798 research outputs found
Long-term high fat feeding of rats results in increased numbers of circulating microvesicles with pro-inflammatory effects on endothelial cells
Obesity and type 2 diabetes lead to dramatically increased risks of atherosclerosis and CHD. Multiple mechanisms converge to promote atherosclerosis by increasing endothelial oxidative stress and up-regulating expression of pro-inflammatory molecules. Microvesicles (MV) are small ( < 1 μm) circulating particles that transport proteins and genetic material, through which they are able to mediate cell–cell communication and influence gene expression. Since MV are increased in plasma of obese, insulin-resistant and diabetic individuals, who often exhibit chronic vascular inflammation, and long-term feeding of a high-fat diet (HFD) to rats is a well-described model of obesity and insulin resistance, we hypothesised that this may be a useful model to study the impact of MV on endothelial inflammation. The number and cellular origin of MV from HFD-fed obese rats were characterised by flow cytometry. Total MV were significantly increased after feeding HFD compared to feeding chow (P< 0·001), with significantly elevated numbers of MV derived from leucocyte, endothelial and platelet compartments (P< 0·01 for each cell type). MV were isolated from plasma and their ability to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 expression was measured in primary rat cardiac endothelial cells in vitro. MV from HFD-fed rats induced significant ROS (P< 0·001) and VCAM-1 expression (P= 0·0275), indicative of a pro-inflammatory MV phenotype in this model of obesity. These findings confirm that this is a useful model to further study the mechanisms by which diet can influence MV release and subsequent effects on cardio-metabolic health
Analytical solution to position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation
Using a recently developed technique to solve Schr\"odinger equation for
constant mass, we studied the regime in which mass varies with position i.e
position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation(PDMSE). We obtained an
analytical solution for the PDMSE and applied our approach to study a position
dependent mass particle scattered by a potential . We
also studied the structural analogy between PDMSE and two-level atomic system
interacting with a classical field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Large variations in the hole spin splitting of quantum-wire subband edges
We study Zeeman splitting of zone-center subband edges in a cylindrical hole
wire subject to a magnetic field parallel to its axis. The g-factor turns out
to fluctuate strongly as a function of wire-subband index, assuming values that
differ substantially from those found in higher-dimensional systems. We analyze
the spin properties of hole-wire states using invariants of the spin-3/2
density matrix and find a strong correlation between g-factor value and the
profile of hole-spin polarization density. Our results suggest possibilities
for confinement engineering of hole spin splittings.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTex4, to appear in PR
Intrinsic electric field effects on few-particle interactions in coupled GaN quantum dots
We study the multi-exciton optical spectrum of vertically coupled GaN/AlN
quantum dots with a realistic three-dimensional direct-diagonalization approach
for the description of few-particle Coulomb-correlated states. We present a
detailed analysis of the fundamental properties of few-particle/exciton
interactions peculiar of nitride materials. The giant intrinsic electric fields
and the high electron/hole effective masses give rise to different effects
compared to GaAs-based quantum dots: intrinsic exciton-exciton coupling,
non-molecular character of coupled dot exciton wavefunction, strong dependence
of the oscillator strength on the dot height, large ground state energy shift
for dots separated by different barriers. Some of these effects make GaN/AlN
quantum dots interesting candidates in quantum information processing.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Choosing a basis that eliminates spurious solutions in k.p theory
A small change of basis in k.p theory yields a Kane-like Hamiltonian for the
conduction and valence bands of narrow-gap semiconductors that has no spurious
solutions, yet provides an accurate fit to all effective masses. The theory is
shown to work in superlattices by direct comparison with first-principles
density-functional calculations of the valence subband structure. A
reinterpretation of the standard data-fitting procedures used in k.p theory is
also proposed.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures; v3: expanded with much new materia
Longitudinal spin transport in diluted magnetic semiconductor superlattices: the effect of the giant Zeeman splitting
Longitudinal spin transport in diluted magnetic semiconductor superlattices
is investigated theoretically. The longitudinal magnetoconductivity (MC) in
such systems exhibits an oscillating behavior as function of an external
magnetic field. In the weak magnetic field region the giant Zeeman splitting
plays a dominant role which leads to a large negative magnetoconductivity. In
the strong magnetic field region the MC exhibits deep dips with increasing
magnetic field. The oscillating behavior is attributed to the interplay between
the discrete Landau levels and the Fermi surface. The decrease of the MC at low
magnetic field is caused by the exchange interaction between the electron
in the conduction band and the magnetic ions.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Frohlich mass in GaAs-based structures
The Frohlich interaction is one of the main electron-phonon intrinsic
interactions in polar materials originating from the coupling of one itinerant
electron with the macroscopic electric field generated by any longitudinal
optical (LO) phonon. Infra-red magneto-absorption measurements of doped GaAs
quantum wells structures have been carried out in order to test the concept of
Frohlich interaction and polaron mass in such systems. These new experimental
results lead to question the validity of this concept in a real system.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Electron Wave Filters from Inverse Scattering Theory
Semiconductor heterostructures with prescribed energy dependence of the
transmittance can be designed by combining: {\em a)} Pad\'e approximant
reconstruction of the S-matrix; {\em b)} inverse scattering theory for
Schro\"dinger's equation; {\em c)} a unitary transformation which takes into
account the variable mass effects. The resultant continuous concentration
profile can be digitized into an easily realizable rectangular-wells structure.
For illustration, we give the specifications of a 2 narrow band-pass 12 layer
filter with the high energy peak more than {\em twice
narrower} than the other.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex with one eps figur
Potential algebra approach to position dependent mass Schroedinger equation
It is shown that for a class of position dependent mass Schroedinger equation
the shape invariance condition is equivalent to a potential symmetry algebra.
Explicit realization of such algebras have been obtained for some shape
invariant potentials
Influence of the Characteristics of the STM-tip on the Electroluminescence Spectra
We analyze the influence of the characteristics of the STM-tip (applied
voltage, tip radius) on the electroluminescence spectra from an STM-tip-induced
quantum dot taking into account the many-body effects. We find that positions
of electroluminescence peaks, attributed to the electron-hole recombination in
the quantum dot, are very sensitive to the shape and size of the confinement
potential as determined by the tip radius and the applied voltage. A critical
value of the tip radius is found, at which the luminescence peak positions as a
function of the tip radius manifest a transition from decreasing behavior for
smaller radii to increasing behavior for larger radii. We find that this
critical value of the tip radius is related to the confinement in the lateral
and normal direction.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
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