75 research outputs found
Meson-induced correlations of nucleons in nuclear Compton scattering
The non-resonant (seagull) contribution to the nuclear Compton amplitude at
low energies is strongly influenced by nucleon correlations arising from meson
exchange. We study this problem in a modified Fermi gas model, where nuclear
correlation functions are obtained with the help of perturbation theory. The
dependence of the mesonic seagull amplitude on the nuclear radius is
investigated and the influence of a realistic nuclear density on this amplitude
is dicussed. We found that different form factors appear for the static part
(proportional to the enhancement constant ) of the mesonic seagull
amplitude and for the parts, which contain the contribution from
electromagnetic polarizabilities.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, epsf.sty, 9 eps figures
Phase Synchronization in Railway Timetables
Timetable construction belongs to the most important optimization problems in
public transport. Finding optimal or near-optimal timetables under the
subsidiary conditions of minimizing travel times and other criteria is a
targeted contribution to the functioning of public transport. In addition to
efficiency (given, e.g., by minimal average travel times), a significant
feature of a timetable is its robustness against delay propagation. Here we
study the balance of efficiency and robustness in long-distance railway
timetables (in particular the current long-distance railway timetable in
Germany) from the perspective of synchronization, exploiting the fact that a
major part of the trains run nearly periodically. We find that synchronization
is highest at intermediate-sized stations. We argue that this synchronization
perspective opens a new avenue towards an understanding of railway timetables
by representing them as spatio-temporal phase patterns. Robustness and
efficiency can then be viewed as properties of this phase pattern
Reconstruction of cellular variability from spatiotemporal patterns of Dictyostelium discoideum
Variability in cell properties can be an important driving mechanism behind spatiotemporal patterns in biological systems, as the degree of cell-to-cell differences determines the capacity of cells to locally synchronize and, consequently, form patterns on a larger spatial scale. In principle, certain features of spatial patterns emerging with time may be regulated by variability or, more specifically, by certain constellations of cell-to-cell differences. Similarly, measuring variability in a system (i.e. the spatial distribution of cell-cell differences) may help predict properties of later-stage patterns
Polarization degrees of freedom in photoinduced two-nucleon knockout from finite nuclei
The polarization degrees of freedom in photoinduced two-nucleon knockout from
finite nuclei are studied. It is pointed out that they open good perspectives
to study the dynamics of dinucleons in the medium in detail. The ()
and () angular cross sections, photon asymmetries and outgoing
nucleon polarizations are calculated for the target nuclei O and
C and photonenergies ranging from 100 up to 500 MeV. It is investigated
to which degree the two-nucleon emission reaction is dominated by
photoabsorption on proton-neutron and proton-proton
pairs in the nuclear medium. The calculations demonstrate that dominance of
wave photoabsorption in the () channel does not necessarily imply
that the reaction mechanism is similar to what is observed in deuteron
photodisintegration.Comment: 27 pages, REVTeX 3.0 with epsf.sty, 11 figures in EPS forma
Critical synchronization dynamics of the Kuramoto model on connectome and small world graphs
The hypothesis, that cortical dynamics operates near criticality also
suggests, that it exhibits universal critical exponents which marks the
Kuramoto equation, a fundamental model for synchronization, as a prime
candidate for an underlying universal model. Here, we determined the
synchronization behavior of this model by solving it numerically on a large,
weighted human connectome network, containing 804092 nodes, in an assumed
homeostatic state. Since this graph has a topological dimension , a real
synchronization phase transition is not possible in the thermodynamic limit,
still we could locate a transition between partially synchronized and
desynchronized states. At this crossover point we observe power-law--tailed
synchronization durations, with , away from experimental
values for the brain. For comparison, on a large two-dimensional lattice,
having additional random, long-range links, we obtain a mean-field value:
. However, below the transition of the connectome we
found global coupling control-parameter dependent exponents ,
overlapping with the range of human brain experiments. We also studied the
effects of random flipping of a small portion of link weights, mimicking a
network with inhibitory interactions, and found similar results. The
control-parameter dependent exponent suggests extended dynamical criticality
below the transition point.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures + Supplemenraty material pdf 2 pages 4 figs, 1
table, accepted version in Scientific Report
The diagnostic value of endoscopy and Helicobacter pylori tests for peptic ulcer patients in late post-treatment setting
BACKGROUND: Guidelines for management of peptic ulcer patients after the treatment are largely directed to detection of H. pylori infection using only non-invasive tests. We compared the diagnostic value of non-invasive and endoscopy based H. pylori tests in a late post-treatment setting. METHODS: Altogether 34 patients with dyspeptic complaints were referred for gastroscopy 5 years after the treatment of peptic ulcer using a one-week triple therapy scheme. The endoscopic and histologic findings were evaluated according to the Sydney classification. Bacteriological, PCR and cytological investigations and (13)C-UBT tests were performed. RESULTS: Seventeen patients were defined H. pylori positive by (13)C-UBT test, PCR and histological examination. On endoscopy, peptic ulcer persisted in 4 H. pylori positive cases. Among the 6 cases with erosions of the gastric mucosa, only two patients were H. pylori positive. Mucosal atrophy and intestinal metaplasia were revealed both in the H. pylori positive and H. pylori negative cases. Bacteriological examination revealed three clarithromycin resistant H. pylori strains. Cytology failed to prove validity for diagnosing H. pylori in a post-treatment setting. CONCLUSIONS: In a late post-treatment setting, patients with dyspepsia should not be monitored only by non-invasive investigation methods; it is also justified to use the classical histological evaluation of H. pylori colonisation, PCR and bacteriology as they have shown good concordance with (13)C-UBT. Moreover, endoscopy and histological investigation of a gastric biopsy have proved to be the methods with an additional diagnostic value, providing the physician with information about inflammatory, atrophic and metaplastic lesions of the stomach in dyspeptic H. pylori positive and negative patients. Bacteriological methods are suggested for detecting the putative antimicrobial resistance of H. pylori, aimed at successful eradication of infection in persistent peptic ulcer cases
Boolean analysis reveals systematic interactions among low-abundance species in the human gut microbiome
The analysis of microbiome compositions in the human gut has gained increasing interest due to the broader availability of data and functional databases and substantial progress in data analysis methods, but also due to the high relevance of the microbiome in human health and disease. While most analyses infer interactions among highly abundant species, the large number of low-abundance species has received less attention. Here we present a novel analysis method based on Boolean operations applied to microbial co-occurrence patterns. We calibrate our approach with simulated data based on a dynamical Boolean network model from which we interpret the statistics of attractor states as a theoretical proxy for microbiome composition. We show that for given fractions of synergistic and competitive interactions in the model our Boolean abundance analysis can reliably detect these interactions. Analyzing a novel data set of 822 microbiome compositions of the human gut, we find a large number of highly significant synergistic interactions among these low-abundance species, forming a connected network, and a few isolated competitive interactions
Consistency analysis of metabolic correlation networks
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metabolic correlation networks are derived from the covariance of metabolites in replicates of metabolomics experiments. They constitute an interesting intermediate between topology (i.e. the system's architecture defined by the set of reactions between metabolites) and dynamics (i.e. the metabolic concentrations observed as fluctuations around steady-state values in the metabolic network).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we analyze, how such a correlation network changes over time, and compare the relative positions of metabolites in the correlation networks with those in established metabolic networks derived from genome databases. We find that network similarity indeed decreases with an increasing time difference between these networks during a day/night course and, counter intuitively, that proximity of metabolites in the correlation network is no indicator of proximity of the metabolites in the metabolic network.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The organizing principles of correlation networks are distinct from those of metabolic reaction maps. Time courses of correlation networks may in the future prove an important data source for understanding these organizing principles.</p
Evaluation of the functional efficacy of an antioxidative probiotic in healthy volunteers
BACKGROUND: In persons without clinical symptom it is difficult to assess an impact of probiotics regarding its effect on health. We evaluated the functional efficacy of the probiotic Lactobacillus fermentum ME-3 in healthy volunteers by measuring the influence of two different formulations on intestinal lactoflora, fecal recovery of the probiotic strain and oxidative stress markers of blood and urine after 3 weeks consumption. METHODS: Two 3-week healthy volunteer trials were performed. Open placebo controlled (OPC) study participants (n = 21) consumed either goat milk or by L. fermentum ME-3 fermented goat milk (daily dose 11.8 log CFU (Colony Forming Units). Double blind randomised placebo controlled (DBRP) study participants (n = 24) received either capsules with L. fermentum ME-3 (daily of dose 9.2 CFU) or placebo capsules. The faecal lactoflora composition, faecal ME-3 recovery, effect of the consumption on intestinal lactoflora, and oxidative stress markers of blood (total antioxidative activity; total antioxidative status and glutathione red-ox ratio) was measured. RESULTS: ME-3 was well tolerated and a significant increase in total faecal lactobacilli yet no predominance of ME-3 was detected in all study groups. Faecal recovery of ME-3 was documented by molecular methods only in fermented milk group, however the significant improvement of blood TAA (Total Antioxidative Activity) and TAS (Total Antioxidative Status) indices was seen both in case of fermented goat milk and capsules", yet glutathione re-ox ratio values decreased only in case of fermented by ME-3 goat milk. CONCLUSION: The functional efficacy of both consumed formulations of an antioxidative probiotic L. fermentum ME-3 is proved by the increase of the intestinal lactobacilli counts providing putative defence against enteric infections and by reduction of the oxidative stress indices of blood and urine of healthy volunteers. In non-diseased host the probiotic health claims can be assessed by improvement of some measurable laboratory indices of well-established physiological functions of host, e.g. markers of antioxidative defence system
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