Impact of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives on the Gut Microbiota of Consumers: A Real-World Study

Eating less meat is increasingly seen as a healthier, more ethical option. This is leading to growing numbers of flexitarian consumers looking for plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) to replace at least some of the animal meat they consume. Popular PBMA products amongst flexitarians, including plant-based mince, burgers, sausages and meatballs, are often perceived as low-quality, ultra-processed foods. However, we argue that the mere industrial processing of ingredients of plant origin does not make a PBMA product ultra-processed by default. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a randomised controlled trial to assess the changes to the gut microbiota of a group of 20 participants who replaced several meat-containing meals per week with meals cooked with PBMA products and compared these changes to those experienced by a size-matched control. Stool samples were subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing. The resulting raw data was analysed in a compositionality-aware manner, using a range of innovative bioinformatic methods. Noteworthy changes included an increase in butyrate metabolising potential—chiefly in the 4-aminobutyrate/succinate and glutarate pathways—and in the joint abundance of butyrate-producing taxa in the intervention group compared to control. We also observed a decrease in the Tenericutes phylum in the intervention group and an increase in the control group. Based on our findings, we concluded that the occasional replacement of animal meat with PBMA products seen in flexitarian dietary patterns can promote positive changes in the gut microbiome of consumers

Gravitational wave burst vetoes in the LIGO S2 and S3 data analyses

The LIGO detectors collected about 4 months of data in 2003-2004 during two science runs, S2 and S3. Several environmental and auxiliary channels that monitor the instruments' physical environment and overall interferometric operation were analyzed in order to establish the quality of the data as well as the presence of transients of non-astrophysical origin. This analysis allowed better understanding of the noise character of the instruments and the establishment of correlations between transients in these channels and the one recording the gravitational wave strain. In this way vetoes for spurious burst were identified. We present the methodology we followed in this analysis and the results from the S2 and S3 veto analysis within the context of the search for gravitational wave bursts.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity for the special issue of the GWDAW9 Proceeding

A new look at the modified Coulomb potential in a strong magnetic field

The static Coulomb potential of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) is calculated in the presence of a strong magnetic field in the lowest Landau level (LLL) approximation using two different methods. First, the vacuum expectation value of the corresponding Wilson loop is calculated perturbatively in two different regimes of dynamical mass $m_{dyn.}$, {\it i.e.}, $|{\mathbf{q}}_{\|}^{2}|\ll m_{dyn.}^{2}\ll |eB|$ and $m_{dyn.}^{2}\ll |\mathbf{q}_{\|}^{2}|\ll|eB|$, where $\mathbf{q}_{\|}$ is the longitudinal components of the momentum relative to the external magnetic field $B$. The result is then compared with the static potential arising from Born approximation. Both results coincide. Although the arising potentials show different behavior in the aforementioned regimes, a novel dependence on the angle $\theta$ between the particle-antiparticle's axis and the direction of the magnetic field is observed. In the regime $|{\mathbf{q}}_{\|}^{2}|\ll m_{dyn.}^{2}\ll |eB|$, for strong enough magnetic field and depending on the angle $\theta$, a qualitative change occurs in the Coulomb-like potential; Whereas for $\theta=0,\pi$ the potential is repulsive, it exhibits a minimum for angles $\theta\in]0,\pi[$.Comment: V1: 26 pages, 8 figures, latex format, V2: Accepted for publication in PRD (2007

