742 research outputs found
The Large Scale X-ray Emission from M87
We describe asymmetrical features in a long exposure X-ray map of M87 made
with the ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI). A bright triangular region is
marked by a linear `spur' along one edge. The structure of this spur suggests
an interpretation of a tangential view of a shock front 18 kpc long. None of
the brighter features are spatially coincident with radio or optical structures
so we concur with earlier investigators that most of the emission arises from
thermal processes.Comment: 6 pages latex, including 3 postscript figures. Uses psfig and
LAMUPHYS (Springer) macro. To be published in 'The M87 Ringberg Workshop',
September 1997, Springer Lecture Notes in Physics Series, Roeser and
Meisenheimer, ed
Supersymmetric solutions of PT-/non-PT-symmetric and non-Hermitian Screened Coulomb potential via Hamiltonian hierarchy inspired variational method
The supersymmetric solutions of PT-symmetric and Hermitian/non-Hermitian
forms of quantum systems are obtained by solving the Schrodinger equation for
the Exponential-Cosine Screened Coulomb potential. The Hamiltonian hierarchy
inspired variational method is used to obtain the approximate energy
eigenvalues and corresponding wave functions.Comment: 13 page
Theta angle versus CP violation in the leptonic sector
Assuming that the axion mechanism of solving the strong CP problem does not
exist and the vanishing of theta at tree level is achieved by some
model-building means, we study the naturalness of having large CP-violating
sources in the leptonic sector. We consider the radiative mechanisms which
transfer a possibly large CP-violating phase in the leptonic sector to the
theta parameter. It is found that large theta cannot be induced in the models
with one Higgs doublet as at least three loops are required in this case. In
the models with two or more Higgs doublets the dominant source of theta is the
phases in the scalar potential, induced by CP violation in leptonic sector.
Thus, in the MSSM framework the imaginary part of the trilinear soft-breaking
parameter A_l generates the corrections to the theta angle already at one loop.
These corrections are large, excluding the possibility of large phases, unless
the universality in the slepton sector is strongly violated.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Parathyroid hormone induces bone cell motility and loss of mature osteocyte phenotype through L-calcium channel dependent and independent mechanisms
Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) can exert both anabolic and catabolic effects on the skeleton, potentially through expression of the PTH type1 receptor (PTH1R), which is highly expressed in osteocytes. To determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible, we examined the effects of PTH on osteoblast to osteocyte differentiation using primary osteocytes and the IDG-SW3 murine cell line, which differentiate from osteoblast to osteocyte-like cells in vitro and express GFP under control of the dentin matrix 1 (Dmp1) promoter. PTH treatment resulted in an increase in some osteoblast and early osteocyte markers and a decrease in mature osteocyte marker expression. The gene expression profile of PTH-treated Day 28 IDG-SW3 cells was similar to PTH treated primary osteocytes. PTH treatment induced striking changes in the morphology of the Dmp1-GFP positive cells in IDG-SW3 cultures and primary cells from Dmp1-GFP transgenic mice. The cells changed from a more dendritic to an elongated morphology and showed increased cell motility. E11/gp38 has been shown to be important for cell migration, however, deletion of the E11/gp38/podoplanin gene had no effect on PTH-induced motility. The effects of PTH on motility were reproduced using cAMP, but not with protein kinase A (PKA), exchange proteins activated by cAMP (Epac), protein kinase C (PKC) or phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphonate 3-kinase (Pi3K) agonists nor were they blocked by their antagonists. However, the effects of PTH were mediated through calcium signaling, specifically through L-type channels normally expressed in osteoblasts but decreased in osteocytes. PTH was shown to increase expression of this channel, but decrease the T-type channel that is normally more highly expressed in osteocytes. Inhibition of L-type calcium channel activity attenuated the effects of PTH on cell morphology and motility but did not prevent the downregulation of mature osteocyte marker expression. Taken together, these results show that PTH induces loss of the mature osteocyte phenotype and promotes the motility of these cells. These two effects are mediated through different mechanisms. The loss of phenotype effect is independent and the cell motility effect is dependent on calcium signaling.Matthew Prideaux, Sarah L. Dallas, Ning Zhao, Erica D. Johnsrud, Patricia A. Veno, Dayong Guo, Yuji Mishina, Stephen E. Harris, Lynda F. Bonewal
Digital technology and governance in transition: The case of the British Library
Comment on the organizational consequences of the new information and communications technologies (ICTs) is pervaded by a powerful imagery of disaggregation and a tendency for ?virtual? forms of production to be seen as synonymous with the ?end? of bureaucracy. This paper questions the underlying assumptions of the ?virtual organization?, highlighting the historically enduring, diversified character of the bureaucratic form. The paper then presents case study findings on the web-based access to information resources now being provided by the British Library (BL). The case study evidence produces two main findings. First, radically decentralised virtual forms of service delivery are heavily dependent on new forms of capacity-building and information aggregation. Second, digital technology is embedded in an inherently contested and contradictory context of institutional change. Current developments in the management and control of digital rights are consistent with the commodification of the public sphere. However, the evidence also suggests that scholarly access to information resources is being significantly influenced by the ?information society? objectives of the BL and other institutional players within the network of UK research libraries
Thermal correction to the Casimir force, radiative heat transfer, and an experiment
The low-temperature asymptotic expressions for the Casimir interaction
between two real metals described by Leontovich surface impedance are obtained
in the framework of thermal quantum field theory. It is shown that the Casimir
entropy computed using the impedance of infrared optics vanishes in the limit
of zero temperature. By contrast, the Casimir entropy computed using the
impedance of the Drude model attains at zero temperature a positive value which
depends on the parameters of a system, i.e., the Nernst heat theorem is
violated. Thus, the impedance of infrared optics withstands the thermodynamic
test, whereas the impedance of the Drude model does not. We also perform a
phenomenological analysis of the thermal Casimir force and of the radiative
heat transfer through a vacuum gap between real metal plates. The
characterization of a metal by means of the Leontovich impedance of the Drude
model is shown to be inconsistent with experiment at separations of a few
hundred nanometers. A modification of the impedance of infrared optics is
suggested taking into account relaxation processes. The power of radiative heat
transfer predicted from this impedance is several times less than previous
predictions due to different contributions from the transverse electric
evanescent waves. The physical meaning of low frequencies in the Lifshitz
formula is discussed. It is concluded that new measurements of radiative heat
transfer are required to find out the adequate description of a metal in the
theory of electromagnetic fluctuations.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. svjour.cls is used, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.
