Cascading RG Flows from New Sasaki-Einstein Manifolds

In important recent developments, new Sasaki-Einstein spaces $Y^{p,q}$ and conformal gauge theories dual to $AdS_5\times Y^{p,q}$ have been constructed. We consider a stack of N D3-branes and M wrapped D5-branes at the apex of a cone over $Y^{p,q}$. 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 $R^{3,1}$. 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 $Y^{p,q}$. 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

Refractive index in holographic superconductors

With the probe limit, we investigate the behavior of the electric permittivity and effective magnetic permeability and related optical properties in the s-wave holographic superconductors. In particular, our result shows that unlike the strong coupled systems which admit a gravity dual of charged black holes in the bulk, the electric permittivity and effective magnetic permeability are unable to conspire to bring about the negative Depine-Lakhtakia index at low frequencies, which implies that the negative phase velocity does not appear in the holographic superconductors under such a situation.Comment: JHEP style, 1+15 pages, 11 figures, version to appear in JHE

Analytic study of Gauss-Bonnet holographic superconductors in Born-Infeld electrodynamics

Using Sturm-Liouville (SL) eigenvalue problem, we investigate several properties of holographic s-wave superconductors in Gauss-Bonnet gravity with Born-Infeld electrodynamics in the probe limit. Our analytic scheme has been found to be in good agreement with the numerical results. From our analysis it is quite evident that the scalar hair formation at low temperatures is indeed affected by both the Gauss-Bonnet as well as the Born-Infeld coupling parameters. We also compute the critical exponent associated with the condensation near the critical temperature. The value of the critical exponent thus obtained indeed suggests a universal mean field behavior.Comment: 9 pages, Latex, minor modifications, To appear in JHE

On Weierstra{\ss} semigroups at one and two points and their corresponding Poincar\'e series

The aim of this paper is to introduce and investigate the Poincar\'e series associated with the Weierstra{\ss} semigroup of one and two rational points at a (not necessarily irreducible) non-singular projective algebraic curve defined over a finite field, as well as to describe their functional equations in the case of an affine complete intersection.Comment: Beginning of Section 3 and Subsection 3.1 were modifie

Prevention and Reversal of Antibody Responses Against Factor IX in Gene Therapy for Hemophilia B

Intramuscular (IM) administration of an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector represents a simple and safe method of gene transfer for treatment of the X-linked bleeding disorder hemophilia B (factor IX, F.IX, deficiency). However, the approach is hampered by an increased risk of immune responses against F.IX. Previously, we demonstrated that the drug cocktail of immune suppressants rapamycin, IL-10, and a specific peptide (encoding a dominant CD4+ T cell epitope) caused an induction of regulatory T cells (Treg) with a concomitant apoptosis of antigen-specific effector T cells (Nayak et al., 2009). This protocol was effective in preventing inhibitory antibody formation against human F.IX (hF.IX) in muscle gene transfer to C3H/HeJ hemophilia B mice (with targeted F9 gene deletion). Here, we show that this protocol can also be used to reverse inhibitor formation. IM injection of AAV1–hF.IX vector resulted in inhibitors of on average 8–10 BU within 1 month. Subsequent treatment with the tolerogenic cocktail accomplished a rapid reduction of hF.IX-specific antibodies to <2 BU, which lasted for >4.5 months. Systemic hF.IX expression increased from undetectable to >200 ng/ml, and coagulation times improved. In addition, we developed an alternative prophylactic protocol against inhibitor formation that did not require knowledge of T cell epitopes, consisting of daily oral administration of rapamycin for 1-month combined with frequent, low-dose intravenous injection of hF.IX protein. Experiments in T cell receptor transgenic mice showed that the route and dosing schedule of drug administration substantially affected Treg induction. When combined with intravenous antigen administration, oral delivery of rapamycin had to be performed daily in order to induce Treg, which were suppressive and phenotypically comparable to natural Treg

