Search for lepton flavor violating decays of a heavy neutral particle in p-pbar collisions at root(s)=1.8 TeV

We report on a search for a high mass, narrow width particle that decays directly to e+mu, e+tau, or mu+tau. We use approximately 110 pb^-1 of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab from 1992 to 1995. No evidence of lepton flavor violating decays is found. Limits are set on the production and decay of sneutrinos with R-parity violating interactions.Comment: Figure 2 fixed. Reference 4 fixed. Minor changes to tex

Review of risk factors for human echinococcosis prevalence on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China: a prospective for control options

Objective: Echinococcosis is a major parasitic zoonosis of public health importance in western China. In 2004, the Chinese Ministry of Health estimated that 380,000 people had the disease in the region. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is highly co-endemic with both alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and cystic echinococcosis (CE). In the past years, the Chinese government has been increasing the financial support to control the diseases in this region. Therefore, it is very important to identify the significant risk factors of the diseases by reviewing studies done in the region in the past decade to help policymakers design appropriate control strategies. Review: Selection criteria for which literature to review were firstly defined. Medline, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), and Google Scholar were systematically searched for literature published between January 2000 and July 2011. Significant risk factors found by single factor and/or multiple factors analysis were listed, counted, and summarized. Literature was examined to check the comparability of the data; age and sex specific prevalence with same data structures were merged and used for further analysis. A variety of assumed social, economical, behavioral, and ecological risk factors were studied on the Plateau. Those most at risk were Tibetan herdsmen, the old and female in particular. By analyzing merged comparable data, it was found that females had a significant higher prevalence, and a positive linearity relationship existed between echinococcosis prevalence and increasing age. In terms of behavioral risk factors, playing with dogs was mostly correlated with CE and/or AE prevalence. In terms of hygiene, employing ground water as the drinking water source was significantly correlated with CE and AE prevalence. For definitive hosts, dog related factors were most frequently identified with prevalence of CE or/and AE; fox was a potential risk factor for AE prevalence only. Overgrazing and deforestation were significant for AE prevalence only. Conclusion: Tibetan herdsmen communities were at the highest risk of echinococcosis prevalence and should be the focus of echinococcosis control. Deworming both owned and stray dogs should be a major measure for controlling echinococcosis; treatment of wild definitive hosts should also be considered for AE endemic areas. Health education activities should be in concert with the local people's education backgrounds and languages in order to be able to improve behaviors. Further researches are needed to clarify the importance of wild hosts for AE/CE prevalence, the extent and range of the impacts of ecologic changes (overgrazing and deforestation) on the AE prevalence, and risk factors in Tibet

Magnetic Properties of Ab initio Model for Iron-Based Superconductors LaFeAsO

By using variational Monte Carlo method, we examine an effective low-energy model for LaFeAsO derived from an ab initio downfolding scheme. We show that quantum and many-body fluctuations near a quantum critical point largely reduce the antiferromagnetic (AF) ordered moment and the model not only quantitatively reproduces the small ordered moment in LaFeAsO, but also explains the diverse dependence on LaFePO, BaFe2As2 and FeTe. We also find that LaFeAsO is under large orbital fluctuations, sandwiched by the AF Mott insulator and weakly correlated metals. The orbital fluctuations and Dirac-cone dispersion hold keys for the diverse magnetic properties.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Mean Interplanetary Magnetic Field Measurement Using the ARGO-YBJ Experiment

The sun blocks cosmic ray particles from outside the solar system, forming a detectable shadow in the sky map of cosmic rays detected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment in Tibet. Because the cosmic ray particles are positive charged, the magnetic field between the sun and the earth deflects them from straight trajectories and results in a shift of the shadow from the true location of the sun. Here we show that the shift measures the intensity of the field which is transported by the solar wind from the sun to the earth.Comment: 6 papges,3 figure

The epidemic of sexually transmitted infections in China: implications for control and future perspectives

China has experienced an increasing epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. High risk groups likely to be infected include female sex workers (FSWs) and their clients, men who have sex with men (MSM), drug users and migrant workers. Prevention can be achieved through education of the population, condom promotion, early detection of symptomatic and asymptomatic people, and effective diagnosis and treatment of these patients and their partners. This article aims to describe the profile of the epidemic in high-risk groups in China as well as to detail the contributing factors and the implications for control. Programmes for the control of STIs should be immediate priorities in China, and primary and secondary prevention strategies are vital to this process

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

The discovery of Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) and its significance for cell biology, life sciences and clinical medicine

It has been more than 25 years since HGF was discovered as a mitogen of hepatocytes. HGF is produced by stromal cells, and stimulates epithelial cell proliferation, motility, morphogenesis and angiogenesis in various organs via tyrosine phosphorylation of its receptor, c-Met. In fetal stages, HGF-neutralization, or c-Met gene destruction, leads to hypoplasia of many organs, indicating that HGF signals are essential for organ development. Endogenous HGF is required for self-repair of injured livers, kidneys, lungs and so on. In addition, HGF exerts protective effects on epithelial and non-epithelial organs (including the heart and brain) via anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory signals. During organ diseases, plasma HGF levels significantly increased, while anti-HGF antibody infusion accelerated tissue destruction in rodents. Thus, endogenous HGF is required for minimization of diseases, while insufficient production of HGF leads to organ failure. This is the reason why HGF supplementation produces therapeutic outcomes under pathological conditions. Moreover, emerging studies delineated key roles of HGF during tumor metastasis, while HGF-antagonism leads to anti-tumor outcomes. Taken together, HGF-based molecules, including HGF-variants, HGF-fragments and c-Met-binders are available as regenerative or anti-tumor drugs. Molecular analysis of the HGF-c-Met system could provide bridges between basic biology and clinical medicine

Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance in China: Policy Implementation in a Complex Context

The effectiveness of antibiotics in treating bacterial infections is decreasing in China because of the widespread development of resistant organisms. Although China has enacted a number of regulations to address this problem, but the impact is very limited. This paper investigates the implementation of these regulations through the lens of complex adaptive systems (CAS). It presents the findings from reviews of relevant policy documents and published papers. The paper identifies different types of agent and explores their interaction with regard to the use of antibiotics and their responses to changes of the regulations. It focuses particularly on the impact of perverse financial incentives on overall patterns of use of antibiotics. Implications for the possibilities of nonlinear results, interactive relationships, and new pathways of policy implementation are discussed. The paper concludes that policy-makers need to better understand the objectives, incentives and potential adaptive behaviors of the agents when they implement interventions to improve antibiotic use and reduce the risk of emergence of resistant organism