215 research outputs found
Refractive elastic scattering of carbon and oxygen nuclei: The mean field analysis and Airy structures
The experimental data on the OC and OC elastic
scatterings and their optical model analysis are presented. Detailed and
complete elastic angular distributions have been measured at the Strasbourg
Vivitron accelerator at several energies covering the energy range between 5
and 10 MeV per nucleon. The elastic scattering angular distributions show the
usual diffraction pattern and also, at larger angles, refractive effects in the
form of nuclear rainbow and associated Airy structures. The optical model
analysis unambiguously shows the evolution of the refractive scattering
pattern. The observed structure, namely the Airy minima, can be consistently
described by a nucleus-nucleus potential with a deep real part and a weakly
absorptive imaginary part. The difference in absorption in the two systems is
explained by an increased imaginary (mostly surface) part of the potential in
the OC system. The relation between the obtained potentials and
those reported for the symmetrical OO and CC
systems is drawn.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Phys. rev. C in pres
Adherent muscle connective tissue fibroblasts are phenotypically and biochemically equivalent to stromal fibro/adipogenic progenitors
Extracellular matrix (ECM) gives structure, support, and is the niche for several cells found in skeletal muscle. ECM is mainly produced by muscle connective tissue (CT) fibroblasts during development and regeneration. Stromal fibroadipogenic progenitors (FAPs) are CT fibroblasts-like mesenchymal progenitors (MPs) with important roles in regeneration and degeneration. Chronic damage restrains the normal regenerative behavior of muscle fibroblasts/FAPs. Thus, the isolation and study of these mesenchymal progenitors are of crucial importance for understanding their behavior and biology. We investigated whether adult muscle CT fibroblasts (hereafter referred to as adherent fibroblasts [aFbs]) cultured via pre-plating strategy belong to a heterogeneous population of FAPs. By combining microscopy, western blot analyses, flow cytometry, and FACS we determined that aFbs isolated from skeletal muscle largely overlap with FAPs. In addition, we used the PDGFRαEGFP mice in order to corroborate our results with EGFP+ FAPs. Moreover, our strategy allows the isolation of activated EGFP+ FAPs from the murine DMD model PDGFRαEGFP; mdx and PDGFRαEGFP denervated mice. Here we report that 1 h 30 min of pre-plating strategy allows the isolation and culture of a highly enriched population of aFbs. These cells are phenotypically and biochemically a FAPs-like population of adherent cells. In addition, aFbs respond in the same fashion as FAPs to Nilotinib, an inducer of FAPs apoptosis. Moreover, flow cytometry characterization of these aFbs suggests that 85% of them express the MP marker PDGFRα, and isolation of aFbs from the PDGFRαEGFP mice suggests that 75% of them show high EGFP expression. Furthermore, TGF-β1 induces aFbs proliferation, myofibroblast differentiation, and ECM production. We were also able to isolate activated aFbs from skeletal muscle of the DMD mice and from the PDGFRαEGFP mice 2-days after denervation. Our findings suggest that the in vitro pre-plating strategy allows the isolation and culture of a relatively pure aFbs population, which resembles FAPs in vitro
A Systematic Investigation of Light Heavy-Ion Reactions
We introduce a novel coupling potential for the scattering of deformed light
heavy-ion reactions. This new approach is based on replacing the usual
first-derivative coupling potential by a new, second derivative coupling
potential in the coupled-channels formalism. The new approach has been
successfully applied to the study of the C+C, C+Mg,
O+Si and O+Mg systems and made major improvements
over all the previous coupled-channels calculations for these systems. This
paper also shows the limitations of the standard coupled-channels theory and
presents a global solution to the problems faced in the previous theoretical
accounts of these reactions.Comment: 7 pages with 4 figure
ALS skeletal muscle shows enhanced TGF-β signaling, fibrosis and induction of fibro/adipogenic progenitor markers
Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in which upper and lower motoneurons degenerate leading to muscle wasting, paralysis and eventually death from respiratory failure. Several studies indicate that skeletal muscle contributes to disease progression; however the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Fibrosis is a common feature in skeletal muscle under chronic damage conditions such as those caused by muscular dystrophies or denervation. However, the exact mechanisms of fibrosis induction and the cellular bases of this pathological response are unknown. We show that extracellular matrix (ECM) components are augmented in skeletal muscles of symptomatic hSOD1G93A mice, a widely used murine model of ALS. These mice also show increased TGF-β1 mRNA levels, total Smad3 protein levels and p-Smad3 positive nuclei. Furthermore, platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α (PDGFRα), Tcf4 and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) levels are augmented in the skeletal muscle of symptomatic hSOD1G93A mice. Additionally, the fibro/adipogenic progenitors (FAPs), which are the main producers of ECM constituents, are also increased in these pathogenic conditions. Therefore, FAPs and ECM components are more abundant in symptomatic stages of the disease than in pre-symptomatic stages. We present evidence that fibrosis observed in skeletal muscle of symptomatic hSOD1G93A mice is accompanied with an induction of TGF-β signaling, and also that FAPs might be involved in triggering a fibrotic response. Co-localization of p-Smad3 positive cells together with PDGFRα was observed in the interstitial cells of skeletal muscles from symptomatic hSOD1G93A mice. Finally, the targeting of pro-fibrotic factors such as TGF-β, CTGF/CCN2 and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling pathway might be a suitable therapeutic approach to improve muscle function in several degenerative diseases. © 2017 Gonzalez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.017764
Application of Absorbing Boundary Condition to Nuclear Breakup Reactions
Absorbing boundary condition approach to nuclear breakup reactions is
investigated. A key ingredient of the method is an absorbing potential outside
the physical area, which simulates the outgoing boundary condition for
scattered waves. After discretizing the radial variables, the problem results
