Condensate cosmology in O'Raifeartaigh models

Flat directions charged under an R-symmetry are a generic feature of O'Raifeartaigh models. Non-topological solitons associated with this symmetry, R-balls, are likely to form through the fragmentation of a condensate, itself created by soft terms induced during inflation. In gravity mediated SUSY breaking R-balls decay to gravitinos, reheating the universe. For gauge mediation R-balls can provide a good dark matter candidate. Alternatively they can decay, either reheating or cooling the universe. Conserved R-symmetry permits decay to gravitinos or gauginos, whereas spontaneously broken R-symmetry results in decay to visible sector gauge bosons.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. Comments and references added, accepted for publication in JHE

Dietary supplements usage among elderly Taiwanese during 2005-2008

This study describes dietary supplement consumption practices among the Taiwanese population over the age of 65. Data for the analyses were derived from the [2005][2006][2007][2008] Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan. Data from a total of 914 participants (456 men and 458 women) was collected in the study to delineate patterns of supplement usage. The results indicated that the percentage of individuals taking supplements was 45.7% for men and 52.2% for women. There were no significant differences in supplement use by gender, age group, geographic stratum, current employment status, household monthly income, self-reported health status or marital status, except for higher education and adequate perceived financial resources. Half of both men and women chose to take only one supplement. In addition, as the number of supplements taken increased, the number of people decreased. The elderly with higher education levels were more likely to take two kinds of supplements. The top five supplements consumed from highest to lowest were: glucosamine, multivitamins and minerals, calcium, fish oil and vitamin B complex. The major reason for supplements use for men was to supplement an unbalanced diet, and that for women was to prevent joint degeneration. The main factor influencing choice of supplements in the elderly was receiving the supplement as a gift from another person. Note that mean intakes of vitamins A, C, E, B-1, B-2, B-6, B-12, biotin, niacin, and pantothenic acid from supplements over-exceeded DRIs in Taiwan. Key Words: dietary supplements, the elderly, Nutrition and Health Survey in INTRODUCTION Increased dissemination of medical information, greater health consciousness in the population and advances in medical technology has resulted in increased life expectancy in Taiwan. In addition, in recent years the birth rate has declined and the age structure of society has changed with an increase in older persons in the population. The World Health Organization has defined an aging society as one in which the proportion of the population aged 65 years and over is more than 7%. According to data from the Department of Household Registration, Ministry of the Interior, the proportion of older persons in Taiwan reached the 7% cut-off for an ageing society in 1993. In 2010 the proportion of the population aged 65 years and over reached 10.74%. 1 As a result, Taiwan, like Europe, the United States and Japan, has become an ageing society and therefore, chronic diseases (e.g. cancer, cardiovascular disease, the metabolic syndrome or diabetes) and health issues common to older persons (e.g. joint health, bone density, cardiovascular health, immune function and delayed aging) are becoming increasingly important. 2 More recently, the concept of preventative medicine has begun to gradually replace more traditional disease treatment methods. People's attitudes towards medical therapy have also changed from passive to active. Their expectations of health and quality of life have increased, which is the main contributing factor behind the rise in use of supplements. In order to satisfy the demands of different consumer groups, the dietary supplement market has become increasingly individualized, with reported health 328 SY Chen, JR Lin, TH Chen, SG Guo, MD Kao and WH Pan protection effects also becoming more diversified. 2,3 Dietary supplements have already become an important product in the food market. Consumer expenditure on supplements in Taiwan has continued to grow in recent years and the proportion of people taking supplements has increased. In 1995-96 it reached a value of NT$25 billion and further increased to approximately NT$46.1 billion in 2008. 3-5 The scale of the supplement market continues to increase year by year, along with associated import and export market values. 3 Supplement marketing channels have also diversified. The early stages of direct selling were followed by the introduction of television sales and the conversion of pharmacies to mixed businesses that sell both pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products. The 2008 survey of food products found an increasing trend of supplement purchasing through television, online and door-to-door sales. 3 Many researches have found that women, Caucasians, older persons, those living in highly urbanized environments, those with high education or high income are all more likely to take supplements. 