47 research outputs found
Sterile neutrino models and nonminimal cosmologies
No full textCosmological measurements are affected by the energy density of massive neutrinos. We extend here a recent analysis of current cosmological data to nonminimal cosmologies. Several possible scenarios are examined: a constant w≠−1 dark energy equation of state, a nonflat universe, a time-varying dark energy component and coupled dark matter-dark energy universes or modified gravity scenarios. When considering cosmological data only, (3+2) massive neutrino models with ∼0.5 eV sterile species are allowed at 95% confidence level. This scenario has been shown to reconcile reactor, LSND and MiniBooNE positive signals with null results from other searches. Big bang nucleosynthesis bounds could compromise the viability of (3+2) models if the two sterile species are fully thermalized states at decoupling
Constraints on massive sterile neutrino species from current and future cosmological data
No full textSterile massive neutrinos are a natural extension of the standard model of elementary particles. The energy density of the extra sterile massive states affects cosmological measurements in an analogous way to that of active neutrino species. We perform here an analysis of current cosmological data and derive bounds on the masses of the active and the sterile neutrino states, as well as on the number of sterile states. The so-called (3 + 2) models, with three sub-eV active massive neutrinos plus two sub-eV massive sterile species, is well within the 95% CL allowed regions when considering cosmological data only. If the two extra sterile states have thermal abundances at decoupling, big bang nucleosynthesis bounds compromise the viability of (3 + 2) models. Forecasts from future cosmological data on the active and sterile neutrino parameters are also presented. Independent measurements of the neutrino mass from tritium beta-decay experiments and of the Hubble constant could shed light on sub-eV massive sterile neutrino scenarios
Testing standard and nonstandard neutrino physics with cosmological data
No full textCosmological constraints on the sum of neutrino masses and on the effective number of neutrino species in standard and nonstandard scenarios are computed using the most recent available cosmological data. Our cosmological data sets include the measurement of the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the data release 9 CMASS sample of the baryon oscillation spectroscopic survey. We study in detail the different degeneracies among the parameters, as well as the impact of the different data sets used in the analyses. When considering bounds on the sum of the three active neutrino masses, the information in the BAO signal from galaxy clustering measurements is approximately equally powerful as the shape information from the matter power spectrum. The most stringent bound we find is Sigma m(nu) 3 often claimed in the literature therefore remains at the 2 sigma level when considering up-to-date cosmological data sets. Measurements from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe combined with a prior on the Hubble parameter from the Hubble Space Telescope are very powerful in constraining either the sum of the three active neutrino masses or the number of massless neutrino species. If the former two parameters are allowed to freely vary, however, the bounds from the combination of these two cosmological probes get worse by an order of magnitude.We gratefully acknowledge Antonio Cuesta for providing the modified version of COSMOMC with the recent BAO measurements included. We also thank Signe Riemer-Sorensen and Chris Blake for their help with the cross comparison of results. O. M. is supported by the Consolider Ingenio Project No. CSD2007-00060, by PROMETEO/2009/116, by the Spanish Ministry Science Project No. FPA2011-29678 and by the ITN Invisibles PITN-GA-2011-289442. Part of the research described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.Peer reviewe
Design considerations in a clinical trial of a cognitive behavioural intervention for the management of low back pain in primary care : Back Skills Training Trial
No full textBackground
Low back pain (LBP) is a major public health problem. Risk factors for the development and persistence of LBP include physical and psychological factors. However, most research activity has focused on physical solutions including manipulation, exercise training and activity promotion.
Methods/Design
This randomised controlled trial will establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a group programme, based on cognitive behavioural principles, for the management of sub-acute and chronic LBP in primary care. Our primary outcomes are disease specific measures of pain and function. Secondary outcomes include back beliefs, generic health related quality of life and resource use. All outcomes are measured over 12 months. Participants randomised to the intervention arm are invited to attend up to six weekly sessions each of 90 minutes; each group has 6–8 participants. A parallel qualitative study will aid the evaluation of the intervention.
