A new de Sitter solution with a weakly warped deformed conifold

We revisit moduli stabilisation for type IIB flux compactifications that include a warped throat region corresponding to a warped deformed conifold, with an anti-D3-brane sitting at its tip. The warping induces a coupling between the conifold’s deformation modulus and the bulk volume modulus in the Kähler potential. Previous works have studied the scalar potential assuming a strong warping such that this coupling term dominates, and found that the anti-D3-brane uplift may destabilise the conifold modulus and/or volume modulus, unless flux numbers within the throat are large, which makes tadpole cancellation a challenge. We explore the regime of parameter space corresponding to a weakly-but-still warped throat, such that the coupling between the conifold and volume moduli is subdominant. We thus discover a new metastable de Sitter solution within the four-dimensional effective field theory. We discuss the position of this de Sitter vacuum in the string theory landscape and swampland.

The FL bound and its phenomenological implications

Demanding that charged Nariai black holes in (quasi-)de Sitter space decay without becoming super-extremal implies a lower bound on the masses of charged particles, known as the Festina Lente (FL) bound. In this paper we fix the $$ \mathcal{O}(1) $$ O 1 constant in the bound and elucidate various aspects of it, as well as extensions to d > 4 and to situations with scalar potentials and dilatonic couplings. We also discuss phenomenological implications of FL including an explanation of why the Higgs potential cannot have a local minimum at the origin, thus explaining why the weak force must be broken. For constructions of meta-stable dS involving anti-brane uplift scenarios, even though the throat region is consistent with FL, the bound implies that we cannot have any light charged matter fields coming from any far away region in the compactified geometry, contrary to the fact that they are typically expected to arise in these scenarios. This strongly suggests that introduction of warped anti-branes in the throat cannot be decoupled from the bulk dynamics as is commonly assumed. Finally, we provide some evidence that in certain situations the FL bound can have implications even with gravity decoupled and illustrate this in the context of non-compact throats.

Occupational Risk Exposures and Adverse Health Findings Among Farmers in Southern Philippines

Introduction. Pesticides are widely used in the agricultural sector to increase production by cutting costs and improving product quality. However, these chemicals come with serious health effects when individuals are exposed to large quantities at once or low amounts over time. Objective. This study aimed to identify the health symptoms and physical assessment findings affecting farmers from their repeated occupational exposure to pesticides in a rural region in the Philippines. Methods. This research study used a cross-sectional design, and samples were drawn based on a multistage sampling of 387 agricultural workers. The target site was in the southern Philippines, and the sample was selected randomly from the identified municipalities. Survey questionnaires were given to the respondents, and a physical assessment was made by medical doctors and trained registered nurses. The data were encoded using SPSS™ 13.0. The statistics used were both descriptive and inferential. Results. The farmers used pesticides in their farms with an average of 2.3 days per week (SD: 2.13). The mean total spraying time was 3.07 hours (SD: ± 14.76) per day. The average amount of pesticide used in an application was 1.33 L per application (SD: ± 6.53). Sixty-three percent (63%) had spills while spraying, and 47% reported having spilled pesticides while mixing. Farmers were assessed and found to have experienced symptoms and exhibited physical assessment findings surrounding the following body systems: general, EENT, neurologic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, cardiovascular, and integumentary systems. Abnormalities in laboratory parameters were also observed among the respondents. The mini-mental state examination was done to test if the respondents showed signs of cognitive impairment. The results showed that most respondents (93.95%) had normal cognitive function, while 6.05% of respondents had some level of cognitive impairment. Associations were also tested using Phi Coefficient, and certain pesticide exposure variables were associated with farmers' physical findings and symptoms experienced by farmers. Conclusion. This study translates pesticide’s health impact by identifying the common symptoms experienced by farmers and concerning physical assessment findings. The study found that farmers suffered from various symptoms concerning the general health, eye, ears, nose, and throat region, neurological system, gastrointestinal system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and the integumentary system. In addition, the laboratory parameters of the participants also exhibited abnormalities indicative of exposure and possible adverse effects from pesticides.

Polydisperse Aerosol Transport and Deposition in Upper Airways of Age-Specific Lung

A comprehensive understanding of airflow characteristics and particle transport in the human lung can be useful in modelling to inform clinical diagnosis, treatment, and management, including prescription medication and risk assessment for rehabilitation. One of the difficulties in clinical treatment of lung disorders lies in the patients’ variable physical lung characteristics caused by age, amongst other factors, such as different lung sizes. A precise understanding of the comparison between different age groups with various flow rates is missing in the literature, and this study aims to analyse the airflow and aerosol transport within the age-specific lung. ANSYS Fluent solver and the large-eddy simulation (LES) model were employed for the numerical simulation. The numerical model was validated with the available literature and the computational results showed airway size-reduction significantly affected airflow and particle transport in the upper airways. This study reports higher deposition at the mouth-throat region for larger diameter particles. The overall deposition efficiency (DE) increased with airway size reduction and flow rate. Lung aging effected the pressure distribution and a higher pressure drop was reported for the aged lung as compared to the younger lung. These findings could inform medical management through individualised simulation of drug-aerosol delivery processes for the patient-specific lung.

