250 research outputs found
S-wave eta'-proton FSI; phenomenological analysis of near-threshold production of pi0, eta, and eta' mesons in proton-proton collisions
We describe a novel technique for comparing total cross sections for the
reactions pp --> pp pi(0), pp --> pp eta, and pp --> pp eta' close to
threshold. The initial and final state proton-proton interactions are factored
out of the total cross section, and the dependence of this reduced cross
section on the volume of phase space is discussed. Different models of the
proton-proton interaction are compared. We argue that the scattering length of
the S-wave eta'-proton interaction is of the order of 0.1 fm.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Energy Dependence of the Near-Threshold Total Cross-Section for the pp --> pp eta' Reaction
Total cross sections for the pp --> pp eta' reaction have been measured in
the excess energy range from Q = 1.53 MeV to Q = 23.64 MeV. The experiment has
been performed at the internal installation COSY-11 using a stochastically
cooled proton beam of the COoler SYnchrotron COSY and a hydrogen cluster
target. The determined energy dependence of the total cross section weakens the
hypothesis of the S-wave repulsive interaction between the eta' meson and the
proton. New data agree well with predictions based on the phase-space
distribution modified by the proton-proton final-state-interaction (FSI) only.Comment: 12 pages, 1 table, 4 figure
Pseudoscalar Meson Mixing in Effective Field Theory
We show that for any effective field theory of colorless meson fields, the
mixing schemes of particle states and decay constants are not only related but
also determined exclusively by the kinetic and mass Lagrangian densities. In
the general case, these are bilinear in terms of the intrinsic fields and
involve non-diagonal kinetic and mass matrices. By applying three consecutive
steps this Lagrangian can be reduced into the standard quadratic form in terms
of the physical fields. These steps are : (i) the diagonalization of the
kinetic matrix, (ii) rescaling of the fields, and (iii) the diagonalization of
the mass matrix. In case, where the dimensions of the non-diagonal kinetic and
mass sub-matrices are respectively, and , this procedure
leads to mixing schemes which involve angles and
field rescaling parameters. This observation holds true irrespective with the
type of particle interactions presumed. The commonly used mixing schemes,
correspond to a proper choice of the kinetic and mass matrices, and are derived
as special cases. In particular, - mixing, requires one angle, if
and only if, the kinetic term with the intrinsic fields has a quadratic form.Comment: REVTeX, 6 page
Strangeness production in proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions
In these lectures we discuss the investigation of the strange meson
production in proton-proton () and in proton-nucleus () reactions
within an effective Lagrangian model. The kaon production proceeds mainly via
the excitations of (1650), (1710), and (1720) resonant
intermediate nucleonic states, in the collision of two initial state nucleons.
Therefore, the strangeness production is expected to provide information about
the resonances lying at higher excitation energies. For beam energies very
close to the kaon production threshold the hyperon-proton final state
interaction effects are quite important. Thus, these studies provide a check on
the models of hyperon-nucleon interactions. The in-medium production of kaons
show strong sensitivity to the self energies of the intermediate mesons.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Talk presented in the workshop on Hadron
Physics, Puri, India, March 7-17,200
reaction in an effective Lagrangian model
We investigate the reaction within an effective
Lagrangian model where the contributions to the amplitudes are taken into
account within the tree level. The initial interaction between the two nucleons
is modeled by the exchange of , , and mesons and
the production proceeds via the excitation of the (1650),
(1710), (1720) baryonic resonances. The parameters of the model at
the nucleon-nucleon-meson vertices are determined by fitting the elastic
nucleon-nucleon scattering with an effective interaction based on the exchange
of these four mesons, while those at the resonance vertices are calculated from
the known decay widths of the resonances as well as the vector meson dominance
model. Available experimental data is described well by this approach. The
one-pion-exchange diagram dominates the production process at both higher and
lower beam energies. The and meson exchanges make negligible
contributions. However, the -exchange processes contribute
substantially to the total cross sections at lower beam energies. The
excitation of the (1710) and (1650) resonances dominate this reaction
at beam momenta above and below 3 GeV/c respectively. The interference among
the amplitudes of various resonance excitation processes is significant. For
beam energies very close to the production threshold the hyperon-proton
final state interaction effects are quite important. The data is selective
about the model used to describe the low energy scattering of the two final
state baryons.Comment: Revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Evolutionary explanations in medical and health profession courses: are you answering your students' "why" questions?
