15,980 research outputs found
Expansion coefficient of the pseudo-scalar density using the gradient flow in lattice QCD
We use the Yang-Mills gradient flow to calculate the pseudo-scalar expansion
coefficient . This quantity is a key ingredient to obtaining the
chiral condensate and strange quark content of the nucleon using the Lattice
QCD formulation, which can ultimately determine the spin independent (SI)
elastic cross section of dark matter models involving WIMP-nucleon
interactions. The goal, using the gradient flow, is to renormalize the chiral
condensate and the strange content of the nucleon without a power divergent
subtraction. Using Chiral symmetry and the small flow time expansion of the
gradient flow, the scalar density at zero flow time can be related to the
pseudo-scalar density at non zero flow time. By computing the flow time
dependance of the pseudo-scalar density over multiple lattices box sizes,
lattice spacings and pion masses, we can obtain the scalar density of the
nucleon. Our lattice ensembles are , PCAC-CS gauge field
configurations, varying over ~MeV at
~fm, with additional ensembles that vary ~fm at ~MeV
Combined Relativistic and static analysis for all Delta B=2 operators
We analyse matrix elements of Delta B=2 operators by combining QCD results
with the ones obtained in the static limit of HQET. The matching of all the QCD
operators to HQET is made at NLO order. To do that we have to include the
anomalous dimension matrix up to two loops, both in QCD and HQET, and the one
loop matching for all the Delta B=2 operators. The matrix elements of these
operators are relevant for the prediction of the B-\bar B mixing, B_s meson
width difference and supersymmetric effects in Delta B=2 transitions.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. Lattice2001(heavyquark
Sensitivity analysis of the solar rotation to helioseismic data from GONG, GOLF and MDI observations
Accurate determination of the rotation rate in the radiative zone of the sun
from helioseismic observations requires rotational frequency splittings of
exceptional quality as well as reliable inversion techniques. We present here
inferences based on mode parameters calculated from 2088-days long MDI, GONG
and GOLF time series that were fitted to estimate very low frequency rotational
splittings (nu < 1.7 mHz). These low frequency modes provide data of
exceptional quality, since the width of the mode peaks is much smaller than the
rotational splitting and hence it is much easier to separate the rotational
splittings from the effects caused by the finite lifetime and the stochastic
excitation of the modes. We also have implemented a new inversion methodology
that allows us to infer the rotation rate of the radiative interior from mode
sets that span l=1 to 25. Our results are compatible with the sun rotating like
a rigid solid in most of the radiative zone and slowing down in the core (R_sun
< 0.2). A resolution analysis of the inversion was carried out for the solar
rotation inverse problem. This analysis effectively establishes a direct
relationship between the mode set included in the inversion and the sensitivity
and information content of the resulting inferences. We show that such an
approach allows us to determine the effect of adding low frequency and low
degree p-modes, high frequency and low degree p-modes, as well as some g-modes
on the derived rotation rate in the solar radiative zone, and in particular the
solar core. We conclude that the level of uncertainties that is needed to infer
the dynamical conditions in the core when only p-modes are included is unlikely
to be reached in the near future, and hence sustained efforts are needed
towards the detection and characterization of g-modes.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical journal. 15 pages, 19
figure
Comparative long-term evaluation of tacrolimus and cyclosporine in pediatric liver transplantation
Background. In this report, we compare the long-term outcome of pediatric liver transplantation (LTx) patients maintained with tacrolimus-based and with cyclosporine (CsA)-based immunosuppressive therapy. We examine long-term patient and graft survival, the incidence of rejection, and immunosuppression-related complications. Method. There were 233 consecutive primary LTx in children (ages <18 years) performed between October 1989 and December 1994 with tacrolimus-based immunosuppressive therapy (Group I). These were compared with 120 consecutive primary LTx performed with CsA-based immunosuppressive therapy between January 1988 and October 1989(Group II). Children in both groups were followed until July 1999. Mean follow-up was 91.41±17.7 months (range 55.6-117.8) for Group I, and 128±6.1 months (range 116.7-138.6) for Group II. Results. At 9 years of follow-up, actuarial patient and graft survival were significantly improved (patient survival 85.4% in Group I vs. 63.8% in Group II, P=0.0001; graft survival Group I 78.9% vs. 60.8% Group II, P=0.0003) and the rate of re -transplantation was significantly lower among patients in Group I (12% in Group I vs. 22.5% in Group II P=0.01). Children in Group I also experienced a significantly reduced incidence of acute rejection (0.97 per patient Group I vs. 1.5 per patient Group II P=0.002) and significantly less steroid resistant acute rejection episodes (3.1% in Group I vs. 8.6% in Group II P=0.0001). The mean steroid dose was significantly lower in Group I compared with Group II at all time points (P=0.0001) after LTx. Freedom from steroid was also significantly higher in Group I compared with Group H at all time points after LTx (ranging from 78% to 84% in Group I and 9% to 32% in Group H during a 1- to 7-year posttransplant period P=0.0001). The rate of hypertension was significantly lower in Group I than Group II (P=0.0001), and the severity of hypertension (need for more than one anti-hypertensive medication) was also significantly lower in Group I than Group II (P=0.0001). Although the rate of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) was not significantly different (13.7% Group I vs.8.3% Group II, P=0.13), the survival after PTLD was significantly better for Group I at 81.2% than for Group II at 50% after 5 years (P=0.034). Conclusion. The results suggest that tacrolimus-based therapy provides significant long-term benefit to pediatric LTx patients, evidenced by significantly improved patient and graft survival, reduced rate of rejection, and hypertension with lower steroid doses
The current status of hepatic transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh.
Tacrolimus is a more potent and satisfactory immunosuppressant than CyA for combination therapy with prednisone. In randomized trials comparing the 2 drugs, the ability of tacrolimus to rescue intractably rejecting grafts on the competing CyA arm allowed equalization of patient and graft survival on both arms when the intent-to-treat analytic methodology was applied. The ability of tacrolimus to systematically rescue the treatment failures of CyA suggested, as a matter of common sense, that it is the preferred baseline drug for hepatic transplantation. This conclusion was supported by analysis of secondary end points, including the ability to prevent rejection. Hepatic-intestinal, multivisceral and isolated intestinal transplantation became feasible on a practical basis only after the advent of tacrolimus. Nevertheless, better management strategies must be devised before intestinal transplantation, alone or with other abdominal viscera, will meet its potential. One such strategy is based on the discovery of the presence of previously unsuspected, low-level donor leukocyte chimerism in long-surviving allograft recipients. We believe that this chimerism is the essential explanation for the feasibility of organ transplantation and a link to the acquired neonatal tolerance demonstrated by Billingham, Brent and Medawar (32). The hematolymphopoietic chimerism in organ recipients explains why weaning to a drug-free state in selected long-term survivors is frequently feasible and particularly if the allograft is a liver. Weaning should never be attempted without a stepwise protocol and careful monitoring of graft function. Recognition of the natural chimerism that develops after whole organ transplantation has led to efforts to augment it with perioperative donor BM infusion. This procedure has been shown to be free of significant complications (including GVHD) in all kinds of whole organ recipients, including those given intestine. The prospects of clinical xenotransplantation must be evaluated in the same context of chimerism as that delineated for allotransplantation with the discovery of spontaneous chimerism. Before addressing chimerism-related questions in xenotransplantation, the additional barrier of the complement activation syndromes that cause hyperacute rejection will have to be surmounted. Although measures to effectively transplant xenografts have so far eluded us, the availability of the more potent drug, tacrolimus, and recognition of the seminal basis of allograft (or xenograft) acceptance via chimerism has inserted an element of reality into the largely wishful thinking that has been evident in discussions about the future of xenotransplantation
PAV ontology: provenance, authoring and versioning
Provenance is a critical ingredient for establishing trust of published
scientific content. This is true whether we are considering a data set, a
computational workflow, a peer-reviewed publication or a simple scientific
claim with supportive evidence. Existing vocabularies such as DC Terms and the
W3C PROV-O are domain-independent and general-purpose and they allow and
encourage for extensions to cover more specific needs. We identify the specific
need for identifying or distinguishing between the various roles assumed by
agents manipulating digital artifacts, such as author, contributor and curator.
We present the Provenance, Authoring and Versioning ontology (PAV): a
lightweight ontology for capturing just enough descriptions essential for
tracking the provenance, authoring and versioning of web resources. We argue
that such descriptions are essential for digital scientific content. PAV
distinguishes between contributors, authors and curators of content and
creators of representations in addition to the provenance of originating
resources that have been accessed, transformed and consumed. We explore five
projects (and communities) that have adopted PAV illustrating their usage
through concrete examples. Moreover, we present mappings that show how PAV
extends the PROV-O ontology to support broader interoperability.
The authors strived to keep PAV lightweight and compact by including only
those terms that have demonstrated to be pragmatically useful in existing
applications, and by recommending terms from existing ontologies when
plausible.
We analyze and compare PAV with related approaches, namely Provenance
Vocabulary, DC Terms and BIBFRAME. We identify similarities and analyze their
differences with PAV, outlining strengths and weaknesses of our proposed model.
We specify SKOS mappings that align PAV with DC Terms.Comment: 22 pages (incl 5 tables and 19 figures). Submitted to Journal of
Biomedical Semantics 2013-04-26 (#1858276535979415). Revised article
submitted 2013-08-30. Second revised article submitted 2013-10-06. Accepted
2013-10-07. Author proofs sent 2013-10-09 and 2013-10-16. Published
2013-11-22. Final version 2013-12-06.
http://www.jbiomedsem.com/content/4/1/3
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