2,14 However, little is known about the effectiveness of supplements in appropriately compensating for dietary deficits. Each product is alleged to have health benefits, many of which have not yet been established, and companies use exaggerated and unrealistic advertising to promote their products. The aim of this study was to understand the following in regards to older persons in Taiwan: 1) the characteristics associated with use of supplements; 2) the characteristics associated with use of single or multiple supplements; 3) the types of supplements used, the motivations behind taking supplements and factors influencing choice of supplements; 4) the associations between supplement use behavior and medical history; and 5) nutrient intakes from supplements. An understanding of older people's use of supplements and the motivations behind such use will enable the development of recommendations for improving appropriate supplement intake in elderly Taiwanese and will facilitate the appropriate management of supplements and other health products in this age group. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data source and sample This study describes dietary supplement consumption practices among the Taiwanese population over the age of 65, including the purpose and motivation behind supplement usage as well as the personal characteristics of supplement takers. Data for the analyses were retrieved from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (2005Taiwan ( -2008 which was carried out during [2005][2006][2007][2008]. Data from a total of 914 participants (456 men and 458 women) was collected in the study to delineate patterns of supplement usage. A complex multistage, area probability sample design was used to select persons within households. Individuals aged 65 years and older were oversampled. Details of the sample design and methods have been enumerated elsewhere. 19 Data were collected by household interviews in the above survey. Household interviews were carried out by local part-time interviewers who systematically collected cases from 2005 to 2008. The local public health department nutritionist was responsible for supervising the household interview. Sociodemographic variables for this analysis included variables shown in previous studies to be related to supplement use, including gender, age group, education level, geographic location, current employment status, household and personal monthly income, perceived financial resources, selfreported health status or marital status. 20,21 Data processing from supplements Supplement information was collected through a series of questions, including the frequency of consumption in the past month, the amount of each nutrient in the supplement (the formulation) and the brand name. Supplement users were defined as individuals who took any kind of vitamin or mineral supplement, or health promotion products in the past month. Based on the nutritional characteristics of the supplements, we classified dietary supplements in this study into eight categories for descriptive statistics: "vitamins", "vitamins and minerals", "minerals", "Chinese herbs", "lipids", "protein and formula food", "plant derived products" and "other health promotional foods". Data from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (2005Taiwan ( -2008 were used to calculate nutrient intake from supplement users. Some nutrients required conversion to standardized measurement units before comparison of dietary intakes to the dietary reference intakes (DRIs) could be made. Vitamin A had to be converted to micrograms retinol activity equivalents, and vitamin E to milligrams α-tocopherol. 12 Statistical analyses Most of the results were obtained from logistic regression analyses and describe the use of dietary supplements based on information collected by the questionnaire based interview. In order to produce representative estimates of certain attributes, a weighting process was needed. LogisSupplements use among elderly Taiwanese 2005Taiwanese -2008 tic regression analysis was carried out using SUDAAN 8.0. The descriptive analyses were done by Window's SAS software. Statistical significance was taken as p<0.05. RESULTS Relationships between demographic characteristics of the elderly and use of supplements Relationships between demographic characteristics of the elderly and use of single or multiple supplement

Machine-Part cell formation through visual decipherable clustering of Self Organizing Map

Machine-part cell formation is used in cellular manufacturing in order to process a large variety, quality, lower work in process levels, reducing manufacturing lead-time and customer response time while retaining flexibility for new products. This paper presents a new and novel approach for obtaining machine cells and part families. In the cellular manufacturing the fundamental problem is the formation of part families and machine cells. The present paper deals with the Self Organising Map (SOM) method an unsupervised learning algorithm in Artificial Intelligence, and has been used as a visually decipherable clustering tool of machine-part cell formation. The objective of the paper is to cluster the binary machine-part matrix through visually decipherable cluster of SOM color-coding and labelling via the SOM map nodes in such a way that the part families are processed in that machine cells. The Umatrix, component plane, principal component projection, scatter plot and histogram of SOM have been reported in the present work for the successful visualization of the machine-part cell formation. Computational result with the proposed algorithm on a set of group technology problems available in the literature is also presented. The proposed SOM approach produced solutions with a grouping efficacy that is at least as good as any results earlier reported in the literature and improved the grouping efficacy for 70% of the problems and found immensely useful to both industry practitioners and researchers.Comment: 18 pages,3 table, 4 figure

Effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise following hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a systematic review of clinical trials

Background: Physiotherapy has long been a routine component of patient rehabilitation following hip joint replacement. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise after discharge from hospital on function, walking, range of motion, quality of life and muscle strength, for osteoarthritic patients following elective primary total hip arthroplasty. Methods: Design: Systematic review, using the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the Quorom Statement. Database searches: AMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, KingsFund, MEDLINE, Cochrane library (Cochrane reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, DARE), PEDro, The Department of Health National Research Register. Handsearches: Physiotherapy, Physical Therapy, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Britain) Conference Proceedings. No language restrictions were applied. Selection: Trials comparing physiotherapy exercise versus usual/standard care, or comparing two types of relevant exercise physiotherapy, following discharge from hospital after elective primary total hip replacement for osteoarthritis were reviewed. Outcomes: Functional activities of daily living, walking, quality of life, muscle strength and range of hip joint motion. Trial quality was extensively evaluated. Narrative synthesis plus meta-analytic summaries were performed to summarise the data. Results: 8 trials were identified. Trial quality was mixed. Generally poor trial quality, quantity and diversity prevented explanatory meta-analyses. The results were synthesised and meta-analytic summaries were used where possible to provide a formal summary of results. Results indicate that physiotherapy exercise after discharge following total hip replacement has the potential to benefit patients. Conclusion: Insufficient evidence exists to establish the effectiveness of physiotherapy exercise following primary hip replacement for osteoarthritis. Further well designed trials are required to determine the value of post discharge exercise following this increasingly common surgical procedure

AAEM Position Paper TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR AND STROKE: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE FOR THE CLINICIAN

, Abstract-Background: Alteplase (tPA) is a United States (US) Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for acute ischemic stroke, though there are significant barriers to thrombolytic use, including Emergency Physicians' (EPs') concern for level of supporting evidence. Study Objectives: To review the medical literature on the topic of acute cerebrovascular accident (CVA) management and to offer EPs evidence-based recommendations for patients who present to the Emergency Department with an acute CVA. Methods: A MEDLINE literature search from 1990 to 2011 and limited to human studies written in English for articles with keywords of: CVA AND (thromboly* OR alteplase). Guideline statements and non-systematic reviews were excluded. Studies targeting differences between specific populations (males vs. females) were excluded. Studies identified then underwent a structured review from which results could be evaluated. Results: There were 407 papers on thrombolytic use screened, and 15 appropriate articles were rigorously reviewed and recommendations given. Conclusions: tPA is an effective treatment for stroke when given in prepared stroke centers; EPs and hospitals treating stroke patients with tPA need to have the necessary resources in place and a specific plan for timely care of patients with acute stroke.

Low-Energy Probes of a Warped Extra Dimension

We investigate a natural realization of a light Abelian hidden sector in an extended Randall-Sundrum (RS) model. In addition to the usual RS bulk we consider a second warped space containing a bulk U(1)_x gauge theory with a characteristic IR scale of order a GeV. This Abelian hidden sector can couple to the standard model via gauge kinetic mixing on a common UV brane. We show that if such a coupling induces significant mixing between the lightest U(1)_x gauge mode and the standard model photon and Z, it can also induce significant mixing with the heavier U(1)_x Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes. As a result it might be possible to probe several KK modes in upcoming fixed-target experiments and meson factories, thereby offering a new way to investigate the structure of an extra spacetime dimension.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure, added references, corrected minor typos, same as journal versio