Epigenetic silencing of SOCS3 expression contributes to fibrosis in Crohn’s disease

Identified risk polymorphisms affecting the Jak-STAT3 pathway in patients with Crohn’s disease could affect TGF-β1 and collagen I expression and in the pathway’s negative regulator, SOCS3. Genetic factors, however, account for only ~25% of disease. Epigenetic events also shape gene expression. Recent experiments showed that autocrine IL-6 production in mesenchymal cells, subepithelial myofibroblasts (SEMF) and muscle cells, of patients with fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease causes sustained Jak-STAT3 activity, excess TGF-β1 and Collagen I production and fibrosis. SOCS3 paradoxically decreased in these cells. We now identify epigenetic mechanisms that silence SOCS3 expression in SEMF of patients with fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease. In a previous experiment, using isolated SEMF of normal ileum and affected ileum from patients with each Crohn’s phenotype, inflammatory (Montreal B1), fibrostenotic (B2) and penetrating (B3), we confirmed decreased SOCS3 protein levels were unique to B2 patients. Expression of miR-19b increased in SEMF of affected ileum. SOCS3 transcriptional activity decreased after transfection of miR-19b mimic and increased when antagomiR-19b was expressed. Epigenetic silencing of SOCS3 in ileal SEMF of patients with fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease occurs by increased miR-19b mediated inhibition of SOCS3

Large transverse momentum direct photon production in the coherent diffractive processes at hadron colliders

Direct photon production at large transverse momentum in the coherent diffractive processes at hadron colliders is calculated in the two-gluon exchange model. We find that the amplitude for the production process is related to the differential off-diagonal gluon distribution function in the proton. We estimate the production rate at the Fermilab Tevatron by approximately using the usual gluon distribution function. Because of the clean signature, this process can be used to detailed study the small-x physics, and the coherent diffractive processes at hadron colliders

A percutaneous needle biopsy technique for sampling the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue depot of humans.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been proposed as a potential target tissue against obesity and its related metabolic complications. Although the molecular and functional characteristics of BAT have been intensively studied in rodents, only a few studies have used human BAT specimens due to the difficulty of sampling human BAT deposits. We established a novel positron emission tomography and computed tomography-guided Bergström needle biopsy technique to acquire human BAT specimens from the supraclavicular area in human subjects. Forty-three biopsies were performed on 23 participants. The procedure was tolerated well by the majority of participants. No major complications were noted. Numbness (9.6%) and hematoma (2.3%) were the two minor complications noted, which fully resolved. Thus, the proposed biopsy technique can be considered safe with only minimal risk of adverse events. Adoption of the proposed method is expected to increase the sampling of the supraclavicular BAT depot for research purposes so as to augment the scientific knowledge of the biology of human BAT

Exclusive Lambda_b -> Lambda l^+ l^- decay in two Higgs doublet model

Rare Lambda_b -> Lambda l^+ l^- decay is investigated in framework of general two Higgs doublet model, in which a new source of CP violation exists (model III). The polarization parameter, CP asymmetry and decay width are calculated. It is shown that CP asymmetry is a very sensitive tool for establishing model III.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX formatte

Higher Charmonia and X,Y,Z states with Screened Potential

We incorporate the color-screening effect due to light quark pair creation into the heavy quark-antiquark potential, and investigate the effects of screened potential on the spectrum of higher charmonium. We calculate the masses, electromagnetic decays, and E1 transitions of charmonium states in the screened potential model, and propose possible assignments for the newly discovered charmonium or charmonium-like $"X,Y,Z"$ states. We find the masses of higher charmonia with screened potential are considerably lower than those with unscreened potential. The $\chi_{c2}(2P)$ mass agrees well with that of the Z(3930), and the mass of $\psi(4415)$ is compatible with $\psi(5S)$ rather than $\psi(4S)$. In particular, the discovered four $Y$ states in the ISR process, i.e., $Y(4008), Y(4260), Y(4320/4360), Y(4660)$ may be assigned as the $\psi(3S), \psi(4S), \psi(3D), \psi(6S)$ states respectively. The X(3940) and X(4160) found in the double charmonium production in $e^+e^-$ annihilation may be assigned as the $\eta_c(3S)$ and $\chi_{c0}(3P)$ states. Based on the calculated E1 transition widths for $\chi_{c1}(2P)\to \gamma J/\psi$ and $\chi_{c1}(2P)\to \gamma \psi(2S)$ and other results, we argue that the X(3872) may be a $\chi_{c1}(2P)$ dominated charmonium state with some admixture of the $D^0\bar{D}^{*0}$ component. Possible problems encountered in these assignments and comparisons with other interpretations for these $X,Y,Z$ states are discussed in detail. We emphasize that more theoretical and experimental investigations are urgently needed to clarify these assignments and other interpretations.Comment: Total width of X(3872) reestimated, references added; 12 pages, 1 figure; published version in PR

