286 research outputs found
The physical origin of the electron-phonon vertex correction
The electron-phonon vertex correction has a complex structure both in
momentum and frequency. We explain this structure on the basis of physical
considerations and we show how the vertex correction can be decomposed into two
terms with different physical origins. In particular, the first term describes
the lattice polarization induced by the electrons and it is essentially a
single-electron process whereas the second term is governed by the
particle-hole excitations due to the exchange part of the phonon-mediated
electron-electron interaction. We show that by weakening the influence of the
exchange interaction the vertex takes mostly positive values giving rise to an
enhanced effective coupling in the scattering with phonons. This weakening of
the exchange interaction can be obtained by lowering the density of the
electrons, or by considering only long-ranged (small q) electron-phonon
couplings. These findings permit to understand why in the High-Tc materials the
small carrier density and the long ranged electron-phonon interaction may play
a positive role in enhancing Tc.Comment: 11 pages, 5 postscript figure
Anomalous impurity effects in nonadiabatic superconductors
We show that, in contrast with the usual electron-phonon Migdal-Eliashberg
theory, the critical temperature Tc of an isotropic s-wave nonadiabatic
superconductor is strongly reduced by the presence of diluted non-magnetic
impurities. Our results suggest that the recently observed Tc-suppression
driven by disorder in K3C60 [Phys. Rev. B vol.55, 3866 (1997)] and in
Nd(2-x)CexCuO(4-delta) [Phys. Rev. B vol.58, 8800 (1998)] could be explained in
terms of a nonadiabatic electron-phonon coupling. Moreover, we predict that the
isotope effect on Tc has an impurity dependence qualitatively different from
the one expected for anisotropic superconductors.Comment: 10 pages, euromacr.tex, europhys.sty, 6 figures. Replaced with
accepted version (Europhysics Letters
Pauli susceptibility of nonadiabatic Fermi liquids
The nonadiabatic regime of the electron-phonon interaction leads to behaviors
of some physical measurable quantities qualitatively different from those
expected from the Migdal-Eliashberg theory. Here we identify in the Pauli
paramagnetic susceptibility one of such quantities and show that the
nonadiabatic corrections reduce with respect to its adiabatic limit. We
show also that the nonadiabatic regime induces an isotope dependence of ,
which in principle could be measured.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, euromacr.tex, europhys.sty. Replaced with
accepted version (Europhysics Letters
Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders: design of the data acquisition and management system.
Yield of array-CGH analysis in Tunisian children with autism spectrum disorder
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with strong genetic underpinnings. Microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) technology has been proposed as a first-level test in the genetic diagnosis of ASD and of neurodevelopmental disorders in general. Methods: We performed aCGH on 98 Tunisian children (83 boys and 15 girls) diagnosed with ASD according to DSM-IV criteria. Results: âPathogenicâ or âlikely pathogenicâ copy number variants (CNVs) were detected in 11 (11.2%) patients, CNVs of âuncertain clinical significanceâ in 26 (26.5%), âlikely benignâ or âbenignâ CNVs were found in 37 (37.8%) and 24 (24.5%) patients, respectively. Gene set enrichment analysis involving genes spanning rare âpathogenic,â âlikely pathogenic,â or âuncertain clinical significanceâ CNVs, as well as SFARI database âautism genesâ in common CNVs, detected eight neuronal Gene Ontology classes among the top 10 most significant, including synapse, neuron differentiation, synaptic signaling, neurogenesis, and others. Similar results were obtained performing g: Profiler analysis. Neither transcriptional regulation nor immune pathways reached significance. Conclusions: aCGH confirms its sizable diagnostic yield in a novel sample of autistic children from North Africa. Recruitment of additional families is under way, to verify whether genetic contributions to ASD in the Tunisian population, differently from other ethnic groups, may involve primarily neuronal genes, more than transcriptional regulation and immune-related pathways
Gut mobilization improves behavioral symptoms and modulates urinary p-cresol in chronically constipated autistic children: A prospective study
Chronic constipation is common among children with ASD and is associated with more severe hyperactivity, anxiety, irritability, and repetitive behaviors. Young autistic children with chronic constipation display higher urinary, and foecal concentrations of p-cresol, an aromatic compound produced by gut bacteria, known to negatively affect brain function. Acute p-cresol administration to BTBR mice enhances anxiety, hyperactivity and stereotypic behaviors, while blunting social interaction. This study was undertaken to prospectively assess the behavioral effects of gut mobilization in young autistic children with chronic constipation, and to verify their possible correlation with urinary p-cresol. To this aim, 21 chronically constipated autistic children 2â8 years old were evaluated before (T0), 1 month (T1), and 6 months (T2) after intestinal mobilization, recording Bristol stool scale scores, urinary p-cresol concentrations, and behavioral scores for social interaction deficits, stereotypic behaviors, anxiety, and hyperactivity. Gut mobilization yielded a progressive and highly significant decrease in all behavioral symptoms over the 6-month study period. Urinary p-cresol levels displayed variable trends not significantly correlated with changes in behavioral parameters, mainly increasing at T1 and decreasing at T2. These results support gut mobilization as a simple strategy to ameliorate ASD symptoms, as well as comorbid anxiety and hyperactivity, in chronically constipated children. Variation in p-cresol absorption seemingly provides limited contributions, if any, to these behavioral changes. Further research will be needed to address the relative role of reduced abdominal discomfort following mobilization, as compared to specific modifications in microbiome composition and in gut bacteria-derived neuroactive compounds
