571 research outputs found
Relativistic effects in neutrino-Fermi gas interactions
We study neutrino interactions in a hadron gas within a relativistic
framework. The hadron matter is described by a non-interacting Fermi gas in
beta equilibrium. We show that the introduction of relativistic effects causes
a sizable enhancement of the neutrino-scattering cross sections.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of International School of Nuclear
Physics: 27th Course: "Neutrinos in Cosmology, in Astro, Particle and Nuclear
Physics". Erice, Sicily, Italy, 16-2
Spinally projecting preproglucagon axons preferentially innervate sympathetic preganglionic neurons
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) affects central autonomic neurons, including those controlling the cardiovascular system, thermogenesis, and energy balance. Preproglucagon (PPG) neurons, located mainly in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) and medullary reticular formation, produce GLP-1. In transgenic mice expressing glucagon promoter-driven yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), these brainstem PPG neurons project to many central autonomic regions where GLP-1 receptors are expressed. The spinal cord also contains GLP-1 receptor mRNA but the distribution of spinal PPG axons is unknown. Here, we used two-color immunoperoxidase labeling to examine PPG innervation of spinal segments T1–S4 in YFP-PPG mice. Immunoreactivity for YFP identified spinal PPG axons and perikarya. We classified spinal neurons receiving PPG input by immunoreactivity for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and/or Fluorogold (FG) retrogradely transported from the peritoneal cavity. FG microinjected at T9 defined cell bodies that supplied spinal PPG innervation. The deep dorsal horn of lower lumbar cord contained YFP-immunoreactive neurons. Non-varicose, YFP-immunoreactive axons were prominent in the lateral funiculus, ventral white commissure and around the ventral median fissure. In T1–L2, varicose, YFP-containing axons closely apposed many ChAT-immunoreactive sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPN) in the intermediolateral cell column (IML) and dorsal lamina X. In the sacral parasympathetic nucleus, about 10% of ChAT-immunoreactive preganglionic neurons received YFP appositions, as did occasional ChAT-positive motor neurons throughout the rostrocaudal extent of the ventral horn. YFP appositions also occurred on NOS-immunoreactive spinal interneurons and on spinal YFP-immunoreactive neurons. Injecting FG at T9 retrogradely labeled many YFP-PPG cell bodies in the medulla but none of the spinal YFP-immunoreactive neurons. These results show that brainstem PPG neurons innervate spinal autonomic and somatic motor neurons. The distributions of spinal PPG axons and spinal GLP-1 receptors correlate well. SPN receive the densest PPG innervation. Brainstem PPG neurons could directly modulate sympathetic outflow through their spinal inputs to SPN or interneurons
Enhanced dispersion of near-inertial waves in an idealized geostrophic flow
This paper presents a simplified model of the process through which a geostrophic flow enhances the vertical propagation of near-inertial activity from the mixed layer into the deeper ocean. The geostrophic flow is idealized as steady and barotropic with a sinusoidal dependence on the north-south coordinate; the corresponding streamfunction takes the form ψ = - Ψ cos (2αy). Near-inertial oscillations are considered in linear theory and disturbances are decomposed into horizontal and vertical normal modes. For this particular flow, the horizontal modes are given in terms of Mathieu functions. The initial-value problem can then be solved by projecting onto this set of normal modes. A detailed solution is presented for the case in which the mixed layer is set into motion as a slab. There is no initial horizontal structure in the model mixed layer; rather, horizontal structure, such as enhanced near-inertial energy in regions of negative vorticity, is impressed on the near-inertial fields by the pre-existing geostrophic flow. Many details of the solution, such as the rate at which near-inertial activity in the mixed layer decays, are controlled by the nondimensional number, Y = 4 Ψf0/H2mixN2mix, where f0 is the inertial frequency, Hmix is the mixed-layer depth, and Nmix is the buoyancy frequency immediately below the base of the mixed layer. When Y is large, near-inertial activity in the mixed layer decays on a time-scale HmixNmix/α2Ψ3/2f01/2. When Y is small, near-inertial activity in the mixed layer decays on a time-scale proportional to N2mixH2mix/α2Ψ2f0
