Effective Lagrangian and Quantum Screening in Charged Condensate

A condensate of charged scalars in a neutralizing background of fermions (e.g., condensed helium-4 nuclei in an electron background in white dwarf cores) is investigated further. We discuss an effective Lagrangian approach to this system and show that the strong screening of an electric charge found previously in arXiv:0806.3692 in a mean-field approximation, is a consequence of a cancellation due to a phonon. The resulting propagators contain terms that strongly modify their infrared behavior. Furthermore, we evaluate a one-loop fermion quantum correction to the screened potential, and find that it is also suppressed by the phonon subtraction. Therefore, charged impurities (e.g., hydrogen or helium-3 nuclei) will be screened efficiently by the condensate.Comment: 1+16 pages; v2: typos & minor improvements; v3: one reference and one footnote added; two comments streamline

Randomised clinical non-inferiority trial of breathing-based meditation and cognitive processing therapy for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans

Objective Test whether Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) was non-inferior to cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for treating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans via a parallel randomised controlled non-inferiority trial. Setting Outpatient Veterans Affairs healthcare centre. Participants 85 veterans (75 men, 61% white, mean age 56.9) with symptoms of PTSD participated between October 2015 and March 2020: 59 participants completed the study. Interventions SKY emphasises breathing routines and was delivered in group format in a 15-hour workshop followed by two 1-hour sessions per week for 5 weeks. CPT is an individual psychotherapy which emphasises shifting cognitive appraisals and was delivered in two 1-hour sessions per week for 6 weeks. Measures The primary outcome measure was the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). The secondary measures were the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Results Mean PCL-C at baseline was 56.5 (±12.6). Intent-to-treat analyses showed that PCL-C scores were reduced at 6 weeks (end of treatment) relative to baseline (SKY, −5.6, d=0.41, n=41: CPT, −6.8, d=0.58, n=44). The between-treatment difference in change scores was within the non-inferiority margin of 10 points (−1.2, 95% CI −5.7 to 3.3), suggesting SKY was not inferior to CPT. SKY was also non-inferior at 1-month (CPT–SKY: −2.1, 95% CI −6.9 to 2.8) and 1-year (CPT–SKY: −1.8, 95% CI −6.6 to 2.9) assessments. SKY was also non-inferior to CPT on the BDI-II and PANAS at end of treatment and 1 month, but SKY was inferior to CPT on both BDI-II and PANAS at 1 year. Dropout rates were similar (SKY, 27%, CPT, 34%: OR=1.36, 95% CI 0.51 to 3.62, p=0.54). Conclusions SKY may be non-inferior to CPT for treating symptoms of PTSD and merits further consideration as a treatment for PTSD

Palaeoproterozoic magnesite: lithological and isotopic evidence for playa/sabkha environments

Magnesite forms a series of 1- to 15-m-thick beds within the approximate to2.0 Ga (Palaeoproterozoic) Tulomozerskaya Formation, NW Fennoscandian Shield, Russia. Drillcore material together with natural exposures reveal that the 680-m-thick formation is composed of a stromatolite-dolomite-'red bed' sequence formed in a complex combination of shallow-marine and non-marine, evaporitic environments. Dolomite-collapse breccia, stromatolitic and micritic dolostones and sparry allochemical dolostones are the principal rocks hosting the magnesite beds. All dolomite lithologies are marked by delta C-13 values from +7.1 parts per thousand to +11.6 parts per thousand (V-PDB) and delta O-18 ranging from 17.4 parts per thousand to 26.3 parts per thousand (V-SMOW). Magnesite occurs in different forms: finely laminated micritic; stromatolitic magnesite; and structureless micritic, crystalline and coarsely crystalline magnesite. All varieties exhibit anomalously high delta C-13 values ranging from +9.0 parts per thousand to +11.6 parts per thousand and delta O-18 values of 20.0-25.7 parts per thousand. Laminated and structureless micritic magnesite forms as a secondary phase replacing dolomite during early diagenesis, and replaced dolomite before the major phase of burial. Crystalline and coarsely crystalline magnesite replacing micritic magnesite formed late in the diagenetic/metamorphic history. Magnesite apparently precipitated from sea water-derived brine, diluted by meteoric fluids. Magnesitization was accomplished under evaporitic conditions (sabkha to playa lake environment) proposed to be similar to the Coorong or Lake Walyungup coastal playa magnesite. Magnesite and host dolostones formed in evaporative and partly restricted environments; consequently, extremely high delta C-13 values reflect a combined contribution from both global and local carbon reservoirs. A C- 13-rich global carbon reservoir (delta C-13 at around +5 parts per thousand) is related to the perturbation of the carbon cycle at 2.0 Ga, whereas the local enhancement in C-13 (up to +12 parts per thousand) is associated with evaporative and restricted environments with high bioproductivity

