4,834 research outputs found

    8{}^8Be Decay Anomaly and Light Z′Z'

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    In this proceedings, we discuss a light (17 MeV) Z′Z' solution to the anomaly observed in the decay of Beryllium-8 by the Atomki collaboration. We detail an anomaly free model with minimal particle content which can satisfy all other experimental constraints with gauge couplings O(10−4)\mathcal{O}(10^{-4}).Comment: Prepared for the 2019 EW session of the 54th Rencontres de Moriond, talk presented by Simon Kin

    Evaluation Of Pilgrims Hospices Rapid Response Hospice At Home Service: Summary of findings March 2015

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    When faced with a life-limiting illness, most people say they would prefer to spend the end of their lives and die at home. However, we know that about half the people with cancer or long-term illnesses still die in hospital. Fewer than a quarter die in their own home. Patients are often admitted to hospital because of a crisis such as uncontrolled symptoms, carer fear or stress, or not having medication available when needed. Community based palliative care teams can help in such situations. In 2008 Pilgrims Hospices commissioned a review of the literature to understand what kinds of home care services provide the most benefit to patients at the end of their lives and their families. Though good quality evidence was scarce, the findings of the review suggested that successful services are able to respond rapidly, focus on supporting family carers at home and are available 24 hours a day seven days a week. Following these conclusions, Pilgrims Hospices developed the Rapid Response Hospice at Home service (Hospice at Home) to support people who are at the end of life and would like to die at home. The Hospice at Home service operates in addition to established hospice community services and is staffed by healthcare assistants (HCAs) who have been trained at the hospice. The HCAs are available day and night at four hours' notice to support patients in the last days of their lives or when they experience a crisis

    Oxygen in Open Cluster Dwarfs: Pleiades and M34

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    We analyze the high-excitation O I lambda7774 triplet in high-resolution, moderate signal-to-noise ratio spectra of 15 Pleiades and eight M34 open cluster dwarfs over the effective temperature range of 5048-6172 K. Relative O abundances have been derived using model atmospheres interpolated from four different sets of ATLAS9 grids. In contrast to existing non-LTE (NLTE) predictions, a dramatic increase in the O I triplet abundance with decreasing temperature is seen for both clusters, regardless of the atmospheric model. S I abundances of three Pleiades stars derived from the high-excitation lambda6053 feature mimic the O I abundance behavior. O abundances have also been derived from the [O I] lambda6300 feature in three Pleiades stars; the abundances exhibit a much lower mean value than do the cool dwarf triplet results. Inasmuch as the [O I] abundances are presumed to be free from NLTE effects, their mean values ([O/H]6300=+0.14) provide the current best estimate of the Pleiades O abundance. Spreads in [O/H]Trip at a given temperature are also seen in both clusters; no correlation is found between the spreads and the chromospheric emission measures

    Multiplicativity of completely bounded p-norms implies a new additivity result

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    We prove additivity of the minimal conditional entropy associated with a quantum channel Phi, represented by a completely positive (CP), trace-preserving map, when the infimum of S(gamma_{12}) - S(gamma_1) is restricted to states of the form gamma_{12} = (I \ot Phi)(| psi >< psi |). We show that this follows from multiplicativity of the completely bounded norm of Phi considered as a map from L_1 -> L_p for L_p spaces defined by the Schatten p-norm on matrices; we also give an independent proof based on entropy inequalities. Several related multiplicativity results are discussed and proved. In particular, we show that both the usual L_1 -> L_p norm of a CP map and the corresponding completely bounded norm are achieved for positive semi-definite matrices. Physical interpretations are considered, and a new proof of strong subadditivity is presented.Comment: Final version for Commun. Math. Physics. Section 5.2 of previous version deleted in view of the results in quant-ph/0601071 Other changes mino

    Cognitive and neural signatures of the APOE E4 allele in mid-aged adults

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    The apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele is strongly associated with increased risk of cognitive impairments in older adulthood. There is also a possible link to enhanced cognitive performance in younger adults, and the APOE e4 allele may constitute an example of antagonistic pleiotropy. The aim of this work was to investigate the cognitive and neural (functional) effects of the APOE e4 allele during mid-age (45-55 years), where a transition toward cognitive deficit might be expected. APOE e4 carriers (e4+) were compared with non-e4 carriers (e4-) on tasks of sustained and covert attention and prospective memory, and functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired. Performance by e4+ was equivalent or better than e4- on all 3 tasks, although performance benefits were less pronounced than in youth. Neurally, e4+ showed less task-related recruitment of extrastriate and parietal areas. This became more evident when neural activation data were compared with that of young adults acquired in a parallel study. As expected, mid-age participants showed more diffuse neural activation. Notable was the fact that e4+ showed a relative inability to recruit parietal regions as they aged. This was coupled with a tendency to show greater recruitment of frontal regions, and underactivation of extrastriate visual regions. Thus, mid-age e4+ show a pattern of neural recruitment usually seen later in life, possibly reflecting the source of an accelerated aging profile that describes the e4 genotype

    Troubleshooting methods for the generation of novel pseudotyped viruses

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    A pseudotyped virus (PV) is a virus particle with an envelope protein originating from a different virus. The ability to dictate which envelope proteins are expressed on the surface has made pseudotyping an important tool for basic virological studies such as determining the cellular targets of the envelope protein of the virus as well as identification of potential antiviral compounds and measuring specific antibody responses. In this review, we describe the common methodologies employed to generate PVs, with a focus on approaches to improve the efficacy of PV generation

    Mid age APOE ε4 carriers show memory-related functional differences and disrupted structure-function relationships in hippocampal regions

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    Carriers of the APOE e4 allele are at higher risk of age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The underlying neural mechanisms are uncertain, but genotype differences in medial temporal lobe (MTL) functional activity and structure at mid-age might contribute. We tested 16 non-e4 and 16 e4 carriers (aged 45-55) on a subsequent memory task in conjunction with MRI to assess how hippocampal volume (from T1 structural) and microstructure (neurite orientation-dispersion, from NODDI) differs by genotype and in relation to memory encoding. No previous study has investigated APOE effects on hippocampal microstructure using NODDI. Recall performance did not differ by genotype. A genotype by condition interaction in left parahippocampus indicated that in e4 carriers activity did not differentiate subsequently remembered from forgotten words. Hippocampal volumes and microstructure also did not differ by genotype but hippocampal volumes correlated positively with recognition performance in non-e4 carriers only. Similarly, greater hippocampal neurite orientation-dispersion was linked to better recall but only in non-e4s. Thus, we suggest that mid-age e4 carriers show a breakdown of normal MTL activation and structure-performance relationships. This could reflect an inability to utilise compensatory mechanisms, and contribute to higher risk of cognitive decline and AD in later life
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