``X-Ray Edge'' Singularities in Nanotubes and Quantum Wires with Multiple Subbands

Band theory predicts an inverse square root van Hove singularity in the tunneling density of states at the minimum energy of an unoccupied subband in a one-dimensional quantum wire. With interactions, an orthogonality catastrophe analogous to the x-ray edge effect for core levels in a metal strongly reduces this singularity by a power B of the energy above threshold, with B approximately 0.3 for typical carbon nanotubes. Despite the anomalous tunneling characteristic, good quasiparticles corresponding to the unoccupied subband states do exist.Comment: 4 page

Hipogonadismo de inicio tardío: revisión de conceptos y pautas diagnósticas

ResumenEl hipogonadismo de inicio tardío es un síndrome clínico y bioquímico cada vez más frecuente entre la población masculina en la edad adulta, sin embargo pocas veces es diagnosticado y por lo tanto cursa sin tratamiento entre la mayoría de los varones afectados. La asociación entre deficiencia de testosterona relacionada con la edad y el diagnóstico de hipogonadismo de inicio tardío continúa siendo un tema controversial, y su asociación con síntomas como pérdida de volumen y fuerza muscular, pérdida de la libido y la función eréctil, así como cambios en el estado afectivo e intelectual del paciente resulta insidiosa ya que en ocasiones las sintomatología es atribuida al proceso «normal» de envejecimiento, o a otras comorbilidades del paciente. El diagnóstico de hipogonadismo de inicio tardío se basa en la coexistencia de bajos niveles séricos de testosterona total o libre y síntomas sugestivos de hipogonadismo. Si bien se han desarrollado cuestionarios de cribado dirigidos a pacientes con sospecha clínica, estos cuestionarios poseen sensibilidad y especificidad limitadas para el diagnóstico de hipogonadismo de inicio tardío. El diagnóstico preciso y oportuno es de crucial importancia ya que permite restablecer los niveles de testosterona y la mejoría clínica significativa mediante la terapia de remplazo hormonal.AbstractLate-onset hypogonadism is a clinical and biochemical syndrome that is increasingly more frequent in the adult male population. However, it is rarely diagnosed and therefore goes untreated in the majority of affected men. The association between age-related testosterone deficiency and late-onset hypogonadism continues to be a subject of debate and its relation to symptoms such as loss of muscle strength and volume, loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, and changes in affective and emotional statuses of the patient are insidious, given that the symptomatology is often attributed to the “normal” aging process or other comorbidities of the patient. The diagnosis of late-onset hypogonadism is based on the coexistence of low total or free testosterone serum levels and symptoms suggestive of hypogonadism. Even though screening questionnaires directed at patients with clinical suspicion of the disease have been developed for late-onset hypogonadism, their diagnostic sensitivity and specificity is limited. Accurate and opportune diagnosis is vitally important because it enables testosterone levels to be reestablished and significant clinical improvement to be made through androgen replacement therapy

Measuring Electrical And Mechanical Properties Of Red Blood Cells With A Double Optical Tweezers

