1,334 research outputs found
Dynamics of spin-2 Bose condensate driven by external magnetic fields
Dynamic response of the F=2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) under the
influence of external magnetic fields is studied. A general formula is given
for the oscillation period to describe population transfer from the initial
polar state to other spin states. We show that when the frequency and the
reduced amplitude of the longitudinal magnetic field are related in a specific
manner, the population of the initial spin-0 state will be dynamically
localized during time evolution. The effects of external noise and nonlinear
spin exchange interaction on the dynamics of the spinor BEC are studied. We
show that while the external noise may eventually destroy the Rabi oscillations
and dynamic spin localization, these coherent phenomena are robust against the
nonlinear atomic interaction.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. accepted by Phys. Rev.
Physiologically regulated transgenic ABCA1 does not reduce amyloid burden or amyloid‐beta peptide levels in vivo
J Lipid Res. 2007 Apr;48(4):914-23. Epub 2007 Jan 18.
Physiologically regulated transgenic ABCA1 does not reduce amyloid burden or amyloid-beta peptide levels in vivo.
Hirsch-Reinshagen V, Chan JY, Wilkinson A, Tanaka T, Fan J, Ou G, Maia LF, Singaraja RR, Hayden MR, Wellington CL.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract
ABCA1-deficient mice have low levels of poorly lipidated apolipoprotein E (apoE) and exhibit increased amyloid load. To test whether excess ABCA1 protects from amyloid deposition, we crossed APP/PS1 mice to ABCA1 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenic mice. Compared with wild-type animals, the ABCA1 BAC led to a 50% increase in cortical ABCA1 protein and a 15% increase in apoE abundance, demonstrating that this BAC supports modest ABCA1 overexpression in brain. However, this was observed only in animals that do not deposit amyloid. Comparison of ABCA1/APP/PS1 mice with APP/PS1 controls revealed no differences in levels of brain ABCA1 protein, amyloid, Abeta, or apoE, despite clear retention of ABCA1 overexpression in the livers of these animals. To further investigate ABCA1 expression in the amyloid-containing brain, we then compared ABCA1 mRNA and protein levels in young and aged cortex and cerebellum of APP/PS1 and ABCA1/APP/PS1 animals. Compared with APP/PS1 controls, aged ABCA1/APP/PS1 mice exhibited increased ABCA1 mRNA, but not protein, selectively in cortex. Additionally, ABCA1 mRNA levels were not increased before amyloid deposition but were induced only in the presence of extensive Abeta and amyloid levels. These data suggest that an induction of ABCA1 expression may be associated with late-stage Alzheimer's neuropathology.
PMID: 17235115 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
Design of a Planar Inverted F-L Antenna (PIFLA) for Lower-band UWB Applications
YesThis paper examines the case for an ultrawideband
planar inverted-F-L-antenna design intended
for use in the lower sub-band. The antenna construction is
based on the conventional inverted F, and inverted L as
its feed element, and parasitic element, respectively. The
optimized antenna size is 30×15×4mm3. The prototype
antenna has a good return loss of -10 dB, and a 66.6%
impedance bandwidth (2.8 GHz ¿ 5.6 GHz), the gain
varies between 3.1 dBi and 4.5 dBi
Effects of Pore Walls and Randomness on Phase Transitions in Porous Media
We study spin models within the mean field approximation to elucidate the
topology of the phase diagrams of systems modeling the liquid-vapor transition
and the separation of He--He mixtures in periodic porous media. These
topologies are found to be identical to those of the corresponding random field
and random anisotropy spin systems with a bimodal distribution of the
randomness. Our results suggest that the presence of walls (periodic or
otherwise) are a key factor determining the nature of the phase diagram in
porous media.Comment: REVTeX, 11 eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Preconditioning for nonsymmetry and time-dependence
In this short paper, we decribe at least one simple and frequently arising situation |that of nonsymmetric real Toeplitz (constant diagonal) matrices| where we can guarantee rapid convergence of the appropriate iterative method by manipulating the problem into a symmetric form without recourse to the normal equations. This trick can be applied regardless of the nonnormality of the Toeplitz matrix. We also propose a symmetric and positive definite preconditioner for this situation which is proved to cluster eigenvalues and is by consequence guaranteed to ensure convergence in a number of iterations independent of the matrix dimension
Anisotropic dark energy stars
A model of compact object coupled to inhomogeneous anisotropic dark energy is
studied. It is assumed a variable dark energy that suffers a phase transition
at a critical density. The anisotropic Lambda-Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff
equations are integrated to know the structure of these objects. The anisotropy
is concentrated on a thin shell where the phase transition takes place, while
the rest of the star remains isotropic. The family of solutions obtained
depends on the coupling parameter between the dark energy and the fermion
matter. The solutions share several features in common with the gravastar
model. There is a critical coupling parameter that gives non-singular black
hole solutions. The mass-radius relations are studied as well as the internal
