724 research outputs found
Visual Search Elicits the Electrophysiological Marker of Visual Working Memory
Background: Although limited in capacity, visual working memory (VWM) plays an important role in many aspects of visually-guided behavior. Recent experiments have demonstrated an electrophysiological marker of VWM encoding and maintenance, the contralateral delay activity (CDA), which has been shown in multiple tasks that have both explicit and implicit memory demands. Here, we investigate whether the CDA is evident during visual search, a thoroughly-researched task that is a hallmark of visual attention but has no explicit memory requirements. Methodology/Principal Findings: The results demonstrate that the CDA is present during a lateralized search task, and that it is similar in amplitude to the CDA observed in a change-detection task, but peaks slightly later. The changes in CDA amplitude during search were strongly correlated with VWM capacity, as well as with search efficiency. These results were paralleled by behavioral findings showing a strong correlation between VWM capacity and search efficiency. Conclusions/Significance: We conclude that the activity observed during visual search was generated by the same neura
The Dynamic Processing of CD46 Intracellular Domains Provides a Molecular Rheostat for T Cell Activation
Adequate termination of an immune response is as important as the induction of an appropriate response. CD46, a regulator of complement activity, promotes T cell activation and differentiation towards a regulatory Tr1 phenotype. This Tr1 differentiation pathway is defective in patients with MS, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, underlying its importance in controlling T cell function and the need to understand its regulatory mechanisms. CD46 has two cytoplasmic tails, Cyt1 and Cyt2, derived from alternative splicing, which are co-expressed in all nucleated human cells. The regulation of their expression and precise functions in regulating human T cell activation has not been fully elucidated.Here, we first report the novel role of CD46 in terminating T cell activation. Second, we demonstrate that its functions as an activator and inhibitor of T cell responses are mediated through the temporal processing of its cytoplasmic tails. Cyt1 processing is required to turn T cell activation on, while processing of Cyt2 switches T cell activation off, as demonstrated by proliferation, CD25 expression and cytokine secretion. Both tails require processing by Presenilin/γSecretase (P/γS) to exert these functions. This was confirmed by expressing wild-type Cyt1 and Cyt2 tails and uncleavable mutant tails in primary T cells. The role of CD46 tails was also demonstrated with T cells expressing CD19 ectodomain-CD46 C-Terminal Fragment (CTF) fusions, which allowed specific triggering of each tail individually.We conclude that CD46 acts as a molecular rheostat to control human T cell activation through the regulation of processing of its cytoplasmic tails
Elevated lipoprotein(a) increases risk of subsequent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and coronary revascularisation in incident ASCVD patients: a cohort study from the UK biobank
Background and aims:
Elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a genetic driver for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). We aimed to provide novel insights on the associated risk of elevated versus normal Lp(a) levels on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in an incident ASCVD cohort.
Methods:
This was an observational cohort study of incident ASCVD patients. MACE counts and incidence rates (IRs) per 100-person-years were reported for patients with normal (<65 nmol/L) and elevated (>150 nmol/L) Lp(a) within the first year after incident ASCVD diagnosis and overall follow-up. Cox proportional hazard models quantified the risk of MACE associated with a 100 nmol/L increase in Lp(a).
Results:
The study cohort included 32,537 incident ASCVD patients; 5204 with elevated and 22,257 with normal Lp(a). Of those with elevated Lp(a), 41.2% had a subsequent MACE, versus 35.61% with normal Lp(a). Within the first year of follow-up, the IRs of composite MACE and coronary revascularisation were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in patients with elevated versus normal Lp(a) (IR difference 6.79 and 4.66). This trend was also observed in the overall follow-up (median 4.7 years). Using time to first subsequent MACE, a 100 nmol/L increase in Lp(a) was associated with an 8.0% increased risk of composite MACE, and 18.6% increased risk of coronary revascularisation during the overall follow-up period.
