Switching to second-line antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings: comparison of programmes with and without viral load monitoring.

In high-income countries, viral load is routinely measured to detect failure of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and guide switching to second-line ART. Viral load monitoring is not generally available in resource-limited settings. We examined switching from nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based first-line regimens to protease inhibitor-based regimens in Africa, South America and Asia

Phenomenological Tests of Supersymmetric A_4 Family Symmetry Model of Neutrino Mass

Recently Babu, Ma and Valle proposed a model of quark and lepton mixing based on $A_4$ symmetry. Within this model the lepton and slepton mixings are intimately related. We perform a numerical study in order to derive the slepton masses and mixings in agreement with present data from neutrino physics. We show that, starting from three-fold degeneracy of the neutrino masses at a high energy scale, a viable low energy neutrino mass matrix can indeed be obtained in agreement with constraints on lepton flavour violating $\mu$ and $\tau$ decays. The resulting slepton spectrum must necessarily include at least one mass below 200 GeV which can be produced at the LHC. The predictions for the absolute Majorana neutrino mass scale $m_0 \geq 0.3$ eV ensure that the model will be tested by future cosmological tests and $\beta\beta_{0\nu}$ searches. Rates for lepton flavour violating processes $\ell_j \to \ell_i + \gamma$ in the range of sensitivity of current experiments are typical in the model, with BR(\mu \to e \gamma) \gsim 10^{-15} and the lower bound BR$(\tau \to \mu \gamma) > 10^{-9}$. To first approximation, the model leads to maximal leptonic CP violation in neutrino oscillations.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure

Energy dependent counting statistics in diffusive superconducting tunnel junctions

We present an investigation of the energy dependence of the full charge counting statistics in diffusive normal-insulating-normal-insulating-superconducting junctions. It is found that the current in general is transported via a correlated transfer of pairs of electrons. Only in the case of strongly asymmetric tunnel barriers or energies much larger than the Thouless energy is the pair transfer uncorrelated. The second cumulant, the noise, is found to depend strongly on the applied voltage and temperature. For a junction resistance dominated by the tunnel barrier to the normal reservoir, the differential shot noise shows a double peak feature at voltages of the order of the Thouless energy, a signature of an ensemble averaged electron-hole resonance.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

The remnants of galaxy formation from a panoramic survey of the region around M31

In hierarchical cosmological models, galaxies grow in mass through the continual accretion of smaller ones. The tidal disruption of these systems is expected to result in loosely bound stars surrounding the galaxy, at distances that reach $10 - 100$ times the radius of the central disk. The number, luminosity and morphology of the relics of this process provide significant clues to galaxy formation history, but obtaining a comprehensive survey of these components is difficult because of their intrinsic faintness and vast extent. Here we report a panoramic survey of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). We detect stars and coherent structures that are almost certainly remnants of dwarf galaxies destroyed by the tidal field of M31. An improved census of their surviving counterparts implies that three-quarters of M31's satellites brighter than $M_V < -6$ await discovery. The brightest companion, Triangulum (M33), is surrounded by a stellar structure that provides persuasive evidence for a recent encounter with M31. This panorama of galaxy structure directly confirms the basic tenets of the hierarchical galaxy formation model and reveals the shared history of M31 and M33 in the unceasing build-up of galaxies.Comment: Published in Nature. Supplementary movie available at https://www.astrosci.ca/users/alan/PANDAS/Latest%20news%3A%20movie%20of%20orbit.htm

Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. OGLE-1999-BUL-19: The First Multi-Peak Parallax Event

We describe a highly unusual microlensing event, OGLE-1999-BUL-19, which exhibits multiple peaks in its light curve. The Einstein radius crossing time for this event is approximately one year, which is unusually long. We show that the motion of the Earth induces these multiple peaks in the light curve, since the relative transverse velocity of the lens projected into the observer plane is very small (v = 12.5 km/s). This is the lowest velocity so far published and we believe that this is the first multiple-peak parallax event ever observed. We also believe that this event may be exhibiting slight binary-source signatures in addition to these parallax-induced multiple peaks. With spectroscopic observations it is possible to test this `parallax plus binary-source' hypothesis and (if this hypothesis turns out to be correct) to simultaneously fit both models and obtain a measurement of the lens mass. Furthermore, spectroscopic observations could also supply information regarding the lens properties, possibly providing another avenue for determining the lens mass. We found that most of the I-band blending is probably caused by light from the lens or a binary companion to the source. However, in the V-band, there appears to be a second blended source 0.35" away from the lensed source. HST observations will be very useful for understanding the nature of the blends. We also suggest that a radial velocity survey of all parallax events will be very useful for further constraining the lensing kinematics and understanding the origins of these events and the excess of long events toward the bulge.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

The properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in the SDSS DR6 adaptive matched filter cluster catalogue

