Modern meson--exchange potential and superfluid neutron star crust matter

In this work we study properties of neutron star crusts, where matter is expected to consist of nuclei surrounded by superfluid neutrons and a homogeneous background of relativistic electrons. The nuclei are disposed in a Coulomb lattice, and it is believed that the structure of the lattice influences considerably the specific heat of the neutronic matter inside the crust of a neutron star. Using a modern meson--exchange potential in the framework of a local--density approximation we calculate the neutronic specific heat accounting for various shapes of the Coulomb lattice, from spherical to non--spherical nuclear shapes. We find that a realistic nucleon--nucleon potential leads to a significant increase in the neutronic specific heat with respect to that obtained assuming a uniform neutron distribution. The increase is largest for the non--spherical phase of the crust. These results may have consequences for the thermal history of young neutron stars.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, 4 figures included as uuencoded p

Microscopic structure of a vortex line in superfluid neutron star matter

The microscopic structure of an isolated vortex line in superfluid neutron star matter is studied by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. Our calculation, which is the starting point for a microscopic calculation of pinning forces in neutron stars, shows that the size of the vortex core varies differently with density, and is in general smaller than assumed in some earlier calculations of vortex pinning in neutron star crusts. The implications of this result are discussedComment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Preliminary study on the assessment of visceral adipose tissue using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was shown to be increased in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) compared to control subjects with comparable body mass index (BMI). Our aim was to determine the relation of VAT by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in patients with COPD by disease severity, BMI, other indices of body composition and static lung volumes. Methods: 294 COPD patients admitted for rehabilitation were studied. Lung function, static lung volumes and body composition (i.e. BMI, waist circumference, fat-free mass, fat mass and fat distribution between android and gynoid fat mass) were assessed before entering pulmonary rehabilitation. VAT was estimated within the android region by using DEXA. Patients were stratified for gender, BMI (cut-off of 25 kg/m2) and GOLD stage. To assess the impact of VAT on lung volumes, patients were also stratified for VAT less and above 50th percentile. Results: Both male and female patients with more severe airflow limitation had significantly lower VAT values, but these differences disappeared after stratification for BMI. VAT was significantly and strongly correlated with other body composition parameters (all p < 0.001). Patients with moderate to severe airflow limitation and lower VAT had increased static lung hyperinflation and lower diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide. Nevertheless, multivariate stepwise regression models including for BMI, age, gender and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) as confounders did not confirm an independent role for VAT on static lung hyperinflation and diffusion capacity. Conclusion: After stratification for BMI, VAT is comparable in moderate to very severe COPD patients. Furthermore, BMI and demographics, but not VAT, were independent predictors of static lung hyperinflation and diffusing capacity in COPD

Okadaic acid-Parthenolide combination at subtoxic doses induces potent synergistic apoptotic effects in human retinoblastoma Y79 cells by upregulating PTEN.

Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular malignancy afflicting children. The incidence is higher in developing countries, where treatment is limited and long-term survival rates are low. Vincristine, etoposide, and carboplatin -the agents commonly used in the treatment of retinoblastoma- determine side effects causing significant morbidity to pediatric patients and significantly limiting dosing. Thus, identifying new drugs and molecular targets to facilitate the development of novel therapeutics, and finding natural drug combinations to kill cancer cells by synergistically acting at subtoxic doses, may be a good goal. Here, we investigated the effects of two natural compounds, okadaic acid (OKA) and parthenolide (PN), in human retinoblastoma Y79 cells. We showed that OKA/PN combination at subtoxic doses induces potent synergistic apoptotic effects accompanied by decrease in p-Akt, increase in the stabilized p53 forms and potent decrease in pS166\u2013Mdm2. We also showed the key involvement of PTEN which, after OKA/PN treatment, potently increased before p53, suggesting that p53 activation was under PTEN action. PTEN-knockdown increased p-Akt/ pS166Mdm2 over basal levels and significantly lowered p53, while OKA/PN treatment failed both to lower p-Akt and pS166\u2013Mdm2 and to increase p53 below/over their basal levels respectively. OKA/PN treatment potently increased ROS levels while decreased those of GSH. Reducing cellular GSH by butathionine-sulfoximine treatment significantly anticipated the cytotoxic effect exerted by OKA/PN. The effects of OKA/PN treatment on both GSH content and cell viability were less pronounced in PTEN silenced cells than in control cells. Our study reports for the first time both a synergistic apoptotic action between OKA and PN and the involvement of PTEN as key player in the apoptotic mechanism in human retinoblastoma Y79 cells. The results provide strong suggestion for combined inhibition of the PTEN/Akt/Mdm2/p53 pathway

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In human retinoblastoma Y79 cells okadaic acid\u2013parthenolide co-treatment induces synergistic apoptotic effects, with PTEN as a key player.

Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular malignancy of childhood. In developing countries, treatment is limited, long-term survival rates are low and current chemotherapy causes significant morbidity to pediatric patients and significantly limits dosing. Therefore there is an urgent need to identify new therapeutic strategies to improve the clinical outcome of patients with retinoblastoma. here, we investigated the effects of two natural compounds okadaic acid (OKa) and parthenolide (PN) on human retinoblastoma Y79 cells. For the first time we showed that OKa/PN combination at subtoxic doses induces potent synergistic apoptotic effects accompanied by lowering in p-akt levels, increasing in the stabilized forms of p53 and potent decrease in ps166-Mdm2. We also showed the key involvement of PTeN which, after OKa/PN treatment, potently increased before p53, thus suggesting that p53 activation was under PTeN action. Moreover, after PTEN-knockdown p-akt/ ps166Mdm2 increased over basal levels and p53 significantly lowered, while OKa/PN treatment failed both to lower p-akt and ps166-Mdm2 and to increase p53 below/over their basal levels respectively. OKa/PN treatment potently increased ROs levels whereas decreased those of Gsh. Reducing cellular Gsh by l-butathionine-[s,R]-sulfoximine treatment significantly anticipated the cytotoxic effect exerted by OKa/ PN. Furthermore, the effects of OKa/PN treatment on both Gsh content and cell viability were less pronounced in PTeN silenced cells than in control cells. The results provide strong suggestion for combining a treatment approach that targets the PTeN/akt/Mdm2/p53 pathway

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new simple indolic non peptidic HIV Protease inhibitors: The effect of different substitution patterns

New structurally simple indolic non peptidic HIV Protease inhibitors were synthesized from (S)- glycidol by regioselective methods. Following the concept of targeting the protein backbone, different substitution patterns were introduced onto the common stereodefined isopropanolamine core modifying the type of functional group on the indole, the position of the functional group on the indole and the type of the nitrogen containing group (sulfonamides or perhydroisoquinoline), alternatively. The systematic study on in vitro inhibition activity of such compounds confirmed the general beneficial effect of the 5-indolyl substituents in presence of arylsulfonamide moieties, which furnished activities in the micromolar range. Preliminary docking analysis allowed to identify several key features of the binding mode of such compounds to the protease

Spatial structure of quark Cooper pairs in a color superconductor

Spatial structure of Cooper pairs with quantum numbers color 3^*, I=J=L=S=0 in ud 2 flavor quark matter is studied by solving the gap equation and calculating the coherence length in full momentum range without the weak coupling approximation. Although the gap at the Fermi surface and the coherence length depend on density weakly, the shape of the r-space pair wave function varies strongly with density. This result indicates that quark Cooper pairs become more bosonic at higher densities.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. The frequency dependence of the gap and the limitation on the type I/type II discussion are mentioned briefly. To appear in Phys. Rev.