609 research outputs found
Interacting effects of temperature, habitat and phenotype on predator avoidance behaviour in <i>Diadema antillarum</i>: implications for restorative conservation
Caribbean long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum populations crashed following a mass mortality event in 1983-1984 with cascading effects on reef health. Population restoration efforts may be hampered by unknown effects of short- and long-term elevated sea surface temperature (SST). We investigated how a key behavioural trait, predator avoidance behaviour (PAB; percentage of long defensive spines that moved in response to shadow stimuli), was affected by elevated SST in 180 individuals from 2 contrasting Honduran reefs: Utila (flattened reef structure, dearth of predation refugia) and Banco Capiro (complex reef structure, abundant refugia). Initiation of PAB is mediated by melanin, which breaks down at elevated water temperatures; thus, as SST rises, D. antillarum may become vulnerable to predation. We compared local current SST (CSST; 29.7°C) with 2 IPCC predicted long-term climate change scenarios under laboratory conditions. PAB decreased by 13.98-15.37% at CSST +1.4°C and 31.67-42.44% at CSST +3.1°C. Trial temperatures were similar to maxima recorded in the Caribbean during the 2016 El Niño, so our results also represent likely responses to worst-case short-term acute temperature anomalies. Juveniles maintained higher PAB than adults, indicating increased reliance on anti-predation behaviours. White-spined phenotypes from Utilaâs flattened reef maintained higher PAB than black-spined counterparts, likely due to increased conspicuousness to visual predators. Habitat complexity may mitigate temperature-driven losses in natural behavioural defences. D. antillarum may be resilient to near-term (D. antillarum populations must be coupled to augmented reef complexity to improve future resilience
Lambda-proton correlations in relativistic heavy ion collisions
The prospect of using lambda-proton correlations to extract source sizes in
relativistic heavy ion collisions is investigated. It is found that the strong
interaction induces a large peak in the correlation function that provides more
sensitive source size measurements than two-proton correlations under some
circumstances. The prospect of using lambda-proton correlations to measure the
time lag between lambda and proton emissions is also studied.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure, revtex style. Two short paragraphs are added at
referees' recommendations. Phys. Rev. Lett. in pres
Surface structure of Quark stars with magnetic fields
We investigate the impact of magnetic fields on the electron distribution in
the electrosphere of quark stars. For moderately strong magnetic fields G, quantization effects are generally weak due to the large number
density of electrons at surface, but can nevertheless affect the spectral
features of quark stars. We outline the main observational characteristics of
quark stars as determined by their surface emission, and briefly discuss their
formation in explosive events termed Quark-Novae, which may be connected to the
-process.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the IXth
Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-9), Bhubaneswar, India,
3-14 Jan. 200
Curvature energy effects on strange quark matter nucleation at finite density
We consider the effects of the curvature energy term on thermal strange quark
matter nucleation in dense neutron matter. Lower bounds on the temperature at
which this process can take place are given and compared to those without the
curvature term.Comment: PlainTex, 6 pp., IAG-USP Rep.5
Inhibition of death receptor signals by cellular FLIP.
The widely expressed protein Fas is a member of the tumour necrosis factor receptor family which can trigger apoptosis. However, Fas surface expression does not necessarily render cells susceptible to Fas ligand-induced death signals, indicating that inhibitors of the apoptosis-signalling pathway must exist. Here we report the characterization of an inhibitor of apoptosis, designated FLIP (for FLICE-inhibitory protein), which is predominantly expressed in muscle and lymphoid tissues. The short form, FLIPs, contains two death effector domains and is structurally related to the viral FLIP inhibitors of apoptosis, whereas the long form, FLIP(L), contains in addition a caspase-like domain in which the active-centre cysteine residue is substituted by a tyrosine residue. FLIPs and FLIP(L) interact with the adaptor protein FADD and the protease FLICE, and potently inhibit apoptosis induced by all known human death receptors. FLIP(L) is expressed during the early stage of T-cell activation, but disappears when T cells become susceptible to Fas ligand-mediated apoptosis. High levels of FLIP(L) protein are also detectable in melanoma cell lines and malignant melanoma tumours. Thus FLIP may be implicated in tissue homeostasis as an important regulator of apoptosis
Neutron star matter equation of state and gravitational wave emission
The EOS of strongly interacting matter at densities ten to fifteen orders of
magnitude larger than the typical density of terrestrial macroscopic objects
determines a number of neutron star properties, including the pattern of
gravitational waves emitted following the excitation of nonradial oscillation
modes. This paper reviews some of the approaches employed to model neutron star
matter, as well as the prospects for obtaining new insights from the
experimental study of gravitational waves emitted by neutron stars.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. To be published as a Brief Review in Modern
Physics Letters
Increased glycation and oxidative damage to apolipoprotein B100 of LDL cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes and effect of metformin
OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate whether apolipoprotein B100 of LDL suffers increased damage by glycation, oxidation, and nitration in patients with type 2 diabetes, including patients receiving metformin therapy.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS For this study, 32 type 2 diabetic patients and 21 healthy control subjects were recruited; 13 diabetic patients were receiving metformin therapy (median dose: 1.50 g/day). LDL was isolated from venous plasma by ultracentrifugation, delipidated, digested, and analyzed for protein glycation, oxidation, and nitration adducts by stable isotopic dilution analysis tandem mass spectrometry.
