773 research outputs found
Liver safety of two nucleoside analogs plus efavirenz, nevirapine or a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor in HIV/HCV-coinfected drug-naĂŻve patients
The cusp anomalous dimension at three loops and beyond
We derive an analytic formula at three loops for the cusp anomalous dimension
Gamma_cusp(phi) in N=4 super Yang-Mills. This is done by exploiting the
relation of the latter to the Regge limit of massive amplitudes. We comment on
the corresponding three loops quark anti-quark potential. Our result also
determines a considerable part of the three-loop cusp anomalous dimension in
QCD. Finally, we consider a limit in which only ladder diagrams contribute to
physical observables. In that limit, a precise agreement with strong coupling
is observed.Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures. v2: references added, typos correcte
Generalized quark-antiquark potential at weak and strong coupling
We study a two-parameter family of Wilson loop operators in N=4
supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory which interpolates smoothly between the 1/2
BPS line or circle and a pair of antiparallel lines. These observables capture
a natural generalization of the quark-antiquark potential. We calculate these
loops on the gauge theory side to second order in perturbation theory and in a
semiclassical expansion in string theory to one-loop order. The resulting
determinants are given in integral form and can be evaluated numerically for
general values of the parameters or analytically in a systematic expansion
around the 1/2 BPS configuration. We comment about the feasibility of deriving
all-loop results for these Wilson loops.Comment: 43 pages: 15 comprising the main text and 25 for detailed appendice
Quark-antiquark potential in AdS at one loop
We derive an exact analytical expression for the one-loop partition function
of a string in AdS_5xS^5 background with world-surface ending on two
anti-parallel lines. All quantum fluctuations are shown to be governed by
integrable, single-gap Lame' operators. The first strong coupling correction to
the quark-antiquark potential, as defined in N=4 SYM, is derived as the sum of
known mathematical constants and a one-dimensional integral representation. Its
full numerical value can be given with arbitrary precision and confirms a
previous result.Comment: 16 pages. Typos corrected, minor change
The quark anti-quark potential and the cusp anomalous dimension from a TBA equation
We derive a set of integral equations of the TBA type for the generalized
cusp anomalous dimension, or the quark antiquark potential on the three sphere,
as a function of the angles. We do this by considering a family of local
operators on a Wilson loop with charge L. In the large L limit the problem can
be solved in terms of a certain boundary reflection matrix. We determine this
reflection matrix by using the symmetries and the boundary crossing equation.
The cusp is introduced through a relative rotation between the two boundaries.
Then the TBA trick of exchanging space and time leads to an exact equation for
all values of L. The L=0 case corresponds to the cusped Wilson loop with no
operators inserted. We then derive a slightly simplified integral equation
which describes the small angle limit. We solve this equation up to three loops
in perturbation theory and match the results that were obtained with more
direct approaches.Comment: 63 pages, 12 figures. v2: references added, typos correcte
Radio Emission from Ultra-Cool Dwarfs
The 2001 discovery of radio emission from ultra-cool dwarfs (UCDs), the very
low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with spectral types of ~M7 and later, revealed
that these objects can generate and dissipate powerful magnetic fields. Radio
observations provide unparalleled insight into UCD magnetism: detections extend
to brown dwarfs with temperatures <1000 K, where no other observational probes
are effective. The data reveal that UCDs can generate strong (kG) fields,
sometimes with a stable dipolar structure; that they can produce and retain
nonthermal plasmas with electron acceleration extending to MeV energies; and
that they can drive auroral current systems resulting in significant
atmospheric energy deposition and powerful, coherent radio bursts. Still to be
understood are the underlying dynamo processes, the precise means by which
particles are accelerated around these objects, the observed diversity of
magnetic phenomenologies, and how all of these factors change as the mass of
the central object approaches that of Jupiter. The answers to these questions
are doubly important because UCDs are both potential exoplanet hosts, as in the
TRAPPIST-1 system, and analogues of extrasolar giant planets themselves.Comment: 19 pages; submitted chapter to the Handbook of Exoplanets, eds. Hans
J. Deeg and Juan Antonio Belmonte (Springer-Verlag
Quantum Gravity in Everyday Life: General Relativity as an Effective Field Theory
This article is meant as a summary and introduction to the ideas of effective
field theory as applied to gravitational systems.
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Effective Field Theories
3. Low-Energy Quantum Gravity
4. Explicit Quantum Calculations
5. ConclusionsComment: 56 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style, Invited review to appear in Living
Reviews of Relativit
Influence of IL28B Polymorphisms on Response to a Lower-Than-Standard Dose peg-IFN-α 2a for Genotype 3 Chronic Hepatitis C in HIV-Coinfected Patients
Background: Data on which to base definitive recommendations on the doses and duration of therapy for genotype 3 HCV/HIV-coinfected patients are scarce. We evaluated the efficacy of a lower peginterferon-α 2a dose and a shorter duration of therapy than the current standard of care in genotype 3 HCV/HIV-coinfected patients. Methods and Findings: Pilot, open-label, single arm clinical trial which involved 58 Caucasian HCV/HIV-coinfected patients who received weekly 135 ÎĽg peginterferon-α 2a plus ribavirin 400 mg twice daily during 20 weeks after attaining undetectable viremia. The relationships between baseline patient-related variables, including IL28B genotype, plasma HCV-RNA, ribavirin dose/kg, peginterferon-α 2a and ribavirin levels with virological responses were analyzed. Only 4 patients showed lack of response and 5 patients dropped out due to adverse events related to the study medication. Overall, sustained virologic response (SVR) rates were 58.3% by intention-to-treat and 71.4% by per protocol analysis, respectively. Among patients with rapid virologic response (RVR), SVR and relapses rates were 92.6% and 7.4%, respectively. No relationships were observed between viral responses and ribavirin dose/kg, peginterferon-α 2a concentrations, ribavirin levels or rs129679860 genotype. Conclusions: Weekly 135 ÎĽg pegIFN-α 2a could be as effective as the standard 180 ÎĽg dose, with a very low incidence of severe adverse events. A 24-week treatment duration appears to be appropriate in patients achieving RVR, but extending treatment up to just 20 weeks beyond negativization of viremia is associated with a high relapse rate in those patients not achieving RVR. There was no influence of IL28B genotype on the virological responses. © 2012 LĂłpez-CortĂ©s et al.Funding provided by FundaciĂłn PĂşblica Andaluza para la gestiĂłn de la InvestigaciĂłn en Salud de Sevilla. Hospitales Universitarios Virgen del RocĂo. Seville, Spain. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay Hu-INF-α kits for determination of pegIFN-α-2a were financed by Roche Pharma, S.A. (Spain).Peer Reviewe
Analyses of HIV-1 integrase sequences prior to South African national HIV-treatment program and available of integrase inhibitors in Cape Town, South Africa
HIV-Integrase (IN) has proven to be a viable target for highly specific HIV-1 therapy. We aimed to
characterize the HIV-1 IN gene in a South African context and identify resistance-associated mutations
(RAMs) against available first and second generation Integrase strand-transfer inhibitors (InSTIs). We
performed genetic analyses on 91 treatment-naĂŻve HIV-1 infected patients, as well as 314 treatmentnaive
South African HIV-1 IN-sequences, downloaded from Los Alamos HIV Sequence Database.
Genotypic analyses revealed the absence of major RAMs in the cohort collected before the broad
availability of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and INSTI in South Africa, however, occurred
at a rate of 2.85% (9/314) in database derived sequences. RAMs were present at IN-positions 66, 92,
143, 147 and 148, all of which may confer resistance to Raltegravir (RAL) and Elvitegravir (EVG), but
are unlikely to affect second-generation Dolutegravir (DTG), except mutations in the Q148 pathway.
Furthermore, protein modeling showed, naturally occurring polymorphisms impact the stability of the
intasome-complex and therefore may contribute to an overall potency against InSTIs. Our data suggest
the prevalence of InSTI RAMs, against InSTIs, is low in South Africa, but natural polymorphisms and
subtype-specific differences may influence the effect of individual treatment regimens
Influencing the properties of dysprosium single-molecule magnets with phosphine, phosphide and phosphinidene ligands
Single-molecule magnets are a type of coordination compound that can retain magnetic information at low temperatures. Single-molecule magnets based on lanthanides have accounted for many important advances, including systems with very large energy barriers to reversal of the magnetization, and a di-terbium complex that displays magnetic hysteresis up to 14 K and shows strong coercivity. Ligand design is crucial for the development of new single-molecule magnets: organometallic chemistry presents possibilities for using unconventional ligands, particularly those with soft donor groups. Here we report dysprosium single-molecule magnets with neutral and anionic phosphorus donor ligands, and show that their properties change dramatically when varying the ligand from phosphine to phosphide to phosphinidene. A phosphide-ligated, trimetallic dysprosium single-molecule magnet relaxes via the second-excited Kramers’ doublet, and, when doped into a diamagnetic matrix at the single-ion level, produces a large energy barrier of 256 cm1 and magnetic hysteresis up to 4.4 K
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