Cardiac-specific Conditional Knockout of the 18-kDa Mitochondrial Translocator Protein Protects from Pressure Overload Induced Heart Failure.

Heart failure (HF) is characterized by abnormal mitochondrial calcium (Ca2+) handling, energy failure and impaired mitophagy resulting in contractile dysfunction and myocyte death. We have previously shown that the 18-kDa mitochondrial translocator protein of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TSPO) can modulate mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. Experiments were designed to test the role of the TSPO in a murine pressure-overload model of HF induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Conditional, cardiac-specific TSPO knockout (KO) mice were generated using the Cre-loxP system. TSPO-KO and wild-type (WT) mice underwent TAC for 8 weeks. TAC-induced HF significantly increased TSPO expression in WT mice, associated with a marked reduction in systolic function, mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake, complex I activity and energetics. In contrast, TSPO-KO mice undergoing TAC had preserved ejection fraction, and exhibited fewer clinical signs of HF and fibrosis. Mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and energetics were restored in TSPO KO mice, associated with decreased ROS, improved complex I activity and preserved mitophagy. Thus, HF increases TSPO expression, while preventing this increase limits the progression of HF, preserves ATP production and decreases oxidative stress, thereby preventing metabolic failure. These findings suggest that pharmacological interventions directed at TSPO may provide novel therapeutics to prevent or treat HF

On a factorization of second order elliptic operators and applications

We show that given a nonvanishing particular solution of the equation (divpgrad+q)u=0 (1) the corresponding differential operator can be factorized into a product of two first order operators. The factorization allows us to reduce the equation (1) to a first order equation which in a two-dimensional case is the Vekua equation of a special form. Under quite general conditions on the coefficients p and q we obtain an algorithm which allows us to construct in explicit form the positive formal powers (solutions of the Vekua equation generalizing the usual powers of the variable z). This result means that under quite general conditions one can construct an infinite system of exact solutions of (1) explicitly, and moreover, at least when p and q are real valued this system will be complete in ker(divpgrad+q) in the sense that any solution of (1) in a simply connected domain can be represented as an infinite series of obtained exact solutions which converges uniformly on any compact subset of . Finally we give a similar factorization of the operator (divpgrad+q) in a multidimensional case and obtain a natural generalization of the Vekua equation which is related to second order operators in a similar way as its two-dimensional prototype does

On the reduction of the multidimensional Schroedinger equation to a first order equation and its relation to the pseudoanalytic function theory

Given a particular solution of a one-dimensional stationary Schroedinger equation (SE) this equation of second order can be reduced to a first order linear differential equation. This is done with the aid of an auxiliary Riccati equation. We show that a similar fact is true in a multidimensional situation also. We consider the case of two or three independent variables. One particular solution of (SE) allows us to reduce this second order equation to a linear first order quaternionic differential equation. As in one-dimensional case this is done with the aid of an auxiliary Riccati equation. The resulting first order quaternionic equation is equivalent to the static Maxwell system. In the case of two independent variables it is the Vekua equation from theory of generalized analytic functions. We show that even in this case it is necessary to consider not complex valued functions only, solutions of the Vekua equation but complete quaternionic functions. Then the first order quaternionic equation represents two separate Vekua equations, one of which gives us solutions of (SE) and the other can be considered as an auxiliary equation of a simpler structure. For the auxiliary equation we always have the corresponding Bers generating pair, the base of the Bers theory of pseudoanalytic functions, and what is very important, the Bers derivatives of solutions of the auxiliary equation give us solutions of the main Vekua equation and as a consequence of (SE). We obtain an analogue of the Cauchy integral theorem for solutions of (SE). For an ample class of potentials (which includes for instance all radial potentials), this new approach gives us a simple procedure allowing to obtain an infinite sequence of solutions of (SE) from one known particular solution

Thurston's pullback map on the augmented Teichm\"uller space and applications

Let $f$ be a postcritically finite branched self-cover of a 2-dimensional topological sphere. Such a map induces an analytic self-map $\sigma_f$ of a finite-dimensional Teichm\"uller space. We prove that this map extends continuously to the augmented Teichm\"uller space and give an explicit construction for this extension. This allows us to characterize the dynamics of Thurston's pullback map near invariant strata of the boundary of the augmented Teichm\"uller space. The resulting classification of invariant boundary strata is used to prove a conjecture by Pilgrim and to infer further properties of Thurston's pullback map. Our approach also yields new proofs of Thurston's theorem and Pilgrim's Canonical Obstruction theorem.Comment: revised version, 28 page

