Properties of the Z(3) Interface in (2+1)-D SU(3) Gauge Theory

A study is made of some properties of this interface in the SU(3) pure gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions. At high temperatures, the interface tension is measured and shows agreement with the perturbative prediction. Near the critical temperature, the behaviour of the interface is examined, and its fluctuations compared to a scalar field theory model.Comment: 4 pages with 4 figures as one uuencoded, gzipped postscript file; presented at Lattice '9

High-Temperature Properties of the Z(3) Interface in (2+1)-D SU(3) Gauge Theory

We study the high-temperature properties of the Z(3) interface which forms between the various ordered phases of pure SU(3) gauge theory above a critical temperature. On a (2+1)-D Euclidean lattice, we perform an accurate measurement of the interface tension, which shows good agreement with the prediction of perturbation theory. We also examine the behaviour of the Debye electric screening mass, and compare this with theoretical predictions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, uuencoded gzipped tar fil

Critical properties of the Z(3) interface in (2+1)-D SU(3) gauge theory

We study the interface between two different Z(3) vacua in the deconfined phase of SU(3) pure gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions just above the critical temperature. In simulations of the Euclidean lattice gauge theory formulation of the system we measure the fluctuations of the interface as the critical temperature is approached and as a function of system size. We show that the intrinsic width of the interface remains small even very close to the critical temperature. Some dynamical exponents which govern the interaction of the interface with our Monte Carlo algorithm are also estimated. We conclude that the Z(3) interface has properties broadly similar to those in many other comparable statistical mechanical systems.Comment: 26 pages, LaTex with 16 postscript figure

Microwaves affect thermoregulatory behavior in rats

Rats, with their fur clipped, pressed a lever to turn on an infrared lamp while in a cold chamber. When 2450 Megahertz continuous wave microwaves were presented for 15 minutes, the rate of turning on the infrared lamp decreased as a function of the microwave power density, which ranged between 5 MW/cm/sup 2/ and 20 MW/cm/sup 2/. This result indicates that behaviorally significant levels of heating occur at exposure durations and intensities that do not produce reliable changes in either colonic temperature or other behavioral measures. Further study of how microwaves affect thermoregulatory behavior may help us understand phenomena such as reported non-thermal behavioral effects of microwaves

Determinants of lung function and airway hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic children

SummaryBackgroundAsthma patients exhibit an increased rate of loss of lung function. Determinants to such decline are largely unknown and the modifying effect of steroid therapy is disputed. This cross-sectional study aimed to elucidate factors contributing to such decline and the possible modifying effect of steroid treatment.MethodsWe analyzed determinants of lung function and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in a Scandinavian study of 2390 subjects from 550 families. Families were selected for the presence of two or more asthmatic children as part of a genetic study, Scandinavian Asthma Genetic Study (SAGA).ResultsThe primary analysis studied the association between the lung function and delay of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) after asthma diagnosis among asthmatic children and young adults with a history of regular ICS treatment (N=919). FEV1 percent predicted (FEV1% pred) was 0.25% lower per year of delay from diagnosis until treatment (p=0.039). This association was significantly greater in allergy skin prick test negative children. There was no significant influence of gender, age at asthma onset, or smoking.In the secondary analysis of the whole population of 2390 asthmatics and non-asthmatics, FEV1% pred was inversely related to having asthmatic siblings (−7.9%; p<0.0001), asthma diagnosis (−2.7%; p=0.0007), smoking (−3.5%; p=0.0027), and positive allergy skin prick test (−0.47% per test; p=0.012), while positively related to being of female gender (1.8%; p=0.0029). Risk of AHR was higher by having asthmatic siblings (OR 2.7; p<0.0001), being of female gender (OR 2.0; p<0.0001), and having asthma (OR 2.0; p<0.0001).ConclusionsThese data suggest that lung function is lower in asthmatics with delayed introduction of ICS therapy, smoking, and positive allergy skin prick test. Lung function is lower and AHR higher in female asthmatics and subjects with asthmatic siblings or established asthma

Carbon Nanotubes as Nanoelectromechanical Systems

We theoretically study the interplay between electrical and mechanical properties of suspended, doubly clamped carbon nanotubes in which charging effects dominate. In this geometry, the capacitance between the nanotube and the gate(s) depends on the distance between them. This dependence modifies the usual Coulomb models and we show that it needs to be incorporated to capture the physics of the problem correctly. We find that the tube position changes in discrete steps every time an electron tunnels onto it. Edges of Coulomb diamonds acquire a (small) curvature. We also show that bistability in the tube position occurs and that tunneling of an electron onto the tube drastically modifies the quantized eigenmodes of the tube. Experimental verification of these predictions is possible in suspended tubes of sub-micron length.Comment: 8 pages, 5 eps figures included. Major changes; new material adde

Correction to: Comparison of Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, and Folic Acid Blood Levels in Plumbism Patients and Controls in Eastern Iran (Biological Trace Element Research, (2021), 199, 1, (9-17), 10.1007/s12011-020-02119-6)

