1,755 research outputs found
A Bound on the Superpotential
We prove a general bound on the superpotential in theories with broken
supersymmetry and broken R-symmetry, 2|W|< f_a F, where f_a and F are the
R-axion and Goldstino decay constants, respectively. The bound holds for weakly
coupled as well as strongly coupled theories, thereby providing an exact result
in theories with broken supersymmetry. We briefly discuss several possible
applications.Comment: 20 page
Logarithmic correction to BH entropy as Noether charge
We consider the role of the type-A trace anomaly in static black hole
solutions to semiclassical Einstein equation in four dimensions. Via Wald's
Noether charge formalism, we compute the contribution to the entropy coming
from the anomaly induced effective action and unveil a logarithmic correction
to the Bekenstein-Hawking area law.
The corrected entropy is given by a seemingly universal formula involving the
coefficient of the type-A trace anomaly, the Euler characteristic of the
horizon and the value at the horizon of the solution to the uniformization
problem for Q-curvature. Two instances are examined in detail: Schwarzschild
and a four-dimensional massless topological black hole. We also find agreement
with the logarithmic correction due to one-loop contribution of conformal
fields in the Schwarzschild background.Comment: 14 pages, JHEP styl
Holographic c-theorems in arbitrary dimensions
We re-examine holographic versions of the c-theorem and entanglement entropy
in the context of higher curvature gravity and the AdS/CFT correspondence. We
select the gravity theories by tuning the gravitational couplings to eliminate
non-unitary operators in the boundary theory and demonstrate that all of these
theories obey a holographic c-theorem. In cases where the dual CFT is
even-dimensional, we show that the quantity that flows is the central charge
associated with the A-type trace anomaly. Here, unlike in conventional
holographic constructions with Einstein gravity, we are able to distinguish
this quantity from other central charges or the leading coefficient in the
entropy density of a thermal bath. In general, we are also able to identify
this quantity with the coefficient of a universal contribution to the
entanglement entropy in a particular construction. Our results suggest that
these coefficients appearing in entanglement entropy play the role of central
charges in odd-dimensional CFT's. We conjecture a new c-theorem on the space of
odd-dimensional field theories, which extends Cardy's proposal for even
dimensions. Beyond holography, we were able to show that for any
even-dimensional CFT, the universal coefficient appearing the entanglement
entropy which we calculate is precisely the A-type central charge.Comment: 62 pages, 4 figures, few typo's correcte
Investigation of attentional bias in obsessive compulsive disorder with and without depression in visual search
Copyright: © 2013 Morein-Zamir et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedWhether Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is associated with an increased attentional bias to emotive stimuli remains controversial. Additionally, it is unclear whether comorbid depression modulates abnormal emotional processing in OCD. This study examined attentional bias to OC-relevant scenes using a visual search task. Controls, non-depressed and depressed OCD patients searched for their personally selected positive images amongst their negative distractors, and vice versa. Whilst the OCD groups were slower than healthy individuals in rating the images, there were no group differences in the magnitude of negative bias to concern-related scenes. A second experiment employing a common set of images replicated the results on an additional sample of OCD patients. Although there was a larger bias to negative OC-related images without pre-exposure overall, no group differences in attentional bias were observed. However, OCD patients subsequently rated the images more slowly and more negatively, again suggesting post-attentional processing abnormalities. The results argue against a robust attentional bias in OCD patients, regardless of their depression status and speak to generalized difficulties disengaging from negative valence stimuli. Rather, post-attentional processing abnormalities may account for differences in emotional processing in OCD.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Complex regional pain syndrome type I: efficacy of stellate ganglion blockade
PubMed ID: 19888550Background: This study was performed to evaluate the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type I with stellate ganglion blockade. Materials and methods: We performed three blockades at weekly intervals in 22 patients with CRPS type I in one hand. The patients were divided into two groups depending on the time between symptom onset and treatment initiation. Group 1and 2 patients had short and long symptom-onset-to-treatment intervals, respectively. Pain intensity, using a visual analog score (VAS), and range of motion (ROM) for the wrist joint were assessed before and 2 weeks after treatment and were compared using nonparametric statistical analysis. Results: Treatment produced a statistically significant difference in wrist ROM for all patients (P < 0.001). VAS values showed an overall decrease from 8 ± 1 to 1 ± 1 following treatment, and there was a significant difference in VAS value between groups 1 and 2 (P < 0.05). Conclusions: We concluded that stellate ganglion blockade successfully decreased VAS and increased ROM of wrist joints in patients with CRPS type I. Further, the duration between symptom onset and therapy initiation was a major factor affecting blockade success. © 2009 Springer-Verlag
Spectral action, Weyl anomaly and the Higgs-Dilaton potential
We show how the bosonic spectral action emerges from the fermionic action by
the renormalization group flow in the presence of a dilaton and the Weyl
anomaly. The induced action comes out to be basically the Chamseddine-Connes
spectral action introduced in the context of noncommutative geometry. The
entire spectral action describes gauge and Higgs fields coupled with gravity.
We then consider the effective potential and show, that it has the desired
features of a broken and an unbroken phase, with the roll down.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure
Study protocol to investigate the effect of a lifestyle intervention on body weight, psychological health status and risk factors associated with disease recurrence in women recovering from breast cancer treatment
Background
Breast cancer survivors often encounter physiological and psychological problems related to their diagnosis and treatment that can influence long-term prognosis. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of a lifestyle intervention on body weight and psychological well-being in women recovering from breast cancer treatment, and to determine the relationship between changes in these variables and biomarkers associated with disease recurrence and survival.
Methods/design
Following ethical approval, a total of 100 patients will be randomly assigned to a lifestyle intervention (incorporating dietary energy restriction in conjunction with aerobic exercise training) or normal care control group. Patients randomised to the dietary and exercise intervention will be given individualised healthy eating dietary advice and written information and attend moderate intensity aerobic exercise sessions on three to five days per week for a period of 24 weeks. The aim of this strategy is to induce a steady weight loss of up to 0.5 Kg each week. In addition, the overall quality of the diet will be examined with a view to (i) reducing the dietary intake of fat to ~25% of the total calories, (ii) eating at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, (iii) increasing the intake of fibre and reducing refined carbohydrates, and (iv) taking moderate amounts of alcohol. Outcome measures will include body weight and body composition, psychological health status (stress and depression), cardiorespiratory fitness and quality of life. In addition, biomarkers associated with disease recurrence, including stress hormones, estrogen status, inflammatory markers and indices of innate and adaptive immune function will be monitored.
Discussion
This research will provide valuable information on the effectiveness of a practical, easily implemented lifestyle intervention for evoking positive effects on body weight and psychological well-being, two important factors that can influence long-term prognosis in breast cancer survivors. However, the added value of the study is that it will also evaluate the effects of the lifestyle intervention on a range of biomarkers associated with disease recurrence and survival. Considered together, the results should improve our understanding of the potential role that lifestyle-modifiable factors could play in saving or prolonging lives
Thermodynamics on the Maximally Symmetric Holographic Screen and Entropy from Conical Singularities
For a general maximally symmetric (spherically, plane or hyperbola symmetric)
holographic screen, we rewrite the equations of motion of general Lovelock
gravity into the form of some generalized first law of thermodynamics, under
certain ansatz. With this observation together with other two independent ways,
exactly the same temperature and entropy on the screen are obtained. So it is
argued that the thermodynamic interpretation of gravity is physically
meaningful not only on the horizon, but also on a general maximally symmetric
screen. Moreover, the formula of entropy is further checked in the (maximally
symmetric) general static case and dynamical case. The entropy formula also
holds for those cases. Finally, the method of conical singularity is used to
calculate the entropy on such screen, and the result again confirms the entropy
formula.Comment: 19 pages, revtex4; v2: references added, some clarifications about
the method of conical singularity, minor corrections/modifications, to appear
in JHEP. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1007.433
Holographic Entanglement Entropy in Lovelock Gravities
We study entanglement entropies of simply connected surfaces in field
theories dual to Lovelock gravities. We consider Gauss-Bonnet and cubic
Lovelock gravities in detail. In the conformal case the logarithmic terms in
the entanglement entropy are governed by the conformal anomalies of the CFT; we
verify that the holographic calculations are consistent with this property. We
also compute the holographic entanglement entropy of a slab in the Gauss-Bonnet
examples dual to relativistic and non-relativistic CFTs and discuss its
properties. Finally, we discuss features of the entanglement entropy in the
backgrounds dual to renormalization group flows between fixed points and
comment on the implications for a possible c-theorem in four spacetime
dimensions.Comment: harvmac, 30 pages, 1 figure, References added, typos correcte
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