A rigorous approach to the magnetic response in disordered systems

This paper is a part of an ongoing study on the diamagnetic behavior of a 3-dimensional quantum gas of non-interacting charged particles subjected to an external uniform magnetic field together with a random electric potential. We prove the existence of an almost-sure non-random thermodynamic limit for the grand-canonical pressure, magnetization and zero- field orbital magnetic susceptibility. We also give an explicit formulation of these thermodynamic limits. Our results cover a wide class of physically relevant random potentials which model not only crystalline disordered solids, but also amorphous solids.Comment: 35 pages. Revised version. Accepted for publication in RM

Diamagnetism of quantum gases with singular potentials

We consider a gas of quasi-free quantum particles confined to a finite box, subjected to singular magnetic and electric fields. We prove in great generality that the finite volume grand-canonical pressure is jointly analytic in the chemical potential ant the intensity of the external magnetic field. We also discuss the thermodynamic limit

Spectral flow and level spacing of edge states for quantum Hall hamiltonians

We consider a non relativistic particle on the surface of a semi-infinite cylinder of circumference $L$ submitted to a perpendicular magnetic field of strength $B$ and to the potential of impurities of maximal amplitude $w$. This model is of importance in the context of the integer quantum Hall effect. In the regime of strong magnetic field or weak disorder $B>>w$ it is known that there are chiral edge states, which are localised within a few magnetic lengths close to, and extended along the boundary of the cylinder, and whose energy levels lie in the gaps of the bulk system. These energy levels have a spectral flow, uniform in $L$, as a function of a magnetic flux which threads the cylinder along its axis. Through a detailed study of this spectral flow we prove that the spacing between two consecutive levels of edge states is bounded below by $2\pi\alpha L^{-1}$ with $\alpha>0$, independent of $L$, and of the configuration of impurities. This implies that the level repulsion of the chiral edge states is much stronger than that of extended states in the usual Anderson model and their statistics cannot obey one of the Gaussian ensembles. Our analysis uses the notion of relative index between two projections and indicates that the level repulsion is connected to topological aspects of quantum Hall systems.Comment: 22 pages, no figure

Selection of mosquito life-histories: a hidden weapon against malaria?

Background: There has recently been a substantial decline in malaria incidence in much of Africa. While the decline can clearly be linked to increasing coverage of mosquito vector control interventions and effective drug treatment in most settings, the ubiquity of reduction raises the possibility that additional ecological and associated evolutionary changes may be reinforcing the effectiveness of current vector control strategies in previously unanticipated ways. Presentation of hypothesis: Here it is hypothesized that the increasing coverage of insecticide-treated bed nets and other vector control methods may be driving selection for a shift in mosquito life history that reduces their ability to transmit malaria parasites. Specifically it is hypothesized that by substantially increasing the extrinsic rate of mortality experienced in vector populations, these interventions are creating a fitness incentive for mosquitoes to re-allocate their resources towards greater short-term reproduction at the expense of longer-term survival. As malaria transmission is fundamentally dependent on mosquito survival, a life history shift in this direction would greatly benefit control. Testing the hypothesis: At present, direct evaluation of this hypothesis within natural vector populations presents several logistical and methodological challenges. In the meantime, many insights can be gained from research previously conducted on wild Drosophila populations. Long-term selection experiments on these organisms suggest that increasing extrinsic mortality by a magnitude similar to that anticipated from the up-scaling of vector control measures generated an increase in their intrinsic mortality rate. Although this increase was small, a change of similar magnitude in Anopheles vector populations would be predicted to reduce malaria transmission by 80%. Implications of hypothesis: The hypothesis presented here provides a reminder that evolutionary processes induced by interventions against disease vectors may not always act to neutralize intervention effectiveness. In the search for new intervention strategies, consideration should be given to both the potential disadvantages and advantages of evolutionary processes resulting from their implementation, and attempts made to exploit those with greatest potential to enhance control

Statistical Mechanics for Unstable States in Gel'fand Triplets and Investigations of Parabolic Potential Barriers

Free energies and other thermodynamical quantities are investigated in canonical and grand canonical ensembles of statistical mechanics involving unstable states which are described by the generalized eigenstates with complex energy eigenvalues in the conjugate space of Gel'fand triplet. The theory is applied to the systems containing parabolic potential barriers (PPB's). The entropy and energy productions from PPB systems are studied. An equilibrium for a chemical process described by reactions $A+CB\rightleftarrows AC+B$ is also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, AmS-LaTeX, no figur

Erythropoietin-induced hypertension and vascular injury in mice overexpressing human endothelin-1: exercise attenuated hypertension, oxidative stress, inflammation and immune response

