4,083 research outputs found

    Post‐traumatic stress disorder\u27s relation with positive and negative emotional avoidance: The moderating role of gender

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    Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by avoidance of trauma‐related emotions. Research indicates that this avoidance may extend to any emotional experience that elicits distress, including those that are unrelated to the trauma. Literature in this area has been limited in its exclusive focus on negative emotions. Despite evidence of gender differences in PTSD and emotional avoidance separately, no studies to date have examined gender as a moderator of their association. The goal of the current study was to extend research by exploring the moderating role of gender in the relation between PTSD symptom severity and positive and negative emotional avoidance. Participants were 276 trauma‐exposed individuals (65.9% female, 65.6% White, Mage = 19.24) from a university in the north‐eastern United States. Moderation results indicated a main effect for PTSD symptom severity on both positive (b = 0.07, p \u3c .001) and negative (b = 0.04, p = .03) emotional avoidance. The interaction of gender and PTSD symptom severity was significant for positive emotion avoidance (b = 0.97, p = .01). Analysis of simple slopes revealed that PTSD symptom severity was significantly associated with positive emotional avoidance for males (b = 0.13, p \u3c .001) but not females (b = 0.03, p = .08). Results suggest the importance of gender‐sensitive recommendations for assessment and treatment of emotional avoidance in PTSD

    On observability of Renyi's entropy

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    Despite recent claims we argue that Renyi's entropy is an observable quantity. It is shown that, contrary to popular belief, the reported domain of instability for Renyi entropies has zero measure (Bhattacharyya measure). In addition, we show the instabilities can be easily emended by introducing a coarse graining into an actual measurement. We also clear up doubts regarding the observability of Renyi's entropy in (multi--)fractal systems and in systems with absolutely continuous PDF's.Comment: 18 pages, 1 EPS figure, REVTeX, minor changes, accepted to Phys. Rev.

    Rapid detection and curation of conserved DNA via enhanced-BLAT and EvoPrinterHD analysis

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Multi-genome comparative analysis has yielded important insights into the molecular details of gene regulation. We have developed <it>EvoPrinter</it>, a web-accessed genomics tool that provides a single uninterrupted view of conserved sequences as they appear in a species of interest. An <it>EvoPrint </it>reveals with near base-pair resolution those sequences that are essential for gene function.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe here <it>EvoPrinterHD</it>, a 2<sup>nd</sup>-generation comparative genomics tool that automatically generates from a single input sequence an enhanced view of sequence conservation between evolutionarily distant species. Currently available for 5 nematode, 3 mosquito, 12 <it>Drosophila</it>, 20 vertebrate, 17 <it>Staphylococcus </it>and 20 enteric bacteria genomes, <it>EvoPrinterHD </it>employs a modified BLAT algorithm [<it>enhanced</it>-BLAT (<it>e</it>BLAT)], which detects up to 75% more conserved bases than identified by the BLAT alignments used in the earlier <it>EvoPrinter </it>program. The new program also identifies conserved sequences within rearranged DNA, highlights repetitive DNA, and detects sequencing gaps. <it>EvoPrinterHD </it>currently holds over 112 billion bp of indexed genomes in memory and has the flexibility of selecting a subset of genomes for analysis. An <it>EvoDifferences </it>profile is also generated to portray conserved sequences that are uniquely lost in any one of the orthologs. Finally, <it>EvoPrinterHD </it>incorporates options that allow for (1) re-initiation of the analysis using a different genome's aligning region as the reference DNA to detect species-specific changes in less-conserved regions, (2) rapid extraction and curation of conserved sequences, and (3) for bacteria, identifies unique or uniquely shared sequences present in subsets of genomes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>EvoPrinterHD </it>is a fast, high-resolution comparative genomics tool that automatically generates an uninterrupted species-centric view of sequence conservation and enables the discovery of conserved sequences within rearranged DNA. When combined with <it>cis</it>-Decoder, a program that discovers sequence elements shared among tissue specific enhancers, <it>EvoPrinterHD </it>facilitates the analysis of conserved sequences that are essential for coordinate gene regulation.</p

    Spectral Decorrelation of Nuclear Levels in the Presence of Continuum Decay

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    The fluctuation properties of nuclear giant resonance spectra are studied in the presence of continuum decay. The subspace of quasi-bound states is specified by one-particle one-hole and two-particle two-hole excitations and the continuum coupling is generated by a scattering ensemble. It is found that, with increasing number of open channels, the real parts of the complex eigenvalues quickly decorrelate. This appears to be related to the transition from power-law to exponential time behavior of the survival probability of an initially non-stationary state.Comment: 10 Pages, REVTEX, 4 PostScript figure

    Deformed Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble Analysis of the Interacting Boson Model