Discussion
In this paper we describe the rationale and design of a randomised evaluation of a group based cognitive behavioural intervention for low back pain
Constraints on neutrino masses from Planck and Galaxy clustering data
No full textWe present here bounds on neutrino masses from the combination of recent Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements and galaxy clustering information from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III. We use the full shape of either the photometric angular clustering (Data Release 8) or the 3D spectroscopic clustering (Data Release 9) power spectrum in different cosmological scenarios. In the Lambda CDM scenario, spectroscopic galaxy clustering measurements improve significantly the existing neutrino mass bounds from Planck data. We find Sigma m(v) < 0.39 eV at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (wi lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. Therefore, robust neutrino mass constraints can be obtained without the addition of the prior on the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope. In extended cosmological scenarios with a dark energy fluid or with nonflat geometries, galaxy clustering measurements are essential to pin down the neutrino mass bounds, providing in the majority of cases better results than those obtained from the associated measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation scale only. In the presence of a freely varying (constant) dark energy equation of state, we find Sigma m(v) < 0.49 eV at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (with lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. This same data combination in nonflat geometries provides the neutrino mass bound Sigma m(v) < 0.35 eV at 95% confidence level.The authors would like to thank Shun Saito for help concerning DR9 power spectrum measurements and Maria Archidiacono for useful help with the manuscript. Part of the research described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. O.M. is supported by the Consolider Ingenio Project No. CSD2007-00060, by PROMETEO/2009/116, by the Spanish Ministry Science Project No. FPA2011-29678 and by the ITN Invisibles PITN-GA-2011-289442Peer reviewe
Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture
No full textApproaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups
"Thank me therefore": Social Prestige, Probity and Self-determination of Nymue's character in Malory's "Le Morte Darthur"
No full textBibliografía
No full textReseñas críticas: La integración de Latinoamérica, de Lázaro Barbieri/Luis Di Filippo.-- Desarrollo del plan escolar de núcleo básico, de Roland C. Faunce y Nelson Bossing; Hombre, cultura, nación, de Francisco Hipólito Uzal/Marta Elena Samatan.-- Cantares históricos de la tradición argentina, selección de Olga Fernández Latour; Metodología de la investigación histórica, de Jorge Luis Cassani y A. J. Pérez Amuchástegui; Dorrego y Rosas. Entretelones del soborno de tropas mercenarias al servicio del Brasil, de Ernesto J. Fitte; La revolución de 1810 en Córdoba, Gobierno de Pueyrredón, de César A. García Belaunce; y Vidas de grandes argentinos/Beatriz Bosch.-- El análisis literario, de Raúl H. Castagnino; Elementos de poética, de Andrés Fidalgo/J. M. Taverna Irigoyen.-- Ezequiel Soria, propulsor del teatro argentino, de Juan Oscar Ponferrada; El teatro nacional. Sinopsis y perspectivas, de Domingo F. Casadevall/Marta Lena Paz.-- Cuba, despertar de América, de Ramírez Gómez/Roberto Mario González.-- Los días y la tierra, de Jaian E. González, por Hillyer Schurjin.-- The pessimism of Leconte de Lisle, de Irving Putter/J. D. M. — Recuerdos de la vida literaria, de Manuel Gálvez/Domingo Buonocore.-- El libro en América: Estudio de las principales barreras al comercio del libro en América, de Peter S. Jennison y William H. Kurth; The bookman's glossary, de Mary C. Turner; Bibliotecas cuyanas del siglo XVIII, de Jorge Comadrón Ruiz; Organización y funcionamiento de la biblioteca, de Luis García Ejarque; Previsión y conservación de bibliotecas y archivos contra agentes bióticos, el fuego y factores climáticos, de Gustav Kraemer Koeller; Les services bibliographiques dans Le Monde 1950-1959, de Robert L. Collison; Catálogo crítico de libros para niños 1957-1960/D.B.-- O resultado no direito penal, de Everardo da Cunha Luna; y Literatura de posguerra, de Manuel Lamana/Manuel de Rivacoba y Rivacoba.-- De cepa criolla, de Martiniano Leguizamón/Iris Estela Longo. // Reseñas informativas
DNA methylation patterns in cord blood DNA and body size in childhood.
No full textThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.BACKGROUND: Epigenetic markings acquired in early life may have phenotypic consequences later in development through their role in transcriptional regulation with relevance to the developmental origins of diseases including obesity. The goal of this study was to investigate whether DNA methylation levels at birth are associated with body size later in childhood. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A study design involving two birth cohorts was used to conduct transcription profiling followed by DNA methylation analysis in peripheral blood. Gene expression analysis was undertaken in 24 individuals whose biological samples and clinical data were collected at a mean ± standard deviation (SD) age of 12.35 (0.95) years, the upper and lower tertiles of body mass index (BMI) were compared with a mean (SD) BMI difference of 9.86 (2.37) kg/m(2). This generated a panel of differentially expressed genes for DNA methylation analysis which was then undertaken in cord blood DNA in 178 individuals with body composition data prospectively collected at a mean (SD) age of 9.83 (0.23) years. Twenty-nine differentially expressed genes (>1.2-fold and p<10(-4)) were analysed to determine DNA methylation levels at 1-3 sites per gene. Five genes were unmethylated and DNA methylation in the remaining 24 genes was analysed using linear regression with bootstrapping. Methylation in 9 of the 24 (37.5%) genes studied was associated with at least one index of body composition (BMI, fat mass, lean mass, height) at age 9 years, although only one of these associations remained after correction for multiple testing (ALPL with height, p(Corrected) = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: DNA methylation patterns in cord blood show some association with altered gene expression, body size and composition in childhood. The observed relationship is correlative and despite suggestion of a mechanistic epigenetic link between in utero life and later phenotype, further investigation is required to establish causality
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The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurements of the growth of structure and expansion rate at z=0.57 from anisotropic clustering
No full textWe analyse the anisotropic clustering of massive galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) sample, which consists of 264 283 galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 0.57, and when combined imply OmegaLambda = 0.74 ± 0.016, independent of the Universe's evolution at z < 0.57. All of these constraints assume scale-independent linear growth, and assume general relativity to compute both O(10 per cent) non-linear model corrections and our errors. In our companion paper, Samushia et al., we explore further cosmological implications of these observations
