Patterns in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation

We review a recent asymptotic weak noise approach to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation for the kinetic growth of an interface in higher dimensions. The weak noise approach provides a many body picture of a growing interface in terms of a network of localized growth modes. Scaling in 1d is associated with a gapless domain wall mode. The method also provides an independent argument for the existence of an upper critical dimension.Comment: 8 pages revtex, 4 eps figure

Ras Inhibition Induces Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Uptake

BACKGROUND: Reduced glucose uptake due to insulin resistance is a pivotal mechanism in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. It is also associated with increased inflammation. Ras inhibition downregulates inflammation in various experimental models. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of Ras inhibition on insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, as well as its influence on type 2 diabetes development. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The effect of Ras inhibition on glucose uptake was examined both in vitro and in vivo. Ras was inhibited in cells transfected with a dominant-negative form of Ras or by 5-fluoro-farnesylthiosalicylic acid (F-FTS), a small-molecule Ras inhibitor. The involvement of IκB and NF-κB in Ras-inhibited glucose uptake was investigated by immunoblotting. High fat (HF)-induced diabetic mice were treated with F-FTS to test the effect of Ras inhibition on induction of hyperglycemia. Each of the Ras-inhibitory modes resulted in increased glucose uptake, whether in insulin-resistant C2C12 myotubes in vitro or in HF-induced diabetic mice in vivo. Ras inhibition also caused increased IκB expression accompanied by decreased expression of NF-κB . In fat-induced diabetic mice treated daily with F-FTS, both the incidence of hyperglycemia and the levels of serum insulin were significantly decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Inhibition of Ras apparently induces a state of heightened insulin sensitization both in vitro and in vivo. Ras inhibition should therefore be considered as an approach worth testing for the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Spherical-multipole analysis of an arbitrarily directed complex-source beam diffracted by an acoustically soft or hard circular cone

An analytical approach to analyze the diffraction of an arbitrarily directed complex-source beam (CSB) by an acoustically soft or hard semi-infinite circular cone is presented. The beam is generated by assigning a complex-valued location to a point source; its waist and direction are defined by the real and imaginary parts of the source coordinate, respectively. The corresponding scalar boundary-value problem is solved by a spherical-multipole analysis. The solution requires the calculation of associated Legendre functions of the first kind for complex-valued arguments which turns out to be a non-trivial task. Beside a numerical analysis of the corresponding algorithms we present numerical results for the total near- and scattered far-fields