Simulation and analysis of in vitro DNA evolution

We study theoretically the in vitro evolution of a DNA sequence by binding to a transcription factor. Using a simple model of protein-DNA binding and available binding constants for the Mnt protein, we perform large-scale, realistic simulations of evolution starting from a single DNA sequence. We identify different parameter regimes characterized by distinct evolutionary behaviors. For each regime we find analytical estimates which agree well with simulation results. For small population sizes, the DNA evolutional path is a random walk on a smooth landscape. While for large population sizes, the evolution dynamics can be well described by a mean-field theory. We also study how the details of the DNA-protein interaction affect the evolution.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to PNA

Neutrino Masses and A TeV Scale Seesaw Mechanism

A simple extension of the Standard Model providing TeV scale seesaw mechanism is presented. Beside the Standard Model particles and right-handed Majorana neutrinos, the model contains a singly charged scalar, an extra Higgs doublet and three vector like singly charged fermions. In our model, Dirac neutrino mass matrix raises only at the loop level. Small but non-zero Majorana neutrino masses come from integrating out heavy Majorana neutrinos, which can be at the TeV scale. The phenomenologies of the model are investigated, including scalar mass spectrum, neutrino masses and mixings, lepton flavor violations, heavy neutrino magnetic moments as well as possible collider signatures of the model at the LHC.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. references adde

The meson BcB_c annihilation to leptons and inclusive light hadrons

The annihilation of the $B_c$ meson to leptons and inclusive light hadrons is analyzed in the framework of nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization. We find that the decay mode, which escapes from the helicity suppression, contributes a sizable fraction width. According to the analysis, the branching ratio due to the contribution from the color-singlet component of the meson $B_c$ can be of order (10^{-2}). We also estimate the contributions from the color-octet components. With the velocity scaling rule of NRQCD, we find that the color-octet contributions are sizable too, especially, in certain phase space of the annihilation they are greater than (or comparative to) the color-singlet component. A few observables relevant to the spectrum of charged lepton are suggested, that may be used as measurements on the color-octet and color-singlet components in the future $B_c$ experiments. A typical long distance contribution in the annihilation is estimated too.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures (6 eps-files), submitted to Phys. Rev.

Verification of Hierarchical Artifact Systems

Data-driven workflows, of which IBM's Business Artifacts are a prime exponent, have been successfully deployed in practice, adopted in industrial standards, and have spawned a rich body of research in academia, focused primarily on static analysis. The present work represents a significant advance on the problem of artifact verification, by considering a much richer and more realistic model than in previous work, incorporating core elements of IBM's successful Guard-Stage-Milestone model. In particular, the model features task hierarchy, concurrency, and richer artifact data. It also allows database key and foreign key dependencies, as well as arithmetic constraints. The results show decidability of verification and establish its complexity, making use of novel techniques including a hierarchy of Vector Addition Systems and a variant of quantifier elimination tailored to our context.Comment: Full version of the accepted PODS pape

D-wave heavy quarkonium production in fixed target experiments

We calculate the $D$-wave heavy quarkonium production at fixed target experiments under the NRQCD factorization formalism. We find that the color octet contributions are two orders of magnitude larger than color-singlet contributions if color-octet matrix elements are taken according to the NRQCD velocity scaling rules. Within the theoretical uncertainties, the prediction for the production rate of $2^{--}$ $D$-wave charmonium state agrees with the preliminary result of E705 and other experiments. Searching for the $1^{--}$ $D$-wave state $\psi(3770)$ is further suggested.Comment: 13pages, 4 PS figures, final vertion to appear in PR