Quantum Fields a la Sylvester and Witt

A structural explanation of the coupling constants in the standard model, i.e the fine structure constant and the Weinberg angle, and of the gauge fixing contributions is given in terms of symmetries and representation theory. The coupling constants are normalizations of Lorentz invariantly embedded little groups (spin and polarization) arising in a harmonic analysis of quantum vector fields. It is shown that the harmonic analysis of massless fields requires an extension of the familiar Fourier decomposition, containing also indefinite unitary nondecomposable time representations. This is illustrated by the nonprobabilistic contributions in the electromagnetic field.Comment: 18 pages LaTeX file (62 kB), all macros are include

Realizations of Causal Manifolds by Quantum Fields

Quantum mechanical operators and quantum fields are interpreted as realizations of timespace manifolds. Such causal manifolds are parametrized by the classes of the positive unitary operations in all complex operations, i.e. by the homogenous spaces \D(n)=\GL(\C^n_\R)/\U(n) with $n=1$ for mechanics and $n=2$ for relativistic fields. The rank $n$ gives the number of both the discrete and continuous invariants used in the harmonic analysis, i.e. two characteristic masses in the relativistic case. 'Canonical' field theories with the familiar divergencies are inappropriate realizations of the real 4-dimensional causal manifold \D(2). Faithful timespace realizations do not lead to divergencies. In general they are reducible, but nondecomposable - in addition to representations with eigenvectors (states, particle) they incorporate principal vectors without a particle (eigenvector) basis as exemplified by the Coulomb field.Comment: 36 pages, latex, macros include

Komplementäre Therapieverfahren in der Onkologie: Homöopathie

Zusammenfassung: Homöopathische Behandlungen werden in deutschsprachigen, aber auch in anderen Ländern von Krebspatienten häufig und z.T. über längere Zeiträume in Anspruch genommen. Prospektive Beobachtungsstudien zur Anwendung bei den verschiedensten Erkrankungen weisen in der Regel auf einen Nutzen der homöopathischen Behandlung hin. Die vorliegenden randomisierten Therapiestudien und deren Ergebnisse werden in den bisher publizierten Übersichtsarbeiten und Metaanalysen kontrovers beurteilt. Zur Anwendung bei Patienten mit einer Tumorerkrankung liegen bis heute nur relativ wenige wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen vor. Sie werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit dargestellt und diskutiert. Einzelne Studien zeigen günstige Effekte auf Nebenwirkungen antitumoraler Therapien sowie auf die Lebensqualität tumorkranker Patienten. Diese Ergebnisse bedürfen aber einer Replikation in methodisch angemessenen und aussagekräftigen Folgestudien. Zur Frage einer möglichen antitumoralen Wirksamkeit sind bisher keine vergleichenden Studien durchgeführt worden. In den derzeit publizierten Studien wurden keine ernsten unerwünschten Wirkungen und keine Interaktionen mit konventionellen antitumoralen Therapien berichte

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 2: Herbal medicine

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with herbal medicine. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of herbal medicines; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pre-tested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 79 potentially relevant reviews pre-selected in the screening process 58 met the inclusion criteria. Thirty of the reports reviewed ginkgo (for dementia, intermittent claudication, tinnitus, and macular degeneration), hypericum (for depression) or garlic preparations (for cardiovascular risk factors and lower limb atherosclerosis). The quality of primary studies was criticized in the majority of the reviews. Most reviews judged the available evidence as promising but definitive conclusions were rarely possible. Conclusions Systematic reviews are available on a broad range of herbal preparations prescribed for defined conditions. There is very little evidence on the effectiveness of herbalism as practised by specialist herbalists who combine herbs and use unconventional diagnosis

Potential psychosocial influences on gender differences in physical activity among Qatari adolescents: a first insight through descriptive observation

Adolescents in Qatar have some of the highest levels of inactivity and gender inequality in physical activity (PA) among all adolescents in the world. Contextual psychosocial influences remain unknown to date. The current study is a secondary analysis of 1,157 Qatari students (13 to 20 years of age) who completed a national cross-sectional survey. Males reported significantly higher daily PA than females (p < 0.0001) and increasing daily PA with personal importance for PA (p = 0.0140). However, compared to females, significantly higher proportion of daily active males were in the lowest level of self-efficacy (p = 0.0096), body shape satisfaction (p = 0.0003), likeness of body in pictures (p = 0.0011), and highest levels of psychological distress (p = 0.0313). Our results support positive association between adverse psychosocial constructs and daily PA in both genders; poor psychosocial profile was more pronounced among adolescent males. Future strategies aiming to increase PA should take into consideration these differences

Real null coframes in general relativity and GPS type coordinates

Based on work of Derrick, Coll, and Morales, we define a `symmetric' null coframe with {\it four real null covectors}. We show that this coframe is closely related to the GPS type coordinates recently introduced by Rovelli.Comment: Latex script, 9 pages, 4 figures; references added to work of Derrick, Coll, and Morales, 1 new figur

A new medication-based prediction score for postoperative delirium in surgical patients: development and proof of feasibility in a retrospective patient cohort

Structured risk screening for postoperative delirium (POD) considering prehospital medication is not established. We aimed to develop a POD-risk prediction score based on known risk factors and delirium-risk increasing drugs to be used by pharmacists during medication reconciliation at hospital admission, and to test for feasibility in a retrospective cohort of surgical patients. Therefore, established POD-risk factors and drugs were extracted from the literature and a score was generated. Following this, the score was tested for feasibility in a retrospective 3-month-cohort of surgical patients. For patients with higher scores suggesting higher probability of POD, patient charts were screened for documentation of POD. For development of the score, the following POD-risk factors were defined and points assigned for score calculation: age (≥65 years=1 point/≥75 years=2), male sex (1), renal insufficiency (RI; 1), hepatic impairment (HI; Model-of-endstage-liver-disease (MELD) 10-14=1/≥15=2), delirium-risk increasing drugs (1 point per drug class), anticholinergic drug burden (ACB; ≥3=1). In the retrospective test cohort of 1174 surgical patients these factors concerned: age ≥65 years 567 patients (48%)/≥75 years 303 (26%), male 652 (55%), RI 238 (20%), MELD 10-14 106 (9%)/≥15 65 (5%), ≥ 1 delirium-risk increasing drug 418 (36%), ACB ≥3 106 (9%). The median POD-risk prediction score was 2 (range 0-9). Of 146 patients (12%) with a score ≥ 5, POD was documented for 43 (30%), no evidence for POD for 91 (62%) and data inconclusive for 12 (8%). For scores of ≥ 7, POD was documented for 50% of the patients with sufficient POD documentation. Overall, POD documentation was poor. To summarize, we developed and successfully tested the feasibility of a POD-prediction-score assessable by pharmacists at medication reconciliation at hospital admission

Simplicial quantum dynamics

Present-day quantum field theory can be regularized by a decomposition into quantum simplices. This replaces the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space by a high-dimensional spinor space and singular canonical Lie groups by regular spin groups. It radically changes the uncertainty principle for small distances. Gaugeons, including the gravitational, are represented as bound fermion-pairs, and space-time curvature as a singular organized limit of quantum non-commutativity. Keywords: Quantum logic, quantum set theory, quantum gravity, quantum topology, simplicial quantization.Comment: 25 pages. 1 table. Conference of the International Association for Relativistic Dynamics, Taiwan, 201