Re-examining sin(2beta) and Delta m(d) from evolution of B(d) mesons with decoherence

In the time evolution of neutral meson systems, a perfect quantum coherence is usually assumed. The important quantities of the B(d) system, such as sin (2beta) and Delta m(d), are determined under this assumption. However, the meson system interacts with its environment. This interaction can lead to decoherence in the mesons even before they decay. In our formalism this decoherence is modelled by a single parameter lambda. It is desirable to re-examine the procedures of determination of sin(2beta) and Delta m(d) in meson systems with decoherence. We find that the present values of these two quantities are modulated by lambda. Re-analysis of B(d) data from B-factories and LHCb can lead to a clean determination of lambda, sin(2beta) and Delta m(d).Comment: Version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Production and Characterization of Glucoamylase by Aspergillus niger

Background and Objective: Glucoamylase is a potent starch degrading enzyme whose cheap production has been an area of research. Its production by Aspergillus niger in solid-state fermentation was studied using dried garden pea peel as a substrate, which enormously reduced the production cost. The current study intended to produce glucoamylase by a cost-effective strategy and exhaustively characterize the enzyme.Material and Methods: Garden pea peel was used as a substrate in solid state fermentation by Aspergillus niger for the production of glucoamylase under process parameters. Response surface methodology, a statistical tool for optimization, was applied to setup the experimental design for glucoamylase production. Characterization studies of the enzyme were carried out with temperature, pH, metal salts and elemental composition analysis.Results and Conclusion: The process parameters were temperature, amount of substrate and time of fermentation. Glucoamylase production was highest in the pH range of 5.4-6.2, was stable at pH 3.8, and maintained its maximum activity even at 70°C for 30 min. It showed higher catalytic efficiency when incubated with metal ions Fe2+, Cu2+, Mg2+, and Pb2+. Km and Vmax for glucoamylase were 0.387 mg of soluble starch ml-1 and 35.03 U μl-1 min-1, respectively. Glycogen was also used as a substrate, which gave an increased Km by 2.585, whose KI was found to be 0.631. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was performed for obtaining composition of the pea peel. C, N, and O were found to be 12.53%, 29.9%, and 55.27% by atomic weights, respectively. Cost- and time-effective production of glucoamylase was achieved by utilizing dried garden pea peel (a vegetable residue) powder as the substrate for production. Its high stability ensures efficient utilization under industrial conditions. This work provides a very good platform for the enzyme immobilization studies and scale up production in future.Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest

Quantum correlations in terms of neutrino oscillation probabilities

Neutrino oscillations provide evidence for the mode entanglement of neutrino mass eigenstates in a given flavour eigenstate. Given this mode entanglement, it is pertinent to consider the relation between the oscillation probabilities and other quantum correlations. In this work, we show that all the well-known quantum correlations, such as the Bell's inequality, are directly related to the neutrino oscillation probabilities. The results of the neutrino oscillation experiments, which measure the neutrino survival probability to be less than unity, imply Bell's inequality violation.Comment: Version accepted for publicatio

Utility of scrape cytology in the diagnosis of ovarian masses

Background: Cytology is a useful adjunct to frozen section for rapid diagnosis of neoplastic pathology. However frozen section facility is available in limited centres. Therefore, we undertook this study to find out role of scrape cytology for diagnosis of ovarian masses.Methods: It is an observational study done in a medical college. One hundred ovarian masses were collected for a period of eighteen months. Cut surface of ovarian masses were scraped with edge of a glass slide. Smears were prepared and stained with H and E stain, examined and a presumptive diagnosis was given. The verification of cytological diagnosis was done by histopathological report. All the data were recorded, tabulated and analyzed with the help of standard statistical methods using Microsoft XL.Results: A total of hundred cases were studied. Left ovary was involved in 38 cases, right ovary in 52 cases and bilateral ovaries in 10 cases. Malignant cases mostly yielded hyper cellular smear. On Chi square test, it was significant with value of less than .001. The overall sensitivity and specificity of scrape cytology in diagnosing ovarian neoplasm, considering HPE as gold standard, are 98% and 78% respectively. In Dysgerminoma, Papillary adenocarcinoma, Mucinous Cystadenoma, Benign cystic teratoma, Granulomatous lesion of ovary, Lymphoma and Mucinous adenocarcinoma, scrape diagnosis corroborated with the histological diagnosis. Notable discrepancy was seen in cases of Endometrioid carcinoma.Conclusions: Scrape cytology can serve as a powerful tool for early diagnosis of ovarian masses in close cooperation of the clinician, radiologist and pathologist. It has a potential for widespread use as knowledge and experience of interpreting cytopathologists increase

Flavor signatures of isosinglet vector-like down quark model

We consider a model where the standard model is extended by the addition of a vector-like isosinglet down-type quark b'. We perform a chi square fit to the flavor physics data and obtain the preferred central values along with errors of all the elements of the measurable 3 X 4 quark mixing matrix. The fit indicates that all the new-physics parameters are consistent with zero and the mixing of the b' quark with the other three is constrained to be small. The current flavor physics data rules out possibility of detectable new physics signals in most of the flavor physics observables. We also investigate possible deviations in the standard model Wtb couplings and bottom quark coupling to Higgs boson. We find that these deviations are less than a percent level which is too small to be observed at the LHC with current precision.Comment: Version accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics

Prevalence of Candida glabrata and its response to boric acid vaginal suppositories in comparison with oral fluconazole in patients with diabetes and vulvovaginal candidiasis

Objective: A large proportion of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) in diabetes is due to non-albicans Candida species such as C. glabrata and C. tropicalis. Observational studies indicate that diabetic patients with C. glabrata VVC respond poorly to azole drugs. We evaluated the response to oral fluconazole and boric acid vaginal suppositories in diabetic patients with VVC. Research Design And Methods: A total of 112 consecutive diabetic patients with VVC were block randomized to receive either single-dose oral 150-mg fluconazole or boric acid vaginal suppositories (600 mg/day for 14 days). The primary efficacy outcome was the mycological cure in patients with C. glabrata VVC in the two treatment arms. The secondary outcomes were the mycological cure in C. albicans VVC, overall mycological cure irrespective of the type of Candida species, frequencies of yeast on direct microscopy, and clinical symptoms and signs of VVC on the 15th day of treatment. Intention-to-treat (ITT; n = 111) and per-protocol (PP; n = 99) analyses were performed. Results: C. glabrata was isolated in 68 (61.3%) and C. albicans in 32 (28.8%) of 111 subjects. Patients with C. glabrata VVC showed higher mycological cure with boric acid compared with fluconazole in the ITT (21 of 33, 63.6% vs. 10 of 35, 28.6%; P = 0.01) and PP analyses (21 of 29, 72.4% vs. 10 of 30, 33.3%; P = 0.01). The secondary efficacy outcomes were not significantly different in the two treatment arms in the ITT and PP analyses. Conclusions: Diabetic women with C. glabrata VVC show higher mycological cure with boric acid vaginal suppositories given for 14 days in comparison with single-dose oral 150-mg fluconazole