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Do arsenic levels in rice pose a health risk to the UK population?
Consumption of rice and rice products can be a significant exposure pathway to inorganic arsenic (iAs), which is a group 1 carcinogen to humans. The UK follows the current European Commission regulations so that iAs concentrations must be 0.1 mg kg-1 were selected for As speciation using HPLC-ICP-MS. Based on the average concentration of iAs of our samples, we calculated values for the Lifetime Cancer Risk (LCR), Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) and Margin of Exposure (MoE). We found a statistically significant difference between organically and non-organically grown rice. We also found that brown rice contained a significantly higher concentration of iAs compared to white or wild rice. Notably, 28 rice samples exceeded the iAs maximum limit stipulated by the EU (0.1 mg kg-1) with an average iAs concentration of 0.13 mg kg-1; therefore consumption of these rice types could be riskier for infants than adults. Based on the MoE, it was found that infants up to 1 year must be restricted to a maximum of 20 g per day for the 28 rice types to avoid carcinogenic risks. We believe that consumers could be better informed whether the marketed product is fit for infants and young children, via appropriate product labelling containing information about iAs concentration
Associated Production of a W Boson and One b Jet
We calculate the production of a W boson and a single b jet to
next-to-leading order in QCD at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron
Collider. Both exclusive and inclusive cross sections are presented. We
separately consider the cross section for jets containing a single b quark and
jets containing a b-anti b pair. There are a wide variety of processes that
contribute, and it is necessary to include them all in order to have a complete
description at both colliders.Comment: LaTeX, 16 pages, 22 postscript figures; version published in Phys.
Rev.
Hiding the Higgs at the LHC
We study a simple extension of the standard model where scalar singlets that
mix with the Higgs doublet are added. This modification to the standard model
could have a significant impact on Higgs searches at the LHC. The Higgs doublet
is not a mass eigenstate and therefore the expected nice peak of the standard
model Higgs disappears. We analyze this scenario finding the required
properties of the singlets in order to make the Higgs "invisible" at the LHC.
In some part of the parameter space even one singlet could make the discovery
of the SM Higgs problematic. In other parts, the Higgs can be discovered even
in the presence of many singlets.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. V2- References added. V3- Several examples and one
fig. adde
Higgs boson production with one bottom quark jet at hadron colliders
We present total rates and kinematic distributions for the associated
production of a single bottom quark and a Higgs boson at the Tevatron and the
LHC. We include next-to-leading order QCD corrections and compare the results
obtained in the four and five flavor number schemes for parton distribution
functions.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX
Intraocular Pressure in Eyes Receiving Intravitreal Antivascular Endothelial Growth Factor Injections
PURPOSE: The aim of the this study was to determine the effect of intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor injections on intraocular pressure (IOP) and identify possible risk factors for the development of increased IOP.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
This prospective study included a total of 106 eyes receiving intravitreal injection of bevacizumab as treatment for macular edema or active choroidal neovascularization. IOP was measured by Goldmann applanation tonometry immediately before the intravitreal injection and 5 min, 1 h and 15 days after the procedure. The records of the study patients were reviewed for age, gender, history of glaucoma, diabetes mellitus, phakic status, systemic and topical medication and number of previous injections. Subconjunctival reflux was registered. IOP elevation was defined as IOP ≥21 mm Hg and/or a change from baseline of ≥5 mm Hg recorded at least on two or more measurements on the same visit.