Nonadiabatic Superconductivity and Vertex Corrections in Uncorrelated Systems
We investigate the issue of the nonadiabatic superconductivity in
uncorrelated systems. A local approximation is employed coherently with the
weak dependence on the involved momenta. Our results show that nonadiabatic
vertex corrections are never negligible, but lead to a strong suppression of
with respect to the conventional theory. This feature is understood in
terms of the momentum-frequency dependence of the vertex function. In contrast
to strongly correlated systems, where the small -selection probes the
positive part of vertex function, vertex corrections in uncorrelated systems
are essentially negative resulting in an effective reduction of the
superconducting pairing. Our analysis shows that vertex corrections in
nonadiabatic regime can be never disregarded independently of the degree of
electronic correlation in the system.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps fig
Early motor signs of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review
ADHD is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with onset of symptoms typically in early childhood. First signs of the disorder, including language delay, motor delay and temperament characteristics, may be evident as early as infancy. The present review describes published evidence about early motor signs of either children with later symptoms of ADHD or a later diagnosis of the disorder. Nine published cohort studies were included after a systematic search of related terms in PubMed and PsycInfo databases. Study eligibility criteria included: (1) report on early motor function or any motor-related signs; (2) the presence of a participantsâ assessment by/at 12 months of age; (3) report of a later presence of ADHD symptoms. The limited number of reports included suggests an association between mild early neurological markers and later developmental coordination disorder and motor overflow movements. Unfortunately, due to their small sample sizes and focus on group reports rather than individuals, they have limited power to find strong associations. Early motor indicators of ADHD, if present, appear to be non-specific, and therefore not yet useful in clinical screening. Spontaneous motility seems to be a promising measure for early ADHD detection, although further studies with large cohorts are recommended to determine its clinical role in children at risk for ADHD
Received Cradling Bias During the First Year of Life: A Retrospective Study on Children With Typical and Atypical Development
A population-level left cradling bias exists whereby 60â90% of mothers hold their infants on the left side. This left biased positioning appears to be mutually beneficial to both the mother and the baby's brain organization for processing of socio-emotional stimuli. Previous research connected cradling asymmetries and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), entailing impairment in socio-communicative relationships and characterized by an early hypo-lateralization of brain functions. In this explorative study, we aimed to provide a contribution to the retrospective investigations by looking for early behavioral markers of neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD. We hypothesized that an atypical trajectory in maternal cradling might be one of the possible signs of an interference in mother-infant socio-emotional communication, and thus of potential neurodevelopmental dysfunctions. To this aim, we examined photos depicting mother-child early cradling interactions by consulting family albums of 27 children later diagnosed with ASD and 63 typically developing children. As regards the first half of the first year of life, no differences were shown between maternal cradling-side preferences in typical and ASD groups, both exhibiting the left-cradling bias in the 0â3 months period, but not in the 3â6 months period. However, our results show dissimilar patterns of cradling preferences during the second half of the first year of life. In particular, the absence of left-cradling shown in typical mothers was not observed in ASD mothers, who exhibited a significant left-cradling bias in the 6â12 months age group. This difference might reflect the fact that mother-infant relationship involving children later diagnosed with ASD might remain âbasicâ because mothers experience a lack of social activity in such children. Alternatively, it may reflect the overstimulation in which mothers try to engage infants in response to their lack of responsiveness and social initiative. However, further investigations are needed both to distinguish between these two possibilities and to define the role of early typical and reversed cradling experiences on neurodevelopment
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