Unidirectional Neuronal Cell growth and Differentiation on Aligned Polyhydroxyalkanoate Blend Microfibres with Varying Diameters

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of prokaryotic-derived biodegradable and biocompatible natural polymers known to exhibit neuroregenerative properties. In this work, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB) and poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), P(3HO), have been combined to form blend fibres for directional guidance of neuronal cell growth and differentiation. A 25:75 P(3HO)/P(3HB) blend (PHA blend) was used for the manufacturing of electrospun fibres as resorbable scaffolds to be used as internal guidance lumen structures in nerve conduits. The biocompatibility of these fibres was studied using neuronal and Schwann cells. Highly aligned and uniform fibres with varying diameters were fabricated by controlling electrospinning parameters. The resulting fibre diameters were 2.4 ± 0.3 µm, 3.7 ± 0.3 µm and 13.5 ± 2.3 µm for small, medium and large diameter fibres respectively. The cell response to these electrospun fibres was investigated with respect to growth and differentiation. Cell migration observed on the electrospun fibres showed topographical guidance in accordance with the direction of the fibres. The correlation between fibre diameter and neuronal growth under two conditions; individually and in co-culture with Schwann cells was evaluated. Results obtained from both assays revealed that all PHA blend fibre groups were able to support growth and guide aligned distribution of neuronal cells and there was a direct correlation between the fibre diameter and neuronal growth and differentiation. This work has led to the development of a family of unique biodegradable and highly biocompatible 3D substrates capable of guiding and facilitating the growth, proliferation and differentiation of neuronal cells as internal structures within nerve conduits

J/Psi Decay Lepton Distribution in Hadronic Collisions

We propose the measurement of the decay angular distribution of leptons from J/Psi's produced at high transverse momentum balanced by a photon [or gluon] in hadronic collisions. The polar and azimuthal angular distribution are calculated in the color singlet model (CSM). It is shown that the general structure of the decay lepton distribution is controlled by four invariant structure functions, which are functions of the transverse momentum and the rapidity of the J/Psi. We found that two of these structure functions [the longitudinal and transverse interference structure functions] are identical in the CSM. We present analytical and numerical results in the Collins-Soper and in the Gottfried-Jackson frame.Comment: 8 pages, RevTex, 2 figures

Like Sign Dilepton Signature for R-Parity Violating SUSY Search at the Tevatron Collider

The like sign dileptons provide the most promising signature for superparticle search in a large category of $R$-parity violating SUSY models. We estimate the like sign dilepton signals at the Tevatron collider, predicted by these models, over a wide region of the MSSM parameter space. One expects an unambiguous signal upto a gluino mass of $200 - 300$ GeV ($\geq 500$ GeV) with the present (proposed) accumulated luminosity of $\sim 0.1~(1)~{\rm fb}^{-1}$.Comment: 12 page LaTeX file; 5 figures available upon request from the autho

Modulation of neuronal cell affinity of composites scaffolds based on polyhydroxyalkanoates and bioactive glasses

Biocompatibility and neuron regenerating properties of various bioactive glass (BG)/Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) blend composites were assessed in order to study their suitability for peripheral nerve tissue applications, specifically as lumen structures for nerve guidance conduits (NGCs). BG/PHA blend composites were fabricated using Bioactive glass® 45S5 (BG1) and BG 1393 (BG2) with the 25:35 poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate/poly3-hydroxybutyrate), 25:75 P(3HO)/P(3HB) blend (PHA blend). Various concentrations of each BG (0.5, 1.0 and 2.5 wt%) were used to determine the effect of BG on neuronal growth and differentiation, in single culture using NG108-15 neuronal cells and in a co-culture along with RN22 Schwann cells. NG108-15 cells exhibited good growth and differentiation on all the PHA blend composites showing that both BGs have good biocompatibility at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.5 wt% within the PHA blend. The Young's modulus values displayed by all the PHA blend/BG composites ranged from 385.6 MPa to 1792.6 MPa, which are able to provide the required support and protective effect for regeneration of peripheral nerves. More specifically, the tensile strength obtained in the PHA blend/BG1 (1.0 wt%) (10.0 ± 0.6 MPa) was found to be similar to that of rabbit peroneal nerve. This composite also exhibited the best biological performance in supporting growth and neuronal differentiation among all the substrates. The neurite extension on this composite was found to be remarkable with the neurites forming a complex connection network

Mass and number size distributions of particulate matter components : comparison of an industrial site and an urban background site

