Noncommutative Field Theory and Lorentz Violation

The role of Lorentz symmetry in noncommutative field theory is considered. Any realistic noncommutative theory is found to be physically equivalent to a subset of a general Lorentz-violating standard-model extension involving ordinary fields. Some theoretical consequences are discussed. Existing experiments bound the scale of the noncommutativity parameter to (10 TeV)^{-2}.Comment: 4 page

Mass Reconstruction with CMB Polarization

Weak gravitational lensing by the intervening large-scale structure of the Universe induces high-order correlations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization fields. We construct minimum variance estimators of the intervening mass distribution out of the six quadratic combinations of the temperature and polarization fields. Polarization begins to assist in the reconstruction when E-mode mapping becomes possible on degree-scale fields, i.e. for an experiment with a noise level of ~40 uK-arcmin and beam of ~7', similar to the Planck experiment; surpasses the temperature reconstruction at ~26 uK-arcmin and 4'; yet continues to improve the reconstruction until the lensing B-modes are mapped to l ~ 2000 at ~0.3 uK-arcmin and 3'. Ultimately, the correlation between the E and B modes can provide a high signal-to-noise mass map out to multipoles of L ~ 1000, extending the range of temperature-based estimators by nearly an order of magnitude. We outline four applications of mass reconstruction: measurement of the linear power spectrum in projection to the cosmic variance limit out to L ~ 1000 (or wavenumbers 0.002 < k < 0.2 in h/Mpc), cross-correlation with cosmic shear surveys to probe the evolution of structure tomographically, cross-correlation of the mass and temperature maps to probe the dark energy, and the separation of lensing and gravitational wave B-modes.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, published version (minor sign typo corrected

CMB Lensing Reconstruction on the Full Sky

Gravitational lensing of the microwave background by the intervening dark matter mainly arises from large-angle fluctuations in the projected gravitational potential and hence offers a unique opportunity to study the physics of the dark sector at large scales. Studies with surveys that cover greater than a percent of the sky will require techniques that incorporate the curvature of the sky. We lay the groundwork for these studies by deriving the full sky minimum variance quadratic estimators of the lensing potential from the CMB temperature and polarization fields. We also present a general technique for constructing these estimators, with harmonic space convolutions replaced by real space products, that is appropriate for both the full sky limit and the flat sky approximation. This also extends previous treatments to include estimators involving the temperature-polarization cross-correlation and should be useful for next generation experiments in which most of the additional information from polarization comes from this channel due to sensitivity limitations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D; typos correcte

Paraproteinemia in a Patient with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Derived from the Myelodysplastic Syndrome : A Case Report

Severe paraproteinemia was found in a 75-year-old female with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) derived from refractory anemia with an excess of blasts, a type of the myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Immunoglobulin G-κ and G-λ paraproteins had increased in accordance with the proliferation of myeloblasts in her bone marrow. When the diagnosis of AML was made, a severe bleeding tendency and disturbance of consciousness due to the hyperviscosity syndrome were noted, although there was no significant increase in plasma cells in her bone marrow. An ultrasonogram disclosed multiple hyperechoic nodular lesions in the spleen. Cytoreductive therapy for AML was begun after plasma exchange, but she died of acute renal failure, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and the disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome. Autopsy findings revealed clusters of plasma cells in the spleen and lymph nodes. The possibility that this coexistant paraproteinemia and AML were related to the evolution of a transformed clone in MDS is discussed

The Angular Trispectra of CMB Temperature and Polarization

We develop the formalism necessary to study four-point functions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization fields. We determine the general form of CMB trispectra, with the constraints imposed by the assumption of statistical isotropy of the CMB fields, and derive expressions for their estimators, as well as their Gaussian noise properties. We apply these techniques to initial non-Gaussianity of a form motivated by inflationary models. Due to the large number of four-point configurations, the sensitivity of the trispectra to initial non-Gaussianity approaches that of the temperature bispectrum at high multipole moment. These trispectra techniques will also be useful in the study of secondary anisotropies induced for example by the gravitational lensing of the CMB by the large scale structure of the universe.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures; typographical errors correcte

THYROID DYSFUNCTION FOLLOWING ALPHA-INTERFERON TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

In order to evaluate the influnces of IFNα on thyroid function, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), total thyroxine (T4), free T4, tri-iodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine-binding globulin were examined in IFNα-treated 351 patients with chronic hepatitis C before and during therapy. As therapy, either 3 million units (MU) of human lymphoblastoid IFNα or 9MU of recombinant IFNα2a was administrated daily for the initial two weeks followed by three times a week for 22 weeks. There were nine patients showing thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy. They consist of one relapse of Graves' disease, one relapse of Hashimoto thyroiditis, one development of apparent thyroid insufficiency from subclinical hypothyroidism, five cases with transient hyperthyroidism and one case with transient hypothyroidism. T4 and T3 levels in most patients who transiently developed thyroid dysfunction were normalized spontaneously after the discontinuation of IFNα. Thyroid-related autoantibodies were positive in 4 patients before IFNα therapy and newly developed in one patient during therapy. Attention should be paid first to the previous histories of autoimmune thyroid diseases and the existence of thyroid-related autoantibodies for the prediction of development of thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy. In addition, serial examinations of TSH, T3 and T4 should be also necessary for early detection of transient thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy

Constraining Cut-off Physics in the Cosmic Microwave Background

We investigate the ability to constrain oscillatory features in the primordial power spectrum using current and future cosmic microwave background observations. In particular, we study the observability of an oscillation arising from imprints of physics at the cut-off energy scale. We perform a likelihood analysis on the WMAP data set, and find that the current data set constrains the amplitude of the oscillations to be less than 0.77 at 2-sigma, consistent with a power spectrum without oscillations. In addition, we investigate the fundamental limitations in the measurement of oscillation parameters by studying the constraints from a cosmic variance limited experiment. We find that such an experiment is capable of constraining the amplitude of such oscillations to be below 0.005, implying that reasonable models with cut-off energy scales Lambda>200 H_infl are unobservable through the microwave background.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures; PRD accepted versio