Screening Mass Research Articles

Russia in the Greater Eurasian Partnership: from Civilization Theory to Political Practice

Introduction. The article overviews the place of Russia in the promotion and construction of the Greater Eurasian partnership. The idea of this partnership was proposed by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin for the interfacing of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Chinese transport initiative “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR).Materials and methods. The study is based on the synthesis of the civilizational concept of Eurasianism and the theory of international integration. The work analyses official documents of EEU and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), declarations of their officials, screening mass media, trade and economic statistics.Results. The statistics show that EEU is gaining success, although at present its developed is slowing. Third countries still play a significant role in foreign trade and investments of EEU member states. China competes with Russia for the dominance in Central Asia. The interface of EEU and SCO integration processes, as well as the Chinese initiative “One Belt, One Road” should be developed in view of Russia’s interests.Discussion and conclusion. The Greater Eurasian partnership can be considered as component of a new world architecture underlied by the system of regional and interregional economic and integration groups. The post-Soviet countries of Eurasia are united by a common history, civilizational and cultural prerequisites for integration with the unifying role of Russia. No serious project on the continent can be implemented without its participation.

Screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disorder characterised by hyperglycaemia and associated with a heavy burden of microvascular and macrovascular complications, frequently remains undiagnosed. Screening of apparently healthy individuals may lead to early detection and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and may prevent or delay the development of related complications. To assess the effects of screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus. We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, LILACS, the WHO ICTRP, and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception. The date of the last search was May 2019 for all databases. We applied no language restrictions. We included randomised controlled trials involving adults and children without known diabetes mellitus, conducted over at least three months, that assessed the effect of diabetes screening (mass, targeted, or opportunistic) compared to no diabetes screening. Two review authors independently screened titles and abstracts for potential relevance and reviewed the full-texts of potentially relevant studies, extracted data, and carried out 'Risk of bias' assessment using the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool. We assessed the overall certainty of the evidence using the GRADE approach. We screened 4651 titles and abstracts identified by the search and assessed 92 full-texts/records for inclusion. We included one cluster-randomised trial, the ADDITION-Cambridge study, which involved 20,184 participants from 33 general practices in Eastern England and assessed the effects of inviting versus not inviting high-risk individuals to screening for diabetes. The diabetes risk score was used to identify high-risk individuals; it comprised variables relating to age, sex, body mass index, and the use of prescribed steroid and anti-hypertensive medication. Twenty-seven practices were randomised to the screening group (11,737 participants actually attending screening) and 5 practices to the no-screening group (4137 participants). In both groups, 36% of participants were women; the average age of participants was 58.2 years in the screening group and 57.9 years in the no-screening group. Almost half of participants in both groups were on antihypertensive medication. The findings from the first phase of this study indicate that screening compared to no screening for type 2 diabetes did not show a clear difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR) 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90 to 1.25, low-certainty evidence). Screening compared to no screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus showed an HR of 1.26, 95% CI 0.75 to 2.12 (low-certainty evidence) for diabetes-related mortality (based on whether diabetes was reported as a cause of death on the death certificate). Diabetes-related morbidity and health-related quality of life were only reported in a subsample and did not show a substantial difference between the screening intervention and control. The included study did not report on adverse events, incidence of type 2 diabetes, glycosylated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and socioeconomic effects. We are uncertain about the effects of screening for type 2 diabetes on all-cause mortality and diabetes-related mortality. Evidence was available from one study only. We are therefore unable to draw any firm conclusions relating to the health outcomes of early type 2 diabetes mellitus screening. Furthermore, the included study did not assess all of the outcomes prespecified in the review (diabetes-related morbidity, incidence of type 2 diabetes, health-related quality of life, adverse events, socioeconomic effects).

Screening properties of quark-gluon plasma obtained from distribution and correlation functions of the constituent quasiparticle model

Based on the constituent quasiparticle model of quark-gluon plasma (QGP), the matrix elements of the density operator and the Wigner function in the color phase space are presented in form of color path integrals over Wiener and SU(3) group Haar measures. Monte Carlo calculations of quark and gluon momentum distributions and spatial pair distribution functions have been carried out for the strongly coupled QGP plasma in thermal equilibrium at zero baryon chemical potential. The Debye screening mass and the running coupling constant have been obtained from the spatial pair distribution function and are in agreement with the available lattice QCD data. At densities related to the average interparticle distance more than 0.4 fm the gluon bound states in the form of glueballs have been found. Comparison with the Maxwell Boltzmann distribution shows significant influence of interparticle interaction on high energy asymptotics of the momentum distribution functions, resulting in appearance of quantum tails. The new color pair correlation function has been introduced, and related new color screening mass has been discussed.

