323 research outputs found
Prediction of Drug Loading in the Gelatin Matrix Using Computational Methods
The delivery of drugs is a topic of intense research activity in both academia and industry with potential for positive economic, health, and societal impacts. The selection of the appropriate formulation (carrier and drug) with optimal delivery is a challenge investigated by researchers in academia and industry, in which millions of dollars are invested annually. Experiments involving different carriers and determination of their capacity for drug loading are very time-consuming and therefore expensive; consequently, approaches that employ computational/theoretical chemistry to speed have the potential to make hugely beneficial economic, environmental, and health impacts through savings in costs associated with chemicals (and their safe disposal) and time. Here, we report the use of computational tools (data mining of the available literature, principal component analysis, hierarchical clustering analysis, partial least squares regression, autocovariance calculations, molecular dynamics simulations, and molecular docking) to successfully predict drug loading into model drug delivery systems (gelatin nanospheres). We believe that this methodology has the potential to lead to significant change in drug formulation studies across the world
Ergogenic and psychological effects of synchronous music during circuit-type exercise
This is the post print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below.Objectives: Motivational music when synchronized with movement has been found to improve performance in anaerobic and aerobic endurance tasks, although gender differences pertaining to the potential benefits of such music have seldom been investigated. The present study addresses the psychological and ergogenic effects of synchronous music during circuit-type exercise. Design: A mixed-model design was employed in which there was a within-subjects factor (two experimental conditions and a control) and a between-subjects factor (gender). Methods: Participants (N ÂŒ 26) performed six circuit-type exercises under each of three synchronous conditions: motivational music, motivationally-neutral (oudeterous) music, and a metronome control. Dependent measures comprised anaerobic endurance, which was assessed using the number of repetitions performed prior to the failure to maintain synchronicity, and post-task affect, which was assessed using Hardy and Rejeskiâs (1989) Feeling Scale. Mixed-model 3 (Condition) X 2 (Gender) ANOVAs, ANCOVAs, and MANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: Synchronous music did not elicit significant (p < .05) ergogenic or psychological effects in isolation; rather, significant (p < .05) Condition X Gender interaction effects emerged for both total repetitions and mean affect scores. Women and men showed differential affective responses to synchronous music and men responded more positively than women to metronomic regulation of their movements. Women derived the greatest overall benefit from both music conditions. Conclusions: Men may place greater emphasis on the metronomic regulation of movement than the remaining, extra-rhythmical, musical qualities. Men and women appear to exhibit differential responses in terms of affective responses to synchronous music
Recent developments in unconventional superconductivity theory
The review of recent developments in the unconventional superconductivity
theory is given. In the fist part I consider the physical origin of the Kerr
rotation polarization of light reflected from the surface of superconducting
. Then the comparison of magneto-optical responses in
superconductors with orbital and spin spontaneous magnetization is presented.
The latter result is applied to the estimation of the magneto-optical
properties of neutral superfluids with spontaneous magnetization. The second
part is devoted to the natural optical activity or gyrotropy properties of
noncentrosymmetric metals in their normal and superconducting states. The
temperature behavior of the gyrotropy coefficient is compared with the
temperature behavior of paramagnetic susceptibility determining the noticeable
increase of the paramagnetic limiting field in noncentrosymmetric
superconductors. In the last chapter I describe the order parameter and the
symmetry of superconducting state in the itinerant ferromagnet with
orthorhombic symmetry. Finally the Josephson coupling between two adjacent
ferromagnet superconducting domains is discussed.Comment: 15 page
Typicality versus thermality: An analytic distinction
In systems with a large degeneracy of states such as black holes, one expects
that the average value of probe correlation functions will be well approximated
by the thermal ensemble. To understand how correlation functions in individual
microstates differ from the canonical ensemble average and from each other, we
study the variances in correlators. Using general statistical considerations,
we show that the variance between microstates will be exponentially suppressed
in the entropy. However, by exploiting the analytic properties of correlation
functions we argue that these variances are amplified in imaginary time,
thereby distinguishing pure states from the thermal density matrix. We
demonstrate our general results in specific examples and argue that our results
apply to the microstates of black holes.Comment: 22 pages + appendices, 3 eps figure
Molecular dynamics simulation of the order-disorder phase transition in solid NaNO
We present molecular dynamics simulations of solid NaNO using pair
potentials with the rigid-ion model. The crystal potential surface is
calculated by using an \emph{a priori} method which integrates the \emph{ab
initio} calculations with the Gordon-Kim electron gas theory. This approach is
carefully examined by using different population analysis methods and comparing
the intermolecular interactions resulting from this approach with those from
the \emph{ab initio} Hartree-Fock calculations. Our numerics shows that the
ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition in solid NaNO is triggered by
rotation of the nitrite ions around the crystallographical c axis, in agreement
with recent X-ray experiments [Gohda \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{63},
14101 (2000)]. The crystal-field effects on the nitrite ion are also addressed.
Remarkable internal charge-transfer effect is found.Comment: RevTeX 4.0, 11 figure
Hole concentration and phonon renormalization in Ca-doped YBa_2Cu_3O_y (6.76 < y < 7.00)
In order to access the overdoped regime of the YBa_2Cu_3O_y phase diagram, 2%
Ca is substituted for Y in YBa_2Cu_3O_y (y = 7.00,6.93,6.88,6.76). Raman
scattering studies have been carried out on these four single crystals.