RESULTS:
Mean preoperative IOP was 15.31 ± 3.90 mm Hg and postoperative IOP values were 27.27 ± 11.87 mm Hg (after 5 min), 17.59 ± 6.24 mm Hg (after 1 h) and 16.86 ± 3.62 mm Hg (after 15 days). The IOP variation was statistically significant between pre- and postoperative measurements (p < 0.05). Subconjunctival reflux was recorded in 11.3%, and in this subgroup the IOP at 5 min and at 1 h was lower than preoperative IOP (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS:
More than one third of the eyes achieved IOPs >30 mm Hg 5 min after injection. Subconjunctival reflux contributed to a lower mean postoperative IOP (p < 0.05). Considerations for the management include prophylactic IOP lowering with medical therapy and/or preinjection ocular decompression for patients with a history of glaucoma or ocular hypertension and switching to an as-needed injection protocol in patients suffering a marked IOP rise in previous injections. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel
Robots as actors in a film : No War, A Robot Story
Will the Third World War be fought by robots? This short film is a light-hearted comedy that aims to trigger an interesting discussion and reflexion on the terrifying killer-robot stories that increasingly fill us with dread when we read the news headlines. The fictional scenario takes inspiration from current scientific research and describes a future where robots are asked by humans to join the war. Robots are divided, sparking protests in robot society... will robots join the conflict or will they refuse to be employed in human warfare? Food for thought for engineers, roboticists and anyone imagining what the upcoming robot revolution could look like. We let robots pop on camera to tell a story, taking on the role of actors playing in the film, instructed through code on how to "act" for each scene
Intraocular Pressure in Eyes Receiving Intravitreal Antivascular Endothelial Growth Factor Injections
PURPOSE: The aim of the this study was to determine the effect of intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor injections on intraocular pressure (IOP) and identify possible risk factors for the development of increased IOP.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
This prospective study included a total of 106 eyes receiving intravitreal injection of bevacizumab as treatment for macular edema or active choroidal neovascularization. IOP was measured by Goldmann applanation tonometry immediately before the intravitreal injection and 5 min, 1 h and 15 days after the procedure. The records of the study patients were reviewed for age, gender, history of glaucoma, diabetes mellitus, phakic status, systemic and topical medication and number of previous injections. Subconjunctival reflux was registered. IOP elevation was defined as IOP ≥21 mm Hg and/or a change from baseline of ≥5 mm Hg recorded at least on two or more measurements on the same visit.
RESULTS:
Mean preoperative IOP was 15.31 ± 3.90 mm Hg and postoperative IOP values were 27.27 ± 11.87 mm Hg (after 5 min), 17.59 ± 6.24 mm Hg (after 1 h) and 16.86 ± 3.62 mm Hg (after 15 days). The IOP variation was statistically significant between pre- and postoperative measurements (p < 0.05). Subconjunctival reflux was recorded in 11.3%, and in this subgroup the IOP at 5 min and at 1 h was lower than preoperative IOP (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS:
More than one third of the eyes achieved IOPs >30 mm Hg 5 min after injection. Subconjunctival reflux contributed to a lower mean postoperative IOP (p < 0.05). Considerations for the management include prophylactic IOP lowering with medical therapy and/or preinjection ocular decompression for patients with a history of glaucoma or ocular hypertension and switching to an as-needed injection protocol in patients suffering a marked IOP rise in previous injections. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel
Model of the best-of-N nest-site selection process in honeybees
The ability of a honeybee swarm to select the best nest site plays a fundamental role in determining the
future colony’s fitness. To date, the nest-site selection process has mostly been modelled and theoretically
analysed for the case of binary decisions. However, when the number of alternative nests is larger than two,
the decision process dynamics qualitatively change. In this work, we extend previous analyses of a valuesensitive
decision-making mechanism to a decision process among N nests. First, we present the decisionmaking
dynamics in the symmetric case of N equal-quality nests. Then, we generalise our findings to a
best-of-N decision scenario with one superior nest and N – 1 inferior nests, previously studied empirically
in bees and ants. Whereas previous binary models highlighted the crucial role of inhibitory stop-signalling,
the key parameter in our new analysis is the relative time invested by swarm members in individual discovery
and in signalling behaviours. Our new analysis reveals conflicting pressures on this ratio in symmetric and
best-of-N decisions, which could be solved through a time-dependent signalling strategy. Additionally,
our analysis suggests how ecological factors determining the density of suitable nest sites may have led to
selective pressures for an optimal stable signalling ratio
Exciton entanglement in two coupled semiconductor microcrystallites
Entanglement of the excitonic states in the system of two coupled
semiconductor microcrystallites, whose sizes are much larger than the Bohr
radius of exciton in bulk semiconductor but smaller than the relevant optical
wavelength, is quantified in terms of the entropy of entanglement. It is
observed that the nonlinear interaction between excitons increases the maximum
values of the entropy of the entanglement more than that of the linear coupling
model. Therefore, a system of two coupled microcrystallites can be used as a
good source of entanglement with fixed exciton number. The relationship between
the entropy of the entanglement and the population imbalance of two
microcrystallites is numerically shown and the uppermost envelope function for
them is estimated by applying the Jaynes principle.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
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