First lattice QCD estimate of the g_{D^* D pi} coupling

We present the results of the first lattice QCD study of the strong coupling g_{D^* D pi}. From our simulations in the quenched approximation, we obtain g_{D^* D pi} = 18.8 +/- 2.3^{+1.1}_{-2.0} and hat(g)_c = 0.67 +/- 0.08^{+0.04}_{-0.06}. Whereas previous theoretical studies gave different predictions, our result favours a large value for hat(g)_c. It agrees very well with the recent experimental value by CLEO. hat(g) varies very little with the heavy mass and we find in the infinite mass limit hat(g)_infinity = 0.69(18).Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures; references added, corrected typos, Comments added about the continuum limi

Impact of Scotland’s comprehensive, smoke-free legislation on stroke

<p>Background: Previous studies have reported a reduction in acute coronary events following smoke-free legislation. Evidence is lacking on whether stroke is also reduced. The aim was to determine whether the incidence of stroke, overalland by sub-type, fell following introduction of smoke-free legislation across Scotland on 26 March 2006.</p> <p>Methods and Findings: A negative binomial regression model was used to determine whether the introduction of smokefree legislation resulted in a step and/or slope change in stroke incidence. The model was adjusted for age-group, sex, socioeconomic deprivation quintile, urban/rural residence and month. Interaction tests were also performed. Routine hospital administrative data and death certificates were used to identify all hospital admissions and pre-hospital deaths due to stroke (ICD10 codes I61, I63 and I64) in Scotland between 2000 and 2010 inclusive. Prior to the legislation, rates of all stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage and unspecified stroke were decreasing, whilst cerebral infarction was increasing at 0.97% per annum. Following the legislation, there was a dramatic fall in cerebral infarctions that persisted for around 20 months. No visible effect was observed for other types of stroke. The model confirmed an 8.90% (95% CI 4.85, 12.77, p,0.001) stepwise reduction in cerebral infarction at the time the legislation was implemented, after adjustment for potential cofounders.</p> <p>Conclusions: Following introduction of national, comprehensive smoke-free legislation there was a selective reduction in cerebral infarction that was not apparent in other types of stroke.</p&gt

Effects of uniaxial strain in LaMnO_3

The effects of uniaxial strain on the structural, orbital, optical, and magnetic properties of LaMnO_3 are calculated using a general elastic energy expression, along with a tight-binding parameterization of the band theory. Tensile uniaxial strain of the order of 2 % (i.e., of the order of magnitude of those induced in thin films by lattice mismatch with substrates) is found to lead to changes in the magnetic ground state, leading to dramatic changes in the band structure and optical conductivity spectrum. The magnetostriction effect associated with the Neel transition of bulk(unstrained) LaMnO_3 is also determined. Due to the Jahn-Teller coupling, the uniform tetragonal distortion mode is softer in LaMnO_3 than in doped cubic manganates. Reasons why the observed (\pi \pi 0) orbital ordering is favored over a (\pi \pi \pi) periodicity are discussed.Comment: 9 figures, submitted in Phys. Rev.

Anomalous η/η′\eta/\eta^\prime Decays: The Triangle and Box Anomalies

We examine the decay modes \eta/\etp\ra \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma within the context of the Hidden Local Symmetry (HLS) Model. Using numerical information derived in previous fits to $VP\gamma$ and $Ve^+e^-$ decay modes in isolation and the $\rho$ lineshape determined in a previous fit to the pion form factor, we show that all aspects of these decays can be predicted with fair accuracy. Freeing some parameters does not improve the picture. This is interpreted as a strong evidence in favor of the box anomaly in the \eta/\etp decays, which occurs at precisely the level expected. We also construct the set of equations defining the amplitudes for \eta/\etp\ra \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma and \eta/\etp \ra \ggam at the chiral limit, as predicted from the anomalous HLS Lagrangian appropriately broken. This provides a set of four equations depending on only one parameter, instead of three for the traditional set. This is also shown to match the (two--angle, two--decay--constant) \eta-\etp mixing scheme recently proposed and is also fairly well fulfilled by the data. The information returned from fits also matches expectations from previously published fits to the $VP\gamma$ decay modes in isolation.Comment: 47 page

Timing of host feeding drives rhythms in parasite replication

Circadian rhythms enable organisms to synchronise the processes underpinning survival and reproduction to anticipate daily changes in the external environment. Recent work shows that daily (circadian) rhythms also enable parasites to maximise fitness in the context of ecological interactions with their hosts. Because parasite rhythms matter for their fitness, understanding how they are regulated could lead to innovative ways to reduce the severity and spread of diseases. Here, we examine how host circadian rhythms influence rhythms in the asexual replication of malaria parasites. Asexual replication is responsible for the severity of malaria and fuels transmission of the disease, yet, how parasite rhythms are driven remains a mystery. We perturbed feeding rhythms of hosts by 12 hours (i.e. diurnal feeding in nocturnal mice) to desynchronise the hosts' peripheral oscillators from the central, light-entrained oscillator in the brain and their rhythmic outputs. We demonstrate that the rhythms of rodent malaria parasites in day-fed hosts become inverted relative to the rhythms of parasites in night-fed hosts. Our results reveal that the hosts' peripheral rhythms (associated with the timing of feeding and metabolism), but not rhythms driven by the central, light-entrained circadian oscillator in the brain, determine the timing (phase) of parasite rhythms. Further investigation reveals that parasite rhythms correlate closely with blood glucose rhythms. In addition, we show that parasite rhythms resynchronise to the altered host feeding rhythms when food availability is shifted, which is not mediated through rhythms in the host immune system. Our observations suggest that parasites actively control their developmental rhythms. Finally, counter to expectation, the severity of disease symptoms expressed by hosts was not affected by desynchronisation of their central and peripheral rhythms. Our study at the intersection of disease ecology and chronobiology opens up a new arena for studying host-parasite-vector coevolution and has broad implications for applied bioscience

Formation of a morphine-conditioned place preference does not change the size of evoked potentials in the ventral hippocampus–nucleus accumbens projection

Abstract In opioid addiction, cues and contexts associated with drug reward can be powerful triggers for drug craving and relapse. The synapses linking ventral hippocampal outputs to medium spiny neurons of the accumbens may be key sites for the formation and storage of associations between place or context and reward, both drug-related and natural. To assess this, we implanted rats with electrodes in the accumbens shell to record synaptic potentials evoked by electrical stimulation of the ventral hippocampus, as well as continuous local-field-potential activity. Rats then underwent morphine-induced (10 mg/kg) conditioned-place-preference training, followed by extinction. Morphine caused an acute increase in the slope and amplitude of accumbens evoked responses, but no long-term changes were evident after conditioning or extinction of the place preference, suggesting that the formation of this type of memory does not lead to a net change in synaptic strength in the ventral hippocampal output to the accumbens. However, analysis of the local field potential revealed a marked sensitization of theta- and high-gamma-frequency activity with repeated morphine administration. This phenomenon may be linked to the behavioral changes—such as psychomotor sensitization and the development of drug craving—that are associated with chronic use of addictive drugs