1,245 research outputs found
Statistical Mechanics of DNA Rupture: Theory and Simulations
We study the effects of the shear force on the rupture mechanism on a double
stranded DNA. Motivated by recent experiments, we perform the atomistic
simulations with explicit solvent to obtain the distributions of extension in
hydrogen and covalent bonds below the rupture force. We obtain a significant
difference between the atomistic simulations and the existing results in the
iterature based on the coarse-grained models (theory and simulations). We
discuss the possible reasons and improve the coarse-grained model by
incorporating the consequences of semi-microscopic details of the nucleotides
in its description. The distributions obtained by the modified model
(simulations and theoretical) are qualitatively similar to the one obtained
using atomistic simulations.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. Accepted in J. Chem. Phys. (2013). arXiv admin
note: text overlap with arXiv:1104.305
Phase 4 Pharmacovigilance Trial of Paromomycin Injection for the Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis in India
Background. A phase 3 study demonstrated the safety and efficacy of paromomycin (paromomycin IM injection) for treatment of VL in an inpatient setting. Methods. This phase 4 study was conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of paromomycin in children and adults in an outpatient setting in Bihar, India. Results. This study enrolled 506 adult and pediatric patients. Of the 494 patients in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population, 98% received a full course of treatment. The overall study completion rate was 94% (462/494) for the ITT population and 96% (461/479) for the efficacy-evaluable (EE) population. Initial clinical cure was 99.6%, and final clinical cure 6 months after treatment was 94.2%. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 5% of patients; events with a frequency of ≥1% were increases in alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Conclusions. This study confirms the safety and efficacy of paromomycin to treat VL in an outpatient setting
Neuropathology of HIV/AIDS with an overview of the Indian scene
Neurological manifestations of HIV infection and AIDS are being recognized with a frequency that parallels the increasing number of AIDS cases. Next to sub-Saharan Africa, India has the second largest burden of HIV related pathology, essentially caused by HIV-1 clade C in both the geographic locales, in contrast to USA and Europe. But the true prevalence of HIV related neuroinfections and pathology is not available due to inadequate medical facilities, social stigma and ignorance that lead to underdiagnosis. Neurotuberculosis, followed by cryptococcosis and toxoplasmosis in various combinations are the major neuropathologies reflecting the endemicity and manifesting clinically by reactivation of latent infection. Discordance in the clinical prevalence of various infections, when compared to pathological studies highlight similarities in clinical, radiological modalities of diagnosis and inherent problems in establishing definitive diagnosis. Viral infections appear to be relatively rare. Inspite of heavy burden of HIV/AIDS, HIV associated neoplasia is infrequent, including primary CNS lymphomas. HIV encephalitis and HIV associated dementia are considered infrequent, though systematic studies have just been initiated in various centres. Peripheral neuropathy characteristically manifests with vasculitic neuropathy while diffuse infiltrative lymphocytosis syndrome (DILS) involving nerves has not been reported from India. Spinal cord pathology including vacuolar myelopathy is rare, even in asymptomatic cases. Till now the AIDS cases in India were drug naÏve but a new cohort of cases following initiation of HAART therapy as a national policy is soon emerging, altering the biology and evolution of HIV/AIDS in India. Lacunae in the epidemiology, diagnosis and study of biology of HIV/AIDS are outlined for future research
Using HI to probe large scale structures at z ~ 3
The redshifted 1420 MHz emission from the HI in unresolved damped
Lyman-\alpha clouds at high z will appear as a background radiation in low
frequency radio observations. This holds the possibility of a new tool for
studying the universe at high-z, using the mean brightness temperature to probe
the HI content and its fluctuations to probe the power spectrum. Existing
estimates of the HI density at z~3 imply a mean brightness temperature of 1 mK
at 320 Mhz. The cross-correlation between the temperature fluctuations across
different frequencies and sight lines is predicted to vary from 10^{-7} K^2 to
10^{-8} K^2 over intervals corresponding to spatial scales from 10 Mpc to 40
Mpc for some of the currently favoured cosmological models. Comparing this with
the expected sensitivity of the GMRT, we find that this can be detected with
\~10 hrs of integration, provided we can distinguish it from the galactic and
extragalactic foregrounds which will swamp this signal. We discuss a strategy
based on the very distinct spectral properties of the foregrounds as against
the HI emission, possibly allowing the removal of the foregrounds from the
observed maps.Comment: 16 pages, includes 6 figures, accepted in JAA (minor revisions,
references added
Evidence for Isospin Violation and Measurement of Asymmetries in
We report the first evidence for isospin violation in and
the first measurement of difference of asymmetries between and . This analysis is based on the data sample
containing pairs that was collected with the Belle
detector at the KEKB energy-asymmetric collider. We find evidence for
the isospin violation with a significance of 3.1, \%, where
the third uncertainty is due to the uncertainty on the fraction of to
production in decays. The measured value is
consistent with predictions of the SM. The result for the difference of
asymmetries is \%, consistent with zero. The measured branching fractions and
asymmetries for charged and neutral meson decays are the most precise to
date. We also calculate the ratio of branching fractions of to .Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. shown at FPCP2017. accepted by PR
Constraints from Solar and Reactor Neutrinos on Unparticle Long-Range Forces
We have investigated the impact of long-range forces induced by unparticle
operators of scalar, vector and tensor nature coupled to fermions in the
interpretation of solar neutrinos and KamLAND data. If the unparticle couplings
to the neutrinos are mildly non-universal, such long-range forces will not
factorize out in the neutrino flavour evolution. As a consequence large
deviations from the observed standard matter-induced oscillation pattern for
solar neutrinos would be generated. In this case, severe limits can be set on
the infrared fix point scale, Lambda_u, and the new physics scale, M, as a
function of the ultraviolet (d_UV) and anomalous (d) dimension of the
unparticle operator. For a scalar unparticle, for instance, assuming the
non-universality of the lepton couplings to unparticles to be of the order of a
few per mil we find that, for d_UV=3 and d=1.1, M is constrained to be M >
O(10^9) TeV (M > O(10^10) TeV) if Lambda_u= 1 TeV (10 TeV). For given values of
Lambda_u and d, the corresponding bounds on M for vector [tensor] unparticles
are approximately 100 [3/Sqrt(Lambda_u/TeV)] times those for the scalar case.
Conversely, these results can be translated into severe constraints on
universality violation of the fermion couplings to unparticle operators with
scales which can be accessible at future colliders.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes due to precision in numerical
factors and correction in figure labels. References added. Conclusions remain
unchange
Measurement of the lepton polarization and in the decay
We report the first measurement of the lepton polarization
in the decay as
well as a new measurement of the ratio of the branching fractions , where
denotes an electron or a muon, and the is reconstructed in the modes
and .
We use the full data sample of pairs recorded
with the Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider. Our results,
and
, are
consistent with the theoretical predictions of the Standard Model.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters; one figure
was removed from the first versio
Measurement of the lepton polarization and in the decay with one-prong hadronic decays at Belle
With the full data sample of pairs recorded by
the Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider, the decay is studied with the hadronic
decays and . The polarization in two-body hadronic
decays is measured, as well as the ratio of the branching fractions , where
denotes an electron or a muon. Our results, and , are consistent with the theoretical
predictions of the Standard Model. The polarization values of are excluded at the 90\% confidence level.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Effect of mixture proportions on the drying shrinkage and permeation properties of high strength concrete containing class F fly ash
Sustainability of concrete can be improved by using large volume of fly ash as a replacement of cement and by ensuring improved durability of concrete. Durability of concrete containing large volume of class F fly ash is dependent on the design of mixture proportions. This paper presents an experimental study on the effect of mixture proportions on the drying shrinkage and permeation properties of high strength concrete containing large volume local class F fly ash. Concrete mixtures were designed with and without adjustments in the water to binder ratio (w/b) and the total binder content to take into account the incorporation of fly ash up to 40% of total binder. Concretes, in which the mixture proportions were adjusted for fly ash inclusion achieved equivalent strength of the control concrete and showed enhanced properties of drying shrinkage, sorptivity, water permeability and chloride penetration as compared to the control concrete. The improvement of durability properties was less significant when no adjustments were made to the w/b ratio and total binder content. The results show the necessity of the adjustments in mixture proportions of concrete to achieve improved durability properties when using class F fly ash as a cement replacement
- …