7 research outputs found
Static observables of relativistic three-fermion systems with instantaneous interactions
We show that static properties like the charge radius and the magnetic moment
of relativistic three-fermion bound states with instantaneous interactions can
be formulated as expectation values with respect to intrinsically defined
wavefunctions. The resulting operators can be given a natural physical
interpretation in accordance with relativistic covariance. We also indicate how
the formalism may be generalized to arbitrary moments. The method is applied to
the computation of static baryon properties with numerical results for the
nucleon charge radii and the baryon octet magnetic moments. In addition we make
predictions for the magnetic moments of some selected nucleon resonances and
discuss the decomposition of the nucleon magnetic moments in contributions of
spin and angular momentum, as well as the evolution of these contributions with
decreasing quark mass.Comment: 13 pages, including 2 figures and 3 tables, submitted to Eur.Phys.J.
Ion channel gating: a first passage time analysis of the Kramers type
The opening rate of voltage-gated potassium ion channels exhibits a
characteristic, knee-like turnover where the common exponential
voltage-dependence changes suddenly into a linear one. An explanation of this
puzzling crossover is put forward in terms of a stochastic first passage time
analysis. The theory predicts that the exponential voltage-dependence
correlates with the exponential distribution of closed residence times. This
feature occurs at large negative voltages when the channel is predominantly
closed. In contrast, the linear part of voltage-dependence emerges together
with a non-exponential distribution of closed dwelling times with increasing
voltage, yielding a large opening rate. Depending on the parameter set, the
closed-time distribution displays a power law behavior which extends over
several decades.Comment: 7 p., 4 fi
Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)
Rare Variant Analysis of Human and Rodent Obesity Genes in Individuals with Severe Childhood Obesity
Obesity is a genetically heterogeneous disorder. Using targeted and whole-exome sequencing, we studied 32 human and 87 rodent obesity genes in 2,548 severely obese children and 1,117 controls. We identified 52 variants contributing to obesity in 2% of cases including multiple novel variants in GNAS, which were sometimes found with accelerated growth rather than short stature as describedw previously. Nominally significant associations were found for rare functional variants in BBS1, BBS9, GNAS, MKKS, CLOCK and ANGPTL6. The p.S284X variant in ANGPTL6 drives the association signal (rs201622589, MAF∼0.1%, odds ratio = 10.13, p-value = 0.042) and results in complete loss of secretion in cells. Further analysis including additional case-control studies and population controls (N = 260,642) did not support association of this variant with obesity (odds ratio = 2.34, p-value = 2.59 × 10-3), highlighting the challenges of testing rare variant associations and the need for very large sample sizes. Further validation in cohorts with severe obesity and engineering the variants in model organisms will be needed to explore whether human variants in ANGPTL6 and other genes that lead to obesity when deleted in mice, do contribute to obesity. Such studies may yield druggable targets for weight loss therapies