Conclusions:
The association of elevated Lp(a) with increased risk of subsequent MACE and coronary revascularisation, highlights a population who may benefit from earlier and more targeted intervention for cardiovascular risk including Lp(a), particularly within the first year after ASCVD diagnosis. Proactive Lp(a) testing as part of routine clinical practice can help to identify and better manage these higher-risk individuals
Search for the decay at Belle
We report a search for the rare charmless decay
using a data sample of
pairs collected at the resonance with
the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy collider. No
statistically significant signal is found and a 90% confidence-level upper
limit is set on the decay branching fraction as .Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRD(RC
Measurement of via initial state radiation at Belle
The process (=1, 2) is studied via initial
state radiation using 980 fb of data at and around the
(=1, 2, 3, 4, 5) resonances collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB
asymmetric-energy collider. No significant signal is observed except
from decays. Upper limits on the cross sections between
and are determined at the 90% credibility
level, which range from few pb to a few tens of pb. We also set upper limits on
the decay rate of the vector charmonium [), , and
] and charmoniumlike [, , and ] states
to .Comment: Accepted by PR
Search for a dark vector gauge boson decaying to using decays
We report a search for a dark vector gauge boson that couples to
quarks in the decay chain , . No signal is found and we set a
mass-dependent limit on the baryonic fine structure constant of in the mass range of 290 to 520 MeV/. This analysis is
based on a data sample of 976 fb collected by the Belle experiment at
the KEKB asymmetric-energy collider.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Evidence of and search for double-charmonium production in and decays
Using data samples of and
events collected with the Belle detector, a first experimental
search has been made for double-charmonium production in the exclusive decays
, where , , , , and . No significant signal is
observed in the spectra of the mass recoiling against the reconstructed
or except for the evidence of production with a
significance of for . The
measured branching fraction \BR(\Upsilon(1S)\rightarrow J/\psi+\chi_{c1}) is
. The
confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions of the other modes
having a significance of less than are determined. These results are
consistent with theoretical calculations using the nonrelativistic QCD
factorization approach.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. The fit range was extended to include
X(4160) signal according to referee's suggestions. Other results unchanged.
Paper was accepted for publication as a regular article in Physical Review
Measurements of the and resonances via
We report new measurements of the total cross sections for ( = 1, 2, 3) and from a
high-luminosity fine scan of the region - GeV with the
Belle detector. We observe that the spectra have
little or no non-resonant component and extract from them the masses and widths
of and and their relative phase. We find
MeV/ and
\Gamma_{10860}=(53.7^{+7.1}_{-5.6}\,^{+1.3}_{-5.4}) MeV and report first
measurements M_{11020}=(10987.5^{+6.4}_{-2.5}\,^{+9.0}_{-2.1}) MeV/,
\Gamma_{11020}=(61^{+9}_{-19}\,^{+2}_{-20}) MeV, and \phi_{\rm
11020}-\phi_{\rm 10860} = (-1.0\pm0.4\,^{+1.4}_{-0.1}) rad.Comment: University of Cincinnati preprint UCHEP-15-01, submitted to Physical
Review D - Rapid Communication
Invariant-mass and fractional-energy dependence of inclusive production of di-hadrons in annihilation at 10.58 GeV
The inclusive cross sections for di-hadrons of charged pions and kaons
() in electron-positron annihilation are reported. They
are obtained as a function of the total fractional energy and invariant mass
for any di-hadron combination in the same hemisphere as defined by the thrust
event-shape variable and its axis. Since same-hemisphere di-hadrons can be
assumed to originate predominantly from the same initial parton, di-hadron
fragmentation functions are probed. These di-hadron fragmentation functions are
needed as an unpolarized baseline in order to quantitatively understand related
spin-dependent measurements in other processes and to apply them to the
extraction of quark transversity distribution functions in the nucleon. The
di-hadron cross sections are obtained from a data sample
collected at or near the resonance with the Belle detector at
the KEKB asymmetric-energy collider.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures plus 25 figures in supplemental material,
submitted to PR
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