Is body dysmorphic disorder associated with abnormal bodily self-awareness? A study using the rubber hand illusion.

Evidence from past research suggests that behaviours and characteristics related to body dissatisfaction may be associated with greater instability of perceptual body image, possibly due to problems in the integration of body-related multisensory information. We investigated whether people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a condition characterised by body image disturbances, demonstrated enhanced susceptibility to the rubber hand illusion (RHI), which arises as a result of multisensory integration processes when a rubber hand and the participant\u27s hidden real hand are stimulated in synchrony. Overall, differences in RHI experience between the BDD group and healthy and schizophrenia control groups (n = 17 in each) were not significant. RHI strength, however, was positively associated with body dissatisfaction and related tendencies. For the healthy control group, proprioceptive drift towards the rubber hand was observed following synchronous but not asynchronous stimulation, a typical pattern when inducing the RHI. Similar drifts in proprioceptive awareness occurred for the BDD group irrespective of whether stimulation was synchronous or not. These results are discussed in terms of possible abnormalities in visual processing and multisensory integration among people with BDD

Supersymmetric AdS_4 black holes and attractors

Using the general recipe given in arXiv:0804.0009, where all timelike supersymmetric solutions of N=2, D=4 gauged supergravity coupled to abelian vector multiplets were classified, we construct the first examples of genuine supersymmetric black holes in AdS_4 with nonconstant scalar fields. This is done for various choices of the prepotential, amongst others for the STU model. These solutions permit to study the BPS attractor flow in AdS. We also determine the most general supersymmetric static near-horizon geometry and obtain the attractor equations in gauged supergravity. As a general feature we find the presence of flat directions in the black hole potential, i.e., generically the values of the moduli on the horizon are not completely specified by the charges. For one of the considered prepotentials, the resulting moduli space is determined explicitely. Still, in all cases, we find that the black hole entropy depends only on the charges, in agreement with the attractor mechanism.Comment: 25 pages, uses JHEP3.cl

Down regulation of the high-affinity IgE receptor associated with successful treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria with omalizumab

Chronic idiopathic urticaria is a condition that is often controllable with antihistamine therapy. However, some patients have disease burden that is difficult to manage, non-responsive to antihistamines and often requires immunosuppressive medications such as corticosteroids or cyclosporine. We present here a study that demonstrates the effectiveness of omalizumab in treating this condition and the temporal relationship between improvement and down regulation of the high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI). For this, blood samples were obtained from a symptomatic patient before each treatment and processed for flow cytometric analysis of FcεRI levels on the surface of blood basophils. Down regulation of FcεRI was observed in association with significant clinical improvement and discontinuation of immunosuppressive medications

On Composite Two Higgs Doublet Models

We investigate composite two Higgs doublet models realized as pseudo Goldstone modes, generated through the spontaneous breaking of a global symmetry due to strong dynamic at the TeV scale. A detailed comparative survey of two possible symmetry breaking patterns, SU(5) -> SU(4) x U(1) and SU(5) x SU(4), is made. We point out choices for the Standard Model fermion representations that can alleviate some phenomenological constraints, with emphasis towards a simultaneous solution of anomalous Zb\bar{b} coupling and Higgs mediated Flavor Changing Neutral Currents. We also write down the kinetic lagrangian for several models leading to Two Higgs Doublets and identify the anomalous contributions to the T parameter. Moreover, we describe a model based on the breaking $SO(9)/SO(8)$ in which there is no tree-level breaking of custodial symmetry, discussing also the possible embeddings for the fermion fields.Comment: 17 pages. Mistake corrected, added one section on a T- and flavor safe model based on SO(9)/SO(8). Matches published versio

Limit Cycles in Four Dimensions

We present an example of a limit cycle, i.e., a recurrent flow-line of the beta-function vector field, in a unitary four-dimensional gauge theory. We thus prove that beta functions of four-dimensional gauge theories do not produce gradient flows. The limit cycle is established in perturbation theory with a three-loop calculation which we describe in detail.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. Significant revision of the interpretation of our result. Improved description of three-loop calculatio

