Bootstrapping the Chiral Anomaly at Large NcN_c

The bootstrap approach (demanding consistency conditions to scattering amplitudes) has shown to be quite powerful to tightly constrain gauge theories at large $N_c$. We extend previous analysis to scattering amplitudes involving pions and external gauge bosons. These amplitudes allow us to access the chiral anomaly and connect low-energy physical quantities to UV properties of the theory. In particular, we are able to obtain an analytic bound on the chiral anomaly coefficient as a function of the pion dipole polarizabilities. This bound can be useful for holographic models whose dual UV completions are not known, and provide a consistency condition to lattice simulations.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure. v2: bound on the anomaly generalised and typos correcte

Mortalità per sclerosi multipla nella regione Toscana

OBIETTIVI: Valutare il trend di mortalità per Sclerosi Multipla (SM) in Toscana nel ventennio 1987-2006. METODI: I dati sulla mortalità per SM sono stati ottenuti consultando gli archivi informatici delle schede di morte presso l’Agenzia Regionale di Sanità Toscana. I dati raccolti sono stati suddivisi per i quattro quinquenni compresi tra il 1987 e il 2006: (1987-1991), (1992-1996), (1997-2001), (2002-2006). Sono stati calcolati i tassi standardizzati di mortalità (metodo di standardizzazione diretta) per SM rispetto alla popolazione toscana del 2000 e i tassi di mortalità per SM specifici per sesso ed età. RISULTATI: I tassi standardizzati di mortalità con causa SM calcolati per ogni anno mostrano una diminuzione della mortalità, in entrambi i sessi, particolarmente marcata nel primo quinquennio (1987-1991). Per i maschi si osserva, nei quattro quinquenni analizzati, un trend decrescente dei tassi di mortalità che va da 0,61 per il quinquennio 1987-1991 a 0,42 per 100.000 per quello 2002-2006. Analogamente per le femmine si osserva una diminuzione da 1,29 a 0,60 per 100.000. Analizzando i tassi di mortalità per SM specifici per età abbiamo osservato un picco della mortalità nei maschi in corrispondenza della fascia di età 75-79 anni, mentre nelle donne nella fascia 65-69 anni. In entrambi i sessi il numero dei decessi aumenta fortemente dopo i 45 anni e diminuisce dopo i 79 anni. Considerando l’età di esordio, che andava dai 25 ai 35 anni, e la sopravvivenza delle persone, pari a 30-35 anni dalla diagnosi, la mortalità maggiore si riscontra nelle fasce di età da noi osservate. CONCLUSIONI: A causa della piccola dimensione del campione, tutti i valori vanno interpretati con cautela, ma i dati presenti in letteratura sono in accordo con i dati osservati nel nostro studio relativi al primo quinquennio. Infatti, il decremento di mortalità nel periodo 1987-1991 è in linea con i dati precedentemente pubblicati in uno studio sulla mortalità per SM in Italia dal 1974 al 1993 (Tassinari, 2001). Per gli anni successivi non esistono dati in letteratura relativi alla mortalità per SM in Italia. La mortalità più elevata nelle femmine riflette il maggior numero di casi di SM nella popolazione femminile ed è supportata anche dai dati presenti in letteratura sia in Italia che all’estero (Massey e Schoenberg, 1982). La mortalità per SM osservata nel nostro studio è presumibilmente una sottostima poiché talvolta l’SM non viene indicata come causa di morte

Hydrogen Bonding Donor–Acceptor Carbon Nanostructure

The natural process of photosynthesis is paradigmatic in converting sunlight into energy. This complicated process requires a cascade of energy- and electron-transfer events in a highly organised matrix of electron–donor, electron–acceptor and antennae units and has prompted researchers to emulate it. In fact, energy- and electron-transfer processes play a pivotal role in molecular-scale optoelectronics. In this chapter we compile a number of remarkable examples of noncovalent aggregates formed by the combination of carbon-based electroactive species (fullerenes and carbon nanotubes) hydrogen bonded with a variety of moieties. We will show that: (a) the connection of complementary electroactive species by means of H bonds in C60-based donor–acceptor ensembles is at least as efficient as that found in covalently connected systems; (b) hydrogen-bonding fullerene chemistry is a versatile concept to construct supramolecular polymers, and (c) H-bonding interactions is contributing to create very appealing carbon-nanotube-based donor–acceptor supramolecular architectures

Bayesian predictive modeling for genomic based personalized treatment selection

Efforts to personalize medicine in oncology have been limited by reductive characterizations of the intrinsically complex underlying biological phenomena. Future advances in personalized medicine will rely on molecular signatures that derive from synthesis of multifarious interdependent molecular quantities requiring robust quantitative methods. However, highly-parameterized statistical models when applied in these settings often require a prohibitively large database and are sensitive to proper characterizations of the treatment-by-covariate interactions, which in practice are difficult to specify and may be limited by generalized linear models. In this paper, we present a Bayesian predictive framework that enables the integration of a high-dimensional set of genomic features with clinical responses and treatment histories of historical patients, providing a probabilistic basis for using the clinical and molecular information to personalize therapy for future patients. Our work represents one of the first attempts to define personalized treatment assignment rules based on large-scale genomic data. We use actual gene expression data acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas in the settings of leukemia and glioma to explore the statistical properties of our proposed Bayesian approach for personalizing treatment selection. The method is shown to yield considerable improvements in predictive accuracy when compared to penalized regression approaches

Line of continuous phase transitions in a three dimensional U(1) model with 1/r^2 current-current interactions

We study a lattice model of interacting loops in three dimensions with a $1/r^2$ interaction. Using Monte Carlo, we find that the phase diagram contains a line of second-order phase transitions between a phase where the loops are gapped and a phase where they proliferate. The correlation length exponent and critical conductivity vary continuously along this line. Our model is exactly self-dual at a special point on the critical line, which allows us to calculate the critical conductivity exactly at this point.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

A Pathogen Secreted Protein as a Detection Marker for Citrus Huanglongbing.

The citrus industry is facing an unprecedented crisis due to Huanglongbing (HLB, aka citrus greening disease), a bacterial disease associated with the pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) that affects all commercial varieties. Transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), CLas colonizes citrus phloem, leading to reduced yield and fruit quality, and eventually tree decline and death. Since adequate curative measures are not available, a key step in HLB management is to restrict the spread of the disease by identifying infected trees and removing them in a timely manner. However, uneven distribution of CLas cells in infected trees and the long latency for disease symptom development makes sampling of trees for CLas detection challenging. Here, we report that a CLas secreted protein can be used as a biomarker for detecting HLB infected citrus. Proteins secreted from CLas cells can presumably move along the phloem, beyond the site of ACP inoculation and CLas colonized plant cells, thereby increasing the chance of detecting infected trees. We generated a polyclonal antibody that effectively binds to the secreted protein and developed serological assays that can successfully detect CLas infection. This work demonstrates that antibody-based diagnosis using a CLas secreted protein as the detection marker for infected trees offers a high-throughput and economic approach that complements the approved quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based methods to enhance HLB management programs

Mesoscopic theory for fluctuating active nematics

Peer reviewedPublisher PD