The fluid lipid bilayer viscoelastic membrane of red blood cells (RBC) contains antigen glycolproteins and proteins which can interact with antibodies to cause cell agglutination. This is the basis of most of the immunohematologic tests in blood banks and the identification of the antibodies against the erythrocyte antigens is of fundamental importance for transfusional routines. The negative charges of the RBCs creates a repulsive electric (zeta) potential between the cells and prevents their aggregation in the blood stream. The first counterions cloud strongly binded moving together with the RBC is called the compact layer. This report proposes the use of a double optical tweezers for a new procedure for measuring: (1) the apparent membrane viscosity, (2) the cell adhesion, (3) the zeta potential and (4) the compact layer's size of the charges formed around the cell in the electrolytic solution. To measure the membrane viscosity we trapped silica beads strongly attached to agglutinated RBCs and measured the force to slide one RBC over the other as a function of the relative velocity. The RBC adhesion was measured by slowly displacing two RBCs apart until the disagglutination happens. The compact layer's size was measured using the force on the silica bead attached to a single RBC in response to an applied voltage and the zeta potential was obtained by measuring the terminal velocity after releasing the RBC from the optical trap at the last applied voltage. We believe that the methodology here proposed can improve the methods of diagnosis in blood banks.6326Eylar, E.H., Madoff, M.A., Brody, O.V., Oncley, J.L., The contribution of sialic acid to the surface charge of the erythrocyte (1962) J. Biol. Chem., 237, pp. 1992-2000Pollack, W., Reckel, R.P., A reappraisal of the forces involved in Hemagglutination (1977) Int Archs Allergy Appl. Immun., 54, pp. 29-42Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J.M., Bjorkholm, J.E., Chu, S., Observation of a single-beam gradient force trap for dielectric particles (1986) Opt. Lett., 11, pp. 288-290Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J.M., Optical trapping and manipulation of viruses and bacteria (1987) Science, 235, pp. 1517-1520Grier, D.G., A revolution in optical manipulation (2003) Nature, 424, pp. 810-816Zhu, C., Bao, G., Wang, N., Cell Mechanics: Mechanical response, cell adhesion, and molecular deformation (2000) Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng., 2, pp. 189-226Neuman, K.C., Block, S., Optical trapping (2004) Rev. Sci. Instrum., 75, pp. 2787-2809Saffman, P.G., Delbruck, M., Brownian motion in biological membranes (1975) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 72, pp. 3111-3113Dimova, R., Danov, K., Pouligny, B., Ivanov, I.B., Drag of a solid particle trapped in a thin film or at an interface: Influence of surface viscosity and elasticity (2000) J. Colloid and Interface Science, 226, pp. 35-43Hochmuth, R., Worthy, P., Evans, E., Red cell extensional recovery and the determination of membrane viscosity (1979) Biophys. J., 26, pp. 101-114Sze, A., Erickson, D., Ren, L., Li, D., Zeta-potential measurement using the Smoluchowski equation and the slope of the current-time relationship in electroosmotic flow (2003) J. Colloid and Interface Science, 261, pp. 402-410Hunter, R.J., (1981) Zeta Potential in Colloid Science, , Academic Press, New YorkPollack, W., Hager, H.J., Reckel, R., Toren, D.A., Singher, H.O., A study of the forces involved in the second stage of hemaggltination (1965) Transfusion, 5, pp. 158-183Chelidze, T., Dielectric spectroscopy of blood (2002) J. Non-crystalline Solids, 305, pp. 285-294Hymer, W.C., Barlow, G.H., Blaisdell, S.J., Continuous flow electrophoretic separation of proteins and cells from mammalian tissues (1987) Cell Biophys., 10, pp. 61-85Hashimoto, N., Fujita, S., Yokoyama, T., Cell electrophoretic mobility and glycerol lysis of human erythrocytes in various diseases (1998) Electrophoresis, 19, pp. 1227-123

Determination Of Fluid Viscosity And Femto Newton Forces Of Leishmania Amazonensis Using Optical Tweezers

