2,371 research outputs found
Shape invariant potential formalism for photon-added coherent state construction
An algebro-operator approach, called shape invariant potential method, of
constructing generalized coherent states for photon-added particle system is
presented. Illustration is given on Poschl-Teller potential
Personality disorder in an Early Intervention Psychosis cohort: Findings from the Social Epidemiology of Psychoses in East Anglia (SEPEA) study.
AIM: Personality Disorders (PD) often share clinical and phenomenological overlap with psychotic disorders, especially at onset. However, there is little research on comorbid PD among people experiencing first episode psychosis. We examined the prevalence of PD recording and its sociodemographic and clinical correlates in people accepted to Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services. METHODS: Participants were aged 16-35, accepted into 6 EIP services for suspected psychosis, as part of the Social Epidemiology of Psychoses in East Anglia (SEPEA) study. PD was recorded by clinicians according to ICD-10. Multilevel logistic regression was performed. RESULTS: Of 798 participants, 76 people (9.5%) received a clinical diagnosis of PD, with emotionally unstable PD (75.0%, N = 57) the most common subtype. In multivariable analysis, risk factors for PD included female sex (odds ratio [OR]: 3.4; 95% CI: 2.0-5.7), absence of psychotic disorder after acceptance to EIP (OR: 3.0; 95% CI: 1.6-5.5), more severe hallucinations (OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.2-2.1), and lower parental SES (OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.1-1.8). Compared with the white British, black and minority ethnic groups were less likely to receive a PD diagnosis (OR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1-0.7). There was no association between PD and neighbourhood-level deprivation or population-density. CONCLUSIONS: Recording of a PD diagnosis was three times more common amongst participants later found not to meet threshold criteria for psychotic disorder, implying phenomenological overlap at referral which highlights difficulties encountered in accurate diagnostic assessment, treatment and onward referral. People with PD experienced more individual-level, but not neighbourhood-level social disadvantage in an already disadvantaged sample
A Comprehensive Analysis of Electric Dipole Moment Constraints on CP-violating Phases in the MSSM
We analyze the constraints placed on individual, flavor diagonal CP-violating
phases in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) by
current experimental bounds on the electric dipole moments (EDMs) of the
neutron, Thallium, and Mercury atoms. We identify the four CP-violating phases
that are individually highly constrained by current EDM bounds, and we explore
how these phases and correlations among them are constrained by current EDM
limits. We also analyze the prospective implications of the next generation of
EDM experiments. We point out that all other CP-violating phases in the MSSM
are not nearly as tightly constrained by limits on the size of EDMs. We
emphasize that a rich set of phenomenological consequences is potentially
associated with these generically large EDM-allowed phases, ranging from B
physics, electroweak baryogenesis, and signals of CP-violation at the CERN
Large Hadron Collider and at future linear colliders. Our numerical study takes
into account the complete set of contributions from one- and two-loop EDMs of
the electron and quarks, one- and two-loop Chromo-EDMs of quarks, the Weinberg
3-gluon operator, and dominant 4-fermion CP-odd operator contributions,
including contributions which are both included and not included yet in the
CPsuperH2.0 package. We also introduce an open-source numerical package, 2LEDM,
which provides the complete set of two-loop electroweak diagrams contributing
to the electric dipole moments of leptons and quarks.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures; v2: references added, minor change
Serotonin and corticosterone rhythms in mice exposed to cigarette smoke and in patients with COPD:implication for COPD-associated neuropathogenesis
The circadian timing system controls daily rhythms of physiology and behavior, and disruption of clock function can trigger stressful life events. Daily exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) can lead to alteration in diverse biological and physiological processes. Smoking is associated with mood disorders, including depression and anxiety. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have abnormal circadian rhythms, reflected by daily changes in respiratory symptoms and lung function. Corticosterone (CORT) is an adrenal steroid that plays a considerable role in stress and anti-inflammatory responses. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5HT) is a neurohormone, which plays a role in sleep/wake regulation and affective disorders. Secretion of stress hormones (CORT and 5HT) is under the control of the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Since smoking is a contributing factor in the development of COPD, we hypothesize that CS can affect circadian rhythms of CORT and 5HT secretion leading to sleep and mood disorders in smokers and patients with COPD. We measured the daily rhythms of plasma CORT and 5HT in mice following acute (3 d), sub-chronic (10 d) or chronic (6 mo) CS exposure and in plasma from non-smokers, smokers and patients with COPD. Acute and chronic CS exposure affected both the timing (peak phase) and amplitude of the daily rhythm of plasma CORT and 5HT in mice. Acute CS appeared to have subtle time-dependent effects on CORT levels but more pronounced effects on 5HT. As compared with CORT, plasma 5HT was slightly elevated in smokers but was reduced in patients with COPD. Thus, the effects of CS on plasma 5HT were consistent between mice and patients with COPD. Together, these data reveal a significant impact of CS exposure on rhythms of stress hormone secretion and subsequent detrimental effects on cognitive function, depression-like behavior, mood/anxiety and sleep quality in smokers and patients with COPD
Prioritizing Land and Sea Conservation Investments to Protect Coral Reefs
Background: Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming) and in the sea (e.g. overfishing). Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidification). Limited resources for conservation require that we efficiently prioritize where and how to best sustain coral reef ecosystems
Magnetism, FeS colloids, and Origins of Life
A number of features of living systems: reversible interactions and weak
bonds underlying motor-dynamics; gel-sol transitions; cellular connected
fractal organization; asymmetry in interactions and organization; quantum
coherent phenomena; to name some, can have a natural accounting via
interactions, which we therefore seek to incorporate by expanding the horizons
of `chemistry-only' approaches to the origins of life. It is suggested that the
magnetic 'face' of the minerals from the inorganic world, recognized to have
played a pivotal role in initiating Life, may throw light on some of these
issues. A magnetic environment in the form of rocks in the Hadean Ocean could
have enabled the accretion and therefore an ordered confinement of
super-paramagnetic colloids within a structured phase. A moderate H-field can
help magnetic nano-particles to not only overcome thermal fluctuations but also
harness them. Such controlled dynamics brings in the possibility of accessing
quantum effects, which together with frustrations in magnetic ordering and
hysteresis (a natural mechanism for a primitive memory) could throw light on
the birth of biological information which, as Abel argues, requires a
combination of order and complexity. This scenario gains strength from
observations of scale-free framboidal forms of the greigite mineral, with a
magnetic basis of assembly. And greigite's metabolic potential plays a key role
in the mound scenario of Russell and coworkers-an expansion of which is
suggested for including magnetism.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figures, to be published in A.R. Memorial volume, Ed
Krishnaswami Alladi, Springer 201
Correlations of microRNA-124a and microRNA-30d with clinicopathological features of breast cancer patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Evidence-Based Research Series-Paper 3: Using an Evidence-Based Research approach to place your results into context after the study is performed to ensure usefulness of the conclusion
Background and Objective
There is considerable actual and potential waste in research. Using evidence-based research (EBR) can ensure the value of a new study. The aim of this article, the third in a series, is to describe an EBR approach to putting research results into context.
Study Design and Setting
EBR is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner. In this third and final article of a series, we describe how to use the context of existing evidence to reach and present a trustworthy and useful conclusion when reporting results from a new clinical study.
Results
We describe a method, the EBR approach, that by using a systematic and transparent consideration of earlier similar studies when interpreting and presenting results from a new original study will ensure usefulness of the conclusion.
Conclusion
Using an EBR approach will improve the usefulness of a clinical study by providing the context to draw more valid conclusions and explicit information about new research needs
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
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