Magnetic flows on Sol-manifolds: dynamical and symplectic aspects

We consider magnetic flows on compact quotients of the 3-dimensional solvable geometry Sol determined by the usual left-invariant metric and the distinguished monopole. We show that these flows have positive Liouville entropy and therefore are never completely integrable. This should be compared with the known fact that the underlying geodesic flow is completely integrable in spite of having positive topological entropy. We also show that for a large class of twisted cotangent bundles of solvable manifolds every compact set is displaceable.Comment: Final version to appear in CMP. Two new remarks have been added as well as some numerical calculations for metric entrop

Properties of 3-manifolds for relativists

In canonical quantum gravity certain topological properties of 3-manifolds are of interest. This article gives an account of those properties which have so far received sufficient attention, especially those concerning the diffeomorphism groups of 3-manifolds. We give a summary of these properties and list some old and new results concerning them. The appendix contains a discussion of the group of large diffeomorphisms of the $l$-handle 3-manifold.Comment: 20 pages. Plain-TeX, no figures, 1 Table (A4 format

Fivebranes and 4-manifolds

We describe rules for building 2d theories labeled by 4-manifolds. Using the proposed dictionary between building blocks of 4-manifolds and 2d N=(0,2) theories, we obtain a number of results, which include new 3d N=2 theories T[M_3] associated with rational homology spheres and new results for Vafa-Witten partition functions on 4-manifolds. In particular, we point out that the gluing measure for the latter is precisely the superconformal index of 2d (0,2) vector multiplet and relate the basic building blocks with coset branching functions. We also offer a new look at the fusion of defect lines / walls, and a physical interpretation of the 4d and 3d Kirby calculus as dualities of 2d N=(0,2) theories and 3d N=2 theories, respectivelyComment: 81 pages, 18 figures. v2: misprints corrected, clarifications and references added. v3: additions and corrections about lens space theory, 4-manifold gluing, smooth structure

Safety and efficacy of an oxycodone vaccine: Addressing some of the unique considerations posed by opioid abuse

Among vaccines aimed at treating substance use disorders, those targeting opioids present several unique medication development challenges. 1) Opioid overdose is a common complication of abuse, so it is desirable for an opioid vaccine to block the toxic as well as the addictive effects of opioids. 2) It is important that an opioid vaccine not interfere with the action of opioid antagonists used to reverse opioid overdose or treat addiction. 3) Some opioids are immunosuppressive and chronic ongoing opioid use could interfere with vaccine immunogenicity. 4) Although antibody-bound oxycodone is unable to enter the brain because of its size, it might still be able to activate peripheral opioid receptors. To assess vaccine impact on opioid toxicity, rats vaccinated with oxycodone conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin subunit dimer (OXY-dKLH) adsorbed to alum or controls vaccinated with dKLH were compared with regard to oxycodone-induced hotplate analgesia and oxycodone-induced respiratory depression and bradycardia. Vaccination shifted the dose-response curves to the right, representing protection, for each of these endpoints. Naloxone was equally effective in both OXY-dKLH and control groups, providing complete and rapid reversal of respiratory depression. The administration of a long-acting naltrexone formulation during vaccination did not impair vaccine immunogenicity in mice. Similarly, serum anti-oxycodone antibody titers were not altered by continuous morphine infusion during vaccination compared to opioid-naïve controls. Competitive ELISA assay showed negligible or low affinity of immune antiserum for endogenous opioids or opioid antagonists. In vitro receptor binding assays showed that antibody-bound oxycodone does not activate mu opioid receptors. These data support further study of OXY-dKLH as a potential treatment for oxycodone abuse and suggest that vaccination might also reduce the severity of oxycodone overdose

A glimpse into Thurston's work

We present an overview of some significant results of Thurston and their impact on mathematics. The final version of this paper will appear as Chapter 1 of the book "In the tradition of Thurston: Geometry and topology", edited by K. Ohshika and A. Papadopoulos (Springer, 2020)