5,450 research outputs found
Constraints on Deflation from the Equation of State of Dark Energy
In cyclic cosmology based on phantom dark energy the requirement that our
universe satisfy a CBE-condition ({\it Comes Back Empty}) imposes a lower bound
on the number of causal patches which separate just prior to
turnaround. This bound depends on the dark energy equation of state with . More accurate measurement of will
constrain . The critical density in the model has a lower
bound or
when the smallest bound state has size m, or m,
respectively.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, typos fixe
Overexpression of α-enolase correlates with poor survival in canine mammary carcinoma
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>α-Enolase (ENO1) is a key glycolytic enzyme implicated in the development of many human cancers including breast cancer. Increased expression of ENO1 has recently been reported in estrogen (ER)-positive human breast cancer patients. The present study examined the expression of ENO1 and assessed its significance in canine mammary carcinoma.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Immunohistochemical staining was employed to investigate the expression of ENO1 in 82 cases of canine mammary tumor (32 benign tumors and 50 carcinomas). Quantification of immunohistochemistry was carried out using Quick score and the results showed cytoplasmic ENO1 overexpression in 9 of the 50 carcinomas (18%). Overexpression of ENO1 correlated significantly with shorter cause-specific survival (P = 0.019), but was not associated with ER positivity in canine mammary carcinoma.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that overexpression of ENO1 may be used as a prognostic marker for poor outcome in canine mammary carcinoma.</p
Dual-axis illumination for virtually augmenting the detection view of optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy
Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) has demonstrated fast, label-free volumetric imaging of optical-absorption contrast within the quasiballistic regime of photon scattering. However, the limited numerical aperture of the ultrasonic transducer restricts the detectability of the photoacoustic waves, thus resulting in incomplete reconstructed features. To tackle the limited-view problem, we added an oblique illumination beam to the original coaxial optical-acoustic scheme to provide a complementary detection view. The virtual augmentation of the detection view was validated through numerical simulations and tissue-phantom experiments. More importantly, the combination of top and oblique illumination successfully imaged a mouse brain in vivo down to 1 mm in depth, showing detailed brain vasculature. Of special note, it clearly revealed the diving vessels that were long missing in images from original OR-PAM
3D-Aware Scene Manipulation via Inverse Graphics
We aim to obtain an interpretable, expressive, and disentangled scene
representation that contains comprehensive structural and textural information
for each object. Previous scene representations learned by neural networks are
often uninterpretable, limited to a single object, or lacking 3D knowledge. In
this work, we propose 3D scene de-rendering networks (3D-SDN) to address the
above issues by integrating disentangled representations for semantics,
geometry, and appearance into a deep generative model. Our scene encoder
performs inverse graphics, translating a scene into a structured object-wise
representation. Our decoder has two components: a differentiable shape renderer
and a neural texture generator. The disentanglement of semantics, geometry, and
appearance supports 3D-aware scene manipulation, e.g., rotating and moving
objects freely while keeping the consistent shape and texture, and changing the
object appearance without affecting its shape. Experiments demonstrate that our
editing scheme based on 3D-SDN is superior to its 2D counterpart.Comment: NeurIPS 2018. Code: https://github.com/ysymyth/3D-SDN Website:
http://3dsdn.csail.mit.edu
Origin and transformation of light hydrocarbons ascending at an active pockmark on Vestnesa Ridge, Arctic Ocean
We report on the geochemistry of hydrocarbons and pore waters down to 62.5 mbsf, collected by drilling with the MARUM‐MeBo70 and by gravity coring at the Lunde pockmark in the Vestnesa Ridge. Our data document the origin and transformations of volatiles feeding gas emissions previously documented in this region. Gas hydrates are present where a fracture network beneath the pockmark focusses migration of thermogenic hydrocarbons characterized by their C1/C2+ and stable isotopic compositions (δ2H‐CH4, δ13C‐CH4). Measured geothermal gradients (~80°C km‐1) and known formation temperatures (>70°C) suggest that those hydrocarbons are formed at depths >800 mbsf.