The displacements of a polystyrene microsphere trapped by an optical tweezers (OT) can be used as a force transducer for mechanical measurements in life sciences such as the measurement of forces of living microorganisms or the viscosity of local fluids. The technique we used allowed us to measure forces on the 200 femto Newtons to 4 pico Newtons range of the protozoa Leishmania amazonensis, responsible for a serious tropical disease. These observations can be used to understand the infection mechanism and chemotaxis of these parasites. The same technique was used to measure viscosities of few microliters sample with agreement with known samples better than 5%. To calibrate the force as a function of the microsphere displacement we first dragged the microsphere in a fluid at known velocity for a broad range of different optical and hydrodynamical parameters. The hydrodynamical model took into account the presence of two walls and the force depends on drag velocity, fluid viscosity and walls proximities, while the optical model in the geometric optics regime depends on the particle and fluid refractive indexes and laser power. To measure the high numerical (NA) aperture laser beam power after the objective we used an integration sphere to avoid the systematic errors of usual power meters for high NA beams. After this careful laser power measurement we obtained an almost 45 degrees straight line for the plot of the optical force (calculated by the particle horizontal displacement) versus hydrodynamic force (calculated by the drag velocity) under variation of all the parameters described below. This means that hydrodynamic models can be used to calibrate optical forces, as we have done for the parasite force measurement, or vice-versa, as we did for the viscosity measurements.593017Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J.M., Bjorkholm, J.E., Chu, S., Observation of a single-beam gradient force optical trap for dieletric particles (1986) Optics Letters, 11, pp. 288-290Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J.M., Optical trapping and manipulation of viruses and bacteria (1987) Science, 235, pp. 1517-1520Greulich, K.O., (1999) Micromanipulation by Light in Biology and Medicine, , Basel, Boston, Berlin: BirkhäuserSakata-Sogawa, K., Direct measurement of DNA molecular length in solution using optical tweezers: Detection of looping due to binding protein interactions (1998) Eur. Biophys. J., 27, pp. 55-61Konig, K., Determination of motility forces of human spermatozoa using an 800 nm optical trap (1996) Cell. Mol. Biol., 42, pp. 501-509Barjas-Castro, M.L., Elastic properties of irradiated RBCs measured by optical tweezers (2002) Transfusion, 42, pp. 1196-1199Huruta, R.R., Mechanical properties of stored red blood cells using optical tweezers (1998) Blood, 92, pp. 2975-2977Felgner, H., Muller, O., Schliwa, M., Calibration of light forces in optical tweezers (1995) Appl. Optics, 34, pp. 977-982Svoboda, K., Block, S., Biological applications of optical forces (1994) Annu. Rev. Biophys. Biomolec. Struct., 23, pp. 247-285Henon, S., Lenormand, G., Richert, A., Gallet, F., A new determination of the shear modulus of the human erythrocyte membrane using optical tweezers (1999) Biophys. J., 76, pp. 1145-1151Konig, K., Determination of motility forces of human spermatozoa using an 800nm optical trap (1996) Cell. Mol. Biol., 42, pp. 501-509Who, Whorld Health Organization, 2001Herwaldt, B.L., Leishmanias (1999) Lancet, 354, pp. 1191-1199Killick-Kendrick, R., The life-cycle of Leishmania in the sandfly with special reference to the form infective to the vertebrate host (1990) Ann. Parasitol. Hum. Comp., 65 (1 SUPPL.), pp. 37-42Handman, E., Cell biology of Leishmania (2000) Adv. Parasitol, 44, pp. 1-39Happel, J., Brenner, H., (1991) Low Reynolds Number Hydrodynamics with Special Applications to Particulate Media, , Klumer, Dordrecht(1971) Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, , Chemical Rubber, ClevelandPurcell, E.M., Life at low Reynolds number (1977) Am. J. Phys., 45, pp. 124-13

Mechanical Properties Of Stored Red Blood Cells Using Optical Tweezers

We have developed a method for measuring the red blood cell (RBC) membrane overall elasticity μ by measuring the deformation of the cells when dragged at a constant velocity through a plasma fluid by an optical tweezers. The deformability of erythrocytes is a critical determinant of blood flow in the microcirculation. We tested our method and hydrodynamic models, which included the presence of two walls, by measuring the RBC deformation as a function of drag velocity and of the distance to the walls. The capability and sensitivity of this method can be evaluated by its application to a variety of studies, such as, the measurement of RBC elasticity of sickle cell anemia patients comparing homozygous (HbSS), including patients taking hydroxyrea (HU) and heterozygous (HbAS) with normal donors and the RBC elasticity measurement of gamma irradiated stored blood for transfusion to immunosupressed patients as a function of time and dose. These studies show that the technique has the sensitivity to discriminate heterozygous and homozygous sickle cell anemia patients from normal donors and even follow the course of HU treatment of Homozygous patients. The gamma irradiation studies show that there is no significant change in RBC elasticity over time for up to 14 days of storage, regardless of whether the unit was irradiated or not, but there was a huge change in the measured elasticity for the RBC units stored for more than 21 days after irradiation. These finds are important for the assessment of stored irradiated RBC viability for transfusion purposes because the present protocol consider 28 storage days after irradiation as the limit for the RBC usage.593016Ashkin, A., Dziedzic, J.M., Optical trapping and manipulation of viruses and bacteria (1987) Science, 235, pp. 1517-1520Barjas-Castro, M.L., Brandão, M.M., Fontes, A., Costa, F.F., Cesar, C.L., Saad, S.T.O., Elastic properties of irradiated red blood cell units measured by optical tweezer (2002) Transfusion, 42, pp. 1196-1199Brandão, M.M., Fontes, A., Barjas-Castro, M.L., Barbosa, L.C., Costa, F.F., Cesar, C.L., Saad, S.T.O., Optical tweezers for measuring red blood cell elasticity: Application to the study of drug response in sickle cell disease (2003) European Journal of Haematology, 70, pp. 207-211Williamson, L.M., Warwick, R.M., Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease and its prevention (1995) Blood Rev., 9, pp. 251-261Button, L.N., Dewolf, W.C., Newburger, P.E., The effecr of irradiation on blood components (1981) Transfusion, 21, pp. 419-426Platt, O.S., The sickle syndrome (1995) Blood: Principles and Practice of Hematology, , R. I Hadlin, S. E. Lux, T. P. Stossel, J. B. Lippincott, PhiladelphiaBallas, S.K., Dover, G.J., Charache, S., Effect of hydroxyurea on the rheological properties of sickle erythrocytes in vivo (1989) Am. J. Hematol, 32, pp. 104-111Groner, W., Mohandas, N., Bessis, M., New optical technique for measuring erythrocyte deformability with the ektacytometer (1980) Clin. Chem., 26, pp. 1435-1442De Franceschi, L., Bachir, D., Galacteros, F., Tchernia, G., Cynober, T., Alper, S., Platt, O., Brugnara, C., Oral magnesium supplements reduce erythrocyte dehydration in patients with sickle cell disease (1997) J Clin Invest, 100, pp. 1847-1852Hochmuth, R.M., Worthy, P.R., Evans, E.A., Red cell extensional recovery and the determination of membrane viscosity (1979) Biophys. J., 26, pp. 101-114Evans, E.A., La Celle, P.L., Intrinsic material properties of the erythrocyte membrane indicated by mechanical analysis of deformation (1975) Blood, 45, pp. 29-43Itoh, T., Chien, S., Usami, S., Effects of hemoglobin concentration on deformability of individual sickle cells after deoxygenation (1995) Blood, 85, pp. 2245-2253Evans, E.A., Mohandas, N., Membrane-associated sickle hemoglobin: A major determinant of sickle erythrocyte rigidity (1987) Blood, 70, pp. 1443-1449Dong, C., Chadwick, R.S., Schechter, A.N., Influence of sickle hemoglobin polymerization and membrane properties on deformability of sickle erythrocytes in the microcirculation (1992) Biophys. J., 63, pp. 774-783Suzuki, Y., Tateishi, N., Cicha, I., Decreased deformability of the X-ray irradiated red blood cells stored in manitol-adenine-phosphate medium (2000) Clin. Hemorheol. Micro-cire., 22, pp. 131-14

