Management of diabetes from preconception to the postnatal period: summary of NICE guidance

Diabetes in pregnancy is associated with risks to the woman (for example, higher rates of miscarriage, preeclampsia, and preterm labour) and to the developing fetus and baby (for example, higher rates of congenital malformations, macrosomia, birth injury, and perinatal mortality). This article summarises the most recent guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on how to manage diabetes and its complications from preconception to the postnatal period

Decays of b hadrons and a possible new four-quark interaction

A possibility is considered of explaining the low experimental value of the ratio of the lifetimes tau(Lambda_b)/tau(B_d) by a new `centiweak' four-quark interaction, i.e with a strength on the order of 10^{-2}G_F. It is noted that the considered interaction can also improve agreement with the data on low semileptonic branching ratio B_{sl}(B) in B meson decays with a simultaneous slight decrease in the prediction for the average charm yield in those decays. The proposed new interaction modifies within the present experimental limits the predictions for differences of lifetimes among B mesons, and can thus be probed by more precise data on these differences. A sample model is briefly discussed, where the new interaction arises through a weak SU(2) singlet scalar field with quantum numbers of a diquark.Comment: 10 page

Sum rules for total hadronic widths of light mesons and rectilineal stitch of the masses on the complex plane

Mass formulae for light meson multiplets derived by means of exotic commutator technique are written for complex masses and considered as complex mass sum rules (CMSR). The real parts of the (CMSR) give the well known mass formulae for real masses (Gell-Mann--Okubo, Schwinger and Ideal Mixing ones) and the imaginary parts of CMSR give appropriate sum rules for the total hadronic widths - width sum rules (WSR). Most of the observed meson nonets satisfy the Schwinger mass formula (S nonets). The CMSR predict for S nonet that the points $(m,\Gamma{})$ form the rectilinear stitch (RS) on the complex mass plane. For low-mass nonets WSR are strongly violated due to ``kinematical'' suppression of the particle decays, but the violation decreases as the mass icreases and disappears above $\sim 1.5 GeV$. The slope $k_s$ of the RS is not predicted, but the data show that it is negative for all S nonets and its numerical values are concentrated in the vicinity of the value -0.5. If $k_s$ is known for a nonet, we can evaluate ``kinematical'' suppressions of its individual particles. The masses and the widths of the S nonet mesons submit to some rules of ordering which matter in understanding the properties of the nonet. We give the table of the S nonets indicating masses, widths, mass and width orderings. We show also mass-width diagrams for them. We suggest to recognize a few multiplets as degenerate octets. In Appendix we analyze the nonets of $1^+$ mesons.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures; title and discussion expanded; additional text; final version accepted for publication in EPJ

Analysis of B→a1(1260)(b1(1235))K∗B \to a_1(1260)(b_1(1235))K^* decays in the perturbative QCD approach

Within the framework of perturbative QCD approach, we study the charmless two-body decays $B\to a_1(1260)K^*, b_1(1235)K^*$. Using the decays constants and the light-cone distribution amplitudes for these mesons derived from the QCD sum rule method, we find the following results: (a) Our predictions for the branching ratios are consistent well with the QCDF results within errors, but much larger than the naive factorization approach calculation values. (b) We predict that the anomalous polarizations occurring in the decays $B\to \phi K^*, \rho K^*$ also happen in the decays $B\to a_1K^*$, while do not happen in the decays $B\to b_1K^*$. Here the contributions from the annihilation diagrams play an important role to explain the lager transverse polarizations in the decays $B\to a_1K^*$, while they are not sensitive to the polarizations in decays $B\to b_1K^*$. (c) Our predictions for the direct CP-asymmetries agree well with the QCDF results within errors. The decays $\bar B^0\to b^{+}_1K^{*-}, B^-\to b^{0}_1K^{*-}$ have larger direct CP-asymmetries, which could be measured by the present LHCb experiments.Comment: 12pages, 1figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1203.5913, arXiv:1203.591

Analytical and Numerical Flash-Algorithms for Track Fits

Flash-algorithm track-reconstruction routines with speed factors 3000-4000 in excess those of traditional iterative routines are presented. The methods were successfully tested in the alignment of the Test Beam setup for the ATLAS Pixel Detector MCM-D modules yielding a 60 fold increase in alignment resolution over iterative routines, for the same amount of alocated CPU time.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

On the Parity Degeneracy of Baryons

The gross features of the observed baryon excitation spectrum below 2 GeV are well explained if the spectrum generating algebra of its intrinsic orbital angular momentum states is o(4)*su(2)_I. The spins of the resonances are obtained through the coupling of a Lorentz bi-spinor (1/2,0)+ (0,1/ 2) to a multiplet of the type (j,j) in its O(4)/O(3) reduction. The parities of the resonances follow from those of the O(3) members of the (j,j) multiplets. In this way relativistic SL(2,C) representations are constructed. For example, the first S11, P11, and D13 states with masses around 1500 MeV fit into the (1/2, 1/2)* [(1/2,0)+(0,1/2)] representation. The observed parities of the resonances correspond to natural parities of the (1/2,1/2) states. The second P11, S11, D13- together with the first P13, F15, D15, and (a predicted) F17 -resonances, centered around 1700 MeV, are organized into the (3/2,3/2)*[(1/2,0)+(0,1/2)] representation. I argue that the members of the (3/2,3/2) multiplet carry unnatural parities and that in this region chiral symmetry is restored. In the N(939)- N(1650) transition the chiral symmetry mode is changed, and therefore, a chiral phase transition is predicted to take place.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, 1 figure; published in Mod.Phys.Lett. A12 (1997) 2373; minor misprints corrected, no statement change

Observations of transients and pulsars with LOFAR international stations

The LOw FRequency ARray - LOFAR is a new radio telescope that is moving the science of radio pulsars and transients into a new phase. Its design places emphasis on digital hardware and flexible software instead of mechanical solutions. LOFAR observes at radio frequencies between 10 and 240 MHz where radio pulsars and many transients are expected to be brightest. Radio frequency signals emitted from these objects allow us to study the intrinsic pulsar emission and phenomena such as propagation effects through the interstellar medium. The design of LOFAR allows independent use of its stations to conduct observations of known bright objects, or wide field monitoring of transient events. One such combined software/hardware solution is called the Advanced Radio Transient Event Monitor and Identification System (ARTEMIS). It is a backend for both targeted observations and real-time searches for millisecond radio transients which uses Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) technology to remove interstellar dispersion and detect millisecond radio bursts from astronomical sources in real-time using a single LOFAR station.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the Electromagnetic Radiation from Pulsars and Magnetars conference, Zielona Gora, 2012. 4 pages, 1 figur