Post-traumatic stress disorder, suggestibility, and dissociation related to alleged alien abductions.

OBJECTIVES: Thousands of people throughout the world are convinced that they have been abducted by aliens. We aimed to assess the emotional reaction to such an implausible event and propose some explanations alternative to severe psychopathology. METHODS: A total of 19 individuals who reported memories of having been abducted by aliens were compared to a control group of 32 participants. We employed a battery of tests measuring post-traumatic stress disorder, suggestibility, and dissociation within all participants. RESULTS: The abductee group showed higher scores in measures of post-traumatic stress disorders and dissociation, but lower in suggestibility. Nevertheless, these differences were statistically significant only in suggestibility. CONCLUSIONS: The emotional reaction to memories of an implausible experience can be similar to an individual's response to a genuinely traumatic event. Dissociation might be involved in the clarification of some cases. Explanations alternative to psychosis for these testimonies are proposed.

Measuring the Tangle of Three-Qubit States.

We present a quantum circuit that transforms an unknown three-qubit state into its canonical form, up to relative phases, given many copies of the original state. The circuit is made of three single-qubit parametrized quantum gates, and the optimal values for the parameters are learned in a variational fashion. Once this transformation is achieved, direct measurement of outcome probabilities in the computational basis provides an estimate of the tangle, which quantifies genuine tripartite entanglement. We perform simulations on a set of random states under different noise conditions to asses the validity of the method.

Parton distributions from high-precision collider data: NNPDF Collaboration.

We present a new set of parton distributions, NNPDF3.1, which updates NNPDF3.0, the first global set of PDFs determined using a methodology validated by a closure test. The update is motivated by recent progress in methodology and available data, and involves both. On the methodological side, we now parametrize and determine the charm PDF alongside the light-quark and gluon ones, thereby increasing from seven to eight the number of independent PDFs. On the data side, we now include the D0 electron and muon W asymmetries from the final Tevatron dataset, the complete LHCb measurements of W and Z production in the forward region at 7 and 8 TeV, and new ATLAS and CMS measurements of inclusive jet and electroweak boson production. We also include for the first time top-quark pair differential distributions and the transverse momentum of the Z bosons from ATLAS and CMS. We investigate the impact of parametrizing charm and provide evidence that the accuracy and stability of the PDFs are thereby improved. We study the impact of the new data by producing a variety of determinations based on reduced datasets. We find that both improvements have a significant impact on the PDFs, with some substantial reductions in uncertainties, but with the new PDFs generally in agreement with the previous set at the one-sigma level. The most significant changes are seen in the light-quark flavor separation, and in increased precision in the determination of the gluon. We explore the implications of NNPDF3.1 for LHC phenomenology at Run II, compare with recent LHC measurements at 13 TeV, provide updated predictions for Higgs production cross-sections and discuss the strangeness and charm content of the proton in light of our improved dataset and methodology. The NNPDF3.1 PDFs are delivered for the first time both as Hessian sets, and as optimized Monte Carlo sets with a compressed number of replicas.

Motivo de abandono del tratamiento desde la perspectiva del paciente con un trastorno de la conducta alimentaria / Reason for treatment abandonment from the perspective of the patient with an eating disorder

Los tratamientos psicológicos y farmacológicos para los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria comportan costes personales y sanitarios. En este trabajo estudiamos los diferentes motivos que pueden estar asociados al abandono en ambos tipos de tratamientos en pacientes diagnosticados con un trastorno de la conducta alimentaria, así como el tipo de abandono: abandono tras evaluar, abandono precoz y tardío. Por otro lado, analizamos si existe alguna relación entre el diagnóstico y el tipo de abandono. Se examinaron diversas características (edad, sexo, diagnóstico, motivos y tipos de abandono, y satisfacción respecto a la unidad de trastornos de la conducta alimentaria) en 212 pacientes atendidos en un servicio especializado en el tratamiento de trastornos de la conducta alimentaria durante un periodo de dos años. Nuestros datos apoyan la hipótesis de que el tipo de abandono de los tratamientos más frecuente es de tipo tardío, motivado por la mejoría del trastorno de la conducta alimentaria, mientras que no se verifica que exista relación alguna entre el diagnóstico y el tipo de abandono. Nuestros resultados indican que los motivos de abandono son heterogéneos. Se pueden establecer dos perfiles diferenciados de abandono; uno ligado a la mejoría y a los impedimentos físicos temporales, y otro relacionado con motivos diversos.