Unofficial urbanonymy of ekaterinburg: A sociolinguistic study

The article addresses the phenomenon of unofficial urbanonymy exemplified by urban place names of the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. With the term “city facilities” applying broadly to streets, squares, neighborhoods, etc., as well as to the elements of social, educational, cultural, industrial infrastructure, the authors examine the factors affecting the coinage of unofficial city names. This informal naming is regarded as an act of active social involvement in the creation of the “urban text”. To identify the intentions of such collective nominator, a survey was conducted among university students, post-graduates, and teaching staff, as well as senior school students (the total number of respondents comprising 300 people). The survey covered both permanent and temporary residents, including city guests. The compiled questionnaire included specification of the age and gender parameters of the audience, the respondents’ attitude to unofficial names, their views on why and where these urbanonyms are used. As the survey revealed, the key feature shared by all the creators of informal urbanonymy is their status as old-timers: the familiarity of nominators with informal place names attests to their deep involvement in the city life. For non-residents, the growing grasp of informal urbanonyms turns out to be a part of “initiation into old-timers”. Although the age characteristics of nominators do not seem particularly relevant with most respondents, one can still say that informal urbanonymy emerges in the youth environment. The analysis of the survey reveals two closely related trends affecting the development of unofficial urbanonymy, namely, the contraction of official names, manifested in morpheme clipping, shortening of names, and the tendency to “carnivalize” urban space, generating original, highly expressive figurative naming cases. © 2018, Ural University Press. All rights reserved.Статья посвящена исследованию феномена неофициальной урбанонимии на примере урбанонимов города Екатеринбурга. Понимая под городскими топообъектами не только улицы, площади, микрорайоны и т. п., но и социально-бытовые, учебные, культурные, промышленные объекты (здания и строения), авторы исследуют факторы, влияющие на появление неофициальных городских названий. Неофициальная урбанономинация расценивается как акт активного вмешательства городского социума в создание «городского текста». Для оценки интенций социума-номинатора проведено анкетирование среди преподавателей, аспирантов и студентов вузов, а также старшеклассников (общее число респондентов — 300 человек). Среди анкетируемых присутствуют как горожане, так и люди, приехавшие в Екатеринбург недавно или являющиеся гостями города. Разработанная авторами анкета включает вопросы, позволяющие выявить возрастные и гендерные параметры социума, отношение респондентов к неофициальным названиям, их представления о причинах возникновения и сферах бытования новых урбанонимов. Проведенный опрос показал, что главным параметром, характеризующим создателей неофициальной урбанонимии, является их статус старожилов: знание неофициального урбанонимикона является свидетельством глубинной включенности номинаторов в жизнь города. Для негорожан знакомство с неофициальными урбанонимами оказывается элементом «посвящения в старожилы». Хотя возрастная характеристика номинаторов не представляется респондентам существенной, всеже можно говорить о том, что неофициальная урбанонимия создается в молодежной среде. Результаты анкетирования демонстрируют два тесно переплетающихся фактора, влияющих на развитие неофициальной урбанонимии: это реализация принципа экономии языковых усилий, проявляющаяся в процессах усечения, стяжения официальных названий, и тенденция к карнавализации городского пространства, порождающая яркие, насыщенные экспрессией образные именования.The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (the project 18-012-00586 “Urbanonymy as part of the linguistic landscape of a city: traditions and perspectives of sustainable development”)

Unofficial urbanonymy of ekaterinburg: A sociolinguistic study

The article addresses the phenomenon of unofficial urbanonymy exemplified by urban place names of the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. With the term “city facilities” applying broadly to streets, squares, neighborhoods, etc., as well as to the elements of social, educational, cultural, industrial infrastructure, the authors examine the factors affecting the coinage of unofficial city names. This informal naming is regarded as an act of active social involvement in the creation of the “urban text”. To identify the intentions of such collective nominator, a survey was conducted among university students, post-graduates, and teaching staff, as well as senior school students (the total number of respondents comprising 300 people). The survey covered both permanent and temporary residents, including city guests. The compiled questionnaire included specification of the age and gender parameters of the audience, the respondents’ attitude to unofficial names, their views on why and where these urbanonyms are used. As the survey revealed, the key feature shared by all the creators of informal urbanonymy is their status as old-timers: the familiarity of nominators with informal place names attests to their deep involvement in the city life. For non-residents, the growing grasp of informal urbanonyms turns out to be a part of “initiation into old-timers”. Although the age characteristics of nominators do not seem particularly relevant with most respondents, one can still say that informal urbanonymy emerges in the youth environment. The analysis of the survey reveals two closely related trends affecting the development of unofficial urbanonymy, namely, the contraction of official names, manifested in morpheme clipping, shortening of names, and the tendency to “carnivalize” urban space, generating original, highly expressive figurative naming cases. © 2018, Ural University Press. All rights reserved.Статья посвящена исследованию феномена неофициальной урбанонимии на примере урбанонимов города Екатеринбурга. Понимая под городскими топообъектами не только улицы, площади, микрорайоны и т. п., но и социально-бытовые, учебные, культурные, промышленные объекты (здания и строения), авторы исследуют факторы, влияющие на появление неофициальных городских названий. Неофициальная урбанономинация расценивается как акт активного вмешательства городского социума в создание «городского текста». Для оценки интенций социума-номинатора проведено анкетирование среди преподавателей, аспирантов и студентов вузов, а также старшеклассников (общее число респондентов — 300 человек). Среди анкетируемых присутствуют как горожане, так и люди, приехавшие в Екатеринбург недавно или являющиеся гостями города. Разработанная авторами анкета включает вопросы, позволяющие выявить возрастные и гендерные параметры социума, отношение респондентов к неофициальным названиям, их представления о причинах возникновения и сферах бытования новых урбанонимов. Проведенный опрос показал, что главным параметром, характеризующим создателей неофициальной урбанонимии, является их статус старожилов: знание неофициального урбанонимикона является свидетельством глубинной включенности номинаторов в жизнь города. Для негорожан знакомство с неофициальными урбанонимами оказывается элементом «посвящения в старожилы». Хотя возрастная характеристика номинаторов не представляется респондентам существенной, всеже можно говорить о том, что неофициальная урбанонимия создается в молодежной среде. Результаты анкетирования демонстрируют два тесно переплетающихся фактора, влияющих на развитие неофициальной урбанонимии: это реализация принципа экономии языковых усилий, проявляющаяся в процессах усечения, стяжения официальных названий, и тенденция к карнавализации городского пространства, порождающая яркие, насыщенные экспрессией образные именования.The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (the project 18-012-00586 “Urbanonymy as part of the linguistic landscape of a city: traditions and perspectives of sustainable development”)

