452 research outputs found
Involution of the mouse mammary gland is associated with an immune cascade and an acute-phase response, involving LBP, CD14 and STAT3
INTRODUCTION:
Involution of the mammary gland is a complex process of controlled apoptosis and tissue remodelling. The aim of the project was to identify genes that are specifically involved in this process.
METHODS:
We used Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays to perform a detailed transcript analysis on the mechanism of controlled involution after withdrawal of the pups at day seven of lactation. Some of the results were confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting or immunohistochemistry.
RESULTS:
We identified 145 genes that were specifically upregulated during the first 4 days of involution; of these, 49 encoded immunoglobulin genes. A further 12 genes, including those encoding the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), the lipopolysaccharide receptor (CD14) and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), were involved in the acute-phase response, demonstrating that the expression of acute-phase response genes can occur in the mammary gland itself and not only in the liver. Expression of LBP and CD14 was upregulated, at both the RNA and protein level, immediately after pup withdrawal; CD14 was strongly expressed in the luminal epithelial cells. Other genes identified suggested neutrophil activation early in involution, followed by macrophage activation late in the process. Immunohistochemistry and histological staining confirmed the infiltration of the involuting mammary tissue with neutrophils, plasma cells, macrophages and eosinophils.
CONCLUSION:
Oligonucleotide microarrays are a useful tool for identifying genes that are involved in the complex developmental process of mammary gland involution. The genes identified are consistent with an immune cascade, with an early acute-phase response that occurs in the mammary gland itself and resembles a wound healing process
Graviton emission from a higher-dimensional black hole
We discuss the graviton absorption probability (greybody factor) and the
cross-section of a higher-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole (BH). We are
motivated by the suggestion that a great many BHs may be produced at the LHC
and bearing this fact in mind, for simplicity, we shall investigate the
intermediate energy regime for a static Schwarzschild BH. That is, for
, where is the mass of the black hole and
is the energy of the emitted gravitons in -dimensions. To find
easily tractable solutions we work in the limit , where is the
angular momentum quantum number of the graviton.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, references added, typos corrected. Graviton
degeneracy factor included; main results remain unchange
Detailed study of the ac susceptibility of Sr2RuO4 in oriented magnetic fields
We have investigated the ac susceptibility of the spin triplet superconductor
SrRuO as a function of magnetic field in various directions at
temperatures down to 60 mK. We have focused on the in-plane field configuration
(polar angle ), which is a prerequisite for inducing
multiple superconducting phases in SrRuO. We have found that the
previous attribution of a pronounced feature in the ac susceptibility to the
second superconducting transition itself is not in accord with recent
measurements of the thermal conductivity or of the specific heat. We propose
that the pronounced feature is a consequence of additional involvement of
vortex pinning originating from the second superconducting transition.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Electronic theory for the normal state spin dynamics in SrRuO: anisotropy due to spin-orbit coupling
Using a three-band Hubbard Hamiltonian we calculate within the
random-phase-approximation the spin susceptibility, , and
NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate, 1/T, in the normal state of the triplet
superconductor SrRuO and obtain quantitative agreement with
experimental data. Most importantly, we find that due to spin-orbit coupling
the out-of-plane component of the spin susceptibility becomes at
low temperatures two times larger than the in-plane one. As a consequence
strong incommensurate antiferromagnetic fluctuations of the
quasi-one-dimensional - and -bands point into the -direction. Our
results provide further evidence for the importance of spin fluctuations for
triplet superconductivity in SrRuO.Comment: revised versio
Transport and the Order Parameter of Superconducting SrRuO
Recent experiments make it appear more likely that the order parameter of the
unconventional superconductor SrRuO has a spin-triplet -wave
symmetry. We study ultrasonic absorption and thermal conductivity of
superconducting SrRuO and fit to the recent data for various -wave
candidates. It is shown that only -wave symmetry can account
qualitatively for the transport data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, references added and update
Interface superconductivity in the eutectic Sr2RuO4-Ru: 3-K phase of Sr2RuO4
The eutectic system Sr2RuO4-Ru is referred to as the 3-K phase of the
spin-triplet supeconductor Sr2RuO4 because of its enhanced superconducting
transition temperature Tc of ~3 K. We have investigated the field-temperature
(H-T) phase diagram of the 3-K phase for fields parallel and perpendicular to
the ab-plane of Sr2RuO4, using out-of-plane resistivity measurements. We have
found an upturn curvature in the Hc2(T) curve for H // c, and a rather gradual
temperature dependence of Hc2 close to Tc for both H // ab and H // c. We have
also investigated the dependence of Hc2 on the angle between the field and the
ab-plane at several temperatures. Fitting the Ginzburg-Landau effective-mass
model apparently fails to reproduce the angle dependence, particularly near H
// c and at low temperatures. We propose that all of these charecteric features
can be explained, at least in a qualitative fashion, on the basis of a theory
by Sigrist and Monien that assumes surface superconductivity with a
two-component order parameter occurring at the interface between Sr2RuO4 and Ru
inclusions. This provides evidence of the chiral state postulated for the 1.5-K
phase by several experiments.Comment: 7 pages and 5 figs; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Low temperature electronic properties of Sr_2RuO_4 I: Microscopic model and normal state properties
Starting from the quasi one-dimensional kinetic energy of the d_{yz} and
d_{zx} bands we derive a bosonized description of the correlated electron
system in Sr_2RuO_4. At intermediate coupling the magnetic correlations have a
quasi one-dimensional component along the diagonals of the basal plane of the
tetragonal unit cell that accounts for the observed neutron scattering results.
Together with two-dimensional correlations the model consistently accounts for
the normal phase specific heat, cyclotron mass enhancement, static
susceptibility, and Wilson ratio and implies an anomalous high temperature
resistivity.Comment: 12 pages REVTEX, 6 figure
Low temperature electronic properties of Sr_2RuO_4 II: Superconductivity
The body centered tetragonal structure of Sr_2RuO_4 gives rise to umklapp
scattering enhanced inter-plane pair correlations in the d_{yz} and d_{zx}
orbitals. Based on symmetry arguments, Hund's rule coupling, and a bosonized
description of the in-plane electron correlations the superconducting order
parameter is found to be a orbital-singlet spin-triplet with two spatial
components. The spatial anisotropy is 7%. The different components of the order
parameter give rise to two-dimensional gapless fluctuations. The phase
transition is of third order. The temperature dependence of the pair density,
specific heat, NQR, Knight shift, and susceptibility are in agreement with
experimental results.Comment: 20 pages REVTEX, 3 figure
Astrophysical Axion Bounds
Axion emission by hot and dense plasmas is a new energy-loss channel for
stars. Observational consequences include a modification of the solar
sound-speed profile, an increase of the solar neutrino flux, a reduction of the
helium-burning lifetime of globular-cluster stars, accelerated white-dwarf
cooling, and a reduction of the supernova SN 1987A neutrino burst duration. We
review and update these arguments and summarize the resulting axion
constraints.Comment: Contribution to Axion volume of Lecture Notes in Physics, 20 pages, 3
figure
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