1,797 research outputs found
Chevalier Jackson, M.D. (1865-1958): Il ne se repose jamais.
In the final year of the American Civil War, 1865, Chevalier Jackson was born on the 4th of November just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The eldest of three sons of a poor, livestock-raising family, Jackson was raised in a period of social and political unrest. He was perhaps an even more unrestful boy. The description of his childhood days from his father’s father—Il ne se repose jamais, ‘‘He never rests’’—would ultimately reflect the man, doctor, and evangelist Jackson would later become.1 Indeed, he never did rest, Jackson would tirelessly pave the way for modern bronchoscopy and endoscopy as a whole; bringing international renown not only to himself, but also to his specialty
Nitric oxide and proteoglycan biosynthesis by human articular chondrocytes in alginate culture
AbstractInterleukin-1α and β induced the production of large amounts of nitric oxide by normal, human articular chondrocytes in alginate culture; at the same time the biosynthesis of proteoglycan was strongly suppressed. In a dose-dependent manner, NG-monomethyl-l-arginine both inhibited nitric oxide formation and relieved the suppression of proteoglycan synthesis. However concentrations of NG-monomethyl-l-arginine which completely prevented nitric oxide production only partially restored proteoglycan biosynthesis, even at low doses of interleukin-1 where suppression of proteoglycan synthesis was modest. The organic donor of nitric oxide, S-nitrosyl-acetyl-d,l- penicillamine also inhibited proteoglycan biosynthesis, but not as extensively as interleukin-1. These data suggest that interleukin-1 suppresses synthesis of the cartilaginous matrix through more than one mechanism, at least one of which is dependent upon the production of nitric oxide
Canonical Coordinates and Meson Spectra for Scalar Deformed N=4 SYM from the AdS/CFT Correspondence
Five supersymmetric scalar deformations of the AdS_5xS^5 geometry are
investigated. By switching on condensates for the scalars in the N=4 multiplet
with a form which preserves a subgroup of the original R-symmetry, disk and
sphere configurations of D3-branes are formed in the dual supergravity
background. The analytic, canonical metric for each geometry is formulated and
the singularity structure is studied. Quarks are introduced into two of the
corresponding field theories using D7-brane probes and the pseudoscalar meson
spectrum is calculated. For one of the condensate configurations, a mass gap is
found and shown analytically to be present in the massless limit. It is also
found that there is a stepped spectrum with eigenstate degeneracy in the limit
of small quark masses. In the case of a second, similar deformation, it is
necessary to understand the full D3-D7 brane interaction to study the limit of
small quark masses. It is seen that simple solutions to the equations of motion
for the other three geometries are unlikely to exist.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, references added, typos correcte
Surface and capillary transitions in an associating binary mixture model
We investigate the phase diagram of a two-component associating fluid mixture
in the presence of selectively adsorbing substrates. The mixture is
characterized by a bulk phase diagram which displays peculiar features such as
closed loops of immiscibility. The presence of the substrates may interfere the
physical mechanism involved in the appearance of these phase diagrams, leading
to an enhanced tendency to phase separate below the lower critical solution
point. Three different cases are considered: a planar solid surface in contact
with a bulk fluid, while the other two represent two models of porous systems,
namely a slit and an array on infinitely long parallel cylinders. We confirm
that surface transitions, as well as capillary transitions for a large
area/volume ratio, are stabilized in the one-phase region. Applicability of our
results to experiments reported in the literature is discussed.Comment: 12 two-column pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical
Review E; corrected versio
Mesons in gauge/gravity dual with large number of fundamental fields
In view of extending gauge/gravity dualities with flavour beyond the probe
approximation, we establish the gravity dual description of mesons for a
three-dimensional super Yang-Mills theory with fundamental matter. For this
purpose we consider the fully backreacted D2/D6 brane solution of Cherkis and
Hashimoto in an approximation due to Pelc and Siebelink. The low-energy field
theory is the IR fixed point theory of three-dimensional N=4 SU(N_c) super
Yang-Mills with N_f fundamental fields, which we consider in a large N_c and
N_f limit with N_f/N_c finite and fixed. We discuss the dictionary between
meson-like operators and supergravity fluctuations in the corresponding
near-horizon geometry. In particular, we find that the mesons are dual to the
low-energy limit of closed string states. In analogy to computations of
glueball mass spectra, we calculate the mass of the lowest-lying meson and find
that it depends linearly on the quark mass.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures, v2: fig. 4 added, refs. adde
Thermal and chemical unfolding and refolding of a eukaryotic sodium channel
Voltage-gated sodium channels are dynamic membrane proteins essential for signaling in nervous and muscular systems. They undergo substantial conformational changes associated with the closed, open and inactivated states. However, little information is available regarding their conformational stability. In this study circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to investigate the changes in secondary structure accompanying chemical and thermal denaturation of detergent-solubilised sodium channels isolated from Electrophorus electricus electroplax. The proteins appear to be remarkably resistant to either type of treatment, with "denatured" channels, retaining significant helical secondary structure even at 77 degrees C or in 10% SDS. Further retention of helical secondary structure at high temperature was observed in the presence of the channel-blocking tetrodotoxin. It was possible to refold the thermally-denatured (but not chemically-denatured) channels in vitro. The correctly refolded channels were capable of undergoing the toxin-induced conformational change indicative of ligand binding. In addition, flux measurements in liposomes showed that the thermally-denatured (but not chemically-denatured) proteins were able to re-adopt native, active conformations. These studies suggest that whilst sodium channels must be sufficiently flexible to undergo major conformational changes during their functional cycle, the proteins are highly resistant to unfolding, a feature that is important for maintaining structural integrity during dynamic processes. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
What’s sex got to do with it? A family-based investigation of growing up heterosexual during the twentieth century
This paper explores findings from a cross-generational study of the making of heterosexual relationships in East Yorkshire, which has interviewed women and men within extended families. Using a feminist perspective, it examines the relationship between heterosexuality and adulthood, focussing on sexual attraction, courtship, first kisses, first love and first sex, as mediated within family relationships, and at different historical moments. In this way, the contemporary experiences of young people growing up are compared and contrasted with those of mid-lifers and older adults who formed heterosexual relationships within the context of the changing social and sexual mores of the 1960s/1970s, and the upheavals of World War Two
Spectral Flow on the Higgs Branch and AdS/CFT Duality
We use AdS/CFT duality to study the large N_c limit of the meson spectrum on
the Higgs branch of a strongly coupled, N=2 supersymmetric SU(N_c) gauge theory
with N_f =2 fundamental hypermultiplets. In the dual supergravity description,
the Higgs branch is described by SU(2) instanton configurations on D7-branes in
an AdS background. We compute the spectral flow parameterized by the size of a
single instanton. In the large N_c limit, there is a sense in which the flow
from zero to infinite instanton size, or Higgs VEV, can be viewed as a closed
loop. We show that this flow leads to a non-trivial rearrangement of the
spectrum.Comment: v2; 16 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX + JHEP class, 3 refs added, accepted
for publication by JHE
A comparison of conventional and 137 Cs-based estimates of soil erosion rates on arable and grassland across lowland England and Wales
Soils deliver a range of ecosystem services and underpin conventional global food production which must increase to feed the projected growth in human population. Although soil erosion by water and subsequent sediment delivery to rivers are natural processes, anthropogenic pressures, including modern farming practices and management, have accelerated soil erosion rates on both arable and grassland. A range of approaches can be used to assess and document soil erosion rates and, in the case of the UK, these mainly comprise the 137Cs-based approach, conventional surveys using volumetric measurements, integration of information on suspended sediment flux, fine sediment source apportionment and landscape sediment retention and traditional bounded hydrological monitoring at edge-of-field using experimental platforms. We compare the erosion rates for arable and grassland in lowland England assessed by these different techniques. Rates assessed by volumetric measurements are similar to those generated by integrating information on suspended sediment flux, sources and landscape retention, but are much less than those estimated by the 137Cs-based approach; of the order of one magnitude less for arable land. The 137Cs approach assumes an initial distribution of 137Cs uniformly spread across the landscape and relates the sampled distribution to erosion, but other (transport) processes are also involved and their representation in the calibration procedures remains problematic. We suggest that the 137Cs technique needs to be validated more rigorously and conversion models re-calibrated. As things stand, rates of erosion based on the distribution of 137Cs may well overstate the severity of the problem in lowland Britain and, therefore, are not a reliable indicator of water erosion rates
Simultaneous solution of Kompaneets equation and Radiative Transfer equation in the photon energy range 1 - 125 KeV
Radiative transfer equation in plane parallel geometry and Kompaneets
equation is solved simultaneously to obtain theoretical spectrum of 1-125 KeV
photon energy range. Diffuse radiation field is calculated using
time-independent radiative transfer equation in plane parallel geometry, which
is developed using discrete space theory (DST) of radiative transfer in a
homogeneous medium for different optical depths. We assumed free-free emission
and absorption and emission due to electron gas to be operating in the medium.
The three terms and where is photon phase density and , in Kompaneets equation and those due to
free-free emission are utilized to calculate the change in the photon phase
density in a hot electron gas. Two types of incident radiation are considered:
(1) isotropic radiation with the modified black body radiation [1] and
(2) anisotropic radiation which is angle dependent. The emergent radiation at
and reflected radiation are calculated by using the
diffuse radiation from the medium. The emergent and reflected radiation contain
the free-free emission and emission from the hot electron gas. Kompaneets
equation gives the changes in photon phase densities in different types of
media. Although the initial spectrum is angle dependent, the Kompaneets
equation gives a spectrum which is angle independent after several Compton
scattering times.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, Accepte
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