Universal Holographic Chiral Dynamics in an External Magnetic Field

In this work we further extend the investigation of holographic gauge theories in external magnetic fields, continuing earlier work. We study the phenomenon of magnetic catalysis of mass generation in 1+3 and 1+2 dimensions, using D3/D7- and D3/D5-brane systems, respectively. We obtain the low energy effective actions of the corresponding pseudo Goldstone bosons and study their dispersion relations. The D3/D7 system exhibits the usual Gell-Mann--Oakes--Renner (GMOR) relation and a relativistic dispersion relation, while the D3/D5 system exhibits a quadratic non-relativistic dispersion relation and a modified linear GMOR relation. The low energy effective action of the D3/D5 system is related to that describing magnon excitations in a ferromagnet. We also study properties of general Dp/Dq systems in an external magnetic field and verify the universality of the magnetic catalysis of dynamical symmetry breaking.Comment: 41 pages, 11 figures, references adde

Dynamical symmetry breaking in the external gravitational and constant magnetic fields

We investigate the effects of the external gravitational and constant magnetic fields to the dynamical symmetrybreaking. As simple models of the dynamical symmetry breaking we consider the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model and the supersymmetric Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (SUSY NJL) model non-minimally interacting with the external gravitational field and minimally interacting with constant magnetic field. The explicit expressions for the scalar and spinor Green functions are found up to the linear terms on the spacetime curvature and exactly for a constant magnetic field. We obtain the effective potential of the above models from the Green functions in the magnetic field in curved spacetime. Calculating the effective potential numerically with the varying curvature and/or magnetic fields we show the effects of the external gravitational and magnetic fields to the phase structure of the theories. In particular, increase of the curvature in the spontaneously broken chiral symmetry phase due to the fixed magnetic field makes this phase to be less broken. On the same time strong magnetic field quickly induces chiral symmetry breaking even at the presence of fixed gravitational field within nonbroken phase.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, epic.sty and eepic.sty are use

Inverse Symmetry Breaking and the Exact Renormalization Group

We discuss the question of inverse symmetry breaking at non-zero temperature using the exact renormalization group. We study a two-scalar theory and concentrate on the nature of the phase transition during which the symmetry is broken. We also examine the persistence of symmetry breaking at temperatures higher than the critical one.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Chiral symmetry breaking by a non-Abelian external field in (2+1)-dimensions

We investigate the effect of a constant external non-Abelian field on chiral symmetry breaking in a (2+1)-dimensional Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and in 3D QCD by solving the gap equation and the Bethe-Salpeter equation, and also by RG analysis. In the (2+1)-dimensional NJL model chiral symmetry breaking occurs for any weak coupling constant but in 3D QCD catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking does not occur.Comment: 11 pages, RevTe