2,724 research outputs found
Analysis of broadband microwave conductivity and permittivity measurements of semiconducting materials
We perform broadband phase sensitive measurements of the reflection
coefficient from 45 MHz up to 20 GHz employing a vector network analyzer with a
2.4 mm coaxial sensor which is terminated by the sample under test. While the
material parameters (conductivity and permittivity) can be easily extracted
from the obtained impedance data if the sample is metallic, no direct solution
is possible if the material under investigation is an insulator. Focusing on
doped semiconductors with largely varying conductivity, here we present a
closed calibration and evaluation procedure for frequencies up to 5 GHz, based
on the rigorous solution for the electromagnetic field distribution inside the
sample combined with the variational principle; basically no limiting
assumptions are necessary. A simple static model based on the electric current
distribution proves to yield the same frequency dependence of the complex
conductivity up to 1 GHz. After a critical discussion we apply the developed
method to the hopping transport in Si:P at temperature down to 1 K.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal of
Applied Physic
Tuberculous dactylitis—an easily missed diagnosis
The prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) continues to rise worldwide. Current migration patterns and increased travel to high-prevalence TB countries will result in more frequent presentations of less common forms of TB. Tuberculous dactylitis, a form of tuberculous osteomyelitis, is well recognised in countries with a high prevalence of TB. We provide a systematic review of all published cases of tuberculous dactylitis in children and adolescents and describe a case to illustrate the typical features of the disease. Our review revealed 37 cases of tuberculous dactylitis in children and adolescents, all reported in the last 17years. Children less than 10 years of age are most frequently affected and the hand is the most commonly affected site. Concurrent pulmonary TB is present in a fifth of cases and systemic symptoms are usually absent. Positive TST and IGRA support the presumptive diagnosis, but cannot be used as rule-out tests. The definitive diagnosis relies on the detection M. tuberculosis by PCR or culture. Treatment should comprise of a standard three to four drug anti-tuberculous regimen. The optimal treatment duration remains unknown. Surgery has a limited role in the treatment in general but may play a supportive role, and curettage of the cavity has been recommended for avascular lesion
Wegner-Wilson loops in string nets
We study the Wegner-Wilson loops in the string-net model of Levin and Wen in
the presence of a string tension. The latter is responsible for a phase
transition from a topological deconfined phase (weak tension) to a trivial
confined phase (strong tension). We analyze the behavior of all Wegner-Wilson
loops in both limiting cases for an arbitrary input theory of the string-net
model. Using a fluxon picture, we compute perturbatively the first
contributions to a perimeter law in the topological phase as a function of the
quantum dimensions. In the trivial phase, we find that Wegner-Wilson loops obey
a modified area law, in agreement with a recent mean-field approach.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published versio
Successful Cessation Programs that Reduce Comorbidity May Explain Surprisingly Low Smoking Rates Among Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
A recent, non-peer-reviewed meta-analysis suggests that smoking may reduce the risk of hospitalization with COVID-19 because the prevalence of smoking among hospitalized COVID-19 is less than that of the general population. However, there are alternative explanations for this phenomena based on (1) the failure to report, or accurately record, smoking history during emergency hospital admissions and (2) a pre-disposition to avoid smoking among COVID-19 patients with tobacco-related comorbidities (a type of “reverse” causation). For example, urine testing of hospitalized patients in Australia for cotinine showed that smokers were under-counted by 37% because incoming patients failed to inform staff about their smoking behavior. Face-to-face interviews can introduce bias into the responses to attitudinal and behavioral questions not present in the self-completion interviews typically used to measure smoking prevalence in the general population. Subjects in face-to-face interviews may be unwilling to admit socially undesirable behavior and attitudes under direct questioning. Reverse causation may also contribute to the difference between smoking prevalence in the COVID-19 and general population. Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 may be simply less prone to use tobacco than the general population. A potentially robust “reverse causation” hypothesis for reduced prevalence of smokers in the COVID-19 population is the enrichment of patients in that population with serious comorbidities that motivates them to quit smoking. We judge that this “smoking cessation” mechanism may account for a significant fraction of the reduced prevalence of smokers in the COVID-19 population. Testing this hypothesis will require a focused research program
Mitochondrial effects of dexamethasone imply both membrane and cytosolic-initiated pathways in HepG2 cells
Glucocorticoid treatment is often linked to increased whole-body energy expenditure and hypermetabolism. Glucocorticoids affect mitochondrial energy production, notably in the liver, where they lead to mitochondrial uncoupling reducing the efficacy of oxidative phosphorylation. However, the signaling pathways involved in these phenomena are poorly understood. Here we treated HepG2 cells with dexamethasone for different times and, by using different combinations of inhibitors, we showed that dexamethasone treatment leads to recruitment of two main signaling pathways. The first one involves a G-protein coupled membrane glucocorticoid binding site and rapidly decreases complexes I and II activities while complex III activity is upregulated in a p38MAPK dependent mechanism. The second one implies the classical cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor and triggers long-term transcriptional increases of respiration rates and of complex IV activity and quantity. We concluded that mitochondria are the target of multiple dexamethasone-induced regulatory pathways that are set up gradually after the beginning of hormone exposure and that durably influence mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation
Supersymmetric Quantum Chromodynamics: How Confined Non-Abelian Monopoles Emerge from Quark Condensation
We consider N =1 supersymmetric QCD with the gauge group U(N) and N_f=N quark
flavors. To get rid of flat directions we add a meson superfield. The theory
has no adjoint fields and, therefore, no 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles in the
quasiclassical limit. We observe a non-Abelian Meissner effect: condensation of
color charges (squarks) gives rise to confined monopoles. The very fact of
their existence in N =1 supersymmetric QCD without adjoint scalars was not
known previously. Our analysis is analytic and is based on the fact that the N
=1 theory under consideration can be obtained starting from N =2 SQCD in which
the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles do exist, through a certain limiting procedure
allowing us to track the status of these monopoles at various stages. Monopoles
are confined by BPS non-Abelian strings (flux tubes). Dynamics of string
orientational zero modes are described by supersymmetric CP(N-1) sigma model on
the string world sheet. If a dual of N =1 SQCD with the gauge group U(N) and
N_f=N quark flavors could be identified, in this dual theory our demonstration
would be equivalent to the proof of the non-Abelian dual Meissner effect.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures. V2 reference and a brief comment added; typos
corrected. V3 two comments added; final version accepted for publication to
PR
A Note on Domain Walls and the Parameter Space of N=1 Gauge Theories
We study the spectrum of BPS domain walls within the parameter space of N=1
U(N) gauge theories with adjoint matter and a cubic superpotential. Using a low
energy description obtained by compactifying the theory on R^3 x S^1, we
examine the wall spectrum by combining direct calculations at special points in
the parameter space with insight drawn from the leading order potential between
minimal walls, i.e those interpolating between adjacent vacua. We show that the
multiplicity of composite BPS walls -- as characterised by the CFIV index --
exhibits discontinuities on marginal stability curves within the parameter
space of the maximally confining branch. The structure of these marginal
stability curves for large N appears tied to certain singularities within the
matrix model description of the confining vacua.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, 6 eps figures; v2: references adde
TORC1 phosphorylates and inhibits the ribosome preservation factor Stm1 to activate dormant ribosomes
Target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) promotes biogenesis and inhibits degradation of ribosomes in response to nutrient availability. To ensure a basal supply of ribosomes, cells preserve a small pool of dormant ribosomes under nutrient-limited conditions. The regulation of dormant ribosomes is poorly characterized. Here, we show that upon inhibition of TORC1 by rapamycin or nitrogen starvation, Stm1 (suppressor of target of Myb protein 1) forms non-translating, dormant 80S ribosomes. Furthermore, Stm1-bound 80S ribosomes are protected from proteasomal degradation. Upon re-feeding, TORC1 directly phosphorylates and inhibits Stm1, thereby reactivating translation. Finally, SERBP1 (SERPINE1 mRNA binding protein), a mammalian ortholog of Stm1, forms dormant 80S ribosomes upon mTORC1 inhibition in mammalian cells. Thus, TORC1 regulates ribosomal dormancy in an evolutionarily conserved manner via a ribosome preservation factor
Period Integrals, Quantum Numbers and Confinement in SUSY QCD
We present a direct computation of the period integrals on degenerate
Seiberg-Witten curves for supersymmetric QCD, and show how these periods
determine the changes in the quantum numbers of the states, when passing from
the weak to the strong-coupling domains in the mass moduli space of the theory.
The confinement of monopoles at strong coupling is discussed, and we
demonstrate that the ambiguities in choosing the way in the moduli space do not
influence to the physical conclusions on confinement of monopoles in the phase
with the condensed light dyons.Comment: 16 pages, contribution to special volume on Integrable Systems in
Quantum Theor
The effects of socioeconomic status and indices of physical environment on reduced birth weight and preterm births in Eastern Massachusetts
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Air pollution and social characteristics have been shown to affect indicators of health. While use of spatial methods to estimate exposure to air pollution has increased the power to detect effects, questions have been raised about potential for confounding by social factors.Methods: A study of singleton births in Eastern Massachusetts was conducted between 1996 and 2002 to examine the association between indicators of traffic, land use, individual and area-based socioeconomic measures (SEM), and birth outcomes ( birth weight, small for gestational age and preterm births), in a two-level hierarchical model.Results: We found effects of both individual ( education, race, prenatal care index) and area-based ( median household income) SEM with all birth outcomes. The associations for traffic and land use variables were mainly seen with birth weight, with an exception for an effect of cumulative traffic density on small for gestational age. Race/ethnicity of mother was an important predictor of birth outcomes and a strong confounder for both area-based SEM and indices of physical environment. The effects of traffic and land use differed by level of education and median household income.Conclusion: Overall, the findings of the study suggested greater likelihood of reduced birth weight and preterm births among the more socially disadvantaged, and a greater risk of reduced birth weight associated with traffic exposures. Results revealed the importance of controlling simultaneously for SEM and environmental exposures as the way to better understand determinants of health.This work is supported by the Harvard Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Center,
Grants R827353 and R-832416, and National Institute for Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) ES-0002
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