AbstractSize-resolved composition of particulate matter (PM) sampled in the industrial town of Port Talbot (PT), UK was determined in comparison to a typical urban background site in Birmingham (EROS). A Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) sampler was deployed for two separate sampling campaigns with the addition of a Grimm optical spectrometer at the PT site. MOUDI samples were analysed for water-soluble anions (Cl−, NO3− and SO42−) and cations (Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+) and trace metals (Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sb, Ba and Pb). The PM mass distribution showed a predominance of fine particle (PM2.5) mass at EROS whereas the PT samples were dominated by the coarse fraction (PM2.5-10). SO42−, Cl−, NH4+, Na+, NO3−, and Ca2+ were the predominant ionic species at both sites while Al and Fe were the metals with highest concentrations at both sites. Mean concentrations of Cl−, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cr, Mn, Fe and Zn were higher at PT than EROS due to industrial and marine influences. The contribution of regional pollution by sulphate, ammonium and nitrate was greater at EROS relative to PT. The traffic signatures of Cu, Sb, Ba and Pb were particularly prominent at EROS. Overall, PM at EROS was dominated by secondary aerosol and traffic-related particles while PT was heavily influenced by industrial activities and marine aerosol. Profound influences of wind direction are seen in the 72-hour data, especially in relation to the PT local sources. Measurements of particle number in 14 separate size bins plotted as a function of wind direction and speed are highly indicative of contributing sources, with local traffic dominant below 0.5μm, steelworks emissions from 0.5 to 15μm, and marine aerosol above 15μm

Supersymmetric Electroweak Corrections to Charged Higgs Boson Production in Association with a Top Quark at Hadron Colliders

We calculate the $O(\alpha_{ew}m_{t(b)}^{2}/m_{W}^{2})$ and $O(\alpha_{ew} m_{t(b)}^4/m_W^4)$ supersymmetric electroweak corrections to the cross section for the charged Higgs boson production in association with a top quark at the Tevatron and the LHC. These corrections arise from the quantum effects which are induced by potentially large Yukawa couplings from the Higgs sector and the chargino-top(bottom)-sbottom(stop) couplings, neutralino-top(bottom)-stop(sbottom) couplings and charged Higgs-stop-sbottom couplings. They can decrease or increase the cross section depending on $\tan\beta$ but are not very sensitive to the mass of the charged Higgs boson for high $\tan\beta$. At low $\tan\beta(=2)$ the corrections decrease the total cross sections significantly, which exceed -12% for $m_{H^{\pm}}$ below $300GeV$ at both the Tevatron and the LHC, but for $m_{H^{\pm}}>300GeV$ the corrections can become very small at the LHC. For high $\tan\beta(=10,30)$ these corrections can decrease or increase the total cross sections, and the magnitude of the corrections are at most a few percent at both the Tevatron and the LHC.Comment: 28 pages including 4 eps figure

Baryon asymmetry from leptogenesis with four zero neutrino Yukawa textures

The generation of the right amount of baryon asymmetry $\eta$ of the Universe from supersymmetric leptogenesis is studied within the type-I seesaw framework with three heavy singlet Majorana neutrinos $N_i\,\,(i = 1,2,3)$ and their superpartners. We assume the occurrence of four zeroes in the neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix $Y_\nu$, taken to be $\mu\tau$ symmetric, in the weak basis where $N_i$ (with real masses $M_i>0$) and the charged leptons $l_\alpha\,\, (\alpha = e,\mu,\tau)$ are mass diagonal. The quadrant of the single nontrivial phase, allowed in the corresponding light neutrino mass matrix $m_\nu$, gets fixed and additional constraints ensue from the requirement of matching $\eta$ with its observed value. Special attention is paid to flavor effects in the washout of the lepton asymmetry. We also comment on the role of small departures from high scale $\mu\tau$ symmetry due to RG evolution.Comment: 35 pages, no figure, Published Versio

Charged Higgs Boson Production in Bottom-Gluon Fusion

We compute the complete next-to-leading order SUSY-QCD corrections for the associated production of a charged Higgs boson with a top quark via bottom-gluon fusion. We investigate the applicability of the bottom parton description in detail. The higher order corrections can be split into real and virtual corrections for a general two Higgs doublet model and into additional massive supersymmetric loop contributions. We find that the perturbative behavior is well under control. The supersymmetric contributions consist of the universal bottom Yukawa coupling corrections and non-factorizable diagrams. Over most of the relevant supersymmetric parameter space the Yukawa coupling corrections are sizeable, while the remaining supersymmetric loop contributions are negligible.Comment: 18 pages, v2: some discussions added, v3: published versio