Confinement, Vacuum Structure: from QCD to Quantum Gravity

A minimal Lorentz gauge gravity model with R^2-type Lagrangian is proposed. In the absence of torsion the model admits a topological phase with unfixed metric. The model possesses a minimal set of dynamical degrees of freedom for the torsion. Remarkably, the torsion has the same number of dynamical of-shell degrees of freedom as the metric tensor. We trace an analogy between the structure of the quantum chromodynamics and the structure of possible theory of quantum gravity.Comment: 7 pages; reduced version of talk given at IV International Symposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics (SSP 2009), plenary session in Honor of Yongmin Cho's 65th Birthday, Taipei, Taiwan, 2-5 June 2009; to appear in "Symmetries in Subatomic Physics", ed. P. Hwang

Current and future treatments of pulmonary arterial hypertension

Therapeutic options for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have increased over the last decades. The advent of pharmacological therapies targeting the prostacyclin, endothelin, and NO pathways has significantly improved outcomes. However, for the vast majority of patients, PAH remains a life‐limiting illness with no prospect of cure. PAH is characterised by pulmonary vascular remodelling. Current research focusses on targeting the underlying pathways of aberrant proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Despite success in preclinical models, using a plethora of novel approaches targeting cellular GPCRs, ion channels, metabolism, epigenetics, growth factor receptors, transcription factors, and inflammation, successful transfer to human disease with positive outcomes in clinical trials is limited. This review provides an overview of novel targets addressed by clinical trials and gives an outlook on novel preclinical perspectives in PAH

Stable Monopole-Antimonopole String Background in SU(2) QCD

Motivated by the instability of the Savvidy-Nielsen-Olesen vacuum we make a systematic search for a stable magnetic background in pure SU(2) QCD. It is shown that a pair of axially symmetric monopole and antimonopole strings is stable, provided that the distance between the two strings is less than a critical value. The existence of a stable monopole-antimonopole string background strongly supports that a magnetic condensation of monopole-antimonopole pairs can generate a dynamical symmetry breaking, and thus the magnetic confinement of color in QCD.Comment: 7 page

Knot soliton in Weinberg-Salam model

We study numerically the topological knot solution suggested recently in the Weinberg-Salam model. Applying the SU(2) gauge invariant Abelian projection we demonstrate that the restricted part of the Weinberg-Salam Lagrangian containing the interaction of the neutral boson with the Higgs scalar can be reduced to the Ginzburg-Landau model with the hidden SU(2) symmetry. The energy of the knot composed from the neutral boson and Higgs field has been evaluated by using the variational method with a modified Ward ansatz. The obtained numerical value is 39 Tev which provides the upper bound on the electroweak knot energy.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, analysis of stability adde

Faddeev-Niemi Conjecture and Effective Action of QCD

We calculate a one loop effective action of SU(2) QCD in the presence of the monopole background, and find a possible connection between the resulting QCD effective action and a generalized Skyrme-Faddeev action of the non-linear sigma model. The result is obtained using the gauge-independent decomposotion of the gauge potential into the topological degrees which describes the non-Abelian monopoles and the local dynamical degrees of the potential, and integrating out all the dynamical degrees of QCD.Comment: 6 page

Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect in Au+Au collisions at sNN=27\sqrt{s_{_{\rm{NN}}}}=27 GeV with the STAR forward Event Plane Detectors

A decisive experimental test of the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) is considered one of the major scientific goals at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) towards understanding the nontrivial topological fluctuations of the Quantum Chromodynamics vacuum. In heavy-ion collisions, the CME is expected to result in a charge separation phenomenon across the reaction plane, whose strength could be strongly energy dependent. The previous CME searches have been focused on top RHIC energy collisions. In this Letter, we present a low energy search for the CME in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm{NN}}}}=27$ GeV. We measure elliptic flow scaled charge-dependent correlators relative to the event planes that are defined at both mid-rapidity $|\eta|<1.0$ and at forward rapidity $2.1 < |\eta|<5.1$. We compare the results based on the directed flow plane ($\Psi_1$) at forward rapidity and the elliptic flow plane ($\Psi_2$) at both central and forward rapidity. The CME scenario is expected to result in a larger correlation relative to $\Psi_1$ than to $\Psi_2$, while a flow driven background scenario would lead to a consistent result for both event planes[1,2]. In 10-50\% centrality, results using three different event planes are found to be consistent within experimental uncertainties, suggesting a flow driven background scenario dominating the measurement. We obtain an upper limit on the deviation from a flow driven background scenario at the 95\% confidence level. This work opens up a possible road map towards future CME search with the high statistics data from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan Phase-II.Comment: main: 8 pages, 5 figures; supplementary material: 2 pages, 1 figur

Одномоментное эндоваскулярное клипирование створок митрального клапана «край-в-край» и закрытие ушка левого предсердия у пациента высокого хирургического риска

Mitral regurgitation is one of the most common valvular heart diseases, with the gold standard of its treatment being an open surgical intervention. However, it is not always performed in patients with a high surgical risk. Atrial fibrillation is a frequent companion of mitral valve regurgitation. It significantly increases the risk of ischemic strokes and systemic thromboembolism and required the administration of anticoagulants. Long-term use of anticoagulants entails an increased risk of hemorrhagic complications. Surgical endovascular closure of the left atrial appendage allows for reduction of the risks both of embolic and hemorrhagic complications. This paper presents a clinical case of the first in Russia successful simultaneous endovascular remodeling of the mitral valve by edge-to-edge leaflet clipping and closure of the left atrial appendage with an Amplatzer Amulet occluder. This was an 85-year old patient with advanced mitral regurgitation, who was not considered a candidate for an open surgery due to his high surgical risk. The severity of the patients condition was related to atrial fibrillation, rectal cancer and severe anemia. The patient underwent simultaneous sequential clipping of the mitral valve leaflets and closure of the left atrial appendage. Control trans-esophageal echocardiography showed a significant decrease in the mitral regurgitation grade. There were no complications during the hospital stay and in the early postoperative period. The lack of convincing data and research makes it impossible to delineate clear indications and contraindications for the combination of two procedures within one surgical session. However, simultaneous endovascular clipping of the mitral valve leaflets and an occluder implantation into the left atrial appendage may become the method of choice in the treatment of patients with severe mitral valve regurgitation, prevention of embolic and hemorrhagic complications in high risk comorbid patients.Митральная недостаточность один из наиболее распространенных клапанных пороков сердца, золотым стандартом ее коррекции признано открытое хирургическое вмешательство. Однако пациентам высокого хирургического риска его не всегда выполняют. Фибрилляция предсердий частый спутник недостаточности митрального клапана. Она значительно увеличивает риск развития ишемических инсультов и системных тромбоэмболий, что определяет назначение антикоагулянтной терапии. Длительный прием антикоагулянтов влечет за собой повышение риска геморрагических осложнений. Выполнение процедуры эндоваскулярного закрытия ушка левого предсердия позволяет снизить риски как эмболических, так и геморрагических осложнений. В статье описано клиническое наблюдение, представляющее собой первый в Российской Федерации опыт успешного одномоментного выполнения двух процедур эндоваскулярного ремоделирования митрального клапана методом клипирования створок край-в-край и закрытия ушка левого предсердия c помощью окклюдера Amplatzer Amulet. Пациенту 85 лет с выраженной митральной недостаточностью было отказано в открытом хирургическом вмешательстве ввиду высокого хирургического риска. Тяжелое состояние пациента было обусловлено фибрилляцией предсердий, раком прямой кишки и выраженной анемией. Пациенту выполнено одномоментное последовательное клипирование створок митрального клапана и закрытие ушка левого предсердия. При контрольной чреспищеводной эхокардиографии отмечено значительное снижение степени митральной регургитации. Осложнений на госпитальном этапе и в раннем послеоперационном периоде не зарегистрировано. Отсутствие убедительных данных и результатов исследований не позволяет определить четкие показания и противопоказания для объединения двух процедур в одну хирургическую сессию. Тем не менее одномоментное выполнение эндоваскулярного клипирования створок митрального клапана и имплантации окклюдера в ушко левого предсердия может стать методом выбора для лечения пациентов с тяжелой недостаточностью митрального клапана, профилактики эмболических и геморрагических осложнений у коморбидных пациентов высокого хирургического риска