The original version of this article unfortunately contained mistakes. & The name of �Namam Ali Azadi� is now corrected in the author group & Fourth to seventh sentence of the Abstract section should be �The results indicated that the mean vitamin B12, vitamin D, and folic acid levels for the case group were 517.3 ± 419.4 pg/ml, 25.1 ± 10.8 ng/ml, and 9.2 ± 6.1 ng/ml, respectively. Mean folic acid level in the case group was significantly lower than control group (Fisher exact test, P < 0.001), whereas the mean of the vitamin D levels at the case group was no significantly higher than the control group (Fisher exact test, P = 0.059). Moreover, mean vitamin B12 levels were significantly different between the case and control groups (Fisher exact test, P = 0.009). In the control group, three patients had folic acid below normal level (< 6 ng/mL), while twelve subjects at case group had folic acid below normal level (P < 0.05).Also, none of the control group had low vitamin B12 concentrations (< 180 pg/ml), while seven subjects of case group had vitamin B12 below normal level (P < 0.05).� & In page 6, Discussion part, 4th paragraph: We found that mean blood folate levels in the lead-poisoned patients, who had a mean BLL of 66 ± 37. 3 µg/dl, were significantly lower than in healthy subjects (9.2 ± 6.1 ng/ml vs. 12.70 pg/ml). © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

All-optical switching and strong coupling using tunable whispering-gallery-mode microresonators

We review our recent work on tunable, ultrahigh quality factor whispering-gallery-mode bottle microresonators and highlight their applications in nonlinear optics and in quantum optics experiments. Our resonators combine ultra-high quality factors of up to Q = 3.6 \times 10^8, a small mode volume, and near-lossless fiber coupling, with a simple and customizable mode structure enabling full tunability. We study, theoretically and experimentally, nonlinear all-optical switching via the Kerr effect when the resonator is operated in an add-drop configuration. This allows us to optically route a single-wavelength cw optical signal between two fiber ports with high efficiency. Finally, we report on progress towards strong coupling of single rubidium atoms to an ultra-high Q mode of an actively stabilized bottle microresonator.Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in Applied Physics B. Changes according to referee suggestions: minor corrections to some figures and captions, clarification of some points in the text, added references, added new paragraph with results on atom-resonator interactio

A framework for employing longitudinally collected multicenter electronic health records to stratify heterogeneous patient populations on disease history

Objective To facilitate patient disease subset and risk factor identification by constructing a pipeline which is generalizable, provides easily interpretable results, and allows replication by overcoming electronic health records (EHRs) batch effects. Material and Methods We used 1872 billing codes in EHRs of 102 880 patients from 12 healthcare systems. Using tools borrowed from single-cell omics, we mitigated center-specific batch effects and performed clustering to identify patients with highly similar medical history patterns across the various centers. Our visualization method (PheSpec) depicts the phenotypic profile of clusters, applies a novel filtering of noninformative codes (Ranked Scope Pervasion), and indicates the most distinguishing features. Results We observed 114 clinically meaningful profiles, for example, linking prostate hyperplasia with cancer and diabetes with cardiovascular problems and grouping pediatric developmental disorders. Our framework identified disease subsets, exemplified by 6 "other headache" clusters, where phenotypic profiles suggested different underlying mechanisms: migraine, convulsion, injury, eye problems, joint pain, and pituitary gland disorders. Phenotypic patterns replicated well, with high correlations of >= 0.75 to an average of 6 (2-8) of the 12 different cohorts, demonstrating the consistency with which our method discovers disease history profiles. Discussion Costly clinical research ventures should be based on solid hypotheses. We repurpose methods from single-cell omics to build these hypotheses from observational EHR data, distilling useful information from complex data. Conclusion We establish a generalizable pipeline for the identification and replication of clinically meaningful (sub)phenotypes from widely available high-dimensional billing codes. This approach overcomes datatype problems and produces comprehensive visualizations of validation-ready phenotypes.Molecular Epidemiolog

The impact of baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and gestational age on prenatal vitamin D supplementation to prevent offspring asthma or recurrent wheezing

Background: Prenatal vitamin D deficiency is associated with asthma or recurrent wheezing in offspring. However, evidence from randomized trials on the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation is inconclusive. Objectives: We aimed to examine the differential efficacy of prenatal vitamin D supplementation based on the maternal baseline vitamin D status and the starting time of supplementation to prevent early life asthma or recurrent wheezing. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART), a randomized double-blind trial of prenatal vitamin D supplementation initiated at 10-18 weeks (wks) of gestation (4400 IU of intervention/day compared with 400 IU of placebo/day) to prevent offspring asthma or recurrent wheezing by the age of 6 years. We assessed the effect of modification of supplementation by maternal baseline vitamin D status at enrollment and the timing of initiation of supplementation. Results: An inverse relationship was observed between maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels at trial entry and 25(OH)D levels during late pregnancy (32-38 wks of gestation) in both supplementation arms (P < 0.001). Overall, supplementation efficacy was not dependent on the maternal baseline 25(OH)D status. However, a trend toward the reduction of asthma or recurrent wheezing was observed across the baseline groups in the intervention arm (P = 0.01), with the greatest reduction observed in the most severely vitamin D-deficient women (25(OH)D < 12 ng/mL; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.48; confidence interval [CI]: 0.17, 1.34). Gestational age at trial enrollment modified supplementation efficacy, showing a greater reduction of offspring asthma or recurrent wheezing with earlier intervention during pregnancy (aOR = 0.85; CI = 0.76, 0.95), particularly in women who were 9-12 wk pregnant (aOR = 0.45; CI = 0.24, 0.82). Conclusions: Pregnant women with severe vitamin D deficiency show the greatest 25(OH)D improvement because of supplementation. In these women, a vitamin D dose of 4400 IU might have a preventive role in the development of early life offspring asthma or recurrent wheezing. Gestational age is suggested to modify the efficacy of prenatal vitamin D supplementation, showing the highest beneficial effect if supplementation is started during the first trimester of pregnancy. This study is an ancillary analysis from the VDAART, which is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT00902621.Personalised Therapeutic