Employing background-field method and super-heat-kernel expansion, we compute the complete one-loop renormalization of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian with a light Higgs boson. Earlier results from ...purely scalar fluctuations are confirmed as a special case. We also recover the one-loop renormalization of the conventional Standard Model in the appropriate limit.
Older people have been reported to be at higher risk of COVID-19 mortality. This study explored the factors mediating this association and whether older age was associated with increased mortality ...risk in the absence of other risk factors.
In UK Biobank, a population cohort study, baseline data were linked to COVID-19 deaths. Poisson regression was used to study the association between current age and COVID-19 mortality.
Among eligible participants, 438 (0.09%) died of COVID-19. Current age was associated exponentially with COVID-19 mortality. Overall, participants aged ≥75 years were at 13-fold (95% CI 9.13-17.85) mortality risk compared with those <65 years. Low forced expiratory volume in 1 second, high systolic blood pressure, low handgrip strength, and multiple long-term conditions were significant mediators, and collectively explained 39.3% of their excess risk. The associations between these risk factors and COVID-19 mortality were stronger among older participants. Participants aged ≥75 without additional risk factors were at 4-fold risk (95% CI 1.57-9.96, P = 0.004) compared with all participants aged <65 years.
Higher COVID-19 mortality among older adults was partially explained by other risk factors. 'Healthy' older adults were at much lower risk. Nonetheless, older age was an independent risk factor for COVID-19 mortality.
Although molecular rectifiers were proposed over four decades ago
, until recently reported rectification ratios (RR) were rather moderate
(RR ~ 10
). This ceiling was convincingly broken using a ...eutectic GaIn top contact
to probe molecular monolayers of coupled ferrocene groups (RR ~ 10
), as well as using scanning tunnelling microscopy-break junctions
and mechanically controlled break junctions
to probe single molecules (RR ~ 10
-10
). Here, we demonstrate a device based on a molecular monolayer in which the RR can be switched by more than three orders of magnitude (between RR ~ 10
and RR ≥ 10
) in response to humidity. As the relative humidity is toggled between 5% and 60%, the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of a monolayer of di-nuclear Ru-complex molecules reversibly change from symmetric to strongly asymmetric (diode-like). Key to this behaviour is the presence of two localized molecular orbitals in series, which are nearly degenerate in dry circumstances but become misaligned under high humidity conditions, due to the displacement of counter ions (PF
). This asymmetric gating of the two relevant localized molecular orbital levels results in humidity-controlled diode-like behaviour.
Extracellular matrix remodelling of the adipose tissue has a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of obesity. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is increased in obesity and mediates inflammation and fibrosis in the ...cardiovascular system. However, the effects of Gal-3 on adipose tissue remodelling associated with obesity remain unclear. Male Wistar rats were fed either a high-fat diet (33.5% fat) or a standard diet (3.5% fat) for 6 weeks. Half of the animals of each group were treated with the pharmacological inhibitor of Gal-3, modified citrus pectin (MCP; 100 mg kg(-1) per day) in the drinking water. In adipose tissue, obese animals presented an increase in Gal-3 levels that were accompanied by an increase in pericellular collagen. Obese rats exhibited higher adipose tissue inflammation, as well as enhanced differentiation degree of the adipocytes. Treatment with MCP prevented all the above effects. In mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes, Gal-3 (10(-8 )m) treatment increased fibrosis, inflammatory and differentiation markers. In conclusion, Gal-3 emerges as a potential therapeutic target in adipose tissue remodelling associated with obesity and could have an important role in the development of metabolic alterations associated with obesity.
Objective To investigate the association between active commuting and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and all cause mortality.Design Prospective population based study. Setting UK ...Biobank.Participants 263 450 participants (106 674 (52%) women; mean age 52.6), recruited from 22 sites across the UK. The exposure variable was the mode of transport used (walking, cycling, mixed mode v non-active (car or public transport)) to commute to and from work on a typical day.Main outcome measures Incident (fatal and non-fatal) CVD and cancer, and deaths from CVD, cancer, or any causes.Results 2430 participants died (496 were related to CVD and 1126 to cancer) over a median of 5.0 years (interquartile range 4.3-5.5) follow-up. There were 3748 cancer and 1110 CVD events. In maximally adjusted models, commuting by cycle and by mixed mode including cycling were associated with lower risk of all cause mortality (cycling hazard ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.83, P=0.002; mixed mode cycling 0.76, 0.58 to 1.00, P<0.05), cancer incidence (cycling 0.55, 0.44 to 0.69, P<0.001; mixed mode cycling 0.64, 0.45 to 0.91, P=0.01), and cancer mortality (cycling 0.60, 0.40 to 0.90, P=0.01; mixed mode cycling 0.68, 0.57 to 0.81, P<0.001). Commuting by cycling and walking were associated with a lower risk of CVD incidence (cycling 0.54, 0.33 to 0.88, P=0.01; walking 0.73, 0.54 to 0.99, P=0.04) and CVD mortality (cycling 0.48, 0.25 to 0.92, P=0.03; walking 0.64, 0.45 to 0.91, P=0.01). No statistically significant associations were observed for walking commuting and all cause mortality or cancer outcomes. Mixed mode commuting including walking was not noticeably associated with any of the measured outcomes.Conclusions Cycle commuting was associated with a lower risk of CVD, cancer, and all cause mortality. Walking commuting was associated with a lower risk of CVD independent of major measured confounding factors. Initiatives to encourage and support active commuting could reduce risk of death and the burden of important chronic conditions.