Psychological and pharmacological treatments for eating disorder involve personal and health costs. In this paper we study the various reasons that may be associated to abandonment in both types of treatments in patients diagnosed with a disorder of eating behavior and the kind of neglect: neglect after evaluation, early and late abandonment. On the other hand, we analyze whether there is any relationship between the diagnosis and the type of abandonment. Various characteristics (age, sex, diagnosis, motives and types of neglect, and satisfaction with the unit eating disorder) in 212 patients treated at a specialized service in the treatment of eating disorder were examined during a period of two years. Our data support the hypothesis that the rate of abandonment of the most common treatments is delayed type, motivated by the improvement of the disorder of eating behavior, while no verified that there is some relationship between the diagnosis and the type of abandonment. Our results indicate that the reasons for dropping out are heterogeneous. You can set two different profiles of dropouts, one linked to improvement and to temporary disability, and other related tovarious reasons

A compression algorithm for the combination of PDF sets.

The current PDF4LHC recommendation to estimate uncertainties due to parton distribution functions (PDFs) in theoretical predictions for LHC processes involves the combination of separate predictions computed using PDF sets from different groups, each of which comprises a relatively large number of either Hessian eigenvectors or Monte Carlo (MC) replicas. While many fixed-order and parton shower programs allow the evaluation of PDF uncertainties for a single PDF set at no additional CPU cost, this feature is not universal, and, moreover, the a posteriori combination of the predictions using at least three different PDF sets is still required. In this work, we present a strategy for the statistical combination of individual PDF sets, based on the MC representation of Hessian sets, followed by a compression algorithm for the reduction of the number of MC replicas. We illustrate our strategy with the combination and compression of the recent NNPDF3.0, CT14 and MMHT14 NNLO PDF sets. The resulting compressed Monte Carlo PDF sets are validated at the level of parton luminosities and LHC inclusive cross sections and differential distributions. We determine that around 100 replicas provide an adequate representation of the probability distribution for the original combined PDF set, suitable for general applications to LHC phenomenology.

Monosodium glutamate and aspartame in perceived pain in fibromyalgia.

Our aim was to assess the effect of dietary elimination of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and aspartame on perceived pain in fibromyalgia. A total of 72 female patients with fibromyalgia were randomized to discontinuation of dietary MSG and aspartame (n = 36) or waiting list (n = 36). Patients were requested to rate their pain using a seven-point scale. Comparisons between both groups showed no significant differences on pain referred during the baseline or after the elimination of dietary MSG and aspartame. The discontinuation of dietary MSG and aspartame did not improve the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Lack of pattern of birth in patients with bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: An excess of bulimia nervosa (BN) births during the fall has been recently reported, but this finding has not been yet adequately replicated. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the presence of a seasonal birth pattern in a representative clinical sample of women with BN. METHOD: We registered the month of birth of 216 female patients who fulfilled all the criteria for BN according to DSM-IV on admission to a specialized eating disorders service in Spain. RESULTS: Our analyses showed no significant variation in the season of birth of our BN sample when compared to a general population. DISCUSSION: Our data do not support the hypothesis of a season of birth bias in BN.

Absence of seasonal pattern of birth in patients with anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: An excess of spring births has been suggested in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), especially in the restricting subtype, but most of the research has been carried out inside the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to assess whether there is a seasonal pattern of birth in a representative sample of patients with AN in a different latitude in the northern hemisphere. METHOD: We examined the month of birth in a sample of 210 female patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of AN at first presentation to a specialized eating disorders service in Spain. RESULTS: We found no evidence of significant variation in month or season of birth in AN when compared to general population. DISCUSSION: There is not enough evidence of a season of birth bias under the latitude of the United Kingdom in the risk of developing AN.