We study the properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) drawn from a catalogue of more than 69000 clusters in the SDSS DR6 based on the adaptive matched filter technique (AMF, Szabo et al., 2010). Our sample consists of more than 14300 galaxies in the redshift range 0.1-0.3. We test the catalog by showing that it includes well-known BCGs which lie in the SDSS footprint. We characterize the BCGs in terms of r-band luminosities and optical colours as well as their trends with redshift. In particular, we define and study the fraction of blue BCGs, namely those that are likely to be missed by either colour-based cluster surveys and catalogues. Richer clusters tend to have brighter BCGs, however less dominant than in poorer systems. 4-9% of our BCGs are at least 0.3 mag bluer in the g-r colour than the red-sequence at their given redshift. Such a fraction decreases to 1-6% for clusters above a richness of 50, where 3% of the BCGs are 0.5 mag below the red-sequence. A preliminary morphological study suggests that the increase in the blue fraction at lower richnesses may have a non-negligible contribution from spiral galaxies. We show that a colour selection based on the g-r red-sequence or on a cut at colour u-r >2.2 can lead to missing the majority of such blue BCGs. We also extend the colour analysis to the UV range by cross-matching our catalogue with publicly available data from Galex GR4 and GR5. We show a clear correlation between offset from the optical red-sequence and the amount of UV-excess. Finally, we cross-matched our catalogue with the ACCEPT cluster sample (Cavagnolo et al., 2009), and find that blue BCGs tend to be in clusters with low entropy and short cooling times. That is, the blue light is presumably due to recent star formation associated to gas feeding by cooling flows. (abridged)Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, submitted to MNRA

Inverse Scattering at a Fixed Quasi-Energy for Potentials Periodic in Time

We prove that the scattering matrix at a fixed quasi--energy determines uniquely a time--periodic potential that decays exponentially at infinity. We consider potentials that for each fixed time belong to $L^{3/2}$ in space. The exponent 3/2 is critical for the singularities of the potential in space. For this singular class of potentials the result is new even in the time--independent case, where it was only known for bounded exponentially decreasing potentials.Comment: In this revised version I give a more detailed motivation of the class of potentials that I consider and I have corrected some typo

Light-flavor sea-quark distributions in the nucleon in the SU(3) chiral quark soliton model (I) -- phenomenological predictions --

Theoretical predictions are given for the light-flavor sea-quark distributions including the strange quark ones on the basis of the flavor SU(3) version of the chiral quark soliton model. Careful account is taken here of the SU(3) symmetry breaking effects due to the mass difference between the strange and nonstrange quarks. This effective mass difference $\Delta m_s$ between the strange and nonstrange quarks is the only one parameter necessary for the flavor SU(3) generalization of the model. A particular emphasis of study is put on the {\it light-flavor sea-quark asymmetry} as exemplified by the observables $\bar{d} (x) - \bar{u} (x), \bar{d} (x) / \bar{u} (x), \Delta \bar{u} (x) - \Delta \bar{d} (x)$ as well as on the {\it particle-antiparticle asymmetry} of the strange quark distributions represented by $s (x) - \bar{s} (x), s (x) / \bar{s} (x), \Delta s (x) - \Delta \bar{s} (x)$ etc. As for the unpolarized sea-quark distributions, the predictions of the model seem qualitatively consistent with the available phenomenological information provided by the NMC data for $\bar{d} (x) - \bar{u} (x)$, the E866 data for $\bar{d} (x) / \bar{u} (x)$, the CCFR data and Barone et al.'s fit for $s (x) / \bar{s} (x)$ etc. The model is shown to give several unique predictions also for the spin-dependent sea-quark distribution, such that $\Delta s (x) \ll \Delta \bar{s}(x) \lesssim 0$ and $\Delta \bar{d}(x) < 0 < \Delta \bar{u}(x)$, although the verification of these predictions must await more elaborate experimental investigations in the near future.Comment: 36 pages, 20 EPS figures. The revised version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. The title has been changed, and the body of the paper has been divided into two pieces, i.e.. the present one which discusses the main phenomenological predictions of the model and the other one which describes the detailed formulation of the flavor SU(3) chiral quark soliton model to predict light-flavor quark and antiquark distribution functions in the nucleo

Far-Ultraviolet and Far-Infrared Bivariate Luminosity Function of Galaxies: Complex Relation between Stellar and Dust Emission

Far-ultraviolet (FUV) and far-infrared (FIR) luminosity functions (LFs) of galaxies show a strong evolution from $z = 0$ to $z = 1$, but the FIR LF evolves much stronger than the FUV one. The FUV is dominantly radiated from newly formed short-lived OB stars, while the FIR is emitted by dust grains heated by the FUV radiation field. It is known that dust is always associated with star formation activity. Thus, both FUV and FIR are tightly related to the star formation in galaxies, but in a very complicated manner. In order to disentangle the relation between FUV and FIR emissions, we estimate the UV-IR bivariate LF (BLF) of galaxies with {\sl GALEX} and {\sl AKARI} All-Sky Survey datasets. Recently we invented a new mathematical method to construct the BLF with given marginals and prescribed correlation coefficient. This method makes use of a tool from mathematical statistics, so called "copula". The copula enables us to construct a bivariate distribution function from given marginal distributions with prescribed correlation and/or dependence structure. With this new formulation and FUV and FIR univariate LFs, we analyze various FUV and FIR data with {\sl GALEX}, {\sl Spitzer}, and {\sl AKARI} to estimate the UV-IR BLF. The obtained BLFs naturally explain the nonlinear complicated relation between FUV and FIR emission from star-forming galaxies. Though the faint-end of the BLF was not well constrained for high-$z$ samples, the estimated linear correlation coefficient $\rho$ was found to be very high, and is remarkably stable with redshifts (from 0.95 at $z = 0$ to 0.85 at $z = 1.0$). This implies the evolution of the UV-IR BLF is mainly due to the different evolution of the univariate LFs, and may not be controlled by the dependence structure.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Earth, Planets and Space, in pres