Local chiral potentials and the structure of light nuclei

We present fully local versions of the minimally non-local nucleon-nucleon potentials constructed in a previous paper [M.\ Piarulli {\it et al.}, Phys.\ Rev.\ C {\bf 91}, 024003 (2015)], and use them in hypersperical-harmonics and quantum Monte Carlo calculations of ground and excited states of $^3$H, $^3$He, $^4$He, $^6$He, and $^6$Li nuclei. The long-range part of these local potentials includes one- and two-pion exchange contributions without and with $\Delta$-isobars in the intermediate states up to order $Q^3$ ($Q$ denotes generically the low momentum scale) in the chiral expansion, while the short-range part consists of contact interactions up to order $Q^4$. The low-energy constants multiplying these contact interactions are fitted to the 2013 Granada database in two different ranges of laboratory energies, either 0--125 MeV or 0--200 MeV, and to the deuteron binding energy and $nn$ singlet scattering length. Fits to these data are performed for three models characterized by long- and short-range cutoffs, $R_{\rm L}$ and $R_{\rm S}$ respectively, ranging from $(R_{\rm L},R_{\rm S})=(1.2,0.8)$ fm down to $(0.8,0.6)$ fm. The long-range (short-range) cutoff regularizes the one- and two-pion exchange (contact) part of the potential.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figure

Association of Accelerometry-Measured Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Events in Mobility-Limited Older Adults: The LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) Study.

BACKGROUND:Data are sparse regarding the value of physical activity (PA) surveillance among older adults-particularly among those with mobility limitations. The objective of this study was to examine longitudinal associations between objectively measured daily PA and the incidence of cardiovascular events among older adults in the LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) study. METHODS AND RESULTS:Cardiovascular events were adjudicated based on medical records review, and cardiovascular risk factors were controlled for in the analysis. Home-based activity data were collected by hip-worn accelerometers at baseline and at 6, 12, and 24 months postrandomization to either a physical activity or health education intervention. LIFE study participants (n=1590; age 78.9±5.2 [SD] years; 67.2% women) at baseline had an 11% lower incidence of experiencing a subsequent cardiovascular event per 500 steps taken per day based on activity data (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-0.96; P=0.001). At baseline, every 30 minutes spent performing activities ≥500 counts per minute (hazard ratio, 0.75; confidence interval, 0.65-0.89 [P=0.001]) were also associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular events. Throughout follow-up (6, 12, and 24 months), both the number of steps per day (per 500 steps; hazard ratio, 0.90, confidence interval, 0.85-0.96 [P=0.001]) and duration of activity ≥500 counts per minute (per 30 minutes; hazard ratio, 0.76; confidence interval, 0.63-0.90 [P=0.002]) were significantly associated with lower cardiovascular event rates. CONCLUSIONS:Objective measurements of physical activity via accelerometry were associated with cardiovascular events among older adults with limited mobility (summary score >10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery) both using baseline and longitudinal data. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01072500

Study of fat compost from dairy industry wastewater as a new substrate for pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) crop

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of different doses of compost obtained from fats waste of dairy industry mixed with commercial peat-based substrate and with soil on pepper plants development. Furthermore, this investigation attempted to determine the effects of these mixtures on germination and composition of pepper fruits. Fat compost (FC) was obtained by aerobic composting from dairy industry wastewaters mixed with wood chips and green grass. FC extract resulted free of phytotoxicity for seed germination, obtained 99.71% the relative seed germination and 74.10% of germination index. Different growing media were prepared by mixing 0, 10, 20 and 40% of FC with commercial substrate (CS) or Soil in two different experiments. Results showed that the application of FC on CS and Soil respectively, increased plant dry matter. On pepper seedling FC 40 achieves 250mg plant-1 DM. Moreover, higher doses of FC improved yield and several characteristics of fruit as dry matter, diameter and concentrations of some carotenoids. The incorporation of FC did not increase the heavy metals concentration of pepper fruit. At leaves, the highest concentrations of N were reached shown on treatment with FC (Soil: 1.46%, FC 10: 1.92%, FC 20: 2.00%, FC 40: 2.09%). Application of FC for germination and development of pepper plants improved the seedlings, fruit yield and quality.Authors thank J. C. Andini and M.G. Abrile for the technical assistance during measurements, and to Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) for financial support.Peer Reviewe

Study of fat compost from dairy industry wastewater as a new substrate for peper (capsicum annuum L.) crop

tThe aim of this study was to analyze the impact of different doses of compost obtained from fats waste ofdairy industry mixed with commercial peat-based substrate and with soil on pepper plants development.Furthermore, this investigation attempted to determine the effects of these mixtures on germination andcomposition of pepper fruits. Fat compost (FC) was obtained by aerobic composting from dairy industrywastewaters mixed with wood chips and green grass. FC extract resulted free of phytotoxicity for seedgermination, obtained 99.71% the relative seed germination and 74.10% of germination index. Differentgrowing media were prepared by mixing 0, 10, 20 and 40% of FC with commercial substrate (CS) orSoil in two different experiments. Results showed that the application of FC on CS and Soil respectively,increased plant dry matter. On pepper seedling FC 40 achieves 250 mg plant−1DM. Moreover, higherdoses of FC improved yield and several characteristics of fruit as dry matter, diameter and concentrationsof some carotenoids. The incorporation of FC did not increase the heavy metals concentration of pepperfruit. At leaves, the highest concentrations of N were reached shown on treatment with FC (Soil: 1.46%,FC 10: 1.92%, FC 20: 2.00%, FC 40: 2.09%). Application of FC for germination and development of pepperplants improved the seedlings, fruit yield and quality.Fil: Fiasconaro, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Antolín, M. C.. Universidad de Navarra; EspañaFil: Lovato, Maria Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Gervasio, Susana Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; Argentin

Determining the impact of smoking point of sale legislation among youth (Display) study : a protocol for an evaluation of public health policy

This is the provisional PDF of the accepted article. The fully formatted version will be available from the publisher's website.Background: Tobacco advertising and product promotions have been largely banned in the UK but point of sale (POS) tobacco advertising is one of the few places where tobacco products may be legitimately advertised. POS displays have been shown to increase susceptibility to smoking, experimentation and initiation into smoking. These displays may also influence perceived prevalence of smoking and the perception that tobacco products are easily obtained and are a 'normal' product. A ban of POS tobacco advertising was introduced in Scotland in large tobacco retail outlets of over 280m2 internal sales floor areas (mainly supermarkets) in April 2013 and will be extended to include smaller tobacco retail outlets in April 2015. However, the impact of POS bans on smoking attitudes, behaviours and prevalence has yet to be determined. Methods: This study has a multi-modal before and after design and uses mixed methods to collect data, at baseline and then with longitudinal follow-up for 4 years, in four purposively selected communities. For the purposes of the study, community is defined as the catchment areas of the secondary schools selected for study. There are four main components to the on-going study. In each of the four communities, at baseline and in follow-up years, there will be: mapping and spatial analyses of tobacco retail outlets; tobacco advertising and marketing audits of tobacco retail outlets most used by young people; cross-sectional school surveys of secondary school pupils; and focus group interviews with purposive samples of secondary school pupils. The tobacco audit is supplemented by interviews and observations conducted with a panel of tobacco retailers recruited from four matched communities. Discussion: This study examines the impact of the implementation of both a partial and comprehensive ban on point of sale (POS) tobacco advertising on attitudes to smoking, brand awareness, perceived ease of access to tobacco products and youth smoking prevalence. The results will be of considerable interest to policy makers both from the UK and other jurisdictions where they are considering the development and implementation of similar legislation.PostprintPeer reviewe

Time resolved and label free monitoring of extracellular metabolites by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Metabolomics is an emerging field of cell biology that aims at the comprehensive identification of metabolite levels in biological fluids or cells in a specific functional state. Currently, the major tools for determining metabolite concentrations are mass spectrometry coupled with chromatographic techniques and nuclear magnetic resonance, which are expensive, time consuming and destructive for the samples. Here, we report a time resolved approach to monitor metabolite dynamics in cell cultures, based on Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). This method is label-free, easy to use and provides the opportunity to simultaneously study a broad range of molecules, without the need to process the biological samples. As proof of concept, NIH/3T3 cells were cultured in vitro, and the extracellular medium was collected at different time points to be analyzed with our engineered SERS substrates. By identifying individual peaks of the Raman spectra, we showed the simultaneous detection of several components of the conditioned medium, such as L-tyrosine, L-tryptophan, glycine, L-phenylalanine, L-histidine and fetal bovine serum proteins, as well as their intensity changes during time. Furthermore, analyzing the whole Raman data set with the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we demonstrated that the Raman spectra collected at different days of culture and clustered by similarity, described a well-defined trajectory in the principal component plot. This approach was then utilized to determine indirectly the functional state of the macrophage cell line Raw 264.7, stimulated with the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 hours. The collected spectra at different time points, clustered by the PCA analysis, followed a well-defined trajectory, corresponding to the functional change of cells toward the activated pro-inflammatory state induced by the LPS. This study suggests that our engineered SERS surfaces can be used as a versatile tool both for the characterization of cell culture conditions and the functional state of cells over time