Measurements of the superconductivity-induced renormalization in frequency
(Delta \omega) and linewidth (\Delta 2\gamma) of the 340 cm^{-1} B_{1g} phonon
demonstrate that the magnitude of the renormalization is directly related to
the hole concentration (p), and not simply the oxygen content. The changes in
\Delta \omega with p imply that the superconducting gap (\Delta_{max})
decreases monotonically with increasing hole concentration in the overdoped
regime, and \Delta \omega falls to zero in the underdoped regime. The linewidth
renormalization \Delta 2\gamma is negative in the underdoped regime, crossing
over at optimal doping to a positive value in the overdoped state.Comment: 18 pages; 5 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. B Oct. 24, 2002 (BX8292
Fibulin-3 is necessary to prevent cardiac rupture following myocardial infarction
Published online: 11 September 2023Despite the high prevalence of heart failure in the western world, there are few effective treatments. Fibulin-3 is a protein involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) structural integrity, however its role in the heart is unknown. We have demonstrated, using single cell RNA-seq, that fibulin-3 was highly expressed in quiescent murine cardiac fibroblasts, with expression highest prior to injury and late post-infarct (fromâ~âday-28 to week-8). In humans, fibulin-3 was upregulated in left ventricular tissue and plasma of heart failure patients. Fibulin-3 knockout (Efemp1-/-) and wildtype mice were subjected to experimental myocardial infarction. Fibulin-3 deletion resulted in significantly higher rate of cardiac rupture days 3-6 post-infarct, indicating a weak and poorly formed scar, with severe ventricular remodelling in surviving mice at day-28 post-infarct. Fibulin-3 knockout mice demonstrated less collagen deposition at day-3 post-infarct, with abnormal collagen fibre-alignment. RNA-seq on day-3 infarct tissue revealed upregulation of ECM degradation and inflammatory genes, but downregulation of ECM assembly/structure/organisation genes in fibulin-3 knockout mice. GSEA pathway analysis showed enrichment of inflammatory pathways and a depletion of ECM organisation pathways. Fibulin-3 originates from cardiac fibroblasts, is upregulated in human heart failure, and is necessary for correct ECM organisation/structural integrity of fibrotic tissue to prevent cardiac rupture post-infarct.Lucy A. Murtha, Sean A. Hardy, Nishani S. Mabotuwana, Mark J. Bigland, Taleah Bailey, Kalyan Raguram, Saifei Liu, Doan T. Ngo, Aaron L. Sverdlov, Tamara Tomin, Ruth Birner, Gruenberger, Robert D. Hume, Siiri E. Iismaa, David T. Humphreys, Ralph Patrick, James J. H. Chong, Randall J. Lee, Richard P. Harvey, Robert M. Graham, Peter P. Rainer and Andrew J. Boyl
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Energetic particle influence on the Earth's atmosphere
This manuscript gives an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the effects of energetic particle precipitation (EPP) onto the whole atmosphere, from the lower thermosphere/mesosphere through the stratosphere and troposphere, to the surface. The paper summarizes the different sources and energies of particles, principally
galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), solar energetic particles (SEPs) and energetic electron precipitation (EEP). All the proposed mechanisms by which EPP can affect the atmosphere
are discussed, including chemical changes in the upper atmosphere and lower thermosphere, chemistry-dynamics feedbacks, the global electric circuit and cloud formation. The role of energetic particles in Earthâs atmosphere is a multi-disciplinary problem that requires expertise from a range of scientific backgrounds. To assist with this synergy, summary tables are provided, which are intended to evaluate the level of current knowledge of the effects of energetic particles on processes in the entire atmosphere
Management of acute hypercortisolism
An occasional patient with Cushing's syndrome may require urgent management primarily because the chronic ravages of hypercortisolism have caused the patient to be in a precarious metabolic condition. The side effects of prolonged excess corticosteroids increase the risk of operations in such patients and must be considered in overall management. Among the many effects of hypercortisolism to be considered are hypertension, diabetes, ocular hypertension, myopathies, dermatologic changes including skin infection, pancreatitis, osteoporosis, pathological fractures, peptic ulcers, renal calculi, coagulopathies, hypokalemia, poor wound healing, and increased susceptibility to infection. The most effective way to avert these complications is by earlier diagnosis and definitive treatment of Cushing's syndrome. The present report includes a review of the etiology and diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome and the management of problems associated with hypercortisolism . Il est possible qu'un malade atteint de maladie de Cushing ait besoin d'ĂȘtre traitĂ© sans attente en raisons de troubles mĂ©taboliques sĂ©vĂšres dus aux effets nocifs de l'hypercortisolisme chronique qui augmentent les risques opĂ©ratoires et doivent ĂȘtre pris en considĂ©ration avant tout traitement. Il en est ainsi de l'hypertension, du diabĂšte, de l'hypertension intra-oculaire, des lĂ©sions dermiques comprenant l'infection cutanĂ©e, la pancrĂ©atite, l'ostĂ©oporose, les fractures pathologiques, l'ulcĂšre peptique, les calculs rĂ©naux, les coagulopathies, l'hypokaliĂ©mie, la lenteur du processus de cicatrisation et l'augmentation de la suceptibilitĂ© Ă l'infection.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41309/1/268_2005_Article_BF01655367.pd
The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes
This paper reviews the state of knowledge concerning the source of magnetospheric plasma at Earth. Source of plasma, its acceleration and transport throughout the system, its consequences on system dynamics, and its loss are all discussed. Both observational and modeling advances since the last time this subject was covered in detail (Hultqvist et al., Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses, 1999) are addressed
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