Scalar diagrammatic rules for Born amplitudes in QCD

We show that all Born amplitudes in QCD can be calculated from scalar propagators and a set of three- and four-valent vertices. In particular, our approach includes amplitudes with any number of quark pairs. The quarks may be massless or massive. The proof of the formalism is given entirely within quantum field theory.Comment: 20 pages, references adde

One-Loop MHV Amplitudes in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

Using CSW rules for constructing scalar Feynman diagrams from MHV vertices, we compute the contribution of $\mathcal {N}=1$ chiral multiplet to one-loop MHV gluon amplitude. The result agrees with the one obtained previously using unitarity-based methods, thereby demonstrating the validity of the MHV-diagram technique, in the case of one-loop MHV amplitudes, for all massless supersymmetric theories.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Recursion relations, Helicity Amplitudes and Dimensional Regularization

Using the method of on-shell recursion relations we compute tree level amplitudes including D-dimensional scalars and fermions. These tree level amplitudes are needed for calculations of one-loop amplitudes in QCD involving external quarks and gluons.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, clarifications adde

Species-Related Differences in the Properties of Receptor-Operated TRPC4 Channels in Intestinal Myocytes of Rodents

TRPC4 proteins form receptor-operated cation channels that are activated in synergy by M₂ and M₃ acetylcholine (ACh) receptors coupled to Gq/11 and Gi/o proteins, respectively. These channels are widely expressed in the brain and smooth muscles where they perform a number of important functions, including control of GABA release from the dendrites and cholinergic excitation of smooth muscles. The biophysical properties of TRPC4 currents directly activated by GTPγS in mouse cells remain mostly unknown. We, thus, aimed to investigate these channels in mouse ileal myocytes where a prominent TRPC4-mediated cation current termed mICAT is observed, and to compare the behavior of this current with that of the better studied mICAT in guinea-pig myocytes. Although the respective cation current responses to carbachol (CCh) at –50 mV (i.e., at the value close to the normal resting potential in these cells) were highly similar, mICAT in the mouse lacked the permissive action of intracellular Ca2+ on channel opening. The slope factor of the muscarinic cation conductance, which is a defining property of voltage-dependent behavior, was identical in both species. There were differences in the potential at which the current peaked at negative potentials, but not in the maximal current densities. Major differences were found in the kinetics of mICAT voltage-dependent relaxations, which were much faster in the mouse. The above rodent species employ two different strategies for the open probability increase by activated G-proteins; the mean open time was shorter in the mouse compared to that in the guinea-pig (15.1 ± 5.2 msec, n = 8, vs. 80.0 ± ± 19.7 msec, n = 9; P < 0.01). Correspondingly, the instantaneous frequency of channel opening was much higher in the mouse (154.1 ± 18.8 sec⁻¹ vs. 70.2 ± 7.3 sec⁻¹ in the guinea-pig; P < 0.001). These functional differences are based on the differences found in the corresponding TRPC4 amino acid sequences of the two rodent species, which are mainly clustered in the cytosolic C-terminus of TRPC4 protein. Keywords: muscarinic receptors, receptor-oПротеїни TRPC4 формують рецепторкеровані катіонні канали, які активуються синергічною дією на M₂ - та M₃ - ацетилхолінові рецептори, відповідно пов’язані з Gq/11- та Gi/o-протеїнами. Ці канали широко експресовані в мозку та гладеньких м’язах, де вони виконують численні функції, в тому числі забезпечуючи контроль вивільнення ГАМК із дендритів та холінергічне збудження гладеньких м’язів. Біофізичні властивості струмів через TRPC4- канали, індукованих у клітинах миші прямою дією ГТФγS, залишаються великою мірою невідомими. Тому ми досліджували ці канали в міоцитах тонкого кишківника миші, в яких спостерігається значний катіонний струм, опосередкований TRPC4 та названий mICAT. Ми порівнювали властивості даного струму з властивостями краще вивченого mICAT у міоцитах морської свинки. Незважаючи на те що катіонні струми після аплікації карбахолу при потенціалі –50 мВ (тобто при значенні, близькому до нормального потенціалу спокою в цих клітинах) були дуже подібними, вплив внутрішньоклітинного кальцію на відкривання досліджуваних каналів під час відведення mICAT у миші був відсутнім. Швидкість зміни мускарінової катіонної провідності, котра є визначальним фактором щодо потенціалзалежної поведінки каналів, у двох згаданих видів гризунів була практично ідентичною. Спостерігалися помітні розбіжності значень негативних потенціалів, при яких струм досягав максимуму, але максимальні щільності струмів були подібними. Найбільші відмінності були виявлені в кінетиці потенціалзалежної релаксації mICAT, котра у миші була значно швидшою. У вказаних видів гризунів використовуються дві відмінні стратегії підвищення вірогідності відкритого стану досліджуваних каналів при активації G-протеїнів. Середнє значення часу відкритого стану у миші було значно меншим порівняно з відповідним показником у морської свинки (15.1 ± 5.2 мс, n = 8, vs 80.0 ± 19.7 мс, n = 9; P < 0.01). Відповідно, у миші миттєва частота відкривань каналів була значно вищою, ніж у морської свинки (154.1 ± 18.8 с⁻¹ vs 70.2 ± ± 7.3 с⁻¹; P < 0.001). Ці функціональні різниці розглядаються як наслідок структурних розбіжностей відповідних послідовностей амінокислотних залишків у білках TRPC4 двох вказаних видів гризунів. Дані розбіжності в основному сконцентровані в цитозольних C-закінченнях первинних послідовностей протеїнів TRPC4