Quantifying Uncertainty in the Residence Time of the Drug and Carrier Particles in a Dry Powder Inhaler

Dry powder inhalers, used as a means for pulmonary drug delivery, typically contain a combination of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and significantly larger carrier particles. The micro-sized drug particles - which have a strong propensity to aggregate and poor aerosolization performance - are mixed with significantly large carrier particles that cannot penetrate the mouth-throat region to deagglomerate and entrain the smaller API particles in the inhaled airflow. Therefore, a DPI's performance depends on the carrier-API combination particles' entrainment and the time and thoroughness of the individual API particles' deagglomeration from the carrier particles. Since DPI particle transport is significantly affected by particle-particle interactions, particle sizes and shapes present significant challenges to CFD modelers to model regional lung deposition from a DPI. We employed the Particle-In-Cell method for studying the transport/deposition and the agglomeration and deagglomeration for DPI carrier and API particles in the present work. The proposed development will leverage CFD-PIC and sensitivity analysis capabilities from the Department of Energy laboratories: Multiphase Flow Interface Flow Exchange and Dakota UQ software. A data-driven framework is used to obtain the reliable low order statics of the particle's residence time in the inhaler. The framework is further used to study the effect of drug particle density, carrier particle density and size, fluidizing agent density and velocity, and some numerical parameters on the particles' residence time in the inhaler.

Prevalence of ENT diseases in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, India

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Study was conducted to observe the magnitude of ENT morbidity in the predominantly rural district of Chitradurga, Karnataka.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> It was a retrospective study based on medical records of the patients attending OPD of Otorhino-laryngology department in a tertiary care hospital. Retrieved data was tabulated in terms of frequency and percentage to assess the prevalence of ENT diseases in this region. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Study revealed high prevalence of ear diseases (40.4%) followed by throat problems (28.5%). Among ear group, majority of patients (19.7%) had otitis media. In throat region, there was high prevalence of pharyngitis (12.8%) and tonsillitis (8.0%). Nasal diseases reflected allergic rhinitis (7.0%) and symptomatic DNS (6.5%) as the major contributors to ENT pathologies.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Results of the present study reveal that ear and throat diseases form the largest component of ENT problems. Most of these are infectious and preventable. Health education of general population will play a major role in curtailing the related morbidity.</p>

The role of surgery in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody–associated vasculitides affecting the nose and sinuses: A systematic review

Background: The ear, nose and throat region has been reported to be one of the commonest sites involved in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)–associated vasculitis diseases and often precedes the diagnosis of ANCA–associated vasculitis by many months. Although treatment for ANCA–associated vasculitis primarily requires systemic immunosuppressive therapy, there are specific indications for sinonasal surgery during the course of the disease process. The three major roles for surgery in sinonasal vasculitis are to aid diagnosis through biopsy, enable symptom relief and nasal reconstructive surgery consideration when in remission. Purpose: The aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of the surgical procedures which can be performed in patients with ANCA–associated vasculitis presenting with sinonasal involvement. Materials and methods: A systematic literature search was performed for scientific articles on MEDLINE (PubMed Advanced MEDLINE Search) and EMBASE. The search included all articles up to April 2020. Conclusion: Surgical intervention during the active phase of ANCA–associated vasculitis disease can improve the patient’s symptoms and enable histological diagnosis. The surgical decision to manage the nose requires a multidisciplinary approach involving the vasculitis specialist and the ear, nose and throat surgeon. Nasal reconstruction can be performed to restore form and function but only when the disease is in remission so as to maximise success and minimise complications.

Foreign Bodies in Ear, Nose and Throat: An Experience from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central Nepal

Foreign bodies are frequently encountered otorhinolaryngology emergency. The objective of this research paper is to analyze different foreign bodies in terms of type, site, age, and gender distribution and methods of removal. A retrospective study was performed from March, 2018 to March, 2019 in a tertiary care hospital in the central part of Nepal. The information was obtained from hospital record books. A total of 315 patients visited the hospital with a foreign body in either of their ear, nose or throat. It comprised of approximately 12% of all the ENT emergencies in the hospital in the last one year of study. Foreign bodies in ear, nose and throat region were found in all age groups, although it was more prevalent among children of age group less than 10 years.

Uwaga problem – wirus onkogenny HPV a nowotwory jamy ustnej i gardła

Current epidemiological and molecular research has confirmed that HPV (human papillomavirus) infection is strongly associated with malignant tumors of the mouth and throat. HPV infection is currently considered to be one of the main causes of the growing incidence of squamous cell carcinoma in the oropharynx and oral cavity, in particular among populations of developed countries. HPV-positive cancers are characterized by a different from non-viral clinical image, epidemiology, risk factors and treatment protocols. Therefore, it deserves special attention and separate treatment. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the incidence of HPV-positive carcinomas in the world, especially in the group of patients under 50 years of age. All of these factors lead to the conclusion, that redefinition of risk groups for cancer of this area and updating of protocols and prophylaxis is needed. Younger patients should be provided with oral cancer prevention programs, it is also advisable to promote vaccinations. The article describes current epidemiological status and the state of knowledge about HPV positive cancers of mouth and throat region.