421 research outputs found
Riquesa d'espècies i interès per a la conservació dels ocells a l'àrea metropolitana de Barcelona : relacions amb la xarxa actual d'espais protegits
En aquest treball s'analitza la distribució espacial de la riquesa d'espècies d'ocells i la seva relació amb diverses variables territorials i amb la distribució dels espais del Pla d'Espais d'Interès Natural de Catalunya (PEIN) en tres conjunts d'espècies amb un interès de conservació contrastat: (1) el total d'espècies; (2) les que tenen un estatus de conservació desfavorable a Europa (categories 2 i 3 de la classificació SPEC [Species of European Conservation Concern; Tucker & Heath, 1994]; és a dir, SPEC 2+3); i (3) les incloses a l'Annex I de la Directiva del Consell 79/409/EEC per a la conservació de les aus silvestres (Directiva Ocells). L'estudi es va dur a terme al Vallès Oriental i àrees limítrofes. La riquesa d'espècies d'ocells es va obtenir d'un mostreig de camp previ, realitzat durant vuit anys separadament per a les espècies nidificants (primavera) i hivernants (hivern), i prenent com a unitat d'estudi les quadrícules UTM d'1 km × 1 km. La relació entre els diversos grups d'ocells i entre aquests i les variables territorials més significatives es va dur a terme mitjançant correlacions de Pearson. També es van comparar els valors de riquesa d'espècies dels grups estudiats i de les variables territorials seleccionades dins i fora dels espais del PEIN sobre una mostra aleatòria de les quadrícules. La riquesa total i el nombre d'espècies SPEC 2+3 són significativament més alts fora dels espais del PEIN, i es concentren en els mosaics agroforestals del Moianès i Osona per a les nidificants, i a la plana del Vallès per a les hivernants. Tots aquests grups d'espècies presenten correlacions positives i significatives amb la proporció de conreus i la diversitat de cobertes del sòl. La riquesa d'SPEC 2+3 mostra, a més, unes correlacions moderadament altes amb la riquesa total d'ocells. Contràriament, la riquesa d'espècies incloses a la Directiva Ocells segueix patrons de distribució diferents, amb alguns hot spots locals dins del Parc Natural del Montseny, i com a conseqüència, les correlacions amb la riquesa total i SPEC 2+3 són discretes. L'estudi posa de manifest un panorama de conservació complex al Vallès Oriental, amb uns espais protegits que afavoreixen la conservació d'algunes espècies de la Directiva Ocells i uns espais agroforestals molt rics en espècies, però no protegits per cap figura especial. També cal destacar la necessitat de potenciar i conservar els hàbitats oberts resultants d'un aprofitament agroramader extensiu,tant dins com fora dels espais protegits
Long-wavelength approximation for string cosmology with barotropic perfect fluid
The field equations derived from the low energy string effective action with
a matter tensor describing a perfect fluid with a barotropic equation of state
are solved iteratively using the long-wavelength approximation, i.e. the field
equations are expanded by the number of spatial gradients. In the zero order, a
quasi-isotropic solution is presented and compared with the general solution of
the pure dilaton gravity. Possible cosmological models are analyzed from the
point of view of the pre-big bang scenario. The second order solutions are
found and their growing and decaying parts are studied.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Dendrimers: The Role of Generation and Alkyl Chain Length in siRNA Interaction
Citation: Marquez-Miranda, V., Araya-Duran, I., Camarada, M. B., Comer, J., Valencia-Gallegos, J. A., & Gonzalez-Nilo, F. D. (2016). Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Dendrimers: The Role of Generation and Alkyl Chain Length in siRNA Interaction. Scientific Reports, 6, 15. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep29436An ideal nucleic-acid transfection system should combine the physical and chemical characteristics of cationic lipids and linear polymers to decrease cytotoxicity and uptake limitations. Previous research described new types of carriers termed amphiphilic dendrimers (ADs), which are based on polyamidoamine dendrimers (PAMAM). These ADs display the cell membrane affinity advantage of lipids and preserve the high affinity for DNA possessed by cationic dendrimers. These lipid/dendrimer hybrids consist of a low-generation, hydrophilic dendron (G2, G1, or G0) bonded to a hydrophobic tail. The G2-18C AD was reported to be an efficient siRNA vector with significant gene silencing. However, shorter tail ADs (G2-15C and G2-13C) and lower generation (G0 and G1) dendrimers failed as transfection carriers. To date, the self-assembly phenomenon of this class of amphiphilic dendrimers has not been molecularly explored using molecular simulation methods. To gain insight into these systems, the present study used coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to describe how ADs are able to self-assemble into an aggregate, and, specifically, how tail length and generation play a key role in this event. Finally, explanations are given for the better efficiency of G2/18-C as gene carrier in terms of binding of siRNA. This knowledge could be relevant for the design of novel, safer ADs with well-optimized affinity for siRNA
Safety and efficacy of an oxycodone vaccine: Addressing some of the unique considerations posed by opioid abuse
Among vaccines aimed at treating substance use disorders, those targeting opioids present several unique medication development challenges. 1) Opioid overdose is a common complication of abuse, so it is desirable for an opioid vaccine to block the toxic as well as the addictive effects of opioids. 2) It is important that an opioid vaccine not interfere with the action of opioid antagonists used to reverse opioid overdose or treat addiction. 3) Some opioids are immunosuppressive and chronic ongoing opioid use could interfere with vaccine immunogenicity. 4) Although antibody-bound oxycodone is unable to enter the brain because of its size, it might still be able to activate peripheral opioid receptors. To assess vaccine impact on opioid toxicity, rats vaccinated with oxycodone conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin subunit dimer (OXY-dKLH) adsorbed to alum or controls vaccinated with dKLH were compared with regard to oxycodone-induced hotplate analgesia and oxycodone-induced respiratory depression and bradycardia. Vaccination shifted the dose-response curves to the right, representing protection, for each of these endpoints. Naloxone was equally effective in both OXY-dKLH and control groups, providing complete and rapid reversal of respiratory depression. The administration of a long-acting naltrexone formulation during vaccination did not impair vaccine immunogenicity in mice. Similarly, serum anti-oxycodone antibody titers were not altered by continuous morphine infusion during vaccination compared to opioid-naïve controls. Competitive ELISA assay showed negligible or low affinity of immune antiserum for endogenous opioids or opioid antagonists. In vitro receptor binding assays showed that antibody-bound oxycodone does not activate mu opioid receptors. These data support further study of OXY-dKLH as a potential treatment for oxycodone abuse and suggest that vaccination might also reduce the severity of oxycodone overdose
Gravastars must have anisotropic pressures
One of the very small number of serious alternatives to the usual concept of
an astrophysical black hole is the "gravastar" model developed by Mazur and
Mottola; and a related phase-transition model due to Laughlin et al. We
consider a generalized class of similar models that exhibit continuous pressure
-- without the presence of infinitesimally thin shells. By considering the
usual TOV equation for static solutions with negative central pressure, we find
that gravastars cannot be perfect fluids -- anisotropic pressures in the
"crust" of a gravastar-like object are unavoidable. The anisotropic TOV
equation can then be used to bound the pressure anisotropy. The transverse
stresses that support a gravastar permit a higher compactness than is given by
the Buchdahl--Bondi bound for perfect fluid stars. Finally we comment on the
qualitative features of the equation of state that gravastar material must have
if it is to do the desired job of preventing horizon formation.Comment: V1: 15 pages; 4 figures; uses iopart.cls; V2: 16 pages; added 3
references and brief discussio
Dynamical evolution of boson stars in Brans-Dicke theory
We study the dynamics of a self-gravitating scalar field solitonic object
(boson star) in the Jordan-Brans-Dicke (BD) theory of gravity. We show
dynamical processes of this system such as (i) black hole formation of
perturbed equilibrium configuration on an unstable branch; (ii) migration of
perturbed equilibrium configuration from the unstable branch to stable branch;
(iii) transition from excited state to a ground state. We find that the
dynamical behavior of boson stars in BD theory is quite similar to that in
general relativity (GR), with comparable scalar wave emission. We also
demonstrate the formation of a stable boson star from a Gaussian scalar field
packet with flat gravitational scalar field initial data. This suggests that
boson stars can be formed in the BD theory in much the same way as in GR.Comment: 13 pages by RevTeX, epsf.sty, 16 figures, comments added, refs
updated, to appear in Phys. Rev.
How unique is the Asymptotic Normalisation Coefficient (ANC) method?
The asymptotic normalisation coefficients (ANC) for the vertex B
Be + p is deduced from a set of different proton transfer reactions at
different energies. This set should ensure the peripheral character of the
reaction and availability of data for the elastic channels. The problems
associated with the characteristics of the data and the analysis are discussed.
For a subgroup of the set of available data, the uniqueness property of the
extracted ANC is fulfilled. However, more measurements are needed before a
definite conclusion can be drawn.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Phys Rev
Bulk viscosity in a cold CFL superfluid
We compute one of the bulk viscosity coefficients of cold CFL quark matter in
the temperature regime where the contribution of mesons, quarks and gluons to
transport phenomena is Boltzmann suppressed. In that regime dissipation occurs
due to collisions of superfluid phonons, the Goldstone modes associated to the
spontaneous breaking of baryon symmetry. We first review the hydrodynamics of
relativistic superfluids, and remind that there are at least three bulk
viscosity coefficients in these systems. We then compute the bulk viscosity
coefficient associated to the normal fluid component of the superfluid. In our
analysis we use Son's effective field theory for the superfluid phonon, amended
to include scale breaking effects proportional to the square of the strange
quark mass m_s. We compute the bulk viscosity at leading order in the scale
breaking parameter, and find that it is dominated by collinear splitting and
joining processes. The resulting transport coefficient is zeta=0.011 m_s^4/T,
growing at low temperature T until the phonon fluid description stops making
sense. Our results are relevant to study the rotational properties of a compact
star formed by CFL quark matter.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures; one reference added, version to be published in
JCA
R-Modes in Superfluid Neutron Stars
The analogs of r-modes in superfluid neutron stars are studied here. These
modes, which are governed primarily by the Coriolis force, are identical to
their ordinary-fluid counterparts at the lowest order in the small
angular-velocity expansion used here. The equations that determine the next
order terms are derived and solved numerically for fairly realistic superfluid
neutron-star models. The damping of these modes by superfluid ``mutual
friction'' (which vanishes at the lowest order in this expansion) is found to
have a characteristic time-scale of about 10^4 s for the m=2 r-mode in a
``typical'' superfluid neutron-star model. This time-scale is far too long to
allow mutual friction to suppress the recently discovered gravitational
radiation driven instability in the r-modes. However, the strength of the
mutual friction damping depends very sensitively on the details of the
neutron-star core superfluid. A small fraction of the presently acceptable
range of superfluid models have characteristic mutual friction damping times
that are short enough (i.e. shorter than about 5 s) to suppress the
gravitational radiation driven instability completely.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Entropy entrainment and dissipation in superfluid Helium
Building on a general variational framework for multi-fluid dynamics, we
discuss finite temperature effects in superfluids. The main aim is to provide
insight into the modelling of more complex finite temperature superfluid
systems, like the mixed neutron superfluid/proton superconductor that is
expected in the outer core of a neutron star. Our final results can also (to a
certain extent) be used to describe colour-flavour locked quark superconductors
that may be present at the extreme densities in the deep neutron star core. As
a demonstration of the validity of the model, which is based on treating the
excitations in the system as a massless ``entropy'' fluid, we show that it is
formally equivalent to the traditional two-fluid approach for superfluid
Helium. In particular, we highlight the fact that the entropy entrainment
encodes the ``normal fluid density'' of the traditional approach. We also show
how the superfluid constraint of irrotationality reduces the number of
dissipation coefficients in the system. This analysis provides insight into the
more general problem when vortices are present in the superfluid, and we
discuss how the so-called mutual friction force can be accounted for in our
framework. The end product is a hydrodynamic formalism for finite temperature
effects in a single superfluid condensate. This framework can readily be
extended to more complex situations.Comment: revised version, clarifies points regarding entrainment in different
context
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