278 research outputs found
Bioprospecting Fluorescent Plant Growth Regulators from Arabidopsis to Vegetable Crops
The phytohormone auxin is involved in almost every process of a plant’s life, from germination to plant development. Nowadays, auxin research connects synthetic chemistry, plant biology and computational chemistry in order to develop innovative and safe compounds to be used in sustainable agricultural practice. In this framework, we developed new fluorescent compounds, ethanolammonium p-aminobenzoate (HEA-pABA) and p-nitrobenzoate (HEA-pNBA), and investigated their auxin-like behavior on two main commercial vegetables cultivated in Europe, cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and tomato (Solanumlycopersicum), in comparison to the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Moreover, the binding modes and affinities of two organic salts in relation to the natural auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) into TIR1 auxin receptor were investigated by computational approaches (homology modeling and molecular docking). Both experimental and theoretical results highlight HEA-pABA as a fluorescent compound with auxin-like activity both in Arabidopsis and the commercial cucumber and tomato. Therefore, alkanolammonium benzoates have a great potential as promising sustainable plant growth stimulators to be efficiently used in vegetable crops
Electron-fluctuation interaction in a non-Fermi superconductor
We studied the influence of the amplitude fluctuations of a non-Fermi
superconductor on the energy spectrum of the 2D Anderson non-Fermi system. The
classical fluctuations give a temperature dependence in the pseudogap induced
in the fermionic excitations.Comment: revtex fil
Thermodynamics of a trapped interacting Bose gas and the renormalization group
We apply perturbative renormalization group theory to the symmetric phase of
a dilute interacting Bose gas which is trapped in a three-dimensional harmonic
potential. Using Wilsonian energy-shell renormalization and the
epsilon-expansion, we derive the flow equations for the system. We relate these
equations to the flow for the homogeneous Bose gas. In the thermodynamic limit,
we apply our results to study the transition temperature as a function of the
scattering length. Our results compare well to previous studies of the problem.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Physics at a Neutrino Factory
In response to the growing interest in building a Neutrino Factory to produce
high intensity beams of electron- and muon-neutrinos and antineutrinos, in
October 1999 the Fermilab Directorate initiated two six-month studies. The
first study, organized by N. Holtkamp and D. Finley, was to investigate the
technical feasibility of an intense neutrino source based on a muon storage
ring. This design study has produced a report in which the basic conclusion is
that a Neutrino Factory is technically feasible, although it requires an
aggressive R&D program. The second study, which is the subject of this report,
was to explore the physics potential of a Neutrino Factory as a function of the
muon beam energy and intensity, and for oscillation physics, the potential as a
function of baseline.Comment: 133 pages, 64 figures. Report to the Fermilab Directorate. Available
from http://www.fnal.gov/projects/muon_collider/ This version fixes some
printing problem
High-Tc Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism in Multilayered Copper Oxides - A New Paradigm of Superconducting Mechanism -
High-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) in copper oxides emerges on a
layered CuO2 plane when an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator is doped with
mobile hole carriers. We review extensive studies of multilayered copper oxides
by site-selective nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which have uncovered the
intrinsic phase diagram of antiferromagnetism (AFM) and HTSC for a
disorder-free CuO2 plane with hole carriers. We present our experimental
findings such as the existence of the AFM metallic state in doped Mott
insulators, the uniformly mixed phase of AFM and HTSC, and the emergence of
d-wave SC with a maximum Tc just outside a critical carrier density, at which
the AFM moment on a CuO2 plane disappears. These results can be accounted for
by the Mott physics based on the t-J model. The superexchange interaction J_in
among spins plays a vital role as a glue for Cooper pairs or mobile
spin-singlet pairs, in contrast to the phonon-mediated attractive interaction
among electrons established in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. We
remark that the attractive interaction for raising the of HTSC up to
temperatures as high as 160 K is the large J_in (~0.12 eV), which binds
electrons of opposite spins to be on neighboring sites, and that there are no
bosonic glues. It is the Coulomb repulsive interaction U(> 6 eV) among Cu-3d
electrons that plays a central role in the physics behind high-Tc phenomena. A
new paradigm of the SC mechanism opens to strongly correlated electron matter.Comment: 20 pages, 25 figures, Special topics "Recent Developments in
Superconductivity" in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., Published December 26, 201
Modified Glasgow Prognostic Score as a Predictor of Recurrence in Patients with High Grade Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Undergoing Intravesical Bacillus Calmette–Guerin Immunotherapy
