4,820 research outputs found
Antibiotics in early life and childhood pre-B-ALL. Reasons to analyze a possible new piece in the puzzle
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer with precursor B-cell ALL (pB-ALL) accounting for~85% of the cases. Childhood pB-ALL development is infuenced by genetic susceptibility and host immune
responses. The role of the intestinal microbiome in leukemogenesis is gaining increasing attention since Vicente-Dueñas’
seminal work demonstrated that the gut microbiome is distinct in mice genetically predisposed to ALL and that the alteration of this microbiome by antibiotics is able to trigger pB-ALL in Pax5 heterozygous mice in the absence of infectious
stimuli. In this review we provide an overview on novel insights on the role of the microbiome in normal and preleukemic hematopoiesis, infammation, the efect of dysbiosis on hematopoietic stem cells and the emerging importance of
the innate immune responses in the conversion from preleukemic to leukemic state in childhood ALL. Since antibiotics,
which represent one of the most widely used medical interventions, alter the gut microbial composition and can cause a
state of dysbiosis, this raises exciting epidemiological questions regarding the implications for antibiotic use in early life,
especially in infants with a a preleukemic “frst hit”. Sheading light through a rigorous study on this piece of the puzzle
may have broad implications for clinical practice
Charge current in ferromagnet - triplet superconductor junctions
We calculate the tunneling conductance spectra of a ferromagnetic metal /
insulator / triplet superconductor from the reflection amplitudes using the
Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) formula. For the triplet superconductor, we
assume one special -wave order parameter, having line nodes, and two two
dimensional -wave order parameters with line nodes, breaking the time
reversal symmetry. Also we examine nodeless pairing potentials. The evolution
of the spectra with the exchange potential depends solely on the topology of
the gap. The weak Andreev reflection within the ferromagnet results in the
suppression of the tunneling conductance and eliminates the resonances due to
the anisotropy of the pairing potential. The tunneling spectra splits
asymmetrically with respect to under the influence of an external
magnetic field. The results can be used to distinguish between the possible
candidate pairing states of the superconductor SrRuO.Comment: 15 pages with 8 figure
Linear response and collective oscillations in superconductors with d-wave pairing
Simple and physically transparent equations for the linear response of
layered superconductors with d-wave symmetry of the order parameter are derived
by means of the quasiclassic kinetic theory of superconductivity. Responses to
solenoidal and potential electric fields have different frequency dependencies.
The conductivity describing the response to the solenoidal field is limited by
the momentum relaxation, like in a normal metal. The response to the potential
electric field depends, in addition, on the branch imbalance relaxation rate.
The damping of plasma oscillations of superconducting electrons is determined
by dielectric relaxation and is small. Relaxation of branch imbalance
determined by elastic scattering is large enough to make the Carlson-Goldman
mode in d-wave superconductors overdamped.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figures, submitted to Physical Review
Thermoelectric prospects of nanomaterials with spin-orbit surface bands
Nanostructured composites and nanowire arrays of traditional thermoelectrics
like Bi, Bi(1-x)Sb(x) and Bi(2)Te(3) have metallic Rashba surface spin-orbit
bands featuring high mobilities rivaling that of the bulk for which topological
insulator behavior has been proposed. Nearly pure surface electronic transport
has been observed at low temperatures in Bi nanowires with diameter around the
critical diameter, 50 nm, for the semimetal-to semiconductor transition. The
surface contributes strongly to the thermopower, actually dominating for
temperatures T < 100 K in these nanowires. The surface thermopower was found to
be -1 T microvolt/(K^2), a value that is consistent with theory. We show that
surface electronic transport together with boundary phonon scattering leads to
enhanced thermoelectric performance at low temperatures of Bi nanowire arrays.
We compare with bulk n-BiSb alloys, optimized CsBi(4)Te(6) and optimized
Bi(2)Te(3). Surface dominated electronic transport can be expected in
nanomaterials of the other traditional thermoelectrics.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
Josephson effect in point contacts between ''f-wave'' superconductors
A stationary Josephson effect in point contacts between triplet
superconductors is analyzed theoretically for most probable models of the order
parameter in UPt_{3} and Sr_{2}RuO_{4}. The consequence of misorientation of
crystals in superconducting banks on this effect is considered. We show that
different models for the order parameter lead to quite different current-phase
dependences. For certain angles of misorientation a boundary between
superconductors can generate the parallel to surface spontaneous current. In a
number of cases the state with a zero Josephson current and minimum of the free
energy corresponds to a spontaneous phase difference. This phase difference
depends on the misorientation angle and may possess any value. We conclude that
experimental investigations of the current-phase dependences of small junctions
can be used for determination of the order parameter symmetry in the mentioned
above superconductors.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Testing the Higgs Mechanism in the Lepton Sector with multi-TeV e+e- Collisions
Multi-TeV e+e- collisions provide with a large enough sample of Higgs bosons
to enable measurements of its suppressed decays. Results of a detailed study of
the determination of the muon Yukawa coupling at 3 TeV, based on full detector
simulation and event reconstruction, are presented. The muon Yukawa coupling
can be determined with a relative accuracy of 0.04 to 0.08 for Higgs bosons
masses from 120 GeV to 150 GeV, with an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse-ab.
The result is not affected by overlapping two-photon background.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to J Phys G.: Nucl. Phy
Can Archival Tissue Reveal Answers to Modern Research Questions?: Computer-Aided Histological Assessment of Neuroblastoma Tumours Collected over 60 Years.
Despite neuroblastoma being the most common extracranial solid cancer in childhood, it is still a rare disease. Consequently, the unavailability of tissue for research limits the statistical power of studies. Pathology archives are possible sources of rare tissue, which, if proven to remain consistent over time, could prove useful to research of rare disease types. We applied immunohistochemistry to investigate whether long term storage caused any changes to antigens used diagnostically for neuroblastoma. We constructed and quantitatively assessed a tissue microarray containing neuroblastoma archival material dating between 1950 and 2007. A total of 119 neuroblastoma tissue cores were included spanning 6 decades. Fourteen antibodies were screened across the tissue microarray (TMA). These included seven positive neuroblastoma diagnosis markers (NB84, Chromogranin A, NSE, Ki-67, INI1, Neurofilament Protein, Synaptophysin), two anticipated to be negative (S100A, CD99), and five research antibodies (IL-7, IL-7R, JAK1, JAK3, STAT5). The staining of these antibodies was evaluated using Aperio ImageScope software along with novel pattern recognition and quantification algorithms. This analysis demonstrated that marker signal intensity did not decrease over time and that storage for 60 years had little effect on antigenicity. The construction and assessment of this neuroblastoma TMA has demonstrated the feasibility of using archival samples for research
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