structure of the compact objects. The hydrodynamic stability of the models is
analyzed using a standard test from the mass-radius relation. For each
permissible value of the coupling parameter there is a maximum mass, so the
existence of black holes is unavoidable within this model.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, final manuscript, Accepted for publication in
Astrophysics & Space Scienc
An oncogenic role for sphingosine kinase 2
While both human sphingosine kinases (SK1 and SK2) catalyze the generation of the pleiotropic signaling lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate, these enzymes appear to be functionally distinct. SK1 has well described roles in promoting cell survival, proliferation and neoplastic transformation. The roles of SK2, and its contribution to cancer, however, are much less clear. Some studies have suggested an antiproliferative/ pro-apoptotic function for SK2, while others indicate it has a prosurvival role and its inhibition can have anti-cancer effects. Our analysis of gene expression data revealed that SK2 is upregulated in many human cancers, but only to a small extent (up to 2.5-fold over normal tissue). Based on these findings, we examined the effect of different levels of cellular SK2 and showed that high-level overexpression reduced cell proliferation and survival, and increased cellular ceramide levels. In contrast, however, low-level SK2 overexpression promoted cell survival and proliferation, and induced neoplastic transformation in vivo. These findings coincided with decreased nuclear localization and increased plasma membrane localization of SK2, as well as increases in extracellular S1P formation. Hence, we have shown for the first time that SK2 can have a direct role in promoting oncogenesis, supporting the use of SK2-specific inhibitors as anti-cancer agents.Heidi A. Neubauer, Duyen H. Pham, Julia R. Zebol, Paul A.B. Moretti, Amanda L. Peterson, Tamara M. Leclercq, Huasheng Chan, Jason A. Powell, Melissa R. Pitman, Michael S. Samuel, Claudine S. Bonder, Darren J. Creek, Briony L. Gliddon and Stuart M. Pitso
The absence of ABCA1 decreases soluble ApoE levels but does not diminish amyloid deposition in two murine models of Alzheimer disease.
J Biol Chem. 2005 Dec 30;280(52):43243-56. Epub 2005 Oct 5.
The absence of ABCA1 decreases soluble ApoE levels but does not diminish amyloid deposition in two murine models of Alzheimer disease.
Hirsch-Reinshagen V, Maia LF, Burgess BL, Blain JF, Naus KE, McIsaac SA, Parkinson PF, Chan JY, Tansley GH, Hayden MR, Poirier J, Van Nostrand W, Wellington CL.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V4Z 5H5, Canada.
Abstract
ABCA1, a cholesterol transporter expressed in the brain, has been shown recently to be required to maintain normal apoE levels and lipidation in the central nervous system. In addition, ABCA1 has been reported to modulate beta-amyloid (Abeta) production in vitro. These observations raise the possibility that ABCA1 may play a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Here we report that the deficiency of ABCA1 does not affect soluble or guanidine-extractable Abeta levels in Tg-SwDI/B or amyloid precursor protein/presenilin 1 (APP/PS1) mice, but rather is associated with a dramatic reduction in soluble apoE levels in brain. Although this reduction in apoE was expected to reduce the amyloid burden in vivo, we observed that the parenchymal and vascular amyloid load was increased in Tg-SwDI/B animals and was not diminished in APP/PS1 mice. Furthermore, we observed an increase in the proportion of apoE retained in the insoluble fraction, particularly in the APP/PS1 model. These data suggested that ABCA1-mediated effects on apoE levels and lipidation influenced amyloidogenesis in vivo.
PMID: 16207707 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
Multi-Instanton Calculus and Equivariant Cohomology
We present a systematic derivation of multi-instanton amplitudes in terms of
ADHM equivariant cohomology. The results rely on a supersymmetric formulation
of the localization formula for equivariant forms. We examine the cases of N=4
and N=2 gauge theories with adjoint and fundamental matter.Comment: 29 pages, one more reference adde
Foundations of Dissipative Particle Dynamics
We derive a mesoscopic modeling and simulation technique that is very close
to the technique known as dissipative particle dynamics. The model is derived
from molecular dynamics by means of a systematic coarse-graining procedure.
Thus the rules governing our new form of dissipative particle dynamics reflect
the underlying molecular dynamics; in particular all the underlying
conservation laws carry over from the microscopic to the mesoscopic
descriptions. Whereas previously the dissipative particles were spheres of
fixed size and mass, now they are defined as cells on a Voronoi lattice with
variable masses and sizes. This Voronoi lattice arises naturally from the
coarse-graining procedure which may be applied iteratively and thus represents
a form of renormalisation-group mapping. It enables us to select any desired
local scale for the mesoscopic description of a given problem. Indeed, the
method may be used to deal with situations in which several different length
scales are simultaneously present. Simulations carried out with the present
scheme show good agreement with theoretical predictions for the equilibrium
behavior.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure
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