2,712 research outputs found
The n-acetyl phenylalanine glucosamine derivative attenuates the inflammatory/catabolic environment in a chondrocyte-synoviocyte co-culture system
Osteoarthritis (OA), the most prevalent degenerative joint disease, still lacks a true disease-modifying therapy. The involvement of the NF-κB pathway and its upstream activating kinases in OA pathogenesis has been recognized for many years. The ability of the N-acetyl phenylalanine glucosamine derivative (NAPA) to increase anabolism and reduce catabolism via inhibition of IKKα kinase has been previously observed in vitro and in vivo. The present study aims to confirm the chondroprotective effects of NAPA in an in vitro model of joint OA established with primary cells, respecting both the crosstalk between chondrocytes and synoviocytes and their phenotypes. This model satisfactorily reproduces some features of the previously investigated DMM model, such as the prominent induction of ADAMTS-5 upon inflammatory stimulation. Both gene and protein expression analysis indicated the ability of NAPA to counteract key cartilage catabolic enzymes (ADAMTS-5) and effectors (MCP-1). Molecular analysis showed the ability of NAPA to reduce IKKα nuclear translocation and H3Ser10 phosphorylation, thus inhibiting IKKα transactivation of NF-κB signalling, a pivotal step in the NF-κB-dependent gene expression of some of its targets. In conclusion, our data confirm that NAPA could truly act as a disease-modifying drug in OA
Study of a New Trigger on Multiplicity and Primary Interaction Vertex using the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector
New trigger inputs for the ALICE Central Trigger Processor (CTP) are proposed. They are based on the use of Fast Multiplicity (FM) output signals generated by the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD). These can be used for a multiplicity based centrality trigger and for a fast on-line computation of the primary vertex. A simple algorithm for primary vertex location at the trigger level is proposed. The precision that can be achieved with this method on centrality selection and primary vertex location, is discussed for interactions with different pseudo-rapidity density level. The feasibility of background rejection is also considered
State of Mind Assessment in Relation to Adult Attachment and Text Analysis of Adult Attachment Interviews in a Sample of Patients with Anorexia Nervosa
Co-axial dual-core resonant leaky fibre for optical amplifiers
We present a co-axial dual-core resonant leaky optical fibre design, in which
the outer core is made highly leaky. A suitable choice of parameters can enable
us to resonantly couple power from the inner core to the outer core. In a
large-core fibre, such a resonant coupling can considerably increase the
differential leakage loss between the fundamental and the higher order modes
and can result in effective single-mode operation. In a small-core single-mode
fibre, such a coupling can lead to sharp increase in the wavelength dependent
leakage loss near the resonant wavelength and can be utilized for the
suppression of amplified spontaneous emission and thereby gain equalization of
an optical amplifier. We study the propagation characteristics of the fibre
using the transfer matrix method and present an example of each, the
large-mode-area design for high power amplifiers and the wavelength tunable
leakage loss design for inherent gain equalization of optical amplifiers.Comment: 6 page
The absolute age of the globular cluster M15 using near-infrared adaptive optics images from PISCES/LBT
We present deep near-infrared (NIR) J, Ks photometry of the old, metal-poor
Galactic globular cluster M\,15 obtained with images collected with the LUCI1
and PISCES cameras available at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We show
how the use of First Light Adaptive Optics system coupled with the (FLAO)
PISCES camera allows us to improve the limiting magnitude by ~2 mag in Ks. By
analyzing archival HST data, we demonstrate that the quality of the LBT/PISCES
color magnitude diagram is fully comparable with analogous space-based data.
The smaller field of view is balanced by the shorter exposure time required to
reach a similar photometric limit. We investigated the absolute age of M\,15 by
means of two methods: i) by determining the age from the position of the main
sequence turn-off; and ii) by the magnitude difference between the MSTO and the
well-defined knee detected along the faint portion of the MS. We derive
consistent values of the absolute age of M15, that is 12.9+-2.6 Gyr and
13.3+-1.1 Gyr, respectively.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepte
Beam Test Performance and Simulation of Prototypes for the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector
The silicon pixel detector (SPD) of the ALICE experiment in preparation at
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is designed to provide the precise
vertex reconstruction needed for measuring heavy flavor production in heavy ion
collisions at very high energies and high multiplicity. The SPD forms the
innermost part of the Inner Tracking System (ITS) which also includes silicon
drift and silicon strip detectors. Single assembly prototypes of the ALICE SPD
have been tested at the CERN SPS using high energy proton/pion beams in 2002
and 2003. We report on the experimental determination of the spatial precision.
We also report on the first combined beam test with prototypes of the other ITS
silicon detector technologies at the CERN SPS in November 2004. The issue of
SPD simulation is briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, prepared for proceedings of 7th International
Position Sensitive Detectors Conference, Liverpool, Sept. 200
A Variant in TBCD Associated with Motoneuronopathy and Corpus Callosum Hypoplasia: A Case Report
Mutations in the tubulin-specific chaperon D (TBCD) gene, involved in the assembly and disassembly of the α/β-tubulin heterodimers, have been reported in early-onset progressive neurodevelopment regression, with epilepsy and mental retardation. We describe a rare homozygous variant in TBCD, namely c.881G>A/p.Arg294Gln, in a young woman with a phenotype dominated by distal motorneuronopathy and mild mental retardation, with neuroimaging evidence of corpus callosum hypoplasia. The peculiar phenotype is discussed in light of the molecular interpretation, enriching the literature data on tubulinopathies generated from TBCD mutations
QGP fireball explosion
We identify the major physics milestones in the development of strange
hadrons as an observable for both the formation of quark-gluon plasma, and of
the ensuing explosive disintegration of deconfined matter fireball formed in
relativistic heavy ion collisions at 160--20A GeV. We describe the physical
properties of QGP phase and show agreement with the expectations based on an
analysis of hadron abundances. We than also demonstrate that the m_t shape of
hadron spectra is in qualitative agreement with the sudden breakup of a
supercooled QGP fireball.Comment: 10 pages, incl. 4 figures J. Phys. G in press; presented at
STRANGENESS2000 International Conference, Berkeley July 200
- …