Genetic and environmental influences on food preferences in adolescence
Background: Food preferences vary substantially among adults and children. Twin studies have established that genes and aspects of the shared family environment both play important roles in shaping children's food preferences. The transition from childhood to adulthood is characterized by large gains in independence, but the relative influences of genes and the environment on food preferences in late adolescence are unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to quantify the contribution of genetic and environmental influences on food preferences in older adolescents. Design: Participants were 2865 twins aged 18-19 y from the TEDS (Twins Early Development Study), a large population-based cohort of British twins born during 1994-1996. Food preferences were measured by using a self-report questionnaire of 62 individual foods. Food items were categorized into 6 food groups (fruit, vegetables, meat or fish, dairy, starch foods, and snacks) by using factor analysis. Maximum likelihood structural equation modeling established genetic and environmental contributions to variations in preferences for each food group. Results: Genetic factors influenced a significant and substantial proportion of the variation in preference scores of all 6 food groups: vegetables (0.54; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.59), fruit (0.49; 95% CI: 0.43, 0.55), starchy foods (0.32; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.39), meat or fish (0.44; 95% CI: 0.38, 0.51), dairy (0.44; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.50), and snacks (0.43; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.49). Aspects of the environment that are not shared by 2 twins in a family explained all of the remaining variance in food preferences. Conclusions: Food preferences had a moderate genetic basis in late adolescence, in keeping with findings in children. However, by this older age, the influence of the shared family environment had disappeared, and only aspects of the environment unique to each individual twin influenced food preferences. This finding suggests that shared environmental experiences that influence food preferences in childhood may not have effects that persist into adulthood
Generalized Contour Dynamics: A Review
Contour dynamics is a computational technique to solve for the motion of vortices in incompressible inviscid flow. It is a Lagrangian technique in which the motion of contours is followed, and the velocity field moving the contours can be computed as integrals along the contours. Its best-known examples are in two dimensions, for which the vorticity between contours is taken to be constant and the vortices are vortex patches, and in axisymmetric flow for which the vorticity varies linearly with distance from the axis of symmetry. This review discusses generalizations that incorporate additional physics, in particular, buoyancy effects and magnetic fields, that take specific forms inside the vortices and preserve the contour dynamics structure. The extra physics can lead to time-dependent vortex sheets on the boundaries, whose evolution must be computed as part of the problem. The non-Boussinesq case, in which density differences can be important, leads to a coupled system for the evolution of both mean interfacial velocity and vortex sheet strength. Helical geometry is also discussed, in which two quantities are materially conserved and whose evolution governs the flow
Home sampling for sexually transmitted infections and HIV in men who have sex with men: A prospective observational study
To determine uptake of home sampling kit (HSK) for STI/HIV compared to clinic-based testing, whether the availability of HSK would increase STI testing rates amongst HIV infected MSM, and those attending a community-based HIV testing clinic compared to historical control. Prospective observational study in three facilities providing STI/HIV testing services in Brighton, UK was conducted. Adult MSM attending/contacting a GUM clinic requesting an STI screen (group 1), HIV infectedMSM attending routine outpatient clinic (group 2), and MSM attending a community-based rapid HIV testing service (group 3) were eligible. Participants were required to have no symptomatology consistent with STI and known to be immune to hepatitis A and B (group 1). Eligiblemen were offered a HSK to obtain self-collected specimens as an alternative to routine testing. HSK uptake compared to conventional clinicbased STI/HIV testing in group 1, increase