Confinement and Strings in MQCD

We study aspects of confinement in the M theory fivebrane version of QCD (MQCD). We show heavy quarks are confined in hadrons (which take the form of membrane-fivebrane bound states) for N=1 and softly broken N=2 SU(Nc) MQCD. We explore and clarify the transition from the exotic physics of the latter to the standard physics of the former. In particular, the many strings and quark-antiquark mesons found in N=2 field theory by Douglas and Shenker are reproduced. It is seen that in the N=1 limit all but one such meson disappears while all of the strings survive. The strings of softly broken N=2, N=1, and even non-supersymmetric SU(Nc) MQCD have a common ratio for their tensions as a function of the amount of flux they carry. We also comment on the almost BPS properties of the Douglas-Shenker strings and discuss the brane picture for monopole confinement on N=2 QCD Higgs branches.Comment: 39 pages, 17 figures, uses harvma

KDOQI US Commentary on the 2017 ACC/AHA Hypertension Guideline

Hypertension is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and reduction of elevated blood pressure (BP) remains an important intervention for slowing kidney disease progression. Over the past decade, the most appropriate BP target for initiation and titration of BP-lowering medications has been an area of intense research and debate within the clinical community. In 2017, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) in conjunction with several other professional societies released new hypertension guidelines based on data from a systematic review of clinical trials and observational data. While many of the recommendations in the ACC/AHA hypertension guideline are relevant to nephrology practice, BP targets and management strategies for patients receiving dialysis are not discussed. This Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) commentary focuses largely on recommendations from the ACC/AHA hypertension guidelines that are pertinent to individuals at risk of chronic kidney disease or with non–dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease. This KDOQI commentary also includes a brief discussion of the consensus statement regarding hypertension diagnosis and management for adults receiving maintenance dialysis published by the European Renal and Cardiovascular Medicine Working Group of the European Renal Association–European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) and the Hypertension and the Kidney working group of the European Society of Hypertension. Overall, we support the vast majority of the ACC/AHA recommendations and highlight select areas in which best diagnosis and treatment options remain controversial

Roadmaps to Utopia: Tales of the Smart City

Notions of the Smart City are pervasive in urban development discourses. Various frameworks for the development of smart cities, often conceptualized as roadmaps, make a number of implicit claims about how smart city projects proceed but the legitimacy of those claims is unclear. This paper begins to address this gap in knowledge. We explore the development of a smart transport application, MotionMap, in the context of a £16M smart city programme taking place in Milton Keynes, UK. We examine how the idealized smart city narrative was locally inflected, and discuss the differences between the narrative and the processes and outcomes observed in Milton Keynes. The research shows that the vision of data-driven efficiency outlined in the roadmaps is not universally compelling, and that different approaches to the sensing and optimization of urban flows have potential for empowering or disempowering different actors. Roadmaps tend to emphasize the importance of delivering quick practical results. However, the benefits observed in Milton Keynes did not come from quick technical fixes but from a smart city narrative that reinforced existing city branding, mobilizing a growing network of actors towards the development of a smart region. Further research is needed to investigate this and other smart city developments, the significance of different smart city narratives, and how power relationships are reinforced and constructed through them

Introducing the Condor Array Telescope: IV. A possible nova super-remnant surrounding the putative recurrent nova KT Eridani

Just 10 recurrent novae (RNe) - which erupt repeatedly on timescales shorter than one century - are known in our Galaxy. The most extreme RN known (located in the Andromeda galaxy), M31N 2008-12a, undergoes a nova eruption every year, and is surrounded by a vast nova "super-remnant", 134 pc in extent. Simulations predict that all RNe should be surrounded by similar vast shells, but previous searches have failed to detect them. KT Eri has recently been suggested to be a RN, and we have used the Condor Array Telescope to image its environs through multiple narrowband filters. We report the existence of a large ($\sim$ 50 pc diameter), H$\,\alpha$-bright shell centered on KT Eri, exactly as predicted. This strongly supports the claim that KT Eri is the 11th Galactic recurrent nova, and only the second nova known to be surrounded by a super-remnant. SALT spectra of the super-remnant demonstrate that its velocity width is consistent with that of M31-2008-12a.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard

Growing practice interest in smart cities has led to calls for a less technology-oriented and more citizen-centric approach. In response, this articles investigates the citizenship mode promulgated by the smart city standard of the British Standards Institution. The analysis uses the concept of citizenship regime and a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to discern key discursive frames defining the smart city and the particular citizenship dimensions brought into play. The results confirm an explicit citizenship rationale guiding the smart city (standard), although this displays some substantive shortcomings and contradictions. The article concludes with recommendations for both further theory and practice development

Ankle Brachial Index and Subsequent Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139089/1/jah31554.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139089/2/jah31554_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139089/3/jah31554-sup-0001-TableS1.pd

211 Identifying lupus patient subsets and specific pharmacodynamic changes through immune cell deconvolution of gene expression data in atacicept-treated patients in the APRIL-SLE study

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A simple rule governs the evolution and development of hominin tooth size

The variation in molar tooth size in humans and our closest relatives (hominins) has strongly influenced our view of human evolution. The reduction in overall size and disproportionate decrease in third molar size have been noted for over a century, and have been attributed to reduced selection for large dentitions owing to changes in diet or the acquisition of cooking1, 2. The systematic pattern of size variation along the tooth row has been described as a ‘morphogenetic gradient’ in mammal, and more specifically hominin, teeth since Butler3 and Dahlberg4. However, the underlying controls of tooth size have not been well understood, with hypotheses ranging from morphogenetic fields3 to the clone theory5. In this study we address the following question: are there rules that govern how hominin tooth size evolves? Here we propose that the inhibitory cascade, an activator–inhibitor mechanism that affects relative tooth size in mammals6, produces the default pattern of tooth sizes for all lower primary postcanine teeth (deciduous premolars and permanent molars) in hominins. This configuration is also equivalent to a morphogenetic gradient, finally pointing to a mechanism that can generate this gradient. The pattern of tooth size remains constant with absolute size in australopiths (including Ardipithecus, Australopithecus and Paranthropus). However, in species of Homo, including modern humans, there is a tight link between tooth proportions and absolute size such that a single developmental parameter can explain both the relative and absolute sizes of primary postcanine teeth. On the basis of the relationship of inhibitory cascade patterning with size, we can use the size at one tooth position to predict the sizes of the remaining four primary postcanine teeth in the row for hominins. Our study provides a development-based expectation to examine the evolution of the unique proportions of human teeth

Assessing Monkeypox Virus Prevalence in Small Mammals at the Human-Animal Interface in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

During 2012, 2013 and 2015, we collected small mammals within 25 km of the town of Boende in Tshuapa Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The prevalence of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in this area is unknown; however, cases of human infection were previously confirmed near these collection sites. Samples were collected from 353 mammals (rodents, shrews, pangolins, elephant shrews, a potamogale, and a hyrax). Some rodents and shrews were captured from houses where human monkeypox cases have recently been identified, but most were trapped in forests and agricultural areas near villages. Real-time PCR and ELISA were used to assess evidence of MPXV infection and other Orthopoxvirus (OPXV) infections in these small mammals. Seven (2.0%) of these animal samples were found to be anti-orthopoxvirus immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody positive (six rodents: two Funisciurus spp.; one Graphiurus lorraineus; one Cricetomys emini; one Heliosciurus sp.; one Oenomys hypoxanthus, and one elephant shrew Petrodromus tetradactylus); no individuals were found positive in PCR-based assays. These results suggest that a variety of animals can be infected with OPXVs, and that epidemiology studies and educational campaigns should focus on animals that people are regularly contacting, including larger rodents used as protein sources

Proteogenomics connects somatic mutations to signalling in breast cancer

Somatic mutations have been extensively characterized in breast cancer, but the effects of these genetic alterations on the proteomic landscape remain poorly understood. We describe quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomic and phosphoproteomic analyses of 105 genomically annotated breast cancers of which 77 provided high-quality data. Integrated analyses allowed insights into the somatic cancer genome including the consequences of chromosomal loss, such as the 5q deletion characteristic of basal-like breast cancer. The 5q trans effects were interrogated against the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures, thereby connecting CETN3 and SKP1 loss to elevated expression of EGFR, and SKP1 loss also to increased SRC. Global proteomic data confirmed a stromal-enriched group in addition to basal and luminal clusters and pathway analysis of the phosphoproteome identified a G Protein-coupled receptor cluster that was not readily identified at the mRNA level. Besides ERBB2, other amplicon-associated, highly phosphorylated kinases were identified, including CDK12, PAK1, PTK2, RIPK2 and TLK2. We demonstrate that proteogenomic analysis of breast cancer elucidates functional consequences of somatic mutations, narrows candidate nominations for driver genes within large deletions and amplified regions, and identifies therapeutic targets