Theory of ultracold Fermi gases

The physics of quantum degenerate Fermi gases in uniform as well as in harmonically trapped configurations is reviewed from a theoretical perspective. Emphasis is given to the effect of interactions which play a crucial role, bringing the gas into a superfluid phase at low temperature. In these dilute systems interactions are characterized by a single parameter, the s-wave scattering length, whose value can be tuned using an external magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance. The BCS limit of ordinary Fermi superfluidity, the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of dimers and the unitary limit of large scattering length are important regimes exhibited by interacting Fermi gases. In particular the BEC and the unitary regimes are characterized by a high value of the superfluid critical temperature, of the order of the Fermi temperature. Different physical properties are discussed, including the density profiles and the energy of the ground-state configurations, the momentum distribution, the fraction of condensed pairs, collective oscillations and pair breaking effects, the expansion of the gas, the main thermodynamic properties, the behavior in the presence of optical lattices and the signatures of superfluidity, such as the existence of quantized vortices, the quenching of the moment of inertia and the consequences of spin polarization. Various theoretical approaches are considered, ranging from the mean-field description of the BCS-BEC crossover to non-perturbative methods based on quantum Monte Carlo techniques. A major goal of the review is to compare the theoretical predictions with the available experimental results.Comment: Revised and abridged version accepted for publication in Rev. Mod. Phys.: 63 pages, 36 figure

Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy-A Systematic Literature Review.

This is the final version. Available from MDPI via the DOI in this record. Cardiac autonomic dysfunction has been reported in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this study was to assess the existing literature on heart rate variability (HRV) in pediatric patients with CP and a special attention was paid to the compliance of the studies with the current HRV assessment and interpretation guidelines. A systematic review was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases searched for English language publications from 1996 to 2019 using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms "heart rate variability" and "cerebral palsy" in conjunction with additional inclusion criteria: studies limited to humans in the age range of 0-18 years and empirical investigations. Out of 47 studies, 12 were included in the review. Pediatric patients with CP presented a significantly higher resting heart rate and reduced HRV, different autonomic responses to movement stimuli compared to children with normal development, but also reduced HRV parameters in the children dependent on adult assistance for mobility compared to those generally independent. None of the included studies contained the necessary details concerning RR intervals acquisition and HRV measurements as recommended by the guidelines. Authors of HRV studies should follow the methodological guidelines and recommendations on HRV measurement, because such an approach may allow a direct comparison of their results

Nailfold capillary abnormalities in erectile dysfunction of systemic sclerosis: a EUSTAR group analysis

Objective. The objective of this study was to analyse an association between nailfold capillary abnormalities and the presence and severity of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men with SSc. Methods. A cross-sectional analysis of the prospective European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Scleroderma Trial and Research database was performed. Men with SSc were included if they had undergone nailfold capillaroscopy and simultaneous ED assessment with the 5-item International Index for Erectile Function (IIEF-5). Results. Eighty-six men met the inclusion criteria. Eight men (9.3%) had not had sexual intercourse and could not be assigned an IIEF-5 score. Sixty-nine of the 78 men (88.5%) with an IIEF-5 score had nailfold capillary abnormalities, of whom 54 (78.3%) suffered from ED. Nine men (11.5%) had no nailfold capillary abnormalities, of whom six (66.7%) had ED (P = 0.44). ED was more frequent in older men (P = 0.002) and in men with diffuse disease (P = 0.06). Men with abnormal capillaroscopy had a higher median EULAR disease activity than men without (P = 0.02), a lower diffusing capacity of the lung (P = 0.001) and a higher modified Rodnan skin score (P = 0.04), but mean IIEF-5 scores did not differ [15.7 (s.d. 6.2) vs 15.7 (s.d. 6.3)]. IIEF-5 scores did not differ between men with early (n = 12), active (n = 27) or late (n = 27) patterns (IIEF-5 scores of 17.9, 16.3 and 14.7, respectively). There were no differences in the prevalence of early, active and late capillaroscopy patterns between men with or without ED. Conclusion. Neither the presence or absence of abnormal capillaroscopy findings nor the subdivision into early, active and late patterns is associated with coexistent ED in SS

IP3-4 kinase Arg1 regulates cell wall homeostasis and surface architecture to promote clearance of Cryptococcus neoformans infection in a mouse model

