6,882 research outputs found
Anti-phospholipid-antibodies in patients with relapsing polychondritis
Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is an extremly rare multisystemic disease thought to be of autoimmune origin. In order to assess if RP is associated with anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL), clinical data and sera of 21 patients with RP were collected in a multicentre study. Concentration of anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) (IgG-, IgM-and IgA-isotypes), anti-phosphatidylserine-antibodies (aPS) (IgG-and IgM-isotypes) and anti-β-2-glycoprotein I-antibodies (aβ2 GPI) were measured by ELISA. In eight patients aCL were found to be elevated. One patient had elevated aPS. No patient had elevated aβ2 GPI. No patient had clinical signs and symptoms of a aPL syndrome. Interestingly, the two RP patients with the highest aPL had concomitant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Therefore the presence of elevated aPL in RP is probably more closely related to an associated SLE than to RP itself. There is no convincing evidence that aPL are associated with RP
Ba3Ga3N5 - A Novel Host Lattice for Eu2+ - Doped Luminescent Materials with Unexpected Nitridogallate Substructure
The alkaline earth nitridogallate Ba3Ga3N5 was synthesized from the elements in a sodium flux at 760°C utilizing weld shut tantalum ampules. The crystal structure was solved and refined on the basis of single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Ba3Ga3N5 (space group C2/c (No. 15), a = 16.801(3), b = 8.3301(2), c = 11.623(2) Å, β = 109.92 (3)°, Z = 8) contains a hitherto unknown structural motif in nitridogallates, namely, infinite strands made up of GaN4 tetrahedra, each sharing two edges and at least one corner with neighboring GaN4 units. There are three Ba2+ sites with coordination numbers six or eight, respectively, and one Ba2+ position exhibiting a low coordination number 4 corresponding to a distorted tetrahedron. Eu2+ - doped samples show red luminescence when excited by UV irradiation at room temperature. Luminescence investigations revealed a maximum emission intensity at 638 nm (FWHM =2123 cm−1). Ba3Ga3N5 is the first nitridogallate for which parity allowed broadband emission due to Eu2+ - doping has been found. The electronic structure of both Ba3Ga3N5 as well as isoelectronic but not isostructural Sr3Ga3N5 was investigated by DFT methods. The calculations revealed a band gap of 1.53 eV for Sr3Ga3N5 and 1.46 eV for Ba3Ga3N5
Non-perturbative electron dynamics in crossed fields
Intense AC electric fields on semiconductor structures have been studied in
photon-assisted tunneling experiments with magnetic field applied either
parallel (B_par) or perpendicular (B_per) to the interfaces. We examine here
the electron dynamics in a double quantum well when intense AC electric fields
F, and tilted magnetic fields are applied simultaneously. The problem is
treated non-perturbatively by a time-dependent Hamiltonian in the effective
mass approximation, and using a Floquet-Fourier formalism. For B_par=0, the
quasi-energy spectra show two types of crossings: those related to different
Landau levels, and those associated to dynamic localization (DL), where the
electron is confined to one of the wells, despite the non-negligible tunneling
between wells. B_par couples parallel and in-plane motions producing
anti-crossings in the spectrum. However, since our approach is
non-perturbative, we are able to explore the entire frequency range. For high
frequencies, we reproduce the well known results of perfect DL given by zeroes
of a Bessel function. We find also that the system exhibits DL at the same
values of the field F, even as B_par non-zero, suggesting a hidden dynamical
symmetry in the system which we identify with different parity operations. The
return times for the electron at various values of field exhibit interesting
and complex behavior which is also studied in detail. We find that smaller
frequencies shifts the DL points to lower field F, and more importantly, yields
poorer localization by the field. We analyze the explicit time evolution of the
system, monitoring the elapsed time to return to a given well for each Landau
level, and find non-monotonic behavior for decreasing frequencies.Comment: REVTEX4 + 11 eps figs, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Postural Sway in Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis Patients During Tasks With Different Complexity
Neurological diseases are associated with static postural instability. Differences in postural sway between neurological diseases could include “conceptual” information about how certain symptoms affect static postural stability. This information might have the potential to become a helpful aid during the process of finding the most appropriate treatment and training program. Therefore, this study investigated static postural sway performance of Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, as well as of a cohort of healthy adults. Three increasingly difficult static postural tasks were performed, in order to determine whether the postural strategies of the two disease groups differ in response to the increased complexity of the balance task. Participants had to perform three stance tasks (side-by-side, semi-tandem and tandem stance) and maintain these positions for 10 s. Seven static sway parameters were extracted from an inertial measurement unit that participants wore on the lower back. Data of 47 healthy adults, 14 PD patients and 8 MS patients were analyzed. Both healthy adults and MS patients showed a substantial increase in several static sway parameters with increasingly complex stance tasks, whereas PD patients did not. In the MS patients, the observed substantial change was driven by large increases from semi-tandem and tandem stance. This study revealed differences in static sway adaptations between PD and MS patients to increasingly complex stance tasks. Therefore, PD and MS patients might require different training programs to improve their static postural stability. Moreover, this study indicates, at least indirectly, that rigidity/bradykinesia and spasticity lead to different adaptive processes in static sway
Open and Hidden Charm Production in 920 GeV Proton-Nucleus Collisions
The HERA-B collaboration has studied the production of charmonium and open
charm states in collisions of 920 GeV protons with wire targets of different
materials. The acceptance of the HERA-B spectrometer covers negative values of
xF up to xF=-0.3 and a broad range in transverse momentum from 0.0 to 4.8
GeV/c. The studies presented in this paper include J/psi differential
distributions and the suppression of J/psi production in nuclear media.
Furthermore, production cross sections and cross section ratios for open charm
mesons are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the 6th
International Conference on Hyperons, Charm & Beauty Hadrons (BEACH04),
Chicago, IL, June 27 - July 3, 200
Li14Ln5[Si11N19O5]O2F2 with Ln = Ce, Nd-Representatives of a Family of Potential Lithium Ion Conductors
The isotypic layered oxonitridosilicates Li14Ln5[Si11N19O5]O2F2 (Ln = Ce, Nd) have been synthesized using Li as fluxing agent and crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Pmmn (Z = 2, Li14Ce5[Si11N19O5]O2F2: a = 17.178(3), b = 7.6500(15), c = 10.116(2) Å, R1 = 0.0409, wR2 = 0.0896; Li14Nd5 Si11N19O5]O2F2: a = 17.126(2), b = 7.6155 15), c = 10.123(2) Å, R1 = 0.0419, wR2 = 0.0929). The silicate layers consist of dreier and sechser rings interconnected via common corners, yielding an unprecedented silicate substructure. A topostructural analysis indicates possible 1D ion migration pathways between five crystallographic independent Li positions. The specific Li-ionic conductivity and its temperature dependence were determined by impedance spectroscopy as well as DC polarization/depolarization measurements. The ionic conductivity is on the order of 5 ×
10−5 S/cm at 300°C, while the activation energy is 0.69 eV. Further adjustments of the defect chemistry (e.g., through doping)can make these compounds interesting candidates for novel oxonitridosilicate based ion conductors
Search for the Flavor-Changing Neutral Current Decay with the HERA-B Detector
We report on a search for the flavor-changing neutral current decay using events recorded with a dimuon trigger in
interactions of 920 GeV protons with nuclei by the HERA-B experiment. We find
no evidence for such decays and set a 90% confidence level upper limit on the
branching fraction .Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures (of which 1 double), paper to be submitted to
Physics Letters
Measurement of the J/Psi Production Cross Section in 920 GeV/c Fixed-Target Proton-Nucleus Interactions
The mid-rapidity (dsigma_(pN)/dy at y=0) and total sigma_(pN) production
cross sections of J/Psi mesons are measured in proton-nucleus interactions.
Data collected by the HERA-B experiment in interactions of 920 GeV/c protons
with carbon, titanium and tungsten targets are used for this analysis. The
J/Psi mesons are reconstructed by their decay into lepton pairs. The total
production cross section obtained is sigma_(pN)(J/Psi) = 663 +- 74 +- 46
nb/nucleon. In addition, our result is compared with previous measurements
Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA
Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton
centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality
Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of
37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D*
transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical
regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative
QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The
measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular
in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study
of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a
direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD
Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a
significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level
calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a
kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure
High-E_T dijet photoproduction at HERA
The cross section for high-E_T dijet production in photoproduction has been
measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 81.8
pb-1. The events were required to have a virtuality of the incoming photon,
Q^2, of less than 1 GeV^2 and a photon-proton centre-of-mass energy in the
range 142 < W < 293 GeV. Events were selected if at least two jets satisfied
the transverse-energy requirements of E_T(jet1) > 20 GeV and E_T(jet2) > 15 GeV
and pseudorapidity requirements of -1 < eta(jet1,2) < 3, with at least one of
the jets satisfying -1 < eta(jet) < 2.5. The measurements show sensitivity to
the parton distributions in the photon and proton and effects beyond
next-to-leading order in QCD. Hence these data can be used to constrain further
the parton densities in the proton and photon.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, 20 tables, including minor revisions from
referees. Accepted by Phys. Rev.
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