On the Klein-Gordon equation and hyperbolic pseudoanalytic function theory

Elliptic pseudoanalytic function theory was considered independently by Bers and Vekua decades ago. In this paper we develop a hyperbolic analogue of pseudoanalytic function theory using the algebra of hyperbolic numbers. We consider the Klein-Gordon equation with a potential. With the aid of one particular solution we factorize the Klein-Gordon operator in terms of two Vekua-type operators. We show that real parts of the solutions of one of these Vekua-type operators are solutions of the considered Klein-Gordon equation. Using hyperbolic pseudoanalytic function theory, we then obtain explicit construction of infinite systems of solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation with potential. Finally, we give some examples of application of the proposed procedure

Applied Plasma Research

Contains reports on four research projects split into two sections.National Science Foundation (Grant GK-18185

Ray-based calculations of backscatter in laser fusion targets

A 1D, steady-state model for Brillouin and Raman backscatter from an inhomogeneous plasma is presented. The daughter plasma waves are treated in the strong damping limit, and have amplitudes given by the (linear) kinetic response to the ponderomotive drive. Pump depletion, inverse-bremsstrahlung damping, bremsstrahlung emission, Thomson scattering off density fluctuations, and whole-beam focusing are included. The numerical code DEPLETE, which implements this model, is described. The model is compared with traditional linear gain calculations, as well as "plane-wave" simulations with the paraxial propagation code pF3D. Comparisons with Brillouin-scattering experiments at the OMEGA Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, p. 495 (1997)] show that laser speckles greatly enhance the reflectivity over the DEPLETE results. An approximate upper bound on this enhancement, motivated by phase conjugation, is given by doubling the DEPLETE coupling coefficient. Analysis with DEPLETE of an ignition design for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technol. 26, p. 755 (1994)], with a peak radiation temperature of 285 eV, shows encouragingly low reflectivity. Re-absorption of Raman light is seen to be significant in this design.Comment: 16 pages, 19 figure

Axiomatic geometrical optics, Abraham-Minkowski controversy, and photon properties derived classically

By restating geometrical optics within the field-theoretical approach, the classical concept of a photon (and, more generally, any elementary excitation) in arbitrary dispersive medium is introduced, and photon properties are calculated unambiguously. In particular, the canonical and kinetic momenta carried by a photon, as well as the two corresponding energy-momentum tensors of a wave, are derived from first principles of Lagrangian mechanics. As an example application of this formalism, the Abraham-Minkowski controversy pertaining to the definitions of these quantities is resolved for linear waves of arbitrary nature, and corrections to the traditional formulas for the photon kinetic energy-momentum are found. Several other applications of axiomatic geometrical optics to electromagnetic waves are also presented

Central extensions of current groups in two dimensions

In this paper we generalize some of these results for loop algebras and groups as well as for the Virasoro algebra to the two-dimensional case. We define and study a class of infinite dimensional complex Lie groups which are central extensions of the group of smooth maps from a two dimensional orientable surface without boundary to a simple complex Lie group G. These extensions naturally correspond to complex curves. The kernel of such an extension is the Jacobian of the curve. The study of the coadjoint action shows that its orbits are labelled by moduli of holomorphic principal G-bundles over the curve and can be described in the language of partial differential equations. In genus one it is also possible to describe the orbits as conjugacy classes of the twisted loop group, which leads to consideration of difference equations for holomorphic functions. This gives rise to a hope that the described groups should possess a counterpart of the rich representation theory that has been developed for loop groups. We also define a two-dimensional analogue of the Virasoro algebra associated with a complex curve. In genus one, a study of a complex analogue of Hill's operator yields a description of invariants of the coadjoint action of this Lie algebra. The answer turns out to be the same as in dimension one: the invariants coincide with those for the extended algebra of currents in sl(2).Comment: 17 page

On Fourier integral transforms for qq-Fibonacci and qq-Lucas polynomials

We study in detail two families of $q$-Fibonacci polynomials and $q$-Lucas polynomials, which are defined by non-conventional three-term recurrences. They were recently introduced by Cigler and have been then employed by Cigler and Zeng to construct novel $q$-extensions of classical Hermite polynomials. We show that both of these $q$-polynomial families exhibit simple transformation properties with respect to the classical Fourier integral transform