1,124 research outputs found

    Collapse Of The G D3+ Esr Fine Structure Throughout The Coherent Temperature Of The Gd-doped Kondo Semiconductor Cef E4 P12

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    Recent experiments on Gd3+ electron-spin resonance (ESR) in the filled skutterudite Ce1-xGdxFe4P12(x≈0.001), at temperatures where the host resistivity manifests a smooth insulator-metal crossover, provide evidence of the underlying Kondo physics associated with this system. At low temperatures (below T≈160 K), Ce1-xGdxFe4P12 behaves as a Kondo insulator with a relatively large hybridization gap, and the Gd3+ ESR spectra display a fine structure with Lorentzian line shape, typical of insulating media. In this work, based on previous experiments performed by the same group, we argue that the electronic gap may be attributed to the large hybridization present in the coherent regime of a Kondo lattice. Moreover, mean-field calculations suggest that the electron-phonon interaction is fundamental at explaining such hybridization. The resulting electronic structure is strongly temperature dependent, and at T∗≈160K the system undergoes an insulator-to-metal transition induced by the withdrawal of 4f electrons from the Fermi volume, the system becoming metallic and nonmagnetic. The Gd3+ ESR fine structure coalesces into a single Dysonian resonance, as in metals. Our simulations suggest that exchange narrowing via the usual Korringa mechanism is not enough to describe the thermal behavior of the Gd3+ ESR spectra in the entire temperature region (4.2-300 K). We propose that the temperature activated fluctuating valence of the Ce ions is the key ingredient that fully describes this unique temperature dependence of the Gd3+ ESR fine structure. © 2016 American Physical Society.942

    Potential benefits of melatonin in organ transplantation: a review

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    Organ transplantation is a useful therapeutic tool for patients with end-stage organ failure; however, graft rejection is a major obstacle in terms of a successful treatment. Rejection is usually a consequence of a complex immunological and nonimmunological antigen-independent cascade of events, including free radical-mediated ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). To reduce the frequency of this outcome, continuing improvements in the efficacy of antirejection drugs are a top priority to enhance the long-term survival of transplant recipients. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is a powerful antioxidant and ant-inflammatory agent synthesized from the essential amino acid L-tryptophan; it is produced by the pineal gland as well as by many other organs including ovary, testes, bone marrow, gut, placenta, and liver. Melatonin has proven to be a potentially useful therapeutic tool in the reduction of graft rejection. Its benefits are based on its direct actions as a free radical scavenger as well as its indirect antioxidative actions in the stimulation of the cellular antioxidant defense system. Moreover, it has significant anti-inflammatory activity. Melatonin has been found to improve the beneficial effects of preservation fluids when they are enriched with the indoleamine. This article reviews the experimental evidence that melatonin is useful in reducing graft failure, especially in cardiac, bone, otolaryngology, ovarian, testicular, lung, pancreas, kidney, and liver transplantation

    Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) in sport and exercise: Systematic review and future perspectives

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    Background Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) is a general concept that includes all methodologies used in the analysis of the bioelectrical vector, whereas the "classic" BIVA is a patented methodology included among these methods of analysis. Once this was clarified, the systematic review of the literature provides a deeper insight into the scope and range of application of BIVA in sport and exercise. Objective The main goal of this work was to systematically review the sources on the applications of BIVA in sport and exercise and to examine its usefulness and suitability as a technique for the evaluation of body composition, hydration status, and other physiological and clinical relevant characteristics, ultimately to trace future perspectives in this growing area, including a proposal for a research agenda. Methods Systematic literature searches in PubMed, SPORTDiscus and Scopus databases up to July, 2017 were conducted on any empirical investigations using phase-sensitive bioimpedance instruments to perform BIVA within exercise and sport contexts. The search included healthy sedentary individuals, physically active subjects and athletes. Result Nineteen eligible papers were included and classified as sixteen original articles and three scientific conference communications. Three studies analysed short-term variations in the hydration status evoked by exercise/training through whole-body measurements, eleven assessed whole-body body composition changes induced by long-term exercise, four compared athletic groups or populations using the whole-body assessment, and two analysed bioelectrical patterns of athletic injuries or muscle damage through localised bioimpedance measurements. Conclusions BIVA is a relatively new technique that has potential in sport and exercise, especially for the assessment of soft-tissue injury. On the other hand, the current tolerance ellipses of “classic” BIVA are not a valid method to identify dehydration in individual athletes and a new approach is needed. “Specific” BIVA, a method which proposes a correction of bioelectrical values for body geometry, emerges as the key to overcome “classic” BIVA limitations regarding the body composition assessment. Further research establishing standardised testing procedures and investigating the relationship between physiology and the bioelectrical signal in sport and exercise is needed. © 2018 Castizo-Olier et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Scopu