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    A Deformed Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (DGOE) which interpolates between the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble and a Poissonian Ensemble is constructed. This new ensemble is then applied to the analysis of the chaotic properties of the low lying collective states of nuclei described by the Interacting Boson Model (IBM). This model undergoes a transition order-chaos-order from the SU(3)SU(3) limit to the O(6)O(6) limit. Our analysis shows that the quantum fluctuations of the IBM Hamiltonian, both of the spectrum and the eigenvectors, follow the expected behaviour predicted by the DGOE when one goes from one limit to the other.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures (avaiable upon request), IFUSP/P-1086 Replaced version: in the previous version the name of one of the authors was omitte

    Spectral transitions in networks

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    We study the level spacing distribution p(s) in the spectrum of random networks. According to our numerical results, the shape of p(s) in the Erdos-Renyi (E-R) random graph is determined by the average degree , and p(s) undergoes a dramatic change when is varied around the critical point of the percolation transition, =1. When > 1, the p(s) is described by the statistics of the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (GOE), one of the major statistical ensembles in Random Matrix Theory, whereas at =1 it follows the Poisson level spacing distribution. Closely above the critical point, p(s) can be described in terms of an intermediate distribution between Poisson and the GOE, the Brody-distribution. Furthermore, below the critical point p(s) can be given with the help of the regularised Gamma-function. Motivated by these results, we analyse the behaviour of p(s) in real networks such as the Internet, a word association network and a protein protein interaction network as well. When the giant component of these networks is destroyed in a node deletion process simulating the networks subjected to intentional attack, their level spacing distribution undergoes a similar transition to that of the E-R graph.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

    Non-adiabatic Fast Control of Mixed States based on Lewis-Riesenfeld Invariant

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    We apply the inversely-engineered control method based on Lewis-Riesenfeld invariants to control mixed states of a two-level quantum system. We show that the inversely-engineered control passages of mixed states - and pure states as special cases - can be made significantly faster than the conventional adiabatic control passages, which renders the method applicable to quantum computation. We devise a new type of inversely-engineered control passages, to be coined the antedated control passages, which further speed up the control significantly. We also demonstrate that by carefully tuning the control parameters, the inversely-engineered control passages can be optimized in terms of speed and energy cost.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, version to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

    Continuous Equilibrium in Affine and Information-Based Capital Asset Pricing Models

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    We consider a class of generalized capital asset pricing models in continuous time with a finite number of agents and tradable securities. The securities may not be sufficient to span all sources of uncertainty. If the agents have exponential utility functions and the individual endowments are spanned by the securities, an equilibrium exists and the agents' optimal trading strategies are constant. Affine processes, and the theory of information-based asset pricing are used to model the endogenous asset price dynamics and the terminal payoff. The derived semi-explicit pricing formulae are applied to numerically analyze the impact of the agents' risk aversion on the implied volatility of simultaneously-traded European-style options.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure

    Matrix Elements of Random Operators and Discrete Symmetry Breaking in Nuclei

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    It is shown that several effects are responsible for deviations of the intensity distributions from the Porter-Thomas law. Among these are genuine symmetry breaking, such as isospin; the nature of the transition operator; truncation of the Hilbert space in shell model calculations and missing transitionsComment: 8 pages, 3 figure

    Autophagy of mucin granules contributes to resolution of airway mucous metaplasia

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    Abstract Exacerbations of muco-obstructive airway diseases such as COPD and asthma are associated with epithelial changes termed mucous metaplasia (MM). Many molecular pathways triggering MM have been identified; however, the factors that regulate resolution are less well understood. We hypothesized that the autophagy pathway is required for resolution of MM by eliminating excess non-secreted intracellular mucin granules. We found increased intracellular levels of mucins Muc5ac and Muc5b in mice deficient in autophagy regulatory protein, Atg16L1, and that this difference was not due to defects in the known baseline or stimulated mucin secretion pathways. Instead, we found that, in mucous secretory cells, Lc3/Lamp1 vesicles colocalized with mucin granules particularly adjacent to the nucleus, suggesting that some granules were being eliminated in the autophagy pathway rather than secreted. Using a mouse model of MM resolution, we found increased lysosomal proteolytic activity that peaked in the days after mucin production began to decline. In purified lysosomal fractions, Atg16L1-deficient mice had reduced proteolytic degradation of Lc3 and Sqstm1 and persistent accumulation of mucin granules associated with impaired resolution of mucous metaplasia. In normal and COPD derived human airway epithelial cells (AECs), activation of autophagy by mTOR inhibition led to a reduction of intracellular mucin granules in AECs. Our findings indicate that during peak and resolution phases of MM, autophagy activity rather than secretion is required for elimination of some remaining mucin granules. Manipulation of autophagy activation offers a therapeutic target to speed resolution of MM in airway disease exacerbations
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