Commensal Neisseria species share immune suppressive mechanisms with Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a highly adapted human sexually transmitted pathogen that can cause symptomatic infections associated with localized inflammation as well as asymptomatic and subclinical infections, particularly in females. Gonococcal infection in humans does not generate an effective immune response in most cases, which contributes to both transmission of the pathogen and reinfection after treatment. Neisseria gonorrhoeae is known to evade and suppress human immune responses through a variety of mechanisms. Commensal Neisseria species that are closely related to N. gonorrhoeae, such as N. cinerea, N. lactamica, N. elongata, and N. mucosa, rarely cause disease and instead asymptomatically colonize mucosal sites for prolonged periods of time without evoking clearing immunologic responses. We have shown previously that N. gonorrhoeae inhibits the capacity of antigen-pulsed dendritic cells to induce CD4+ T cell proliferation in vitro. Much of the suppressive effects of N. gonorrhoeae on dendritic cells can be recapitulated either by outer-membrane vesicles released from the bacteria or by purified PorB, the most abundant outer-membrane protein in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. We show here that three commensal Neisseria species, N. cinerea, N. lactamica and N. mucosa, show a comparable capacity to suppress dendritic cell-induced T cell proliferation in vitro through mechanisms similar to those demonstrated previously for N. gonorrhoeae, including inhibition by purified PorB. Our findings suggest that some immune-evasive properties of pathogenic N. gonorrhoeae are shared with commensal Neisseria species and may contribute to the ability of both pathogens and commensals to cause prolonged mucosal colonization in humans

3D in Vitro Ultrasound Super-Resolution Imaging Using a Clinical System

© 2018 IEEE. Assessment of complex and disordered tumour vasculature requires full 3D visualization. Ultrasound super-resolution techniques are able to image microvascular structure and flow beyond the diffraction limit. Existing demonstrations have been predominantly 2D, where the elevational resolution remains restricted to around the millimeter range, while 3D demonstrations have either used mechanical scanning, or have required customized or state-of-the-art research systems to achieve true super-resolution in the third dimension. In this study, 3D super-resolution and velocity tracking is demonstrated in vitro using an ultrasound imaging system currently available in the clinic. This was performed at 1.25 MHz transmit frequency, with a frame rate of 54 Hz in contrast enhanced imaging mode. Three-dimensional super-resolved volumetric imaging of a twisted micro-vessel phantom was demonstrated at 3.5 cm depth, where between 66-70% of localizations where estimated to fall within the vessel internal diameter. Demonstration of 3D ultrasound super-resolution using a system currently available in the clinic demonstrates a fast route for clinical translation and application. In the future, 3D localization using microbubble signal onset could allow considerably improved microvascular visualization to aid early disease detection, diagnosis, and intervention for micro-vascular related diseases like cancer

3-D Motion Correction for Volumetric Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging

© 2018 IEEE. Motion during image acquisition can cause image degradation in all medical imaging modalities. This is particularly relevant in 2-D ultrasound imaging, since out-of-plane motion can only be compensated for movements smaller than elevational beamwidth of the transducer. Localization based super-resolution imaging creates even a more challenging motion correction task due to the requirement of a high number of acquisitions to form a single super-resolved frame. In this study, an extension of two-stage motion correction method is proposed for 3-D motion correction. Motion estimation was performed on high volumetric rate ultrasound acquisitions with a handheld probe. The capability of the proposed method was demonstrated with a 3-D microvascular flow simulation to compensate for handheld probe motion. Results showed that two-stage motion correction method reduced the average localization error from 136 to 18 μm

Modern temporal network theory: A colloquium

The power of any kind of network approach lies in the ability to simplify a complex system so that one can better understand its function as a whole. Sometimes it is beneficial, however, to include more information than in a simple graph of only nodes and links. Adding information about times of interactions can make predictions and mechanistic understanding more accurate. The drawback, however, is that there are not so many methods available, partly because temporal networks is a relatively young field, partly because it more difficult to develop such methods compared to for static networks. In this colloquium, we review the methods to analyze and model temporal networks and processes taking place on them, focusing mainly on the last three years. This includes the spreading of infectious disease, opinions, rumors, in social networks; information packets in computer networks; various types of signaling in biology, and more. We also discuss future directions.Comment: Final accepted versio

Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Population and fertility by age and sex for 195 countries and territories, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: Population estimates underpin demographic and epidemiological research and are used to track progress on numerous international indicators of health and development. To date, internationally available estimates of population and fertility, although useful, have not been produced with transparent and replicable methods and do not use standardised estimates of mortality. We present single-calendar year and single-year of age estimates of fertility and population by sex with standardised and replicable methods. Methods: We estimated population in 195 locations by single year of age and single calendar year from 1950 to 2017 with standardised and replicable methods. We based the estimates on the demographic balancing equation, with inputs of fertility, mortality, population, and migration data. Fertility data came from 7817 location-years of vital registration data, 429 surveys reporting complete birth histories, and 977 surveys and censuses reporting summary birth histories. We estimated age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs; the annual number of livebirths to women of a specified age group per 1000 women in that age group) by use of spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression and used the ASFRs to estimate total fertility rates (TFRs; the average number of children a woman would bear if she survived through the end of the reproductive age span [age 10–54 years] and experienced at each age a particular set of ASFRs observed in the year of interest). Because of sparse data, fertility at ages 10–14 years and 50–54 years was estimated from data on fertility in women aged 15–19 years and 45–49 years, through use of linear regression. Age-specific mortality data came from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 estimates. Data on population came from 1257 censuses and 761 population registry location-years and were adjusted for underenumeration and age misreporting with standard demographic methods. Migration was estimated with the GBD Bayesian demographic balancing model, after incorporating information about refugee migration into the model prior. Final population estimates used the cohort-component method of population projection, with inputs of fertility, mortality, and migration data. Population uncertainty was estimated by use of out-of-sample predictive validity testing. With these data, we estimated the trends in population by age and sex and in fertility by age between 1950 and 2017 in 195 countries and territories. Findings: From 1950 to 2017, TFRs decreased by 49\ub74% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 46\ub74–52\ub70). The TFR decreased from 4\ub77 livebirths (4\ub75–4\ub79) to 2\ub74 livebirths (2\ub72–2\ub75), and the ASFR of mothers aged 10–19 years decreased from 37 livebirths (34–40) to 22 livebirths (19–24) per 1000 women. Despite reductions in the TFR, the global population has been increasing by an average of 83\ub78 million people per year since 1985. The global population increased by 197\ub72% (193\ub73–200\ub78) since 1950, from 2\ub76 billion (2\ub75–2\ub76) to 7\ub76 billion (7\ub74–7\ub79) people in 2017; much of this increase was in the proportion of the global population in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The global annual rate of population growth increased between 1950 and 1964, when it peaked at 2\ub70%; this rate then remained nearly constant until 1970 and then decreased to 1\ub71% in 2017. Population growth rates in the southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania GBD super-region decreased from 2\ub75% in 1963 to 0\ub77% in 2017, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, population growth rates were almost at the highest reported levels ever in 2017, when they were at 2\ub77%. The global average age increased from 26\ub76 years in 1950 to 32\ub71 years in 2017, and the proportion of the population that is of working age (age 15–64 years) increased from 59\ub79% to 65\ub73%. At the national level, the TFR decreased in all countries and territories between 1950 and 2017; in 2017, TFRs ranged from a low of 1\ub70 livebirths (95% UI 0\ub79–1\ub72) in Cyprus to a high of 7\ub71 livebirths (6\ub78–7\ub74) in Niger. The TFR under age 25 years (TFU25; number of livebirths expected by age 25 years for a hypothetical woman who survived the age group and was exposed to current ASFRs) in 2017 ranged from 0\ub708 livebirths (0\ub707–0\ub709) in South Korea to 2\ub74 livebirths (2\ub72–2\ub76) in Niger, and the TFR over age 30 years (TFO30; number of livebirths expected for a hypothetical woman ageing from 30 to 54 years who survived the age group and was exposed to current ASFRs) ranged from a low of 0\ub73 livebirths (0\ub73–0\ub74) in Puerto Rico to a high of 3\ub71 livebirths (3\ub70–3\ub72) in Niger. TFO30 was higher than TFU25 in 145 countries and territories in 2017. 33 countries had a negative population growth rate from 2010 to 2017, most of which were located in central, eastern, and western Europe, whereas population growth rates of more than 2\ub70% were seen in 33 of 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, less than 65% of the national population was of working age in 12 of 34 high-income countries, and less than 50% of the national population was of working age in Mali, Chad, and Niger. Interpretation: Population trends create demographic dividends and headwinds (ie, economic benefits and detriments) that affect national economies and determine national planning needs. Although TFRs are decreasing, the global population continues to grow as mortality declines, with diverse patterns at the national level and across age groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide transparent and replicable estimates of population and fertility, which can be used to inform decision making and to monitor progress. Funding: Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation