344 research outputs found
The chiral long-range two-pion exchange electromagnetic currents in radiative nucleon-deuteron capture
The nucleon-deuteron radiative capture process is investigated using the
chiral nuclear potentials and the electromagnetic currents developed by the
Bochum-Bonn group. While the strong interaction is taken up to the
next-to-next-to-leading order, the electromagnetic current consists of a single
nucleon current, the leading one-pion exchange one and is supplemented by
contributions from the long-range two-pion exchange current at
next-to-leading-order. The theoretical predictions for the cross sections as
well as analyzing powers show strong dependence on the values of regularization
parameters. Only small effects of the three-nucleon force and the long-range
two-pion exchange current are observed. The dependence on the choice of
regularization parameters results in a big theoretical uncertainty and clearly
points to the necessity to include corrections from higher orders of the chiral
expansion both for the nuclear forces and currents.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Signatures of the chiral two-pion exchange electromagnetic currents in the 2H and 3He photodisintegration reactions
The recently derived long-range two-pion exchange (TPE) contributions to the
nuclear current operator which appear at next-to-leading order (NLO) of the
chiral expansion are used to describe electromagnetic processes. We study their
role in the photodisintegration of 2H and 3He and compare our predictions with
experimental data. The bound and scattering states are calculated using five
different parametrizations of the chiral next-to-next-to-leading order (N2LO)
nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential which allows us to estimate the theoretical
uncertainty at a given order in the chiral expansion. For some observables the
results are very close to the predictions based on the AV18 NN potential and
the current operator (partly) consistent with this force. In the most cases,
the addition of long-range TPE currents improved the description of the
experimental data.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures (35 eps files
A new way to perform partial wave decompositions of few-nucleon forces
We formulate a general and exact method of partial wave decomposition (PWD)
of any nucleon-nucleon (NN) potential and any three-nucleon (3N) force. The
approach allows one to efficiently use symbolic algebra software to generate
the interaction dependent part of the program code calculating the interaction.
We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for the one-boson exchange
BonnB potential, a recent nucleon-nucleon chiral force and the chiral
two-pion-exchange three-nucleon force. In all cases very good agreement between
the new and the traditional PWD is found. The automated PWD offered by the new
approach is of the utmost importance in view of future applications of numerous
chiral N3LO contributions to the 3N force in three nucleon calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures (24 eps files
Chronic IL9 and IL-13 Exposure Leads to an Altered Differentiation of Ciliated Cells in a Well-Differentiated Paediatric Bronchial Epithelial Cell Model
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by airways remodelling. In mouse models IL-9 and IL-13 have been implicated in airways remodelling including mucus hypersecretion and goblet cell hyperplasia. Their role, especially that of IL-9, has been much less studied in authentic human ex vivo models of the bronchial epithelium from normal and asthmatic children. We assessed the effects of IL-9, IL-13 and an IL-9/IL-13 combination, during differentiation of bronchial epithelial cells from normal (n = 6) and asthmatic (n = 8) children. Cultures were analysed for morphological markers and factors associated with altered differentiation (MUC5AC, SPDEF and MMP-7). IL-9, IL-9/IL-13 combination and IL-13 stimulated bronchial epithelial cells from normal children had fewer ciliated cells [14.8% (SD 8.9), p = 0.048, 12.4 (SD 6.1), p = 0.016 and 7.3% (SD 6.6), p = 0.031] respectively compared with unstimulated [(21.4% (SD 9.6)]. IL-9 stimulation had no effect on goblet cell number in either group whereas IL-9/IL-13 combination and IL-13 significantly increased goblet cell number [24.8% (SD 8.8), p = 0.02), 32.9% (SD 8.6), p = 0.007] compared with unstimulated normal bronchial cells [(18.6% (SD 6.2)]. All stimulations increased MUC5AC mRNA in bronchial epithelial cells from normal children and increased MUC5AC mucin secretion. MMP-7 localisation was dysregulated in normal bronchial epithelium stimulated with Th2 cytokines which resembled the unstimulated bronchial epithelium of asthmatic children. All stimulations resulted in a significant reduction in transepithelial electrical resistance values over time suggesting a role in altered tight junction formation. We conclude that IL-9 does not increase goblet cell numbers in bronchial epithelial cell cultures from normal or asthmatic children. IL-9 and IL-13 alone and in combination, reduce ciliated cell numbers and transepithelial electrical resistance during differentiation of normal epithelium, which clinically could inhibit mucociliary clearance and drive an altered repair mechanism. This suggests an alternative role for IL-9 in airways remodelling and reaffirms IL-9 as a potential therapeutic target
Low-energy neutron-deuteron reactions with N3LO chiral forces
We solve three-nucleon Faddeev equations with nucleon-nucleon and
three-nucleon forces derived consistently in the framework of chiral
perturbation theory at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in the chiral