High content screening identifies licoisoflavone A as a bioactive compound of Tongmaiyangxin Pills to restrain cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via activating Sirt3

Background: Cardiac hypertrophy is a prominent feature of heart remodeling, which may eventually lead to heart failure. Tongmaiyangxin (TMYX) pills are a clinically used botanical drug for treating multiple cardiovascular diseases including chronic heart failure. The aim of the current study was to identify the bioactive compounds in Tongmaiyangxin pills that attenuate cardiomyocytes hypertrophy, and to investigate the underlying mechanism of action. Methods and Results: The anti-hypertrophy effect of TMYX was validated in isoproterenol-induced cardiac hypertrophy model in C57BL/6 mice. After TMYX treatment for 2 weeks, the heart ejection fraction and fractional shortening of the mice model was increased by approximately 20% and 15%, respectively, (p < 0.05). Besides, TMYX dose-dependently reduced the cross section area of cardiomyocytes in the angiotensin-II induced hypertrophy H9c2 model (p < 0.01). Combining high content screening and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, four compounds with anti-cardiac hypertrophy effects were identified from TMYX, which includes emodin, licoisoflavone A, licoricone and glyasperin A. Licoisoflavone A is one of the compounds with most significant protective effect and we continued to investigate the mechanism. Primary cultures of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were treated with a hypertrophic agonist phenylephrine (PE) in the presence or absence of licoisoflavone A. After 48 h of treatment, cells were harvested and mitochondrial acetylation was analyzed by western blotting and Image analysis. Interestingly, the results suggested that the anti-hypertrophic effects of licoisoflavone A depend on the activation of the deacetylase Sirt3 (p < 0.01). Finally, we showed that licoisoflavone A-treatment was able to decrease relative ANF and BNP levels in the hypertrophic cardiac cells (p < 0.01), but not in cells co-treated with Sirt3 inhibitors (3-TYP) (p > 0.05). Conclusion: TMYX exerts its anti-hypertrophy effect possibly through upregulating Sirt3 expression. Four compounds were identified from TMYX which may be responsible for the anti-hypertrophy effect. Among these compounds, licoisoflavone A was demonstrated to block the hypertrophic response of cardiomyocytes, which required its positive regulation on the expression of Sirt3. These results suggested that licoisoflavone A is a potential Sirt3 activator with therapeutic effect on cardiac hypertrophy.

An accurate perturbative approach to redshift space clustering of biased tracers in modified gravity

We extend the scale-dependent Gaussian Streaming Model (GSM) to produce analytical predictions for the anisotropic redshift-space correlation function for biased tracers in modified gravity models. Employing the Convolution Lagrangian Perturbation Theory (CLPT) re-summation scheme, with a local Lagrangian bias schema provided by the peak-background split formalism, we predict the necessary ingredients that enter the GSM, the real-space halo pairwise velocity and the pairwise velocity dispersion. We further consider effective field theory contributions to the pairwise velocity dispersion in order to model correctly its large scale behavior. We apply our method on two widely-considered modified gravity models, the chameleon-screened f(R) Hu-Sawicki model and the nDGP Vainshtein model and compare our predictions against state-of-the-art N-body simulations for these models. We demonstrate that the GSM approach to predict the monopole and the quadrupole of the redshift-space correlation function for halos, gives very good agreement with the simulation data, for a wide range of screening mechanisms, levels of screening and halo masses at z=0.5 and z=1. Our work shows the applicability of the GSM, for cosmologies beyond GR, demonstrating that it can serve as a powerful predictive tool for the next stage of cosmological surveys like DESI, Euclid, LSST and WFIRST.

HBO1 is required for the maintenance of leukaemia stem cells.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by transcriptional dysregulation that results in a block in differentiation and increased malignant self-renewal. Various epigenetic therapies aimed at reversing these hallmarks of AML have progressed into clinical trials, but most show only modest efficacy owing to an inability to effectively eradicate leukaemia stem cells (LSCs)1. Here, to specifically identify novel dependencies in LSCs, we screened a bespoke library of small hairpin RNAs that target chromatin regulators in a unique ex vivo mouse model of LSCs. We identify the MYST acetyltransferase HBO1 (also known as KAT7 or MYST2) and several known members of the HBO1 protein complex as critical regulators of LSC maintenance. Using CRISPR domain screening and quantitative mass spectrometry, we identified the histone acetyltransferase domain of HBO1 as being essential in the acetylation of histone H3 at K14. H3 acetylated at K14 (H3K14ac) facilitates the processivity of RNApolymeraseII to maintain the high expression of key genes (including Hoxa9 and Hoxa10) that help to sustain the functional properties of LSCs. To leverage this dependency therapeutically, we developed a highly potent small-molecule inhibitor of HBO1 and demonstrate its mode of activity as a competitive analogue of acetyl-CoA. Inhibition of HBO1 phenocopied our genetic data and showed efficacy in a broad range of human cell lines and primary AML cells from patients. These biological, structural and chemical insights into a therapeutic target in AML will enable the clinical translation of these findings.

Open-boundary conditions in the deconfined phase

In this work, we consider open-boundary conditions at high temperatures, as they can potentially be of help to measure the topological susceptibility. In particular, we measure the extent of the boundary effects at T=1.5T_c and T=2.7T_c. In the first case, it is larger than at T=0 while we find it to be smaller in the second case. The length of this “boundary zone” is controlled by the screening masses. We use this fact to measure the scalar and pseudo-scalar screening masses at these two temperatures. We observe a mass gap at T=1.5T_c but not at T=2.7T_c. Finally, we use our pseudo-scalar channel analysis to estimate the topological susceptibility. The results at T=1.5T_c are in good agreement with the literature. At T=2.7T_c, they appear to suffer from topological freezing, which prevents us from providing a precise determination of the topological susceptibility.

Meson screening masses in ( 2+1 )-flavor QCD

We present lattice QCD results for mesonic screening masses in the temperature range 140 MeV $\lesssim T \lesssim$ 2500 MeV. Our calculations were carried out using (2+1)-flavors of the Highly Improved Staggered Quark (HISQ) action, with a physical value for the strange quark mass and two values of the light quark mass corresponding to pion masses of 160 MeV and 140 MeV. Continuum-extrapolated results were obtained using calculations with a variety of lattice spacings corresponding to temporal lattice extents $N_\tau = 6 - 16$. We discuss the implications of these results for the effective restoration of various symmetries in the high temperature phase of QCD, as well as the approach toward the perturbative limit.

Gluon propagator in two-color dense QCD: Massive Yang-Mills approach at one loop

We study the Landau gauge gluon propagators in dense two-color QCD at quark chemical potential, $\mu_q$, in the range from 0.5 to 1.0 GeV not reachable by the perturbative method at weak coupling. In order to take into account the non-perturbative effects, at tree level we use a massive Yang-Mills model for the Yang-Mills theory (or the Curci-Ferrari model) which has successfully described the lattice results of the gluon and ghost propagators in the Landau gauge. We couple quarks to this theory and compute the one-loop polarization effects in medium. The presence of the gluon mass significantly tempers the medium effects and uncertainties associated with the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$. The diquark condensate in two-color QCD is color-singlet, for which neither electric nor magnetic screening masses should appear at the scale less than the diquark gap. The presence of the gap helps to explain the lattice results which are not very sensitive to the quark density. Meanwhile we also found the limitation of the one-loop estimate as well as the lack of some physics in perturbative medium corrections.

Meson spectral function and screening masses in magnetized quark gluon plasma

We calculate the spectral function in the pseudoscalar (scalar) channel in the high-temperature phase of QCD in the presence of a background magnetic field. The spatial and temporal screening masses are determined from the long-distance behavior of the corresponding correlation functions.

Investigation of Night Eating Syndrome Frequency in Adults in a Family Health Center

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to determine the frequency of&#x0D; night eating syndrome (NES) risk in adults who appealed to a family health&#x0D; center. Method: The research was structured as a cross-sectional study at&#x0D; Gümüşhane Kürtün Family Health Center between February 2018 and August 2018. In&#x0D; this study, sociodemographic information questionnaire and the Night Eating&#x0D; Questionnaire (NEQ) were administered to 403 volunteers aged 18 years and over&#x0D; who appealed to the family health center for any reasons. Participants who&#x0D; received 25 points and above from the NEQ were considered positive for the risk&#x0D; of NES. Also, the height and&#x0D; weight of the participants were recorded. Results: The average age of participants was 40.5±15.4 years. Of these, 45.4% (n=183)&#x0D; were male and 54.6% (n=220) were female. A total&#x0D; of 11.7% (n= 47) of the sample screened positive for NES with a total NEQ score&#x0D; of ≥25. No statistically significant association was found between a&#x0D; positive NES screening result and some of the sociodemographic parameters&#x0D; (gender, marital status, working status, place of residency)&#x0D; (p&amp;gt;0.05). Significant positive associations emerged between a positive NES&#x0D; screening and body mass index, age and smoking status (p&amp;lt;0.05). NES&#x0D; was significantly more common in the participants who were living alone and&#x0D; those with lower education (p&amp;lt;0.05). Conclusion: In this study, the&#x0D; frequency of NES was found higher than in the other community based studies.&#x0D; NES which can be observed in the general population and especially in obese&#x0D; patients is overlooked even in family medicine and even in obesity polyclinics.&#x0D; The diagnosis of individuals with NES will contribute to prevention of obesity.&#x0D; In this context, it would be beneficial to disseminate screening for NES in primary&#x0D; care.&amp;nbsp;&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; Amaç: Bu çalışmada, bir&#x0D; aile sağlığı merkezine başvuran erişkin bireylerde gece yeme sendromu (GYS)&#x0D; riski sıklığının değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem: Bu araştırma Gümüşhane iline bağlı Kürtün 01 No’lu Aile&#x0D; Sağlığı Merkezi’nde Şubat 2018 ile Ağustos 2018 tarihleri arasında kesitsel&#x0D; olarak yapıldı. Çalışmada aile sağlığı merkezine herhangi bir sebeple başvuran&#x0D; 18 yaş ve üstü 403 gönüllü bireye sosyodemografik bilgi anketi ve gece yeme&#x0D; anketi (GYA) uygulandı. GYA’dan 25 puan ve üzeri alanlar Gece Yeme Sendromu&#x0D; (GYS) riski açısından pozitif kabul edildi. Ayrıca kişilerin boy ve vücut&#x0D; ağırlıkları ölçülerek beden kitle indeksleri hesaplanıp kaydedildi. Bulgular: Katılımcıların yaş ortalaması&#x0D; 40,5±15,4 yıldı. Katılımcıların %45.4’ü (n=183) erkek, %54.6’sı (n=220)&#x0D; kadındı.%11,7’si (n=47) GYA’dan ≥25 puan aldı. GYS taraması sonucunda pozitif&#x0D; ve negatif gruplar arasında bazı sosyodemografik değişkenler (cinsiyet, medeni&#x0D; durum, yaşadığı yer, çalışma durumu) açısından anlamlı bir ilişki tespit&#x0D; edilmedi (p&amp;gt;0,05). Yaş, beden kitle indeksi ve sigara kullanımıyla GYS riski&#x0D; arasında pozitif bir ilişki vardı ve fark istatistiksel olarak anlamlıydı&#x0D; (p&amp;lt;0,05). GYS, yalnız yaşayanlarda ve eğitim durumu düşük olanlarda anlamlı&#x0D; derecede daha sık görüldü (p&amp;lt;0,05).&#x0D; Sonuç: Bu çalışmamızda GYS sıklığı diğer toplum temelli araştırmalara&#x0D; kıyasla daha yüksek tespit edildi. Toplum genelinde özellikle de obezlerde&#x0D; görülebilen GYS, aile hekimliği ve hatta obezite polikliniklerinde bile gözden&#x0D; kaçmaktadır. GYS’li bireylerin tespit edilmesi obezite ile mücadeleye de katkı&#x0D; sağlayacaktır. Bu bağlamda birinci basamak sağlık hizmetleri kapsamında GYS&#x0D; taramasının yaygınlaştırılması faydalı olabilir.

Assessing the Estrogenic Activity of EDCs and Human Risks of Groundwater after Ozonation and Chlorination

ABSTRACTEndocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) in groundwater could result in severe risks to human health. Therefore, in the present study, ozone (O3) and chlorine were applied to remove the estrogenicity of Bisphenol-A (BPA), 4-Nonylphenol (4-NP) and Triclosan (TCS) in groundwater. Bioluminescent Yeast Estrogen Screen and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (BLYES-GC/MS) demonstrated that there is no directly proportional relationship between concentration and estrogenicity. Human Risk Assessment (HRA) was conducted, considering the concentration of EDCs, their estrogenicity and the by-products formed. Estrogenicity decreased by 98.7, 79.3 and 97.0% (ozone) and 86.2, 94.3 and 97.8% (chlorine) for BPA, 4-NP AND TCS, respectively. The individual Hazard Quotient (HQ<1), cumulative risk Hazard Index (HI) and intake 17-estradiol equivalents (EEQ) (µg day−1) indicate that ozone and chlorine treatment, including any by-products formed, do not result in estrogenicity with associated HR.