OBJECTIVE: Erythropoietin used to correct anaemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been shown to increase blood pressure (BP) in CKD patients and experimental animals. Endothelin (ET)-1 expression is increased in CKD animals and patients, and enhanced by erythropoietin. Erythropoietin-induced BP rise was blunted by ETA receptor blockers. This study was designed to determine whether preexisting endothelin (ET)-1 overexpression is required for erythropoietin to cause adverse vascular effects and whether this could be prevented by exercise training. METHODS: Eight to 10-week old male wild-type mice and mice with endothelial-specific ET-1 overexpression (eET-1) were treated or not with EPO (100 IU/kg, SC, 3 times/week). eET-1 was subjected or not to swimming exercise training (1 h/day, 6 days/week) for 8 weeks. SBP, mesenteric artery endothelial function and remodelling, NADPH oxidase activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, vascular cell adhesion protein (VCAM)-1, monocyte/macrophage infiltration, T regulatory cells (Tregs) and tissue ET-1 and plasma endothelin were determined. RESULTS: Erythropoietin increased SBP by 24 mmHg (P < 0.05) and decreased by 25% vasodilatory responses to acetylcholine (P < 0.01) in eET-1 mice. Erythropoietin enhanced ET-1 induced increase in resistance artery media/lumen ratio (31%, P < 0.05), aortic NADPH oxidase activity (50%, P < 0.05), ROS generation (93%, P < 0.001), VCAM-1 (80%, P < 0.01) and monocyte/macrophage infiltration (159%, P < 0.001), and raised plasma and aortic ET-1 levels (>/=130%, P < 0.05). EPO had no effect in wild-type mice. Exercise training prevented all of the above (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Erythropoietin-induced adverse vascular effects are dependent on preexisting elevated ET-1 expression. Exercise training prevented erythropoietin-induced adverse vascular effects in part by inhibiting ET-1 overexpression-induced oxidative stress, inflammation and immune activation

'Nature or nurture': survival rate oviposition interval, and possible gonotrophic discordance among South East Asian anophelines

Background: Mosquito survival, oviposition interval and gonotrophic concordance are important determinants of vectorial capacity. These may vary between species or within a single species depending on the environment. They may be estimated by examination of the ovaries of host-seeking mosquitoes. Methods: Landing collections, Furvela tent-trap and CDC light-trap collections were undertaken sequentially in four locations in Cambodia between February 2012 and December 2013 and samples from the collected mosquitoes were dissected to determine parity, sac stage (indicative of time spent prior to returning to feed) and egg stage. Results: A total of 27,876 Anopheles from 15 species or species groups were collected in the four locations and 2883 specimens were dissected. Both the density and predominant species collected varied according to location and trapping method. Five species were dissected in sufficient numbers to allow comparisons between locations. Estimated oviposition interval differed markedly between species but less within species among different locations. Anopheles aconitus had the shortest cycle, which was 3.17 days (95 % CI 3–3.64), and Anopheles barbirostris had the longest cycle, which took four days (95 % CI 3.29–4). Anopheles minimus had a higher sac rate in weeks leading up to a full moon but there was apparently little effect of moon phase on Anopheles dirus. Despite the fact that many of the species occurred at very low densities, there was no evidence of gonotrophic dissociation in any of them, even during sustained hot, dry periods. The principal Cambodian malaria vector, An. dirus, was only common in one location where it was collected in miniature light-traps inside houses. It did not appear to have an exceptional survival rate (as judged by the low average parous rate) or oviposition cycle. Conclusions: Differences in the oviposition interval were more pronounced among species within locations than within species among ecologically diverse locations. A nationwide survey using CDC light-traps for the collection of An. dirus inside houses may help in determining patterns of malaria transmission in Cambodia

Intermixture of extended edge and localized bulk energy levels in macroscopic Hall systems

We study the spectrum of a random Schroedinger operator for an electron submitted to a magnetic field in a finite but macroscopic two dimensional system of linear dimensions equal to L. The y direction is periodic and in the x direction the electron is confined by two smooth increasing boundary potentials. The eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian are classified according to their associated quantum mechanical current in the y direction. Here we look at an interval of energies inside the first Landau band of the random operator for the infinite plane. In this energy interval, with large probability, there exist O(L) eigenvalues with positive or negative currents of O(1). Between each of these there exist O(L^2) eigenvalues with infinitesimal current O(exp(-cB(log L)^2)). We explain what is the relevance of this analysis to the integer quantum Hall effect.Comment: 29 pages, no figure

TRα Mutations in Human

Resistance to thyroid hormone alpha is an emerging syndrome, with up to now a limited number of published cases. Some features are common to most of the patients, but there is still some work to provide a comprehensive description of the full spectrum of the syndrome. A survey of the strategy to screen for and characterize the mutations in TR α gene is given