 40 and five distinct profiles were obtained by RAPD with primers 1 and 6, respectively. The combination of profiles from both RAPD assays resulted in 47 genotypes and an overall genotypic diversity rate of 85.4%. A dendrogram analysis performed on the profiles generated by RAPD with primer 1 showed most of the isolates (87.3%) to be genetically related. PCR-RFLP serves as a rapid and reliable method for the identification of T. rubrum species, while the RAPD analysis is rather a disadvantageous tool for T. rubrum strain typing
Quantum computation with devices whose contents are never read
In classical computation, a "write-only memory" (WOM) is little more than an
oxymoron, and the addition of WOM to a (deterministic or probabilistic)
classical computer brings no advantage. We prove that quantum computers that
are augmented with WOM can solve problems that neither a classical computer
with WOM nor a quantum computer without WOM can solve, when all other resource
bounds are equal. We focus on realtime quantum finite automata, and examine the
increase in their power effected by the addition of WOMs with different access
modes and capacities. Some problems that are unsolvable by two-way
probabilistic Turing machines using sublogarithmic amounts of read/write memory
are shown to be solvable by these enhanced automata.Comment: 32 pages, a preliminary version of this work was presented in the 9th
International Conference on Unconventional Computation (UC2010
Higher derivative effects on eta/s at finite chemical potential
We examine the effects of higher derivative corrections on eta/s, the ratio
of shear viscosity to entropy density, in the case of a finite R-charge
chemical potential. In particular, we work in the framework of five-dimensional
N =2 gauged supergravity, and include terms up to four derivatives,
representing the supersymmetric completion of the Chern-Simons term A \wedge Tr
(R \wedge R). The addition of the four-derivative terms yields a correction
which is a 1/N effect, and in general gives rise to a violation of the eta/s
bound. Furthermore, we find that, once the bound is violated, turning on the
chemical potential only leads to an even larger violation of the bound.Comment: Typos fixed, references and comments on conventions adde
Translation from Classical Two-Way Automata to Pebble Two-Way Automata
We study the relation between the standard two-way automata and more powerful
devices, namely, two-way finite automata with an additional "pebble" movable
along the input tape. Similarly as in the case of the classical two-way
machines, it is not known whether there exists a polynomial trade-off, in the
number of states, between the nondeterministic and deterministic pebble two-way
automata. However, we show that these two machine models are not independent:
if there exists a polynomial trade-off for the classical two-way automata, then
there must also exist a polynomial trade-off for the pebble two-way automata.
Thus, we have an upward collapse (or a downward separation) from the classical
two-way automata to more powerful pebble automata, still staying within the
class of regular languages. The same upward collapse holds for complementation
of nondeterministic two-way machines.
These results are obtained by showing that each pebble machine can be, by
using suitable inputs, simulated by a classical two-way automaton with a linear
number of states (and vice versa), despite the existing exponential blow-up
between the classical and pebble two-way machines
Impairment of Sexual Life in 3,485 Dermatological Outpatients From a Multicentre Study in 13 European Countries
Skin conditions may have a strong impact on patients' sexual life, and thus influence personal relationships. Sexual issues are difficult to discuss directly in clinical practice, and a mediated instrument may be useful to capture such information. In this study item 9 of the Dermatology Life Quality Index was used to collect information on sexual impact of several skin conditions in 13 European countries. Among 3,485 patients, 23.1% reported sexual problems. The impairment was particularly high in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, prurigo, blistering disorders, psoriasis, urticaria, eczema, infections of the skin, or pruritus. Sexual impact was strongly associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. It was generally more frequent in younger patients and was positively correlated with clinical severity and itch. It is important to address the issue of sexual well-being in the evaluation of patients with skin conditions, since it is often linked to anxiety, depression, and even suicidal ideation.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
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