Combination of Wnt/β-catenin targets S100A4 and DKK1 improves prognosis of human colorectal cancer
Metastasis is directly linked to colorectal cancer (CRC) patient survival. Wnt signaling through β-catenin plays a key role. Metastasis-inducing S100A4 is a Wnt/β-catenin target gene and a prognostic biomarker for CRC and other cancer types. We aimed to identify S100A4-dependent expression alterations to better understand CRC progression and metastasis for improved patient survival. S100A4-induced transcriptome arrays, confirmatory studies in isogenic CRC cell lines with defined β-catenin genotypes, and functional metastasis studies were performed. S100A4-regulated transcriptome examination revealed the transcriptional cross-regulation of metastasis-inducing S100A4 with Wnt pathway antagonist Dickkopf-1 (DKK1). S100A4 overexpression down-regulated DKK1, S100A4 knock-down increased DKK1. Recombinant DKK1 reduced S100A4 expression and S100A4-mediated cell migration. In xenografted mice, systemic S100A4-shRNA application increased intratumoral DKK1. The inverse correlation of S100A4 and DKK1 was confirmed in five independent publicly available CRC expression datasets. Combinatorial analysis of S100A4 and DKK1 in two additional independent CRC patient cohorts improved prognosis of overall and metastasis-free survival. The newly discovered transcriptional cross-regulation of Wnt target S100A4 and Wnt antagonist DKK1 is predominated by an S100A4-induced Wnt signaling feedback loop, increasing cell motility and metastasis risk. S100A4 and DKK1 combination improves the identification of CRC patients at high risk
Muon anomalous magnetic moment, lepton flavor violation, and flavor changing neutral current processes in SUSY GUT with right-handed neutrino
Motivated by the large mixing angle solutions for the atmospheric and solar
neutrino anomalies, flavor changing neutral current processes and lepton flavor
violating processes as well as the muon anomalous magnetic moment are analyzed
in the framework of SU(5) SUSY GUT with right-handed neutrino. In order to
explain realistic mass relations for quarks and leptons, we take into account
effects of higher dimensional operators above the GUT scale. It is shown that
the supersymmetric (SUSY) contributions to the CP violation parameter in
mixing, , the branching ratio,
and the muon anomalous magnetic moment become large in a wide range of
parameter space. We also investigate correlations among these quantities.
Within the current experimental bound of , large
SUSY contributions are possible either in the muon anomalous magnetic moment or
in . In the former case, the favorable value of the recent muon
anomalous magnetic moment measurement at the BNL E821 experiment can be
accommodated. In the latter case, the allowed region of the Kobayashi-Maskawa
phase can be different from the prediction within the Standard Model (SM) and
therefore the measurements of the CP asymmetry of mode and
could discriminate this case from the SM. We also show that
the branching ratio can be close to the current
experimental upperbound and the mixing induced CP asymmetry of the radiative B
decay can be enhanced in the case where the neutrino parameters correspond to
the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein small mixing angle solution.Comment: 70 pages, 14 figure
Increased Production of the Soluble Tumor-Associated Antigens CA19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Some tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) are expressed on inflammatory cells. We previously detected carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA; CD66) in the rheumatoid (RA) synovium. The production of CEA, CA19-9, CA125, and CA15.3, may be increased in patients with RA, scleroderma, lupus, and SjÖgren's syndrome (SS). Some of these TAAs contain sialylated carbohydrate motifs and they are involved in tumor-associated cell adhesion and metastasis. We assessed levels of TAAs in the sera of RA patients and healthy subjects. Serum TAA levels were correlated with disease markers including serum rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-CCP antibody levels, DAS28, age disease duration. TAAs including CEA, CA15-3, CA72-4, CA125, and CA19-9, and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) were assessed by immunoassay in the sera of 75 patients with RA and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Normal upper limits for these TAAs were 3.4 Μg/L, 25 kU/L, 6.9 kU/L, 35 kU/L, 34 kU/L, and 16.3 Μg/L, respectively. There were significantly more RA patients showing abnormally high levels of CA125 (10.8% versus 7.1%), CA19-9 (8.1% versus 0%), and CA15-3 (17.6% versus 14.3%) in comparison to controls ( P < 0.05). The mean absolute serum levels of CA125 (23.9 ± 1.8 versus 16.8 ± 2.2 kU/L) and CA19-9 (14.2 ± 1.2 versus 10.5 ± 1.6 kU/L) were also significantly higher in RA compared to controls ( P < 0.05). Among RA patients, serum CEA showed significant correlation with RF ( r = 0.270; P < 0.05). None of the assessed TAAs showed any correlation with CRP, anti-CCP, DAS28, age or disease duration. The concentration of some TAAs may be elevated in the sera of patients with established RA in comparison to healthy subjects. CEA, CA19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 contain carbohydrate motifs and thus they may be involved in synovitis-associated adhesive events. Furthermore, some TAAs, such as CEA, may also correlate with prognostic factors, such as serum RF levels.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73224/1/annals.1422.037.pd
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