The Associations of Handgrip Strength and Leg Extension Power Asymmetry on Incident Recurrent Falls and Fractures in Older Men

Background Evaluating asymmetries in muscle function could provide important insights for fall risk assessments. We sought to determine the associations of 1) handgrip strength (HGS) asymmetry, and 2) leg extension power (LEP) asymmetry on risk of incident recurrent falls and fractures in older men. Methods There were 5,730 men with HGS asymmetry data and 5,347 men with LEP asymmetry data from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study. A handgrip dynamometer measured HGS and a Nottingham Power Rig ascertained LEP. Percent difference in maximal HGS between hands was calculated, and asymmetric HGS was defined as men in the highest quartile of dissimilarity for HGS between hands. The same approach was used to determine asymmetric LEP. Participants self-reported falls every four-months after the baseline exam, and persons with ≥2 falls in the first year were considered recurrent fallers. Fractures and their dates of occurrence were self-reported and confirmed with radiographic reports. Results Older men in the highest HGS asymmetry quartile had a 1.20 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.43) relative risk for incident recurrent falls. Likewise, men in the highest HGS asymmetry quartile had a higher risk for incident fractures: 1.41 (CI: 1.02-1.96) for hip, 1.28 (CI: 1.04-1.58) for major osteoporotic, and 1.24 (CI: 1.06-1.45) for non-spine. There were no significant associations between LEP asymmetry and recurrent falls or fractures. Conclusions Asymmetric HGS could be a novel risk factor for falls and fractures that is more feasible to measure than LEP. Fall risk assessments should consider evaluating muscle function, including HGS asymmetry.

Transverse–Spin Quark Distributions from Asymmetry Data and Symmetry Arguments

The transversity and the Sivers distribution functions of quarks incorporate important information about the transverse-spin and transverse-momentum structure of nucleons. We show how these distributions can be directly determined point by point from leptoproduction asymmetry data collected for various targets and produced hadrons by the COMPASS Collaboration. Only simple symmetry relations are used in the extraction.

Global analysis of the Sivers functions at NLO+NNLL in QCD

We perform global fit to the quark Sivers function within the transverse momentum dependent (TMD) factorization formalism in QCD. We simultaneously fit Sivers asymmetry data from Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) at COMPASS, HERMES, and JLab, from Drell-Yan lepton pair production at COMPASS, and from W/Z boson at RHIC. This extraction is performed at next-to-leading order (NLO) and next-to-next-to leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy. We find excellent agreement between our extracted asymmetry and the experimental data for SIDIS and Drell-Yan lepton pair production, while tension arises when trying to describe the spin asymmetries of W/Z bosons at RHIC. We carefully assess the situation, and we study in details the impact of the RHIC data and their implications through different ways of performing the fit. In addition, we find that the quality of the description of W/Z vector boson asymmetry data could be strongly sensitive to the DGLAP evolution of Qiu-Sterman function, besides the usual TMD evolution. We present discussion on this and the implications for measurements of the transverse-spin asymmetries at the future Electron Ion Collider.

The structure of galactic halos and the microwave temperature maps

The study of Planck microwave temperature maps toward several nearby spiral edge-on galaxies had revealed frequency-independent temperature asymmetry detection of Doppler origin in their halos. The contribution of the dust component to that effect is studied in this paper, particularly for the case of the M31 galaxy, using the models of dust emission and the phenomenological profiles of the dark matter configurations. The obtained results are in accordance with those inferred from the microwave temperature asymmetry data, thus indicating the possible contribution of dust, among other radiation mechanisms, in revealing the dark halo parameters.

A study on genetic relationship between Allium sativum L. and Scadoxus multiflorus (Martyn) Raf. of Amaryllidaceae

The present investigation has been focussed on the inter-chromosomal and intra-chromosomal asymmetry data of Allium sativum and Scadoxus multiflorus of Amaryllidaceae using quali-quantitative and quantitative methods. The quail-quantitative analysis is strictly ratio based and it revealed that the karyotype of A. sativum and S. multiflorus belonged to category 1A and 3C respectively indicating only the degree of asymmetry. The coefficient of variation of chromosome length (CVCL) and the mean centromeric asymmetry (MCA) were the estimators of quantitative analysis and the data showed that the inter- and intra-chromosomal asymmetry were comparatively high in S. multiflorus than that of A. sativum. Further, the genetic distance between these two species is clearly visible in the bi-dimensional scattered plot from the derived MCA and CVCL data.

The Tensor and the Scalar Charges of the Nucleon from Hadron Phenomenology

We discuss the impact of the determination of the nucleon tensor charge on searches for physics Beyond the Standard Model. We also comment on the future extraction of the subleading-twist PDF e(x) from Jefferson Lab soon-to-be-released Beam Spin Asymmetry data as well as from the expected data of CLAS12 and SoLID, as the latter is related to the scalar charge. These analyses are possible through the phenomenology of Dihadron Fragmentation Functions related processes, which we report on here as well.

Real-time analysis and classification of bioaerosols based on optical scattering properties

The size and shape of biological particles are important parameters allowing discrimination between various species. We have studied several aerosols of biological origin such as pollens, bacterial spores and vegetative bacteria. All of them presented different morphology. Using optical size and shape analyser we found good correlation between light scattering properties and actual particle features determined by scanning electron and fluorescence microscopy. In this study, we demonstrated that HCA (Hierarchical Cluster Analysis) offers fast and continuous bioaerosol classification based on shape and size data matrices of aerosols. The HCA gives an unequivocal interpretation of particle size vs. asymmetry data. Therefore, it may provide high throughput and reliable screening and classification of bioaerosols using scattering characteristics. Keywords: bioaerosol classification, scattering, particle size and shape analysis, biological warfare agents’ detection, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA)

PROCESS DEPENDENCE AND THE SIVERS EFFECT IN INCLUSIVE AND SEMI-INCLUSIVE REACTIONS

We perform an analysis of the the spin asymmetry for single inclusive jet production in proton-proton collisions collected by AnDY experiment and the Sivers asymmetry data from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering experiments. In particular, we consider the role color gauge invariance plays in determining the process-dependence of the Sivers effect. We find that after carefully taking into account the initial-state and final-state interactions between the active parton and the remnant of the polarized hadron, the calculated jet spin asymmetry based on the Sivers functions extracted from HERMES and COMPASS experiments is consistent with the AnDY experimental data. This provides a first indication for the process-dependence of the Sivers effect in different processes. We also make predictions for both direct photon and Drell-Yan spin asymmetry, to further test the process-dependence of the Sivers effect in future experiments.