ASCORE: an up-to-date cardiovascular risk score for hypertensive patients reflecting contemporary clinical practice developed using the (ASCOT-BPLA) trial data.

A number of risk scores already exist to predict cardiovascular (CV) events. However, scores developed with data collected some time ago might not accurately predict the CV risk of contemporary hypertensive patients that benefit from more modern treatments and management. Using data from the randomised clinical trial Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial-BPLA, with 15 955 hypertensive patients without previous CV disease receiving contemporary preventive CV management, we developed a new risk score predicting the 5-year risk of a first CV event (CV death, myocardial infarction or stroke). Cox proportional hazard models were used to develop a risk equation from baseline predictors. The final risk model (ASCORE) included age, sex, smoking, diabetes, previous blood pressure (BP) treatment, systolic BP, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, fasting glucose and creatinine baseline variables. A simplified model (ASCORE-S) excluding laboratory variables was also derived. Both models showed very good internal validity. User-friendly integer score tables are reported for both models. Applying the latest Framingham risk score to our data significantly overpredicted the observed 5-year risk of the composite CV outcome. We conclude that risk scores derived using older databases (such as Framingham) may overestimate the CV risk of patients receiving current BP treatments; therefore, 'updated' risk scores are needed for current patients

Supersymmetric solutions of PT-/non-PT-symmetric and non-Hermitian Screened Coulomb potential via Hamiltonian hierarchy inspired variational method

The supersymmetric solutions of PT-symmetric and Hermitian/non-Hermitian forms of quantum systems are obtained by solving the Schrodinger equation for the Exponential-Cosine Screened Coulomb potential. The Hamiltonian hierarchy inspired variational method is used to obtain the approximate energy eigenvalues and corresponding wave functions.Comment: 13 page

Multitrace Deformations of Vector and Adjoint Theories and their Holographic Duals

We present general methods to study the effect of multitrace deformations in conformal theories admitting holographic duals in Anti de Sitter space. In particular, we analyse the case that these deformations introduce an instability both in the bulk AdS space and in the boundary CFT. We also argue that multitrace deformations of the O(N) linear sigma model in three dimensions correspond to nontrivial time-dependent backgrounds in certain theories of infinitely many interacting massless fields on AdS_4, proposed years ago by Fradkin and Vasiliev. We point out that the phase diagram of a truly marginal large-N deformation has an infrared limit in which only an O(N) singlet field survives. We draw from this case lessons on the full string-theoretical interpretation of instabilities of the dual boundary theory and exhibit a toy model that resolves the instability of the O(N) model, generated by a marginal multitrace deformation. The resolution suggests that the instability may not survive in an appropriate UV completion of the CFT.Comment: 18 pages, minor changes, references added. Version accepted by JHE

Mechanochemical action of the dynamin protein

Dynamin is a ubiquitous GTPase that tubulates lipid bilayers and is implicated in many membrane severing processes in eukaryotic cells. Setting the grounds for a better understanding of this biological function, we develop a generalized hydrodynamics description of the conformational change of large dynamin-membrane tubes taking into account GTP consumption as a free energy source. On observable time scales, dissipation is dominated by an effective dynamin/membrane friction and the deformation field of the tube has a simple diffusive behavior, which could be tested experimentally. A more involved, semi-microscopic model yields complete predictions for the dynamics of the tube and possibly accounts for contradictory experimental results concerning its change of conformation as well as for plectonemic supercoiling.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures; typos corrected, reference adde

Three-point function of semiclassical states at weak coupling

We give the derivation of the previously announced analytic expression for the correlation function of three heavy non-BPS operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory at weak coupling. The three operators belong to three different su(2) sectors and are dual to three classical strings moving on the sphere. Our computation is based on the reformulation of the problem in terms of the Bethe Ansatz for periodic XXX spin-1/2 chains. In these terms the three operators are described by long-wave-length excitations over the ferromagnetic vacuum, for which the number of the overturned spins is a finite fraction of the length of the chain, and the classical limit is known as the Sutherland limit. Technically our main result is a factorized operator expression for the scalar product of two Bethe states. The derivation is based on a fermionic representation of Slavnov's determinant formula, and a subsequent bosonisation.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, cosmetic changes and more typos corrected in v

Holographic Description of AdS Cosmologies

To gain insight in the quantum nature of the big bang, we study the dual field theory description of asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions of supergravity that have cosmological singularities. The dual theories do not appear to have a stable ground state. One regularization of the theory causes the cosmological singularities in the bulk to turn into giant black holes with scalar hair. We interpret these hairy black holes in the dual field theory and use them to compute a finite temperature effective potential. In our study of the field theory evolution, we find no evidence for a "bounce" from a big crunch to a big bang. Instead, it appears that the big bang is a rare fluctuation from a generic equilibrium quantum gravity state.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures, v2: minor changes, references adde

Hidden Simplicity of Gauge Theory Amplitudes

These notes were given as lectures at the CERN Winter School on Supergravity, Strings and Gauge Theory 2010. We describe the structure of scattering amplitudes in gauge theories, focussing on the maximally supersymmetric theory to highlight the hidden symmetries which appear. Using the BCFW recursion relations we solve for the tree-level S-matrix in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, and describe how it produces a sum of invariants of a large symmetry algebra. We review amplitudes in the planar theory beyond tree-level, describing the connection between amplitudes and Wilson loops, and discuss the implications of the hidden symmetries.Comment: 46 pages, 15 figures. v2 ref added, typos fixe

Multitrace deformations, Gamow states, and Stability of AdS/CFT

We analyze the effect of multitrace deformations in conformal field theories at leading order in a large N approximation. These theories admit a description in terms of a weakly coupled gravity dual. We show how the deformations can be mapped into boundary terms of the gravity theory and how to reproduce the RG equations found in field theory. In the case of doubletrace deformations, and for bulk scalars with masses in the range $-d^2/4<m^2<-d^2/4+1$, the deformed theory flows between two fixed points of the renormalization group, manifesting a resonant behavior at the scale characterizing the transition between the two CFT's. On the gravity side the resonance is mapped into an IR non-normalizable mode (Gamow state) whose overlap with the UV region increases as the dual operator approaches the free field limit. We argue that this resonant behavior is a generic property of large N theories in the conformal window, and associate it to a remnant of the Nambu-Goldstone mode of dilatation invariance. We emphasize the role of nonminimal couplings to gravity and establish a stability theorem for scalar/gravity systems with AdS boundary conditions in the presence of arbitrary boundary potentials and nonminimal coupling.Comment: 14 pages, references added, introduction change