BACKGROUND: Medical and pre-professional health students ask questions about human health that can be answered in two ways, by giving proximate and evolutionary explanations. Proximate explanations, most common in textbooks and classes, describe the immediate scientifically known biological mechanisms of anatomical characteristics or physiological processes. These explanations are necessary but insufficient. They can be complemented with evolutionary explanations that describe the evolutionary processes and principles that have resulted in human biology we study today. The main goal of the science of Darwinian Medicine is to investigate human disease, disorders, and medical complications from an evolutionary perspective. DISCUSSION: This paper contrasts the differences between these two types of explanations by describing principles of natural selection that underlie medical questions. Thus, why is human birth complicated? Why does sickle cell anemia exist? Why do we show symptoms like fever, diarrhea, and coughing when we have infection? Why do we suffer from ubiquitous age-related diseases like arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer's and others? Why are chronic diseases like type II diabetes and obesity so prevalent in modern society? Why hasn't natural selection eliminated the genes that cause common genetic diseases like hemochromatosis, cystic fibrosis, Tay sachs, PKU and others? SUMMARY: In giving students evolutionary explanations professors should underscore principles of natural selection, since these can be generalized for the analysis of many medical questions. From a research perspective, natural selection seems central to leading hypotheses of obesity and type II diabetes and might very well explain the occurrence of certain common genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, hemochromatosis, Tay sachs, Fragile X syndrome, G6PD and others because of their compensating advantages. Furthermore, armed with evolutionary explanations, health care professionals can bring practical benefits to patients by treating their symptoms of infection more specifically and judiciously. They might also help curtail the evolutionary arms race between pathogens and antibiotic defenses
T Cells Specifically Targeted to Amyloid Plaques Enhance Plaque Clearance in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease
Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibit substantial accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in the brain. Here, we examine whether Aβ vaccination can facilitate the migration of T lymphocytes to specifically target Aβ plaques and consequently enhance their removal. Using a new mouse model of AD, we show that immunization with Aβ, but not with the encephalitogenic proteolipid protein (PLP), results in the accumulation of T cells at Aβ plaques in the brain. Although both Aβ-reactive and PLP-reactive T cells have a similar phenotype of Th1 cells secreting primarily IFN-γ, the encephalitogenic T cells penetrated the spinal cord and caused experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), whereas Aβ T cells accumulated primarily at Aβ plaques in the brain but not the spinal cord and induced almost complete clearance of Aβ. Furthermore, while a single vaccination with Aβ resulted in upregulation of the phagocytic markers triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cells-2 (TREM2) and signal regulatory protein-β1 (SIRPβ1) in the brain, it caused downregulation of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6. We thus suggest that Aβ deposits in the hippocampus area prioritize the targeting of Aβ-reactive but not PLP-reactive T cells upon vaccination. The stimulation of Aβ-reactive T cells at sites of Aβ plaques resulted in IFN-γ-induced chemotaxis of leukocytes and therapeutic clearance of Aβ
SDF1 in the dorsal corticospinal tract promotes CXCR4+ cell migration after spinal cord injury
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF1) and its major signaling receptor, CXCR4, were initially described in the immune system; however, they are also expressed in the nervous system, including the spinal cord. After spinal cord injury, the blood brain barrier is compromised, opening the way for chemokine signaling between these two systems. These experiments clarified prior contradictory findings on normal expression of SDF1 and CXCR4 as well as examined the resulting spinal cord responses resulting from this signaling.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>These experiments examined the expression and function of SDF1 and CXCR4 in the normal and injured adult mouse spinal cord primarily using CXCR4-EGFP and SDF1-EGFP transgenic reporter mice.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the uninjured spinal cord, SDF1 was expressed in the dorsal corticospinal tract (dCST) as well as the meninges, whereas CXCR4 was found only in ependymal cells surrounding the central canal. After spinal cord injury (SCI), the pattern of SDF1 expression did not change rostral to the lesion but it disappeared from the degenerating dCST caudally. By contrast, CXCR4 expression changed dramatically after SCI. In addition to the CXCR4+ cells in the ependymal layer, numerous CXCR4+ cells appeared in the peripheral white matter and in the dorsal white matter localized between the dorsal corticospinal tract and the gray matter rostral to the lesion site. The non-ependymal CXCR4+ cells were found to be NG2+ and CD11b+ macrophages that presumably infiltrated through the broken blood-brain barrier. One population of macrophages appeared to be migrating towards the dCST that contains SDF1 rostral to the injury but not towards the caudal dCST in which SDF1 is no longer present. A second population of the CXCR4+ macrophages was present near the SDF1-expressing meningeal cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These observations suggest that attraction of CXCR4+ macrophages is part of a programmed response to injury and that modulation of the SDF1 signaling system may be important for regulating the inflammatory response after SCI.</p
Role of N*(1650) in the near threshold pp --> p Lambda K+ and pp --> p Sigma0 K+ reactions
We investigate the pp --> p Lambda K+ and pp --> p Sigma0 K+ reactions at
beam energies near their thresholds within an effective Lagrangian model, where
the strangeness production proceeds via the excitation of N*(1650), N*(1710),
and N*(1720) baryonic resonances. It is found that the (1650) resonance
dominates both these reactions at near threshold energies. The contributions
from this resonance together with the final state interaction among the
outgoing particles are able to explain the observed beam energy dependence of
the ratio of the cross sections of the two reactions in the near threshold
region.Comment: Revised version, Fig. 4 is updated with the revised data, to appear
in Phys. Rev. C (Rapid Communications
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