On Isotropic Turbulence in the Dark Fluid Universe

As first part of this work, experimental information about the decay of isotropic turbulence in ordinary hydrodynamics, u^2(t) proportional to t^{-6/5}, is used as input in FRW equations in order to investigate how an initial fraction f of turbulent kinetic energy in the cosmic fluid influences the cosmological development in the late, quintessence/phantom, universe. First order perturbative theory to the first order in f is employed. It turns out that both in the Hubble factor, and in the energy density, the influence from the turbulence fades away at late times. The divergences in these quantities near the Big Rip behave essentially as in a non-turbulent fluid. However, for the scale factor, the turbulence modification turns out to diverge logarithmically. As second part of our work, we consider the full FRW equation in which the turbulent part of the dark energy is accounted for by a separate term. It is demonstrated that turbulence occurrence may change the future universe evolution due to dissipation of dark energy. For instance, phantom-dominated universe becomes asymptotically a de Sitter one in the future, thus avoiding the Big Rip singularity.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, significant revision. Matches published versio

FGFR4 regulates tumor subtype differentiation in luminal breast cancer and metastatic disease

Mechanisms driving tumor progression from less aggressive subtypes to more aggressive states represent key targets for therapy. We identified a subset of luminal A primary breast tumors that give rise to HER2-enriched (HER2E) subtype metastases, but remain clinically HER2 negative (cHER2-). By testing the unique genetic and transcriptomic features of these cases, we developed the hypothesis that FGFR4 likely participates in this subtype switching. To evaluate this, we developed 2 FGFR4 genomic signatures using a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model treated with an FGFR4 inhibitor, which inhibited PDX growth in vivo. Bulk tumor gene expression analysis and single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrated that the inhibition of FGFR4 signaling caused molecular switching. In the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) breast cancer cohort, FGFR4-induced and FGFR4-repressed signatures each predicted overall survival. Additionally, the FGFR4-induced signature was an independent prognostic factor beyond subtype and stage. Supervised analysis of 77 primary tumors with paired metastases revealed that the FGFR4-induced signature was significantly higher in luminal/ER+ tumor metastases compared with their primaries. Finally, multivariate analysis demonstrated that the FGFR4- induced signature also predicted site-specific metastasis for lung, liver, and brain, but not for bone or lymph nodes. These data identify a link between FGFR4-regulated genes and metastasis, suggesting treatment options for FGFR4-positive patients, whose high expression is not caused by mutation or amplification

Is prenatal diet associated with the composition of the vaginal microbiome?

Background: The vaginal microbiome has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, but information on the impact of diet on microbiome composition is largely unexamined. Objective: To estimate the association between prenatal diet and vaginal microbiota composition overall and by race. Methods: We leveraged a racially diverse prenatal cohort of North Carolina women enrolled between 1995 and 2001 to conduct this analysis using cross-sectional data. Women completed food frequency questionnaires about diet in the previous 3 months and foods were categorised into subgroups: fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, whole grains, low-fat dairy, sweetened beverages and red meat. We additionally assessed dietary vitamin D, fibre and yogurt consumption. Stored vaginal swabs collected in mid-pregnancy were sequenced using 16S taxonomic profiling. Women were categorised into three groups based on predominance of species: Lactobacillus iners, Lactobacillus miscellaneous and Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)-associated bacteria. Adjusted Poisson models with robust variance estimators were run to assess the risk of being in a specific vagitype compared to the referent. Race-stratified models (Black/White) were also run. Results: In this study of 634 women, higher consumption of dairy was associated with increased likelihood of membership in the L. crispatus group compared to the L. iners group in a dose-dependent manner (risk ratio quartile 4 vs. 1: 2.01, 95% confidence interval 1.36, 2.95). Increased intake of fruit, vitamin D, fibre and yogurt was also associated with increased likelihood of membership in L. crispatus compared to L. iners, but only among black women. Statistical heterogeneity was only detected for fibre intake. There were no detected associations between any other food groups or risk of membership in the BV group. Conclusions: Higher consumption of low-fat dairy was associated with increased likelihood of membership in a beneficial vagitype, potentially driven by probiotics

Just a guy in pajamas? Framing the blogs in mainstream US newspaper coverage (1999—2005)

When new technologies are introduced to the public, their widespread adoption is dependent, in part, on news coverage (Rogers, 1995).Yet, as weblogs began to play major role in the public spheres of politics and journalism, journalists faced a paradox: how to cover a social phenomenon that was too large to ignore and posed a significant threat to their profession. This article examines how blogs were framed by US newspapers as the public became more aware of the blogging world. A content analysis of blog-related stories in major US newspapers from 1999 to 2005 was conducted. Findings suggest that newspaper coverage framed blogs as more beneficial to individuals and small cohorts than to larger social entities such as politics, business and journalism. Moreover, only in the realm of journalism were blogs framed as more of a threat than a benefit, and rarely were blogs considered an actual form of journalism.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

The mammalian gene function resource: The International Knockout Mouse Consortium

In 2007, the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) made the ambitious promise to generate mutations in virtually every protein-coding gene of the mouse genome in a concerted worldwide action. Now, 5 years later, the IKMC members have developed highthroughput gene trapping and, in particular, gene-targeting pipelines and generated more than 17,400 mutant murine embryonic stem (ES) cell clones and more than 1,700 mutant mouse strains, most of them conditional. A common IKMC web portal (www.knockoutmouse.org) has been established, allowing easy access to this unparalleled biological resource. The IKMC materials considerably enhance functional gene annotation of the mammalian genome and will have a major impact on future biomedical research