    Anomalous diffusion on crumpled wires in two dimensions

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    It is investigated the statistical properties of random walks evolving on real configurations of a crumpled wire rigidly jammed in two dimensions. These crumpled hierarchical structures with complex topology are obtained from a metallic wire injected at a constant rate into a transparent planar cell of 20cm of diameter. The observed diffusion is anomalous with an exponent very close to that obtained at the threshold of two dimensional percolation. A comparison of the system studied in this paper with other systems of physical interest is also made, and an experimental consequence of our results is discussed.Comment: 10 pages including 4 figures. Physica A (2006). Preprin

    Acoustic Black Holes from Abelian Higgs Model with Lorentz Symmetry Breaking

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    In this paper we derive acoustic black hole metrics in the (3+1) and (2+1)-dimensional Abelian Higgs model with Lorentz symmetry breaking. In this set up the sound waves lose the Lorentz boost invariance and suffer a 'birefringence' effect. We have found acoustic black holes and respective Hawking temperatures depending on the Lorentz violating parameter. Furthermore, we obtain an acoustic Kerr-like black hole metric with the Lorentz violating term affecting its rate of loss of mass. We also have shown that for suitable values of the Lorentz violating parameter a wider spectrum of particle wave function can be scattered with increased amplitude by the acoustic black hole.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, no figures, version accepted to Phys. Lett.

    Flavonoids patterns of French honeys with different floral origin

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    The flavonoid profiles of 12 different unifloral French honey samples were analysed by HPLC to evaluate if these substances could be used as markers of the floral origin of honey. In this analysis, the characteristic flavonoids from propolis and/or beeswax (chrysin, galangin, tectochrysin, pinocembrin and pinobanksin) were separated from those originating mainly from nectar and/or pollen (polyhydroxylated flavonoid aglycones), which would be related to their floral origin. All the analysed samples contained a common flavonoid profile consisting of polyhydroxylated flavonoid aglycones including 8-methoxykaempferol, kaempferol, quercetin, isorhamnetin, luteolin and apigenin, suggesting that flavonoid analysis does not generally prove differences between French monofloral honey samples. However, some individual honey samples showed potential floral markers. Thus, heather honey was characterized by the presence of myricetin, calluna honey by ellagic acid and citrus honey by the flavanone hesperetin. In other samples, the relative amount of 1 individual flavonoid could be related to the floral origin. Thus, sunflower honeys contained an important relative amount of quercetin, and in alder honey only 8-methoxykaempferol was detected. This preliminary study shows that flavonoid and phenolic compound analyses could be a very valuable complementary biochemical technique in the objective determination of the floral origin of some specific monofloral honey samples, but further studies with a larger number of samples is necessary to confirm the observed differences

    Submarine radial vents on Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawai'i

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    A 2002 multibeam sonar survey of Mauna Loa's western flank revealed ten submarine radial vents and three submarine lava flows. Only one submarine radial vent was known previously. The ages of these vents are constrained by eyewitness accounts, geologic relationships, Mn-Fe coatings, and geochemical stratigraphy; they range from 128 years B.P. to possibly 47 ka. Eight of the radial vents produced degassed lavas despite eruption in water depths sufficient to inhibit sulfur degassing. These vents formed truncated cones and short lava flows. Two vents produced undegassed lavas that created ''irregular'' cones and longer lava flows. Compositionally and isotopically, the submarine radial vent lavas are typical of Mauna Loa lavas, except two cones that erupted alkalic lavas. He-Sr isotopes for the radial vent lavas follow Mauna Loa's evolutionary trend. The compositional and isotopic heterogeneity of these lavas indicates most had distinct parental magmas. Bathymetry and acoustic backscatter results, along with photography and sampling during four JASON2 dives, are used to produce a detailed geologic map to evaluate Mauna Loa's submarine geologic history. The new map shows that the 1877 submarine eruption was much larger than previously thought, resulting in a 10% increase for recent volcanism. Furthermore, although alkalic lavas were found at two radial vents, there is no systematic increase in alkalinity among these or other Mauna Loa lavas as expected for a dying volcano. These results refute an interpretation that Mauna Loa's volcanism is waning. The submarine radial vents and flows cover 29 km 2 of seafloor and comprise a total volume of ∌2 × 10 9 m3 of lava, reinforcing the idea that submarine lava eruptions are important in the growth of oceanic island volcanoes even after they emerged above sea level

    Precise determination of the Wtb couplings at LHC

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    Top pair production at LHC is the ideal place to search for nonstandard Wtb couplings in t -> W b -> l nu b decays. The lb forward-backward asymmetry in the W rest frame is very sensitive to sigma_{mu nu} couplings, and can spot one-loop QCD corrections to the decay vertex with more than 5 sigma statistical significance. We discuss the potential of this asymmetry to signal nonstandard gamma_mu and sigma_{mu nu} couplings and compare with top-antitop spin correlation asymmetries, which have a lower sensitivity. We also briefly summarise the results for Tevatron.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 2 PS figures. One reference added. To be published in PR
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