21 research outputs found
Bose-Einstein condensation for interacting scalar fields in curved spacetime
We consider the model of self-interacting complex scalar fields with a rigid
gauge invariance under an arbitrary gauge group . In order to analyze the
phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation finite temperature and the possibility
of a finite background charge is included. Different approaches to derive the
relevant high-temperature behaviour of the theory are presented.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe
Effective action for scalar fields and generalised zeta-function regularisation
Motivated by the study of quantum fields in a Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW)
spacetime, the one-loop effective action for a scalar field defined in the
ultrastatic manifold , being the finite
volume, non-compact, hyperbolic spatial section, is investigated by a
generalisation of zeta-function regularisation. It is shown that additional
divergences may appear at one-loop level. The one-loop renormalisability of the
model is discussed and making use of a generalisation of zeta-function
regularisation, the one-loop renormalisation group equations are derived.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, no figures; Latex mistakes corrected; accepted for
publication in Physical Review
Control of inflammation by stromal Hedgehog pathway activation restrains colitis
Inflammation disrupts tissue architecture and function, thereby contributing to the pathogenesis of diverse diseases; the signals that promote or restrict tissue inflammation thus represent potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Here, we report that genetic or pharmacologic Hedgehog pathway inhibition intensifies colon inflammation (colitis) in mice. Conversely, genetic augmentation of Hedgehog response and systemic small-molecule Hedgehog pathway activation potently ameliorate colitis and restrain initiation and progression of colitis-induced adenocarcinoma. Within the colon, the Hedgehog protein signal does not act directly on the epithelium itself, but on underlying stromal cells to induce expression of IL-10, an immune-modulatory cytokine long known to suppress inflammatory intestinal damage. IL-10 function is required for the full protective effect of small-molecule Hedgehog pathway activation in colitis; this pharmacologic augmentation of Hedgehog pathway activity and stromal IL-10 expression are associated with increased presence of CD4(+) Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells. We thus identify stromal cells as cellular coordinators of colon inflammation and suggest their pharmacologic manipulation as a potential means to treat colitis.11138Ysciescopu
A Massive Renormalizable Abelian Gauge Theory in 2+1 Dimensions
The standard formulation of a massive Abelian vector field in
dimensions involves a Maxwell kinetic term plus a Chern-Simons mass term; in
its place we consider a Chern-Simons kinetic term plus a Stuekelberg mass term.
In this latter model, we still have a massive vector field, but now the
interaction with a charged spinor field is renormalizable (as opposed to super
renormalizable). By choosing an appropriate gauge fixing term, the Stuekelberg
auxiliary scalar field decouples from the vector field. The one-loop spinor
self energy is computed using operator regularization, a technique which
respects the three dimensional character of the antisymmetric tensor
. This method is used to evaluate the vector self
energy to two-loop order; it is found to vanish showing that the beta function
is zero to two-loop order. The canonical structure of the model is examined
using the Dirac constraint formalism.Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages, expanded reference list and discussion of
relationship to previous wor
New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE Δ4 allele