Successful treatment with azithromycin and rifampicin of penicillin and cephalosporin insensitive pneumococcal osteomyelitis in a child with HIV infection: a case report

Pneumococcal infection is common in children with HIV infection, but osteomyelits is unusual. The best treatment for bone and joint infection due to antibiotic resistant pneumococci is not known, especially in immunocompromised children

Practical mammography

‘Digital health’ is an overarching concept that currently lacks theoretical definition and common terminology. For instance, this broad and emerging field includes all of the following terms within its lexicon: mHealth, Wireless Health, Health 2.0, eHealth, e-Patient(s), Healthcare IT/Health IT, Big Data, Health Data, Cloud Computing, Quantified Self, Wearable Computing, Gamification, and Telehealth/Telemedicine [1]. However, whilst a definition is difficult to provide, in this overview it is considered that digital health is the use of digital media to transform the way healthcare provision is conceived and delivered. We consider it does this through three basic features

Flavourful Production at Hadron Colliders

We ask what new states may lie at or below the TeV scale, with sizable flavour-dependent couplings to light quarks, putting them within reach of hadron colliders via resonant production, or in association with Standard Model states. In particular, we focus on the compatibility of such states with stringent flavour-changing neutral current and electric-dipole moment constraints. We argue that the broadest and most theoretically plausible flavour structure of the new couplings is that they are hierarchical, as are Standard Model Yukawa couplings, although the hierarchical pattern may well be different. We point out that, without the need for any more elaborate or restrictive structure, new scalars with "diquark" couplings to standard quarks are particularly immune to existing constraints, and that such scalars may arise within a variety of theoretical paradigms. In particular, there can be substantial couplings to a pair of light quarks or to one light and one heavy quark. For example, the latter possibility may provide a flavour-safe interpretation of the asymmetry in top quark production observed at the Tevatron. We thereby motivate searches for diquark scalars at the Tevatron and LHC, and argue that their discovery represents one of our best chances for new insight into the Flavour Puzzle of the Standard Model.Comment: 18 pp., 8 figures, references adde

Mapping the Distribution of Invasive Staphylococcus aureus across Europe

Franklin Lowy discusses a new study in PLoS Medicine in which the investigators developed an interactive tool for analyzing the spatial distribution of invasive Staphylococcus aureus

Impact of shortened crop rotation of oilseed rape on soil and rhizosphere microbial diversity in relation to yield decline

Oilseed rape (OSR) grown in monoculture shows a decline in yield relative to virgin OSR of up to 25%, but the mechanisms responsible are unknown. A long term field experiment of OSR grown in a range of rotations with wheat was used to determine whether shifts in fungal and bacterial populations of the rhizosphere and bulk soil were associated with the development of OSR yield decline. The communities of fungi and bacteria in the rhizosphere and bulk soil from the field experiment were profiled using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and sequencing of cloned internal transcribed spacer regions and 16S rRNA genes, respectively. OSR cropping frequency had no effect on rhizosphere bacterial communities. However, the rhizosphere fungal communities from continuously grown OSR were significantly different to those from other rotations. This was due primarily to an increase in abundance of two fungi which showed 100% and 95% DNA identity to the plant pathogens Olpidium brassicae and Pyrenochaeta lycopersici, respectively. Real-time PCR confirmed that there was significantly more of these fungi in the continuously grown OSR than the other rotations. These two fungi were isolated from the field and used to inoculate OSR and Brassica oleracea grown under controlled conditions in a glasshouse to determine their effect on yield. At high doses, Olpidium brassicae reduced top growth and root biomass in seedlings and reduced branching and subsequent pod and seed production. Pyrenochaeta sp. formed lesions on the roots of seedlings, and at high doses delayed flowering and had a negative impact on seed quantity and quality