692 research outputs found
The link between ankylosing spondylitis and oral health conditions : two nested case-control studies using data of the UK Biobank
This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource under Application Number 26307. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. HMA received funding from the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED-Iraq) to undertake her PhD. The authors are grateful to Professor Gary Macfarlane (Epidemiology Group, University of Aberdeen) for his valuable comments and suggestions on the analysis and the draft of manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
A note on the velocity of holographic long-lived mesons
We study fluctuations of a U(1) gauge field on the worldvolume of Nf probe
D7-branes in the background of Nc black D3-branes with a finite baryon density.
The choice of mode corresponds to vector mesons in the dual gauge theory whose
mass and lifetime can be determined by a study of the quasinormal modes. The
speed of propagation of these holographic mesons at large momenta is studied
from the dispersion relations of the quasinormal modes of the system.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
A randomised controlled trial of the impact of structured written and verbal advice by community pharmacists on improving hypertension education and control in patients with high blood pressure
Purpose:
This study was aimed to determine whether structured written and verbal education provided to patients by community pharmacists about high blood pressure (BP) and its treatment would be (a) better retained and (b) be associated with improved BP control as compared to patients receiving verbal advice only.
Methods:
The study was designed as a randomised controlled trial and was conducted in the West Midlands, UK, between January 2014 and June 2014. The primary outcome measures were differences in systolic and diastolic BP from baseline and retention of information about high BP assessed with a questionnaire at 2-, 4- and 26-week follow-up points.
Results:
A total of 64 adults were included in the study. At the week 26 follow-up, compared to participants in the control group, there was a significant improvement in the knowledge of intervention participants about the risks associated with high BP (pâ<â0.001) and awareness about potential adverse effects of the new BP medicine (pâ<â0.001). Similarly, there was a greater and more significant reduction in systolic BP in favour of the intervention group 8 mmHg (95% CI 2.1â13.3 pâ=â0.009) compared to 6 mmHg (95% CI 0.6â11.7 pâ=â0.02) in the control group at the week 4 follow-up. However, this greater effect of an intervention on BP was not sustained at the 26-week follow-up. For diastolic BP, there was no added effect of the intervention.
Conclusion:
This randomised controlled trial suggests that although written advice provided by community pharmacists in comparison to verbal advice was more effective in improving knowledge and understanding of patients about hypertension and its treatment, it did not lead to better blood pressure control
Serum proteins and paraproteins in women with silicone implants and connective tissue disease: a caseâcontrol study
Prior studies have suggested abnormalities of serum proteins, including paraproteins, in women with silicone implants but did not control for the presence of connective-tissue disease (CTD). This retrospective caseâcontrol study, performed in tertiary-care academic centers, assessed possible alterations of serum proteins, including paraproteins, in such a population. Seventy-four women with silicone implants who subsequently developed CTD, and 74 age-matched and CTD-matched women without silicone implants, were assessed in the primary study; other groups were used for additional comparisons. Routine serum protein determinations and high-sensitivity protein electrophoresis and immunofixation electrophoresis were performed for detection of paraproteins. Women with silicone implants, either with or without CTD, had significantly lower serum total protein and α1-globulin, α2-globulin, ÎČ-globulin, Îł-globulin, and IgG levels compared with those without silicone implants. There was no significant difference, however, in the frequency of paraproteinemia between women with silicone implants and CTD (9.5%) and age-matched and CTD-matched women without silicone implants (5.4%) (odds ratio, 1.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.51â6.45). Paraprotein isotypes were similar in the two groups, and the clinical characteristics of the 13 women with paraproteinemia were comparable with an independent population of 10 women with silicone breast implants, CTD, and previously diagnosed monoclonal gammopathies. In summary, this first comprehensive study of serum proteins in women with silicone implants and CTD found no substantially increased risk of monoclonal gammopathy. Women with silicone implants, however, had unexpectedly low serum globulin and immunoglobulin levels, with or without the subsequent development of CTD. The causes and clinical implications of these findings require further investigation
Cascading RG Flows from New Sasaki-Einstein Manifolds
In important recent developments, new Sasaki-Einstein spaces and
conformal gauge theories dual to have been constructed.
