Nitric oxide modulates expression of extracellular matrix genes linked to fibrosis in kidney mesangial cells

Mesangial cells are thought to be important mediators of glomerular inflammation and fibrosis. Studies have established a direct role for nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of gene expression in mesangial cells. Representational difference analysis was used to investigate changes in gene expression elicited by the treatment of S-nitroso-L-glutathione in rat mesangial cells. Seven upregulated and 11 downregulated genes were identified. Four out of 11 downregulated genes (connective tissue growth factor, thrombospondin-1, collagen type I all and collagen type I alpha 2) are known to be linked to inflammation and fibrosis. Results were verified across species in mesangial cells treated with a series of NO donors using Northern blot analysis, quantitative real-time PCR and protein analysis methods. Induction of endogenous NO production by cytokine stimulation also triggered regulation of the genes. One example gene, connective tissue growth factor, was studied at the promoter level. Promoter-reporter gene studies in mesangial cells demonstrated that NO acts at the transcriptional level to suppress gene expression. Our results reveal a complex role of NO in regulating gene expression in mesangial cells and suggest an antifibrotic potential for NO

Density Dependent Hadron Field Theory

A fully covariant approach to a density dependent hadron field theory is presented. The relation between in--medium NN interactions and field--theoretical meson--nucleon vertices is discussed. The medium dependence of nuclear interactions is described by a functional dependence of the meson--nucleon vertices on the baryon field operators. As a consequence, the Euler--Lagrange equations lead to baryon rearrangement self--energies which are not obtained when only a parametric dependence of the vertices on the density is assumed. It is shown that the approach is energy--momentum conserving and thermodynamically consistent. Solutions of the field equations are studied in the mean--field approximation. Descriptions of the medium dependence in terms of the baryon scalar and vector density are investigated. Applications to infinite nuclear matter and finite nuclei are discussed. Density dependent coupling constants obtained from Dirac--Brueckner calculations with the Bonn NN-potentials are used. Results from Hartree calculations for energy spectra, binding energies and charge density distributions of $^{16}O$, $^{40,48}Ca$ and $^{208}Pb$ are presented. Comparisons to data strongly support the importance of rearrangement in a relativistic density dependent field theory. Most striking is the simultanuous improvement of charge radii, charge densities and binding energies. The results indicate the appearance of a new "Coester line" in the nuclear matter equation of state.Comment: 48 LateX pages, 12 Figures, figures and full paper are available as postscript files by anonymous ftp at ftp://theorie.physik.uni-giessen.de/dd

Determinant Representations for Correlation Functions of Spin-1/2 XXX and XXZ Heisenberg Magnets

We consider correlation functions of the spin-\half XXX and XXZ Heisenberg chains in a magnetic field. Starting from the algebraic Bethe Ansatz we derive representations for various correlation functions in terms of determinants of Fredholm integral operators.Comment: 23 pages, TeX, BONN-TH-94-14, revised version: typos correcte

Quantum field theory in static external potentials and Hadamard states

We prove that the ground state for the Dirac equation on Minkowski space in static, smooth external potentials satisfies the Hadamard condition. We show that it follows from a condition on the support of the Fourier transform of the corresponding positive frequency solution. Using a Krein space formalism, we establish an analogous result in the Klein-Gordon case for a wide class of smooth potentials. Finally, we investigate overcritical potentials, i.e. which admit no ground states. It turns out, that numerous Hadamard states can be constructed by mimicking the construction of ground states, but this leads to a naturally distinguished one only under more restrictive assumptions on the potentials.Comment: 30 pages; v2 revised, accepted for publication in Annales Henri Poincar

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters