Sum Rules of Neutrino Masses and CP Violation in the Four-Neutrino Mixing Scheme

We show that the commutator of lepton mass matrices is invariant under terrestial matter effects in the four-neutrino mixing scheme. A set of model-independent sum rules for neutrino masses, which may be generalized to hold for an arbitrary number of neutrino families, are for the first time uncovered. Useful sum rules for the rephasing-invariant measures of leptonic CP violation have also been found. Finally we present a generic formula of T-violating asymmetries and expect it to be applicable to the future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: RevTex 8 pages. 3 references added. Phys. Rev. D (in printing

Rephasing Invariants of CP and T Violation in the Four-Neutrino Mixing Models

We calculate the rephasing invariants of CP and T violation in a favorable parametrization of the 4x4 lepton flavor mixing matrix. Their relations with the CP- and T-violating asymmetries in neutrino oscillations are derived, and the matter effects are briefly discussed.Comment: RevTex 9 pages. Slight changes. Phys. Rev. D (in press

Multiple Dimensions of Strategic Spatial Planning: Local Authorities Navigating between Rationalities in Competitive and Collaborative Settings

This article scrutinises the role of strategic and communicative rationalities in strategic spatial planning. It contributes to the theoretical discussion on strategic spatial planning, where communicative rationality has usually been taken as a normative standpoint, despite the evident role of strategic rationality in guiding planning on the ground. To develop means for equally recognising the two rationalities, the article introduces an analytical framework in which four strategic orientations are identified by juxtaposing coordination through communicative and strategic rationalities with competitive and collaborative settings of social interaction. Its applicability is illustrated with the example of strategic spatial planning in Turku (Finland)

Early Colonization with a Group of Lactobacilli Decreases the Risk for Allergy at Five Years of Age Despite Allergic Heredity

Background: Microbial deprivation early in life can potentially influence immune mediated disease development such as allergy. The aims of this study were to investigate the influence of parental allergy on the infant gut colonization and associations between infant gut microbiota and allergic disease at five years of age. Methods and Findings: Fecal samples were collected from 58 infants, with allergic or non-allergic parents respectively, at one and two weeks as well as at one, two and twelve months of life. DNA was extracted from the fecal samples and Real time PCR, using species-specific primers, was used for detection of Bifidobacterium (B.) adolescentis, B. breve, B. bifidum, Clostridium (C.) difficile, a group of Lactobacilli (Lactobacillus (L.) casei, L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus) as well as Staphylococcus (S.) aureus. Infants with non-allergic parents were more frequently colonized by Lactobacilli compared to infants with allergic parents (p = 0.014). However, non-allergic five-year olds acquired Lactobacilli more frequently during their first weeks of life, than their allergic counterparts, irrespectively of parental allergy (p = 0.009, p = 0.028). Further the non-allergic children were colonized with Lactobacilli on more occasions during the first two months of life (p = 0.038). Also, significantly more non-allergic children were colonized with B. bifidum at one week of age than the children allergic at five years (p = 0.048). Conclusion: In this study we show that heredity for allergy has an impact on the gut microbiota in infants but also that earl

CP violation effect in long-baseline neutrino oscillation in the four-neutrino model

We investigate CP-violation effect in the long-baseline neutrino oscillation in the four-neutrino model with mass scheme of the two nearly degenerate pairs separated with the order of 1 eV, by using the data from the solar neutrino deficit, the atmospheric neutrino anomaly and the LSND experiments along with the other accelerator and reactor experiments. By use of the most general parametrization of the mixing matrix with six angles and six phases, we show that the genuine CP-violation effect could attain as large as 0.3 for $\Delta P(\nu_\mu\to\nu_\tau) \equiv P(\nu_\mu\to\nu_\tau) - P(\bar{\nu_\mu}\to\bar{\nu_\tau})$ and that the matter effect is negligibly small such as at most 0.01 for $\Delta P(\nu_\mu\to\nu_\tau)$ for $\Delta m^2 = (1-5)\times 10^{-3} {\rm eV}^2$, which is the mass-squared difference relevant to the long-baseline oscillation.Comment: 21 pages in LaTeX, 9 ps figures. Some changes in the Introduction and Reference

Long term extension of a randomised controlled trial of probiotics using electronic health records

Most randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are relatively short term and, due to costs and available resources, have limited opportunity to be re-visited or extended. There is no guarantee that effects of treatments remain unchanged beyond the study. Here, we illustrate the feasibility, benefits and cost-effectiveness of enriching standard trial design with electronic follow up. We completed a 5-year electronic follow up of a RCT investigating the impact of probiotics on asthma and eczema in children born 2005-2007, with traditional fieldwork follow up to two years. Participants and trial outcomes were identified and analysed after five years using secure, routine, anonymised, person-based electronic health service databanks. At two years, we identified 93% of participants and compared fieldwork with electronic health records, highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement. Retention of children from lower socio-economic groups was improved, reducing volunteer bias. At 5 years we identified a reduced 82% of participants. These data allowed the trial's first robust analysis of asthma endpoints. We found no indication that probiotic supplementation to pregnant mothers and infants protected against asthma or eczema at 5 years. Continued longer-term follow up is technically straightforward

Nucleotide supplementation: a randomised double-blind placebo controlled trial of IntestAidIB in people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome [ISRCTN67764449]

