1,118 research outputs found
Probing Nonlocal Spatial Correlations in Quantum Gases with Ultra-long-range Rydberg Molecules
We present photo-excitation of ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules as a probe
of spatial correlations in quantum gases. Rydberg molecules can be created with
well-defined internuclear spacing, set by the radius of the outer lobe of the
Rydberg electron wavefunction . By varying the principal quantum number
of the target Rydberg state, the molecular excitation rate can be used to
map the pair-correlation function of the trapped gas . We
demonstrate this with ultracold Sr gases and probe pair-separation length
scales ranging from , which are on the order of the
thermal de Broglie wavelength for temperatures around 1 K. We observe
bunching for a single-component Bose gas of Sr and anti-bunching due to
Pauli exclusion at short distances for a polarized Fermi gas of Sr,
revealing the effects of quantum statistics.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Study of thyroid dysfunction and dyslipidemia in chronic kidney diseases
Background: Though there are many studies on thyroid dysfunction and dyslipidemia in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), no study is conclusive. Aim of this study was to correlate abnormalities in thyroid function and lipid profile with the severity of renal failure and also to observe the difference of these abnormalities between patients on conservative management verses hemodialysis.Methods: Hundred consecutive CKD cases admitted to Medicine Department were taken up for the study. They were divided into two groups as Group-A [on conservative management] and Group-B [on regular Hemodialysis (HD)]. Hundred healthy persons were taken as control in Group-C. After evaluation of thyroid function and lipid profile statistical analysis was done by students t-test, chi-square and regression analysis.Results: Hundred CKD cases with 74% male (n=74) and 26% female (n=26) in a M: F ratio of 2.9:1 were found to be in different stages CKD (0, 2, 20, 28 and 50 in stage-1 to stage-5 respectively). In 50 cases of stage-5 CKD, 30 were on HD and 20 on conservative management. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) (40%) was the commonest etiology of CKD followed by Hypertension (HTN), obstructive uropathy, chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) and polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Thyromegaly was not found in a single case. In all CKD cases (Group-A+B) TT3 (TT3) was significantly low (P =0.0011) when compared with control (Group-C) and no difference was found between Group-A and Group-B. Fall in TT3 worsened with increasing severity of CKD. Lipid profile study revealed Decreased High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDLc) and increased Triglyceride (TG), Total Cholesterol (TC), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDLc), TC/HDLc and LDLc/HDLc in Group-A than Group-B but only TG and TC increase was statistically significant. The levels of TG and TC and TC/HDLc increased as the stage of CKD progressed and was statistically significant (P= 0.035).Conclusions: There occurs a state of biochemical hypothyroidism without overt clinical hypothyroid state in CKD, the extent of which correlates with the severity of CKD. Increased cardiovascular complications occur due to accelerated atherosclerosis in CKD. This study confirmed that atherogenic lipid profile and thyroid dysfunction worsen with the progression of disease. Difference between patients on conservative management and HD was not found
The Implementation of RSBY in Chhattisgarh, India: A study of the Durg district
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) scheme is a health insurance model currently being implemented by the Indian government. It is a model, however, still in nascent state, subject to tensions and value testing. Very few studies have hitherto assessed the scheme’s implementation and whether the stated objectives of the government initiative are being fulfilled. This short study undertaken in the Durg district of Chhattisgarh reveals that RSBY fails to cover the population living Below the Poverty Line (BPL). Likewise there is discrepancy in the consistency of information and knowledge regarding the scheme among the beneficiaries who are themselves continuing to incur high out-of-pocket expenses. There are thus severe issues in transparency and accountability within the RSBY scheme. Unless the public health delivery system is strengthened and the private sector regulated and indeed monitored, the scheme will not yield the desired results, and the cost of healthcare will further escalate for the poor. In the absence of regulated health services there needs to be more debate, and indeed greater research, on the implementation and the design of RSBY.
