Ultrasonic Wave Dispersion and Attenuation in Fluid Filled Porous Media

The study of ultrasonic wave propagation in granular materials can lead to a better understanding of wave interaction with such materials as uncured cement and concrete. The measured parameters can then be used to investigate the curing process in particular the time required for a given mixture to consolidate. The cohesionless granular materials having loose contact between the constituent grains form a matrix that has negligible shear modulus. Sediment, sandy ground and concrete before solidification can be considered as examples of cohesionless granular materials. The shear and rigidity moduli of these materials can differ greatly from the values obtained by effective medium theories. In particular these differences could affect the ultrasonic wave propagation in such a material. In the case of cohesionless granular material the complete description of mechanical properties requires the consideration of discrete nature of the solid frame and the contact areas between the grains. Therefore wave interaction with such a material should also include the above mentioned effects. The goal of this work is to investigate the ultrasonic wave dispersion and attenuation in cohesionless granular materials the results can be to applied to the monitoring of cement and concrete during the curing process

Long-term efficacy and safety of dichlorphenamide for treatment of primary periodic paralysis

Introduction/Aim: Long-term efficacy and safety of dichlorphenamide (DCP) were characterized in patients with primary periodic paralysis (PPP). Methods: Patients with PPP in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study were randomly assigned to receive DCP 50 mg twice daily or placebo for 9 weeks, followed by a 52-week open-label DCP treatment phase (DCP/DCP and placebo/DCP populations). Efficacy (attack rate, severity-weighted attack rate) and safety were assessed in patients completing the study (61 weeks). In this post hoc analysis, efficacy and safety data were pooled from hyperkalemic and hypokalemic substudies. Results: Sixty-three adults (age, 19-76 years) completed the double-blind phase; 47 (74.6%) of these patients completed 61 weeks. There were median decreases in weekly attack and severity-weighted attack rates from baseline to week 61 (DCP/DCP [n = 25], −1.00 [P < .0001]; placebo/DCP [n = 20], −0.63 [P = .01] and DCP/DCP, −2.25 [P < .0001]; placebo/DCP, −1.69 [P = .01]). Relatively smaller median decreases in weekly attack and severity-weighted attack rates occurred from weeks 9 to 61 among patients receiving DCP continuously (n = 26; −0.14 [P = .1] and −0.24 [P = .09]) than among those switching from placebo to DCP after 9 weeks (n = 16; −1.04 [P = .049] and −2.72 [P = .08]). Common adverse events (AEs) were paresthesia and cognition-related events, which typically first occurred within 1 month of blinded treatment initiation and in rare cases led to treatment discontinuation. Dose reductions were frequently associated with common AE resolution. Discussion: One-year open-label DCP treatment after a 9-week randomized, controlled study confirmed long-term DCP remains safe and effective for chronic use. Tolerability issues (paresthesia, cognition-related AEs) were manageable in most patients

Magnetized Domain Walls in the Deconfined Sakai-Sugimoto Model at Finite Baryon Density

The magnetized pure pion gradient ($\mathcal{5}\phi$) phase in the deconfined Sakai-Sugimoto model is explored at zero and finite temperature. We found that the temperature has very small effects on the phase. The thermodynamical properties of the phase shows that the excitations behave like a scalar solitonic free particles. By comparing the free energy of the pion gradient phase to the competing multiquark-pion gradient (MQ-$\mathcal{5}\phi$) phase, it becomes apparent that the pure pion gradient is less thermodynamically preferred than the MQ-$\mathcal{5}\phi$ phase. However, in the parameter space where the baryonic chemical potential is smaller than the onset value of the multiquark, the dominating magnetized nuclear matter is the pion gradient phase.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure

Flavor-symmetry Breaking with Charged Probes

We discuss the recombination of brane/anti-brane pairs carrying $D3$ brane charge in $AdS_5 \times S^5$. These configurations are dual to co-dimension one defects in the ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills description. Due to their $D3$ charge, these defects are actually domain walls in the dual gauge theory, interpolating between vacua of different gauge symmetry. A pair of unjoined defects each carry localized $(2+1)$ dimensional fermions and possess a global $U(N)\times U(N)$ flavor symmetry while the recombined brane/anti-brane pairs exhibit only a diagonal U(N). We study the thermodynamics of this flavor-symmetry breaking under the influence of external magnetic field.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Short-term efficacy of physical interventions in osteoarthritic knee pain. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Treatment efficacy of physical agents in osteoarthritis of the knee (OAK) pain has been largely unknown, and this systematic review was aimed at assessing their short-term efficacies for pain relief. METHODS: Systematic review with meta-analysis of efficacy within 1-4 weeks and at follow up at 1-12 weeks after the end of treatment. RESULTS: 36 randomised placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) were identified with 2434 patients where 1391 patients received active treatment. 33 trials satisfied three or more out of five methodological criteria (Jadad scale). The patient sample had a mean age of 65.1 years and mean baseline pain of 62.9 mm on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS). Within 4 weeks of the commencement of treatment manual acupuncture, static magnets and ultrasound therapies did not offer statistically significant short-term pain relief over placebo. Pulsed electromagnetic fields offered a small reduction in pain of 6.9 mm [95% CI: 2.2 to 11.6] (n = 487). Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS, including interferential currents), electro-acupuncture (EA) and low level laser therapy (LLLT) offered clinically relevant pain relieving effects of 18.8 mm [95% CI: 9.6 to 28.1] (n = 414), 21.9 mm [95% CI: 17.3 to 26.5] (n = 73) and 17.7 mm [95% CI: 8.1 to 27.3] (n = 343) on VAS respectively versus placebo control. In a subgroup analysis of trials with assumed optimal doses, short-term efficacy increased to 22.2 mm [95% CI: 18.1 to 26.3] for TENS, and 24.2 mm [95% CI: 17.3 to 31.3] for LLLT on VAS. Follow-up data up to 12 weeks were sparse, but positive effects seemed to persist for at least 4 weeks after the course of LLLT, EA and TENS treatment was stopped. CONCLUSION: TENS, EA and LLLT administered with optimal doses in an intensive 2-4 week treatment regimen, seem to offer clinically relevant short-term pain relief for OAK

A Universal Model of Global Civil Unrest

Civil unrest is a powerful form of collective human dynamics, which has led to major transitions of societies in modern history. The study of collective human dynamics, including collective aggression, has been the focus of much discussion in the context of modeling and identification of universal patterns of behavior. In contrast, the possibility that civil unrest activities, across countries and over long time periods, are governed by universal mechanisms has not been explored. Here, we analyze records of civil unrest of 170 countries during the period 1919-2008. We demonstrate that the distributions of the number of unrest events per year are robustly reproduced by a nonlinear, spatially extended dynamical model, which reflects the spread of civil disorder between geographic regions connected through social and communication networks. The results also expose the similarity between global social instability and the dynamics of natural hazards and epidemics.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Truncated and Helix-Constrained Peptides with High Affinity and Specificity for the cFos Coiled-Coil of AP-1

Protein-based therapeutics feature large interacting surfaces. Protein folding endows structural stability to localised surface epitopes, imparting high affinity and target specificity upon interactions with binding partners. However, short synthetic peptides with sequences corresponding to such protein epitopes are unstructured in water and promiscuously bind to proteins with low affinity and specificity. Here we combine structural stability and target specificity of proteins, with low cost and rapid synthesis of small molecules, towards meeting the significant challenge of binding coiled coil proteins in transcriptional regulation. By iteratively truncating a Jun-based peptide from 37 to 22 residues, strategically incorporating i-->i+4 helix-inducing constraints, and positioning unnatural amino acids, we have produced short, water-stable, alpha-helical peptides that bind cFos. A three-dimensional NMR-derived structure for one peptide (24) confirmed a highly stable alpha-helix which was resistant to proteolytic degradation in serum. These short structured peptides are entropically pre-organized for binding with high affinity and specificity to cFos, a key component of the oncogenic transcriptional regulator Activator Protein-1 (AP-1). They competitively antagonized the cJun–cFos coiled-coil interaction. Truncating a Jun-based peptide from 37 to 22 residues decreased the binding enthalpy for cJun by ~9 kcal/mol, but this was compensated by increased conformational entropy (TDS ≤ 7.5 kcal/mol). This study demonstrates that rational design of short peptides constrained by alpha-helical cyclic pentapeptide modules is able to retain parental high helicity, as well as high affinity and specificity for cFos. These are important steps towards small antagonists of the cJun-cFos interaction that mediates gene transcription in cancer and inflammatory diseases

Thermoelectric spin voltage in graphene

In recent years, new spin-dependent thermal effects have been discovered in ferromagnets, stimulating a growing interest in spin caloritronics, a field that exploits the interaction between spin and heat currents. Amongst the most intriguing phenomena is the spin Seebeck effect, in which a thermal gradient gives rise to spin currents that are detected through the inverse spin Hall effect. Non-magnetic materials such as graphene are also relevant for spin caloritronics, thanks to efficient spin transport, energy-dependent carrier mobility and unique density of states. Here, we propose and demonstrate that a carrier thermal gradient in a graphene lateral spin valve can lead to a large increase of the spin voltage near to the graphene charge neutrality point. Such an increase results from a thermoelectric spin voltage, which is analogous to the voltage in a thermocouple and that can be enhanced by the presence of hot carriers generated by an applied current. These results could prove crucial to drive graphene spintronic devices and, in particular, to sustain pure spin signals with thermal gradients and to tune the remote spin accumulation by varying the spin-injection bias

Deconstructing Weight Management Interventions for Young Adults: Looking Inside the Black Box of the EARLY Consortium Trials.

ObjectiveThe goal of the present study was to deconstruct the 17 treatment arms used in the Early Adult Reduction of weight through LifestYle (EARLY) weight management trials.MethodsIntervention materials were coded to reflect behavioral domains and behavior change techniques (BCTs) within those domains planned for each treatment arm. The analytical hierarchy process was employed to determine an emphasis profile of domains in each intervention.ResultsThe intervention arms used BCTs from all of the 16 domains, with an average of 29.3 BCTs per intervention arm. All 12 of the interventions included BCTs from the six domains of Goals and Planning, Feedback and Monitoring, Social Support, Shaping Knowledge, Natural Consequences, and Comparison of Outcomes; 11 of the 12 interventions shared 15 BCTs in common across those six domains.ConclusionsWeight management interventions are complex. The shared set of BCTs used in the EARLY trials may represent a core intervention that could be studied to determine the required emphases of BCTs and whether additional BCTs add to or detract from efficacy. Deconstructing interventions will aid in reproducibility and understanding of active ingredients

High-latitude marginal reefs support fewer but bigger corals than their tropical counterparts

Anthropogenic impacts are typically detrimental to tropical coral reefs, but the effect of increasing environmental stress and variability on the size structure of coral communities remains poorly understood. This limits our ability to effectively conserve coral reef ecosystems because size specific dynamics are rarely incorporated. Our aim is to quantify variation in the size structure of coral populations across 20 sites along a tropical-to-subtropical environmental gradient on the east coast of Australia (~ 23 to 30°S), to determine how size structure changes with a gradient of sea surface temperature, turbidity, productivity and light levels. We use two approaches: 1) linear regression with summary statistics (such as median size) as response variables, a method frequently favoured by ecologists and 2) compositional functional regression, a novel method using entire size–frequency distributions as response variables. We then predict coral population size structure with increasing environmental stress and variability. Together, we find fewer but larger coral colonies in marginal reefs, where conditions are typically more variable and stressful, than in tropical reefs. Our model predicts that coral populations may become gradually dominated by larger colonies (> 148 cm2) with increasing environmental stress. Fewer but bigger corals suggest low survival of smaller corals, slow growth, and/or poor recruitment. This finding is concerning for the future of coral reefs, as it implies that current marginal populations, or future reefs in increasingly stressful environmental conditions may have low recovery potential. We highlight the importance of continuously monitoring changes to population structure over biogeographic scales