A combined analytical/modeling approach, including concentration and isotopic mass balances, reveals that pockmark sediments experience diffuse migration of thermogenic hydrocarbons. However, at sites without channeled flow this appears to be limited to depths > ~50 mbsf. At all sites we document a contribution of microbial methanogenesis to the overall carbon cycle that includes a component of secondary carbonate reduction (CR) – i.e. reduction of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) generated by anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in the uppermost methanogenic zone. AOM and CR rates are spatially variable within the pockmark and are highest at high‐flux sites. These reactions are revealed by δ13C‐DIC depletions at the sulfate‐methane interface at all sites. However, δ13C‐CH4 depletions are only observed at the low methane flux sites because changes in the isotopic composition of the overall methane pool are masked at high‐flux sites. 13C‐depletions of TOC suggest that at seeps sites, methane‐derived carbon is incorporated into de novo synthesized biomass
Punica granatum (Pomegranate) juice provides an HIV-1 entry inhibitor and candidate topical microbicide
BACKGROUND: For ≈ 24 years the AIDS pandemic has claimed ≈ 30 million lives, causing ≈ 14,000 new HIV-1 infections daily worldwide in 2003. About 80% of infections occur by heterosexual transmission. In the absence of vaccines, topical microbicides, expected to block virus transmission, offer hope for controlling the pandemic. Antiretroviral chemotherapeutics have decreased AIDS mortality in industrialized countries, but only minimally in developing countries. To prevent an analogous dichotomy, microbicides should be: acceptable; accessible; affordable; and accelerative in transition from development to marketing. Already marketed pharmaceutical excipients or foods, with established safety records and adequate anti-HIV-1 activity, may provide this option. METHODS: Fruit juices were screened for inhibitory activity against HIV-1 IIIB using CD4 and CXCR4 as cell receptors. The best juice was tested for inhibition of: (1) infection by HIV-1 BaL, utilizing CCR5 as the cellular coreceptor; and (2) binding of gp120 IIIB and gp120 BaL, respectively, to CXCR4 and CCR5. To remove most colored juice components, the adsorption of the effective ingredient(s) to dispersible excipients and other foods was investigated. A selected complex was assayed for inhibition of infection by primary HIV-1 isolates. RESULTS: HIV-1 entry inhibitors from pomegranate juice adsorb onto corn starch. The resulting complex blocks virus binding to CD4 and CXCR4/CCR5 and inhibits infection by primary virus clades A to G and group O. CONCLUSION: These results suggest the possibility of producing an anti-HIV-1 microbicide from inexpensive, widely available sources, whose safety has been established throughout centuries, provided that its quality is adequately standardized and monitored
Effect of the tetrahedral distortion on the electronic properties of iron-pnictides
We study the dependence of the electronic structure of iron pnictides on the
angle formed by the arsenic-iron bonds. Within a Slater-Koster tight binding
model which captures the correct symmetry properties of the bands, we show that
the density of states and the band structure are sensitive to the distortion of
the tetrahedral environment of the iron atoms. This sensitivity is extremely
strong in a two-orbital (d_xz, d_yz) model due to the formation of a flat band
around the Fermi level. Inclusion of the d_xy orbital destroys the flat band
while keeping a considerable angle dependence in the band structure.Comment: 5 pages, including 5 figures. Fig. 5 replaced. Minor changes in the
tex
Dual-axis illumination for virtually augmenting the detection view of optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy
Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) has demonstrated fast, label-free volumetric imaging of optical-absorption contrast within the quasiballistic regime of photon scattering. However, the limited numerical aperture of the ultrasonic transducer restricts the detectability of the photoacoustic waves, thus resulting in incomplete reconstructed features. To tackle the limited-view problem, we added an oblique illumination beam to the original coaxial optical-acoustic scheme to provide a complementary detection view. The virtual augmentation of the detection view was validated through numerical simulations and tissue-phantom experiments. More importantly, the combination of top and oblique illumination successfully imaged a mouse brain in vivo down to 1 mm in depth, showing detailed brain vasculature. Of special note, it clearly revealed the diving vessels that were long missing in images from original OR-PAM
Observation of the nonlinear Hall effect under time reversal symmetric conditions
The electrical Hall effect is the production of a transverse voltage under an
out-of-plane magnetic field. Historically, studies of the Hall effect have led
to major breakthroughs including the discoveries of Berry curvature and the
topological Chern invariants. In magnets, the internal magnetization allows
Hall conductivity in the absence of external magnetic field. This anomalous
Hall effect (AHE) has become an important tool to study quantum magnets. In
nonmagnetic materials without external magnetic fields, the electrical Hall
effect is rarely explored because of the constraint by time-reversal symmetry.
However, strictly speaking, only the Hall effect in the linear response regime,
i.e., the Hall voltage linearly proportional to the external electric field,
identically vanishes due to time-reversal symmetry. The Hall effect in the
nonlinear response regime, on the other hand, may not be subject to such
symmetry constraints. Here, we report the observation of the nonlinear Hall
effect (NLHE) in the electrical transport of the nonmagnetic 2D quantum
material, bilayer WTe2. Specifically, flowing an electrical current in bilayer
WTe2 leads to a nonlinear Hall voltage in the absence of magnetic field. The
NLHE exhibits unusual properties sharply distinct from the AHE in metals: The
NLHE shows a quadratic I-V characteristic; It strongly dominates the nonlinear
longitudinal response, leading to a Hall angle of about 90 degree. We further
show that the NLHE directly measures the "dipole moment" of the Berry
curvature, which arises from layer-polarized Dirac fermions in bilayer WTe2.
Our results demonstrate a new Hall effect and provide a powerful methodology to
detect Berry curvature in a wide range of nonmagnetic quantum materials in an
energy-resolved way
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