1,069 research outputs found
Bimodal granulocyte transit time through the human lung demonstrated by deconvolution analysis
AbstractThe lungs are an important site of granulocyte pooling. The aim of the study is to quantify pulmonary vascular granulocyte transit time using deconvolution analysis, as has previously been performed to measure pulmonary red cell transit time. Granulocyte and red cell studies were performed in separate groups of patients. Both cell types were labelled with Tc-99m, which for granulocyte labelling was complexed with hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO). The red cell impulse response function (IRF) was monoexponential with a median transit time of 4·3 s. The granulocyte IRF was biexponential in 19 of 22 subjects, 18 of whom had systemic inflammation (inflammatory bowel disease, systemic vasculitis or graft-vs-host disease) and four were controls without inflammatory disease. The median transit time of the fast component ranged from 20 to 25 s and of the slow component 120–138 s in the four patient groups. The fraction of cells undergoing slow transit correlated significantly with (a) mean granulocyte transit time and (b) the fraction showing shape change in vitro. We conclude that granulocyte transit time through the pulmonary circulation is bimodal and that shape-changed (activated) cells transit more slowly that non-activated cells. The size of the fraction undergoing slow transit is closely related to mean granulocyte transit time and is an important determinant of the size of the pulmonary vascular granulocyte pool
Unsolvability of the Halting Problem in Quantum Dynamics
It is shown that the halting problem cannot be solved consistently in both
the Schrodinger and Heisenberg pictures of quantum dynamics. The existence of
the halting machine, which is assumed from quantum theory, leads into a
contradiction when we consider the case when the observer's reference frame is
the system that is to be evolved in both pictures. We then show that in order
to include the evolution of observer's reference frame in a physically sensible
way, the Heisenberg picture with time going backwards yields a correct
description.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
M5-brane geometries, T-duality and fluxes
We describe a duality relation between configurations of M5-branes in
M-theory and type IIB theory on Taub-NUT geometries with NSNS and RR 3-form
field strength fluxes. The flux parameters are controlled by the angles between
the M5-brane and the (T)duality directions. For one M5-brane, the duality leads
to a family of supersymmetric flux configurations which interpolates between
imaginary self-dual fluxes and fluxes similar to the Polchinski-Strassler kind.
For multiple M5-branes, the IIB configurations are related to fluxes for
twisted sector fields in orbifolds. The dual M5-brane picture also provides a
geometric interpretation for several properties of flux configurations (like
the supersymmetry conditions, their contribution to tadpoles, etc), and for
many non-trivial effects in the IIB side. Among the latter, the dielectric
effect for probe D3-branes is dual to the recombination of probe M5-branes with
background ones; also, a picture of a decay channel for non-supersymmetric
fluxes is suggested.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figure
Attitudes towards potential new tobacco control regulations among U.S. adults
Favorable attitudes towards tobacco control policies can facilitate their implementation and success. We examined attitudes toward four potential U.S. Federal tobacco regulations (banning menthol from cigarettes, reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes, banning candy and fruit flavored electronic cigarettes, and banning candy and fruit flavored little cigars and cigarillos) and associations with individual and state variables. A nationally representative phone survey of 4337 adults assessed attitudes toward potential policies. Weighted logistic regression was used to assess relationships between attitudes and demographic factors, smoking behavior, beliefs about the government (knowledge, trust, and credibility), exposure to tobacco control campaigns, and state variables from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System. Most respondents supported three out of four policies. Respondents that were female, non-white, Latino, living below the poverty line, had less than high school education, were of older age, did not smoke, had higher trust in government, and were exposed to national tobacco control campaigns had higher odds of expressing favorable attitudes toward potential new tobacco regulations than did their counterparts. No state-level effects were found. While differences in attitudes were observed by individual demographic characteristics, behaviors, and beliefs, a majority of participants supported most of the potential new tobacco regulations surveyed
Should the legal age for tobacco be raised? Results from a national sample of adolescents
Raising the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products may reduce smoking initiation and save lives. In a national telephone survey (2014-2015), US adolescents aged 13 to 17 years (N = 1,125; response rate, 66%) were asked about raising the age of legal access to tobacco products and randomized to hear one of 3 ages (19, 20, or 21 y). Most adolescents, across all US regions, favored raising the minimum age of legal access to 19 (75.7%), 20 (80.6%), or 21 (76.4%). These supportive attitudes may be useful to tobacco prevention and control practitioners who seek to reduce tobacco use among adolescents
Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black hole, planar coordinates and dS/CFT
We discuss the Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black holes in the context of
dS/CFT correspondence by using static and planar coordinates. The boundary
stress tensor and the mass of the solutions are computed. Also, we investigate
how the RG flow is changed for different foliations. The Kastor-Traschen
multi-black hole solution is considered as well as AdS counterparts of these
configurations. In particular, we find that in planar coordinates the black
holes appear like punctures in the dual boundary theory.Comment: 30 pages, 3 eps figures, JHEP style v2: new references added,
misprints correcte
Higher Dimensional Recombination of Intersecting D-branes
We study recombinations of D-brane systems intersecting at more than one
angle using super Yang-Mills theory. We find the condensation of an
off-diagonal tachyon mode relates to the recombination, as was clarified for
branes at one angle in hep-th/0303204. For branes at two angles, after the
tachyon mode between two D2-branes condensed, D2-brane charge is distributed in
the bulk near the intersection point. We also find that, when two intersection
angles are equal, the off-diagonal lowest mode is massless, and a new stable
non-abelian configuration, which is supersymmetric up to a quadratic order in
the fluctuations, is obtained by the deformation by this mode.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style. v3:references added, minor
corrections, English improve
Entropy in the RST Model
The RST Model is given boundary term and Z-field so that it is well-posed and
local. The Euclidean method is described for general theory and used to
calculate the RST intrinsic entropy. The evolution of this entropy for the
shockwave solutions is found and obeys a second law.Comment: 10 pages, minor revisions, published version in Late
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