While numerous methods have been proposed to produce semiconducting graphene, a significant band gap has never been demonstrated. The reason is that, regardless of the theoretical gap formation ...mechanism, subnanometer disorder prevents the required symmetry breaking necessary to make graphene semiconducting. In this work, we show for the first time that semiconducting graphene can be made by epitaxial growth. Using improved growth methods, we show by direct band measurements that a band gap greater than 0.5 eV can be produced in the first graphene layer grown on the SiC(0001) surface. This work demonstrates that order, a property that remains lacking in other graphene systems, is key to producing electronically viable semiconducting graphene.
We investigate transport through mechanically triggered single-molecule switches that are based on the coordination sphere-dependent spin state of FeII-species. In these molecules, in certain ...junction configurations the relative arrangement of two terpyridine ligands within homoleptic FeII-complexes can be mechanically controlled. Mechanical pulling may thus distort the FeII coordination sphere and eventually modify their spin state. Using the movable nanoelectrodes in a mechanically controlled break-junction at low temperature, current–voltage measurements at cryogenic temperatures support the hypothesized switching mechanism based on the spin-crossover behavior. A large fraction of molecular junctions formed with the spin-crossover-active FeII-complex displays a conductance increase for increasing electrode separation and this increase can reach 1–2 orders of magnitude. Theoretical calculations predict a stretching-induced spin transition in the FeII-complex and a larger transmission for the high-spin configuration.
In a recent paper we showed that the electroweak chiral Lagrangian at leading order is equivalent to the conventional
κ
formalism used by ATLAS and CMS to test Higgs anomalous couplings. Here we ...apply this fact to fit the latest Higgs data. The new aspect of our analysis is a systematic interpretation of the fit parameters within an EFT. Concentrating on the processes of Higgs production and decay that have been measured so far, six parameters turn out to be relevant:
c
V
,
c
t
,
c
b
,
c
τ
,
c
γ
γ
,
c
g
g
. A global Bayesian fit is then performed with the result
c
V
=
0.98
±
0.09
,
c
t
=
1.34
±
0.19
,
c
b
=
0.78
±
0.18
,
c
τ
=
0.92
±
0.14
,
c
γ
γ
=
-
0.24
±
0.37
,
c
g
g
=
-
0.30
±
0.17
. Additionally, we show how this leading-order parametrization can be generalized to next-to-leading order, thus improving the
κ
formalism systematically. The differences with a linear EFT analysis including operators of dimension six are also discussed. One of the main conclusions of our analysis is that since the conventional
κ
formalism can be properly justified within a QFT framework, it should continue to play a central role in analyzing and interpreting Higgs data.
Imprecise measurement of physical activity variables might attenuate estimates of the beneficial effects of activity on health-related outcomes. We aimed to compare the cardiometabolic risk factor ...dose-response relationships for physical activity and sedentary behaviour between accelerometer- and questionnaire-based activity measures.
Physical activity and sedentary behaviour were assessed in 317 adults by 7-day accelerometry and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Fasting blood was taken to determine insulin, glucose, triglyceride and total, LDL and HDL cholesterol concentrations and homeostasis model-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA(IR)). Waist circumference, BMI, body fat percentage and blood pressure were also measured.
For both accelerometer-derived sedentary time (<100 counts.min(-1)) and IPAQ-reported sitting time significant positive (negative for HDL cholesterol) relationships were observed with all measured risk factors--i.e. increased sedentary behaviour was associated with increased risk (all p ≤ 0.01). However, for HOMA(IR) and insulin the regression coefficients were >50% lower for the IPAQ-reported compared to the accelerometer-derived measure (p<0.0001 for both interactions). The relationships for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and risk factors were less strong than those observed for sedentary behaviours, but significant negative relationships were observed for both accelerometer and IPAQ MVPA measures with glucose, and insulin and HOMA(IR) values (all p<0.05). For accelerometer-derived MVPA only, additional negative relationships were seen with triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations, BMI, waist circumference and percentage body fat, and a positive relationship was evident with HDL cholesterol (p = 0.0002). Regression coefficients for HOMA(IR), insulin and triglyceride were 43-50% lower for the IPAQ-reported compared to the accelerometer-derived MVPA measure (all p≤0.01).
Using the IPAQ to determine sitting time and MVPA reveals some, but not all, relationships between these activity measures and metabolic and vascular disease risk factors. Using this self-report method to quantify activity can therefore underestimate the strength of some relationships with risk factors.
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