We consider a stack of N D3-branes and M wrapped D5-branes at the apex of a
cone over . Replacing the D-branes by their fluxes, we construct
asymptotic solutions for all p and q in the form of warped products of the cone
and . We show that they describe cascading RG flows where N decreases
logarithmically with the scale. The warp factor, which we determine explicitly,
is a function of the radius of the cone and one of the coordinates on
. We describe the RG cascades in the dual quiver gauge theories, and
find an exact agreement between the supergravity and the field theory beta
functions. We also discuss certain dibaryon operators and their dual wrapped
D3-branes in the conformal case M=0.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures; v2 minor corrections; v3 refs, orbifold
discussion added; v4 more ref
On the Beaming of Gluonic Fields at Strong Coupling
We examine the conditions for beaming of the gluonic field sourced by a heavy
quark in strongly-coupled conformal field theories, using the AdS/CFT
correspondence. Previous works have found that, contrary to naive expectations,
it is possible to set up collimated beams of gluonic radiation despite the
strong coupling. We show that, on the gravity side of the correspondence, this
follows directly (for arbitrary quark motion, and independently of any
approximations) from the fact that the string dual to the quark remains
unexpectedly close to the AdS boundary whenever the quark moves
ultra-relativistically. We also work out the validity conditions for a related
approximation scheme that proposed to explain the beaming effect though the
formation of shock waves in the bulk fields emitted by the string. We find that
these conditions are fulfilled in the case of ultra-relativistic uniform
circular motion that motivated the proposal, but unfortunately do not hold for
much more general quark trajectories.Comment: 1+33 pages, 2 figure
Thermodynamics and Instabilities of a Strongly Coupled Anisotropic Plasma
We extend our analysis of a IIB supergravity solution dual to a spatially
anisotropic finite-temperature N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma. The solution is
static, possesses an anisotropic horizon, and is completely regular. The full
geometry can be viewed as a renormalization group flow from an AdS geometry in
the ultraviolet to a Lifshitz-like geometry in the infrared. The anisotropy can
be equivalently understood as resulting from a position-dependent theta-term or
from a non-zero number density of dissolved D7-branes. The holographic stress
tensor is conserved and anisotropic. The presence of a conformal anomaly plays
an important role in the thermodynamics. The phase diagram exhibits homogeneous
and inhomogeneous (i.e. mixed) phases. In some regions the homogeneous phase
displays instabilities reminiscent of those of weakly coupled plasmas. We
comment on similarities with QCD at finite baryon density and with the
phenomenon of cavitation.Comment: 62 pages, 13 figures; v2: typos fixed, added reference
Early-Time Energy Loss in a Strongly-Coupled SYM Plasma
We carry out an analytic study of the early-time motion of a quark in a
strongly-coupled maximally-supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma, using the AdS/CFT
correspondence. Our approach extracts the first thermal effects as a small
perturbation of the known quark dynamics in vacuum, using a double expansion
that is valid for early times and for (moderately) ultrarelativistic quark
velocities. The quark is found to lose energy at a rate that differs
significantly from the previously derived stationary/late-time result: it
scales like T^4 instead of T^2, and is associated with a friction coefficient
that is not independent of the quark momentum. Under conditions representative
of the quark-gluon plasma as obtained at RHIC, the early energy loss rate is a
few times smaller than its late-time counterpart. Our analysis additionally
leads to thermally-corrected expressions for the intrinsic energy and momentum
of the quark, in which the previously discovered limiting velocity of the quark
is found to appear naturally.Comment: 39 pages, no figures. v2: Minor corrections and clarifications.
References added. Version to be published in JHE
Towards key-frame extraction methods for 3D video: a review
The increasing rate of creation and use of 3D video content leads to a pressing need for methods capable of lowering
the cost of 3D video searching, browsing and indexing operations, with improved content selection performance.
Video summarisation methods specifically tailored for 3D video content fulfil these requirements. This paper presents
a review of the state-of-the-art of a crucial component of 3D video summarisation algorithms: the key-frame
extraction methods. The methods reviewed cover 3D video key-frame extraction as well as shot boundary detection
methods specific for use in 3D video. The performance metrics used to evaluate the key-frame extraction methods
and the summaries derived from those key-frames are presented and discussed. The applications of these methods
are also presented and discussed, followed by an exposition about current research challenges on 3D video
summarisation methods
Can atopic eczema and psoriasis coexist? A systematic review and metaâanalysis
Importance: Previous studies report both co-existence and mutual exclusivity of atopic eczema (AE) and psoriasis, but these have not been appraised systematically. Knowledge of such disease association throws light on disease mechanisms and may influence therapeutic choices. Objective: To summarise evidence for AE and psoriasis occurring in the same person at the same point in time. Planned primary outcome was the incidence, prevalence or risk of psoriasis or eczema. Methods: Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid Embase were searched from inception to 1st February 2020. The search strategy was built around the key terms âatopic eczemaâ, âpsoriasisâ and âco-existenceâ. Observational studies (cohort, case-control, cross-sectional and case-series) with a minimum of 10 consecutive patients. There were no restrictions on participants, geography or language. Studies were selected, data extracted and critically appraised independently by two reviewers. Data were extracted on the method of diagnosis: health professional (dermatologist, criteria, other), self-reported, not specified. Study quality was assessed using the validated Joanna Briggâs Institute critical appraisal tool. A random-effects model was used to combine studies. Results: This review included 31 studies and 20 523 individuals with psoriasis and 1, 405 911 with AE. Eight studies reported the prevalence of AE in those with psoriasis and values ranged from 0.17% to 20%: the pooled prevalence was 2% (95%CI 1, 3). Seven studies reported the prevalence of psoriasis in those with AE and values ranged from 0.3% to 12.6%; the pooled prevalence was 2% (95%CI 1, 3). Ten studies were assessed as low risk of bias. Geographical area, method of diagnosis, setting and whether the assessment of diagnosis was blinded partly contributed to the heterogeneity. Conclusions This review provides some evidence for the co-existence of AE and psoriasis. Clinicians should be aware of co-existence at diagnosis, when selecting therapies and when reviewing poor response to treatment
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