Single color and single flavor color superconductivity

We survey the non-locked color-flavor-spin channels for quark-quark (color superconducting) condensates in QCD, using an NJL model. We also study isotropic quark-antiquark (mesonic) condensates. We make mean-field estimates of the strength and sign of the self-interaction of each condensate, using four-fermion interaction vertices based on known QCD interactions. For the attractive quark pairing channels, we solve the mean-field gap equations to obtain the size of the gap as a function of quark density. We also calculate the dispersion relations for the quasiquarks, in order to see how fully gapped the spectrum of fermionic excitations will be. We use our results to specify the likely pairing patterns in neutral quark matter, and comment on possible phenomenological consequences

Critical phenomena from the two-particle irreducible 1/N expansion

The 1/N expansion of the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action is employed to compute universal properties at the second-order phase transition of an O(N)-symmetric N-vector model directly in three dimensions. At next-to-leading order the approach cures the spurious small-N divergence of the standard (1PI) 1/N expansion for a computation of the critical anomalous dimension eta(N), and leads to improved estimates already for moderate values of N.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

Four patients with a history of acute exacerbations of COPD: implementing the CHEST/Canadian Thoracic Society guidelines for preventing exacerbations

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Behavioural changes in dairy cows with lameness in an automatic milking system

There is a tendency worldwide for the automation of farms; this has included the introduction of automatic milking systems (AMS) in the dairy industry. Lameness in dairy cows is highly prevalent and painful. These impacts potentially affect not only animal welfare, but also farm economies. Three independent observational studies were carried out to assess the impact of lameness on the behaviour of zero grazed high yielding Holstein cows managed in an AMS. The aim of the first study was to examine the impact of lameness on rumination time, the second study investigated differences between lame and sound dairy cows in total eating time and the third study assessed the impact of lameness on milking behaviour (frequency and time of visits to the AMS). In the first study data from 150 cows were used to analyse rumination (collected using rumination collars) for the 48hr following locomotion scoring. A multilevel linear regression demonstrated that lameness had a small but significant negative association (coefficient: -7.88 (SE: 3.93)) with rumination. In the second study the behaviour of eleven matched lame and sound pairs of cows at the feed face was analysed for 24 hours after locomotion scoring. Each feeding behaviour variable (total duration time, frequency of feeding bouts and length of bouts) was analysed using individual single level regression models. There was a significant negative association between total feeding time and lameness (coefficient: -73.65 (SE: 25.47)) and the frequency of feeding bouts and lameness (-9.93 (2.49)). Finally, the third observational study used 38 matched pairs of lame and sound cows. Data on the number and timings of visits to the AMS were collected for 24 hours after each locomotion score and analysed using a binomial logistic regression model. There was a significant difference in AMS visits between groups; lame animals visiting the robot less frequently than sound cows (median difference 0.50 milking visits; T = 256.0; N = 25; p = 0.01) and lame cows were 0.33 times less likely to visit the AMS between 24:01 and 06:00. Results from these studies reveal that lameness in an AMS affected feeding behaviour, rumination and AMS visits. All of these impacts are likely to have negative consequences for farm profitability, but also implications for the health and welfare of the animals

Application of pharmacogenomics and bioinformatics to exemplify the utility of human <i>ex vivo</i> organoculture models in the field of precision medicine

Here we describe a collaboration between industry, the National Health Service (NHS) and academia that sought to demonstrate how early understanding of both pharmacology and genomics can improve strategies for the development of precision medicines. Diseased tissue ethically acquired from patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was used to investigate inter-patient variability in drug efficacy using ex vivo organocultures of fresh lung tissue as the test system. The reduction in inflammatory cytokines in the presence of various test drugs was used as the measure of drug efficacy and the individual patient responses were then matched against genotype and microRNA profiles in an attempt to identify unique predictors of drug responsiveness. Our findings suggest that genetic variation in CYP2E1 and SMAD3 genes may partly explain the observed variation in drug response

Involving seldom-heard groups in a PPI process to inform the design of a proposed trial on the use of probiotics to prevent preterm birth: a case study

Background Patient and public involvement (PPI) is an important tool in approaching research challenges. However, involvement of socially and ethnically diverse populations remains limited and practitioners need effective methods of involving a broad section of the population in planning and designing research. Methods In preparation for the development of a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) on the use of probiotics to prevent preterm birth, we conducted a public consultation exercise in a socially disadvantaged and ethnically diverse community. The consultation aimed to meet and engage local service users in considering the acceptability of the proposed protocol, and to encourage their participation in future and ongoing patient and public involvement activities. Four discussion groups were held in the community with mothers of young children within the proposed trial region, using an inclusive approach that incorporated a modified version of the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Bringing the consultation to the community supported the involvement of often seldom-heard participants, such as those from minority ethnic groups. Results The women involved expressed a number of concerns about the proposed protocol, including adherence to the probiotic supplement regimen and randomisation. The proposal for the RCT in itself was perceived as confirmation that probiotic supplements had potentially beneficial effects, but also that they had potentially harmful side-effects. The complexity of the women’s responses provided greater insights into the challenges of even quite simple trial designs and enabled the research team to take these concerns into account while planning the pilot trial. Conclusions The use of the NGT method allowed for a consultation of a population traditionally less likely to participate in medical research. A carefully facilitated PPI exercise can allow members to express unanticipated concerns that may not have been elicited by a survey method. Findings from such exercises can be utilised to improve clinical trial design, provide insight into the feasibility of trials, and enable engagement of often excluded population groups

A mean field model for movement induced changes in the beta rhythm

In electrophysiological recordings of the brain, the transition from high amplitude to low amplitude signals are most likely caused by a change in the synchrony of underlying neuronal population firing patterns. Classic examples of such modulations are the strong stimulus-related oscillatory phenomena known as the movement related beta decrease (MRBD) and post-movement beta rebound (PMBR). A sharp decrease in neural oscillatory power is observed during movement (MRBD) followed by an increase above baseline on movement cessation (PMBR). MRBD and PMBR represent important neuroscientific phenomena which have been shown to have clinical relevance. Here, we present a parsimonious model for the dynamics of synchrony within a synaptically coupled spiking network that is able to replicate a human MEG power spectrogram showing the evolution from MRBD to PMBR. Importantly, the high-dimensional spiking model has an exact mean field description in terms of four ordinary differential equations that allows considerable insight to be obtained into the cause of the experimentally observed time-lag from movement termination to the onset of PMBR (~ 0.5 s), as well as the subsequent long duration of PMBR (~ 1-10 s). Our model represents the first to predict these commonly observed and robust phenomena and represents a key step in their understanding, in health and disease

Between Christianity and secularity:Counselling and psychotherapy provision in Scotland

Counselling and psychotherapy services have become increasingly prominent within modern urban welfare. Although often perceived to be intrinsically secular, since psychoanalytic thinking and practice arrived in Scotland it has been shaped by the Christian culture it encountered. Early Scottish-born contributors to psychoanalytic theory, including Ian Suttie and W.R.D. Fairbairn, reframed Freud’s ideas in ways that incorporated Scottish Presbyterian understandings of what it is to be human. A form of Christian psychotherapy, supported by the Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopal churches was being offered to members of the general public by the 1940s. Counselling provision expanded rapidly from the mid-1960s, with active church involvement. Tracing these developments via documentary sources and oral history testimony, I argue that counselling and psychotherapy in Scotland have never been secular. I illustrate evidence for “postsecular rapprochment” operating since the 1960s, characterised by faith-by-praxis and collaboration between those with and without religious faith. I explore the interplay between religious and secular spaces in the development of this element of modern urban welfare

Probe-caught spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering in relation to self-reported inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive traits in adults.

Research has revealed a positive relationship between types of mind wandering and ADHD at clinical and subclinical levels. However, this work did not consider the relationship between mind wandering and the core symptoms of ADHD: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Given that the DMS-V attributes mind wandering to inattention only, and that only inattention is thought to result from impairment to the executive function linked to mind wandering, the present research sought to examine this relationship in 80 undiagnosed adults. Using both standard and easy versions of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) we measured both spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering. We found that spontaneous mind wandering was related to self-reported inattentive traits when the task was cognitively more challenging (standard SART). However, hyperactive and impulsive traits were related to spontaneous mind wandering independent of task difficulty. The results suggest inattentive traits are not uniquely related to mind wandering; indeed, adults with hyperactive/impulsive traits were more likely to experience mind wandering, suggesting that mind wandering might not be useful diagnostic criteria for inattention