371 research outputs found
Preroughening, Diffusion, and Growth of An FCC(111) Surface
Preroughening of close-packed fcc(111) surfaces, found in rare gas solids, is
an interesting, but poorly characterized phase transition. We introduce a
restricted solid-on-solid model, named FCSOS, which describes it. Using mostly
Monte Carlo, we study both statics, including critical behavior and scattering
properties, and dynamics, including surface diffusion and growth. In antiphase
scattering, it is shown that preroughening will generally show up at most as a
dip. Surface growth is predicted to be continuous at preroughening, where
surface self-diffusion should also drop. The physical mechanism leading to
preroughening on rare gas surfaces is analysed, and identified in the step-step
elastic repulsion.Comment: Revtex + uuencoded figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter
Serum Neu5Gc biomarkers are elevated in primary cutaneous melanoma
Cutaneous melanoma is one of the most aggressive and deadly types of skin cancer and rates of disease are continuing to increase worldwide. Currently, no serum biomarkers exist for the early detection of cutaneous melanoma. Normal human cells cannot make the sialic acid sugar, Neu5Gc, yet human tumor cells express Neu5Gc and Neu5Gc-containing glycoconjugates have been proposed as tumor biomarkers. We engineered a Neu5Gc-specific lectin based on the pentameric B-subunit of the Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli subtilase cytotoxin, termed SubB2M. We have detected elevated Neu5Gc-containing biomarkers in the sera of ovarian and breast cancer patients in a highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based assay using our SubB2M lectin. Here, we used the SubB2M-SPR assay to investigate Neu5Gc-containing glycoconjugates in the serum of cutaneous melanoma patients. We found elevated total serum Neu5Gc levels in primary (n ¼ 24) and metastatic (n ¼ 38) patients compared to cancer-free controls (n ¼ 34). Serum Neu5Gc levels detected with SubB2M can distinguish cutaneous melanoma patients from cancer-free controls with high sensitivity and specificity as determined by ROC curve analysis. These data indicate that serum Neu5Gc-containing glycoconjugates are a novel class of biomarkers for cutaneous melanoma, particularly for primary melanoma, and have the potential to contribute to the early diagnosis of this disease.Lucy K. Shewell, Christopher J. Day, Tiana Hippolite, Xavier De Bisscop, James C. Paton, Adrienne W. Paton, Michael P. Jenning
Computational Nuclear Physics and Post Hartree-Fock Methods
We present a computational approach to infinite nuclear matter employing
Hartree-Fock theory, many-body perturbation theory and coupled cluster theory.
These lectures are closely linked with those of chapters 9, 10 and 11 and serve
as input for the correlation functions employed in Monte Carlo calculations in
chapter 9, the in-medium similarity renormalization group theory of dense
fermionic systems of chapter 10 and the Green's function approach in chapter
11. We provide extensive code examples and benchmark calculations, allowing
thereby an eventual reader to start writing her/his own codes. We start with an
object-oriented serial code and end with discussions on strategies for porting
the code to present and planned high-performance computing facilities.Comment: 82 pages, to appear in Lecture Notes in Physics (Springer), "An
advanced course in computational nuclear physics: Bridging the scales from
quarks to neutron stars", M. Hjorth-Jensen, M. P. Lombardo, U. van Kolck,
Editor
Medium dependence of the bag constant in the quark-meson coupling model
Possible variations of the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model are examined in
which the bag constant decreases in the nuclear medium. The reduction is
supposed to depend on either the mean scalar field or the effective mass of the
nucleon. It is shown that the electric and magnetic radii of the bound nucleon
are almost linearly correlated with the bag constant. Using the fact that the
size of the bound nucleon inside a nucleus is strongly constrained by
-scaling data in quasielastic, electron-nucleus scattering, we set a limit
for the reduction allowed in the bag constant for these two models. The present
study implies that the bag constant can decrease up to 10--17 % at average
nuclear density, depending on the details of the model.Comment: 31 pages including 4 ps figures, to appear in Nucl.Phys.