expansion. In this first investigation we include only matrix elements of the
three-nucleon force for partial waves with the total two-nucleon
(three-nucleon) angular momenta up to 3 (5/2). Low-energy neutron-deuteron
elastic scattering and deuteron breakup reaction are studied. Emphasis is put
on Ay puzzle in elastic scattering and cross sections in symmetric-space-star
and neutron-neutron quasi-free-scattering breakup configurations, for which
large discrepancies between data and theory have been reported.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Dependence of the C(,pd) reaction on photon linear polarisation
The sensitivity of the C reaction to photon linear
polarisation has been determined at MAMI, giving the first measurement of the
reaction for a nucleus heavier than He. Photon asymmetries and cross
sections were measured for =170 to 350 MeV. For below
the resonance, reactions leaving the residual Be near its ground
state show a positive asymmetry of up to 0.3, similar to that observed for
He suggesting a similar reaction mechanism for the two nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Benchmark Calculation of the Three-Nucleon Photodisintegration
A benchmark is set on the three-nucleon photodisintegration calculating the total cross section with modern realistic two- and three-nucleon forces (AV18, UrbIX) using both the Faddeev equations and the Lorentz Integral Transform method. This test shows that the precision of three-body calculations involving continuum states is considerably higher than experimental uncertainties. Effects due to retardations, higher multipoles, meson exchange currents and Coulomb force are studied
Differential cytopathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus prototypic and clinical isolates in primary pediatric bronchial epithelial cells
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe respiratory disease in infants. Airway epithelial cells are the principle targets of RSV infection. However, the mechanisms by which it causes disease are poorly understood. Most RSV pathogenesis data are derived using laboratory-adapted prototypic strains. We hypothesized that such strains may be poorly representative of recent clinical isolates in terms of virus/host interactions in primary human bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To address this hypothesis, we isolated three RSV strains from infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis and compared them with the prototypic RSV A2 in terms of cytopathology, virus growth kinetics and chemokine secretion in infected PBEC monolayers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RSV A2 rapidly obliterated the PBECs, whereas the clinical isolates caused much less cytopathology. Concomitantly, RSV A2 also grew faster and to higher titers in PBECs. Furthermore, dramatically increased secretion of IP-10 and RANTES was evident following A2 infection compared with the clinical isolates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The prototypic RSV strain A2 is poorly representative of recent clinical isolates in terms of cytopathogenicity, viral growth kinetics and pro-inflammatory responses induced following infection of PBEC monolayers. Thus, the choice of RSV strain may have important implications for future RSV pathogenesis studies.</p
Final State Interaction Effects in pol 3He(pol e,e'p)
Asymmetries in quasi-elastic pol 3He(pol e,e'p) have been measured at a
momentum transfer of 0.67 (GeV/c)^2 and are compared to a calculation which
takes into account relativistic kinematics in the final state and a
relativistic one-body current operator. With an exact solution of the Faddeev
equation for the 3He-ground state and an approximate treatment of final state
interactions in the continuum good agreement is found with the experimental
data.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B, revised version,
sensitivity study to relativity and NN-potential adde
Physicochemical and Biological Characterisation of Diclofenac Oligomeric Poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate) Hybrids as β-TCP Ceramics Modifiers for Bone Tissue Regeneration
Nowadays, regenerative medicine faces a major challenge in providing new, functional materials that will meet the characteristics desired to replenish and grow new tissue. Therefore, this study presents new ceramic-polymer composites in which the matrix consists of tricalcium phosphates covered with blends containing a chemically bounded diclofenac with the biocompatible polymer-poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), P(3HO). Modification of P(3HO) oligomers was confirmed by NMR, IR and XPS. Moreover, obtained oligomers and their blends were subjected to an in-depth characterisation using GPC, TGA, DSC and AFM. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the hydrophobicity and surface free energy values of blends decreased with the amount of diclofenac modified oligomers. Subsequently, the designed composites were used as a substrate for growth of the pre-osteoblast cell line (MC3T3-E1). An in vitro biocompatibility study showed that the composite with the lowest concentration of the proposed drug is within the range assumed to be non-toxic (viability above 70%). Cell proliferation was visualised using the SEM method, whereas the observation of cell penetration into the scaffold was carried out by confocal microscopy. Thus, it can be an ideal new functional bone tissue substitute, allowing not only the regeneration and restoration of the defect but also inhibiting the development of chronic inflammation
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