Background: A systemic inflammatory marker, the modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS), could predict outcomes in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NIMBC). We aimed to investigate the predictive power of mGPS in oncological outcomes in HG/G3 T1 NMIBC patients undergoing Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) therapy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patient’s medical data from multicenter institutions. A total of 1382 patients with HG/G3 T1 NMIBC have been administered adjuvant intravesical BCG therapy, every week for 3 weeks given at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months. The analysis of mGPS for recurrence and progression was performed using multivariable and univariable Cox regression models. Results: During follow-up, 659 patients (47.68%) suffered recurrence, 441 (31.91%) suffered progression, 156 (11.28%) died of all causes, and 67 (4.84%) died of bladder cancer. At multivariable analysis, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio [hazard ratio (HR): 7.471; p = 0.0001] and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (HR: 0.706; p = 0.006 were significantly associated with recurrence. mGPS has no statistical significance for progression (p = 0.076). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed a significant difference in survival among patients from different mGPS subgroups. Five-year OS was 93% (CI 95% 92–94), in patients with mGPS 0, 82.2% (CI 95% 78.9–85.5) in patients with mGPS 1 and 78.1% (CI 95% 60.4–70) in mGPS 2 patients. Five-year CSS was 98% (CI 95% 97–99) in patients with mGPS 0, 90% (CI 95% 87–94) in patients with mGPS 1, and 100% in mGPS 2 patients. Limitations are applicable to a retrospective study. Conclusions: mGPS may have the potential to predict recurrence in HG/G3 T1 NMIBC patients, but more prospective, with large cohorts, studies are needed to study the influence of systemic inflammatory markers in prediction of outcomes in NMIBC for a definitive conclusion
Chemical composition of Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quél., substrates and residue after cultivation
Are mesenchymal stromal cells immune cells?
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are considered to be promising agents for the treatment of immunological disease. Although originally identified as precursor cells for mesenchymal lineages, in vitro studies have demonstrated that MSCs possess diverse immune regulatory capacities. Pre-clinical models have shown beneficial effects of MSCs in multiple immunological diseases and a number of phase 1/2 clinical trials carried out so far have reported signs of immune modulation after MSC infusion. These data indicate that MSCs play a central role in the immune response. This raises the academic question whether MSCs are immune cells or whether they are tissue precursor cells with immunoregulatory capacity. Correct understanding of the immunological properties and origin of MSCs will aid in the appropriate and safe use of the cells for clinical therapy. In this review the whole spectrum of immunological properties of MSCs is discussed with the aim of determining the position of MSCs in the immune system
Native human adipose stromal cells: localization, morphology and phenotype
International audienceObjectives:Beside having roles in energy homeostasis and endocrine modulation, adipose tissue (AT) is now considered a promising source of mesenchymal stromal cells (adipose-derived stromal cells or ASCs) for regenerative medicine. Despite numerous studies on cultured ASCs, native human ASCs are rarely investigated. Indeed, the phenotype of ASCs in their native state, their localization within AT and comparison with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs) has been poorly investigated.Design:To address these issues, the stroma vascular fraction (SVF) of human AT was extracted and native cell subtypes were isolated by immunoselection to study their clonogenic potential in culture. Immunohistology on samples of human AT in combination with reconstruction of confocal sections were performed in order to localize ASCs.Results:Compared with BM-MNCs, all native ASCs were found in the CD34(+) cell fraction of the AT-SVF. Native ASCs expressed classical mesenchymal markers described for BM-MSCs. Interestingly, CD34 expression decreased during ASC cell culture and was negatively correlated with cell proliferation rate. Immunohistological analysis revealed that native ASCs exhibited specific morphological features with protrusions. They were found scattered in AT stroma and did not express in vivo pericytic markers such as NG2, CD140b or alpha-smooth muscle actin, which appeared during the culture process. Finally, ASCs spontaneous commitment to adipocytic lineage was enhanced in AT from obese humans.Conclusions:The use of complementary methodological approaches to study native human ASCs revealed their immunophenotype, their specific morphology, their location within AT and their stemness. Furthermore, our data strongly suggest that human ASCs participate in adipogenesis during AT development.International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 25 January 2011; doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.269
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