Lifetimes of states in 19Ne above the 15 O + alpha breakup threshold
The 15O(alpha,gamma)19Ne reaction plays a role in the ignition of Type I
x-ray bursts on accreting neutron stars. The lifetimes of states in 19Ne above
the 15O + alpha threshold of 3.53 MeV are important inputs to calculations of
the astrophysical reaction rate. These levels in 19Ne were populated in the
3He(20Ne,alpha)19Ne reaction at a 20Ne beam energy of 34 MeV. The lifetimes of
six states above the threshold were measured with the Doppler shift attenuation
method (DSAM). The present measurements agree with previous determinations of
the lifetimes of these states and in some cases are considerably more precise
Lifetime of 19Ne*(4.03 MeV)
The Doppler-shift attenuation method was applied to measure the lifetime of
the 4.03 MeV state in 19Ne. Utilizing a 3He-implanted Au foil as a target, the
state was populated using the 20Ne(3He,alpha)19Ne reaction in inverse
kinematics at a 20Ne beam energy of 34 MeV. De-excitation gamma rays were
detected in coincidence with alpha particles. At the 1 sigma level, the
lifetime was determined to be 11 +4, -3 fs and at the 95.45% confidence level
the lifetime is 11 +8, -7 fs.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Measurement of two-halo neutron transfer reaction p(Li,Li)t at 3 MeV
The p(\nuc{11}{Li},\nuc{9}{Li})t reaction has been studied for the first time
at an incident energy of 3 MeV delivered by the new ISAC-2 facility at
TRIUMF. An active target detector MAYA, build at GANIL, was used for the
measurement. The differential cross sectionshave been determined for
transitions to the \nuc{9}{Li} ground andthe first excited states in a wide
range of scattering angles. Multistep transfer calculations using different
\nuc{11}{Li} model wave functions, shows that wave functions with strong
correlations between the halo neutrons are the most successful in reproducing
the observation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Effect of Exclusion of Solar UV radiation on Plants
UV exclusion studies can provide the realistic assessments of sensitivity of plant to current level of UV radiation. Perusal of relevant literature reveals that UV exclusion causes enormous increase in the growth of aerial parts along with below ground parts of the plants. Exclusion of UV-B (280-315 nm) and UV-A+B (280-400 nm) enhanced the photosynthetic pigments, net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance along with remarkable increase in the activity of Carbonic anhydrase, Rubisco and PEPCase. UV excluded plants have higher PS II efficiency, reducing power, CO2 fixation and decreased UV-B absorbing compounds, channeling the additional fixation of carbon to improvement of yield. UV exclusion studies indicate that dicot plants are more sensitive than the monocot plants to current level of UV-B
Algorithms for Stable Matching and Clustering in a Grid
We study a discrete version of a geometric stable marriage problem originally
proposed in a continuous setting by Hoffman, Holroyd, and Peres, in which
points in the plane are stably matched to cluster centers, as prioritized by
their distances, so that each cluster center is apportioned a set of points of
equal area. We show that, for a discretization of the problem to an
grid of pixels with centers, the problem can be solved in time , and we experiment with two slower but more practical algorithms and
a hybrid method that switches from one of these algorithms to the other to gain
greater efficiency than either algorithm alone. We also show how to combine
geometric stable matchings with a -means clustering algorithm, so as to
provide a geometric political-districting algorithm that views distance in
economic terms, and we experiment with weighted versions of stable -means in
order to improve the connectivity of the resulting clusters.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. To appear (without the appendices) at the 18th
International Workshop on Combinatorial Image Analysis, June 19-21, 2017,
Plovdiv, Bulgari
Associations between household-level exposures and all-cause diarrhea and pathogen-specific enteric infections in children enrolled in five sentinel surveillance studies
Diarrheal disease remains a major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity causing poor health and economic outcomes. In low-resource settings, young children are exposed to numerous risk factors for enteric pathogen transmission within their dwellings, though the relative importance of different transmission pathways varies by pathogen species. The objective of this analysis was to model associations between five household-level risk factors-water, sanitation, flooring, caregiver education, and crowding-and infection status for endemic enteric pathogens in children in five surveillance studies. Data were combined from 22 sites in which a total of 58,000 stool samples were tested for 16 specific enteropathogens using qPCR. Risk ratios for pathogen- and taxon-specific infection status were modeled using generalized linear models along with hazard ratios for all-cause diarrhea in proportional hazard models, with the five household-level variables as primary exposures adjusting for covariates. Improved drinking water sources conferred a 17% reduction in diarrhea risk; however, the direction of its association with particular pathogens was inconsistent. Improved sanitation was associated with a 9% reduction in diarrhea risk with protective effects across pathogen species and taxa of around 10-20% risk reduction. A 9% reduction in diarrhea risk was observed in subjects with covered floors, which were also associated with decreases in risk for zoonotic enteropathogens. Caregiver education and household crowding showed more modest, inconclusive results. Combining data from diverse sites, this analysis quantified associations between five household-level exposures on risk of specific enteric infections, effects which differed by pathogen species but were broadly consistent with hypothesized transmission mechanisms. Such estimates may be used within expanded water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs to target interventions to the particular pathogen profiles of individual communities and prioritize resources
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