Fermi edge singularities in X-ray spectra of strongly correlated fermions

We discuss the problem of the X-ray absorption in a system of interacting fermions and, in particular, those features in the X-ray spectra that can be used to discriminate between conventional Fermi-liquids and novel "strange metals". Focusing on the case of purely forward scattering off the core-hole potential, we account for the relevant interactions in the conduction band by means of the bosonization technique. We find that the X-ray Fermi edge singularities can still be present, although modified, even if the density of states vanishes at the Fermi energy, and that, in general, the relationship between the two appears to be quite subtle.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, Princeton preprin

Histological biomarkers in gills of Sciades herzbergii (Siluriformes, Ariidae ) caught in the Estuarine Complex of São Marcos , Maranhão

ABSTRACT This study aimed to compare an environmental quality of two areas of the estuarine complex of São Marcos using gills of changes in Sciades herzbergii as biomarkers of aquatic contamination. Samples were made during the dry season (September/ December 2015) and rainy season (March/ June 2016). They were captured 40 specimens of S. herzbergii at two different points of the estuarine complex: A1) Itaqui port (potentially contaminated area); A2) Igarapé do Puca, Alcântara (control area). Abiotic variables were recorded: salinity, temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen. In the laboratory, the gills of each species were fixed in 10% formaldehyde and kept in 70% alcohol until the usual histological technique was performed. The gill alterations identified in the fish of the potentially contaminated area were: epithelial displacement (DE), congestion (CO), aneurysm (AN), lamellar fusion (FL), hyperplasia (HI), capillary dilation (DC), necrosis and epithelial cell proliferation (PCE). The changes in the control region were: epithelial displacement (DE), lamellar fusion (FL), necrosis (NE) and epithelial cell proliferation (PCE). Gill alterations were more frequent in the port region (84%) than in the control region (16%). These results indicate that fish from the potentially contaminated area are presenting biological responses to local stress.Neste estudo, objetivou-se avaliar a qualidade ambiental de duas áreas do complexo estuarino de São Marcos, utilizando-se as alterações branquiais em Sciades herzbergii como biomarcadores de contaminação aquática. Foram realizadas coletas no período de estiagem (setembro/dezembro de 2015) e no período chuvoso (março/junho de 2016). Foram capturados 40 exemplares de S. herzbergii em dois locais distintos do complexo estuarinoA1) Porto do Itaqui Bacanga (área potencialmente impactada); A2) Igarapé do Puca, Alcântara (área controle). Foram registradas as variáveis abióticassalinidade, temperatura, pH e oxigênio dissolvido. No laboratório, as brânquias de cada espécime foram fixadas em formol a 10% e mantidas em álcool a 70% até a execução da técnica histológica usual. As alterações branquiais identificadas nos peixes da área potencialmente contaminada foramdeslocamento do epitélio (DE), congestão (CO), aneurisma (AN), fusão lamelar (FL), hiperplasia (HI), dilatação capilar (DC), necrose (NE) e proliferação de células epiteliais (PCE). As alterações na região controle foramdeslocamento do epitélio (DE), fusão lamelar (FL), necrose (NE) e proliferação de células epiteliais (PCE). As alterações branquiais foram mais frequentes na região portuária (84%) do que na região controle (16%). Esses resultados indicam que os peixes da área potencialmente contaminada estão apresentando respostas biológicas ao estresse local

