Covariant derivative expansion of fermionic effective action at high temperatures

We derive the fermionic contribution to the 1-loop effective action for A_4 and A_i fields at high temperatures, assuming that gluon fields are slowly varying but allowing for an arbitrary amplitude of A_4.Comment: RevTex 4, 11 pages, 3 figures. Version 2: Typos corrected; magnetic fields restricted to parallel sector. Version accepted for publication in PR

Covariant derivative expansion of Yang-Mills effective action at high temperatures

Integrating out fast varying quantum fluctuations about Yang--Mills fields A_i and A_4, we arrive at the effective action for those fields at high temperatures. Assuming that the fields A_i and A_4 are slowly varying but that the amplitude of A_4 is arbitrary, we find a non-trivial effective gauge invariant action both in the electric and magnetic sectors. Our results can be used for studying correlation functions at high temperatures beyond the dimensional reduction approximation, as well as for estimating quantum weights of classical static configurations such as dyons.Comment: Minor changes. References added. Paper accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Breast MRI in the Diagnostic and Preoperative Workup Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Breast Cancer

We compared the frequency and sequence of breast imaging and biopsy use for the diagnostic and preoperative workup of breast cancer according to breast MRI use among older women

Welwitindolinone C synthetic studies. Construction of the welwitindolinone carbon skeleton via a transannular nitrone cycloaddition

Described is the construction of the N-methylwelwitindolinone C core via an efficient strategy that employs a sequential rhodium carbenoid-mediated O–H insertion, Claisen rearrangement and transannular [3+2] nitrone cycloaddition

Long-lived magnetism from solidification-driven convection on the pallasite parent body.

Palaeomagnetic measurements of meteorites suggest that, shortly after the birth of the Solar System, the molten metallic cores of many small planetary bodies convected vigorously and were capable of generating magnetic fields. Convection on these bodies is currently thought to have been thermally driven, implying that magnetic activity would have been short-lived. Here we report a time-series palaeomagnetic record derived from nanomagnetic imaging of the Imilac and Esquel pallasite meteorites, a group of meteorites consisting of centimetre-sized metallic and silicate phases. We find a history of long-lived magnetic activity on the pallasite parent body, capturing the decay and eventual shutdown of the magnetic field as core solidification completed. We demonstrate that magnetic activity driven by progressive solidification of an inner core is consistent with our measured magnetic field characteristics and cooling rates. Solidification-driven convection was probably common among small body cores, and, in contrast to thermally driven convection, will have led to a relatively late (hundreds of millions of years after accretion), long-lasting, intense and widespread epoch of magnetic activity among these bodies in the early Solar System.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement No. 320750, the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 312284, the Natural Environment Research Council, Fundación ARAID and the Spanish MINECO MAT2011-23791.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v517/n7535/full/nature14114.html

Genome-wide association and HLA fine-mapping studies identify risk loci and genetic pathways underlying allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is the most common clinical presentation of allergy, affecting 400 million people worldwide, with increasing incidence in westernized countries1,2. To elucidate the genetic architecture and understand the underlying disease mechanisms, we carried out a meta-analysis of allergic rhinitis in 59,762 cases and 152,358 controls of European ancestry and identified a total of 41 risk loci for allergic rhinitis, including 20 loci not previously associated with allergic rhinitis, which were confirmed in a replication phase of 60,720 cases and 618,527 controls. Functional annotation implicated genes involved in various immune pathways, and fine mapping of the HLA region suggested amino acid variants important for antigen binding. We further performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses of allergic sensitization against inhalant allergens and nonallergic rhinitis, which suggested shared genetic mechanisms across rhinitis-related traits. Future studies of the identified loci and genes might identify novel targets for treatment and prevention of allergic rhinitis

Number Fluctuation and the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

We consider N bosons occupying a discrete set of single-particle quantum states in an isolated trap. Usually, for a given excitation energy, there are many combinations of exciting different number of particles from the ground state, resulting in a fluctuation of the ground state population. As a counter example, we take the quantum spectrum to be logarithms of the prime number sequence, and using the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, find that the ground state fluctuation vanishes exactly for all excitations. The use of the standard canonical or grand canonical ensembles, on the other hand, gives substantial number fluctuation for the ground state. This difference between the microcanonical and canonical results cannot be accounted for within the framework of equilibrium statistical mechanics.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. To be submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Effect of synbiotic supplementation in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis: a randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by excessive activation of immune processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of synbiotic supplementation on the inflammatory response in children/adolescents with CF. SUBJECTS/METHODS:A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, clinical-trial was conducted with control group (CG, n = 17), placebo-CF-group (PCFG, n = 19), synbiotic CF-group (SCFG, n = 22), PCFG negative (n = 8) and positive (n = 11) bacteriology, and SCFG negative (n = 12) and positive (n = 10) bacteriology. Markers of lung function (FEV1), nutritional status [body mass index-for age (BMI/A), height-for-age (H/A), weight-for-age (W/A), upper-arm fat area (UFA), upper-arm muscle area (UMA), body fat (%BF)], and inflammation [interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-10, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, myeloperoxidase (MPO), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx)] were evaluated before and after 90-day of supplementation with a synbiotic. RESULTS:No significance difference was found between the baseline and end evaluations of FEV1 and nutricional status markers. A significant interaction (time vs. group) was found for IL-12 (p = 0.010) and myeloperoxidase (p = 0.036) between PCFG and SCFG, however, the difference was not maintained after assessing the groups individually. NOx diminished significantly after supplementation in the SCFG (p = 0.030). In the SCFG with positive bacteriology, reductions were found in IL-6 (p = 0.033) and IL-8 (p = 0.009) after supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Synbiotic supplementation shown promise at diminishing the pro-inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-8 in the SCFG with positive bacteriology and NOx in the SCFG in children/adolescents with CF

Right and left prefrontal transcranial magnetic stimulation at 1 Hz does not affect mood in healthy volunteers

BACKGROUND: Prefrontal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been used to induce side-specific mood changes in volunteers and patients. To clarify inconsistencies between reports that used different stimulation frequencies, we conducted a controlled study with a low (1 Hz) frequency, comparing left with right-sided stimulation METHODS: Nineteen healthy volunteers received randomised left or right prefrontal rTMS at a frequency of 1 Hz and 100% of motor threshold in two sessions two weeks apart. RESULTS: There were significant improvements with TMS for performance in the digit symbol substitution and verbal fluency tests, but no change of mood on a number of measures. There was also a reduction of pulse rate after TMS. The only side-specific TMS-effect was on mean arterial pressure, which decreased pressure after left, but not after right prefrontal TMS. CONCLUSIONS: Apart from the unexpected and so far unreplicated effect on mean arterial pressure, there were no side-specific effects on mood in volunteers. It is unlikely that a simple laterality model of mood together with the assumed activating effect of higher and 'quenching' effect of lower stimulation frequency can account for the effects of TMS on mood