We previously identified a series of inositol polyphosphate kinases (IPKs), Arg1, Ipk1, Kcs1 and Asp1, in the opportunistic fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Using gene deletion analysis, we characterized Arg1, Ipk1 and Kcs1 and showed that they act sequentially to convert IP3 to PP-IP5 (IP7), a key metabolite promoting stress tolerance, metabolic adaptation and fungal dissemination to the brain. We have now directly characterized the enzymatic activity of Arg1, demonstrating that it is a dual specificity (IP3/IP4) kinase producing IP5. We showed previously that IP5 is further phosphorylated by Ipk1 to produce IP6, which is a substrate for the synthesis of PP-IP5 by Kcs1. Phenotypic comparison of the arg1Δ and kcs1Δ deletion mutants (both PP-IP5-deficient) reveals that arg1Δ has the most deleterious phenotype: while PP-IP5 is essential for metabolic and stress adaptation in both mutant strains, PP-IP5 is dispensable for virulence-associated functions such as capsule production, cell wall organization, and normal N-linked mannosylation of the virulence factor, phospholipase B1, as these phenotypes were defective only in arg1Δ. The more deleterious arg1Δ phenotype correlated with a higher rate of arg1Δ phagocytosis by human peripheral blood monocytes and rapid arg1Δ clearance from lung in a mouse model. This observation is in contrast to kcs1Δ, which we previously reported establishes a chronic, confined lung infection. In summary, we show that Arg1 is the most crucial IPK for cryptococcal virulence, conveying PP-IP5-dependent and novel PP-IP5-independent functions

Novel proposals for FAIR, automated, recommendable, and robust workflows

Funding: This work is partly funded by NSF award OAC-1839900. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under contract number DE-AC02-06CH11357. libEnsemble was developed as part of the Exascale Computing Project (17-SC-20-SC), a collaborative effort of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration. This research used resources of the OLCF at ORNL, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.Lightning talks of the Workflows in Support of Large-Scale Science (WORKS) workshop are a venue where the workflow community (researchers, developers, and users) can discuss work in progress, emerging technologies and frameworks, and training and education materials. This paper summarizes the WORKS 2022 lightning talks, which cover five broad topics: data integrity of scientific workflows; a machine learning-based recommendation system; a Python toolkit for running dynamic ensembles of simulations; a cross-platform, high-performance computing utility for processing shell commands; and a meta(data) framework for reproducing hybrid workflows.Postprin

Guided portfolio writing as a scaffold for reflective learning in in-service contexts: A case study

Language is widely recognized as an inescapable mediating tool for professional learning, and with this text we want to contribute to a better understanding of the particular role that guided writing can play in in-service professional reflective learning. We analysed one pre-school teacher’s written portfolio, the construction of which was guided to scaffold deep thinking about (and the transference of theory into) practice during participation in an in-service program about language education. Our case study shows that the writing process sustained robust learning about professional knowing, doing and learning itself: The teacher elaborated an integrative ethical understanding of the discussed theory, fully experienced newly informed practices and assessed her own learning by using theory to confront her previous knowledge and practices. Throughout the portfolio, the learning stance revealed by her voice varied accordingly. The study illustrates the potential of guided writing to scaffold reflective learning in in-service contexts.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. PEst-OE/CED/UI1661/2011] through CIEd (Centro de Estudos em Educação). PEst-OE/CED/UI0317/2014] through CIEC.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes

Scaling properties of proton and anti-proton production in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV Au + Au collisions

We report on the yield of protons and anti-protons, as a function of centrality and transverse momentum, in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV measured at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. In central collisions at intermediate transverse momenta (1.5 < p_T < 4.5 GeV/c) a significant fraction of all produced particles are protons and anti-protons. They show a centrality-scaling behavior different from that of pions. The p-bar/pion and p/pion ratios are enhanced compared to peripheral Au+Au, p+p, and electron+positron collisions. This enhancement is limited to p_T < 5 GeV/c as deduced from the ratio of charged hadrons to pi^0 measured in the range 1.5 < p_T < 9 GeV/c.Comment: 325 authors, 6 pages text, 4 figures, RevTeX 4. Minor changes to text and figures to meet PRL length restrictions; no changes to figures; resubmitted to PRL. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm