Liquid drops attract or repel by the inverted Cheerios effect

European Union Grant CIG 618335. S.K. acknowledges financial support from NWO through VIDI Grant 11304. A.P. and J.H.S. acknowledge financial support from European Research Council Consolidator Grant 616918

Imaging Carotid Atherosclerosis Plaque Ulceration: Comparison of Advanced Imaging Modalities and Recent Developments.

Atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of long-term mortality and morbidity worldwide, despite remarkable advancement in its management. Vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques are principally responsible for thromboembolic events in various arterial territories such as carotid, coronary, and lower limb vessels. Carotid plaque ulceration is one of the key features associated with plaque vulnerability and is considered a notable indicator of previous plaque rupture and possible future cerebrovascular events. Multiple imaging modalities have been used to assess the degree of carotid plaque ulceration for diagnostic and research purposes. Early diagnosis and management of carotid artery disease could prevent further cerebrovascular events. In this review, we highlight the merits and limitations of various imaging techniques for identifying plaque ulceration

Uterine artery pseudoaneurysm requiring embolization in pregnancy: a case report and review of the literature.

Background: Uterine Artery Pseudoaneurysm is a rare cause of pelvic pain and haemorrhage in pregnancy. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pregnant women presenting with abdominal pain and is readily diagnosed by colour Doppler ultrasound. If left untreated, they may bleed into the peritoneum causing severe pain and haemorrhagic shock and may progress to maternal and fetal death. Case presentation: We describe a case of a woman presenting with severe right iliac fossa pain at 26 weeks gestation attributed to a right uterine artery pseudoaneurysm diagnosed on duplex ultrasound which was successfully treated by uterine artery embolization at 28 weeks gestation without complication to the fetus. Conclusion: Uterine artery embolization appears to be a safe and effective method to treat pseudoaneurysm during pregnancy without compromising uteroplacental perfusion

Prevalence and Predictors of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Children: A Great Britain Population Based Study

Objectives To evaluate the prevalence and predictors of vitamin D insufficiency (VDI) in children In Great Britain. Design A nationally representative cross-sectional study survey of children (1102) aged 4–18 years (999 white, 570 male) living in private households (January 1997–1998). Interventions provided information about dietary habits, physical activity, socio-demographics, and blood sample. Outcome measures were vitamin D insufficiency (<50 nmol/L). Results Vitamin D levels (mean = 62.1 nmol/L, 95%CI 60.4–63.7) were insufficient in 35%, and decreased with age in both sexes (p<0.001). Young People living between 53–59 degrees latitude had lower levels (compared with 50–53 degrees, p = 0.045). Dietary intake and gender had no effect on vitamin D status. A logistic regression model showed increased risk of VDI in the following: adolescents (14–18 years old), odds ratio (OR) = 3.6 (95%CI 1.8–7.2) compared with younger children (4–8 years); non white children (OR = 37 [95%CI 15–90]); blood levels taken December-May (OR = 6.5 [95%CI 4.3–10.1]); on income support (OR = 2.2 [95%CI 1.3–3.9]); not taking vitamin D supplementation (OR = 3.7 [95%CI 1.4–9.8]); being overweight (OR 1.6 [95%CI 1.0–2.5]); <1/2 hour outdoor exercise/day/week (OR = 1.5 [95%CI 1.0–2.3]); watched >2.5 hours of TV/day/week (OR = 1.6[95%CI 1.0–2.4]). Conclusion We confirm a previously under-recognised risk of VDI in adolescents. The marked higher risk for VDI in non-white children suggests they should be targeted in any preventative strategies. The association of higher risk of VDI among children who exercised less outdoors, watched more TV and were overweight highlights potentially modifiable risk factors. Clearer guidelines and an increased awareness especially in adolescents are needed, as there are no recommendations for vitamin D supplementation in older children

Fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism (FAFLP) genotyping demonstrates the role of biofilm-producing methicillin-resistant periocular Staphylococcus epidermidis strains in postoperative endophthalmitis

BACKGROUND: An observational case series was used to study the virulence characteristics and genotypes of paired Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates cultured from intraocular samples and from periocular environment of patients with postcataract surgery endophthalmitis. METHODS: Eight S. epidermidis isolates were obtained from three patients (2 from patients #1 and 2 and 4 from patient #3) whose vitreous and/or anterior chamber (AC) specimens and preoperative lid/conjunctiva samples were culture positive. Cultures were identified by API-Staph phenotypic identification system and genotypically characterized by Fluorescent Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (FAFLP) and checked for their antimicrobial susceptibility. The isolates were tested for biofilm-production and methicillin-resistance (MR) by PCR amplification of icaAB and mecA gene respectively. RESULTS: Four out of eight S. epidermidis strains showed multiple drug resistance (MDR). All the eight strains were PCR positive for mecA gene whereas seven out of eight strains were positive for icaAB genes. In all three patients FAFLP typing established vitreous isolates of S. epidermidis strains to be indistinguishable from the strains isolated from the patient's conjunctival swabs. However, from patient number three there was one isolate (1030b from lid swab), which appeared to be nonpathogenic and ancestral having minor but significant differences from other three strains from the same patient. This strain also lacked icaAB gene. In silico analysis indicated possible evolution of other strains from this strain in the patient. CONCLUSION: Methicillin-resistant biofilm positive S. epidermidis strains colonizing the conjunctiva and eyelid were responsible for postoperative endophthalmitis (POE)

Excitations in the deformed D1D5 CFT

We perform some simple computations for the first order deformation of the D1D5 CFT off its orbifold point. It had been shown earlier that under this deformation the vacuum state changes to a squeezed state (with the further action of a supercharge). We now start with states containing one or two initial quanta and write down the corresponding states obtained under the action of deformation operator. The result is relevant to the evolution of an initial excitation in the CFT dual to the near extremal D1D5 black hole: when a left and a right moving excitation collide in the CFT, the deformation operator spreads their energy over a larger number of quanta, thus evolving the state towards the infrared.Comment: 26 pages, Latex, 4 figure

d=3 Bosonic Vector Models Coupled to Chern-Simons Gauge Theories

We study three dimensional O(N)_k and U(N)_k Chern-Simons theories coupled to a scalar field in the fundamental representation, in the large N limit. For infinite k this is just the singlet sector of the O(N) (U(N)) vector model, which is conjectured to be dual to Vasiliev's higher spin gravity theory on AdS_4. For large k and N we obtain a parity-breaking deformation of this theory, controlled by the 't Hooft coupling lambda = 4 \pi N / k. For infinite N we argue (and show explicitly at two-loop order) that the theories with finite lambda are conformally invariant, and also have an exactly marginal (\phi^2)^3 deformation. For large but finite N and small 't Hooft coupling lambda, we show that there is still a line of fixed points parameterized by the 't Hooft coupling lambda. We show that, at infinite N, the interacting non-parity-invariant theory with finite lambda has the same spectrum of primary operators as the free theory, consisting of an infinite tower of conserved higher-spin currents and a scalar operator with scaling dimension \Delta=1; however, the correlation functions of these operators do depend on lambda. Our results suggest that there should exist a family of higher spin gravity theories, parameterized by lambda, and continuously connected to Vasiliev's theory. For finite N the higher spin currents are not conserved.Comment: 34 pages, 29 figures. v2: added reference

Triplet-Singlet Spin Relaxation via Nuclei in a Double Quantum Dot

The spin of a confined electron, when oriented originally in some direction, will lose memory of that orientation after some time. Physical mechanisms leading to this relaxation of spin memory typically involve either coupling of the electron spin to its orbital motion or to nuclear spins. Relaxation of confined electron spin has been previously measured only for Zeeman or exchange split spin states, where spin-orbit effects dominate relaxation, while spin flips due to nuclei have been observed in optical spectroscopy studies. Using an isolated GaAs double quantum dot defined by electrostatic gates and direct time domain measurements, we investigate in detail spin relaxation for arbitrary splitting of spin states. Results demonstrate that electron spin flips are dominated by nuclear interactions and are slowed by several orders of magnitude when a magnetic field of a few millitesla is applied. These results have significant implications for spin-based information processing

Implications of a High-Mass Diphoton Resonance for Heavy Quark Searches

Heavy vector-like quarks coupled to a scalar $S$ will induce a coupling of this scalar to gluons and possibly (if electrically charged) photons. The decay of the heavy quark into $Sq$, with $q$ being a Standard Model quark, provides, if kinematically allowed, new channels for heavy quark searches. Inspired by naturalness considerations, we consider the case of a vector-like partner of the top quark. For illustration, we show that a singlet partner can be searched for at the 13$\,$TeV LHC through its decay into a scalar resonance in the $2\gamma+\ell + X$ final states, especially if the diphoton branching ratio of the scalar $S$ is further enhanced by the contribution of non coloured particles. We then show that conventional heavy quark searches are also sensitive to this new decay mode, when $S$ decays hadronically, by slightly tightening the current selection cuts. Finally, we comment about the possibility of disentangling, by scrutinising appropriate kinematic distributions, heavy quark decays to $St$ from other standard decay modes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures and 1 table; v3: typos fixed. Matches published versio

Electrical resistance of CNT-PEEK composites under compression at different temperatures

Electrically conductive polymers reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have generated a great deal of scientific and industrial interest in the last few years. Advanced thermoplastic composites made of three different weight percentages (8%, 9%, and 10%) of multiwalled CNTs and polyether ether ketone (PEEK) were prepared by shear mixing process. The temperature- and pressure-dependent electrical resistance of these CNT-PEEK composites have been studied and presented in this paper. It has been found that electrical resistance decreases significantly with the application of heat and pressure