Comment on "Light-front Schwinger model at finite temperature"

In a recent paper by A. Das and X. Zhou [Phys. Rev. D 68, 065017 (2003)] it is claimed that explicit evaluation of the thermal photon self-energy in the Schwinger model gives off-shell thermal Green functions that are different in light-front and conventional quantizations. We show that the claimed difference originates from an erroneous simplification of the fermion propagator used in the light-front calculation.Comment: 8 pages, revtex4, added section refuting the massless limit proposed in hep-th/031102

Interrater Reliability of Chinese Medicine Diagnosis in People with Prediabetes

Background. Achieving reproducibility in research design is challenging when patient cohorts under study are inconsistently defined. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnosis is one example where inconsistency between practitioners has been found. We hypothesise that the use of a validated instrument may improve consistency. Biochemical biomarkers may also be used enhance reliability. Methods. Twenty-seven participants with prediabetes were assessed by two TCM practitioners using a validated instrument (TEAMSI-TCM). Inter-rater reliability was summarised using percentage agreement and the kappa coefficient. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test were used to test links between TCM diagnosis and biomarkers. Results. The two practitioners agreed on primary diagnosis of 70% of participants. kappa = 0.56 (P<0.001). The three predominant TCM diagnostic patterns for people with prediabetes were Yin deficiency, Qi and Yin deficiency and Spleen qi deficiency. The Spleen Qi deficiency with Damp cohort had statistically significant higher fasting glucose, higher insulin, higher insulin resistance, higher HbA1c and lower HDL than those with Qi and Yin deficiency. Conclusions. Using the TEAMSI-TCM resulted in moderate interrater reliability between TCM practitioners. This study provides initial evidence of variation in the biomarkers of people with prediabetes according to the different TCM patterns which may suggest a route to further improving interrater reliability

Equivalence of light-front and conventional thermal field theory

ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, USA, MD, 20740-384

Perturbative approach to the penguin-induced B→πϕB \to \pi \phi

Using a modified perturbative approach that includes the Sudakov resummation and transverse degrees of freedom we analyze the penguin-induced $B^{-} \to \pi^{-}\phi$ decay by applying the next-to-leading order effective weak Hamiltonian. The modified perturbative method enables us to include nonfactorizable contributions and to control virtual momenta appearing in the process. Besides, we apply the three-scale factorization theorem for nonleptonic processes that offers the possibility of having the scale-independent product of short- and long-distance parts in the amplitude of the weak Hamiltonian. The calculation supports the results obtained in the BSW factorization approach, illustrating the electroweak penguin dominance and the branching ratio of order ${\cal O}(10^{-8})$. However, the estimated prediction of 16% for the CP asymmetry is much larger than that obtained in the factorization approach.Comment: RevTex, 25 pages, 4 PostScript figures included, revised version, to be published in Phys.Rev.

Predictors of betel quid chewing behavior and cessation patterns in Taiwan aborigines

BACKGROUND: Betel quid, chewed by about 600 million people worldwide, is one of the most widely used addictive substances. Cessation factors in betel quid chewers are unknown. The present study explores prevalence and the quit rate of betel quid chewing in Taiwan aborigines. Our goal was to delineate potential predictors of chewing cessation. METHODS: A stratified random community-based survey was designed for the entire aborigines communities in Taiwan. A total of 7144 participants were included between June 2003 and May 2004 in this study. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, such as gender, age, obesity, education years, marital status, ethnicity, and habits of betel quid chewing, smoking and drinking was collected by trained interviewers. RESULTS: The prevalence of betel quid chewers was 46.1%. Betel quid chewing was closely associated with obesity (OR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.40–1.85). Betel quid chewers were most likely to use alcohol and cigarettes together. Quit rate of betel quid chewers was 7.6%. Betel quid chewers who did not drink alcohol were more likely to quit (OR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.43–2.50). Alcohol use is a significant factor related to cessation of betel quid chewing, but smoking is not. CONCLUSION: Taiwan aborigines have a high prevalence of betel quid chewers and a low quit rate. Alcohol use is strongly association with betel quid chewing. Efforts to reduce habitual alcohol consumption might be of benefit in cessation of betel quid chewing

An Overview of Regional Experiments on Biomass Burning Aerosols and Related Pollutants in Southeast Asia: From BASE-ASIA and the Dongsha Experiment to 7-SEAS

By modulating the Earth-atmosphere energy, hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, and affecting regional-to-global weather and climate, biomass burning is recognized as one of the major factors affecting the global carbon cycle. However, few comprehensive and wide-ranging experiments have been conducted to characterize biomass-burning pollutants in Southeast Asia (SEA) or assess their regional impact on meteorology, the hydrological cycle, the radiative budget, or climate change. Recently, BASEASIA (Biomass-burning Aerosols in South-East Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment) and the 7-SEAS (7- South-East Asian Studies) Dongsha Experiment were conducted during the spring seasons of 2006 and 2010 in northern SEA, respectively, to characterize the chemical, physical, and radiative properties of biomass-burning emissions near the source regions, and assess their effects. This paper provides an overview of results from these two campaigns and related studies collected in this special issue, entitled Observation, modeling and impact studies of biomass burning and pollution in the SE Asian Environment. This volume includes 28 papers, which provide a synopsis of the experiments, regional weatherclimate, chemical characterization of biomass-burning aerosols and related pollutants in source and sink regions, the spatial distribution of air toxics (atmospheric mercury and dioxins) in source and remote areas, a characterization of aerosol physical, optical, and radiative properties, as well as modeling and impact studies. These studies, taken together, provide the first relatively complete dataset of aerosol chemistry and physical observations conducted in the sourcesink region in the northern SEA, with particular emphasis on the marine boundary layer and lower free troposphere (LFT). The data, analysis and modeling included in these papers advance our present knowledge of source characterization of biomass-burning pollutants near the source regions as well as the physical and chemical processes along transport pathways. In addition, we raise key questions to be addressed by a coming deployment during springtime 2013 in northern SEA, named 7-SEASBASELInE (Biomass-burning Aerosols Stratocumulus Environment: Lifecycles and Interactions Experiment). This campaign will include a synergistic approach for further exploring many key atmospheric processes (e.g., complex aerosol-cloud interactions) and impacts of biomass burning on the surface-atmosphere energy budgets during the lifecycles of biomass burning emissions

Theoretical Uncertainties in Electroweak Boson Production Cross Sections at 7, 10, and 14 TeV at the LHC

We present an updated study of the systematic errors in the measurements of the electroweak boson cross-sections at the LHC for various experimental cuts for a center of mass energy of 7, 10 and 14 TeV. The size of both electroweak and NNLO QCD contributions are estimated, together with the systematic error from the parton distributions. The effects of new versions of the MSTW, CTEQ, and NNPDF PDFs are considered.Comment: PDFLatex with JHEP3.cls. 22 pages, 43 figures. Version 2 adds the CT10W PDF set to analysis and updates the final systematic error table and conclusions, plus several citations and minor wording changes. Version 3 adds some references on electroweak and mixed QED/QCD corrections. Version 4 adds more references and acknowledgement

Twisting of the DNA-binding surface by a β-strand-bearing proline modulates DNA gyrase activity

DNA gyrase is the only topoisomerase capable of introducing (−) supercoils into relaxed DNA. The C-terminal domain of the gyrase A subunit (GyrA-CTD) and the presence of a gyrase-specific ‘GyrA-box’ motif within this domain are essential for this unique (−) supercoiling activity by allowing gyrase to wrap DNA around itself. Here we report the crystal structure of Xanthomonas campestris GyrA-CTD and provide the first view of a canonical GyrA-box motif. This structure resembles the GyrA-box-disordered Escherichia coli GyrA-CTD, both adopting a non-planar β-pinwheel fold composed of six seemingly spirally arranged β-sheet blades. Interestingly, structural analysis revealed that the non-planar architecture mainly stems from the tilted packing seen between blades 1 and 2, with the packing geometry likely being defined by a conserved and unusual β-strand-bearing proline. Consequently, the GyrA-box-containing blade 1 is placed at an angled spatial position relative to the other DNA-binding blades, and an abrupt bend is introduced into the otherwise flat DNA-binding surface. Mutagenesis studies support that the proline-induced structural twist contributes directly to gyrase’s (−) supercoiling activity. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that a β-strand-bearing proline may impact protein function. Potential relevance of β-strand-bearing proline to disease phenylketonuria is also noted

Characterization of the Psychological, Physiological and EEG Profile of Acute Betel Quid Intoxication in Naïve Subjects

Betel quid use and abuse is wide spread in Asia but the physiological basis of intoxication and addiction are unknown. In subjects naïve to the habit of betel quid intoxication, the psychological and physiological profile of intoxication has never been reported. We compared the effect of chewing gum or chewing betel quid, and subsequent betel quid intoxication, on psychological assessment, prospective time interval estimation, numerical and character digit span, computerized 2 choice tests and mental tasks such as reading and mathematics with concurrent monitoring of ECG, EEG and face temperature in healthy, non-sleep deprived, male subjects naïve to the habit of chewing betel quid. Betel quid intoxication, dose dependently induced tachycardia (max 30 bpm) and elevated face temperature (0.7°C) (P<0.001) above the effects observed in response to chewing gum (max 12 bpm and 0.3°C) in 12 subjects. Gross behavioral indices of working memory such as numerical or character digit span in 8 subjects, or simple visual-motor performance such as reaction speed or accuracy in a two choice scenario in 8 subjects were not affected by betel quid intoxication. Betel quid intoxication strongly influenced the psychological aspects of perception such as slowing of the prospective perception of passage of a 1 minute time interval in 8 subjects (P<0.05) and perceived increased arousal (P<0.01) and perceived decreased ability to think (P<0.05) in 31 subjects. The EEG spectral profile recorded from mental states associated with open and closed eyes, and mental tasks such as reading and eyes closed mental arithmetic were significantly modified (P<0.05) relative to chewing gum by betel quid intoxication in 10 subjects. The prevalence of betel quid consumption across a range of social and work settings warrants greater investigation of this widespread but largely under researched drug

A new measurement of antineutrino oscillation with the full detector configuration at Daya Bay

We report a new measurement of electron antineutrino disappearance using the fully-constructed Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. The final two of eight antineutrino detectors were installed in the summer of 2012. Including the 404 days of data collected from October 2012 to November 2013 resulted in a total exposure of 6.9$\times$10$^5$ GW$_{\rm th}$-ton-days, a 3.6 times increase over our previous results. Improvements in energy calibration limited variations between detectors to 0.2%. Removal of six $^{241}$Am-$^{13}$C radioactive calibration sources reduced the background by a factor of two for the detectors in the experimental hall furthest from the reactors. Direct prediction of the antineutrino signal in the far detectors based on the measurements in the near detectors explicitly minimized the dependence of the measurement on models of reactor antineutrino emission. The uncertainties in our estimates of $\sin^{2}2\theta_{13}$ and $|\Delta m^2_{ee}|$ were halved as a result of these improvements. Analysis of the relative antineutrino rates and energy spectra between detectors gave $\sin^{2}2\theta_{13} = 0.084\pm0.005$ and $|\Delta m^{2}_{ee}|= (2.42\pm0.11) \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ in the three-neutrino framework.Comment: Updated to match final published versio