514 research outputs found
Paroxysmal eye–head movements in Glut1 deficiency syndrome
Objective:To describe a characteristic paroxysmal eye–head movement disorder that occurs in infants with Glut1 deficiency syndrome (Glut1 DS).Methods:We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of 101 patients with Glut1 DS to obtain clinical data about episodic abnormal eye movements and analyzed video recordings of 18 eye movement episodes from 10 patients.Results:A documented history of paroxysmal abnormal eye movements was found in 32/101 patients (32%), and a detailed description was available in 18 patients, presented here. Episodes started before age 6 months in 15/18 patients (83%), and preceded the onset of seizures in 10/16 patients (63%) who experienced both types of episodes. Eye movement episodes resolved, with or without treatment, by 6 years of age in 7/8 patients with documented long-term course. Episodes were brief (usually <5 minutes). Video analysis revealed that the eye movements were rapid, multidirectional, and often accompanied by a head movement in the same direction. Eye movements were separated by clear intervals of fixation, usually ranging from 200 to 800 ms. The movements were consistent with eye–head gaze saccades. These movements can be distinguished from opsoclonus by the presence of a clear intermovement fixation interval and the association of a same-direction head movement.Conclusions:Paroxysmal eye–head movements, for which we suggest the term aberrant gaze saccades, are an early symptom of Glut1 DS in infancy. Recognition of the episodes will facilitate prompt diagnosis of this treatable neurodevelopmental disorder.</jats:sec
Pediatric Stroke Presenting as a Seizure.
Background. Childhood arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) is rare and may be difficult to diagnose. Management of acute stroke in any age group is time sensitive, so awareness of the manifestations and appropriate diagnostic procedures for pediatric AIS is vital to establishing care. We present a pediatric case of arterial ischemic stroke that presented to the emergency department (ED) after two seizures. Case Report. A five-year-old female with an existing seizure disorder presented to a pediatric ED after having two seizures. Postictal upon arrival, she underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan of her head. Family reported that she had complained of a severe headache and vomited; her seizures were described as different from those she had experienced in the past. Loss of grey white matter differentiation on the CT warranted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which demonstrated a right-sided stroke. After a complicated course in the hospital, the patient was discharged to a rehabilitation hospital. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? It is important that emergency physicians recognize that a seizure may be the initial symptom of a pediatric stroke regardless of an established seizure history. Pediatric seizures are relatively common; however consideration of the diagnosis of pediatric stroke may prevent unnecessary delays in treatment
Disorder, pseudospins, and backscattering in carbon nanotubes
We address the effects of disorder on the conducting properties of metal and
semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Experimentally, the mean free path is found to
be much larger in metallic tubes than in doped semiconducting tubes. We show
that this result can be understood theoretically if the disorder potential is
long-ranged. The effects of a pseudospin index that describes the internal
sublattice structure of the states lead to a suppression of scattering in
metallic tubes, but not in semiconducting tubes. This conclusion is supported
by tight-binding calculations.Comment: four page
Mantle Degassing Lifetimes through Galactic Time and the Maximum Age Stagnant-lid Rocky Exoplanets can Support Temperate Climates
The ideal exoplanets to search for life are those within a star's habitable
zone. However, even within the habitable zone planets can still develop
uninhabitable climate states. Sustaining a temperate climate over geologic
(Gyr) timescales requires a planet contain sufficient internal energy to
power a planetary-scale carbon cycle. A major component of a rocky planet's
energy budget is the heat produced by the decay of radioactive elements,
especially K, Th, U and U. As the planet ages
and these elements decay, this radiogenic energy source dwindles. Here we
estimate the probability distribution of the amount of these heat producing
elements (HPEs) that enter into rocky exoplanets through Galactic history, by
combining the system-to-system variation seen in stellar abundance data with
the results from Galactic chemical evolution models. Using these distributions,
we perform Monte-Carlo thermal evolution models that maximize the mantle
cooling rate. This allows us to create a pessimistic estimate of lifetime a
rocky, stagnant-lid exoplanet can support a global carbon cycle and temperate
climate as a function of its mass and when it in Galactic history. We apply
this framework to a sample of 17 likely rocky exoplanets with measured ages, 7
of which we predict are likely to be actively degassing today despite our
pessimistic assumptions. For the remaining planets, including those orbiting
TRAPPIST-1, we cannot confidently assume they currently contain sufficient
internal heat to support mantle degassing at a rate sufficient to sustain a
global carbon cycle or temperate climate without additional tidal heating or
undergoing plate tectonics.Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letter
Ionic Tuning of Cobaltites at the Nanoscale
Control of materials through custom design of ionic distributions represents
a powerful new approach to develop future technologies ranging from spintronic
logic and memory devices to energy storage. Perovskites have shown particular
promise for ionic devices due to their high ion mobility and sensitivity to
chemical stoichiometry. In this work, we demonstrate a solid-state approach to
control of ionic distributions in (La,Sr)CoO thin films. Depositing a Gd
capping layer on the perovskite film, oxygen is controllably extracted from the
structure, up-to 0.5 O/u.c. throughout the entire 36 nm thickness. Commensurate
with the oxygen extraction, the Co valence state and saturation magnetization
show a smooth continuous variation. In contrast, magnetoresistance measurements
show no-change in the magnetic anisotropy and a rapid increase in the
resistivity over the same range of oxygen stoichiometry. These results suggest
significant phase separation, with metallic ferromagnetic regions and
oxygen-deficient, insulating, non-ferromagnetic regions, forming percolated
networks. Indeed, X-ray diffraction identifies oxygen-vacancy ordering,
including transformation to a brownmillerite crystal structure. The unexpected
transformation to the brownmillerite phase at ambient temperature is further
confirmed by high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy which
shows significant structural - and correspondingly chemical - phase separation.
This work demonstrates room-temperature ionic control of magnetism, electrical
resistivity, and crystalline structure in a 36 nm thick film, presenting new
opportunities for ionic devices that leverage multiple material
functionalities
Problems With the Vortex-Boson Mapping in 1+1 Dimensions
Using the well known boson mapping, we relate the transverse magnetic
susceptibility of a system of flux vortices in 1+1 dimensions to an
appropriately defined conductivity of a one-dimensional boson system. The tilt
response for a system free of disorder is calculated directly, and it is found
that a subtle order of limits is required to avoid deceptive results.Comment: 4 Pages (REVTeX 3.0). Postscript file for this paper is available on
the World Wide Web at http://cmtw.harvard.edu/~simon/
Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT 'EM) Survey. I. Confirmation of an Eccentric, Cool Jupiter With an Interior Earth-sized Planet Orbiting Kepler-1514*
Despite the severe bias of the transit method of exoplanet discovery toward
short orbital periods, a modest sample of transiting exoplanets with orbital
periods greater than 100 days is known. Long-term radial velocity (RV) surveys
are pivotal to confirming these signals and generating a set of planetary
masses and densities for planets receiving moderate to low irradiation from
their host stars. Here, we conduct RV observations of Kepler-1514 from the Keck
I telescope using the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer. From these data, we
measure the mass of the statistically validated giant ( ) exoplanet Kepler-1514 b with a 218 day orbital period as
. The bulk density of this cool (390 K) giant planet is
g cm, consistent with a core supported by
electron degeneracy pressure. We also infer an orbital eccentricity of
from the RV and transit observations, which is
consistent with planet-planet scattering and disk cavity migration models. The
Kepler-1514 system contains an Earth-size, Kepler Object of Interest on a 10.5
day orbit that we statistically validate against false positive scenarios,
including those involving a neighboring star. The combination of the brightness
(=11.8) of the host star and the long period, low irradiation, and high
density of Kepler-1514 b places this system among a rare group of known
exoplanetary systems and one that is amenable to continued study.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
The one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard Model with nearest-neighbor interaction
We study the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model using the Density-Matrix
Renormalization Group (DMRG).For the cases of on-site interactions and
additional nearest-neighbor interactions the phase boundaries of the
Mott-insulators and charge density wave phases are determined. We find a direct
phase transition between the charge density wave phase and the superfluid
phase, and no supersolid or normal phases. In the presence of nearest-neighbor
interaction the charge density wave phase is completely surrounded by a region
in which the effective interactions in the superfluid phase are repulsive. It
is known from Luttinger liquid theory that a single impurity causes the system
to be insulating if the effective interactions are repulsive, and that an even
bigger region of the superfluid phase is driven into a Bose-glass phase by any
finite quenched disorder. We determine the boundaries of both regions in the
phase diagram. The ac-conductivity in the superfluid phase in the attractive
and the repulsive region is calculated, and a big superfluid stiffness is found
in the attractive as well as the repulsive region.Comment: 19 pages, 30 figure
The Democratic Biopolitics of PrEP
PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) is a relatively new drug-based HIV prevention technique and an important means to lower the HIV risk of gay men who are especially vulnerable to HIV. From the perspective of biopolitics, PrEP inscribes itself in a larger trend of medicalization and the rise of pharmapower. This article reconstructs and evaluates contemporary literature on biopolitical theory as it applies to PrEP, by bringing it in a dialogue with a mapping of the political debate on PrEP. As PrEP changes sexual norms and subjectification, for example condom use and its meaning for gay subjectivity, it is highly contested. The article shows that the debate on PrEP can be best described with the concepts ‘sexual-somatic ethics’ and ‘democratic biopolitics’, which I develop based on the biopolitical approach of Nikolas Rose and Paul Rabinow. In contrast, interpretations of PrEP which are following governmentality studies or Italian Theory amount to either farfetched or trivial positions on PrEP, when seen in light of the political debate. Furthermore, the article is a contribution to the scholarship on gay subjectivity, highlighting how homophobia and homonormativity haunts gay sex even in liberal environments, and how PrEP can serve as an entry point for the destigmatization of gay sexuality and transformation of gay subjectivity. ‘Biopolitical democratization’ entails making explicit how medical technology and health care relates to sexual subjectification and ethics, to strengthen the voice of (potential) PrEP users in health politics, and to renegotiate the profit and power of Big Pharma
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