First report of a norovirus outbreak associated with the variant Sydney 2012 in Portugal

Introduction: This study describes the investigation of a gastroenteritis outbreak in a group of students, associated with a dinner reunion in February 2013 in Porto, Portugal. Methodology: An anonymous structured questionnaire was developed and sent to 34 students who attended the dinner reunion. Eighteen students completed the questionnaire and thirteen met the case definition (attack rate of 72%). Stools from two students were screened for norovirus by RT-PCR using primer pairs that target the highly conserved polymerase gene and the capsid gene. Results: Norovirus genotyping confirmed the variant Sydney 2012 as the probable cause of the outbreak. Conclusion: This is the first report of an outbreak associated with the new variant Sydney 2012 in Portugal.The study was supported by FEDER funds through Programa Operacional Factores de Competividade (COMPETE), by national funding through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (project PTDC/CVT/113218/2009), and by grant SFRH/BD/45407/2008, and by project Ovislab ICT-2013-05-004-5314 ID-64757

Aharonov-Bohm Effect on Noncommutative Plane: A Coherent State Approach

We apply the coherent state approach to study Aharonov-Bohm effect in the field theory context. We verify that, contrarily to the commutative result, the scattering amplitude is ultraviolet finite. However, we have logarithmic singularities as the noncommutative parameter tends to zero. Thus, the inclusion of a quartic self-interaction for the scalar field is necessary to obtain a smooth commutative limit.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, minor correction

Lorentz violation and the proper-time method

In this paper, we apply the proper-time method to generate the Lorentz-violating Chern-Simons terms in the four-dimensional Yang-Mills and non-linearized gravity theories. It is shown that the coefficient of the induced Chern-Simons term is finite but regularization dependent.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex

Landau Levels Analog to Electric Dipole

In this letter we study the quantum dyamics of a neutral particle in the presence of an external magnetic field. We demonstrate in a specific field-dipole configuration that we have a quantization similar to the Landau Levels. We investigate this quantization motivated by the recent analysis of Landau-Aharonov-Casher(LAC) quantization of Ericsson and Sj\"oqvist[Phys Rev. A {\bf 65} 013607 (2001)]. The energy eigenfuction and eigenvalues are obtained.Comment: 7 pages, revte

On the effective potential for Horava-Lifshitz-like theories with the arbitrary critical exponent

We calculate the one-loop effective potential for Horava-Lifshitz-like QED and Yukawa-like theory for arbitrary values of the critical exponent and the space-time dimension.Comment: 10 pages, version accepted in PL

On the effective potential in higher-derivative superfield theories

We study the one-loop quantum corrections for higher-derivative superfield theories, generalizing the approach for calculating the superfield effective potential. In particular, we calculate the effective potential for two versions of higher-derivative chiral superfield models. We point out that the equivalence of the higher-derivative theory for the chiral superfield and the one without higher derivatives but with an extended number of chiral superfields occurs only when the mass term is contained in the general Lagrangian. The presence of divergences can be taken as an indication of this equivalence.Comment: 14 page

Dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity, Godel Universe and variable cosmological constant

We study the condition for the consistency of the G\"{o}del metric with the dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity. It turns out to be that this compatibility can be achieved only if the cosmological constant is variable in the space.Comment: 8 pages, references adde

The ambiguity-free four-dimensional Lorentz-breaking Chern-Simons action

The four dimensional Lorentz-breaking finite and determined Chern-Simons like action is generated as a one loop perturbative correction via an appropriate Lorentz-breaking coupling of the gauge field with the spinor field. Unlike the known schemes of calculations, within this scheme this term is found to be regularization independent.Comment: Revtex4, 4 page

Exercises using the upper limbs hyperinflate COPD patients more than exercises using the lower limbs at the same metabolic demand

mandatory constituents of a rehabilitation programme for patients with COPD. However, it is not known how much these exercises may induce pulmonary dynamic hyperinflation (DH). Objective. To evaluate the DH in patients with COPD exercising the upper and lower parts of the body at the same metabolic demand. Methods. Sixteen patients aged 63 ± 13 years and with a FEV1 of 1.5 ± 0.7 L (41 ± 11% pred) were studied. Patients initially performed a maximal exercise test with the arms using the diagonal movement technique. The lower limbs were exercised on a treadmill at the same metabolic demand. Results. Inspiratory capacity decreased 222 ± 158 ml (9.8%) after the upper body exercise (p < 0.0001) and 148 ± 161 ml (7%) after exercise with the lower body (p = 0.0028) and a difference between the two groups was found (p < 0.05). There was no difference between resting IC before upper and lower limbs exercises (p = 0.8); increase in minute ventilation and in pulmonary ventilation in percentage of maximum voluntary ventilation and reduction of expiratory time were larger in the upper limbs exercise (p < 0.05). Dyspnea as measured by the Borg Scale was higher in the upper body (3.9 ± 2.2) than in the lower body (2.3 ± 1.3) at the end of the exercise (p = 0.033). Pulmonary ventilation and inspiratory capacity were correlated (p = 0.0001; r = 0.82). Conclusion. Exercise with the upper part of the body causes more DH and dyspnea than exercise with the lower part of the body at the same metabolic demand