Studying Red Blood Cell Agglutination By Measuring Membrane Viscosity With Optical Tweezers

The red blood cell (RBC) viscoelastic membrane contains proteins and glycoproteins embedded in a fluid lipid bilayer that are responsible for cell agglutination. Manipulating RBCs rouleaux with a double optical tweezers, we observed that the cells slide easily one over the others but are strongly connected by their edges. An explanation for this behavior could be the fact that when the cells slide one over the others, proteins are dragged through the membrane. It confers to the movement a viscous characteristic that is dependent of the velocity between the RBCs and justifies why is so easy to slide them apart. Therefore, in a first step of this work, by measuring the force as a function of the relative velocity between two cells, we confirmed this assumption and used this viscous characteristic of the RBC rouleaux to determine the apparent membrane viscosity of the cell. As this behavior is related to the proteins interactions, we can use the apparent membrane viscosity to obtain a better understanding about cell agglutination. Methods related to cell agglutination induced by antigen-antibody interactions are the basis of most of tests used in transfusion centers. Then, in a second step of this work, we measured the apparent membrane viscosity using antibodies. We observed that this methodology is sensitive to different kinds of bindings between RBCs. Better comprehension of the forces and bindings between RBCs could improve the sensibility and specificity of the hemagglutination reactions and also guides the development of new potentiator substances.6644Fontes, A., Fernandes, H.P., Barjas-Castro, M.L., Thomaz, A.A., Pozzo, L., Barbosa, L.C., Cesar, C.L., Red blood cell membrane viscoelasticity, agglutination and zeta potential measurements with double optical tweezers (2006) Proceedings of SPIE, 6088, pp. 296-305Eylar, E.H., Madoff, M.A., Brody, O.V., Oncley, J.L., The contribution of sialic acid to the surface charge of the erythrocyte (1962) J. Biol. Chem, 237, pp. 1992-2000Pollack, W., Reckel, R.P., A reappraisal of the forces involved in Hemagglutination (1977) Int Archs Allergy Appl. Immun, 54, pp. 29-42Fontes, A., Giorgio, S., de Castro Jr., A.B., Neto, V.M., Pozzo, L.Y., Marques, G.P., Barbosa, L.C., Cesar, C.L., Determination of femto Newton forces and fluid viscosity using optical tweezers: Application to Leishmania amazonensis (2005) Proceedings of SPIE, 5699, pp. 419-425Saffman, P.G., Delbruck, M., Brownian motion in biological membranes (1975) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 72, pp. 3111-3113Dimova, R., Danov, K., Pouligny, B., Ivanov, I.B., Drag of a solid particle trapped in a thin film or at an interface: Influence of surface viscosity and elasticity (2000) J. Colloid and Interface Science, 226, pp. 35-4

Goos-H\"{a}nchen-like shifts for Dirac fermions in monolayer graphene barrier

We investigate the Goos-H\"{a}nchen-like shifts for Dirac fermions in transmission through a monolayer graphene barrier. The lateral shifts, as the functions of the barrier's width and the incidence angle, can be negative and positive in Klein tunneling and classical motion, respectively. Due to their relations to the transmission gap, the lateral shifts can be enhanced by the transmission resonances when the incidence angle is less than the critical angle for total reflection, while their magnitudes become only the order of Fermi wavelength when the incidence angle is larger than the critical angle. These tunable beam shifts can also be modulated by the height of potential barrier and the induced gap, which gives rise to the applications in graphene-based devices.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure