Small quark stars in the chromodielectric model

Equations of state for strange quark matter in beta equilibrium at high densities are used to investigate the structure (mass and radius) of compact objects. The chromodielectric model is used as a general framework for the quark interactions, which are mediated by chiral mesons, $\sigma$ and $\vec \pi$, and by a confining chiral singlet dynamical field, $\chi$. Using a quartic potential for $\chi$, two equations of state for the same set of model parameters are obtained, one with a minimum at around the nuclear matter density $\rho_0$ and the other at $\rho \sim 5 \rho_0$. Using the latter equation of state in the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations we found solutions corresponding to compact objects with $R\sim 5 - 8$ km and $M\sim M_\odot$. The phenomenology of recently discovered X-ray sources is compatible with the type of quark stars that we have obtained.Comment: 8 pages, AIP macros; Talk delivered at the Pan American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) Conference "New States of Matter in Hadronic Interactions", Campos do Jordao, Brazil, January 200

Method for investigating nursing behaviors related to isolation care.

BACKGROUND: Although an emphasis has been placed on protecting patients by improving health care worker compliance with infection control techniques, challenges associated with patient isolation do exist. To address these issues, a more consistent mechanism to evaluate specific clinical behaviors safely is needed. METHODS: The research method described in this study used a high fidelity simulation using a live standardized patient recorded by small cameras. Immediately after the simulation experience, nurses were asked to view and comment on their performance. A demographic survey and a video recorded physical evaluation provided participant description. A questionnaire component 1 month after the simulation experience offered insight into the timing of behavior change in clinical practice. RESULTS: Errors in behaviors related to donning and doffing equipment for isolation care were noted among the nurses in the study despite knowing they were being video recorded. This simulation-based approach to clinical behavior analysis provided rich data on patient care delivery. CONCLUSION: Standard educational techniques have not led to ideal compliance, and this study demonstrated the potential for using video feedback to enhance learning and ultimately reduce behaviors, which routinely increase the likelihood of disease transmission. This educational research method could be applied to many complicated clinical skills

Clinical challenges in isolation care

OVERVIEW: In 2014, the authors published the results of a study investigating nurses\u27 use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the care of a live simulated patient requiring contact and airborne precautions. The 24 participants were video-recorded as they donned and doffed PPE. Variations in practices that had the potential to cause contamination were noted. In this article, the authors comment on those variations, analyzing each element of proper PPE protocols and examining why the behaviors are a safety concern for the nurse and a potential risk for disease transmission in the hospital or other clinical area. The authors note that making use of reflective practice for complicated care situations such as infection control may help nurses improve decision making in isolation care

Evaluating Isolation Behaviors by Nurses Using Mobile Computer Workstations at the Bedside.

This secondary analysis from a larger mixed methods study with a sequential explanatory design investigates the clinical challenges for nurses providing patient care, in an airborne and contact isolation room, while using a computer on wheels for medication administration in a simulated setting. Registered nurses, who regularly work in clinical care at the patient bedside, were recruited as study participants in the simulation and debriefing experience. A live volunteer acted as the standardized patient who needed assessment and intravenous pain medication. The simulation was video recorded in a typical hospital room to observe participating nurses conducting patient care in an airborne and contact isolation situation. Participants then reviewed their performance with study personnel in a formal, audio-recorded debriefing. Isolation behaviors were scored by an expert panel, and the debriefing sessions were analyzed. Considerable variation was found in behaviors related to using a computer on wheels while caring for a patient in isolation. Currently, no nursing care guidelines exist on the use of computers on wheels in an airborne and contact isolation room. Specific education is needed on nursing care processes for the proper disinfection of computers on wheels and the reduction of the potential for disease transmission from environmental contamination

N‐Substituted Nipecotic Acids as (S )‐SNAP‐5114 Analogues with Modified Lipophilic Domains

Potential mGAT4 inhibitors derived from the lead substance (S )‐SNAP‐5114 have been synthesized and characterized for their inhibitory potency. Variations from the parent compound included the substitution of one of its aromatic 4‐methoxy and 4‐methoxyphenyl groups, respectively, with a more polar moiety, including a carboxylic acid, alcohol, nitrile, carboxamide, sulfonamide, aldehyde or ketone function, or amino acid partial structures. Furthermore, it was investigated how the substitution of more than one of the aromatic 4‐methoxy groups affects the potency and selectivity of the resulting compounds. Among the synthesized test substances (S )‐1‐{2‐[(4‐formylphenyl)bis(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐methoxy]ethyl}piperidine‐3‐carboxylic acid, that features a carbaldehyde function in place of one of the aromatic 4‐methoxy moieties of (S )‐SNAP‐5114, was found to have a pIC50 value of 5.89±0.07, hence constituting a slightly more potent mGAT4 inhibitor than the parent substance while showing comparable subtype selectivity

On the possibility of magnetic Weyl fermions in non-symmorphic compound PtFeSb

Weyl fermions are expected to exhibit exotic physical properties such as the chiral anomaly, large negative magnetoresistance or Fermi arcs. Recently a new platform to realize these fermions has been introduced based on the appearance of a three-fold band crossing at high symmetry points of certain space groups. These band crossings are composed of two linearly dispersed bands that are topologically protected by a Chern number, and a at band with no topological charge. In this paper we present a new way of inducing two kinds of Weyl fermions, based on two- and three-fold band crossings, in the non-symmorphic magnetic material PtFeSb. By means of density functional theory calculations and group theory analysis we show that magnetic order can split a six-fold degeneracy enforced by non-symmoprhic symmetry to create three-fold or two-fold degenerate Weyl nodes. We also report on the synthesis of a related phase potentially containing two-fold degenerate magnetic Weyl points and extend our group theory analysis to that phase. This is the first study showing that magnetic ordering has the potential to generate new threefold degenerate Weyl nodes, advancing the understanding of magnetic interactions in topological materials.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Genome Sequence of the Chestnut Blight Fungus Cryphonectria parasitica EP155: A Fundamental Resource for an Archetypical Invasive Plant Pathogen.

Cryphonectria parasitica is the causal agent of chestnut blight, a fungal disease that almost entirely eliminated mature American chestnut from North America over a 50-year period. Here, we formally report the genome of C. parasitica EP155 using a Sanger shotgun sequencing approach. After finishing and integration with simple-sequence repeat markers, the assembly was 43.8 Mb in 26 scaffolds (L50 = 5; N50 = 4.0Mb). Eight chromosomes are predicted: five scaffolds have two telomeres and six scaffolds have one telomere sequence. In total, 11,609 gene models were predicted, of which 85% show similarities to other proteins. This genome resource has already increased the utility of a fundamental plant pathogen experimental system through new understanding of the fungal vegetative incompatibility system, with significant implications for enhancing mycovirus-based biological control

Hyperhoneycomb Iridate β-li2iro3 As A Platform For Kitaev Magnetism.

A complex iridium oxide β-Li(2)IrO(3) crystallizes in a hyperhoneycomb structure, a three-dimensional analogue of honeycomb lattice, and is found to be a spin-orbital Mott insulator with J(eff)=1/2 moment. Ir ions are connected to the three neighboring Ir ions via Ir-O(2)-Ir bonding planes, which very likely gives rise to bond-dependent ferromagnetic interactions between the J(eff)=1/2 moments, an essential ingredient of Kitaev model with a spin liquid ground state. Dominant ferromagnetic interaction between J(eff)=1/2 moments is indeed confirmed by the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility χ(T) which shows a positive Curie-Weiss temperature θ(CW)∼+40  K. A magnetic ordering with a very small entropy change, likely associated with a noncollinear arrangement of J(eff)=1/2 moments, is observed at T(c)=38  K. With the application of magnetic field to the ordered state, a large moment of more than 0.35  μ(B)/Ir is induced above 3 T, a substantially polarized J(eff)=1/2 state. We argue that the close proximity to ferromagnetism and the presence of large fluctuations evidence that the ground state of hyperhoneycomb β-Li(2)IrO(3) is located in close proximity of a Kitaev spin liquid.11407720