1,047 research outputs found
Periaqueductal grey EP3 receptors facilitate spinal nociception in arthritic secondary hypersensitivity
Descending controls on spinal nociceptive processing play a pivotal role in shaping the pain experience following tissue injury. Secondary hypersensitivity develops within undamaged tissue adjacent, and distant to, damaged sites. Spinal neuronal pools innervating regions of secondary hypersensitivity are dominated by descending facilitation that amplifies spinal inputs from un-sensitized peripheral nociceptors. Cyclooxygenase–prostaglandin E2 signaling within the ventrolateral periaqueductal grey (vlPAG) is pro-nociceptive in naïve and acutely inflamed animals but its contributions in more prolonged inflammation and, importantly, secondary hypersensitivity remain unknown. In naïve rats, prostaglandin EP3 receptor (EP3R) antagonism in vlPAG modulated noxious withdrawal reflex (EMG) thresholds to preferential C-, but not A-, nociceptor activation, and raised thermal withdrawal thresholds in awake animals. In rats with inflammatory arthritis, secondary mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity of the hind-paw developed, and this was associated with spinal sensitization to Anociceptor inputs alone. In arthritic rats, blockade of vlPAG EP3R raised EMG thresholds to C-nociceptor activation in the area of secondary hypersensitivity to a degree equivalent to that evoked by the same manipulation in naïve rats
Special relativity constraints on the effective constituent theory of hybrids
We consider a simplified constituent model for relativistic
strong-interaction decays of hybrid mesons. The model is constructed using
rules of renormalization group procedure for effective particles in light-front
quantum field theory, which enables us to introduce low-energy phenomenological
parameters. Boost covariance is kinematical and special relativity constraints
are reduced to the requirements of rotational symmetry. For a hybrid meson
decaying into two mesons through dissociation of a constituent gluon into a
quark-anti-quark pair, the simplified constituent model leads to a rotationally
symmetric decay amplitude if the hybrid meson state is made of a constituent
gluon and a quark-anti-quark pair of size several times smaller than the
distance between the gluon and the pair, as if the pair originated from one
gluon in a gluonium state in the same effective theory.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Interference in interacting quantum dots with spin
We study spectral and transport properties of interacting quantum dots with
spin. Two particular model systems are investigated: Lateral multilevel and two
parallel quantum dots. In both cases different paths through the system can
give rise to interference. We demonstrate that this strengthens the multilevel
Kondo effect for which a simple two-stage mechanism is proposed. In parallel
dots we show under which conditions the peak of an interference-induced orbital
Kondo effect can be split.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Metabolite Damage and Damage Control in a Minimal Genome
Analysis of the genes retained in the minimized Mycoplasma JCVI-Syn3A genome established that systems that repair or preempt metabolite damage are essential to life. Several genes known to have such functions were identified and experimentally validated, including 5-formyltetrahydrofolate cycloligase, coenzyme A (CoA) disulfide reductase, and certain hydrolases. Furthermore, we discovered that an enigmatic YqeK hydrolase domain fused to NadD has a novel proofreading function in NAD synthesis and could double as a MutT-like sanitizing enzyme for the nucleotide pool. Finally, we combined metabolomics and cheminformatics approaches to extend the core metabolic map of JCVI-Syn3A to include promiscuous enzymatic reactions and spontaneous side reactions. This extension revealed that several key metabolite damage control systems remain to be identified in JCVI-Syn3A, such as that for methylglyoxal. IMPORTANCE Metabolite damage and repair mechanisms are being increasingly recognized. We present here compelling genetic and biochemical evidence for the universal importance of these mechanisms by demonstrating that stripping a genome down to its barest essentials leaves metabolite damage control systems in place. Furthermore, our metabolomic and cheminformatic results point to the existence of a network of metabolite damage and damage control reactions that extends far beyond the corners of it that have been characterized so far. In sum, there can be little room left to doubt that metabolite damage and the systems that counter it are mainstream metabolic processes that cannot be separated from life itself
Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events
The - oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of
23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II
asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B
mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the
flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference
distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives ps.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter
First Measurement of Z/gamma* Production in Compton Scattering of Quasi-real Photons
We report the first observation of Z/gamma* production in Compton scattering
of quasi-real photons. This is a subprocess of the reaction e+e- to
e+e-Z/gamma*, where one of the final state electrons is undetected.
Approximately 55 pb-1 of data collected in the year 1997 at an e+e-
centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP have been
analysed. The Z/gamma* from Compton scattering has been detected in the
hadronic decay channel. Within well defined kinematic bounds, we measure the
product of cross-section and Z/gamma* branching ratio to hadrons to be
(0.9+-0.3+-0.1) pb for events with a hadronic mass larger than 60 GeV,
dominated by (e)eZ production. In the hadronic mass region between 5 GeV and 60
GeV, dominated by (e)egamma* production, this product is found to be
(4.1+-1.6+-0.6) pb. Our results agree with the predictions of two Monte Carlo
event generators, grc4f and PYTHIA.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures included, submitted to Physics Letters
Search for Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at 183 GeV
The data collected by the OPAL experiment at sqrts=183 GeV were used to
search for Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Standard Model and various
extensions, such as general models with two Higgs field doublets and the
Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The data correspond to an
integrated luminosity of approximately 54pb-1. None of the searches for neutral
and charged Higgs bosons have revealed an excess of events beyond the expected
background. This negative outcome, in combination with similar results from
searches at lower energies, leads to new limits for the Higgs boson masses and
other model parameters. In particular, the 95% confidence level lower limit for
the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson is 88.3 GeV. Charged Higgs bosons
can be excluded for masses up to 59.5 GeV. In the MSSM, mh > 70.5 GeV and mA >
72.0 GeV are obtained for tan{beta}>1, no and maximal scalar top mixing and
soft SUSY-breaking masses of 1 TeV. The range 0.8 < tanb < 1.9 is excluded for
minimal scalar top mixing and m{top} < 175 GeV. More general scans of the MSSM
parameter space are also considered.Comment: 49 pages. LaTeX, including 33 eps figures, submitted to European
Physical Journal
A Measurement of the Product Branching Ratio f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X) in Z0 Decays
The product branching ratio, f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X), where
Lambda_b denotes any weakly-decaying b-baryon, has been measured using the OPAL
detector at LEP. Lambda_b are selected by the presence of energetic Lambda
particles in bottom events tagged by the presence of displaced secondary
vertices. A fit to the momenta of the Lambda particles separates signal from B
meson and fragmentation backgrounds. The measured product branching ratio is
f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X) = (2.67+-0.38(stat)+0.67-0.60(sys))%
Combined with a previous OPAL measurement, one obtains
f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X) = (3.50+-0.32(stat)+-0.35(sys))%.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 3 eps figs included, submitted to the European
Physical Journal
A measurement of the tau mass and the first CPT test with tau leptons
We measure the mass of the tau lepton to be 1775.1+-1.6(stat)+-1.0(syst.) MeV
using tau pairs from Z0 decays. To test CPT invariance we compare the masses of
the positively and negatively charged tau leptons. The relative mass difference
is found to be smaller than 3.0 10^-3 at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Letts.
Measurement of the B0 Lifetime and Oscillation Frequency using B0->D*+l-v decays
The lifetime and oscillation frequency of the B0 meson has been measured
using B0->D*+l-v decays recorded on the Z0 peak with the OPAL detector at LEP.
The D*+ -> D0pi+ decays were reconstructed using an inclusive technique and the
production flavour of the B0 mesons was determined using a combination of tags
from the rest of the event. The results t_B0 = 1.541 +- 0.028 +- 0.023 ps, Dm_d
= 0.497 +- 0.024 +- 0.025 ps-1 were obtained, where in each case the first
error is statistical and the second systematic.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.
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