BMB activity defines refractory and competent hair follicle populations during the propagation of regenerative waves

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Chiral symmetry breaking and stability of strangelets

We discuss the stability of strangelets by considering dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and confinement. We use a $U(3)_{L} \times U(3)_{R}$ symmetric Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model for chiral symmetry breaking supplemented by a boundary condition for confinement. It is shown that strangelets with baryon number $A < 2 \times 10^{3}$ can stably exist. For the observables, we obtain the masses and the charge-to-baryon number ratios of the strangelets. These quantities are compared with the observed data of the exotic particles.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Physical Review

{6,6′-Dimeth­oxy-2,2′-[ethane-1,2-diylbis(nitrilo­methanylyl­idene)]diphenolato}nickel(II) dimethyl­formamide monosolvate

In the title compound, [Ni(C18H18N2O4)]·C3H7NO, the central NiII atom is in a square-planar O2N2 coordination environment. The planar Ni–salen moieties (r.m.s. deviation for the plane through the conjugated part of the Ni–salen group = 0.07 Å) form parallel stacks in the a-axis direction, with alternating Ni⋯Ni separations of 3.5339 (7) and 3.6165 (7) Å. In the crystal, there are weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions involving the dimethyl­formamide O and phenolate O atoms

Study of Charmonia near the deconfining transition on an anisotropic lattice with O(a) improved quark action

We study hadron properties near the deconfining transition in the quenched lattice QCD simulation. This paper focuses on the heavy quarkonium states, such as $J/\psi$ meson. In order to treat heavy quarks at $T>0$, we adopt the $O(a)$ improved Wilson action on anisotropic lattice. We discuss $c\bar{c}$ bound state observing the wave function and compare the meson correlators at above and below $T_c$. Although we find a large change of correlator near the $T_c$, the strong spatial correlation which is almost the same as confinement phase survives even $T\sim 1.5T_c$.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

On the relevance of center vortices to QCD

In a numerical experiment, we remove center vortices from an ensemble of lattice SU(2) gauge configurations. This removal adds short-range disorder. Nevertheless, we observe long-range order in the modified ensemble: confinement is lost and chiral symmetry is restored (together with trivial topology), proving that center vortices are responsible for both phenomena. As for the Abelian monopoles, they survive but their percolation properties are lost.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; discussion expanded, text compressed... to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Can cosmic strangelets reach the earth?

The mechanism for the propagation of strangelets with low baryon number through the atmosphere of the Earth has been explored. It has been shown that under suitable initial conditions, such strangelets may indeed reach depths near mountain altitudes with mass numbers and charges close to the observed values in cosmic ray experiments.Comment: RevTeX text, with 3 encoded eps figures. To appear in Physical Review Letter

A Genetic Variant in the IL-17 Promoter Is Functionally Associated with Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease after Unrelated Bone Marrow Transplantation

Interleukin IL-17 is a proinflammatory cytokine that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs2275913, in the promoter region of the IL-17 gene is associated with susceptibility to ulcerative colitis. When we examined the impact of rs2275913 in a cohort consisting of 438 pairs of patients and their unrelated donors transplanted through the Japan Marrow Donor Program, the donor IL-17 197A allele was found to be associated with a higher risk of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD; hazard ratio [HR], 1.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00 to 2.13; P = 0.05). Next, we investigated the functional relevance of the rs2275913 SNP. In vitro stimulated T cells from healthy individuals possessing the 197A allele produced significantly more IL-17 than those without the 197A allele. In a gene reporter assay, the 197A allele construct induced higher luciferase activity than the 197G allele, and the difference was higher in the presence of T cell receptor activation and was abrogated by cyclosporine treatment. Moreover, the 197A allele displayed a higher affinity for the nuclear factor activated T cells (NFAT), a critical transcription factor involved in IL-17 regulation. These findings substantiate the functional relevance of the rs2275913 polymorphism and indicate that the higher IL-17 secretion by individuals with the 197A allele likely accounts for their increased risk for acute GVHD and certain autoimmune diseases

Fluctuation modes in color-superconductors

We investigate fluctuation effects of a gap parameter in color-superconductors. The fluctuation modes in the super phase are described by two scalar fields of diquarks. One of them is a Nambu-Goldstone boson and the other is a diquark boson whose mass is about twice of the gap energy (an extended quasi-supersymmetry). In the normal phase the fluctuation becomes a precursory (soft) mode whose amplitude increases near the critical temperature.Comment: 6 page

Scaling Study of Pure Gauge Lattice QCD by Monte Carlo Renormalization Group Method

The scaling behavior of pure gauge SU(3) in the region $\beta=5.85 - 7.60$ is examined by a Monte Carlo Renormalization Group analysis. The coupling shifts induced by factor 2 blocking are measured both on 32$^4$ and 16$^4$ lattices with high statistics. A systematic deviation from naive 2-loop scaling is clearly seen. The mean field and effective coupling constant schemes explain part, but not all of the deviation. It can be accounted for by a suitable change of coupling constant, including a correction term ${\cal O}(g^7)$ in the 2-loop lattice $\beta$-function. Based on this improvement, $\sqrt{\sigma}/\Lambda_{\overline {MS}}^{n_f=0}$ is estimated to be $2.2(\pm 0.1)$ from the analysis of the string tension $\sigma$.Comment: 4 pages of A4 format including 7-postscript figure

The System of Multi Color-flux-tubes in the Dual Ginzburg-Landau Theory

We study the system of multi color-flux-tubes in terms of the dual Ginzburg -Landau theory. We consider two ideal cases, where the directions of all the color-flux-tubes are the same in one case and alternative in the other case for neighboring flux-tubes. We formulate the system of multi color-flux -tubes by regarding it as the system of two color-flux-tubes penetrating through a two dimensional sphere surface. We find the multi flux-tube configuration becomes uniform above some critical flux-tube number density $\rho_c = 1.3 \sim 1.7 {\rm fm}^{-2}$. On the other hand, the inhomogeneity on the color electric distribution appears when the flux-tube density is smaller than $\rho_c$. We discuss the relation between the inhomogeneity in the color-electric distribution and the flux-tube number density in the multi-flux-tube system created during the QGP formation process in the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collision.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex, ( 7 figures - available on request from [email protected]