Classification of a supersolid: Trial wavefunctions, Symmetry breakings and Excitation spectra
A state of matter is characterized by its symmetry breaking and elementary
excitations.
A supersolid is a state which breaks both translational symmetry and internal
symmetry.
Here, we review some past and recent works in phenomenological
Ginsburg-Landau theories, ground state trial wavefunctions and microscopic
numerical calculations. We also write down a new effective supersolid
Hamiltonian on a lattice.
The eigenstates of the Hamiltonian contains both the ground state
wavefunction and all the excited states (supersolidon) wavefunctions. We
contrast various kinds of supersolids in both continuous systems and on
lattices, both condensed matter and cold atom systems. We provide additional
new insights in studying their order parameters, symmetry breaking patterns,
the excitation spectra and detection methods.Comment: REVTEX4, 19 pages, 3 figure
All major cholesterol-dependent cytolysins use glycans as cellular receptors
Cholesterol-dependent cytolysins (CDCs) form pores in cholesterol-rich membranes, but cholesterol alone is insufficient to explain their cell and host tropism. Here, we show that all eight major CDCs have high-affinity lectin activity that identifies glycans as candidate cellular receptors. Streptolysin O, vaginolysin, and perfringolysin O bind multiple glycans, while pneumolysin, lectinolysin, and listeriolysin O recognize a single glycan class. Addition of exogenous carbohydrate receptors for each CDC inhibits toxin activity. We present a structure for suilysin domain 4 in complex with two distinct glycan receptors, P1 antigen and αGal/Galili. We report a wide range of binding affinities for cholesterol and for the cholesterol analog pregnenolone sulfate and show that CDCs bind glycans and cholesterol independently. Intermedilysin binds to the sialyl-TF O-glycan on its erythrocyte receptor, CD59. Removing sialyl-TF from CD59 reduces intermedilysin binding. Glycan-lectin interactions underpin the cellular tropism of CDCs and provide molecular targets to block their cytotoxic activity.Lucy K. Shewell, Christopher J. Day, Freda E.-C. Jen, Thomas Haselhorst, John M. Atack, Josephine F. Reijneveld, Arun Everest-Dass, David B. A. James, Kristina M. Boguslawski, Stephan Brouwer, Christine M. Gillen, Zhenyao Luo, Bostjan Kobe, Victor Nizet, Mark von Itzstein, Mark J. Walker, Adrienne W. Paton, James C. Paton, Victor J. Torres, Michael P. Jenning
A metagenomic comparison of endemic viruses from broiler chickens with runting-stunting syndrome and from normal birds
Performance of a reciprocal shaker in mechanical dispersion of soil samples for particle-size analysis
Variabilidade espacial da textura e da densidade de partículas em um solo aluvial no Município de Lavras, MG
Genome-wide meta-analysis uncovers novel loci influencing circulating leptin levels.
Leptin is an adipocyte-secreted hormone, the circulating levels of which correlate closely with overall adiposity. Although rare mutations in the leptin (LEP) gene are well known to cause leptin deficiency and severe obesity, no common loci regulating circulating leptin levels have been uncovered. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of circulating leptin levels from 32,161 individuals and followed up loci reaching P<10(-6) in 19,979 additional individuals. We identify five loci robustly associated (P<5 × 10(-8)) with leptin levels in/near LEP, SLC32A1, GCKR, CCNL1 and FTO. Although the association of the FTO obesity locus with leptin levels is abolished by adjustment for BMI, associations of the four other loci are independent of adiposity. The GCKR locus was found associated with multiple metabolic traits in previous GWAS and the CCNL1 locus with birth weight. Knockdown experiments in mouse adipose tissue explants show convincing evidence for adipogenin, a regulator of adipocyte differentiation, as the novel causal gene in the SLC32A1 locus influencing leptin levels. Our findings provide novel insights into the regulation of leptin production by adipose tissue and open new avenues for examining the influence of variation in leptin levels on adiposity and metabolic health
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