192 research outputs found
Feed-Forward Inhibition of Androgen Receptor Activity by Glucocorticoid Action in Human Adipocytes
SummaryWe compared transcriptomes of terminally differentiated mouse 3T3-L1 and human adipocytes to identify cell-specific differences. Gene expression and high content analysis (HCA) data identified the androgen receptor (AR) as both expressed and functional, exclusively during early human adipocyte differentiation. The AR agonist dihydrotestosterone (DHT) inhibited human adipocyte maturation by downregulation of adipocyte marker genes, but not in 3T3-L1. It is interesting that AR induction corresponded with dexamethasone activation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR); however, when exposed to the differentiation cocktail required for adipocyte maturation, AR adopted an antagonist conformation and was transcriptionally repressed. To further explore effectors within the cocktail, we applied an image-based support vector machine (SVM) classification scheme to show that adipocyte differentiation components inhibit AR action. The results demonstrate human adipocyte differentiation, via GR activation, upregulates AR but also inhibits AR transcriptional activity
Walks4work: Rationale and study design to investigate walking at lunchtime in the workplace setting
Background: Following recruitment of a private sector company, an 8week lunchtime walking intervention was implemented to examine the effect of the intervention on modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors, and further to see if walking environment had any further effect on the cardiovascular disease risk factors. Methods. For phase 1 of the study participants were divided into three groups, two lunchtime walking intervention groups to walk around either an urban or natural environment twice a week during their lunch break over an 8week period. The third group was a waiting-list control who would be invited to join the walking groups after phase 1. In phase 2 all participants were encouraged to walk during their lunch break on self-selecting routes. Health checks were completed at baseline, end of phase 1 and end of phase 2 in order to measure the impact of the intervention on cardiovascular disease risk. The primary outcome variables of heart rate and heart rate variability were measured to assess autonomic function associated with cardiovascular disease. Secondary outcome variables (Body mass index, blood pressure, fitness, autonomic response to a stressor) related to cardiovascular disease were also measured. The efficacy of the intervention in increasing physical activity was objectively monitored throughout the 8-weeks using an accelerometer device. Discussion. The results of this study will help in developing interventions with low researcher input with high participant output that may be implemented in the workplace. If effective, this study will highlight the contribution that natural environments can make in the reduction of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors within the workplace. © 2012 Brown et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Double hadron leptoproduction in the nuclear medium
First measurement of double-hadron production in deep-inelastic scattering
has been measured with the HERMES spectrometer at HERA using a 27.6 GeV
positron beam with deuterium, nitrogen, krypton and xenon targets. The
influence of the nuclear medium on the ratio of double-hadron to single-hadron
yields has been investigated. Nuclear effects are clearly observed but with
substantially smaller magnitude and reduced -dependence compared to
previously measured single-hadron multiplicity ratios. The data are in fair
agreement with models based on partonic or pre-hadronic energy loss, while they
seem to rule out a pure absorptive treatment of the final state interactions.
Thus, the double-hadron ratio provides an additional tool for studying
modifications of hadronization in nuclear matter
Quark helicity distributions in the nucleon for up, down, and strange quarks from semi--inclusive deep--inelastic scattering
Polarized deep--inelastic scattering data on longitudinally polarized
hydrogen and deuterium targets have been used to determine double spin
asymmetries of cross sections. Inclusive and semi--inclusive asymmetries for
the production of positive and negative pions from hydrogen were obtained in a
re--analysis of previously published data. Inclusive and semi--inclusive
asymmetries for the production of negative and positive pions and kaons were
measured on a polarized deuterium target. The separate helicity densities for
the up and down quarks and the anti--up, anti--down, and strange sea quarks
were computed from these asymmetries in a ``leading order'' QCD analysis. The
polarization of the up--quark is positive and that of the down--quark is
negative. All extracted sea quark polarizations are consistent with zero, and
the light quark sea helicity densities are flavor symmetric within the
experimental uncertainties. First and second moments of the extracted quark
helicity densities in the measured range are consistent with fits of inclusive
data
Exclusive Leptoproduction of rho^0 Mesons from Hydrogen at Intermediate Virtual Photon Energies
Measurements of the cross section for exclusive virtual-photoproduction of
rho^0 mesons from hydrogen are reported. The data were collected by the HERMES
experiment using 27.5 GeV positrons incident on a hydrogen gas target in the
HERA storage ring. The invariant mass W of the photon-nucleon system ranges
from 4.0 to 6.0 GeV, while the negative squared four-momentum Q^2 of the
virtual photon varies from 0.7 to 5.0 GeV^2. The present data together with
most of the previous data at W > 4 GeV are well described by a model that
infers the W-dependence of the cross section from the dependence on the Bjorken
scaling variable x of the unpolarized structure function for deep-inelastic
scattering. In addition, a model calculation based on Off-Forward Parton
Distributions gives a fairly good account of the longitudinal component of the
rho^0 production cross section for Q^2 > 2 GeV^2.Comment: 10 pages, 6 embedded figures, LaTeX for SVJour(epj) document class.
Revisions: curves added to Fig. 1, several clarifications added to tex
Evidence for a narrow |S|=1 baryon state at a mass of 1528 MeV in quasi-real photoproduction
Evidence for a narrow baryon state is found in quasi-real photoproduction on
a deuterium target through the decay channel p K^0_S --> p pi^+ pi^-. A peak is
observed in the p K^0_S invariant mass spectrum at 1528 +/- 2.6 (stat) +/-2.1
(syst) MeV. Depending on the background model,the naive statistical
significance of the peak is 4--6 standard deviations and its width may be
somewhat larger than the experimental resolution of sigma=4.3 -- 6.2 MeV. This
state may be interpreted as the predicted S=+1 exotic Theta^{+}(uuddbar(s))
pentaquark baryon. No signal for an hypothetical Theta^{++} baryon was observed
in the pK^+ invariant mass distribution. The absence of such a signal indicates
that an isotensor Theta is excluded and an isovector Theta is unlikely.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Homeostatic levels of SRC-2 and SRC-3 promote early human adipogenesis
Individual or joint knockdown of the transcriptional coactivators SRC-2 and SRC-3 inhibits lipid accumulation in adipocytes by decreasing PPARγ activity
Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at TeV
The -differential production cross sections of the prompt (B
feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D, D, and D in the rapidity
range , and for transverse momentum GeV/, were
measured in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ALICE
detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic
decays DK, DK, DD, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a
nb event sample collected in 2011 with a
minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space
the -differential production cross sections at TeV
and our previous measurements at TeV. The results were compared
to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of
cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307
Design and Deploying Tools to ‘Actively Engaging Nature’: The My Naturewatch Project as an Agent for Engagement
‘Shifting Baseline Syndrome’ is highly apparent in the context of
generational shifts in work and life patterns that reduce interaction with and knowledge of the natural world, and therefore expectations of it. This is exacerbated by changes in the natural world itself due to climate change, biodiversity decline and a range of anthropogenic factors. Distributed and accessible technologies,
and grass roots approaches provide fresh opportunities for interactions, which enable active engagement in ecological scenarios. The My NatureWatch project uses digital devices to collect visual content about UK wildlife, promoting ‘active engagements with nature’. The project embodies Inclusive
Design in the Digital Age, as the activity; engages a wide demographic community, can be used by all, provided user led agency and produced methodological design lessons.
The article frames My Naturewatch as an agent for active designed engagements with nature. The research objective is to comprehend ‘how to design tools for positive nature engagement’ holding value for; (1) academic communities as validated methodologies (2) the public through access to enabling technologies, content and knowledge (3) industry in the form of new; experiences, engagements and commerce. The approach is specifically designed to yield insights from a multitude of engagements, through the deployment of accessible, lowcost products. Project reporting documents the benefits, pitfalls and opportunities in the aforementioned engagement uncovered through design-led approaches. Insights are gathered from public/community facing workshops, wildlife experts, ecologists, economists, educators and wildlife NGO’s. The engagement methodologies are compared highlighting which initiative yielded ‘Active Engagement with Nature’
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