The Rich Structure of Gauss-Bonnet Holographic Superconductors

We study fully backreacting, Gauss-Bonnet (GB) holographic superconductors in 5 bulk spacetime dimensions. We explore the system's dependence on the scalar mass for both positive and negative GB coupling, $\alpha$. We find that when the mass approaches the Breitenlohner-Freedman (BF) bound and $\alpha\rightarrow L^2/4$ the effect of backreaction is to increase the critical temperature, $T_c$, of the system: the opposite of its effect in the rest of parameter space. We also find that reducing $\alpha$ below zero increases $T_c$ and that the effect of backreaction is diminished. We study the zero temperature limit, proving that this system does not permit regular solutions for a non-trivial, tachyonic scalar field and constrain possible solutions for fields with positive masses. We investigate singular, zero temperature solutions in the Einstein limit but find them to be incompatible with the concept of GB gravity being a perturbative expansion of Einstein gravity. We study the conductivity of the system, finding that the inclusion of backreaction hinders the development of poles in the conductivity that are associated with quasi-normal modes approaching the real axis from elsewhere in the complex plane.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, V3, Added discussion of non-tachyonic scalars, alterations to figures and tex

Holographic Superconductors with Power-Maxwell field

With the Sturm-Liouville analytical and numerical methods, we investigate the behaviors of the holographic superconductors by introducing a complex charged scalar field coupled with a Power-Maxwell field in the background of $d$-dimensional Schwarzschild AdS black hole. We note that the Power-Maxwell field takes the special asymptotical solution near boundary which is different from all known cases. We find that the larger power parameter $q$ for the Power-Maxwell field makes it harder for the scalar hair to be condensated. We also find that, for different $q$, the critical exponent of the system is still 1/2, which seems to be an universal property for various nonlinear electrodynamics if the scalar field takes the form of this paper.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, and 2 table

Black Hole Thermodynamics and Heavy Fermion Metals

Heavy fermion alloys at critical doping typically exhibit non-Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperatures, including a logarithmic or power law rise in the ratio of specific heat to temperature as the temperature is lowered. Anomalous specific heat of this type is also observed in a simple class of gravitational dual models that exhibit anisotropic scaling with dynamical critical exponent z > 1.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures; v2: added references; v3: matches published versio

Oral Tolerance Induction in Hemophilia B Dogs Fed with Transplastomic Lettuce

Anti-drug antibodies in hemophilia patients substantially complicate treatment. Their elimination through immune tolerance induction (ITI) protocols poses enormous costs, and ITI is often ineffective for factor IX (FIX) inhibitors. Moreover, there is no prophylactic ITI protocol to prevent anti-drug antibody (ADA) formation. Using general immune suppression is problematic. To address this urgent unmet medical need, we delivered antigen bioencapsulated in plant cells to hemophilia B dogs. Commercial-scale production of CTB-FIX fusion expressed in lettuce chloroplasts was done in a hydroponic facility. CTB-FIX (∼1 mg/g) in lyophilized cells was stable with proper folding, disulfide bonds, and pentamer assembly after 30-month storage at ambient temperature. Robust suppression of immunoglobulin G (IgG)/inhibitor and IgE formation against intravenous FIX was observed in three of four hemophilia B dogs fed with lyophilized lettuce cells expressing CTB-FIX. No side effects were detected after feeding CTB-FIX-lyophilized plant cells for >300 days. Coagulation times were markedly shortened by intravenous FIX in orally tolerized treated dogs, in contrast to control dogs that formed high-titer antibodies to FIX. Commercial-scale production, stability, prolonged storage of lyophilized cells, and efficacy in tolerance induction in a large, non-rodent model of human disease offer a novel concept for oral tolerance and low-cost production and delivery of biopharmaceuticals

Viewing Nature Scenes Positively Affects Recovery of Autonomic Function Following Acute-Mental Stress

A randomized crossover study explored whether viewing different scenes prior to a stressor altered autonomic function during the recovery from the stressor. The two scenes were (a) nature (composed of trees, grass, fields) or (b) built (composed of man-made, urban scenes lacking natural characteristics) environments. Autonomic function was assessed using noninvasive techniques of heart rate variability; in particular, time domain analyses evaluated parasympathetic activity, using root-mean-square of successive differences (RMSSD). During stress, secondary cardiovascular markers (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) showed significant increases from baseline which did not differ between the two viewing conditions. Parasympathetic activity, however, was significantly higher in recovery following the stressor in the viewing scenes of nature condition compared to viewing scenes depicting built environments (RMSSD; 50.0 ± 31.3 vs 34.8 ± 14.8 ms). Thus, viewing nature scenes prior to a stressor alters autonomic activity in the recovery period. The secondary aim was to examine autonomic function during viewing of the two scenes. Standard deviation of R-R intervals (SDRR), as change from baseline, during the first 5 min of viewing nature scenes was greater than during built scenes. Overall, this suggests that nature can elicit improvements in the recovery process following a stressor. © 2013 American Chemical Society