A possible experimental determination of ms/m^m_s/{\hat m} from Kμ4K_{\mu 4} decays

$K\pi$ scattering and $K_{\mu 4}$ decays are studied at leading order of improved chiral perturbation theory. It is shown that high precision $K_{\mu 4}$ experiments at, e.g., DA$\Phi$NE should allow for a direct measurement of the quark mass ratio $m_s$/${\hat m}$.Comment: 9 pages, preprint IPNO-TH 93-17, 2 figures not included, available upon request, plain Latex, April 199

Integration of leadership training into a problem/case-based learning program for first- and second-year medical students.

Purpose: The evolution of health care systems in response to societal and financial pressures has changed care delivery models, which presents new challenges for physicians. Leadership training is increasingly being recognized as an essential component of medical education training to prepare physicians to meet these needs. Unfortunately, most medical schools do not include leadership training. It has been suggested that a longitudinal and integrated approach to leadership training should be sought. We hypothesized that integration of leadership training into our hybrid problem-based learning (PBL)/case-based learning (CBL) program, Patient-Centered Explorations in Active Reasoning, Learning and Synthesis (PEARLS), would be an effective way for medical students to develop leadership skills without the addition of curricular time. Methods: We designed a unique leadership program in PEARLS in which 98 medical students participated during each of their six courses throughout the first 2 years of school. A program director and trained faculty facilitators educated students and coached them on leadership development throughout this time. Students were assessed by their facilitator at the end of every course on development of leadership skills related to teamwork, meaningful self-assessment, process improvement, and thinking outside the box. Results: Students consistently improved their performance from the first to the final course in all four leadership parameters evaluated. The skills that demonstrated the greatest change were those pertaining to thinking outside the box and process improvement. Conclusion: Incorporation of a longitudinal and integrated approach to leadership training into an existing PBL/CBL program is an effective way for medical students to improve their leadership skills without the addition of curricular time. These results offer a new, time-efficient option for leadership development in schools with existing PBL/CBL programs

Light quarks masses and condensates in QCD

We review some theoretical and phenomenological aspects of the scenario in which the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry is not triggered by a formation of a large condensate . Emphasis is put on the resulting pattern of light quark masses, on the constraints arising from QCD sum rules and on forthcoming experimental tests.Comment: 23 pages, 12 Postscript figures, LaTeX, uses svcon2e.sty, to be published in the Proceedings of the Workshop on Chiral Dynamics 1997, Mainz, Germany, Sept. 1-5, 199

The Low Energy π π\pi\,\pi Amplitude to One and Two Loops

The low-energy $\pi\pi$ amplitude is computed explicitly to two-loop accuracy in the chiral expansion. It depends only on six independent (combinations of) low-energy constants which are not fixed by chiral symmetry. Four of these constants are determined {\it via} sum rules which are evaluated using $\pi\pi$ scattering data at higher energies. Dependence of the low-energy phase shifts and of the threshold parameters on the remaining two constants (called $\alpha$ and $\beta$) are discussed and compared to the existing data from $K_{l4}$ experiments. Using generalised $\chi$PT, the constants $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are related to fundamental QCD parameters such as the quark condensate $\langle 0|\bar{q}q|0\rangle$ and the quark mass ratio $m_s/\widehat{m}$. It is shown that forthcoming accurate low-energy $\pi\pi$ data can be used to provide, for the first time, experimental evidence in favour of or against the existence of a large quark-antiquark condensate in the QCD vacuum.Comment: 61 pages, LaTeX, 10 figures in separate tarred, compressed and uuencoded Postscript fil

High levels of anti-tuberculin (IgG) antibodies correlate with the blocking of T-cell proliferation in individuals with high exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

SummaryObjectivesTo determine the effect of anti-tuberculin antibodies in the T-cell proliferation in response to tuberculin and Candida antigens in individuals with different levels of tuberculosis (TB) risk.MethodsSixteen high-risk TB individuals, 30 with an intermediate TB risk (group A), and 45 with a low TB risk (group B), as well as 49 control individuals, were studied. Tuberculin skin test (TST) results were analyzed and serum levels of antibodies (IgG and IgM) against purified protein derivative (PPD) were measured by ELISA. Tuberculin and Candida antigens were used to stimulate T-cell proliferation in the presence of human AB serum or autologous serum.ResultsHigh levels of anti-tuberculin IgG antibodies were found to be significantly associated with the blocking of T-cell proliferation responses in cultures stimulated with tuberculin but not with Candida antigens in the presence of autologous serum. This phenomenon was particularly frequent in high-risk individuals with high levels of anti-tuberculin IgG antibodies in the autologous serum when compared to the other risk groups, which exhibited lower levels of anti-tuberculin antibodies.ConclusionsAlthough cellular immunity plays a central role in the protection against TB, humoral immunity is critical in the control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in high-risk individuals with latent TB infection

Pi-eta scattering and the resummation of vacuum fluctuation in three-flavour ChPT

We discuss various aspects of resummed chiral perturbation theory, which was developed recently in order to consistently include the possibility of large vacuum fluctuations of the ss-pairs and the scenario with smaller value of the chiral condensate for N_f=3. The subtleties of this approach are illustrated using a concrete example of observables connected with pi-eta scattering. This process seems to be a suitable theoretical laboratory for this purpose due to its sensitivity to the values of the O(p^4) LEC's, namely to the values of the fluctuation parameters L4 and L6. We discuss several issues in detail, namely the choice of `good' observables and properties of their bare expansions, the `safe' reparametrization in terms of physical observables, the implementation of exact perturbative unitarity and exact renormalization scale independence, the role of higher order remainders and their estimates. We make a detailed comparison with standard chiral perturbation theory and use generalized ChPT as well as resonance chiral theory to estimate the higher order remainders.Comment: Version submitted to EPJ

Deep inelastic inclusive and diffractive scattering at Q2Q^2 values from 25 to 320 GeV2^2 with the ZEUS forward plug calorimeter

Deep inelastic scattering and its diffractive component, $ep \to e^{\prime}\gamma^* p \to e^{\prime}XN$, have been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 52.4 pb$^{-1}$. The $M_X$ method has been used to extract the diffractive contribution. A wide range in the centre-of-mass energy $W$ (37 -- 245 GeV), photon virtuality $Q^2$ (20 -- 450 GeV$^2$) and mass $M_X$ (0.28 -- 35 GeV) is covered. The diffractive cross section for $2 < M_X < 15$ GeV rises strongly with $W$, the rise becoming steeper as $Q^2$ increases. The data are also presented in terms of the diffractive structure function, $F^{\rm D(3)}_2$, of the proton. For fixed $Q^2$ and fixed $M_X$, \xpom F^{\rm D(3)}_2 shows a strong rise as \xpom \to 0, where \xpom is the fraction of the proton momentum carried by the Pomeron. For Bjorken-$x < 1 \cdot 10^{-3}$, \xpom F^{\rm D(3)}_2 shows positive $\log Q^2$ scaling violations, while for $x \ge 5 \cdot 10^{-3}$ negative scaling violations are observed. The diffractive structure function is compatible with being leading twist. The data show that Regge factorisation is broken.Comment: 89 pages, 27 figure