1,358 research outputs found
α5β1-Integrin promotes tension-dependent mammary epithelial cell invasion by engaging the fibronectin synergy site.
Tumors are fibrotic and characterized by abundant, remodeled, and cross-linked collagen that stiffens the extracellular matrix stroma. The stiffened collagenous stroma fosters malignant transformation of the tissue by increasing tumor cell tension to promote focal adhesion formation and potentiate growth factor receptor signaling through kinase. Importantly, collagen cross-linking requires fibronectin (FN). Fibrotic tumors contain abundant FN, and tumor cells frequently up-regulate the FN receptor α5β1 integrin. Using transgenic and xenograft models and tunable two- and three-dimensional substrates, we show that FN-bound α5β1 integrin promotes tension-dependent malignant transformation through engagement of the synergy site that enhances integrin adhesion force. We determined that ligation of the synergy site of FN permits tumor cells to engage a zyxin-stabilized, vinculin-linked scaffold that facilitates nucleation of phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-triphosphate at the plasma membrane to enhance phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-dependent tumor cell invasion. The data explain why rigid collagen fibrils potentiate PI3K activation to promote malignancy and offer a perspective regarding the consistent up-regulation of α5β1 integrin and FN in many tumors and their correlation with cancer aggression
An Electromagnetic Study of the Impact of Brain Anatomy on Deep Brain Stimulation
An electromagnetic simulation was performed to assess the volume of tissue activated on deep brain stimulation for two patients randomly selected. The finite element method is used to calculate the electric field distribution that predicts the volume of tissue activated. High-resolution magnetic resonance images are utilized to create patient-specific anatomical models of the subthalamic nucleus and the internal pallidum. The results confirmed the influence of brain anatomy leading to different shape and volume of tissue activated despite similar technical features. Thus, a patient-specific model and an adequate choice of stimulation parameters are crucial on deep brain stimulation outcomes.S
Predicting the onset and persistence of episodes of depression in primary health care. The predictD-Spain study: Methodology
Background:
The effects of putative risk factors on the onset and/or persistence of depression remain unclear. We aim to develop comprehensive models to predict the onset and persistence of episodes of depression in primary care. Here we explain the general methodology of the predictD-Spain study and evaluate the reliability of the questionnaires used.
Methods:
This is a prospective cohort study. A systematic random sample of general practice attendees aged 18 to 75 has been recruited in seven Spanish provinces. Depression is being measured with the CIDI at baseline, and at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. A set of individual, environmental, genetic, professional and organizational risk factors are to be assessed at each follow-up point. In a separate reliability study, a proportional random sample of 401 participants completed the test-retest (251 researcher-administered and 150 self-administered) between October 2005 and February 2006. We have also checked 118,398 items for data entry from a random sample of 480 patients stratified by province.
Results:
All items and questionnaires had good test-retest reliability for both methods of administration, except for the use of recreational drugs over the previous six months. Cronbach's alphas were good and their factorial analyses coherent for the three scales evaluated (social support from family and friends, dissatisfaction with paid work, and dissatisfaction with unpaid work). There were 191 (0.16%) data entry errors.
Conclusion:
The items and questionnaires were reliable and data quality control was excellent. When we eventually obtain our risk index for the onset and persistence of depression, we will be able to determine the individual risk of each patient evaluated in primary health car
Experiments on Multidimensional Solitons
This article presents an overview of experimental efforts in recent years
related to multidimensional solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates. We discuss
the techniques used to generate and observe multidimensional nonlinear waves in
Bose-Einstein condensates with repulsive interactions. We further summarize
observations of planar soliton fronts undergoing the snake instability, the
formation of vortex rings, and the emergence of hybrid structures.Comment: review paper, to appear as Chapter 5b in "Emergent Nonlinear
Phenomena in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Theory and Experiment," edited by P.
G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis, and R. Carretero-Gonzalez
(Springer-Verlag
Atom--Molecule Coherence in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
Coherent coupling between atoms and molecules in a Bose-Einstein condensate
(BEC) has been observed. Oscillations between atomic and molecular states were
excited by sudden changes in the magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance and
persisted for many periods of the oscillation. The oscillation frequency was
measured over a large range of magnetic fields and is in excellent quantitative
agreement with the energy difference between the colliding atom threshold
energy and the energy of the bound molecular state. This agreement indicates
that we have created a quantum superposition of atoms and diatomic molecules,
which are chemically different species.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Vortex nucleation as a case study of symmetry breaking in quantum systems
Mean-field methods are a very powerful tool for investigating weakly
interacting many-body systems in many branches of physics. In particular, they
describe with excellent accuracy trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. A generic,
but difficult question concerns the relation between the symmetry properties of
the true many-body state and its mean-field approximation. Here, we address
this question by considering, theoretically, vortex nucleation in a rotating
Bose-Einstein condensate. A slow sweep of the rotation frequency changes the
state of the system from being at rest to the one containing one vortex. Within
the mean-field framework, the jump in symmetry occurs through a turbulent phase
around a certain critical frequency. The exact many-body ground state at the
critical frequency exhibits strong correlations and entanglement. We believe
that this constitutes a paradigm example of symmetry breaking in - or change of
the order parameter of - quantum many-body systems in the course of adiabatic
evolution.Comment: Minor change
Theory of Multidimensional Solitons
We review a number of topics germane to higher-dimensional solitons in
Bose-Einstein condensates. For dark solitons, we discuss dark band and planar
solitons; ring dark solitons and spherical shell solitons; solitary waves in
restricted geometries; vortex rings and rarefaction pulses; and multi-component
Bose-Einstein condensates. For bright solitons, we discuss instability,
stability, and metastability; bright soliton engineering, including pulsed atom
lasers; solitons in a thermal bath; soliton-soliton interactions; and bright
ring solitons and quantum vortices. A thorough reference list is included.Comment: review paper, to appear as Chapter 5a in "Emergent Nonlinear
Phenomena in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Theory and Experiment," edited by P.
G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis, and R. Carretero-Gonzalez
(Springer-Verlag
Extraordinary absorption of sound in porous lamella-crystals
We present the design of a structured material supporting complete absorption of sound with a broadband response and functional for any direction of incident radiation. The structure which is fabricated out of porous lamellas is arranged into a low-density crystal and backed by a reflecting support. Experimental measurements show that strong all-angle sound absorption with almost zero reflectance takes place for a frequency range exceeding two octaves. We demonstrate that lowering the crystal filling fraction increases the wave interaction time and is responsible for the enhancement of intrinsic material dissipation, making the system more absorptive with less material.The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and European Union FEDER through project FIS2011-29734-C02-01. J.C. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research and a Sapere Aude grant (12-134776). V. R. G. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the ''Contratos Post-Doctorales Campus Excelencia Internacional'' UPV CEI-01-11.Christensen, J.; Romero García, V.; Picó Vila, R.; Cebrecos Ruiz, A.; Garcia De Abajo, FJ.; Mortensen, NA.; Willatzen, M.... (2014). Extraordinary absorption of sound in porous lamella-crystals. Scientific Reports. 4(4674). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04674S44674Mei, J. et al. Dark acoustic metamaterials as super absorbers for low-frequency sound. Nat. Commun. 3, 756 (2012).Leroy, V., Strybulevych, A., Scanlon, M. G. & Page, J. Transmission of ultrasound through a single layer of bubbles. Eur. Phys. J. E 29, 123 (2009).Leroy, V., Bretagne, A., Fink, M. H. W., Tabeling, P. & Tourin, A. Design and characterization of bubble phononic crystals. Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 171904 (2009).Thomas, E. L. Applied physics: Bubbly but quiet. Nature 462, 990 (2009).Romero-García, V., Sánchez-Pérez, J. V. & Garcia-Raffi, L. M. Tunable wideband bandstop acoustic filter based on two-dimensional multiphysical phenomena periodic systems. J. Appl. Phys. 110, 014904 (2011).Garcia-Chocano, V. M., Cabrera, S. & Sanchez-Dehesa, J. Broadband sound absorption by lattices of microperforated cylindrical shells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 184101 (2012).Kushwaha, M. S., Halevi, P., Dobrzynski, L. & Djafari-Rouhani, B. Acoustic band structure of periodic elastic composites. Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2022 (1993).Vasseur, J. O. et al. Experimental and Theoretical Evidence for the Existence of Absolute Acoustic Band Gaps in Two-Dimensional Solid Phononic Crystals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3012 (2001).Liu, Z. et al. Locally Resonant Sonic Materials. Science 289, 1734 (2000).Christensen, J., Martin-Moreno, L. & Garcia-Vidal, F. J. All-angle blockage of sound by an acoustic double-fishnet metamaterial. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 134106 (2010).Botten, L. C., Craig, M. S., McPhedran, R. C., Adams, J. L. & Andrewartha, J. R. The finitely conducting lamellar diffraction grating. Optica Acta 28, 1087 (1981).McPhedran, R. C., Botten, L. C., Craif, M. S., Neviere, M. & Maystre, D. Lossy lamellar gratings in the quasistatic limit. Optica Acta 29, 289 (1982).Kravets, V. G., Schedin, F. & Grigorenko, A. N. Plasmonic blackbody: Almost complete absorption of light in nanostructured metallic coatings. Phys. Rev. B 78, 205405 (2008).Sondergaard, T. et al. Plasmonic black gold by adiabatic nanofocusing and absorption of light in ultra-sharp convex grooves. Nat. Commun. 3, 969 (2012).Clapham, P. B. & Hurtley, M. C. Reduction of Lens Reflexion by the Moth Eye Principle. Nature Vol. 244, 281 (1973).Garcia-Vidal, F. J., Pitarke, J. M. & Pendry, J. B. Effective Medium Theory of the Optical Properties of Aligned Carbon Nanotubes. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4289 (1997).Yang, Z., Ci, L., Bur, J. A., Lin, S. & Ajayan, P. M. Experimental Observation of an Extremely Dark Material Made By a Low-Density Nanotube Array. Nano Lett. 8, 446 (2008).Garcia-Vidal, F. J. Metamaterials: Towards the dark side. Nat. Photonics 2, 215 (2008).Mizunoa, K. et al. A black body absorber from vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 6044 (2009).Lidorkis, E. & Ferrari, A. C. Photonics with Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Arrays. ACS Nano 3, 1238 (2009).Beenakker, C. W. J. & Brouwer, P. W. Distribution of the reflection eigenvalues of a weakly absorbing chaotic cavity. Physica E 9, 463 (2001).Lafarge, D., Lemarinier, P., Allard, J. F. & Tarnow, V. Dynamic compressibility of air in porous structures at audible frequencies. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 1995 (1997), With the macroscopic parameters: ϕ = 0.94, α∞ = 1, σ = 20000 Nm−4s and Λ = Λ′ = 0.41 μm.García de Abajo, F. J. Colloquium: Light scattering by particle and hole arrays. Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 1267–1290 (2007)
Neutrino masses from new generations
We reconsider the possibility that Majorana masses for the three known
neutrinos are generated radiatively by the presence of a fourth generation and
one right-handed neutrino with Yukawa couplings and a Majorana mass term. We
find that the observed light neutrino mass hierarchy is not compatible with low
energy universality bounds in this minimal scenario, but all present data can
be accommodated with five generations and two right-handed neutrinos. Within
this framework, we explore the parameter space regions which are currently
allowed and could lead to observable effects in neutrinoless double beta decay,
conversion in nuclei and experiments. We
also discuss the detection prospects at LHC.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures. Version to be published. Some typos corrected.
Improved figures 3 and
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