1,886 research outputs found

    The Littlewood-Gowers problem

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    We show that if A is a subset of Z/pZ (p a prime) of density bounded away from 0 and 1 then the A(Z/pZ)-norm (that is the l^1-norm of the Fourier transform) of the characterstic function of A is bounded below by an absolute constant times (log p)^{1/2 - \epsilon} as p tends to infinity. This improves on the exponent 1/3 in recent work of Green and Konyagin.Comment: 31 pp. Corrected typos. Updated references

    Accelerator Design for the CHESS-U Upgrade

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    During the summer and fall of 2018 the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) is undergoing an upgrade to increase high-energy flux for x-ray users. The upgrade requires replacing one-sixth of the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), inverting the polarity of half of the CHESS beam lines, and switching to single-beam on-axis operation. The new sextant is comprised of six double-bend achromats (DBAs) with combined-function dipole-quadrupoles. Although the DBA design is widely utilized and well understood, the constraints for the CESR modifications make the CHESS-U lattice unique. This paper describes the design objectives, constraints, and implementation for the CESR accelerator upgrade for CHESS-U

    Laboratory Test Abnormalities are Common in Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis and Differ Among Clinical and Demographic Groups

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    Objective: Given the difficulties regarding the interpretation of common laboratory test results in polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) in clinical practice, we assessed their range of abnormalities, differences among phenotypes and interrelationships in a large referral population.Methods: We retrospectively assessed 20 commonly measured blood laboratory tests in 620 well-defined PM/DM patients at different stages of illness and treatment to determine the frequency, range of abnormalities and correlations among clinical, gender, racial and age phenotypes.Results: Myositis patients at various stages of their disease showed frequent elevations of the serum activities of creatine kinase (51%), alanine aminotransferase (43%), aspartate aminotransferase (51%), lactate dehydrogenase (60%), aldolase (65%) and myoglobin levels (48%) as expected. Other frequent abnormalities, however, included elevated high white blood cell counts (36%), low lymphocyte counts (37%), low hematocrit levels (29%), low albumin levels (22%), high creatine kinase MB isoenzyme fractions (52%), high erythrocyte sedimentation rates (33%) and high IgM and IgG levels (16% and 18%, respectively). Many of these tests significantly differed among the clinical, gender, racial and age groups. Significant correlations were also found among a number of these laboratory tests, particularly in the serum activity levels of creatine kinase, the transaminases, lactate dehydrogenase and aldolase.Conclusion: Laboratory test abnormalities are common in PM/DM. Knowledge of the range of these expected abnormalities in different myositis phenotypes, gender and age groups and their correlations should assist clinicians in better interpretation of these test results, allow for a clearer understanding what level of abnormality warrants further evaluation for liver or other diseases, and may avoid unnecessary laboratory or other testing

    A relativistically covariant version of Bohm's quantum field theory for the scalar field

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    We give a relativistically covariant, wave-functional formulation of Bohm's quantum field theory for the scalar field based on a general foliation of space-time by space-like hypersurfaces. The wave functional, which guides the evolution of the field, is space-time-foliation independent but the field itself is not. Hence, in order to have a theory in which the field may be considered a beable, some extra rule must be given to determine the foliation. We suggest one such rule based on the eigen vectors of the energy-momentum tensor of the field itself.Comment: 1 figure. Submitted to J Phys A. 20/05/04 replacement has additional references and a few minor changes made for clarity. Accepted by J Phys

    Role of cardiac energetics in aortic stenosis disease progression: identifying the high-risk metabolic phenotype

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    Background: Severe aortic stenosis (AS) is associated with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and cardiac metabolic alterations with evidence of steatosis and impaired myocardial energetics. Despite this common phenotype, there is an unexplained and wide individual heterogeneity in the degree of hypertrophy and progression to myocardial fibrosis and heart failure. We sought to determine whether the cardiac metabolic state may underpin this variability. Methods: We recruited 74 asymptomatic participants with AS and 13 healthy volunteers. Cardiac energetics were measured using phosphorus spectroscopy to define the myocardial phosphocreatine to adenosine triphosphate ratio. Myocardial lipid content was determined using proton spectroscopy. Cardiac function was assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance cine imaging. Results: Phosphocreatine/adenosine triphosphate was reduced early and significantly across the LV wall thickness quartiles (Q2, 1.50 [1.21–1.71] versus Q1, 1.64 [1.53–1.94]) with a progressive decline with increasing disease severity (Q4, 1.48 [1.18–1.70]; P=0.02). Myocardial triglyceride content levels were overall higher in all the quartiles with a significant increase seen across the AV pressure gradient quartiles (Q2, 1.36 [0.86–1.98] versus Q1, 1.03 [0.81–1.56]; P=0.034). While all AS groups had evidence of subclinical LV dysfunction with impaired strain parameters, impaired systolic longitudinal strain was related to the degree of energetic impairment (r=0.219; P=0.03). Phosphocreatine/adenosine triphosphate was not only an independent predictor of LV wall thickness (r=−0.20; P=0.04) but also strongly associated with myocardial fibrosis (r=−0.24; P=0.03), suggesting that metabolic changes play a role in disease progression. The metabolic and functional parameters showed comparable results when graded by clinical severity of AS. Conclusions: A gradient of myocardial energetic deficit and steatosis exists across the spectrum of hypertrophied AS hearts, and these metabolic changes precede irreversible LV remodeling and subclinical dysfunction. As such, cardiac metabolism may play an important and potentially causal role in disease progression

    Chimeric cells of maternal origin do not appear to be pathogenic in the juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies or muscular dystrophy.

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    INTRODUCTION: Microchimeric cells have been studied for over a decade, with conflicting reports on their presence and role in autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases. To determine whether microchimeric cells were pathogenic or mediating tissue repair in inflammatory myopathies, we phenotyped and quantified microchimeric cells in juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (JIIM), muscular dystrophy (MD), and noninflammatory control muscle tissues. METHOD: Fluorescence immunophenotyping for infiltrating cells with sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed on muscle biopsies from ten patients with JIIM, nine with MD and ten controls. RESULTS: Microchimeric cells were significantly increased in MD muscle (0.079 ± 0.024 microchimeric cells/mm(2) tissue) compared to controls (0.019 ± 0.007 cells/mm(2) tissue, p = 0.01), but not elevated in JIIM muscle (0.043 ± 0.015 cells/mm(2)). Significantly more CD4+ and CD8+ microchimeric cells were in the muscle of patients with MD compared with controls (mean 0.053 ± 0.020/mm(2) versus 0 ± 0/mm(2) p = 0.003 and 0.043 ± 0.023/mm(2) versus 0 ± 0/mm(2) p = 0.025, respectively). No differences in microchimeric cells between JIIM, MD, and noninflammatory controls were found for CD3+, Class II+, CD25+, CD45RA+, and CD123+ phenotypes, and no microchimeric cells were detected in CD20, CD83, or CD45RO populations. The locations of microchimeric cells were similar in all three conditions, with MD muscle having more microchimeric cells in perimysial regions than controls, and JIIM having fewer microchimeric muscle nuclei than MD. Microchimeric inflammatory cells were found, in most cases, at significantly lower proportions than autologous cells of the same phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: Microchimeric cells are not specific to autoimmune disease, and may not be important in muscle inflammation or tissue repair in JIIM
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