Accidental Degeneracy and Berry Phase of Resonant States

We study the complex geometric phase acquired by the resonant states of an open quantum system which evolves irreversibly in a slowly time dependent environment. In analogy with the case of bound states, the Berry phase factors of resonant states are holonomy group elements of a complex line bundle with structure group C*. In sharp contrast with bound states, accidental degeneracies of resonances produce a continuous closed line of singularities formally equivalent to a continuous distribution of "magnetic" charge on a "diabolical" circle, in consequence, we find different classes of topologically inequivalent non-trivial closed paths in parameter space.Comment: 23 pages, 2 Postscript figures, LaTex, to be published in: Group 21: Symposium on Semigroups and Quantum Irreversibility (Proc. of the XXI Int. Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

The Self-Concept Life Cycle and Brand Perceptions: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Consumer research has paid scant attention to the full spectrum of a consumer’s self-concept life cycle and its subsequent impact on brand attitude. This article presents a conceptual framework that provides the foundation for future research on how the self-concept, across its full life cycle, impacts brand attitude. The article considers the development of the self-concept from childhood to late adulthood, and integrates findings from various disciplines into a comprehensive framework. The factors in the framework affecting the self-concept are global culture, life events, as well as cognitive and desired age. The article offers six propositions to guide future research and encourage more interdisciplinary work, as well as guiding the application of a broader perspective in terms of the self-concept’s full life-span. Moreover, the article also presents methodological and managerial implications on how to use branding approaches that target specific consumer segments according to their self-concepts’ life cycle