3,773 research outputs found
Successful Management of a Patient with Florid Diabetic Retinopathy
Florid diabetic retinopathy is an unusual, aggressive type of diabetic retinopathy. It is seen in young patients with poor metabolic control. Despite advances in treatment the overall prognosis of this condition remains poor. A 21-year old female patient was seen by us and found to have florid diabetic retinopathy despite an adequate metabolic control by oral hypoglycemic agents. The patient underwent multiple laser and orbital floor triamcinolone acetonide injections. Later the left eye developed persistent vitreous hemorrhage for which a vitrectomy with silicone oil injection was done. During a 4 year follow-up she has shown a visually and anatomical stable response
Can the correlated stability conjecture be saved?
Correlated stability conjecture (CSC) proposed by Gubser and Mitra [1,2]
linked the thermodynamic and classical (in)stabilities of black branes. In [3]
it was shown that the thermodynamic instabilities, specifically the negative
specific heat, indeed result in the instabilities in the hydrodynamic spectrum
of holographically dual plasma excitations. Counter-examples of CSC were
presented in the context of black branes with scalar hair undergoing a
second-order phase transition [4,5]. The latter translationary invariant
horizons have scalar hair, raising the question whether the asymptotic
parameters of the scalar hair can be appropriately interpreted as additional
charges leading to a generalization of the thermodynamic stability criterion.
In this paper we show that the generalization of the thermodynamic stability
criterion of this type can not save CSC. We further present a simple
statistical model which makes it clear that thermodynamic and dynamical
(in)stabilities generically are not correlated.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; v2: JHEP versio
Jet quenching in shock waves
We study the propagation of an ultrarelativistic light quark jet inside a
shock wave using the holographic principle. The maximum stopping distance and
its dependency on the energy of the jet is obtained
Bosonic Fractionalisation Transitions
At finite density, charge in holographic systems can be sourced either by
explicit matter sources in the bulk or by bulk horizons. In this paper we find
bosonic solutions of both types, breaking a global U(1) symmetry in the former
case and leaving it unbroken in the latter. Using a minimal bottom-up model we
exhibit phase transitions between the two cases, under the influence of a
relevant operator in the dual field theory. We also embed solutions and
transitions of this type in M-theory, where, holding the theory at constant
chemical potential, the cohesive phase is connected to a neutral phase of
Schr\"odinger type via a z=2 QCP.Comment: references added. minor changes. version published in JHE
Predictors of Hospitals with Endemic Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify hospital characteristics associated with community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) carriage among inpatients. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Orange County, California. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty hospitals in a single county. METHODS: We collected clinical MRSA isolates from inpatients in 30 of 31 hospitals in Orange County, California, from October 2008 through April 2010. We characterized isolates by spa typing to identify CA-MRSA strains. Using California’s mandatory hospitalization data set, we identified hospital-level predictors of CA-MRSA isolation. RESULTS: CA-MRSA strains represented 1,033 (46%) of 2,246 of MRSA isolates. By hospital, the median percentage of CA-MRSA isolates was 46% (range, 14%–81%). In multivariate models, CA-MRSA isolation was associated with smaller hospitals (odds ratio [OR], 0.97, or 3% decreased odds of CA-MRSA isolation per 1,000 annual admissions; P < .001), hospitals with more Medicaid-insured patients (OR, 1.2; P = .002), and hospitals with more patients with low comorbidity scores (OR, 1.3; P < .001). Results were similar when restricted to isolates from patients with hospital-onset infection. CONCLUSIONS: Among 30 hospitals, CA-MRSA comprised nearly half of MRSA isolates. There was substantial variability in CA-MRSA penetration across hospitals, with more CA-MRSA in smaller hospitals with healthier but socially disadvantaged patient populations. Additional research is needed to determine whether infection control strategies can be successful in targeting CA-MRSA influx
New Insights into Properties of Large-N Holographic Thermal QCD at Finite Gauge Coupling at (the Non-Conformal/Next-to) Leading Order in N
In the context of [1]'s string theoretic dual of large-N thermal QCD-like
theories at finite gauge/string coupling (as part of the `MQGP' limit of [2]),
we discuss the following. First, up to LO in N, using the results of [3], we
show that the local T^3 of [2] is the T^2-invariant sLag of [3] in a resolved
conifold. This, together with the results of [4], shows that for a
(predominantly resolved or deformed) resolved warped deformed conifold, the
local T^3 of [2] in the MQGP limit, is the T^2-invariant sLag of [3] justifying
the construction of the delocalized SYZ type IIA mirror of the type IIB
background of [1]. Then, using the prescription of [5], we obtain the
temperature dependence of the thermal (and electrical) conductivity working up
to leading order in N (the number of D3-branes), and upon comparison with [6]
show that the results mimic a 1+1-dimensional Luttinger liquid with impurities.
Further, including sub-leading non-conformal terms in the metric determined by
M (the number of fractional D-branes = the number of colors = 3 in the IR after
the end of a Seiberg duality cascade), by looking at respectively the scalar,
vector and tensor modes of metric perturbations and using [7]'s prescription of
constructing appropriate gauge-invariant perturbations, we obtain respectively
the speed of sound, the diffusion constant and the shear viscosity \eta (and
\eta/s) including the non-conformal O((g_s M^2) (g_s N_f)/N<<1)-corrections,
N_f being the number of flavor D7-branes.Comment: 1+75 pages, LaTeX; Some corrections in Tc-related calculations,
results unchange
Central Asia and the globalisation of the contemporary legal consciousness
What is the logic which governs the processes of legal globalization? How does the transnational proliferation of legal forms operate in the contemporary geo-juridical space? What are the main defining characteristics of the currently dominant mode of transnational legal consciousness and how can the concept of legal consciousness help us understand better the historical ebb and flow of the Western-led projects of good governance promotion in regions like Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union? Using Duncan Kennedy’s seminal essay Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought as its starting platform, this essay seeks to explore these and a series of other related questions, while also drawing on the work of the Greek Marxist lawyer-philosopher Nicos Poulantzas to help elucidate some latent analytical stress-points in Kennedy’s broader theoretical framework. Reacting against the neo-Orientalist tone adopted across much of the contemporary field of Central Asian studies, it develops an alternative account of the internal history of the legal-globalizational encounter between the Western-based reform entrepreneurs and the national legal-political elites in Central Asia in the post-1991 period, complementing it with a detailed description of the general institutional and discursive structures within which this encounter took place
Form factors at strong coupling via a Y-system
We compute form factors in planar N=4 Super Yang-Mills at strong coupling.
Namely we consider the overlap between an operator insertion and 2n gluons.
Through the gauge/string duality these are given by minimal surfaces in AdS
space. The surfaces end on an infinite periodic sequence of null segments at
the boundary of AdS. We consider surfaces that can be embedded in AdS_3. We
derive set of functional equations for the cross ratios as functions of the
spectral parameter. These equations are of the form of a Y-system. The integral
form of the Y-system has Thermodynamics Bethe Ansatz form. The area is given by
the free energy of the TBA system or critical value of Yang-Yang functional. We
consider a restricted set of operators which have small conformal dimension
A microchip optomechanical accelerometer
The monitoring of accelerations is essential for a variety of applications
ranging from inertial navigation to consumer electronics. The basic operation
principle of an accelerometer is to measure the displacement of a flexibly
mounted test mass; sensitive displacement measurement can be realized using
capacitive, piezo-electric, tunnel-current, or optical methods. While optical
readout provides superior displacement resolution and resilience to
electromagnetic interference, current optical accelerometers either do not
allow for chip-scale integration or require bulky test masses. Here we
demonstrate an optomechanical accelerometer that employs ultra-sensitive
all-optical displacement read-out using a planar photonic crystal cavity
monolithically integrated with a nano-tethered test mass of high mechanical
Q-factor. This device architecture allows for full on-chip integration and
achieves a broadband acceleration resolution of 10 \mu g/rt-Hz, a bandwidth
greater than 20 kHz, and a dynamic range of 50 dB with sub-milliwatt optical
power requirements. Moreover, the nano-gram test masses used here allow for
optomechanical back-action in the form of cooling or the optical spring effect,
setting the stage for a new class of motional sensors.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Performance Analysis of Effective Methods for Solving Band Matrix SLAEs after Parabolic Nonlinear PDEs
This paper presents an experimental performance study of implementations of
three different types of algorithms for solving band matrix systems of linear
algebraic equations (SLAEs) after parabolic nonlinear partial differential
equations -- direct, symbolic, and iterative, the former two of which were
introduced in Veneva and Ayriyan (arXiv:1710.00428v2). An iterative algorithm
is presented -- the strongly implicit procedure (SIP), also known as the Stone
method. This method uses the incomplete LU (ILU(0)) decomposition. An
application of the Hotelling-Bodewig iterative algorithm is suggested as a
replacement of the standard forward-backward substitutions. The upsides and the
downsides of the SIP method are discussed. The complexity of all the
investigated methods is presented. Performance analysis of the implementations
is done using the high-performance computing (HPC) clusters "HybriLIT" and
"Avitohol". To that purpose, the experimental setup and the results from the
conducted computations on the individual computer systems are presented and
discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
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