Prevalence of Gastroesophageal Reflux in Cats During Anesthesia and Effect of Omeprazole on Gastric pH.

BackgroundGastroesophageal reflux (GER) is poorly characterized in anesthetized cats, but can cause aspiration pneumonia, esophagitis, and esophageal stricture formation.ObjectiveTo determine whether pre-anesthetic orally administered omeprazole increases gastric and esophageal pH and increases serum gastrin concentrations in anesthetized cats, and to determine the prevalence of GER using combined multichannel impedance and pH monitoring.AnimalsTwenty-seven healthy cats undergoing elective dental procedures.MethodsProspective, double-masked, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. Cats were randomized to receive 2 PO doses of omeprazole (1.45-2.20 mg/kg) or an empty gelatin capsule placebo 18-24 hours and 4 hours before anesthetic induction. Blood for measurement of serum gastrin concentration was collected during anesthetic induction. An esophageal pH/impedance catheter was utilized to continuously measure esophageal pH and detect GER throughout anesthesia.ResultsMean gastric pH in the cats that received omeprazole was 7.2 ± 0.4 (range, 6.6-7.8) and was significantly higher than the pH in cats that received the placebo 2.8 ± 1.0 (range, 1.3-4.1; P < .001). Omeprazole administration was not associated with a significant increase in serum gastrin concentration (P = .616). Nine of 27 cats (33.3%) had ≥1 episode of GER during anesthesia.Conclusions and clinical relevancePre-anesthetic administration of 2 PO doses of omeprazole at a dosage of 1.45-2.20 mg/kg in cats was associated with a significant increase in gastric and esophageal pH within 24 hours, but was not associated with a significant increase in serum gastrin concentration. Prevalence of reflux events in cats during anesthesia was similar to that of dogs during anesthesia

Pattern scaling using ClimGen: monthly-resolution future climate scenarios including changes in the variability of precipitation

Development, testing and example applications of the pattern-scaling approach for generating future climate change projections are reported here, with a focus on a particular software application called “ClimGen”. A number of innovations have been implemented, including using exponential and logistic functions of global-mean temperature to represent changes in local precipitation and cloud cover, and interpolation from climate model grids to a finer grid while taking into account land-sea contrasts in the climate change patterns. Of particular significance is a new approach for incorporating changes in the inter-annual variability of monthly precipitation simulated by climate models. This is achieved by diagnosing simulated changes in the shape of the gamma distribution of monthly precipitation totals, applying the pattern-scaling approach to estimate changes in the shape parameter under a future scenario, and then perturbing sequences of observed precipitation anomalies so that their distribution changes according to the projected change in the shape parameter. The approach cannot represent changes to the structure of climate timeseries (e.g. changed autocorrelation or teleconnection patterns) were they to occur, but is shown here to be more successful at representing changes in low precipitation extremes than previous pattern-scaling methods

Higher Spins in AdS and Twistorial Holography

In this paper we simplify and extend previous work on three-point functions in Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in AdS4. We work in a gauge in which the space-time dependence of Vasiliev's master fields is gauged away completely, leaving only the internal twistor-like variables. The correlation functions of boundary operators can be easily computed in this gauge. We find complete agreement of the tree level three point functions of higher spin currents in Vasiliev's theory with the conjectured dual free O(N) vector theory.Comment: 23 pages. v3: minor errors fixed, added comments and reference

Scale without Conformal Invariance at Three Loops

We carry out a three-loop computation that establishes the existence of scale without conformal invariance in dimensional regularization with the MS scheme in d=4-epsilon spacetime dimensions. We also comment on the effects of scheme changes in theories with many couplings, as well as in theories that live on non-conformal scale-invariant renormalization group trajectories. Stability properties of such trajectories are analyzed, revealing both attractive and repulsive directions in a specific example. We explain how our results are in accord with those of Jack & Osborn on a c-theorem in d=4 (and d=4-epsilon) dimensions. Finally, we point out that limit cycles with turning points are unlike limit cycles with continuous scale invariance.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, Erratum adde

Holographic predictions for cosmological 3-point functions

We present the holographic predictions for cosmological 3-point correlators, involving both scalar and tensor modes, for a universe which started in a non-geometric holographic phase. Holographic formulae relate the cosmological 3-point functions to stress tensor correlation functions of a holographically dual three-dimensional non-gravitational QFT. We compute these correlators at 1-loop order for a theory containing massless scalars, fermions and gauge fields, and present an extensive analysis of the constraints due to Ward identities showing that they uniquely determine the correlators up to a few constants. We define shapes for all cosmological bispectra and compare the holographic shapes to the slow-roll ones, finding that some are distinguishable while others, perhaps surprisingly, are not.Comment: 51pp; 4 fig

Structure of charge density waves in La1.875 Ba0.125 CuO4

Although charge density wave (CDW) correlations exist in several families of cuprate superconductors, they exhibit substantial variation in CDW wave vector and correlation length, indicating a key role for CDW-lattice interactions. We investigated this interaction in La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 using single-crystal x-ray diffraction to collect a large number of CDW peak intensities and determined the Cu and La/Ba atomic distortions induced by the formation of CDW order. Within the CuO2 planes, the distortions involve a periodic modulation of the Cu-Cu spacing along the direction of the ordering wave vector. The charge ordering within the copper-oxygen layer induces an out-of-plane breathing modulation of the surrounding lanthanum layers, which leads to a related distortion on the adjacent copper-oxygen layer. Our result implies that the CDW-related structural distortions do not remain confined to a single layer but rather propagate an appreciable distance through the crystal. This leads to overlapping structural modulations, in which CuO2 planes exhibit distortions arising from the orthogonal CDWs in adjacent layers as well as distortions from the CDW within the layer itself. We attribute this striking effect to the weak c-axis charge screening in cuprates and suggest this effect could help couple the CDWs between adjacent planes in the crystal

A systematic review and meta-synthesis of the impact of low back pain on people's lives

Copyright @ 2014 Froud et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background - Low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly problem that many interpret within a biopsychosocial model. There is renewed concern that core-sets of outcome measures do not capture what is important. To inform debate about the coverage of back pain outcome measure core-sets, and to suggest areas worthy of exploration within healthcare consultations, we have synthesised the qualitative literature on the impact of low back pain on people’s lives. Methods - Two reviewers searched CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, PEDro, and Medline, identifying qualitative studies of people’s experiences of non-specific LBP. Abstracted data were thematic coded and synthesised using a meta-ethnographic, and a meta-narrative approach. Results - We included 49 papers describing 42 studies. Patients are concerned with engagement in meaningful activities; but they also want to be believed and have their experiences and identity, as someone ‘doing battle’ with pain, validated. Patients seek diagnosis, treatment, and cure, but also reassurance of the absence of pathology. Some struggle to meet social expectations and obligations. When these are achieved, the credibility of their pain/disability claims can be jeopardised. Others withdraw, fearful of disapproval, or unable or unwilling to accommodate social demands. Patients generally seek to regain their pre-pain levels of health, and physical and emotional stability. After time, this can be perceived to become unrealistic and some adjust their expectations accordingly. Conclusions - The social component of the biopsychosocial model is not well represented in current core-sets of outcome measures. Clinicians should appreciate that the broader impact of low back pain includes social factors; this may be crucial to improving patients’ experiences of health care. Researchers should consider social factors to help develop a portfolio of more relevant outcome measures.Arthritis Research U

Graviton Vertices and the Mapping of Anomalous Correlators to Momentum Space for a General Conformal Field Theory

We investigate the mapping of conformal correlators and of their anomalies from configuration to momentum space for general dimensions, focusing on the anomalous correlators $TOO$, $TVV$ - involving the energy-momentum tensor $(T)$ with a vector $(V)$ or a scalar operator ($O$) - and the 3-graviton vertex $TTT$. We compute the $TOO$, $TVV$ and $TTT$ one-loop vertex functions in dimensional regularization for free field theories involving conformal scalar, fermion and vector fields. Since there are only one or two independent tensor structures solving all the conformal Ward identities for the $TOO$ or $TVV$ vertex functions respectively, and three independent tensor structures for the $TTT$ vertex, and the coefficients of these tensors are known for free fields, it is possible to identify the corresponding tensors in momentum space from the computation of the correlators for free fields. This works in general $d$ dimensions for $TOO$ and $TVV$ correlators, but only in 4 dimensions for $TTT$, since vector fields are conformal only in $d=4$. In this way the general solution of the Ward identities including anomalous ones for these correlators in (Euclidean) position space, found by Osborn and Petkou is mapped to the ordinary diagrammatic one in momentum space. We give simplified expressions of all these correlators in configuration space which are explicitly Fourier integrable and provide a diagrammatic interpretation of all the contact terms arising when two or more of the points coincide. We discuss how the anomalies arise in each approach [...]Comment: 57 pages, 7 figures. Refs adde

Quarterly U.S. unemployment: cycles, seasons and asymmetries

This paper documents three stylized facts for the quarterly unemployment rate in the United States. Firstly, unemployment is asymmetric over the business cycle, i.e. it rises sharply in recessions and it falls slowly in expansions. Secondly, its seasonal fluctuations are not constant across the two business cycle stages in the sense that there is less seasonality in recession periods. Thirdly, the effect of shocks to the unemployment rate in expansions seem transitory, while this effect is permanent in recessions. Some implications of these stylized facts for empirical macroeconomics and seasonal adjustment are discussed

Causality constraints in AdS/CFT from conformal collider physics and Gauss-Bonnet gravity

We explore the relation between positivity of the energy constraints in conformal field theories and causality in their dual gravity description. Our discussion involves CFTs with different central charges whose description, in the gravity side, requires the inclusion of quadratic curvature corrections. It is enough, indeed, to consider the Gauss-Bonnet term. We find that both sides of the AdS/CFT correspondence impose a restriction on the Gauss-Bonnet coupling. In the case of 6d supersymmetric CFTs, we show the full matching of these restrictions. We perform this computation in two ways. First by considering a thermal setup in a black hole background. Second by scrutinizing the scattering of gravitons with a shock wave in AdS. The different helicities provide the corresponding lower and upper bounds. We generalize these results to arbitrary higher dimensions and comment on some hints and puzzles they prompt regarding the possible existence of higher dimensional CFTs and the extent to which the AdS/CFT correspondence would be valid for them.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures; v2: typos fixed, cosmetic amendments and references adde