RESULTS Advanced glycation end product (AGE) content of apolipoprotein B100 of LDL from type 2 diabetic patients was higher than from healthy subjects: arginine-derived AGE, 15.8 vs. 5.3 mol% (P < 0.001); and lysine-derived AGE, 2.5 vs. 1.5 mol% (P < 0.05). Oxidative damage, mainly methionine sulfoxide residues, was also increased: 2.5 vs. 1.1 molar equivalents (P < 0.001). 3-Nitrotyrosine content was decreased: 0.04 vs. 0.12 mol% (P < 0.05). In diabetic patients receiving metformin therapy, arginine-derived AGE and methionine sulfoxide were lower than in patients not receiving metformin: 19.3 vs. 8.9 mol% (P < 0.01) and 2.9 vs. 1.9 mol% (P < 0.05), respectively; 3-nitrotyrosine content was higher: 0.10 vs. 0.03 mol% (P < 0.05). Fructosyl-lysine residue content correlated positively with fasting plasma glucose. Arginine-derived AGE residue contents were intercorrelated and also correlated positively with methionine sulfoxide.
CONCLUSIONS Patients with type 2 diabetes had increased arginine-derived AGEs and oxidative damage in apolipoprotein B100 of LDL. This was lower in patients receiving metformin therapy, which may contribute to decreased oxidative damage, atherogenicity, and cardiovascular disease
Variational calculations of the -seperation energy of the O hypernucleus
Variational Monte Carlo calculations have been made for the O hypernucleus using realistic two- and three-baryon
interactions. A two pion exchange potential with spin- and space-exchange
components is used for the N potential. Three-body two-pion exchange
and strongly repulsive dispersive NN interactions are also included.
The trial wave function is constructed from pair- and triplet-correlation
operators acting on a single particle determinant. These operators consist of
central, spin, isospin, tensor and three- baryon potential components. A
cluster Monte Carlo method is developed for noncentral correlations and is used
with up to four-baryon clusters in our calculations. The three-baryon
NN force is discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figs available by fax., for publication in Phys. Rev.
The long journey from the giant-monopole resonance to the nuclear-matter incompressibility
Differences in the density dependence of the symmetry energy predicted by
nonrelativistic and relativistic models are suggested, at least in part, as the
culprit for the discrepancy in the values of the compression modulus of
symmetric nuclear matter extracted from the energy of the giant monopole
resonance in 208Pb. ``Best-fit'' relativistic models, with stiffer symmetry
energies than Skyrme interactions, consistently predict higher compression
moduli than nonrelativistic approaches. Relativistic models with compression
moduli in the physically acceptable range of K=200-300 MeV are used to compute
the distribution of isoscalar monopole strength in 208Pb. When the symmetry
energy is artificially softened in one of these models, in an attempt to
simulate the symmetry energy of Skyrme interactions, a lower value for the
compression modulus is indeed obtained. It is concluded that the proposed
measurement of the neutron skin in 208Pb, aimed at constraining the density
dependence of the symmetry energy and recently correlated to the structure of
neutron stars, will also become instrumental in the determination of the
compression modulus of nuclear matter.Comment: 9 pages with 2 (eps) figure
Is SAX J1808.4-3658 a Strange Star ?
One of the most important questions in the study of compact objects is the
nature of pulsars, including whether they are composed of -stable
nuclear matter or strange quark matter. Observations of the newly discovered
millisecond X-ray pulsar \sax with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer place firm
constraint on the radius of the compact star. Comparing the mass - radius
relation of \sax with the theoretical mass - radius relation for neutron stars
and for strange stars, we find that a strange star model is more consistent
with SAX J1808.4-3658, and suggest that it is a likely strange star candidate.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, 1 figure, corrected for some typo
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