in STI testing rates due to availability of HSK compared to historical controls in group 2 and 3, and HSK return rates in all settings were calculated. Among the 128 eligible men in group 1, HSK acceptance was higher (62.5% (95%CI: 53.5-70.9)) compared to GUM clinic-based testing (37.5% (95% CI: 29.1-46.5)), (p = 0.0004). Two thirds of eligibleMSM offered an HSK in all three groups accepted it, but HSK return rates varied (highest in group 1, 77.5%, lowest in group 3, 16%). HSK for HIV testing was acceptable to 81%of men in group 1. Compared to historical controls, availability of HSK increased the proportion ofMSM testing for STIs in group 2 but not in group 3. HSK for STI/ HIV offers an alternative to conventional clinic-based testing for MSM seeking STI screening. It significantly increases STI testing uptake in HIV infected MSM. HSK could be considered as an adjunct to clinic-based services to further improve STI/HIV testing in MSM
Ground-state Spectrum of Light-quark Mesons
A confining, Goldstone theorem preserving, separable Ansatz for the ladder
kernel of the two-body Bethe-Salpeter equation is constructed from
phenomenologically efficacious , and dressed-quark propagators. The
simplicity of the approach is its merit. It provides a good description of the
ground-state isovector-pseudoscalar, vector and axial-vector meson spectrum;
facilitates an exploration of the relative importance of various components of
the two-body Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes, showing that sub-leading Dirac
components are quantitatively important in the isovector-pseudoscalar meson
channels; and allows a scrutiny of the domain of applicability of ladder
truncation studies. A colour-antitriplet diquark spectrum is obtained.
Shortcomings of separable Ans\"atze and the ladder kernel are highlighted.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX/REVTEX 3.0, no figure
Spin-orbit splitting of image states
We quantify the effect of the spin-orbit interaction on the Rydberg-like
series of image state electrons at the (111) and (001) surface of Ir, Pt and
Au. Using relativistic multiple-scattering methods we find Rashba-like
dispersions with Delta E(K)=gamma K with values of gamma for n=1 states in the
range 38-88 meV Angstrom. Extending the phase-accumulation model to include
spin-orbit scattering we find that the splittings vary like 1/(n+a)^3 where a
is the quantum defect and that they are related to the probability of spin-flip
scattering at the surface. The splittings should be observable experimentally
being larger in magnitude than some exchange-splittings that have been resolved
by inverse photoemission, and are comparable to linewidths from inelastic
lifetimes.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Non-linear Dynamics in QED_3 and Non-trivial Infrared Structure
In this work we consider a coupled system of Schwinger-Dyson equations for
self-energy and vertex functions in QED_3. Using the concept of a
semi-amputated vertex function, we manage to decouple the vertex equation and
transform it in the infrared into a non-linear differential equation of
Emden-Fowler type. Its solution suggests the following picture: in the absence
of infrared cut-offs there is only a trivial infrared fixed-point structure in
the theory. However, the presence of masses, for either fermions or photons,
changes the situation drastically, leading to a mass-dependent non-trivial
infrared fixed point. In this picture a dynamical mass for the fermions is
found to be generated consistently. The non-linearity of the equations gives
rise to highly non-trivial constraints among the mass and effective (`running')
gauge coupling, which impose lower and upper bounds on the latter for dynamical
mass generation to occur. Possible implications of this to the theory of
high-temperature superconductivity are briefly discussed.Comment: 29 pages LATEX, 7 eps figures incorporated, uses axodraw style.
Discussion on the massless case (section 2) modified; no effect on
conclusions, typos correcte
On a class of embeddings of massive Yang-Mills theory
A power-counting renormalizable model into which massive Yang-Mills theory is
embedded is analyzed. The model is invariant under a nilpotent BRST
differential s. The physical observables of the embedding theory, defined by
the cohomology classes of s in the Faddeev-Popov neutral sector, are given by
local gauge-invariant quantities constructed only from the field strength and
its covariant derivatives.Comment: LATEX, 34 pages. One reference added. Version published in the
journa
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