in a linear algebraic equation with a sparse coefficient matrix, to which
efficient iterative methods can be applicable. No virtual state such as
discretized continuum channel needs to be introduced in the method. Basic
aspects of the method are discussed by considering a nuclear two-body
scattering problem described with an optical potential. We then apply the
method to the breakup reactions of deuterons described in a three-body direct
reaction model. Results employing the absorbing boundary condition are found to
accurately coincide with those of the existing method which utilizes
discretized continuum channels.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX
Barrier and internal wave contributions to the quantum probability density and flux in light heavy-ion elastic scattering
We investigate the properties of the optical model wave function for light
heavy-ion systems where absorption is incomplete, such as Ca
and O around 30 MeV incident energy. Strong focusing effects
are predicted to occur well inside the nucleus, where the probability density
can reach values much higher than that of the incident wave. This focusing is
shown to be correlated with the presence at back angles of a strong enhancement
in the elastic cross section, the so-called ALAS (anomalous large angle
scattering) phenomenon; this is substantiated by calculations of the quantum
probability flux and of classical trajectories. To clarify this mechanism, we
decompose the scattering wave function and the associated probability flux into
their barrier and internal wave contributions within a fully quantal
calculation. Finally, a calculation of the divergence of the quantum flux shows
that when absorption is incomplete, the focal region gives a sizeable
contribution to nonelastic processes.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures. RevTeX file. To appear in Phys. Rev. C. The
figures are only available via anonynous FTP on
ftp://umhsp02.umh.ac.be/pub/ftp_pnt/figscat
Evolución energética de haces de rayos X empleados en radiología pediátrica, al interior de maniquís de PMMA, medida con TLD-300
El dosímetro termoluminiscente CaF2:Tm (TLD-300) presenta una curva de brillo característica con dos grupos de picos bien definidos en la zona de baja y alta temperatura. En nuestro laboratorio se ha estudiado la relación entre la señal de alta y baja temperatura (HTLR), de esta curva, con la energía efectiva de haces de fotones típicos de mamografía, obteniéndose el ajuste a una función empírica1.
El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar la evolución energética de haces de rayos X típicos de radiología pediátrica dentro de maniquís de PMMA, analizando la curva de brillo del TLD-300 y empleando la relación empírica previamente obtenid
Total Reaction Cross Section in an Isospin-Dependent Quantum Molecular Dynamics (IDQMD) Model
The isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IDQMD) model is used to
study the total reaction cross section . The energy-dependent Pauli
volumes of neutrons and protons have been discussed and introduced into the
IDQMD calculation to replace the widely used energy-independent Pauli volumes.
The modified IDQMD calculation can reproduce the experimental well
for both stable and exotic nuclei induced reactions. Comparisons of the
calculated induced by with different initial density
distributions have been performed. It is shown that the calculation by using
the experimentally deduced density distribution with a long tail can fit the
experimental excitation function better than that by using the
Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculated density without long tails. It is also found
that at high energy is sensitive to the long tail of density
distribution.Comment: 4 page, 4 fig
A Global Potential Analysis of the O+Si Reaction Using a New Type of Coupling Potential
A new approach has been used to explain the experimental data for the
O+Si system over a wide energy range in the laboratory system
from 29.0 to 142.5 MeV. A number of serious problems has continued to plague
the study of this system for a couple of decades. The explanation of anomalous
large angle scattering data; the reproduction of the oscillatory structure near
the Coulomb barrier; the out-of-phase problem between theoretical predictions
and experimental data; the consistent description of angular distributions
together with excitation functions data are just some of these problems. These
are long standing problems that have persisted over the years and do represent
a challenge calling for a consistent framework to resolve these difficulties
within a unified approach. Traditional frameworks have failed to describe these
phenomena within a single model and have so far only offered different
approaches where these difficulties are investigated separately from one
another. The present work offers a plausible framework where all these
difficulties are investigated and answered. Not only it improves the
simultaneous fits to the data of these diverse observables, achieving this
within a unified approach over a wide energy range, but it departs for its
coupling potential from the standard formulation. This new feature is shown to
improve consistently the agreement with the experimental data and has made
major improvement on all the previous coupled-channels calculations for this
system.Comment: 21 pages with 12 figure
Optical model potentials involving loosely bound p-shell nuclei around 10 MeV/A
We present the results of a search for optical model potentials for use in
the description of elastic scattering and transfer reactions involving stable
and radioactive p-shell nuclei. This was done in connection with our program to
use transfer reactions to obtain data for nuclear astrophysics, in particular
for the determination of the astrophysical S_17 factor for 7Be(p,\gamma)8B
using two (7Be,8B) proton transfer reactions. Elastic scattering was measured
using 7Li, 10B, 13C and 14N projectiles on 9Be and 13C targets at or about
E/A=10 MeV/nucleon. Woods-Saxon type optical model potentials were extracted
and are compared with potentials obtained from a microscopic double folding
model. We use these results to find optical model potentials for unstable
nuclei with emphasis on the reliability of the description they provide for
peripheral proton transfer reactions. We discuss the uncertainty introduced by
the procedure in the prediction of the DWBA cross sections for the (7Be,8B)
reactions used in extracting the astrophysical factor S_17(0).Comment: 16 pages, LaTEX file, 9 figures (PostScript files
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