169 research outputs found
Nobiletin Stimulates Chloride Secretion in Human Bronchial Epithelia via a cAMP/PKA-Dependent Pathway
The Role of the Fabrication of Anatase-TiO2 Chain-Networked Photoanodes
A novel, sandwich-layered Ti/TiO2/Ti/fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) architecture is reported. The Ti layers play a critical role in the formation of long pear-necklace chains made of interconnected TiO2 nanoparticles. The chains interpenetrate a network structure on FTO glass substrates under alkaline hydrothermal-processing conditions. A significant enhancement in the photocurrent density of dye-sensitized solar cells employing non-volatile polymer-based electrolytes is obtained
Added Value of Computed Tomography Virtual Intravascular Endoscopy in the Evaluation of Coronary Arteries with Stents or Plaques
Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a widely used imaging modality for diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD) but is limited by a high false positive rate when evaluating coronary arteries with stents and heavy calcifications. Virtual intravascular endoscopy (VIE) images generated from CCTA can be used to qualitatively assess the vascular lumen and might be helpful for overcoming this challenge. In this study, one hundred subjects with coronary stents underwent both CCTA and invasive coronary angiography (ICA). A total of 902 vessel segments were analyzed using CCTA and VIE. The vessel segments were first analyzed on CCTA alone. Then, using VIE, the segments were classified qualitatively as either negative or positive for in-stent restenosis (ISR) or CAD. These results were compared, using ICA as the reference, to determine the added diagnostic value of VIE. Of the 902 analyzed vessel segments, CCTA/VIE had sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value (shown in %) of 93.9/90.2, 96.2/98.2, 96.0/97.7, 70.0/83.1, and 99.4/99.0, respectively, in diagnosing ISR or CAD, with significantly improved specificity (p = 0.025), accuracy (p = 0.046), and positive predictive value (p = 0.047). VIE can be a helpful addition to CCTA when evaluating coronary arterie
Formation of superdense hadronic matter in high energy heavy-ion collisions
We present the detail of a newly developed relativistic transport model (ART
1.0) for high energy heavy-ion collisions. Using this model, we first study the
general collision dynamics between heavy ions at the AGS energies. We then show
that in central collisions there exists a large volume of sufficiently
long-lived superdense hadronic matter whose local baryon and energy densities
exceed the critical densities for the hadronic matter to quark-gluon plasma
transition. The size and lifetime of this matter are found to depend strongly
on the equation of state. We also investigate the degree and time scale of
thermalization as well as the radial flow during the expansion of the
superdense hadronic matter. The flow velocity profile and the temperature of
the hadronic matter at freeze-out are extracted. The transverse momentum and
rapidity distributions of protons, pions and kaons calculated with and without
the mean field are compared with each other and also with the preliminary data
from the E866/E802 collaboration to search for experimental observables that
are sensitive to the equation of state. It is found that these inclusive,
single particle observables depend weakly on the equation of state. The
difference between results obtained with and without the nuclear mean field is
only about 20\%. The baryon transverse collective flow in the reaction plane is
also analyzed. It is shown that both the flow parameter and the strength of the
``bounce-off'' effect are very sensitive to the equation of state. In
particular, a soft equation of state with a compressibility of 200 MeV results
in an increase of the flow parameter by a factor of 2.5 compared to the cascade
case without the mean field. This large effect makes it possible to distinguish
the predictions from different theoretical models and to detect the signaturesComment: 55 pages, latex, + 39 figures available upon reques
Open charm and charmonium production at relativistic energies
We calculate open charm and charmonium production in reactions at
= 200 GeV within the hadron-string dynamics (HSD) transport approach
employing open charm cross sections from and reactions that are
fitted to results from PYTHIA and scaled in magnitude to the available
experimental data. Charmonium dissociation with nucleons and formed mesons to
open charm ( pairs) is included dynamically. The 'comover'
dissociation cross sections are described by a simple phase-space model
including a single free parameter, i.e. an interaction strength , that
is fitted to the suppression data for collisions at SPS
energies. As a novel feature we implement the backward channels for charmonium
reproduction by channels employing detailed balance. From our
dynamical calculations we find that the charmonium recreation is comparable to
the dissociation by 'comoving' mesons. This leads to the final result that the
total suppression at = 200 GeV as a function of centrality
is slightly less than the suppression seen at SPS energies by the NA50
Collaboration, where the 'comover' dissociation is substantial and the backward
channels play no role. Furthermore, even in case that all directly produced
mesons dissociate immediately (or are not formed as a mesonic state),
a sizeable amount of charmonia is found asymptotically due to the + meson channels in central collisions of at =
200 GeV which, however, is lower than the yield expected from binary
scaling of collisions.Comment: 42 pages, including 14 eps figures, discussions extended and
references added, to be published in Phys. Rev.
J/psi production in relativistic heavy ion collisions from a multi-phase transport model
Using A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model, we study J/psi production from
interactions between charm and anti-charm quarks in initial parton phase and
between D and Dbar mesons in final hadron phase of relativistic heavy ion
collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Including also the
inverse reactions of J/psi absorption by gluons and light mesons, we find that
the net number of J/psi from the parton and hadron phases is smaller than that
expected from the superposition of initial nucleon-nucleon collisions, contrary
to the J/psi enhancement predicted by the kinetic formation model. The
production of J/psi is further suppressed if one includes the color screening
effect in the parton phase. We have also studied the dependence of J/psi
production on the charm quark mass and the effective charm meson mass.Comment: Figures redone with better statistic
Additive Interaction of Hyperglycemia and Albuminuria on Risk of Ischemic Stroke in Type 2 Diabetes: Hong Kong Diabetes Registry
OBJECTIVE—The study aims to test whether biological interaction between hyperglycemia and albuminuria can explain the inconsistent findings from epidemiological studies and clinical trials about effects of hyperglycemia on stroke in type 2 diabetes
Low LDL Cholesterol, Albuminuria, and Statins for the Risk of Cancer in Type 2 Diabetes: The Hong Kong Diabetes Registry
Tenacidade ao impacto de compósitos de tecido de juta reforçando matriz de polietileno reciclado
Additive Interaction Between the Renin-Angiotensin System and Lipid Metabolism for Cancer in Type 2 Diabetes
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