Aspects of quarkonium propagation in a thermal medium as seen by string models

We use gauge/string duality to model a heavy quark-antiquark pair in a color singlet moving through a thermal plasma. In particular, we explore the effect of velocity on the string tension and Debye screening mass. Then we apply the results to the analysis of heavy quarkonium bound states. With some assumptions, we estimate the characteristic size of quarkonium and its dissociation temperature.

Fast screening and quantitative mass spectral imaging of thin-layer chromatography plates with flowing atmospheric-pressure afterglow high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was interfaced to high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) using a flowing atmospheric-pressure afterglow (FAPA) ambient desorption/ionization source. The influence of different TLC stationary phases on the mass spectral signal response and mass spectral image quality in FAPA-MS was carefully investigated. Specifically, a mixture of selected analgesics (acetaminophen), alkaloids (nicotine and caffeine), and steroids (cortisone) was deposited on different stationary phases (silica plates, RP-modified silica plates, CN-modified silica plates, DIOL-modified silica plates, and NH2-modified silica plates), and TLC plates with different thickness (100, 200, 250, 500, 1000, 2000μm) of the stationary phase. After analyte separation, mass spectral imaging was performed of the complete TLC plate via FAPA-MS and the detected ion abundance was compared. It was found that TLC plates with larger particle sizes (10-12μm) and thicker stationary phase layers (e.g., 1000μm and 2000μm) led to higher signals (protonated molecules) compared to smaller particles sizes (6-8μm) and thinner stationary phases (e.g., 100μm and 200μm). Instrumental detection limits in the low ng-range/band were determined for TLC-FAPA-MS of caffeine from RP-modified TLC silica plates. Lastly, a quantitative TLC-FAPA-MS method using stable isotope dilution analysis was developed and applied to the quantification of caffeine in energy drinks. Graphical abstract.

Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment and Computed Tomography in the assessment of malnutrition and sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis: Is there any association?

Chronic liver disease often occurs with malnutrition and its primary consequences, loss of strength and muscle mass (sarcopenia) have an impact on worsening quality of life and increased mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) and Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) in the assessment of sarcopenia and malnutrition and to explore the association between these two conditions in these patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2016 and July 2017 in outpatients with cirrhosis. In the routine consultation, nutritional status and handgrip strength (HGS) were assessed by PG-SGA and dynamometry, respectively. An abdominal CT was performed for hepatocarcinoma screening and muscle mass was assessed at the third lumbar vertebra. Sarcopenia was defined as the combination of low muscle mass (myopenia) and low HGS (dynapenia). A total of 118 patients with cirrhosis were evaluated; the prevalence of dynapenia, myopenia, sarcopenia, and malnutrition were 50%, 33%, 17% and 35% respectively. Women were more malnourished (55% vs 25% in men, p=0.07), and men had more myopenia (16.7% vs. 42.1% in men, p<0.05). Patients with body composition and function abnormalities had higher PG-SGA scores, confirming its usefulness as a nutritional risk assessment tool in these patients. Malnutrition and sarcopenia were highly prevalent in patients with hepatic cirrhosis and should be assessed routinely in clinical practice. PG-SGA can be considered a good marker of sarcopenia that can be used in clinical practice.

Extrapolation for meson screening masses from imaginary to real chemical potential

We first extend our formulation for the calculation of $\pi$- and $\sigma$-meson screening masses to the case of finite chemical potential $\mu$. We then consider the imaginary-$\mu$ approach, which is an extrapolation method from imaginary chemical potential ($\mu=i \mu_{\rm I}$) to real one ($\mu=\mu_{\rm R}$). The feasibility of the method is discussed based on the entanglement Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (EPNJL) model in 2-flavor system. As an example, we investigate how reliable the imaginary-$\mu$ approach is for $\pi$- and $\sigma$-meson screening masses, comparing "screening masses at $\mu_{\rm R}$ in the method" with "those calculated directly at $\mu_{\rm R}$". We finally propose the new extrapolation method and confirm its efficiency.