BACKGROUND: Dietary nucleotide supplementation has been shown to have important effects on the growth and development of cells which have a rapid turnover such as those in the immune system and the gastrointestinal tract. Work with infants has shown that the incidence and duration of diarrhoea is lower when nucleotide supplementation is given, and animal work shows that villi height and crypt depth in the intestine is increased as a result of dietary nucleotides. Dietary nucleotides may be semi-essential under conditions of ill-health, poor diet or stress. Since people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome tend to fulfil these conditions, we tested the hypothesis that symptoms would be improved with dietary nucleotide supplementation. METHODS: Thirty-seven people with a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel gave daily symptom severity ratings for abdominal pain, diarrhoea, urgency to have a bowel movement, incomplete feeling of evacuation after a bowel movement, bloating, flatulence and constipation for 28 days (baseline). They were then assigned to either placebo (56 days) followed by experimental (56 days) or the reverse. There was a four week washout period before crossover. During the placebo and experimental conditions participants took one 500 mg capsule three times a day; in the experimental condition the capsule contained the nutroceutical substances. Symptom severity ratings and psychological measures (anxiety, depression, illness intrusiveness and general health) were obtained and analysed by repeated measures ANOVAs. RESULTS: Symptom severity for all symptoms (except constipation) were in the expected direction of baseline>placebo>experimental condition. Symptom improvement was in the range 4 – 6%. A feeling of incomplete evacuation and abdominal pain showed the most improvement. The differences between conditions for diarrhoea, bloating and flatulence were not significant at the p < .05 level. There were no significant differences between the conditions for any of the psychological measures. CONCLUSION: Dietary nucleotide supplementation improves some of the symptoms of irritable bowel above baseline and placebo level. As expected, placebo effects were high. Apart from abdominal pain and urgency to have a bowel movement, the improvements, while consistent, are modest, and were not accompanied by improvements in any of the psychological measures. We suggest that the percentage improvement over and above the placebo effect is a physiological effect of the nucleotide supplement on the gut. The mechanisms by which these effects might improve symptoms are discussed

Human oral isolate Lactobacillus fermentum AGR1487 induces a proinflammatory response in germ-free rat colons

Lactobacilli are thought to be beneficial for human health, with lactobacilli-associated infections being confined to immune-compromised individuals. However, Lactobacillus fermentum AGR1487 negatively affects barrier integrity in vitro so we hypothesized that it caused a pro-inflammatory response in the host. We compared germ-free rats inoculated with AGR1487 to those inoculated with another L. fermentum strain, AGR1485, which does not affect in vitro barrier integrity. We showed that rats inoculated with AGR1487 had more inflammatory cells in their colon, higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers, and increased colonic gene expression of pro-inflammatory pathways. In addition, our in vitro studies showed that AGR1487 had a greater capacity to activate TLR signaling and induce pro-inflammatory cytokines in immune cells. This study indicates the potential of strains of the same species to differentially elicit inflammatory responses in the host and highlights the importance of strain characterization in probiotic approaches to treat inflammatory disorders

Long-term exposure to hypoxia inhibits tumor progression of lung cancer in rats and mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hypoxia has been identified as a major negative factor for tumor progression in clinical observations and in animal studies. However, the precise role of hypoxia in tumor progression has not been fully explained. In this study, we extensively investigated the effect of long-term exposure to hypoxia on tumor progression <it>in vivo.</it></p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Rats bearing transplanted tumors consisting of A549 human lung cancer cells (lung cancer tumor) were exposed to hypoxia for different durations and different levels of oxygen. The tumor growth and metastasis were evaluated. We also treated A549 lung cancer cells (A549 cells) with chronic hypoxia and then implanted the hypoxia-pretreated cancer cells into mice. The effect of exposure to hypoxia on metastasis of Lewis lung carcinoma in mice was also investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that long-term exposure to hypoxia a) significantly inhibited lung cancer tumor growth in xenograft and orthotopic models in rats, b) significantly reduced lymphatic metastasis of the lung cancer in rats and decreased lung metastasis of Lewis lung carcinoma in mice, c) reduced lung cancer cell proliferation and cell cycle progression <it>in vitro</it>, d) decreased growth of the tumors from hypoxia-pretreated A549 cells, e) decreased Na⁺-K⁺ATPase α1 expression in hypoxic lung cancer tumors, and f) increased expression of hypoxia inducible factors (HIF1α and HIF2α) but decreased microvessel density in the lung cancer tumors. In contrast to lung cancer, the growth of tumor from HCT116 human colon cancer cells (colon cancer tumor) was a) significantly enhanced in the same hypoxia conditions, accompanied by b) no significant change in expression of Na⁺-K⁺ATPase α1, c) increased HIF1α expression (no HIF2α was detected) and d) increased microvessel density in the tumor tissues.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrated that long-term exposure to hypoxia repressed tumor progression of the lung cancer from A549 cells and that decreased expression of Na⁺-K⁺ATPase was involved in hypoxic inhibition of tumor progression. The results from this study provide new insights into the role of hypoxia in tumor progression and therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.</p

Flavor Mixing and CP Violation of Massive Neutrinos

We present an overview of recent progress in the phenomenological study of neutrino masses, lepton flavor mixing and CP violation. We concentrate on the model-independent properties of massive neutrinos, both in vacuum and in matter. Current experimental constraints on the neutrino mass spectrum and the lepton flavor mixing parameters are summarized. The Dirac- and Majorana-like phases of CP violation, which are associated respectively with the long-baseline neutrino oscillations and the neutrinoless double beta decay, are discussed in detail. The seesaw mechanism, the leptogenesis scenario and the strategies to construct lepton mass matrices are briefly described. The features of flavor mixing between one sterile neutrino and three active neutrinos are also explored.Comment: Invited review. LaTex 76 pages (14 PS figures included