Functional Movement Screening and injury risk in elite adolescent rugby league players

Research is limited as to whether Functional Movement Screen scores relate to non-contact injury risk in rugby league players. This cohort study investigates whether the Functional Movement Screen score predicts non-contact injuries in elite adolescent rugby league players. Australian adolescent rugby league players ( n = 52; mean age 16.0 ± 1.0 years) from one club participated in this study. Functional Movement Screen scores, height, and mass were collected at the beginning of the preseason. Training, match exposure, and injury incidence data (non-contact match and training injuries with three levels of severity) were recorded for each individual athlete throughout the season. Linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the association between Functional Movement Screen score (continuous score, ≤ 14 or &gt; 14, and three subscores) and injury risk, whilst controlling for exposure time. The mean Functional Movement Screen score for the sample was 13.4 (95% CI: 11.0–14.0). A total of 72 non-contact injuries were recorded (incidence rate: 18.7 per 1000 exposure hours; 95% CI: 11.6–24.8). There were no statistically significant associations between non-contact injury and Functional Movement Screen score for any of the analyses conducted. Our results suggest that the Functional Movement Screen does not reflect non-contact injury risk in elite adolescent rugby league players. Further research should investigate whether a more sport-specific movement screen in the preseason can more effectively predict injury risk in this population.

A comparative study between a miniaturized liquid junction built in a capillary gap and semi-open capillaries for nL sample infusion to mass spectrometry

This study introduces a novel design for a microfluidic element used in a high-throughput screening mass spectrometer autosampler. The original design of the sampler consists of a liquid bridge formed in a micrometer gap between two capillaries. This liquid bridge is used to receive the sample, which is later ionized and analyzed by mass spectrometry. However, this liquid bridge is difficult to establish and maintain for long time periods, making the screening of large libraries of compounds a tedious task. The improvement described here consists in replacing the liquid bridge by a single pierced capillary, called “semi-open capillary”. The fabrication of semi-open capillaries is explained. To achieve an optimum structure, two different machining methods were tested, laser ablation and electro-discharge micromachining. The advantages of this design over the previous one include reduction of the dead volume and that of the sample dilution, as well as higher stability. Characterizations of the repeatability and the limit of detection (LOD) show that the optimized semi-open capillary leads to nearly twofold lower LOD when compared to the original liquid bridge.

Pseudo-Scalar $$\mathbf{q}\bar{\mathbf{q}}$$ q q ¯ Bound States at Finite Temperatures Within a Dyson-Schwinger–Bethe-Salpeter Approach

The combined Dyson-Schwinger--Bethe-Salpeter equations are employed at non-zero temperature. The truncations refer to a rainbow-ladder approximation augmented with an interaction kernel which facilitates a special temperature dependence. At low temperatures, $T \to 0$, we recover a quark propagator from the Dyson-Schwinger (gap) equation which delivers, e.g. mass functions $B$, quark renormalization wave function $A$, and two-quark condensate $\la q \bar q \ra$ smoothly interpolating to the $T = 0$ results, despite the broken O(4) symmetry in the heat bath and discrete Matsubara frequencies. Besides the Matsubara frequency difference entering the interaction kernel, often a Debye screening mass term is introduced when extending the $T = 0$ kernel to non-zero temperatures. At larger temperatures, however, we are forced to drop this Debye mass in the infra-red part of the longitudinal interaction kernel to keep the melting of the two-quark condensate in a range consistent with lattice QCD results. Utilizing that quark propagator for the first few hundred fermion Matsubara frequencies we evaluate the Bethe-Salpeter vertex function in the pseudo-scalar $ q \bar q$ channel for the lowest boson Matsubara frequencies and find a competition of $ q \bar q$ bound states and quasi-free two-quark states at $T = {\cal O}$ (100 MeV). This indication of pseudo-scalar meson dissociation below the anticipated QCD deconfinement temperature calls for an improvement of the approach, which is based on an interaction adjusted to the meson spectrum at $T = 0$.

On the spectrum and string tension of U(1) lattice gauge theory in 2 + 1 dimensions

We calculate the low-lying spectra of glueballs and confining flux tubes in the U(1) lattice gauge theory in 2 + 1 dimensions. We see that up to modest lattice spacing corrections, the glueball states are consistent with being multiparticle states composed of non-interacting massive JPC = 0− − particles. We observe that the ag2 → 0 limit is, as expected, unconventional, and follows the well-known saddle-point analysis of Polyakov to a good approximation. The spectrum of closed (winding) flux tubes exhibits the presence of a massive world-sheet excitation whose mass is consistent with that of the bulk screening mass. These U(1) calculations are intended to complement existing lattice calculations of the properties of SU(N ≥ 2) and SO(N ≥ 3) gauge theories in D = 2 + 1.